New Couponing Methods

Have you started to load coupons onto your shopper's cards? This saves time by not having to clip and file your coupons - they're already automatically loaded for your use! Just register your cards at these websites:

• shortcuts.com - Check to see if your supermarket is included
• ap.zavers.com - This is for those that shop at A&P
• pgesavers.com - Proctor and Gamble's discount program
• cellfire.com - Access can also be made from your cellphone

There are also other new sources for snagging great coupons. Long gone are the days when you could only rely on the Sunday circulars for savings. You can now access coupons through a variety of sources:

• Visit the coupon kiosks at such stores as CVS Pharmacy or Food Lion or Marsh supermarkets. Scan your card and a stream of coupons are yours within seconds. 
• Sign up for text message deals such as with Target. To register just text COUPONS to 827438. Or go to target.com and click on MOBILE.
• Use store generated paperless offers like at Sams Club. If you visit samsclub.com you can acess your eValues account and find deals that are linked to your membership cards past purchases.
• Go to a manufacturers website directly, especially for items that you purchase often. Your favorite product may just have a coupon or other promotions going on for their many brands.  

Deal or No Deal: Cell Phones

To cut savings on utilities many people have gone from having a landline phone to just using a cell phone.  This is understandable because of the many deals you get on long distance servicing, internet options and unlimited minutes. But, how do you determine if switching off your landline is the best for you? The following are some tips and advice to consider:   

It's a good idea if:

• You’re single, travel a lot for work and need to be reached.
• You’re an empty nester. With no kids at home, you might depend on your landline less.
• Your cell phone gets near-perfect reception in places where you spend most of your time.
• You take advantage of free or low-cost VoIP, so that you have another way to stay in touch should something happen to your cell phone.

It's a bad idea if:

• You spend more than two hours per day on the phone (a landline likely is cheaper than that many minutes on a cell plan).
• Your family depends on a landline. Look at the cost of giving each family member his or her own cell phone.
• You want fast 911 service. Generally, 911 operators can’t find you automatically in an emergency if you’re on a cell phone.
• You make a large number of international calls.

Additional tips to help you maximize savings should you choose to go with only a cellphone provider: 

1. Do the math on your billing. Many plans charge additional fees for texting and web, look for unlimited plans.
2. Get discounts by combining your family into the family plan specials that companies offer.
3. If you need to use 411 services DON'T pay for them. Dial 1 - 800 - 466 - 4411 for FREE.
4. You can compare plans by checking myrateplan.com, lowermybills.com and billshrink.com. 
5. Forget buying phone insurance. They carry huge deductibles that may cost just as much as purchasing a new phone. 

Daily Deal Articles to help you $ave!

The Daily Deal Newsletter from FreeStuff.com has three articles that will help you save money.

CVS 10 - A Beginners Guide


Accumulating Coupons - Information & Resources


How to Slash Your Grocery Bill at Publix (these tips can be applied at any store that does BOGO)

All You Magazine's Tips

All You Magazine has a great couple of articles inside their daily savings newsletter this week. It's all on how to receive samples and freebies from almost anywhere. Check them out below...

33 Great Online Freebies

A guide to getting free stuff EVERYWHERE


 

Financial Savvy Site for Kids

A new website, ThreeJars.com, enables children to learn how to earn, track and use their own money online. Children may divvy up their money into three categories, or "jars" -- save, spend and share. They decide how much to store, spend and donate to charity. The site requires a yearly fee of $30 per family.


Parents set the allowance limit with each child, and on allowance payday, add money to the online total. The site tracks how much is owed and what has been paid. The site offers savings options such as "parent" bonds and certificates of deposit. With parents' approval, children withdraw cash from their personal ATM or buy gift cards from 30 select retailers. And children direct points that they earn to causes they select.


People may also register for a free daily e-mail with financial tips atThreeJars.com. This info was reported by....


-Sandra Guy- Chicago Sun Times

Avoid Unwanted Cell Phone Charges

Check out this informative article from WalletPop

Are Credit Card Rewards Worth It?

