Real has a special offer for a limited time, they are giving a $10 credit for new or old customers at their new MP3 store.

Chris says on his blog that

Real is selling music for a number of years now much longer than Apple’s iTunes, but they previously offered only licensed music downloads. After Amazon, iTunes and others started selling MP3 songs, Real wanted to be a part in it as well, so they have started a new MP3 Store today.

To kick start their store, Real is offering $10 credit to purchase either a full album or 10 songs. However, this offer is available only for the first 100,000 customers (99,999, I already downloaded mine) and the deadline for this is July 4, 2008.

Very cool. Thanks for the tip, Chris.

Nora Dunn over at Wise Bread expands on these thoughts with some great tips to save money the easy way.

Some of her thoughts:

1. Change your withholding on your taxes: It's better to have all that money on your paycheck now -- and save it in an interest-bearing account, or use it to pay down debt --- than give the government an interest-free loan.

2. Lower insurance premiums: Shop around for cheaper policies, or at least increase the deductibles on your car and home insurance, which should lower your premiums.

3. Lower credit card payments by transferring credit card debt to cards with lower rates.

4. As Eileen Ambrose suggested, consolidate your student loans.

5. Lower health and child care costs. Set up health and dependent care spending accounts, so you can take pre-tax dollars and set them aside for medical or babysitting bills you are expecting.

And let's not forget Bob's excellent suggestions ...

This is something I've personally been toying with, especially with recent reminders that we shouldn't take employment for granted. I share a Netflix subscription, but before I got it I probably didn't rent movies more than once a month, and even now I probably only watch two or three a month. Definitely not getting a lot of value out of this equation!

Same goes for my fairly inexpensive gym membership. I first joined because I wouldn't maintain any sort of pace without the threat of falling off a treadmill. I've since discovered it is in fact possible to jog outside, sans technical assistance, so I only get over to the gym about once a week at most. Although I like supporting a fitness and community center in this neighborhood, it may be an expense I can cut.

Consumer Reports Money Lab uncovered six tips that can help you shave oodles of dough from your budget. Consumer Reports, the magazine, will share the news with you in its August issue on sale this week. But me, I care about you readers so much, I'm going to share it with you now (well, mostly because CR gives me permission to).

So, for the Cheap Tricks Thursday, CR says you can save:

How to do it: Start at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Web site, click on NAIC States and jurisdictions to find your state's insurance department. Most provide comparative premium quotes based on standard customer profiles.

$110 by optimizing your life insurance. Life insurance premiums have dropped dramaticaly since the 1990s. It will probably pay for you to replace a policy bought years ago with a comparable new one. A $500,000 20-year guaranteed level term from Prudential, for example, would have cost a 50-year-old about $2,125 a year in 1998. Today, the same guy, now 60, could pay Prudential $1,385 a year for the same coverage over the next ten years, saving $60 a month.

How to do it: Get premium quotes at www.accuquote.com and www.lifeinsure.com. Don’t cancel your existing policy until you have a new one already in place.

How to do it: Plan menus around sales of fresh poultry, fish, meat, dairy, and produce, and make use of leftovers. Avoid costly prepared meals. Eat more low-priced high-nutrition foods like beans and potatoes. Try less expensive store brands, and sign up for store discount cards.

$25 by forcing yourself to stop paying bank fees. Banks collected some $39 billion in account fees and penalties last year. That works out to an average of $28 per month per household. But with some planning, you can pay zero.

How to do it: Bank at large institutions with lots of ATMs in convenient locations. Shop for free checking and strictly adhere to provisions for a minimum balance, direct deposit, or other conditions to avoid monthly fees.

$35 by calling up phone savings. When CR’s experts examined real phone bills they uncovered savings from $15 a month for budget callers to $55 per month for heavy users.

How to do it: Peruse your last few month’s phone bills to assess how many minutes you typically use on landline and wireless calls. Comparison shop among cellular service providers, the local phone company, and your cable TV company. Don’t buy more than you need, such as an unlimited cellular plan if you rarely go over 900 minutes per month.

