This is an amazing article from Free Geekery about 22 things that you can get for free. Who knew you could get classes at MIT or language lessons for free. :)

Conventional wisdom holds that you only get what you pay for, but the real free geek knows that with the right knowledge (and maybe a charming smile) pretty much anything, even the good stuff, can be had for less or in the best case scenarios nothing at all. Despite this, there are a number of things out there that don’t seem to scream “free” majority of the time (MIT being one). Here’s a list of a few free things that might surprise you.

1. Classes at MIT If you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like to get a first class nerd education but never had the money or the grades, MIT offers a majority of its curriculum (graduate and undergraduate) online free of charge. On the downside, the quantum physics class you decide to take won’t count for any actual college credit, but free education is free education whether you get credit or not.
2. Language Lessons The world is an increasingly smaller place, and the ability to communicate in a language other than your native tongue is an increasingly valuable skill to add to your resume. There are a number of resources available on the web to help you learn languages (everything from French to Urdu) via Podcasts. A good one to try is the BBC. There, you can brush up on your Spanish or learn something a more complicated. Best of all, you can load it onto your MP3 player and take it with you to listen to while you’re driving to work or running errands.
3. Business Education Learning to run your own business can be a trying experience, but you can get a little help and advice for free from the Small Business Administration. Local business centers offer classes that can teach you how to write a business plan or even how to take care of all the tax details associated with business ownership.
4. Computer Classes Technology changes so fast these days it can be hard to keep up. There is a solution to at least some of your computer and gadget illiteracy woes, however. Apple stores nationwide offer workshops on a variety of (Apple) software and hardware techniques as well as some computer basics. The classes might not do you a lot of good, however, if you don’t own any Apple products.
5. Museum Admission Going to a museum can be pretty expensive, especially if you’re trying to bring a family along. Many museums offer free days or hours, especially during the summer (like the Art Institute of Chicago summer programs). Why pay $20 to see a Van Gogh when you can study his work for free?
6. Concerts, Movies and Shows Many communities offer a wide variety of free entertainment through local park districts and organizations. While it may not always be the hottest new feature, taking advantage of free entertainment can be a great and cheap way to spend an evening. Many large cities, like Chicago, show series of movies for free during the summer in the parks. You can bring a picnic, refreshing beverages, and enjoy the weather and scenery along with your free movie. Check your local park district’s website to see if there are any events in your area. Certain reward credit cards can get you free VIP access to certain events as well.
7. Pets Choosing to adopt or buy a pet can be a potentially costly endeavor, but there are ways to get around at least some of the initial costs. Sites like Craigslist and PetFinder often offer pets for free. You can find great animals whose owners can no longer keep them do to allergies or living situations. Make sure to meet the animal before you commit to taking it home, though, as not all posters might be as honest as they should be about the temperament of the cat or dog.
8. Gym Membership While more long-term solutions to free gym membership may be more complicated, you can get free passes to visit almost any gym in your area. Beware, however, that you might end up listening to their spiel to sell you on a pricier membership plan. If you aren’t pained by the idea of a sales pitch, you could theoretically shop around at every gym in town to maintain the free access for several weeks, depending upon the size of your town. The best time for free trials is at the beginning of the year, as many people want to make good on their New Year’s resolutions.
9. Photo Prints Many online photo album services not only allow you to share your photos with family and friends through the internet but they’ll give you free prints of your photos as well. Check out Snapfish, Kodak, dotphoto
   and Adorama to see about getting free prints when you sign up. Sometimes you can get anywhere from 15 to 50 prints of your photos depending on the site and the time of year when you register. The photos aren’t entirely free, however, as you do have to pay for shipping; but it’s considerably cheaper than having all those prints made at your local photo store, and usually amounts to mere pennies for each photo.
10. 411 Service Need directory information but don’t want to pay for it? Simply dial 800-373-3411 (800-FREE-411).
    You’ll get free directory assistance from your cell or land line. The catch is, however, that you do have to listen to a short (only 20 seconds) ad before you can ask your question, but really, that’s a small price to pay for a free service.
