Yearly Archives: 2009

Don’t Cut Out the Internet to Save Money – and Other Common “Money-Saving” Myths

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In this recession, I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I’ve heard the following bad advice coming from the mainstream media:

* Cut out internet and cable
* Cancel your cellular service
* Sell your car and get a bus pass
* Cancel your newspaper subscription
* Buy generics

I could go on forever with a list a mile long of all the great “advice” I hear coming from reporters and bloggers that have likely never tried practicing what they preach. And don’t get me started on the personal finance “gurus” out there that talk about tightening their belt by cutting back on “luxuries”….like the internet.

I have yet to understand why these helpful “tips” keep getting circulated across the web, splashed across the newspaper, and blasted on the nightly news. These tips aren’t practical for most people, let alone those who are trying to better their finances.

Let’s start with the “cut out the internet” myth – the biggest one of all in my book. If you’re like a large percentage of the country, you’re either:

A. Unemployed
B. Actively seeking better employment
C. Trying to stay ahead of the game in order to hang onto your job, or
D. Researching new opportunities in self-employment or higher education

If more than 20% of HR professionals are now actively using tools like LinkedIn and Facebook to find and reference new hires, cutting the internet out of your budget is going to severely limit your ability to find and maintain employment. And please, don’t tell me that going to the library to use the free public internet is a suitable alternative. The reality is, when a prospective employer sends you an email or would like you to zip over a resume, you better be able to respond quickly. The free public option internet isn’t going to be good enough to get that done. And particularly if all the new savers who’ve cut the internet out of their budgets are standing in line waiting to use it.

Canceling your cell phone service is also a poor budget saver. I can remember a time in the not to distant past (ok, last year) when all I wanted was for my phone to ring. It didn’t need a data plan, and I certainly didn’t need to send emails from it. Boy was I wrong. Since I got hooked up with my Google phone, I’m much more productive and I get work accomplished in the most unusual places.

But, you don’t need to worry about being productive when you can ride the bus to get to the free internet in the library because you sold your car and canceled the phone. In fact, there might still be a pay phone in the lobby of the library you can use. For most Americans, mass transit is a luxury left to those in larger cities. And even then, with three kids, I’d never trust that I could get to them fast enough on a BART, MAX, MARTHA, or any other cutesy-named mass transit system. Nor would I feel confident if I was in the midst of a job search that I could get enough searching done hoofing it on foot.

More than for just employment reasons, this advice also fails consumers. Skip the newspaper and buy generics means that shoppers are missing access to sales ads, coupons, and deals. If you have to cut back the paper, at least keep the Sunday paper for the coupon inserts. And use that internet service to ferret out deals and savings online. Think about the internet as a tool to help you control the controllable costs in your life. That’s where the real savings is. Savings don’t lie in killing productivity and connectivity tools like the internet, your phone, and even your car. Real savings comes from getting a grip on consumable spending, and finding better deals on toilet paper, dog food, diapers, and milk. If you can learn to manage those costs, that’s where your savings can compound much quicker than the $40 a month you’ll recoup by having no phone.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that in today’s tech world, you NEED to have consistent access to the tools that keep you connected…to employment opportunities, to savings opportunities, and networking opportunities. I might not have felt that way once, but the landscape is significantly different than it was even just a few short years ago.

If you need to make cuts to keep your budget solvent, try using a coupon for a box of cereal, or shopping in the peak of a sales cycle for the best prices on everyday items. Connectivity tools are no longer a luxury. Keeping these necessities in your budget can ensure you never miss an opportunity to move your finances forward and better your life.

Enter Hotcouponworld & Offers.com Holiday Sweepstakes

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It’s that time of year again, when Hotcouponworld hosts a Holiday Wish List sweeptakes. In years past, we’ve given away Nintendo Wii’s, and we’ve let our members “shop” for prizes that they’re wishing for. This year, we’re making it simple. We’ve partnered with Offers.com to let our members “wish” for a giftcard to the store of their choice amongst a list of stores features at Offers.com.

This year, we’re giving away over $1700 in giftcards – just in time for you to do you holiday shopping. So, if you haven’t wished your holiday wish yet, it’s easy. Start by logging into your Hotcouponworld account, and then checking out the sweepstakes thread for all the rules and details. 15 lucky winners will be drawn to win a gift card to the store of their choice. Who knows? It might be you.

Skip the stock market! For a fast return on investment – bet on Gift Cards

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The stock market has rebounded nicely from the lows a year ago that had people talking the “D” word – Depression.  While I haven’t recouped everything we lost, I can’t complain.  However, experts are predicting that returns this year won’t be near where they’d hoped, and market watchers are wondering where the next best place to invest is.