$65 by paying off your credit card. On average, consumers who carry a balance owe $2,200, on which they pay 15.2 percent in annual interest charges. Eliminate that and save $28 per month. Some 15 percent of consumers carry balances of $10,000 or more; they can save $125 per month by paying off their debt.

How to do it: Stop charging, then pay more than the minimum required each month until it’s paid off. Dig up cash for this from your U.S. Treasury stimulus check, garage sales, or extra work part-time.

Even if you adopt just a couple of those ideas, you could save a bundle so what are you waiting for? Snap to it.

Imagine, for instance, the savings if you traded in a Hummer for a Prius!

Well, Edmunds.com, an online provider of auto information, has come up with a reality check. Its online calculator allows you to plug in the make, model and year of your car and what you want to trade it in for. Then it figures if there's a savings or not.

"Car buyers think they can save money by dumping their gas-guzzler and purchasing a gas-sipper," says Edmund's Philip Reed in a statement. "But when you look at the big picture -- total cash out of pocket -- a very different situation is often revealed."

Edmunds uses the example of ditching a 4-year-old GMC Yukon worth $13,483 for a spanking new Toyota Prius worth $21,647. That's an $8,164 difference. If the consumer drives 1,200 miles per month and gas costs $4.07 per gallon, the monthly fuel savings will be $201.34.

Sounds good, but is it? It will take 41 months - more than 3 years - to pay back the extra cost of the Prius over the trade-in value of the Yukon, Edmunds reports.

I plugged in the information on a 2005 Hummer vs. 2008 Prius. As it turns out, there's no cost savings.

Play around with the site yourself. Let us know if you think it useful or not.

The Project on Student Debt has posted details of the changes online. Here are some of the highlights:

The interest rate on new subsidized – meaning the government pays the interest on the loan while you’re in school – drops from 6.8 percent to 6 percent for undergraduates. Unsubsidized Stafford loans remain at 6.8 percent interest.

Undergrads can also borrow an extra $2,000 a year in unsubsidized loans. That means the new annual limit for dependent students is $5,500 for freshmen, $6,500 for sophomores, and $7,500 for juniors and seniors. Independent students or those whose parents don’t qualify for a government PLUS loan will be able to borrow up to $6,000 in each of the first and second years, and $7,000 in the third and fourth years.

The maximum you can borrow under the Stafford loan program during your college years also is going up. Undergraduate dependent students will be able to borrow a maximum of $31,000, up from $23,000. The new limit for independent students will be $57,500, up from $46,000.

Also, the new variable rate for Stafford loans taken out before July 2006 is going down to 4.21 percent. But new graduates who consolidate a variable-rate loan can lock in a lower rate of 3.61 percent.

Did you negotiate with the cable company or your cell phone provider for a lower rate? Argue your way out of bank fees? Sell a prized movie or CD collection for some fast cash?

Like Dan-Thanh, the news that big job changes may be coming for us at The Sun has put the fire under my heels to find new ways to cut expenses and direct more money to the rainy day fund.

So, please share any ideas you have for battening down the hatches during rough times. I'm particularly curious about low-impact changes ...

For example, it might not be feasible for everyone to ditch their cars entirely ... though it's tempting, given the rising cost of fuel and ever-present insurance. But you might not miss it if you cut down on your driving --- and convinced your insurance company to lower your auto premium because you're spending less time on the road.

So, please share any hints you have for making your dollar go farther. I'll combine the best secrets in a master list on Thursday.

Upon reading the ending again, I have to agree with Jeffrey that it may lead people to interpret it differently. I really wasn't trying to be clever. It was unintentional. Here's what I wrote:

But the bottom line in this case is that Larsen could have chosen to dine anywhere that night. Given that he chose the Oregon Grille, that he has consistently visited the restaurant every year for eight years, and that he spent $350 on dinner that night, one would think that quibbling over a $7 price difference for a drink is more than just petty.

