Complete Finance Blog

Do you gasp in shock every time your optometrist offers you a pair of $300-$400 eyeglasses? Do you have more than one family member needing corrective lenses? If you don’t want to go into debt after every eye exam, you’ll want to pay careful attention to what I’m going to say next. It pays to shop around. In fact, anyone on a budget knows that there are some incredible deals to be had by ordering your prescription eyeglasses online.

Here are five places where you can find significantly discounted glasses. You’ll need a copy of your most recent eye exam and a credit card to order them with. It’s also helpful if you like their Facebook pages because that’s where you’ll find coupon codes, free shipping offers, and other opportunities for savings.

No matter what your style or prescription may be you’ll find a wide range of eyeglasses by visiting these five websites. Take advantage of special offers and make use of coupons to keep your eyecare needs under control this year.

To see if you and your family qualify for free eye exams, visit Vision USA. Income requirements and information about program eligibility is available on the organization’s website. Other companies t

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A $15 billion auction of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities this month drew the strongest demand since March even though yields on the notes average less than zero percent for the first time, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. Yields on all types of Treasuries are at or near record lows and, except for the 30-year bond, provide negative real returns after taking into account the consumer price index.

Investors are seeking the safety of U.S. debt as analysts cut their growth forecasts and Europe’s fiscal crisis deepens, helping the government borrow record sums to support the economy almost five years after the subprime mortgage meltdown led to worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. TIPS have returned 111.3 percent the past decade, beating the 73.4 percent for Treasuries not indexed to inflation. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has gained about 33 percent, including dividends.

Even with real rates being negative, investors view TIPS as the optimal place to put your money if you do have to buy U.S. bonds because it is still government paper while also protecting you from long-term inflation, George Goncalves, the head of interest-rate strategy in New York at Nomura Holdings Inc., said in a Jan.

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Over the weekend we visited a nearby Sams Club, something we havent done in many months. My wife and I agreed it is something we should consider doing on a regular basis (maybe monthly) to stock up on a number of staple food items and paper products.

Naturally, we both wondered if shopping like this was really saving us money, or just saving us from more trips to the grocery store, which in turn would likely save us money.

The problem, for me, with shopping at places like Sams Club is that there are so many shiny things to distract you. If you manage to steer clear of the electronics section, bypass the rows of discounted books and outdoor equipment, you will eventually make your way to the food, where the occasional deal may be found.

We like to stock up on things like ground beef, which comes reasonably priced in big family pack packaging. Once home, we separate the ground beef into roughly 1 pound portions and freeze them for future use in various recipes and regular dishes (tacos, spaghetti, homemade burgers, etc).

We also typically like to stock up on certain non-food items paper towels, toilet paper, kitchen trash bags, over-the-counter medicines and vitamins, etc.

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National reserve inventories of heating oil and diesel have just taken their biggest weekly hit since 2004, Bloomberg reported.

The surprise six million barrel distillate draw-down, which sent oil prices even higher last week, was revealed in the Energy Information Administration’s weekly inventory data report. But it comes at a time when Northeast distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, are already well below average. And average residential heating oil prices are now 80 cents a barrel more than they were 12 months ago, with prices forecast to rise even further this winter.

In its Heating Oil Watch report, the EIA says East Coast distillate inventories typically build to a peak in November to help meet winter demand in December, January and February. However they have been declining since the end of August and are now 11 percent below their five-year average. The Northeast is the nation’s biggest heating oil market, with millions of homes reliant on fuel oil for warmth during the harsh winter heating season.

The EIA attributes this year’s lower stocks largely to foreign export demand, with Europe and Latin America leading the charge. The U

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