Dave Ramsey’s guide for financial fitness and freedom from debt.

From Amazon.com: The bedrock of his system is simple: work hard, pay what you owe and stay out of debt. His main commandment is “Pay cash.” He first exhorts the reader to take “baby steps,” which are designed to build on each other: first, save $1,000 as an emergency fund; then, pay off all debts from smallest to largest; save a larger three-to-six-month emergency fund; finally, start to save for college and pay off your home mortgage.

Sale Price: $16.49 plus free shipping from Amazon Prime

You Save: $8.50 (34%)

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Tags: Amazon, Coupons, Dave Ramsey, Deal of the Day, debt free, financial freedom, Free Shipping, Save Money
Posted in Deal of the Day | 1 Comment »

Times are tough right now with the economy in the US and many people are looking for ways to make a few extra dollars to help strech the budget. Here are few tips to earn a little extra cash:

* Hold a yard sale, get rid of unwanted clothing, toys and household goods by throwing a yard sale.

* Tutor, consider offering your talents as a tutor to a child struggling in school.

* Sell unwanted items on eBay or Craigslist, great for when winter weather prohibits an outdoor yard sale.

* Do paid surveys online, many online surveys pay cash for a few minutes of your time.

* Become a mystery shopper and get paid for evaluating local restaurants and stores.

* If you are crafty, consider selling your handmade craft items, craft fairs, church bazzars and online sites such as etsy.com can be a great venue for selling your homemade craft items.

* Consider selling your blood plasma, desperate times call for desperate measures, search America’s Blood Centers for a local plasma center,

* Teach a class, think about what your talents are and look into teaching a class at a local community center.

* Hold a bake sale

* Recycle cans and bottles, take your recyclable items in and earn extra cash and save the planet too! You can also try working out a pick up for empty bottles and cans at local bars and restaurants.

* Get a part time job, delivering pizza or the newspaper can be a great way to earn a few extra bucks.

* Baby-sit or pet sit, offer yourself on the weekends to pet or baby-sit.

* Save change in a jar, you would be suprised at how fast it can add up! When you are ready to cash it in, look for a bank that offers free coin sorting. CoinStar machines cost a fee, but if you put the balance on a gift card they waive the fee.

* Write articles for Associated Content

* Sell your hair at The Hair Trader

Some of these ideas may be a bit extreme to some people but if you are needing cash and are willing to put forth the effort it can be done! Find more great frugal living tips in our Frugal Living Forum

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Tags: Associated Content, Baby-Sit, Bake Sale, CoinStar, Crafts, Craigslist, Donating Plasma, eBay, Etsy.com, Frugal Living, Frugal Tip, Making Money, Mystery Shopping, Part Time Job, Pet-Sit, Quick Tip, Recycling, Save Change, Selling Crafts, Selling Plasma, Teach, The Hair Trader, Yard Sale
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$5 flat shipping on all orders at Chef’s.com

Sony Cybershot DSC-W120 7.2MP Digital Camera in Silver on sale $109.99. Save $70

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Tags: Chef's.com, cooking catalogue, digital camera, Sears, sony
Posted in Featured Coupons | No Comments »

Slim, sleek and chic The long adjustable strap (with tortoise buckle allows across-the-body wear that’s as fashionable as it is functional. Includes two interior slip-in pockets, plus two more on the front one slip-in and one zippered (with a buttonhole for your headphones. How hip is that?

• Belt style strap adjusts to your perfect length
• An outer zip pocket keeps the basics close by, while the front-opening zip top offers easy access to the inside which includes a full, zippered compartment and a slip-in for your cell phone or keys
• Metal accents

Sale Price - $29.99 to $37.90 - You save $22.51

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Tags: Amazon, Deal of the Day, hipster purses, purse, Vera Bradley
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Tax season is upon us, and really, it’s one of my favorite times of year, even if I owe money to the IRS.  I know, that sounds strange, but it gives me a chance to clean through a ton of paper, file, and organize my house a bit.  Plus, in the years I get refunds, I like tearing through it to get my refund quickly and put it to good use.

One thing I don’t do no matter how badly I want/need my refund is to use a tax service that advances me my refund.  Here’s why….

The “rapid refund” type services are in the business of making money by taking a percentage of your refund as a loan fee for service.  It goes without saying then that there are some services out there that are going to find ways to get you the largest refund out there they can, and some have been known to use unscrupulous tactics to do it, leaving you open to an IRS audit.  The more they “find” you, the higher their cut of your tax refund.

If you can file in a quick enough manner using a reputable service like Turbo Tax, and you have it set up to electronically deposit your funds into a checking account, you can receive your tax return from the feds in as little as 9 business days.  When all’s said and done, even if you’re facing a tough time with money, waiting that few extra days can save you as much as 10-20% in loan fees, keeping all the money in your pocket.  Turbo Tax is free to e-file your Federal taxes if you have a very basic tax return, and if you wind up having to upgrade to a paid version, the money you’ll spend will still be cheaper than the refund loan.

