Cool Mommy Product Reviews

This Christmas will be one of the most cash-strapped in recent memory. During this time of economic uncertainty, with American families slashing budgets, it’s usually the entertainment section that is first to go. With the run up to this holiday season, finding a sack of cash with a huge dollar sign on it is usually not something most of us will encounter. So what can families do to save on DVDs and entertainment this Christmas? We have a few options for you.

During this time of year, most big box stores like Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target offer considerable discounts on DVDs and Blu-rays, especially on new releases. When movies arrive in stores, generally on Tuesdays, they offer great prices for that week and sometimes just for that day. Ranging from $12.99 to $15.99, picking up new releases when they come out can save a lot of cash. The same goes for Blu-rays but their prices are generally more than typical DVDs. If you’ve missed out on all the savings from Black Friday, and who can blame you, these large stores will go on to offer consumers many discounts.

Tip: If you don’t want to fork out $12 to $15 for the DVD you can always watch the movie onDemand with Dish Network or Comcast, or better yet rent the movie from a Redbox in your local grocery store for $1!

If new releases aren’t on your gift list, then you may have an easier time picking up discounted older movies. These same stores, along with many grocery stores, have discount bins filled with movies that A) they have too much stock of B) they are “classics” or C) they are items advertised in mailers to draw in some Christmas traffic. If you spend the time looking through the bins and the loved one you are buying presents for isn’t picky, you can land some pretty good movies. Then again, if your friend likes bad movies, then all the better. I’m sure Short Circuit 2 will do just fine. At Target, they usually designate a spot adjacent to the Electronics section for $5 movies. Most of them are children’s movies so if you’re buying for a little one, this is a great place to go. They also offer great prices and sales for other items all the time.

Retail isn’t the only place for deals on DVDs and TV shows like Lost Season 5. Sites like eBay, Half.com and Amazon also offer fantastic deals especially if there is a specific item you are looking for. People generally have mixed feelings about eBay either because of bad experiences or distrust of others, but excellent deals, especially on hard-to-find films, can be found on the site. A lot of folks prefer Amazon for their movie and entertainment needs because of the great pricing on items from private sellers. If you go to a listing on Amazon, near the Amazon price –the site usually beats retail stores even with shipping– you can see a “Used” price. These are folks/companies that are selling those same items for much lower costs. Amazon also has more stringent policies regarding their sellers so feel free to purchase from them with ease of mind. eBay-owned Half.com also has similar policies to Amazon and offers solid discounts.

It may literally save you money to research prices on music, DVDs, Blu-rays or video games between retail outlets and online. Sites like Mysimon.com, Pricegrabber.com and Pricewatch.com run price comparisons on anything from electronics to movies, clothing, games (both video and board) to even trumpets, pet carriers and bedding. Still, even through their powerful search engines, nothing beats actual time and research put into your shopping.

Finance

Whenever people ask me if I have my holiday shopping done in those harried weeks prior to Christmas, I smile and nod. For years, I’ve shopped way, way early. That’s not to say I don’t do a little last minute purchasing, but all in all, I’m almost always done with the big ticket items months in advance.  There are many fiscal bonuses to shopping early.  If you want to hang onto cash, shopping early is a must.

Here’s why you should consider early Christmas shopping:

Less crowds equals less impulse buying. Between music, free samples and displays, retailers know how to tempt you to linger in their stores. Statistically, the longer you’re captive in a store, the more you will purchase. It’s a fact. At the holidays, merchandise is strategically placed by the checkouts for impulse buying. If you’re waiting in line at checkout, odds are you’ll succumb to at least a few unplanned items.  These small items add up and siphon your cash. A master at this style of marketing is Old Navy. You’ll see bins of (honestly), useless items, stacked to high heaven by registers. Frenzied, weary shoppers grab these like candy.  If you can shop early, go with a list and ease out of the store quickly, you’ll save big on impulse buying.

