Free health screenings and more.

A little news you can use before the weekend, beginning with free health screenings at Sam’s Club on Saturday, Jan. 9.

All the Sam’s Club stores with pharmacies will offer the following tests to anyone who walks in (i.e., you don’t need to be a club member):

• Blood pressure
• Total cholesterol
• HDL (the “good” cholesterol)
• Glucose
• Body mass index
• Vision and hearing (at some locations)

The estimated value is $150. If you’ve been wondering about glucose or cholesterol, get yourself in there and find out where you stand.

 

Food bills got you down? You have until 11:59 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 11 to sign up for the Grocery Budget Makeover. The 10-week program was created by my DealPro colleague Erin Chase (of “$5 Dinners” fame) and promises to “change your mindset and methods of shopping” during that time.

Since she has four kids of her own and food allergies in the family, Chase is not going to suggest you open a lot of cans and bags. Her focus is on healthful meals that also taste great (see “four kids,” above) and that don’t break the bank (see “$5 dinners”).

Depending on which program you choose, you’ll spend $39 to $79 to sign up. Not a bad use of your money if you wind up reducing your grocery bill.

 

Good buys in January

Some tips on this month’s best deals, from Brent Shelton of the FatWallet.com cash-back site:

Health and fitness. Save 25 to 50 percent on workout equipment and other gear and also fitness and sports clothing. Vitamins, supplements and diet aids are also on sale all month, Shelton says.

Winter gear. Warmer-than-usual temps in some regions have affected sales of coats, hats, gloves and boots, so expect “an extra boost in traditional discounting” for January. The prediction: up to 60 percent off.

Tax software. The year’s best discounts on Turbotax and H&R Block take place in January, according to Shelton.

Televisions. You’ll see the best deals starting in mid-month, with savings of $200 or more.

Household textiles. The old “January white sale” still happens, with up to 50 percent off better-quality towels, sheets, window treatments and other home items.

 

See a penny? I’ll race you to it

The comments on “Why ‘found’ money matters” have been a lot of fun to read. Once again, it’s good to know I’m not the only one doing this. Apparently some of you feel the same way.

I’ve heard from both the Food Bank of Alaska and North Helpline, and you know what? They agree that every coin counts.

Speaking of counting coins, here’s a man who took it to extremes: Otha Anders, who’s been saving pennies for 45 years. “I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful,” the 73-year-old Louisiana man told USA Today.

He and friends trundled 15 five-gallon plastic water jugs into a bank and five hours later bank officials provided the total: $5,136.14, which Anders said will go toward paying off dental work.

That’s impressive, all right. Yet I’d also like to give a shout-out for a former Anchorage Daily News colleague, Sylvester Neal. In 2001 he poured 792,141 pennies into Coinstar machines in Anchorage, a task that took a total of 27 hours.

(To illustrate how much of a six-degrees-of-separation town Anchorage is, my niece happened to be working at the supermarket where Neal was cashing in. She called me at the newspaper to say, “You should send a photographer.”)

Here’s the fun part: Those weren’t all the pennies he had! Neal decided not to cash in approximately 200,000 pennies dating from 1974 or earlier.

Neal’s collection was so impressive that his picture appeared on Coinstar kiosks for a time. I’d left the state by then to work at the Chicago Tribune. Imagine my surprise when I saw Neal smiling at me from a counting machine in Oak Park.

A retired state fire marshal, Neal worked in the newspaper’s personnel division. I met him when he convinced me to join the Health & Safety Committee. Some committee members would give him their pennies for his collection. You can guess whether or not I did the same.