It's downright ridiculous.

As a consumer, you have every right to expect the advertised price to be correct. While the restaurant did inform him about the price difference before the drink came to the table and before he was charged, it is still Mr. Larsen's right as a consumer to ask that the listed price be honored. That's Maryland law. They restaurant doesn't have to sell it to you at its listed price, as I said in the column, but Maryland law allows you to ask for it and then file a complaint if it is not honored. While the money in this complaint is small, think about how you would feel if they told you at the counter that a TV you wanted to buy wasn't $1,000 like it said on the display case, but really $1,200. Would you feel like you were misled?

To lose a customer, who just spent $350 on dinner, over a $7 dispute is crazy. Any restaurant worth its salt would have owned up to the mistake (they did, after all, give him the incorrect menu to start with) and given him the drink on the house or honored the price listed. A happy customer will keep coming back and recommend it to friends and family. An angry customer will tell everyone they know and don't know about the bad experience. Why risk bad word of mouth?

Mr. Larsen's experience hit a nerve with other readers, too, who shared their own bad experience there, including Valerie Earwood who said:

A few years ago, my husband and I were celebrating our 25 anniversary in early August. I called the Oregon Grille and told them that my husband has a severe hearing problem and we that we needed to sit side by side so that he could hear me. I also told the restaurant that we could dine at any time, but preferred when the restaurant would be the least crowded.

 

We arrived when the restaurant opened for dinner and were dressed appropriately for our special occasion. We were the only patrons in the restaurant. We were offered the option of having a cocktail in the bar and decided to do so. When we entered the dining room for dinner, we were shown a small table with 2 chairs across from each other. I explained about my husband’s hearing problem and that I had requested side by side seating. Again, we were standing in a deserted dining room and were the only ones in the restaurant. I was told that all the other tables on the main dining floor were booked, but that they could accommodate our seating request upstairs.

The air conditioning was not turned on upstairs and it was very hot and muggy. My husband and I had a debate as to whether to leave and we mistakenly decided to stay and make the best of it.

However, when we finished our meal (around 6:30pm) and descended the stairs, we saw an empty dining room! I was livid! We had endured the heat upstairs when there was plenty of room downstairs. Again, I asked about the main floor seating and was told that it was booked. My husband and I frequent other upscale restaurants and all are usually very accommodating, especially when we arrive early and leave by the time the main dinner service is starting.

Later in the week, I wrote a letter to the manager at the Oregon Grille. We were not as lucky as Mr. Larsen, as we never received a reply or an apology.

So, when I read your article, I understood immediately how Mr. Larsen was treated and how he felt. Apparently, both initial and return customer satisfaction is not a high priority at the Oregon Grille.

Here's how the Oregon Grille should have handled this incident, says reader Doug Robinson who wrote:

Amazing these days that a restaurant would risk losing a customer.   I am a firm believer of speaking up for poor service or poor food quality and sending letters to the owners or corporate offices. But seven dollars, how stupid is that.

I frequent, among other favorites, the Wine Market on Fort.  

At a brunch with family and friends, the listed special my wife ordered turned out to not be available after she ordered it.  So she picked something else. When it came time to pay, the Wine Market had not charged for her meal and dessert and drink.

Needless to say we were surprised and continue to spend money there.

(Sun Photographer Algerina Perna)

You've heard many airlines such as Continental and JetBlue are now charging to check a second bag. You know American Airlines and United Airlines will even charge you $15 to check a first bag!

Here are the latest airline fees due to fuel increases: Delta charges up to $50 to redeem frequent flier miles, for flights booked on or after Aug. 15. That's a $25 charge for domestic flights and $50 for international.

This isn't unheard of --- American charges $10, and US Airways will charge up to $50 for flights booked on or after Aug. 6.

Check out the links to the best guides to airline fees over at What's the Deal?, the Sun's travel blog.  

And if you have a bunch of miles you know you'll never use ...