Time to shop equals time to find deals  It takes time to find a good price on an item. Like chess, it’s a game of strategy. You can review competitor’s prices, use coupons and hunt deals. You can even return an item if you find a better deal before Christmas.

Rewards count like cash.  In buying now, I’m getting rebates regularly.  My purchases at this point, have earned me almost $150.00 back.  This is money I apply towards friend’s gifts, stocking stuffers or holiday decorating items.  Yeah, I know I’d still receive these rewards after Christmas if I waited to purchase later, but it feels like less of a drain on my holiday budget by shopping early and using the credits now.

Shipping? What’s that?  You’ll never have to pay shipping if you shop early.  This alone should get you motivated.  Shipping can cost big bucks if you are a last minute person.  Several stores (Wal-Mart, JC Penney’s) have free “ship to store” however it’s the veritable slow boat to China route often, depending on the item. If you have a bank of time, you can wait it out and save.

Bottom line: Start singing Jingle Bells and get your list of good boys and girls out. It’s time to make real progress on your holiday shopping today!

Finance, Introduction

Buying in bulk or in a co-op isn’t a new idea. I’ve been part of a health food co-operative for years. Twenty or more of us join together to buy organic veggies, bulk rice or coffee and snacks a plenty. My cost conscious soul rejoices to be able to buy organic food (carrots, potatoes) at  prices equal to regular produce. Jasmine rice in bulk is less than its cheaper (and less tasty) tradtional long grain version in grocery stores. But a new trend, born of some evil genuis in marketing, has taken buying in bulk to a new level. 

Now you can buy in bulk, via internet sign-up,  entertainment, foods, jeans, golf, discount seats to sporting events,  and yes, even candy.  What makes this idea trendy? A deal is posted, with a given number of people needed to secure the price. If enough folks sign up, the deal is secured. Not enough to meet the requirements, the deal vanishes.  A caveot-  less packaging of hard items, thus saving on the environment.

And with the delightful entertainment offerings via “bulk or group buying”,  your family saves a bundle and gets to experience some great food, music or events at a greatly reduced price.

Take this one,  a “Golden Passport to New Englands Most Prestigious Golf Courses”. 

Here’s the deal, taken from one of the more popular Boston Bulk Buying Sites, “Buy With Me”:

Seriously, golf all summer and fall for just $150.

How often do you play golf? Whether it’s twice a year, or every other day, this is the greatest golf offer you’ll find anywhere.

For just $150, you’ll have exclusive access to some of New England’s most prestigious courses. That’s right, after the $150, this Golden Passport to New England Golf includes 25 free rounds of 18-holes at 25 different courses; with the packages designed to save you thousands.

But no one wants to play golf alone, right? Round up some of your best friends, because each course you play includes packages for between 2-4 people; and most include carts too. It’s the perfect chance to go out with some buddies, hit the links, and check out some courses you’ve never played before.

But act fast, because there are only a limited number of passports available. Click here for the complete list of courses and restrictions.

Twenty people are needed for this opportunity. 

One of those nasty issues with loving great clothing is the up-keep cost of dry cleaning. By virtue of a deal on Buy With Me, (Boston) you can save up to 88% of the cost on dry cleaning, with enough fellow souls enmasse that is. 

This trend is taking off in major cities, such as Chicago, Boston, Philedelphia, LA, etc.  It’s projected that smaller cities will soon  follow. Due to the economy,  dining is down, entertainment is suffering and deals such as these are flourishing.  It’s a great way to add value to your budget, take advantage of these group rates and network with others.

Here are some of the recent online bulk deals, offered from various cities:

The Denim Lounge- $50.00 buys $125.00

Healthworks, $19.00 for 24 Classes

Coupons, Finance, Health, Introduction, Travel boston, bulk buying, buy with me, candy, chicago, deals, dining, family, food, golf, grocery, group on, Travel

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been sitting down with hubby to go over our spending and expenses. Given the economic situation, I thought it makes sense to go over what we spend even though we are still OK (at the moment – you never know).