11. Phone Calls If your long distance charges are getting you down, stop using your phone to make calls and start using your computer. Sign up for Skype or Gizmo Project and you can make computer-to-computer calls for free to anywhere in the world. Hook up your Webcam and you’ll have an instant videophone.
12. Email Reminders Have a terrible memory? Never forget a birthday again by using a free email reminder system like Memo to Me. Simply give them the date you want to remember and your email address and the system will send you a note that will gently remind you to remember your anniversary. Of course, you do have to remember to check your email in order for this to work. If you want to take preemptive action, you can also pick out free eCards to be sent at a later date. Hallmark carries a great collection of free cards, but you can also try out Hipster Cards or CardCow.
13. Ice Cream There is nothing that cures a craving for Chunky Monkey except some actual Chunky Monkey. One glorious day out of the year you can eat all the Ben & Jerry’s you want and not spend a dime. That’s right, Ben & Jerry’s worldwide has a free cone day. The best part is that there is no limit, so you can come back for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
14. Used Books For some people (myself included), buying books is a ridiculous obsession. To find a way to somehow acquire more books for less money is a book lover’s dream. Try out PaperBackSwap or Title Trader. Both operate on
    the principle where you list books you don’t want (that horrible Oprah book club one you’re ashamed to have sitting on the shelf) and then wait for someone to request it. Once someone’s laid claim to it, you simply mail it out and you’re given credit towards getting a book you really want. You will have to pay for shipping your old books out, but on paperbacks it isn’t much and you won’t have to hunt through dusty bins to find the book you want in return.
15. Household Items Have some junk lying around the house thatyou don’t want anymore? List it on Freecycle, a nonprofit community group that encourages users to give away old items instead of throwing them away. You can clean out your old stuff and replace it with new stuff for free. If you see a listing you want, simply respond to it. Keep
    in mind, however, that you are responsible for transporting, shipping, or picking up the items you want.
16. Makeup Want to try out movie star makeup without having to pay movie star prices? Many beauty supply stores will give you free samples of their products to take home with you. Some stores, like Sephora, will offer a generous sample of almost anything in the store to try it out. This free supply might not last forever, but you can look good for at least a little while!
17. Face Cream Want to prevent wrinkles without giving yourself new ones when you think about the cost of your face cream? Many department store brands will give away free samples if you ask nicely enough, but Oil of Olay has a sample program where you can try out their products for free. Any Oil of Olay fan knows that a little bit of this product goes a long way, so this is a great deal.
18. Good Samples While it does require a bit of a time investment on your part, you have potential to get some decent free samples from product surveys. Programs like E-poll and American Consumer Opinion will send you samples of everything from spaghetti sauce to toilet paper to get your opinion on those products. Urban legends even tell of those lucky few who got free TVs to try out (don’t bank on this when you sign up).
19. Comic Books For comic book geeks out there, I have something for you as well. At the beginning of May (the event was held on the 5th this year) you can head into your local comic book retailer and pick up some free comics. The titles range from Spiderman to Gumby, but with almost 30 different titles there should be at least something that you can enjoy for the summer.
20. CPR Courses You may not think you’ll ever have a time in your life when you’ll need to know CPR, but it’s really better to be safe than sorry when it comes to first aid treatment. You can take free CPR classes through many local hospitals, fire departments, or even online. It might sound like a boring way to spend your evening, but your efforts could save a life.
21. Legal Music Not all music available for download online is illegal, though you do have to be careful about what you choose. Many artists contribute songs intended for free download so that they can expand their audience. Check out this list of sites that offer free music. There is bound to be something that will pique your interest, and possibly open your eyes to new music you didn’t know about, without making you get out your MasterCard.
22. Coffee Your morning pick-me-up can be a little cheaper at least a few days a year by taking advantage of free coffee. Starbucks sponsors the Starbucks Coffee Break on March 15th, when they offer free coffee between 10-12 am. If you’re lucky and Starbucks is generous, pastries may be available for sampling as well.