A lot of credit cards offer a rewards program now. Some allow you to earn points to be redeemed on merchandise, others offer cash back. But are these rewards really worth it? Read this article and determine for yourself.

The Best Stuff to Buy in October

Even though the weather has cooled down and fall is officially here, there’s plenty to love about October! There are bargains to be found if you know where to look. Mainstreet.com has listed a few items that are traditionally marked down during the month of October. 

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

Bed bugs have been a hot topic in the news as of late. Do you know how to identify them? How to get rid of them? Or how to treat them? Me either, until I found this very informative article on the subject.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2135258_check-treat-bed-bugs.html 

Free Book: Well-Being or Retirement For Dummies

What is REAL Powered by Humana?  With a unique focus on all aspects of your life, REAL represents the path to a healthier you. And it starts right here. Order your free FOR DUMMIES book on Retirement or Well-Being here ===> http://www.realforme.com/register.

Free bottle of Advil Pain Reliever

Take Action. Take Advil.

This morning on The View there was a segment on cleaning out your medicine cabinet and how most people just forget about medications that are near expiration. Following the segment the studio audience received a complete medicine cabinet gift pack from Advil - one of the leading pain relievers in the country and one that was NOT a part of the latest recalls. For viewers, Advil is providing one free bottle to the first 500,000 residents of the US.

10 Things You'll be Paying More for - SOON

10 Things you'll be paying more for soon A great read on items that are on the rise. Included in this list are Gold, House prices, Postage and even Miami Heat tickets - lol.

Postage was listed in the article above, but perhaps it's a little too soon as we now find out that the postal hike was rejected.

The above articles were posted over at AOL's Wallet Pop.

Protect your passwords...

Protect your passwords...

Submitted by suestock on 2010-09-26 13:00

Tags: Taking Stock | what I'm reading

I'll admit, I'm not that great at coming up with creative passwords. We simply have so many things that need a password nowadays! I use various combinations of three different passwords for pretty much everything. But I'm vowing to change.

In this month's edition of Shop Smart magazine, there are eight rules for safe passwords:

1) Do make passwords at least six characters long.
2) Do mix it up (use a combination of numbers, symbols and letters)
3) Do use upper and lower-case letters
4) Do write down a clue if you need to -- enough to jog your memory but not enough so that others can figure it out.
5) Don't make it easy. No pet names, kids' names, street names, phone numbers or important dates.
6) Don't use common words or names.
7) Don't repeat passwords, especially for financial sites. (This is the one I need to fix!)
8) Don't hide your password clues in an obvious place like on a sticky note under your keyboard.

Read more: http://projects.newsobserver.com/taking_stock#ixzz10r5NUWpp

Mainstreet.com

Here are some great articles from Mainstreet.com  for your reading pleasure!


The Best Digital Gift Cards Deciding where to buy your holiday gift cards this year? According to RSR Research, your best bets are Home Depot, CVS or Amazon.com.


The 20 Worst Charities in America A favorite saying in business is that you have to spend money to make money. Charitable organizations, on the other hand, have to spend money to give money, and it turns out that some are woefully inefficient at channeling donations to the people they're supposed to help.


New Options for Seniors Health Care Costs  Seniors with high drug costs will soon have more options to help them cope with Medicare's prescription coverage gap.


4 Ways to Avoid Coupon Rip-Offs Are you getting ripped off when you’re looking to save? Take charge with these easy steps.

How To: Make a Consumer Complaint

Recently the CBS Early Show did a segment on consumer complaints.  There are now new, more effective ways for consumers to lodge their complaints against a company and /or a product.

The Consumer Federation of America has introduced new websites for consumer complaints.  These websites are not like the Better Business Bureau where your complaints go to die.  These companies  have proactive ways of dealing with the complaints they receive such as class action lawsuits, watching for trends in case there is a need for further investigation by government agencies and they also send your complaint to the company.  

