The Simple Dollar subscribes to Consumer Reports and eagerly awaits each new issue. After receiving and absorbing it, I post the highlights for all to enjoy.

The theme of this issue of Consumer Reports can be summed up in one word: kitchens. From the bright remodeled kitchen picture on the cover to the multitude of articles inside having to do with kitchen topics, this is almost a theme issue of Consumer Reports, well worth picking up on the newsstand if you’re looking at a kitchen remodel, a new refrigerator or range, and so on. Here are ten tidbits from the issue that stood out at me.

The Braun PowerMax MX2050 is the best blender for the buck by far We’ve been looking carefully at blenders for a while to replace our old clunker that sounds like a chainsaw on nitroglycerine and doesn’t chop ice at all. The CR tests make a compelling case for this $50 model, so we may make the move on it before long. (p. 6)

The cost per cookie for prepackaged cookie dough is ridiculous It’s not hard to make your own cookie dough - you can even make huge batches and freeze most of it. Why would you pay for cookie dough that tastes like processed food and costs you $0.30 a cookie? I don’t get it. They claim that Trader Joe’s Chunky is the best available, but I can make better than that for far less than a dime a cookie. Have some frugal pride! (p. 8)

Quartz is the best choice for classy but tough kitchen countertop It looks comparable to granite, but is slightly cheaper and wears much better. CR recommends staying away from butcher block unless you enjoy devoting tons of time to counter maintenance. (p. 24)

Induction cooktops are really great - but really expensive They heat incredibly quickly, but their cost is almost prohibitive - their scores on the tests were outstanding, though, and a foodie like me is quite interested. (p. 34)

There is no “best” type of refrigerator I’ve heard various people claim that side-by-sides are the best, or that freezers on the bottom are best. The truth? There are good and bad in each type - don’t chain yourself into one specific type. (p. 38)

The mid-level Kenmore dishwashers are stellar They did excellent in the tests - the $650 1374 model topped all dishwashers, including some pushing $2,000. (p. 40)

Go cheap on dishwasher detergent The Cascade Complete washes better, but not more than a dime a load better - that kind of cost really adds up over time. The Great Value Wal-Mart store brand does quite well for only a nickel a load. (p. 42)

Amazon is the best place to get small appliances I’ve found that for prices on the same item, it’s hard to beat Amazon on most things. Particularly the Kitchen-Aid stand mixer I’ve been eyeing for ages. (p. 47)

Maybe you shouldn’t go to Consumer Reports for financial advice A two page article on how to pay for a home remodeling now on credit? Hmm… maybe not. (p. 50)

Omega-3 fatty acids improve brain ability, too? I’ve been an avid fish eater all of my life and I’ve supplemented that lately with omega-3 vitamins for the heart benefits, but I wasn’t aware that they helped brain activity. I went looking for more sources and it’s apparently an established medical fact. Interesting. (p. 53)

I’m a big believer in the idea that buying a quality product (by quality, I don’t necessarily mean the most expensive - keep reading) is worth the extra money you put in versus finding the absolute cheapest deal.

A couple months ago, I discussed looking at the total cost of ownership when buying an appliance. While TCO is a great tool to use when figuring out a purchase, it is far from the only tool you should be using.

Take, for example, diapers. I’ve been criticized on here before for spending far too much on diapers because of our loyalty to Pampers Cruisers (and their infant version, Pampers Swaddlers). We often pay roughly a quarter per diaper for these, which really adds up over the two years your child is in diapers considering you can get many generic brand diapers for ten cents a pop (or occasionally less than that).

So why do we pay so much extra? The Cruisers simply do not fail, period. We’ve never had a single one break or bust open on us. With the exception of periods of heavy teeting, they have never caused our child to have any diaper rash at all. The only leakage we have ever seen was in cases of intense diarrhea when he was ill or when we were keeping him in a small size for too long and he would urinate in the night (our own fault for exceeding the weight on the box). They’re very easy to put on, the tape never fails, and the elastic works quite well for ensuring a snug fit. We tried other diapers (we actually asked for a wide variety of them as baby shower gifts) and they all had problems of various kinds except for the Swaddlers and Cruisers. Even with just that narrow price difference, it costs an extra $876 to use those diapers over a period of two years (8 diapers a day).

We pay the extra $0.15 per diaper to cover other costs. The cost of extra time invested when a diaper breaks open. The cost of frustration when these things happen just as you’re trying to get out the door to go on a trip or get to work. The cost of the occasional diaper that would be thrown away with a break on the tape. The cost of additional laundry and wipes when his diaper leaks all over the place.

