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Our goals are finding all the good deals out there both online and offline for you, your friends and family with everyday shopping needs; showing you how to shop smarter, safer and cheaper; bringing to you all the tips, coupon codes, and resources that we have ever discovered. Please feel free to pass the word to others so they can save money just like you. Please note our website is constantly updated to serve you better! Click on top deals to see current deals we found for you! Here are some examples and tips help you save money: Quick topic link: Buying online or in-store? there are different and seperate promotions/sales/pricing for items depending on stores, for some retail stores, they're managed and sometimes owned by completely different entity that why there are the differences in price and product line. Also, buying online or in-store, each has advantages and disadvantages: at the store, you can check, test, watch demo, compare the products, read product's description right-on the manufacturer's box or specs sheet, buy the product and take home right-away, you don't have to pay for shipping cost...But you might have to drive around a lot if the particular store is out of stock, or does not have the style that you want, you might overpay for the item since you could not verify the price unless you have been shopping around, you also have to pay local sale tax and most importantly, keep in mind the rising gas price!; while shopping online, you have the conveniences of shopping right from home, in the bed or on your couch, check prices and compare different mananufacturers, retail stores, vendors of the same product, read customer's review about the product or service before you buy, looking for discounts, coupon codes, promotions that might apply to the product or service, you can even save sale tax if buying from out-of-state vendors. Disadvantages of buying online are: you can't feel or touch, test the product if you haven't shop for it in store, you have to pay for shipping and product handling costs (some products got free shipping offers), if you change your mind or something is wrong with your ordered item, you will have to ship it back at your own cost, you might get the wrong product or not-as-described product, you have to wait for delivery of the products, you might not get the same deal as in-store, you might have to disclose your privacy and finacial information online (make sure you check the website's secure featured before you shop, more info at Yahoo! Safe Shopping Tips, UNSW, FTC). No matter where you are going to buy your items, we always recommend "google" it out firstly, read reviews and evaluation of the product/service/website ratings on cnet.com, eOpinions.com using price check website such as google products search, MySimon.com, cnet.com, PriceGrabber.com, BizRate.com, NexTag.com, secondly, stop by one of the store to see the product (if possible), then evaluate for the best deal to take. Also, take advantage of low shipping cost site like Overstock.com or you can do the other way around, shop for your desired item first at stores, then shop again online, then pick the best deal. Also, lately there is new option "pay-online and pick up in store" offered at some electronics and retails stores like Circuit city, Best Buy, CompUSA, WalMart (new), RadioShack, Toy R Us (coming soon)...giving you the ability to shop online first before you decide to purchase the items. Do your personal tax yourself: with computer-aid tax programs like TurboTax (Intuit), TaxCut (H&R Block) and, Tax$imple (complete online, free for single short form 1040) filing your personal tax becomes effortless and stressless. Visit CNET to find out which tax software and version is appropriate for you here. Doing your tax as simple as answering questions, plus e-file option allowing you get fast refund if you have personal simple tax status. You will learn and know more about our Tax laws (federal and state), DO and DON'T things when you reporting to uncle SAM. With the tax software costs about $30-$90 (is deductible), you can do almost any tax filing status and exempt, know all tricks the tax preparers never tell you or have done on your tax file without your knowledge. All tax resources and publications are available either online at IRS.gov or at local post offices, public libraries. If you want to learn further, your local community college even offer Federal and State tax courses. As long as you can read and understand plain English, your tax status is not complicated, you don't want to lie to the IRS or intend to commit Tax Fraud, you sure can save a lot of money, get great refunds (get DeductionPro by H&R Block to maximize your deduction with the pro) and sastify uncle Sam safely by filing Tax yourself! Watch out for overpriced gas stations and keep your car in efficiency: with gas prices are on the rise, now there are certain steps you can do to save money on gas that people are talking about but you maybe didn't pay enough attention. They are like: consolidate or plan your trips ahead