Living on the Cheap

Heads Up, Paypal Discounts

2007-11-26T12:44:00.001-05:00

Just thought I'd let you all know that Paypal is running another of their crazy holiday promotions. This time, you get 20 percent off at a bunch of online merchants. Basically, you pay full price now and the 20 percent gets deposited into your account in January. There's a maximum of $50 in rebates.

Check our list of participating merchants for details, and happy shopping.

7 Tips for Responsible Black Friday Shopping

2007-11-14T14:20:00.001-05:00

By now, most of the major store Black Friday ads have leaked. So, what should you do next? We've listed 7 tips and strategies for smart and responsible Black Friday shopping.

1. make a list of the items that you think you may need or would like to buy. For even better results, do this first without looking at the Black Friday ads so you don't get suckered into a deal.

2. If you typically buy gifts for family and friends, decide on what to buy them now. Making a last minute buying decision, especially after Black Friday, could result in higher costs or unnecessary shipping and rush delivery fees.

3. it's time to look at the ads and compare. Research your prospective purchases online and understand the items before you buy. Often, Black Friday products are priced low because stores are trying to get rid of excess inventory or discontinued models.

4. If you have to go into credit card debt to make your online purchases, is a mail-in rebate really your best option? You'll hopefully eventually get the rebate cash you deserve, but the credit card interest you rack up in the meantime may negate those savings. It may be worth it to pay a bit more and not worry about rebates. Some stores like Best Buy have foregone rebates altogether. Good for them.

5. If you still are convinced that using a rebate is your best deal, be sure to plan on taking the rebate money and putting it back where you took it from, i.e. your credit card, savings account, etc. Counting on a rebate check to pay your electric bill is not a good financial decision.

6. If you go to a store to get a deal, stick to your list. Don't fall for other promotions without researching them first. Those other deals may not be as smart for your wallet.

7. Finally, remember that many Black Friday deals are not deals at all. They may be a good price for a retail store, but many items are often cheaper online. As Cyber Monday approaches, we'll have a better idea of where to get the best deals, both offline and online.

Thoughts on Working from Home

2007-11-08T23:34:00.001-05:00

Hank asks:

Hello. I was wondering if you can do a column or post on legit home-based
businesses.

Well, first of all, what I'm about to say is probably not what you are looking to hear. Working from home is not easy. While telecommuting in general has risen in popularity, many who telecommute first worked in an office setting and then, after gaining the blessing of their supervisors, moved some or all of their job to their home. That being said, here are some ideas of things that you could do from home. Perhaps our readers will have more ideas.

Everyone has at least one subject where they know more than anyone else. Why not offer consulting services over the phone or via an online chat platform like Skype.

Similarly, if you're a good writer, you could publish electronic books (Ebooks) on subjects where you are an expert. Clickbank is perhaps the most popular site for helping you publish your material online. Even if you aren't an expert in an area, careful research could yield you some promising results.

If you prefer to write shorter articles, try a site like Associated Content. They pay a few dollars for articles, stories, or reviews on just about any subject. If you run or have thought about running a blog, you could rework some of your blog posts and submit them for cash.

One of the most popular businesses to run from home is buying and selling merchandise. In many cases, you could buy items in bulk and then resell them on sites like EBay or Amazon Marketplace. This probably works best if you stick to a nitch market, such as GPS receivers or handbags.

As a general rule, don't pay money for any home-based business opportunity. These are generally scams or pipe dreams. While their claims about getting rich may be true, they are likely very hard to attain and much of the information that is being sold is freely available.

There are many other ways to make money at home. Some companies, especially those with a strong online presence, will hire remote technical support or customer service representatives. The online bargain shopping site Dealnews, for example, has advertised for remote dealwriters paying $9 an hour. Find an area that you're interested in and start searching.

as I said, working from home isn't easy, but it certainly is possible, with the right motivation.

Free Money Offers from Banks, it's Not all Bad

2007-11-06T16:24:00.000-05:00

In my Email inbox today, I received an offer from Bank of America offering $75 free for opening a new checking account on their online site. If you happen to have a credit card from them, you could probably get a similar offer, but I digress.

Sometimes, people will not fulfill these offers because they are skeptical that the money is real. But generally speaking, it is. But how can the banks afford to do this?