While not everything you want can always be free, there are a lot of free things out there for the taking if you know when to go and where. So take advantage of this list, and start getting all the free stuff you deserve (you’ve worked hard for it).

Just a quick post today,

Buying books including textbooks? I love to price check on this site and Alibris. Half.com and especially buying on campus, doesn't even compare.

Looking to make extra $$ on a fun part time job while at school?




Apparently this job is for you. It's called Project Popwall and it seems like an intriguing way of getting in marketing, at least online marketing that is.

If interested, definitely check it out!

So you've signed up for The UpDown, and have made a couple bucks. What now? How do you elevate your position even higher?

I like to use a couple of these resources to better figure out what to buy/short.

IPO Calendar, figure out when the next Initial Public Offering is going to come out so you can jump on the bandwagon before everyone else does.

After Hours Trading News, know how much you're going to be paying for that stock before the market opens.

Finviz.com, lots of cool information and graphs.

AskStockGuru.com, One stop stock analysis.

This is a really funny/interesting article. Especially thinking about some of my friends and how they can't manage to stay awake, here is something they and you might be able to do.

From Maxim:

Make Money at Work from the Comfort of your office

Free coffee, infrequently clean bathrooms, faux friendships—working a cubicle job has several obvious benefits. But in addition to the mysterious rashes, your employer has unknowingly given you everything you’ll need to make some money on the side. Supplement your salary with one of these five day jobs.

Virtual Juror
Web sites like ejury.com and onlineverdict.com collect feedback on court cases from virtual jurors, then hawk it to real-life shysters. Cases take between 20 minutes and an hour to read and rate. “It’s an easy way to make money,” says ejury.com founder Chris Bagby, “and people learn to enjoy it because the cases can be intriguing.” Objection, your electronic honor!
Risk: Low (tell your boss you’re doing research)
Pay: $5–$60/case

E-Commerce Jockey
Brilliant T-shirt idea? Download a free trial of Photoshop, use your office scanner to create a design, and enlist cafepress.com or zazzle.com to print the goods. TakePride cofounder Patrick Gray started a line of clothing while working full-time at a corporate law firm. “We launched the business from our desks,” he says.
Risk: High (especially if you ship from work)
Pay: Pennies to gold bullion

Audio Transcriber
As you mindlessly transcribe speeches and interviews, your employer thinks you’re writing up reports while listening to iTunes. Sites like productiontranscripts.com and tigerfish.com prefer speedy typers, but contractedwork.com welcomes average keyboardists. Fingers, ho!
Risk: Low (unless office music is frowned upon)
Pay: $8–$40/hour

Personal Assistant
Making reservations, checking movie times, booking flights—you already run virtual errands for your girlfriend, so why not get paid? With Google, a phone line, and some local knowl­edge, you can be an at-your-service online assistant. “The pay’s competitive and goes up if you know golf or wine,” says red butler.com concierge specialist Chris Sterling.
Risk: High (use screen-minimizing shortcuts)
Pay: $12–$35/hour

Quality Assurance Specialist
Does the phrase “This call may be recorded for quality assurance” make you hot and bothered? Apply online at voicelog.com to verify calls and analyze customer service for telephone companies and other service industries in shifts of two or more hours. Want to know more? Please hold for the next operator.
Risk: Moderate (you’ll always be on the phone)
Pay: $8.50 and up/hour

For those of you that hadn't seen my previous post about how I made $1.16 risk-free, click here. Anyway, for the month of January, thus far, I've made $5.10 by pretty much just making educated guesses.

Here is a screenshot of my earnings.



Hmmm, enough to get a meal... what kind of food do I feel like?

Hahaha, I do recommend you check out my article on Predictify and here to register for a pretty cool social network. Like all of the other links on the outset of the page, this is risk free and can only help you learn and earn :)

EDIT: I made an extra $4.35 after submitting this post for the month of January from Predictify, $1.76 from Kickitback for purchasing things on eBay, and $1.23 from the risk-free stock market site The UpDown; a total of $12.74. :)

Although I'm all for supporting the school for various things, I can't help get my head around the price of textbooks. When I had to buy a fairly thin one for one of my classes, I was surprised to have to put down almost a hundred. To this end, and having learned how much I could save by doing some work, I must say that I:

1. Support buying books from other students.
I like to do this through the site comegetused which is owned and operated by a Berkeley alumnus and an UCLA student (and dedicated to promoting the exchange of textbooks among fellow students). My profile and books, should you want them are located here.

2. Use one of two sites, as they allow you to see a wide range of offerings and sometimes coupons that can be applied, ecampus and alibris.

3. A combination of buying books from the student store, buying the same books online for serious savings, receiving these books, then returning the student store ones. In this manner you always have the books you need, but are able to get the best price.

Slightly underhanded, but tis what you need to do sometimes :P

Here's another way to save money, coupons! I know when I heard one of my friends talking about how he had spent most of the day cutting up coupons I thought he was crazy, but if you really think about it, it's not at all. Perhaps the time involved may be crazy, but even if you're doing shopping online, it doesn't at all hurt to spend a couple minutes looking for a coupon that may, at the very least, be worth a couple dollars in savings.

There are many sites out there, but one that I like is called Retailmenot.com. It is a spin off of it's successful sister site, Bugmenot.com - login with these free web passwords to bypass compulsory registration. Retailmenot.com has numerous coupon codes for those sites that you might typically shop at online, supported by users like you.