Even worse are the refund loans that front loads the balance on a pre-paid Mastercard.  HR Block, whose Tax Cut software is similar and comparable to Turbo Tax, offers the pre-paid Masercard as an option for getting their Refund Anticipation Loan product.  The fine print is that there may be additional fees on top of the loan fees.  So if you feel you have no choice but to go down the refund loan path to get your tax return this year, don’t let anyone talk you into the pre-paid Mastercard option - it will only eat even more of your hard-earned money.

Ultimately, you need to do what’s best for your family.  But the technology and software available to do your own taxes and get a rapid return on your own has cut the tax return process down to less than two weeks for most federal filers (your state return could take longer).  If you need to do the refund loan option, stick with a reputable firm and not a fly-by-night outfit.  HR Block might be your better choice.  But if you can hang tight for the money, you’ll do better in the long run by filing on your own and waiting the few days for the IRS to direct deposit your funds. You’ll save several hundred much needed dollars that can go a long way towards paying bills or buying much-needed household purchases.

Our top three choices for do-it-yourself tax software:

Turbo Tax

HR Block’s Tax Cut

Free Tax Usa

For more information about tax filing for 2008, go to www.irs.gov.

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Tags: 2008 tax season, free tax USA, IRS, rapid refund, refund anticipation loans, refund loans, Tax, taxes, TurboTax
Posted in Articles, Finance | 1 Comment »

You can save lots of money with this frugal “recipie”

Ingredients:

* 1 cylinder shaped plastic container
* 1 roll of paper towels
* 2 Cups Boiling Water
* 1 TBSP. Baby Bath
* 1 ½ TBSP. Baby Oil

Cut the roll of paper towels in half (cross wise) with a knife, serrated works best. Remove the card board from the middle. Place your paper towels in the container (cut side down). Mix the baby bath and baby oil with the boiling water. Stir well. Pour the mixture over the paper towels in the container.

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Tags: Baby Care, Baby Wipe, Frugal Living, Frugal Tip, Homemade Baby Wipes, Quick Tip
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I know Christmas isn’t about the gifts, but sometimes, you just hope your significant other nails it and gets you something you’ve really been hankering for.  This year, I got house numbers for Christmas.  You know, the numbers that get affixed to the side of the house so the FedEx guy can find your house to delivery all the cool gifts you bought for your sweetheart!

So, for everyone who got house numbers (ok, I’m the only person on the entire planet who got them) or any other functional-type gift that left you going “Um, gee, thanks” then we have a contest to ensure that FIVE lucky Hotcouponworlders will get something a little more to their liking for Valentine’s Day.

Check out this post in the Announcements forum for details.  You must be a registered member to participate!

Good luck, and here’s hoping that I don’t get BBQ tools or some other odd thing for Valentine’s this year!

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Tags: HCW news, Hotcouponworld Contest, Valentine's contest, Valentine's Day
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HOT - Free Shipping, Free Gift, and $25 off on a Scooba floor-washing robot (these are AWESOME by the way!)

15% off plus free shipping from Blinds Galore on orders over $350

Save 30% on Motown Classic CD’s from Barnes and Noble (plus additional savings if you’re a BN member)

Get 15% off at Soft Surroundings Outlet using code 2201001

Get up to 73% off with Gevalia winter clearance sales

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Tags: blinds, Blinds Galore, CD, Cds, Cleaning, Coupon Codes, deal links, floor care, Gevalia, household goods, Irobot, motown, Scooba, Soft surroundings
Posted in Featured Coupons | No Comments »

• 8 GB capacity for 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos, or 8 hours of video
• Up to 24 hours of music playback or 4 hours of video playback when fully charged
• 2-inch LCD with blue-white LED backlight and 320-by-240-pixel resolution
• Supported audio formats: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• Supported video formats: H.264, MPEG-4; Supported image file types: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG

List Price: $149.99

Amazon Price with Free Shipping - $137.98

You Save - $12.01

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Tags: Amazon, Deal of the Day, Free Shipping, Ipod
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To make your candles burn longer here are a few tips.

* Freeze them - Pop your candles in the freezer for 4-5 hours before burning them. Cold candles burn longer.
* Trim the wick - Clip the wick of your candle to 1/4 of an inch. This ensures that as the wick burns it is only drawing up the right amount of melted wax to burn.
* Keep out of drafts - Place your candles away from drafts, doors that are frequently opened and closed, windows, air conditioners, fans, and forced heat units.
* Consider not lighting them at all - Unless you like the ambiance provided by a lit candle you may want to consider using a candle warmer instead. Candle warmers use electricity to melt jar candles. The heat from the melted wax throws the scent without burning the candle and can make the scent from a nice jar candle last 4-5 time longer than if you burnt it.

These four simple quick tips will help your candles last longer and in the process save you money! Please remember to always keep lit candles away from small children and pets and never leave a candle burning unattended or while sleeping.

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Tags: Candle, Candles, Frugal Living, Frugal Tip, Jar Candles, Quick Tip
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