First, it's important to read the terms of the offer. This particular one says that one needs to deposit at $25 and keep the account open for 50 days. Then, the $75 will be deposited. There was no special language about needing to keep the account open after that time, though we have seen this before, so be careful.

So what are they getting for your free $75? First, they're obviously hoping that you'll like the service enough and want to keep your account. Certainly, many will not cancel out of laziness or a desire to not switch bank accounts every few months. But if you're someone like me who just wants to get the $75 and jet, they still have other opportunities to rope me in.

While signing up for the account, I was offered no less than four or five other services, all written to sound appealing. Sign up for a free trial of a credit score watch system. Identity theft protection. Indeed, if I said yes to even one of these offers and kept the service or forgot to cancel, they'd get their $75 and more back in a heartbeat.

Bank of America also wanted me to sign up for a savings account. In fact, it was highly suggested. I say this because the box next to savings was selected by default when I filled out the form. Be sure to understand the complete offer and not sign up for any services that you don't want. Since the offer says nothing about a savings account, I unchecked that box.

Also, by signing up for this account, I certainly, through some loophole in corporate legality and ethics, gave Bank of America to sell my name to anyone who wanted it. There was a way to opt out of this, but it involved calling a toll-free number, again something that most lazy people won't do.

In summary, the free $75 is probably real, and I'll look forward to receiving it next month. But, it's important to not fall into the trap of signing up for additional services and stick to the offer that is making you money, not costing you.

Amazon Winner

2007-11-06T16:00:00.001-05:00

Wow. What a great response to our gift certificate giveaway.

If you didn't win or if you're looking to knock out some early Christmas shopping, maybe an Amazon Gift Certificate is just what the doctor ordered.

Angela and Connor just had a new baby, and certainly have a lot of things to buy, so we're glad that our random number generator picked them as our contest winner. Congratulations, and watch for the certificate shortly.

The Sometimes Misleading Bargains at Warehouse Clubs

2007-11-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

Mavis asks:

Is it really cheaper to shop at costco? i feel
like they suck the life out of me every time i visit.

When Sam's Club first entered our area, I, like many, bought a $35 membership and thought I was saving money. After all, some of their over-sized items just looked huge, and the size alone made me think I was getting a better deal. Anyone who has sold candy for a fund raiser knows the value of Sam's and other warehouse clubs when trying to make a few bucks. But for everyday grocery shopping, the deals may not always be at the clubs.

Let's check some prices. Sam's Club in our area has Kellogg's Special K - 38 oz. for $7.88. Now, compared with the regular price of Special K, it's probably a good deal. But grocery stores have two things going for them that the clubs don't--sales and coupons.

If your grocery store has Kellogg's cereal on sale for $2 a box, for example, you could buy nearly 4 boxes of Special K for the same price as the warehouse size. In addition, the smaller boxes mean that your cereal will stay fresh longer, since you won't have a huge box open. The club may run a sale on cereal, but saving a dollar on a $8 box of cereal isn't nearly as good as saving a dollar on 4 $3 boxes.

Also, don't forget about the coupons. You don't find coupons in the newspaper or online to save money on a 38 ounce box of cereal. But if you find a 50 cent or $1 coupon on a normal-sized box and can obtain three or four copies of that coupon, you've just tripled or quadrupled your savings.

This is just one example, but perhaps it will have you thinking a bit more the next time you consider visiting a warehouse club. Is everything at the clubs a bad deal? Certainly not, but with some practice, you should be able to save more elsewhere.

All About Testspin

2007-11-01T16:22:00.002-04:00

In our contest post from yesterday, We mentioned Testspin as one way to earn a little extra money, which generated a fair amount of interest from the comments we've received.

In essence, Testspin is one of a growing number of survey sites that will pay you to do online research questionaires. If you hear anyone telling you that you'll get rich from taking online surveys, laugh them off. It certainly isn't the financial cure that even some of the survey sites themselves make it out to be.

Basically, upon signing up to the site, you'll be asked to fill out a profile. This profile is used to match you to possible surveys. You don't get paid for these, but they will vastly increase your chances for future surveys.