of time so you don't waste gas driving around, there might be an alternate route to certain place that can save you a couple driving miles you didn't know about; check your tires' air pressure, under aired tires will cause your car engine burns more gas, over aired tires might cause damage to your car; keep your car's trunk empty at all times; close car's windows at high speed (over 35 mph); tune-up your car at manufacturer's recommended schedule. And finally, watch out for overpriced gas stations, some gas station owners recently charge you different price if you pay by credit card and some other cheated on the meter, keep track of the low price gas station so you can fill your gas there next time, here is useful tool provided by msn.com to find out those low price gas station in your neighborhood, also, always fill gas at those intersections with 2 or more gas stations as they tend to compete with each others on pricing to lure more customers. Get the book "365 WAYS TO LIVE CHEAP!" by Trent Hamm, founder of THESIMPLEDOLLAR.COM: You'll be surprised how much money you can save by applying Hamm's simple tips, looking for small leaks in your personal finance hole and in all aspects of your life like "Eat out at restaurants during the lunch hour instead of dinner; Attend a movie matinee instead of the evening show; use cold water to wash your clothes... Spend less, Enjoy More!" This book is cheap itself, only $7.95 (CAN $8.99) UPC=0-4507910042-8, ISBN-13: 978-1-60550-042-3, look for it in Personal Finance section of your local book stores or online, or check out the Author's website mentioned above. Check out the two major credit card website, Mastercard.com, Visa.com: check out special offers for cardholders of Mastercard, Visa or bonus rewards/cash back bonus from American Express, DinersClub, Discover Card, you never know you could have saved a lot of money for major purchase by just using the right card for the right merchant! Create one dummy email to subcribe to these merchant so you're informed about their good offers. Consolidate your credit cards to Rewards/Cash Back Bonus credit card: try to pay off high APR credit cards and consolidate them into NO ANNUAL FEE Rewards/Cash Back Bonus cards like CapialOne No Hassle Cash Reward Card, Citi Dividend Platinum, Chase Freedom Visa...or PayPal (link to your checking account and earn 1.5% cash back when you use the card). Check them out at Creditcards.com, PayPal.com (1.5% cashback), Discovercard (up to 10% cashback), eBillMe (1% cashback) Switch to Direct Deposit/Debit and Paperless Statement option: most banks and financial institutions, even government agencies like Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Federal Student Direct Loan...nowadays offer direct deposit/debit and paperless statement, why not switch to that option when it is available to you? you will save the environment for using less paper, save overhead costs to yourself or your business as well as your business partners (your employer), some vendors/utilities companies even offer you some rewards for going paperless like AT&T, save the time to deposit and wait for the fund available, get to your fund faster and more secure, most people who have their paycheck and/or tax refund direct deposited always get their money and available fund at least 1 days ahead of the others who haven't. Not to mention when your pay day fall into a holidays or weekends you will not have to wait till next business day like others. Security is another safety feature of direct deposit/debit and paperless statement since fund and statement was transferred electronically and instantly rather than postal service truck, no one would be able to steal your paycheck or your identity. If you check your account frequently and print your credit report annually, you are always alert of any changes to your account. More about online banking and features can be found here. Avoid Unneccessary charges, fees and penalties: oh yeah, that is the most simple way to save money. And how can you do it? By simply obeying your government laws, state's regulations, local traffic law, your community's agreement...; drive carefully on the road, no speeding in any circumstances, don't drink and drive, don't talk on cell phone (without hand-free device) while driving, stop at the Stop sign, don't park in red-zone lane, don't run on red light...By paying your income tax on due date, paying all your other bills on time (subscribe to bill reminder service if available)...See? by being a good citizen you have save yourself quite a lot of money. I feel sorry for those who are careless and keep ignoring the law, once they are got caught then wondering why they are so out of luck! Using Bill-Me-Later offers at some merchants' website: want something real bad but can't afford one at the moment? how about defer that payment in 90 days or 6-month? a service offered by CIT bank of Utah which provides you an instant small loan, easy to be approved for terms of 3-6 months with no interest, your purchase is secured as the bank only offer this feature at qualified participant merchants and your bill is delayed for 90 days to 6-months (on approved credit), check for participant merchants at BillMeLater.com Using Specialized Search Engines: depends on what you are looking for, use the appropriate specialized search engine would find the right deals, of course you can use whatever free services you can get, but here are some useful recommended ones:
Ebay VS Craig's list: ever heard or used Ebay or Craigslist.org? they are both common places for buy/sale/trade new and used products/merchandises, depends on your situations, use them interchangeably. Ebay is "The World's Online Marketplace®, enabling trade on a local, national and international basis. With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each daymunity with larger stocks but it costs money to sell or buy", eBay only charges seller with posting fee and a percentage on the final bidding price. Most sellers and buyers are long distance traders that why you will need to check their Ebay's points, how many positive feedbacks vs negative feedbacks, how long they were with eBay, how goods they were with shipping and payment before doing trade with them. Ebay do have some guarantee and can act as mediator to any dispute transactions although it will take some time to get results. Learn more about eBay here. Craigslist.org on the other hand, is non-profit local community portal, started in San Francisco and now available at almost any big city in the US and international. Many people take advantage of free posted feature of craigslist to sell, buy, find friends and local jobs (very effective with no fees)...most transactions are conducted locally wherever sellers and buyers agreed on with no guarantee from craigslist. Sometimes, getting rid of your unwanted stuffs or getting something that you want with a good deal locally on Craigslist is no efforts, no string attached, most transactions were conducted on cash basic and upon agreement between traders. Craig's list is more like a blog where people read each other's note online. For trading, if you cannot sell or buy stuffs on craig's list, then try on eBay and vice versa. Use Official Free Annual Credit Report: by new federal law, anyone who lived in the United States would be allowed to get 1 free annually credit report from each of the three credit report bureau: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, make sure to use AnnualCreditReport.com to get it, you should not be charged, even a penny if getting the standard report, some other website would fool you to pay for an additional fees. This site also have built-in reminder that would email you when you are eligible for next free report (your anniversary day). You should check your credit file from each credit monitor agency at least once a year. Of course, if you have an urgent need of checking your credit file at anytime more than one time at around $20 per report, you can do that. But make sure you use legitimate website address from the three credit bureaus, here are their correct address: http://www.equifax.com, http://www.transunion.com, http://www.experian.com. Maintain A Good Credit Rating: perhaps you already heard from many people, financial advisors, your banker, your real estate agent...many many times but let us remind you one more time. In this modern capital society, most creditors, mortgage lenders, car loan, personal loan can only grant you a loan or renter any kind of service base on your credit history, your income and FICO score. Let's say you want to buy a car retail value of $20,000, if your have an outstanding credit and a good FICO score of 750 or higher, you might be able to drive your car out of the dealer for 0 APR for 60 months = $333.33 montlhly payment (for purpose of demonstration, sale tax and fee excluded), some time no down payment either, just fill out the form, state your income and SSN; while another person with no or bad credit history and low FICO score may end up with 13.9 APR = $464.33 (sale tax and fee excluded) monthly payment for the same $20,000 value car. Imagine how big the differences are for a higher value purchase like a piece of real estate. Maintain a good credit history is not hard, as long as you remember "spend less than you make", pay back what you owe as soon as possible, do not open new credit accounts carelessly or just for the 10% off deal, do not purchase things that you can't afford or not really need. And if your current credit ratings is not good, there are easy steps to fix it, follow this 6 easy steps from Trulia, improve your skills, learn new skill set to increase your income, here you go, free ecourse "Jump Start Your Financial Freedom" from FinancialPoor. Can not get credit, get a Visa Prepaid RushCard - FREE Direct Deposit, Online Pay Bills, Get Cash from ATM’s, Guaranteed Approval! Print your own digital pictures or have them printed at professional studios/mini photo lab? printing at home is has only one advantage that is the ability to print and see your pictures right away in the privacy of your home, other than that usually is more costly and time consuming, you'll need a nice quality photo quality printer (print size larger than 8x10 might need higher-end photo printer), picture editing software, computer (of course know how to use it, too), photo papers, expensive ink cartridges...all of that adding up to the cost of your picture print, could be 10-20 times the cost of printing at a professional studio or mini photo lab where there are technicians and professional photo lab equipments, turn out average cost of a 4x6 print is only around $.12 - $.29. Depending on quality of the print and the lab brand: Fuji, Kodak or others, your picture color tone might be different. In addition to cheaper price per print, most professional online labs offers online storage and online picture sharing, better quality, here are some common ones:
Use airport shuttle service, hire/ask someone for a ride to airport VS using parkings at the airport? well using airport shuttle is convenience but very expensive, could even be more expensive than a taxi cab, requires reservation and quotes in advance, keep in mind, when there's traffic, the shuttle will be late or stucked in traffic as well; asking your friend or family member for a ride is cheap and sometimes free but don't you still owe them a favor as you have consumed their time and money? and would they be available to pick you up on your way back? I would use parkings at the airport instead, pick an all-day parking a couple miles away from the airport, their rate are very competitive, depends on the airport, some place only charge about $2.50 per day, drive there and drop your car early before your trip, then their shuttle will take you to airport, pick you up when you are back, toll free number provided, plus you don't have to bother anyone. This works perfectly for travelers who travel less than 2 weeks. Find out more at AirportParkingReservations.com, their network parkings available at almost every major airport in the US. Subcribe to premium digital cable/satelliteTV programming? do you know that you can save a lot of money by renting or watching free-over-the-air local channels? do not waste your money for $79-$150 per month for those premium channels packages while you only watch for couple of hours a week or certain game nights. If you live in urban area, most local TVs have already converted to HD or digital signals and they are free off the air. ABC,NBC, CBS, broadcasts live major football, baseball games, olympic games and other sports events in Hi Definition format, your favorite TV shows and sitcome like Heroes, Deal or No Deal, Law & Order, Friends, Jay Leno, According to Jim...were already broadcasted in Hi Definition. The catch is you might need a good outdoor antenna to get that signal (of course an HDTV with digital tuner is needed and which will required in entire US by 6/17/2009). More about the new digital TV act to require TV stations to cease analog broadcast and switch to digital broadcast after June 17, 2009 by Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) : click on the link to download TV Converter Box Coupon Program Publication (PDF), List of certified retailers where you will get the converter box in February 2008 (PDF), NTIA Public Education Document about this program (PDF). Starting 1/1/2008 you can apply for 2 discount coupons per household ($40 off retail price of the converter box of $59.95-$69.95) by three ways:
Use AntennasDirect.com or AntennaHub.com (Free shipping!) to find the right HDTV antenna for you. Click here to find what HDTV stations are available in your area. Hulu.com, a new way to watch TV online FREE with minimal commercial ads, a movie/TV subcription with minimal fee also available with Hulu Plus™ Shop for everything off season: you won't realize how much money and time you'll save if you do the shopping a little off peak or off season. Most of department stores carry their big sale compaign close to the end or beginning of a season, doing your shopping then could save you big bucks. But everyone would probably do the same, thus, the stuffs that you really want might have gone by the time you get to it, not counting the time and hassles you might had spent. Now, how about do your shopping a little bit oppositely to others? for example: getting an air conditioner or a swimming suit in the winter, a leather jacket in summer, and a Halloween costume in Spring? see, most likely these sales are conducted at the end of a season, most shoppers will briefly scan through these items as they walk by the isles carelessly, leaving you by yourself to look through them and pick your best choice with the lowest price of the season. Same go with travelling and vacation planning. A mid- week hotel room at most resorts and vacation destinations is always 40-60% cheaper than end of week, plus less people staying in line for dining buffet, show or attractions and tours. Log onto Priceline.com to see for yourself. Would you miss a lot by booking your reservation for mid-week? probably, yes, but not much or you can easily make up for it. For example, compare your mid week vacation to Disney Land Resort with another same one on the weekend