These are costs, too, and to us, they’re an important part of being frugal. When you include all of the costs, buying these diapers makes our lives simpler. Diaper disasters simply do not happen, and that has saved us countless incidents of frustration and cleaning.

The same principle applies to any consumer purchase. As I mentioned in the earlier article about total cost of ownership, even though I was spending much more up front on a more expensive washing machine, over a long period, it became much cheaper. This only discusses money - by buying a known reliable washing machine, we incur many fewer incidents where the washing machine is on the fritz or it needs replacing, which means less frustration, fewer repair calls, and fewer trips to the appliance store to pick out a new one. These are real costs, too - they may be harder to quantify, but they have an effect on your life.

How do you know what to buy? I turn to Consumer Reports - they may not be perfect, but they are impartial and their resources for investigation far exceed mine. I trust their word for consumer goods and appliances and I fanatically use their online archives that are available to subscribers.

This doesn’t mean I don’t look for great, cheap solutions. I’m a big believer in my homemade laundry detergent, for example; I tried it side-by-side with some of the Consumer Reports choices and mine did just as well, even with highly stained clothes. For me, looking at all of the costs (and not just the money ones), making my own batch of detergent in a five gallon bucket is the best option.

The Simple Dollar subscribes to Consumer Reports and eagerly awaits each new issue. After receiving and absorbing it, I post the highlights for all to enjoy.

This issue of Consumer Reports was loaded with lots of variety - these are usually the issues I like best, because they’ll test all sorts of interesting stuff. Here are the ten things that stood out to me in the issue.

The cheapest sunscreen lotion was among the best Reviews like this are why I love Consumer Reports. While Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch SPF 45 was the best one tested, the substantially cheaper No-Ad SPF 45 fared almost as well and was about four bucks cheaper per fluid ounce. (p. 6)

When you go to book a hotel room, ask whether there are charges beyond room occupancy and sales tax and nix anything you don’t want. Hotels today often pile on the “options” without even asking you, and most of the time you never use them. So ask and save. (p. 13)

The Ritz-Carlton is the best hotel, but the most expensive Microtel is the best budget hotel chain, and Drury Inn/Suites is the best sub-$100 deal. Howard Johnson is apparently the scariest. (p. 15)

JetBlue is the best air carrier? Was this article assembled before their recent meltdown in New York? I do have to give props to their number two, Midwest Airlines. I’ve used them before and the experience was the nicest I’ve had on a domestic flight. (p. 19)

Hebrew National, Nathan’s Famous, and Boar’s Head dominate the hot dog rankings You basically can’t go wrong with these three brands, as all of their entrants made the top six hot dogs out of 23 tested. I am very partial to Hebrew National; if I’m going to enjoy a hot dog (great lunches while watching baseball), it had better be a good one. (p. 22)

Michelob Ultra Amber is the best “light” beer, but… “Light” beer doesn’t really mean much at all. The light version of one beer usually has fewer calories than the regular version of another, but not all light beers have fewer calories than all non-light beers. (p. 24)

There’s a huge digital camera writeup There were lots of models that were roughly equivalent, though, so the conclusion and recommendations of the article didn’t really mean a whole lot. If you’re thinking of buying a camera, it might be useful to pick up the issue on the news stands and make sure your desired model isn’t near the bottom of the list, but 80% of the list was very close in ratings. (p. 30)

Most software supplied with digital cameras is terrible. Microsoft’s default Photo Gallery program in Windows is better than most of it and Apple’s iPhoto is even better than that. I didn’t even bother installing the junk that came with my latest digital camera. (p. 39)

Cabot decking stains blow away all competition. It’s pretty much as simple as that. Cabot decking stain has a score 20 points higher than the next closest non-Cabot brand. (p. 48)

Summer is the time to buy indoor furniture. Isn’t that convenient, considering right now is the time we’re moving and have very little furniture? The article gives a schedule of when to make most major purchases the year around. (p. 52)

Over the weekend, my wife and I visited an appliance store where we were looking at potential appliances that we may have to purchase when we move into our home. We are doing such things now so that we can quickly order such items when the actual rush of moving in and getting settled happens.

Anyway, while we were shopping, we were also perusing an issue of Consumer Reports and a few other items we had printed off that discussed the various features of the washers and dryers we were looking at. Of particular interest to us was electrical use, water use, and reliability. In the end, after looking at a lot of different models, we came to an agreement on exactly which model to buy.