My family is still putting money in the market, but this holiday season, I’m betting my money on gift cards!  That’s right.  Gift cards.  Not the most sexy financial instrument out there, but here’s why gift cards excite me.

I treat couponing, deal hunting, and shopping just like I do buying stocks.  I do research to find the good deal, I try to buy low on everything I purchase, I pay cash, and I expect maximum returns.  The holiday season is the best time to buy stock in gift cards.  Nearly every major retailer has bonus deals. If you look at buying into those deals as you would look at making an investment, the percentage value of the bonus deals is like earning money in the market.

Let me explain.

I recently went to Claim Jumper restaurant.  They have a holiday gift card deal where if you spend $100.00 in giftcards, you’re given $20.00 in bonus gift cards.  Plus, they threw in a free mug of candy, but we won’t count that.  We were going to eat at Claim Jumper anyway.  So, I bought the $100.00 in gift cards while we were waiting to be seated.  Then we spent $60 of the gift card on dinner.  But, I pocketed a 20% gain.  Not bad for a night out with the kids.  For no real effort, I made $20 doing something I was going to do anyway.

At Safeway, they are promoting $20.00 off on your next grocery trip when you buy $200.00 in gift cards.  Safeway is a veritable gift card mecca.  They have cards for nearly every major store and restaurant you can imagine.  The offer is good for two days starting Black Friday.  So, if I were to go to Safeway first before Black Friday shopping started, bought $200.00 in gift cards for stores I want to shop on Black Friday anyway, then I’d make 10% for the minuscule effort of running in to get gift cards, and running back out to freeze my butt off in line at Target.

It’s not just grocery and restaurants that offer deals like this at the holidays. Major retailers do too.  And, with tax season right around the corner, all those “cash your tax returns for bonus gift card deals” can help save you even more.  In fact, gift card deals that start in October and end in the early spring can really add up.  Last year, I pocketed close to $1000.00 in “free” money just by converting my cash to gift cards.

Now, a few things to think about.  Gift cards are great, but if the store you’re buying them has any chance of folding, then being stuck with gift card balances you can’t use will eat into your profits.  Be sure to stick to big name retailers and restaurant chains when you’re investing in gift cards.

Second, the bonus gift cards usually have restrictions like dates and redemption limits.  So, be sure to use the bonus cards up first if they have specific-use guidelines.  Then, use the actual gift cards if you haven’t already used them at the time you purchased them. Bonus gift cards can also sometime have restrictions about using them with other offers, so watch to be sure you can use them with coupons and other deals.

Lastly, giftcards as an investment isn’t just limited to buying a full-value gift card and getting a bonus card.  Buying giftcards at a discounted rate for the full value is also an investment.  Costco sells $100.00 worth of McCormick and Schmick’s (M&S) gift cards for $79.99.  So in effect, just walking into Costco and buying up $100.00 of gift cards for $79.99 gives me a 20% return on investment the moment I swipe my debit card.  And unlike bonus cards, the discounted gift cards like the ones at Costco come with no restrictions. I can use my M&S rewards card, coupons, and other offers to make this deal even sweeter.

Another investment strategy with gift cards is getting them to buy actual items you would have bought already.  At Blockbuster video, they were giving a $5.00 gift card to buy an Entertainment Book.  Buying the book, then using the Blockbuster coupons in the book in conjunction with the $5.00 gift card to pay for that visit’s movie rentals could effectively save you up to half the purchase price of the book.

When you think about utilizing gift cards in this manner, it’s easy to see how the returns you get from being a smart gift card buyer can add up faster than dividends from money invested in the stock market.

And, in most states, there are gift card laws that protect consumers.  Many states have done away with fees for non-use, expiration dates, and other legalities that made gift cards not near as user friendly.

So, this year, I am once again investing my cash in gift cards.  Year after year, I make more as a percentage on investing in gift cards than I do giving my money to the guys on Wall Street.  And that’s money you can bank on!

What Is Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

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What is Black Friday?
The day after Thanksgiving is referred to as Black Friday. Black Friday is one of the major holiday shopping days & is the official start of the Christmas shopping season.
The origin of Black Friday comes from the shift to profitability during the holiday season. Retailers went from being unprofitable, or “in the red,” to being profitable, or “in the black”, at a time when accounting records were kept by hand and red indicated loss and black profit. (Info from about.com.)
Retailers publish special sale ads on Thanksgiving Day to get customers into their doors the following morning. “Doorbusters” and “Early Bird Specials” help lure customers in with deep discounts on retail items.
Early Bird seems to get earlier every year, with many stores opening at 5 am, and people camping out overnight in parking lots to get these specials.
Black Friday can also be an online shopping experience. Many retailers publish the same ads online offering discounts with free shipping promotions. This gets customers onto a retailer’s online shopping portal.
For more information, and strategies for shopping Black Friday deals, see this thread.
What is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday. Black Friday is the term applied mostly to brick and mortar stores, whereas Cyber Monday is the day for online deals.
The idea is that people who missed the Friday deals would go back to work on Monday and shop online from there.
Although that concept hasn’t really held up over time, it has become a fairly significant day for marketing holiday deals online.

