General

Last month's post about refurbished gear generated lots of great feedback, so today I'd like to open the floor to an even more controversial topic: rebates.

I know from reading various post comments that many of you have strong feelings about this. A few of you have even accused me of "promoting scams," which I suppose is understandable if you've been burned by a rebate deal in the past. (For the record, I'm not affiliated in any way with any company, so the only thing I'm promoting is my fondness for cheap stuff.)… Read more

Most cable companies charge at least $3 per month for your modem, which adds up to $36 per year. But there's no law that says you have to lease their modem; BYO and you can pocket that cash instead.

You'll start recouping your investment around month seven with the D-Link DCM-202 cable modem, currently on sale for $19.99, shipped, after a $20 mail-in rebate.

Before you buy, you should call your cable company to make sure they support the DCM-202. But judging by the roughly 400 Newegg buyers who rated this modem 5 out of 5, compatibility … Read more

From time to time I'll post deals on refurbished/recertified items, which are sold at a discount because they didn't meet a manufacturer's quality standards or were returned (for one reason or another) and can't be sold as new. What do you think of these deals? Have you had good luck buying refurb gear, or did you end up regretting it? I'd love to hear your stories--and so would your fellow Cheapskate readers.

I'll kick things off with one of my own. Last year, Mrs. Cheapskate needed an LCD TV with a built-in DVD … Read more