Afterwards, we sat around the dinner table with my parents and we told them about the washer we had decided on, including all the features and other caveats. When we told them the price of the washer, however ($1,200), my father almost spit out his food. “We’ve never spent more than $400 on a washing machine,” he said proudly.

However, under further discussion and inspection of their washer, I discovered that it had been replaced roughly every five years, it wasn’t Energy Star compliant (in fact, it used a ton of electricity) and it also used a lot of water. So, together, we sat down and ran the numbers over twenty years, assuming the same amount of laundry in both machines. Given the average front load washer lasts about twelve years, I figured in one and a half machines for myself at $1,200 a pop and four low-end top loaders for himself at $400 a pop, giving me a total of $1,800 in upfront costs, while he spends $1,600 up front.

Then it got interesting. When we looked at the cost per load for water and electricity, we found that his machine was costing roughly six cents per load more than my machine. If you figure six loads a week for fifty two weeks over twenty years, you end up with extra costs of almost $400. That means that his “cheap” machines have a total cost of ownership of almost $200 more than mine over twenty years. That’s also assuming that, even though I’m buying the most reliable one, it only has the “average” washing machine lifespan, plus it doesn’t include the additional headaches of buying as many new machines, having them delivered, etc.

When you are about to make an expensive purchase, it’s important to estimate how long you’ll be using the item. Will you be living in the same house in twenty years? Ten? Five?

With that in mind, it’s worth your time to calculate the total cost of ownership of an item. In other words, if you use this item normally over your timeframe, which is really the cheapest item? Factors always worth looking at are the reliability of the item (I use Consumer Reports to gauge this), the cost per use (electricity, water, miles per gallon, etc.), and also maintenance costs.

When I first started doing this regularly, I was often shocked to find that the best value price point was very rarely anywhere near the low end and was often near the high end. If you’re looking for the “best buy,” don’t just go for the cheapest item when making a major purchase, no matter what the item is. Spend some time figuring out what the total cost of the item’s use will be over a longer period of time, then compare the items based on that period.

The Simple Dollar subscribes to Consumer Reports and eagerly awaits each new issue. After receiving and absorbing it, I post the highlights for all to enjoy.

A fairly provocative cover this month: Consumer Reports reviews diets? My wife read through the article, though, and said it was pretty accurate based on her and her friends’ experiences. All in all, a pretty interesting issue - here are the ten tidbits that stood out to me.

Consumer Reports is on board with climate change - and talks about adverse effects at national parks. An interesting and fairly political take for the magazine, but reading the article reveals that they’re mostly discussing clearly observable phenomena and aren’t strictly talking about global warming. Mostly, the effects are seen at parks that typically have significant winter recreation, which is slowly vanishing. (p. 8 )

Eating something for breakfast is a key part of a successful diet. I’ve talked about how eating breakfast saves money in the past, but it’s interesting to note that a simple breakfast (typically some cereal and fruit) is a part of every diet plan they examined. (p. 13)

Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet is the best diet book around. I’ve actually been reading a few diet books recently (You On A Diet and The Sonoma Diet, the latter mostly because a diet with wine is a diet I like) and so it was interesting to see CR’s take on them. The Best Life Diet was strong in every respect that they looked at: nutritional analysis, exercise, scientific validity, ease of use, and meal plans. (p. 14)

The best diet plan, though, was Volumetrics. They distinguished between diet books and diet plans by indicating that the plans have been put through clinical trials, so while the published material on Volumetrics isn’t necessarily the most user-friendly, it is the best among plans that have been through the rigors of clinical testing. (p. 16)

CR loves their MacBook Pro. It got far and away the best ratings among reviewed laptops, but it’s also the most expensive. My Dell Inspiron E1505, which I can say that I like quite a bit, is in the middle of the pack; their best “value” laptop was the Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427. (p. 20)

If you’re buying a gas grill, the $300 Char-Broil Commercial Series at Lowe’s is the best bang for the buck. It’s in the top five, marked as a “CR Best Buy,” and has a much higher quality than a lot of grills selling for three times the price. (p. 32)

The Whirlpool Duet HT GHW9400P is the top washing machine pick. It’s a front-loading machine and quite expensive, though. My wife and I are particularly interested in washers and dryers right now as we prepare for our big move. (p. 44)