My3Cents.com -  Consumers can learn, interact and voice opinions regarding companies, products and services in an open forum. Plus company and product reviews.

ConsumerAffairs.com -  Offers information on scam alerts, recalls and class action lawsuits.  They provide consumers with updated news on companies and products.

ComplaintsBoard.com -  Provides a large list of consumer complaints that you can view as well as file. 

FINANCE: Top 10 Financial Tips

Need some tips on personal finance? Well who doesn't? Check out these top 10 tips from About.com

NO DEAL: Zero Percent Auto Financing

Zero percent auto financing is not the deal it seems by Clark Howard

RIP-OFF ALERT: Have you seen offers for zero percent financing for five years at auto dealerships? They're the No. 1 come-on right now because dealerships know similar ploys worked so well earlier this decade.

Why are offers like this that seem to be a good deal actually a rip? Well, first off, about 60 percent of customers are being turned down when they apply for the zero percent offer. The automakers have made the credit requirements very strict -- as they should. They know that the allure of zero percent financing gets people in the door and that's really what they're after.

So be honest with yourself. If your credit is not perfect, don't go into that dealer expecting to qualify for zero percent. You'll be turned down and then -- and here's the part the dealerships love! -- talked into letting the finance department write a loan for you at above-market interest rates.

So you actually end up burning yourself twice: First because you don't get the zero percent and second because you walk out there with a high-interest loan.

Finally, there's the question of how long you should finance a vehicle. Kelley Blue Book now says 62 percent of car shoppers are looking at financing longer than 48 or 60 months. Yet Clark recommends car loans of no longer than 42 months.

Why 42 months? That's the last sweet spot where the car's value over time and the loan balance over time stay on a nearly even pace together.

Limiting your car note to no more than 42 months may mean you can't afford the car you really wanted. It can be a hard dose of reality when you find you're buying too much car. Too often, though, buyers will get rid of a car before the balance has been paid and the losses are rolled over into a new, larger loan. Don't do it!!

Dealers love "payment buyers" who can only afford to pay X dollars per month. By taking that approach to purchasing, you lose sight of the total cost of the loan over its lifetime.

TIPS: Save on Grocery Shopping

Want tips on how to save money on your grocery shopping trips? Use this shopping guide and tips to find hidden deals at the grocery store so you'll get more for less. Courtesy of All You Magazine's top 15 list. You'll get all types of How To's from this compilation!

FREE 60 Day Trial Membership to BJ's Wholesale Club

  Get a Free 60 Day Trial Membership to BJ's Wholesale Club (with coupon--offer exp 12/31)
  BJ's Wholesale Club has over 180 locations in 15 states:

Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Maine Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire

New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia

Make great use of this offer by waiting a bit before redeeming. That way the trial can last you during the holidays (to stock up for Xmas/New Years parties), best to use this coupon around November 1, 2010 and your trial will last through to January 2011.

Taking Stock: Support our Troops with Coupons

This post courtesy of the blog of N&O retail reporter suestock

Here's a topic that comes up every now and then, but I thought it was worth revisiting. If you feel bad throwing out your expired coupons, you can actually send them to members of the military stationed overseas. Those families can use coupons at the base commissaries up to six months after their expiration date. If you want to really maximize your money, get a group of friends, co-workers or neighbors on board and fill up one of those flat-rate boxes from the post office.

There is a lot of good information about what to send and how to send it here: http://www.couponstotroops.com/

And, if you don't know anyone in the military, you can always send your coupons to the Overseas Coupon Program.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to a local nonprofit called the Back Home Box Foundation, which sends boxes of items to soldiers overseas. The items range from the practical (shower shoes and shampoo) to comforts from home (EasyMac and hot sauce). But with coupons making so many of those items free or close to free, consider saving up some items for Back Home Box as well. They are currently located in the old Swoozie's store at Cameron Village (Raleigh,NC).  

To read more, visit sue's page at:

http://projects.newsobserver.com/taking_stock/you_can_support_our_troops_with_coupons#ixzz0zKW3QwAI