In any case, if you're looking to save a couple bucks, try these sites. It couldn't hurt, anyway, to learn something new.

I know it's kinda of sketchy but have you ever wanted to get someone else's number yet didn't want them to have your real number in the exchange? Or have you wanted to sign up for any number of things only to feel unsure about giving out your real phone number?

Introducing, two services:

Numbr.com
Numbr offer free disposable, real phone numbers.

You can get numbers in any area code that you want. You then select when you want the number to expire – an hour, a day, a week or a month. The disposable number is discreetly forwarded to your real number, so you can get a verification call if needed by the company. After said time the phone number becomes invalid so you never have to worry about any more calls.

Brring
If you need a number that is going to last for longer than a month and you want to make money off of your callers then Brring might be for you.

You get paid every time someone calls your Brring number. The caller calls your Brring number and listens to a short (5 second) advertisement. They are then forwarded right to your normal number without ever knowing what your normal number is.

They have ads about travel, cars, electronics, fashion, politics, etc.

Although I haven't used this service, I was just thinking that one could use this number for those free offers you might see at expo's, fairs, etc. that involve a phone number (since they will not know your real number and you'll be getting money from it).

Ever wanted to turn a hobby into, at the very least, income on the side? The answer to your dream isn't that far off with the explosion of the web.

First of all, although most all websites have a webmaster, do they have a graphic designer? Not likely, unless the webmaster also has this skill. There are, as a result, many places where webmasters will look for freelancers to do logo/banner design work.

http://www.getafreelancer.com
http://www.freelancedesigners.com
http://www.marketingtools.com

If you're more creatively inclined, there are any number of contests out there.

Digital Point
Photoshop Contest
Worth 1000
SitePoint

If you're into something a bit more tame, but still necessary, there are lots of jobs for photo retouching.

Picwash - Has a young consumer base
Glenn Feron - A little bit more professional

If you're into designing something for use by a lot of people, design high quality photoshop brushes. There are apparently people that will pay for really nice, high definition brushes. Plus, they're not too hard to make.

Lastly, there is some demand for ebook and report cover designers as most of these sellers are of a business mindset.

With the new year, of course, came new laws. One of the more significant ones was one which furthers California's consumer identity--You're now able to get a redemption on gift cards that are $10 or less.

As the San Jose Mercury writes:

On Jan. 1, consumers will be able to redeem gift cards for cash if the balance is less than $10, thanks to a new law sponsored by state Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro.

Currently, gift cards worth less than five dollars can be subjected to dormancy fees and a store can refuse to give the remaining value back in cash no matter how small the value.

Richard Holober, Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of California, which is based in San Mateo, said, 'Consumers should be aware that any dormant gift cards they have worth less than $10 can be redeemed for cash starting Tuesday.'

Holober said, 'As long as the card was bought 1997 or later, you'll get your cash back. After all, the retail store or restaurant chain was already paid for the full value of the gift card.'

The new law, SB 250, makes California the most consumer-friendly state in the nation when it comes to gift card laws. Vermont allows cash back for up to $1, while Washington and Montana laws give money back up to $5.

This means that if you wanted to, you could see some rewards using credit cards that give you X percent rewards.

For instance, with 10% you could buy a $10 gift card at an art store, buy a wooden pencil (let's say worth 10 cents), redeem the $9.90 card for cash, and see 90 cents in profit.

Just a thought. Anyway, there are a couple provisions to this law:

1. If the card can be used to buy goods or services from multiple unrelated stores, such as an American Express™, MasterCard™, or Visa™ gift card, it is not covered by this California law.

2. Cards can have a redemption date, by which the recipient must use the card (or else receive a full refund of the amount paid for the card).

3. Although gift cards cannot charge a service fee, they can charge a dormancy fee for non-use.

4. This California law does not apply to prepaid calling cards, cards distributed to consumers without charge under an awards, loyalty or promotional program; cards sold below face value at a volume discount to be used for fundraising purposes if the expiration date is 30 days or less after the date of sale; or cards issued for food products or grocery items.

In hearing that BART raised its prices, I intended to check to see what was going on, but instead got sidetracked by this:


Hahaha, get it? Bay Area Rapid Transit...

Kk, so anyway, BART did raise it's fees slightly at least for the most part. At the same time, it also increased train frequency, lengthened lines that stopped at Daly City, and made some time changes.

