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Doing Valentine's Day the Clark Smart way

Valentine's Day is coming up. Are you ready, guys? Every year I see men who haven't planned ahead and have to make last-minute purchases at the end of the business day on Feb. 14. I just know they're getting fleeced on prices!

If you are into romance and saving money, you've got to plan ahead. You've still got several days left including the upcoming weekend, so there's no excuse to be unprepared.

When it comes to the price of roses, even Costco Wholesale marks them up around this time of year. Normally you can get two dozen for around $15 or $16. But during peak season, the warehouse club sells one dozen for around $16, passing along the warehouse club's standard markup of no more than 14% from their wholesalers.

My wife and I have a longstanding tradition where I give her roses about two weeks before Valentine's Day to avoid the markup at the last minute.

One thing I've never understood is why women want their roses delivered by a complete stranger from a floral company. Isn't it more fun to get the roses and hand-deliver them yourself to your wife or girlfriend at the office or at home, instead of having somebody else do it for you?

The personal element is just such a nice touch. Handwriting a declaration of love is likely to be appreciated by many women as well, even if you get the card at a dollar store.

If last-minute flowers are your thing, I suggest going to a supermarket or a nursery for competitive prices.

The supermarkets that have floral departments will often have multiple staffers on hand to accommodate people dashing in for bouquets. Nurseries, meanwhile, see their business drop off in the middle of winter and tend to offer high quality product at a low price to reintroduce themselves to customers this time year. Finally, some online sellers will undercut traditional florists on roses even during this holiday.

Show Notes

Websites and resources mentioned Feb. 8, 2012

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Mint.com - Free online budgeting software
VRBO.com - Vacation rentals by owner
DealNews.com - Find deals on computers
Nolo.com - Info about LLCs

Shop auto and home insurance to save money

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Shopping the insurance market for auto and home coverage periodically can save you big bucks.

I read in The New York Times  about a fellow who got a quote for auto insurance from a competing insurer out of the blue. The competitor offered a premium for the same coverage he already had, only it was almost exactly half of what he was currently paying!

So he calls his existing insurer to ask why they're twice as much money. The answer he got was kind of a shrug of the shoulders as if to say, "Because you never asked for a lower premium...."

Then they came back with a quote that was even cheaper than the offer that came out of the blue. The man went from paying $2,537 for two cars to paying $1,200 without even having to change insurers.

Over time, one of the most unusual facets of American capitalism is that companies have moved from rewarding our loyalty as customers to penalizing it. With insurance, if you don't reshop it from time to time, you'll end up missing opportunities to save elsewhere.

Sub-brands within brands can save you money

Some 30 years ago, I read something about how certain insurers have different sub-brands within the main brand. This is now very common in auto insurance.

The example in the article I read was about the company I had insurance with at the time. So I called my agent and asked if I could switch to this cheaper sub-brand. He checked -- this was before the era of computers -- and called back a few days later saying I could and that my premium would drop by about 60%. I was stunned.

All too often, we are so bored by insurance that we don't focus on it enough even though it is so expensive.

Allstate poised to raise homeowner premiums

Meanwhile, The Chicago Tribune  reports Allstate is poised to jack insurance rates in an effort to triple their profit level.

They've already gotten approval to increase premiums for home insurance by 8% in 17 states and this is just early innings. If you are Allstate insured, it's very much to your advantage to shop the marketplace.

By the way, when you're talking about insurance, you're not just concerned with the premium, but also with the quality of the company. Year after year, USAA and Amica Mutual both prove themselves to be at the top of the heap among insurers.

Travel agents compete for your cruise bookings

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If winter makes your thoughts go to swaying palm trees, beautiful beaches and cruise ships, I've got a website for you to find deals on the latter.

If you are experienced cruiser, you may know that I've talked in the past about using a site like CruiseCritic.com to get user reviews of cruise lines and other info.

Now there's another competitor to CruiseCritic called CruiseCompete.com. Using a reverse auction model, CruiseCompete puts providers in competition for your business and the price keeps bidding down, kind of like the opposite of eBay.

With CruiseCompete, you pick the ship you want and the date  of travel. Then travel agents compete for your sale, each cutting the price of your final ticket lower and lower.

What kind of service will you get after the sale -- or after the sail for that matter? Though the CruiseCompete does offer user reviews of travel agents, it all comes down to a personal choice; are you  interested strictly in saving money or in a combo of savings and service? That's up to you.

One final caveat, though. If you're buying your very first cruise, don't buy online. Buy from a real live cruise specialist at a travel agency and rely on their expertise. A good agent will ask about your interests, hobbies and what you like to do in your spare time. Much like people, cruise ships have a definite personality and a cruise agent can help you to find the right fit for yours.

Preview the latest segment of Clark Stinks

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Most callers love Clark and rave how his advice helped them. But what about those who say, "What was he talking about? Clark stinks!"

For all of you, Clark has set up the Clark Stinks message board where you can post any grievances, gripes or beef you have with the consumer champ and his advice. Once a week, executive producer Christa goes through the entries and reads several to Clark on the air for him to respond.

If you missed today's on-air segment, be sure to visit the Clark Stinks podcast page on Friday to hear it in its entirety. (Editor's note: We give our affiliates the courtesy of 48 hours to air show material before we post it online.) For now, you can read the posts that Clark responded to this week:

 

Websites and resources mentioned Feb. 7, 2012

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Overstock.com - Get a guaranteed quote for a car purchase
IBRInfo.org - Info on the income-based repayment plan for federal student loans
TripAdvisor.com - Travel info for major European cities

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