High-efficiency detergents are becoming the standard. All of the front-loading washers and even some of the top-loading ones now recommend using high-efficiency laundry detergents. I like to make my own detergent, but to each his own, I guess. (p. 44)

If you’re looking at an online brokerage, Firstrade and E*Trade top the list. Firstrade was the winner, but E*Trade seemed to have many more options for research. (p. 48)

CR really likes upscale sedans. The Infiniti G35 tops their review, but they seem to be pretty big fans of the majority of the upscale sedans. Of course, for $30,000 and up, you’d better be getting a swell car. (p. 50)

The Simple Dollar subscribes to Consumer Reports and eagerly awaits each new issue. After receiving and absorbing it, I post the highlights for all to enjoy.

After last month’s auto issue (which I admittedly find boring), the May 2007 issue of Consumer Reports is actually loaded with interesting stuff. Here are ten tidbits that really jumped out at me.

The Canon PowerShot SD500 is their best subcompact digital camera - meaning I hit a home run with my recent purchase. I owned an older Canon PowerShot (the SD 230) that met a very unfortunate demise. I really loved that camera, so I did some research and bought the PowerShot SD500 as a replacement - and I’ve been really, really happy with my purchase. Apparently Consumer Reports agrees - it’s always a good feeling when Consumer Reports confirms your own research and backs up your purchase decision. (p. 6)

Bogle Vineyards makes a great cheap merlot. They listed ten great wines under $10; the only one I’ve tried is the Bogle Vineyards merlot, which I quite liked. You should be able to get it on the cheap pretty easily, and it gets a thumbs up from both myself and Consumer Reports. (p. 8 )

The article has a great rule of thumb for replacing worn-out equipment

Generally, if a product costs less than $150 to replace or if repairs would cost more than half the price of a new model, it’s smarter to replace it.

This is generally true for everything, from DVD players all the way up to automobiles. (p. 12)

An article comparing CostCo and Sam’s Club concludes that they’re pretty close. CostCo has better groceries, Sam’s Club is a bit cheaper and has better return policies. I’ve been happy with the Sam’s Club near me for a lot of things, but it’s hard to buy in bulk right now because our living space is very cramped. (p. 16)

That article also offers tips for shopping at warehouse stores. Make a list before you go, don’t buy a huge container of something unless you know you like it, and if the price at CostCo ends in .97 or the tag at Sam’s Club has a big C on it, it’s a clearance item that’s basically being discontinued. (p. 18)

If you hire out your lawn care, hire local. According to Consumer Reports, the quality of service with lawn care businesses is much higher with local businesses on a nationwide basis. If you’re not going to do it yourself, hire someone local to do it. (p. 23)

A lengthy discussion of their disastrous car seat test indicates some changes at Consumer Reports. The article went on for four pages and made it very clear why the tests went wrong. Personally, I wasn’t too bothered by the whole ordeal, as it basically was too harsh and not harsh enough - I now know that our Graco SnugRide can withstand one monster impact, which makes me feel better. (p. 30)

Brita tap filters actually do something. My wife swears that it’s a huge difference; I can’t taste any difference at all. Guess she was right. (p. 40)

A registered dietitian is worth the money; nutrition experts that are not RDs may not be. The rigor of acquiring an RD designation (coursework, field experience, examination, and continuing education) is really worth the money if you need to seek one. If the person isn’t an RD, it’s not worth it. (p. 41)

Travel insurance is mostly redundant. If you have a homeowner’s and a medical insurance policy, they usually cover almost everything worthwhile in travel insurance. An exception: emergency medical assistance; if you’re really concerned about this, you can get this by itself quite cheaply. (p. 43)

The Simple Dollar subscribes to Consumer Reports and eagerly awaits each new issue. After receiving and absorbing it, I post the highlights for all to enjoy.

The current April 2007 issue of Consumer Reports also happens to be their annual auto issue, which means that from cover to cover it’s nothing but cars. Here’s the rule of thumb: if you’re considering an auto purchase in the next year, get this issue; otherwise, you can probably skip it and not miss anything important. Here are ten highlights that jumped out at me.

Information overload. The issue packs a ton of information on 2007 automobile models in this thin issue. Browsing through it, I started to get a sense of information overload, which is great if you’re trying to pick a car to buy, but not so great if you’re not looking right now.

Honda and Toyota dominate. The vast majority of the categories are dominated by models made by either Honda or Toyota. Clearly, in terms of economical cars, these are two companies to trust as a rule of thumb.