Then the fun, or sometimes frustrating part, begins. Watch your Email for survey invitations. We've quoted part of one below so you have an idea of how they're written:

Dear Testspin Member:
TestSpin on behalf of its client is conducting an important research study. We are interested in getting some feedback from some of our members. This survey should take you about 15 minutes to complete. For completion of this survey you will receive $2.00 deposited directly in your TestSpin bank account approximately 4 weeks after the quotas have been filled and the study has ended. Please read the questions carefully and provide accurate responses, your responses may be reviewed from time to time as it is important that we provide valid data to our clients and maintain the integrity of our panel.

IMPORTANT: There will be several questions asked to find out if you qualify and you must qualify and complete the entire survey for us to deposit your gift certificate
award.

So you can see a few things from this Email. First, the pay isn't great. $2 for their 15 minute estimate is $8 per hour. On the bright side, this particular survey didn't actually take me that long, so $2 for 5-10 minutes of work wasn't as bad.

Also notice the section about qualifying questions. Survey companies are usually looking for specific groups of people. You will generally be asked a few questions to see if you qualify. There's nothing more annoying than filling out part of a survey only to be told that you didn't qualify. No qualification means no rewards, Amazon gift certificates in the case of Testspin.

Finally, when signing up for any survey site, it's important to note the minimum amount required to get paid. For Testspin, it's only $10 which I find reasonable. Others require higher amounts of $50 or more, so an amount of dedication is required for these sites.

If you have other questions about surveys or want to post experiences of your own, leave a comment.

The Hidden Gem in Airfare Search Sites

2007-11-01T01:04:00.000-04:00

When searching for low airfare, it's hard to find the best deal. Sure, that's a worn-to-death statement, but it's true.

We prefer the less conventional route when searching for cheap travel online. Say it with me now. Beta.itasoftware.com. Just rolls off the tip of your tongue, doesn't it?

These guys don't let you book on their site, but that doesn't matter. The search features are simply some of the most powerful I've seen. You need to register for the site, but it's free.

This site is a dream come true for the flexible traveler/. Flying out of my home airport of Kalamazoo is expensive. But searching every airport within 300 miles of Kalamazoo opens up lots of options. While some of the scenarios that the site spits out are a bit absurd, it comes with some of the cheapest fares in the world, many with flights that won't be hard to catch. How crazy can you get on this site? I'll post more later on.

Black Friday is Coming

2007-11-01T00:14:00.000-04:00

Why do we put ourselves through this misery every year? To save money, of course. Check out BFAds.net, our favorite of the Black Friday sites. And yes, some store ads, including Sears, FYE, and Harbor Freight, are already posted.

Cutting off the Vonage

2007-11-01T00:09:00.000-04:00

So a few years ago, I switched from a landline to Vonage. $24.99 for unlimited long distance sounded like a good deal, and it probably was for awhile. But since the advent of Skype's unlimited calling plan for $29.95 a year, paying an extra $300 for another phone number just seemed silly. $300 vs $30. Seems pretty simple.

All of this to say that I got bored enough to write a Skype calculator. If you're not familiar, you can call phone numbers in the United States and Canada for 2.1 cents per minute (plus a connection charge) with Skypeout. Or you can pay the $29.95 for the annual subscription. I wrote the calculator to make it easier to determine which would be cheaper for you.

Try it out, and let me know what you think.

$10 Amazon Gift Certificate

2007-10-31T23:22:00.000-04:00

Who doesn't love free stuff. If you're visiting us from the Fall Yawl Bloggy Giveaway, welcome to Living on the Cheap. We're a brand new blog all about saving money and living smarter, and we hope you'll bookmark us.
Now for the free stuff. One of the things that I do to make money is take surveys on sites like Testspin. It's really easy to get money and gift cards for filling out questionaires at these sites. So we're giving away one of the coolest prizes we get for taking these things, a $10 Amazon gift certificate. If you want it, leave your name and Email in the comments for this post. Also, feel free to leave any questions about saving money or living on the cheap and we'll try to answer them in a future post. We'll post the winner on Monday from all EMails submitted by Sunday, November 4 at 11:59 eastern.

Good luck, and welcome to Living on the Cheap.

Oh, I almost forgot. Click on the link at the top of the post to find hundreds of other blogs doing the same thing. You could end up winning a pile of stuff.