For a complete listing of ad scans from all of the major stores nationwide, please visit our Black Friday 2011 page!

Angel Food Ministries – A Review

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Submitted by Tacatcon

Recently I discovered Angel Food Ministries which is a non-profit, non-denominational, co-op food program designed to help you save on your grocery bill.  I had never experienced any kind of co-op program so I didn’t know what to expect.  Angel Food Ministries was started in 1994 to help families in need in Monroe, GA suffering due to a plant closing.  It has since grown to serve over 500,000 people across 35 states. You don’t have to be economically disadvantaged to participate.  This program is for anyone.

The food is purchased in advanced based on orders from customers of Angel Food Ministries allowing them to get co-op pricing. The packages offer both fresh and frozen food as well as canned items and are all “restaurant quality” items.  For $30 you can purchase their “signature box” which changes month to month.  In August these were the items in my box:

  • 1.5 lbs rib eye boneless steak (4 steaks)-frozen
  • 1 dozen medium white eggs
  • 3 lbs bone-in split chicken breasts with water and sodium phosphate added (frozen)
  • 1 lb long grain white rice
  • 1.6 lb lemon loaf cake (6 slices) -frozen
  • 1 head of iceberg lettuce
  • 2 lbs of sweet potatoes
  • 1 quart shelf stable 2% milk
  • 16 oz frozen baby lima beans
  • 16 oz frozen corn
  • 1 lb fish sticks -frozen
  • 24 oz chicken nuggets -frozen
  • 32 oz macaroni and beef dinner entrée-frozen
  • 1 lb 80/20 ground beef -frozen
  • 16 oz can pork and beans

 

This package should provide enough food to assist a family of four for a week or a senior citizen for a month.  You can also purchase other packages like the Allergen Free Box which holds 5 lbs of frozen meats free of top allergens like peanuts, eggs, soy, etc. This month there is a special holiday box for Thanksgiving available.

Though not every location has online ordering, I was able to place my order on-line quickly. Payment can be by debit or credit card when ordering online.  They also take cash, checks, money orders, vouchers, EBT cards and food stamps if ordering by phone or in person. You will pay a $1 fee when ordering online. Once the order for my “signature box” was submitted I received an email confirmation with directions on where to pick it up etc.

When pick-up day came, it was pouring rain and miserably cold.  I was cheerfully greeted by an Angel Food volunteer who asked for my name and offered me coffee.  Once my order was confirmed, another volunteer told me she would be collecting my order for me and would meet me at the door. The fact that I didn’t have to do the “shopping” myself was great.  As soon as my order was double checked, another volunteer told me if I pulled my car up to the door he would put it in the car for me.  Well this is service we don’t get in any grocery stores here so I was tickled pink.  Based on service alone, Angel Food has the grocery store chains beat!

The overall quality of the food was comparable to grocery store items.   The only issue from what I sampled was the head of lettuce was less fresh than I would have liked and my oldest daughter thought the chicken nuggets were intermittently too fatty. The lemon cake was so good my kids asked for more. Although the website says they do purchase “national brands” there were no brand names I recognized.

But the real question is how did the prices compare to grocery store prices? According to the Angel Food Ministries website, their signature box which sells for $30 has a retail value of about $65. At my local Price Chopper I compared their shelf or sale prices to get an idea of whether Angel Food was offering a good value for the money.  A few items like the shelf stable milk were difficult to price as that is not an item my store carries. However, based on comparable items and sizes, the total I would spend in Price Chopper for these items was $54.14. Of course this is without coupons and special promotions. If I was shopping for these actual items I would not be purchasing without a coupon or a promotion and any meat I buy would be on manager’s mark down and submitted for a rebate.  So can you do better than the $30 for these items?  Yes if you are willing to put a little more work into it but a savings of almost 50% is not too bad.

However the price for the family package is definitely a great way to shave some off your grocery bill easily.  Especially if you are elderly, disabled or otherwise have a hard time getting to the grocery store or just hate shopping!  You are definitely paying for the convenience and you will not necessarily get the national brands you might in the grocery store.  However, if you are not brand picky and would rather save on time and take some of the stress out of meal planning, this may be a hot deal for you!

Check out angelfoodministries.com for more information or for chapters in your area.