Tuesday, November 30, 2010
11/30 Expressions
Frugal deeds for the week: Paying attention can save you money. While at the "Y", I overhead the Desk Clerk tell a prospective customer that they could get a reduction on the money cost if they were a member of a certain credit union. We are members - and that was worth $5 per month off - not too shabby. That's where I get my exercise and cable tv fix :) The Costco card is nice - since it is portable - we can use it at any Costco! We can use it to save $ on gas too. My husband used the card in a neighboring state and the lunch items were the same price. I checked out some craft books from the library a couple of days ago; one a "trash to treasure" type book - now I just need to find some trash to convert to treasures. I believe I am done with my holiday shopping - just need to spruce up gifts a bit with a few fillers and maybe that craft book will be the ticket.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
11/25 Expressions
Happy Thanksgiving to All. Restaurant.Com is having their "Feed it Forward" promo - you can give your friends a $10 gift certificate costing you nothing - http://www.feeditforward.restaurant.com/ For any gift certificate, please read the terms and conditions. This is a great savings, but many require a minimum purchase amount and an 18% gratuity. Off to finish cooking :)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
11/24 Expressions
Frugal deeds for the day: My daughter baked 2 apple pies with the previously sliced/frozen apples given to us by our neighbor. She took one of the pies to the neighbor - who has broken her leg. On the way to pick my daughter up from volunteering at the library, I stopped at the grocery to pick up a few more items, used coupons and giftcard - and a small bit out of my pocket. I baked 3 more pumpkin pies from the puree that I made from our $1.99 Aldi pumpkin. One went into the freezer, one for dessert tomorrow, and one will go home with my dad. I have 1 pre-made pie shell left. It will become a turkey pot pie that will go into the freezer for later - and pie dough left will be turned into turkey/cheese foldovers and frozen for fast/easy meals. While my daughter baked the apple pies, the sweet potatoes baked with them - they will be turned into a sweet potato casserole. I will make a couple more side dishes - my dad usually brings overs a veggie and a dessert - and we will have plenty for the next week. Even though we only subscribe to the Sunday paper, I am sure my carrier will leave one for us tomorrow since it will be chock full of Black Friday ads. I won't be going to any stores as I will be heading into my day job. But my husband and daughter may scour the ads for a few deals.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
More 11/23 Expressions
The following is a timely post from a guest blogger:
Black Friday and the Frugal Shopper
In a downturned economy, more and more people are watching their purse strings with eagle eyes, and rightly so. Nothing is guaranteed and nobody's job is truly safe in these topsy-turvy recession times, and it's more important than ever to stick to the essentials and get a great bargain in doing so. But if you're going to splurge on some luxury items, particularly electronics, you want to be sure you're getting the best possible price. This makes Black Friday a perfect time to shop for both essential items as well as little luxuries in advance of the Christmas season.
Frugal shoppers will be delighted to hear that retailers reserve their lowest prices of the year for Black Friday, and with intense competition for your business, they offer dizzying discounts on all kinds of merchandise. While Black Friday shopping has become known as a blitz on all sorts of home and personal electronics, you can also find incredible bargains on fashions, consumables, house wares, furniture and just about anything else you can think of. Department stores, mall outlets and even independent retailers all want a piece of the Black Friday pie and will do everything they can to get your business.
However, with all the hoopla surrounding Black Friday as a shopping event, you need to keep in mind that unscrupulous retailers use the occasion to trick customers. In most cases, a little smart shopping and a "buyer beware" attitude will help you avoid these scams, but in more extreme examples the dishonesty borders on outright fraud.
The most common scam retailers run on Black Friday is a form of the bait-and-switch. They will offer a particular item at an unbelievably low price, but bury restrictive terms and conditions in the fine print. For example, the sale price may be restricted to a few hours after the store opens (and they open really, really early on Black Friday), or quantities of the sale item are very limited. Once they sell out, the retailer will put a near-identical item in its place--for a price not nearly as low as the advertised rate. In many cases, you won't be able to tell the difference between the two items and you won't find out about the difference in price until you make your way to the front of the long, long line at the checkout counter.
Another thing to watch out for is the "quantities are limited" claim. Retail experts point out that stores have nothing to gain and everything to lose by actually limiting quantities of sale items, and this claim makes very little sense from a revenue standpoint.
Finally, you should be aware that prices leak online and may actually be available in advance of Black Friday. By planning ahead, shopping online and shopping early, you can avoid disappointment in situations where the store legitimately does run out of a popular item that's available for one day only at a great price.