Get those Halloween Costumes in November

2007-10-29T21:14:00.001-04:00

As with many of the holidays, it probably shouldn't surprise you that the best time to buy Halloween costumes is approaching. What do you want to be for Halloween, next year? If you can answer that question now, you could save a pile on your next costume. Case in point Buycostumes.com takes 25% off with coupon code "sweep25" (expires November 2). So if you can plan ahead, way ahead, you can have a frugal Halloween. If you're still looking for a costume for this year, don't forget about secondhand shops like Goodwill. In our local newspaper, they actually advertise themselves as a destination for Halloween costume shopping which makes perfect sense considering their odd assortment of clothing and accessories at insanely low prices.

Bargain Hunting 101: A little work can go a long way when you shop

2007-10-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

Are you getting the best deal every time you shop? Admittedly, searching around for the absolute best bargain can sometimes seem cumbersome. It’s often difficult to make side-by-side comparisons when taking considerations like shipping cost, condition of the item, and reputation of the merchant into account. But if you’re looking for a crash course on saving money, here’s a look at the process I use when shopping for an item online.

First, it is important to determine the exact item you are looking for. Many times, similar models of the same item exist that are slightly different in appearance or functionality. In order to perform an accurate comparison, you need to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Try to get a model number for the product that you wish to purchase. You can use it in the next step.

Next, decide for yourself how important the item condition is in your search. If I look for a new hard drive for example, I want it new because of the extended warranties offered by manufacturers. If am item is durable, easily serviced or repairable, or less important, a used or refurbished model may be acceptable to you. Refurbished items are usually reconditioned or recertified by the manufacturer, but often come with a shortened warranty.

Now that you know exactly what you’re looking for, it’s time to comparison shop. Luckily, a few websites have made this job dramatically easier. Two that I recommend are Google Products and Pricegrabber. Both of these sites offer a simplified search experience and cover a wide variety of merchants. It is important to use more than one of the shopping comparison engines since not all stores are listed in every database. Amazon for example, only lists in Pricegrabber’s index.

These sites offer various tools to make your comparison a bit easier. You can sort results by price (low to high) to quickly see the lowest prices. When comparing prices, remember to factor in the shipping cost to your location. You may need to visit the store’s website to determine the exact shipping cost. Keep track of the lowest two or three prices that you find.

Next, it’s time to check for any coupons or promotional codes. Most online retailers offer coupons that give a percentage or dollar amount off your purchase. Others offer free shipping if you spend a certain amount of money. Whatever the case, it’s important to look for coupons before making a purchase. Try a site like Dealcoupon to find promotional codes for hundreds of online stores. Once at this site, search for the store where you found the lowest prices for your item. If you find a coupon, calculate the new price for your item to maintain an accurate comparison.

One more place to check for your item is EBay. While EBay has gained a reputation for auctions filled with old figurines from the attic, millions of new items are also available. In fact, EBay probably lists more new items today than used merchandise. Search on the site for your item, again remembering to factor in the cost of shipping.

Finally, find the lowest price on your list and buy your item. If you are using a coupon, make sure the store accepts the code you are attempting to use. If it doesn’t for some reason, move on to a different one. Also, don’t get suckered into to a store trying to sell you similar items they think you may like. They do this because you are a captive audience, and they don’t expect you to comparison shop again. In reality, however, these other items are probably available from another store for a lower price. If you really want one of their suggestions, start the comparison process over for that item.

Once you perform these steps a few times, you’ll become a pro at searching for the best deals and this process will become much less time consuming. It may seem like work now, but your wallet and credit card will thank you later.

Later, we’ll talk about how your method of payment can help you get even more out of your purchase.

First Ever Post

2007-10-29T16:07:00.000-04:00

Hello, and welcome to the first ever post to Living on the Cheap. I'm perhaps your typical college student, just doing what needs to be done to scrape by. But along the way, I've learned a lot of cool ways to stretch every dollar I make and at least sometimes, pretend to live like a not-so-college student.

On this blog, we'll talk about ways to save money, coupons, frequent flier and points programs, and just about anything else that could result in saving money or living better.

Oh, I almost forgot. Check our Bargain Wire near the bottom of this page. There, we'll post extraordinary and cool items from lots of online stores. Usually, we'll only post something if it's the lowest possible price we could find. Save yourself some money, and some time too.

If you've got any ideas or questions, just send them along.