Following is the complete low down, so that you don't get shortchanged next time you need to use the real BART:

New year brings more trains more often; 33% increase in service, faster commutes, better SFO/Millbrae service and modest fare adjustment.

The new year has brought new and improved BART schedule with more trains, more often - especially at night, on weekends and along the San Francisco International Airport (SFO)/Millbrae extension. To see how the changes affected your trip, use the BART QuickPlanner, download a mobile BART QuickPlanner for your Apple iPod, Palm or Pocket PC device or check schedules by line or station.

Starting January 1, 2008, BART began providing enhanced service including:

* More trains, more often after 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and all day Sunday
* Double the trains to most stations on the San Francisco International Airport (SFO)/Millbrae extension
* Faster commutes times and direct service from Millbrae to downtown San Francisco
* Earlier start time for train service to SFO

33% SERVICE INCREASE MEANS MORE TRAINS, MORE OFTEN
The schedule change means more frequent service after 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and all the time on Sunday. During this time period trains run every 15 minutes instead of every 20 minutes.

FASTER, MORE FREQUENT SERVICE ON SFO AND MILLBRAE LINES
Also with the new schedule, the popular Pittsburg/Bay Point (Yellow) line began serving SFO at all times and the Richmond (Red) line now goes directly into Millbrae Station. This means that commuters going from Millbrae to downtown San Francisco see a six-minute (16%) drop in their travel time.

MONDAY - FRIDAY 4 AM TO 7 PM:

* Pittsburg/Bay Point (Yellow) line goes directly to SFO instead of Dublin/Pleasanton (Blue) line
* Richmond (Red) line goes directly to Millbrae

MONDAY - FRIDAY AFTER 7 PM, WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS:

* Pittsburg/Bay Point (Yellow) line goes directly to SFO instead of Dublin/Pleasanton (Blue) line
* Dublin/Pleasanton (Blue) line replaces the Richmond (Red) line and goes directly to Millbrae

The two lines combined provide San Bruno, South San Francisco and Colma commuters with double the number of trains - so there will be a train every 8-10 minutes compared to the old schedule, which had waits of up to 20 minutes.

OTHER ENHANCEMENTS/CHANGES:

* New train to SFO Station from downtown San Francisco for those catching early morning flights on weekdays. The train

arrives approximately 16 minutes earlier than the previous scheduled arrival
* Richmond or Red Line starts one hour earlier (around 4 AM) with direct service to downtown San Francisco and Millbrae
* Direct service from Millbrae to SFO is eliminated, however during most times there will be a timed transfer to SFO at San Bruno

MODEST FARE ADJUSTMENT - BETWEEN 10 AND 30 CENTS

Starting January 1, 2008, the second in a series of four, CPI (Consumer Price Index) based fare adjustments also took effect.

But the modest, 5.4% increase still offers commuters a significant savings over driving especially when you consider gas prices have shot up a whopping 30% in California since BART last had a fare increase.

Most BART commuters are seeing between a 10- and 30-cent increase in fares, making the average fare $2.92 or 21 cents/mile. That's less than half the cost of driving a car, which the American Automobile Association puts at 52 cents/mile. Since BART fares are distance-based, the fares on the shortest trips have gone from $1.40 to $1.50. The longest commute trip, between Pittsburg/Bay Point and Millbrae, has gone from $6.30 to $6.60.

In May 2003, the BART Board of Directors approved raising fares every other year based on the average of inflation over the course of two years minus 0.5% to force BART to find cost savings instead of relying on inflationary revenue increases.

Don't know why I watched The Price is Right today with Brian, but when I did, I was thoroughly impressed.

Out of all the shows, Samahang Pilipino was making an appearance;
Out of all, the people in the audience, one of their members was chosen;
And out of all the contestants, this member had won the showcase.

Apparently, it had happened a while back, but I digress...

I saw this information and was equally impressed. It has to do with using a site's URL to your shopping advantage. Specifically with regards to Amazon.com you have the following nodes (or numbers that correspond to categories--think Dewey Decimal System):

