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Competition for your dollars these days is fierce. It feels like every time you want make a purchase, you're running a gauntlet of merchants and service providers with their meaty paws out, trying to rip your wallet from your sweaty digits. Obviously, you want to make the most of every purchase. One of the keys to long term financial freedom is to control your spending. Given you are probably making at least an attempt to live a life of relative financial responsibility, you're going to try and maximize your purchasing power. A key component of this is customer satisfaction. After all, if your experience with a vendor was total crap, either because the product didn't meet your needs or they had poor customer service, you'll have to either purchase a different product, or contact customer service in a (possibly futile) attempt to rectify the situation. This means you are wasting two of your most precious resources; money and your valuable time.

In order to point your in the proper direction, here is a list of some merchants with high, recent customer satisfaction scores.

One very important category, near and dear to my heart, and probably yours, is food. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, compiled by the University of Michigan, fast food and quick service restaurants were paced by Papa John's pizza. Now, eating out all the time is a sure way to spend far more than you have to. This is not good for long term financial success, but there are those times when you've just got to grab a quick bite and don't feel like cleaning the kitchen.

No surprise, but the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) ranks wireless telephone providers as below the national average in customer satisfaction. Be that as it may, you probably have a cell phone, and are unlikely to give it up any time soon. If you plan on switching providers soon, or just have to get the latest Motorola/Nokia/Samsung Phone/PDA/Camera/foot massager, Verizon and T-Mobile ranked highest in the ASCI's customer satisfaction index for the first quarter of 2006. Cingular ranked lowest. I guess customer satisfaction measures more than dropped calls.

Okay, so maybe financial freedom has already found its way into your life, and you want the latest blingmobile to impress the chickies at the local club. You should run down to your local Lincoln Mercury dealer and drop a wad of cash on the 2006 Lincoln Navigator. Make sure you slap a set of Dubs on it ASAP! According to auto industry research firm AutoPacific in a survey released last month, the 'Gator was tops in overall satisfaction. If you're on the more practical side of luxury, the new, 2006 Hyundai Azzera pulled in honors as the highest ranked car. If high gas prices don't bother you, or you've got to get your quad to the dunes, check out Nissan's Titan pickup. It snagged the highest customer satisfaction rating among pickups.

If you're traveling and would rather ride than walk or take the bus, know that the Market Metrix Hospitality Index ranks Enterprise Car Rental tops in customer satisfaction. Even better, they'll bring the car to you if you need to rent in your home town.

When you get to your destination, stop in to a Microtel Inns & Suites hotel. Both Market Metrix and JD Power scored them tops in their segment in the latest customer satisfaction surveys. Trying to garner as many such awards as possible, Microtel also received the 2005 "Extra Mile Award" from Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine.

If you're staying home to watch the latest episode of “So You Think You Can Dance”, we've got to have a talk. If you really must watch all the carnage, make sure the signal is finding it's way to your TV through a DirecTV satellite receiver, because they received the highest marks for customer satisfaction among satellite and cable TV providers according to the ASCI.

If you make purchases on line, you'll want to stop by Amazon.com and Netflix.com. They led the way among Internet retailers in a customer satisfaction survey of 8,500 Internet shoppers conducted by ForeSee Results and FGI Research .

Of course your freakin' call may be recorded for customer satisfaction purposes, but at least the NSA impersonation must be working at Qwest Communications, because they recorded the highest customer satisfaction scores among directory assistance providers. This is from a recent survey performed by Paisley National Directory Assistance for their Performance Index.

Hopefully this little post will assist you in determining where to spend your hard earned dollars.