Deliah Abraham is a Black Friday sales expert. Through yearlong budgeting and careful planning and research she is able to scour all of the best deals from Meijers sales to Best Buy and score all of the best brands and newest technologies.
Black Friday and the Frugal Shopper
In a downturned economy, more and more people are watching their purse strings with eagle eyes, and rightly so. Nothing is guaranteed and nobody's job is truly safe in these topsy-turvy recession times, and it's more important than ever to stick to the essentials and get a great bargain in doing so. But if you're going to splurge on some luxury items, particularly electronics, you want to be sure you're getting the best possible price. This makes Black Friday a perfect time to shop for both essential items as well as little luxuries in advance of the Christmas season.
Frugal shoppers will be delighted to hear that retailers reserve their lowest prices of the year for Black Friday, and with intense competition for your business, they offer dizzying discounts on all kinds of merchandise. While Black Friday shopping has become known as a blitz on all sorts of home and personal electronics, you can also find incredible bargains on fashions, consumables, house wares, furniture and just about anything else you can think of. Department stores, mall outlets and even independent retailers all want a piece of the Black Friday pie and will do everything they can to get your business.
However, with all the hoopla surrounding Black Friday as a shopping event, you need to keep in mind that unscrupulous retailers use the occasion to trick customers. In most cases, a little smart shopping and a "buyer beware" attitude will help you avoid these scams, but in more extreme examples the dishonesty borders on outright fraud.
The most common scam retailers run on Black Friday is a form of the bait-and-switch. They will offer a particular item at an unbelievably low price, but bury restrictive terms and conditions in the fine print. For example, the sale price may be restricted to a few hours after the store opens (and they open really, really early on Black Friday), or quantities of the sale item are very limited. Once they sell out, the retailer will put a near-identical item in its place--for a price not nearly as low as the advertised rate. In many cases, you won't be able to tell the difference between the two items and you won't find out about the difference in price until you make your way to the front of the long, long line at the checkout counter.
Another thing to watch out for is the "quantities are limited" claim. Retail experts point out that stores have nothing to gain and everything to lose by actually limiting quantities of sale items, and this claim makes very little sense from a revenue standpoint.
Finally, you should be aware that prices leak online and may actually be available in advance of Black Friday. By planning ahead, shopping online and shopping early, you can avoid disappointment in situations where the store legitimately does run out of a popular item that's available for one day only at a great price.
Deliah Abraham is a Black Friday sales expert. Through yearlong budgeting and careful planning and research she is able to scour all of the best deals from Meijers sales to Best Buy and score all of the best brands and newest technologies.
11/23 Expressions
Frugal Deeds for the day: Got 2 rent checks. Stopped at Hallmark and my daughter spent her second $5/$5 coupon found in another freebie magazine. I printed one for $10/$10 and also signed up for the Gold Crown card. With my $10/$10 - I purchased a smsall box of pepperment bark for the neighbor. May add coffee or something - and take it over next month. Tomorrow, my daughter is off - and will bake several apple pies from the apples the neighbor brought up from a "u-pick" place. She will be getting one of the pies. We are hoping we have enough "mix" to make three pies. Oh, and I signed up for a free sample of Starbucks coffee from Wal-mart.
Monday, November 22, 2010
11/22 Expressions
Frugal deeds for the day: The IRS sent us our refund check :) I called the mobile phone company that we got my daughter's phone thru this morning. Because of the company/organization I work for, I was given a 15% discount, waiver of the activations fee (will I get 2 since Costco offers that too?). So, it pays to check into things.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
11/21 Expressions
We went to Costco's - and this time I fell for a membership. They were running a special for us - $10 gift card w/membership - or $20 with Executive. I went with the Executive and the Amex Card - so, I got the $20 GC, $25 Credit Card credit and $50 rebate guarantee. The way they explained it to me - I get a rebate as a result of the membership - and the card. Okay - I ended up getting mobile phone services for my daughter also, and will get another $10 gift card and a refund of the activation fee, etc. We did not make it to the Art Museum's open house. And here is a scenario for saving $ at Publix. If you find the two rebate forms - the $10 back on a $50 gift card and the $10 rebate on a turkey - go to customer service and buy a Publix gift card - and mine let me used a $5/$50 competitor's coupon - YMMV on this one. Then shop for groceries - get a turkey - use another $5/$50 competitor's coupon if you buy $50 plus in groceries and mail in the rebate for the turkey with the grocery receipt. Publix seems to have the lowest turkey price per/lb so far - .59. Stretch your dollars . . .
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