Node 16310091 - Industrial &; Scientific
Node 172526 - GPS and Navigation
Node 165796011 - Baby
Node 404272 - VHS
Node 1036592 - Apparel & Accessories
Node 1040668 - Shoes
Node 3367581 - Jewelry & Watches
Node 599858 - Magazines & Newspapers
Node 283155 - Books
Node 5174 - Music
Node 130 - DVD
Node 16261631 - Unbox Video Downloads
Node 468642 - Computer & Video Games
Node 229534 - Software
Node 13993911 - Amazon Shorts
Node 172282 - Electronics
Node 1065836 - Audio & Video
Node 502394 - Camera & Photo
Node 301185 - Cell Phones & Service
Node 541966 - Computers & PC Hardware
Node 1064954 - Office Products
Node 11091801 - Musical Instruments
Node 1055398 - Home & Garden
Node 1057792 - Bed & Bath
Node 1057794 - Furniture & Decor
Node 3370831 - Gourmet Food
Node 284507 - Kitchen & Housewares
Node 286168 - Outdoor Living
Node 12923371 - Pet Supplies
Node 15684181 - Automotive
Node 228013 - Tools & Hardware
Node 16310101 - Grocery
Node 3760911 - Beauty
Node 3760901 - Health & Personal Care
Node 3375251 - Sports & Outdoors
Node 165793011 - Toys & Games

Furthermore, you have any combinations of percentages (ie. &pct-off=70-80 [for 70% to 8% off] or &pct-off=95- [for 95% or more off]

Using the following URL, you can get the items(s) you're looking for at lower prices (where you would replace the bold blue numbers with your desired combination):

www.amazon.com/gp/search/?node=1065836&pct-off=75-90

I used this to search for a new speaker system and was able to a find awesome savings.

Try it too!

With so many online stores opening up, eBay has had to look for other means of generating purchases. One of the ways in which eBay has done this is with the program Kickitback.

Kickitback is an eBay affiliated program which takes a share of proceeds from your purchase, given by eBay, to then give to you (see diagram). You will receive up to 1% of the final price of an eBay item (at closing and not including shipping, insurance, or any other additional costs).

There are no sign-up fees, no monthly charges. You just earn money back for doing what you would normally do.

As the site reveals:

For your purchases to count, eBay needs to know that you got to their site via KickItBack. There are several ways to do this. Choose the one that seems simplest to you.
Before bidding on eBay...

1. Use the Bid page instead to purchase or bid on an item using KickItBack!

2. Use the Watch List page to bid on items in your watch list using KickItBack!

3. Login to KickItBack and click the "StartShopping on eBay" link, the "Search eBay" button, or one of our "Deals."

or 4. Download our ToolBar Button. This eliminates the need to go to KickItBack.com and login. You can simply click the KIB button on your browser interface to get to eBay.

or 5. Download our Desktop Widget. This will eliminate the need to open a browser. You can search eBay directly from your desktop.

The interface is very easy to use and doesn't really detract from the goal at hand... to get that product you've been looking for at the lowest price. So go ahead and sign up for this program and earn a little back on your hard earned investments :)

I know they always say turn off your appliances while you're not using them, turn off the lights when you're not in the room, use energy efficient light bulbs, etc; but I thought that this diagram was rather interesting, showing, not only, appliances you might suspect but others you might neglect to think about.

I'm particularly shocked by the plasma screen, as I wonder why the heck it would use so much information, and appliances that may be off--but not completely.

It only goes to show that if you were to take this into consideration, you would find a nice cut in your utility bill. Money in the pocket for that new book, drinks, or that special someone ;)

PS: I intentionally made that first sentence really long :P

As I mentioned in my first post, a college party must somehow involve drinking. With the crazy number of bowls going on and parties to come, the question remains, how can one get stock up without spending a fortune in hard earned cash?

The solution (at least in the states of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas and Vermont) comes in the form of a little known state laws and what it means to you.

These laws date back to the 1930s, when Prohibition was repealed, and allow you to purchase alcohol at places like wholesalers (where you might otherwise need a membership card).

As SmartMoney reveals:

Massachusetts' law, for example, provides that applicants for a license to sell alcohol must "serve the public need and protect the common good." In simpler terms, alcohol sold must be available for purchase by the greater public — no membership restrictions (however the minimum age requirement still applies.) "We uphold those old laws; therefore, any alcohol sold in our clubs in such states is open to the public," says Teleia Farrell, a spokeswoman for BJ's Wholesale Clubs.

Stores like Sam's Club, and Costco have differing options (including no options at all).

Generally speaking, however, this loophole can result in huge savings (anywhere around 20%). That said, don't expect workers to know these laws. Find and talk to a manager if you need to. Bringing this article with you couldn't hurt in also helping to prove your case.

When I used this law, it worked out pretty flawlessly. A manager just further emphasized the fact that this pertained to only alcohol and was not a free ride to buy whatever I wanted in the store without a membership card.

Anyway, try it out if you need to, and save!