and see for yourself, you'll get a lower rate on hotel room, car rental, dining; you'll have more time for more rides at the theme park...apply this strategy to virtually anything and see the benefits it brings to you. Of course, you might have to suffer or compromise with something, but the rewards of time and money savings are much much greater! Banking online is not secure? not anymore: yeah, that's right, in fact, banking online has became more secure than ever, even better than the traditional banking methods. In this internet era, thanks to highly developed technologies and computer security applications, most banks have secure process to sign you up for online banking first, then provide extra protected layers, firewall, highly trained security specialist to manage and monitor your online accounts. As an online banking users, you can check you balances, transfer funds, paying bills, setup alerts & notifications, cancel checks, postpone a payment...24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere and anytime (iPhone, iPad apps already available for certain banks; other banks also allowing to create secret image/question/phrase combination to your account so only you got access.) If there is an invalid/illegal transaction on your account, you'll the first one to know, some banks even have dedicated agent to call you as soon as transaction incured. Traditionally, you won't know this infomation until you got the monthly statement from the bank and saw the transaction posted to your account(s). This could be costly as you are not aware of it, or perhaps overlooked it. If something happens to your funds without your consent, you will not be hold responsible for. If someone hacks to your online account, ninety-nine percent is because you did not protect your identification and account access information well enough, but not because of the security of online banking. So don't be left behind in this convenience banking method available you, take advantage of FREE online bill payments, cash back and all other rewards, manage your money smarter and safer! Put your savings money into high yield MMA (money market account and online savings account rather than CD (certificate of deposit) and safe deposit box: most people think of traditional CD and savings account or safe deposit box when they want to set a side some money for emergency or extra money to earn interest on them, some even secretly put cash and fast liquid-able goods like diamonds, Rolex watches, gold bar…into their safe deposit for a rainy days (see Liz Pulliam Preston’s MSN featured articles on why you need this money here) despite of the fact that those goods or money will not grow at all or will yield a very low return. Well, the old days when our economy went to financial crisis and people could not get their money from the bank had gone. With the fast growing of the internet and financial needs, online banking is available at almost every banks and financial institutes, there is a new way of banking and savings-online savings with high yield or money market account available to individual. These accounts have way higher interest return rate than your traditional savings and CD account (you have to leave your money for terms of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 years to get a higher interest return). Most of these accounts are provided by well-known and stable financial institutes, backed up with minimum FDIC guarantee deposit of $100,000 per account, no fee, directly link to your checking account (does not have to be the same bank) where you can transfer fund anytime without penalty charge between account as fast as 1 business day (fund available immediately after it post to your account), you can also make a savings plan to transfer money at a specific time with a specific amount that you are comfortable with. Here is list of the highest APY and insured (FDIC) online savings that we have found for you:
For other banks, you can check here Banks Money Market and Savings comparison by Bankrate.com Shop outlet and refurbished/discount products: you can save up to 75% if you can accept last season clothing and apparels, refurbished and clearance/discount products (reconditioned, recertified, returned…or whatever the factory or retailer called them). A little fault on this pair of jeans, some loose stitches under that skirt, one scratch on the back side of that TV…these suffers have brought you great gains! Who would notice such little things? On the contrary, you have got what you wanted, you still own well recognized brands and quality products, and most importantly, all items are still returnable, are carrying at least 90 days warranty in case you change your mind. I have been buying many things from outlet stores as well as refurbished products, many of my friends, co-workers and family members have been shopping there also, so far, neither me nor them have any complaints. Read "10 things you shouldn't buy new" article here, it might help you understand more. Here are some useful links to start with:
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