CR loves the Toyota Prius. There is Prius love throughout the magazine. It gets a top score in reliability, a top score in crash protection, was voted the most satisfying vehicle to own in their survey, and “its 44 mpg is the best we’ve measured in any five-passenger vehicle.”

Toyota is the most reliable manufacturer, Volkswagen the least reliable. This general trend is true no matter the vehicle age. All other manufacturers are somewhere in between these two extremes.

Ford is rebounding, GM isn’t. In general, it seems as though Consumer Reports believes the newest Ford models are definitely improving and heading in the right direction, while GM’s models, as a rule, aren’t.

The Lexus LS is the most reliable car, period. This has been true for several years, though, and isn’t entirely surprising.

SUVs are improving greatly on their gas mileage. Many of the top models are now above 20 miles per gallon, far, far better than the gas guzzling demons of the past decade.

If you are on a budget, your best bets are the Ford Focus or the Honda Civic. Both of these are relatively inexpensive, rather reliable, and get strong gas mileage, but are small and weak on the amenities. I will say anecdotally that I know two Ford Focus owners and they both love their car greatly.

Our next vehicle purchase is likely to be a Toyota Sienna. That’s their top-ranked minivan, which with an army of nieces and nephews, a toddler of our own, and another on the way, we’re going to be moving in that direction, perhaps before the year is out (depending on the health of our own vehicle).

You get what you pay for. With few exceptions, the models with good scores were generally rather pricy. There were few stellar models with MSRP below $20,000 in the issue. Ouch.

The Simple Dollar subscribes to Consumer Reports and eagerly awaits each new issue. After receiving and absorbing it, I post the highlights for all to enjoy.

The March 2007 issue of Consumer Reports arrived in my mailbox a few days ago. The cover article about HDTVs didn’t enthuse me that much (I’m not much of a television watcher outside of a very tiny handful of specific programs - Doctor Who, Lost, and 24), but as always, there was plenty of meat between the covers to keep me interested. Here are the ten most interesting tidbits I extracted from the issue:

McDonalds actually makes decent coffee. In fact, for the dollar, McDonalds is far and away the best low-end coffee available in the mornings, even whipping Starbucks’ basic black.

Rebates are a good deal - for the company offering the rebate. Four out of ten people who are eligible for rebates never collect on them, which means that rebates are mostly just a very effective form of advertising. If you buy an item with a rebate, you’re better off doing the rebate immediately, or else the likelihood of rebate redemption drops drastically.

The Black & Decker Cordless Power Scissors my wife received for Christmas wasn’t a complete waste. Consumer Reports indicates that it’s the best tool available for opening up those almost-impossible-to-open clamshell packages. My wife actually noticed their utility in this regard when opening a pair of Christmas gifts, incidentally.

Airlines may be less safe than before. The FAA has become more cavalier in allowing outsourcing of maintenance work, and has become more reliant on statistical analysis than visual inspection for finding problems on airplanes. Both of these facts indicate that airplanes may be less safe than they used to be.

Competition among huge telecoms makes buying communication package deals quite cheap. If you’re getting your telephone, cable, and internet from different sources, find out if you can save substantially by getting all of the services in a combined package from one provider. This actually turned out to be a very good deal for us.

Strip down your cable package. If you’re thinking of buying a cable package, don’t pay a bunch just to get only a handful of channels you’ll watch. Ask them what their most basic service is, then just add on the stuff you’ll actually use. Quite often, you’ll come in far below the package they tried to sell you.

Cheap paints generally aren’t worth it - and give low-luster paints a try first. If you’re thinking of repainting a room, try a sample of the high-end low luster paint first. Paint a small practice board with the color, take it home, and hang it on the wall in the room, and give it a few days to see how it looks under different light and whether you really like it or not.

Only a few “extras” really matter on vacuum cleaners. These include a “full bag” indicator, a retractible cord, a manual pile adjust, and suction control on the attachments so you can use less suction on the curtains. Most of the other “extras” are rather unimportant.

Sears makes a very good vacuum cleaner. The Kenmore Progressive With Direct Drive upright vacuum, in both bag and bagless forms, rank near the top for all uprights, including a lot of models that are far more expensive.

Credit union memberships are becoming quite easy - and they offer great services for joining. Credit unions, for example, offer car loans that are on average 1.4% lower than traditional banks offer and while their accounts don’t match the returns for online banks, they do offer significantly better returns than normal brick-and-mortar banks.