One of the things that I decided to work on was to make sure we have the best deals in town – like the most cost effective cell phone plans, utility provider, even credit cards. Our mortgage, well, we’ll have to shop around to refinance and we have not found the most efficient way to do it online yet.

But for other stuff that we regular spend on, I’ve made it a point (I always have actually) to make sure i cut coupons, surf for the best deals. Below are my top 10 sites (I’m sure there are other better ones – please share them) for searching for good deals.

1. LowerMyBills.com – Before I got my verizon cell phone 5 years ago, I spent about 5 hours researching on the web about various cell phone plans from different providers. I also surfed some forums to see comments on whether reception for AT&T wireless was better or Verizon. Finally, I settled on Verizon Wireless. I tool lots of notes on my notepad and was sure that it was the right decision.

Just before I went ahead to sign up, I came across lowermybills.com. I went to the cell phone section and keyed in my zip and details. And lo and behold, they too suggested Verizon! So it turned out that I wasted 6 hours of my time. This site also has mortgage rates comparison etc, but I’m not too sure if these are accurate. But the cell phone plan certainly was.

2. Billshrink.com – Bill Shrink has a site that also finds the best cell phone plan for you based on how many minutes you use the phone, the number of people on the plan, whether you text or not etc. It has got a very neat layout and user friendly interface. More so than lowermybills.com.

3. CouponCabin.com – This is one of my favorite coupon sites. Whenever we plan to go to say, TGIF dinner, we duly head over to the site and print their coupon.

4. fatwallet.com – Fat Wallet is one of the largest coupon and deal sites with a great forum (which if you are not careful – you can be stuck their for hours). You can also sign up to be a fatwallet member and get cash rebates shopping through their site.

5. Netxtag.com – Nextag is a shopping comparison site that lets you compare a lot of stuff. It is one of the sites where you want to stop by before you make any major purchases.

6. Ebay.com – Yes, good old ebay. My friend Amy just started her business and she is working out of her home basement. Rather than going to Ikea and getting most of her stuff their, she headed over to ebay and managed to set her office table, chairs and other stuff for a really great price. With the economy as it is, you’ll be surprised by the stuff that is available there.

7. Craigslist.com – Like ebay, craigslist has some surprising gems – whether you are looking for used furniture and equipments. My friend once got an older washer dryer on craigslist for really on the cheap.

8. Overstock.com – Overstock.com is a great place to hunt for fashion bargains and other great stuff. I’ve bought quite a few stuff from their and it is really a great site.

9. AskMrCreditCard.com – This is probably a site you go one time or when you are looking for a credit card. But they have got a cash back credit card calculator which is really cool. All you have to do is to enter your monthly expenses in some categories like gas, supermarket etc, and the calculator will generate the three cards that will earn you the most rebates. And the results will also show you the breakdown and rebate percentages. My hubby has the amex blue cash. So I keyed in our monthly expenses and sure enough, it turns out that we were having the right card. The site also has some interesting surveys like the one on the best cash back credit cards and gas credit cards.

10. TheBudgetFashionista.com – I’m a lady, so how can I resist the occasional nice clothes and shoes. Well, this site the budget fashionista actually post coupons and deals on fashion stuff. This is great and a great change from so many other blogs that post just grocery coupons.

Finance

Where have I been ? Glued to CNBC. The financial meltdown is unravelling in front of us and how are we handling it. Of course the kids are all oblivious to this. They keep asking for toys, books, video games and my oldest – Jordan who is nine years old even asked me where are we going for christmas !

I told them we’re not planning to go anywhere this christmas and he was surprised and insisted that we consider Montana. (he read a book – Robert and the Ski Escape and it was set in Montana) How spoilt the kids are these days ? I still cannot get over how excessive we are with our kids compared to when I was little.

Like I said to many friends, there are many people who have been burdened by credit card debts because of medical bills. Now, for those people, my heart goes out to them. But there are others who simply leverage themselves in order to pay for vacations and other excesses. Ohhh, there can be so many other reasons. But clearly, cheap and easy credit got everyone carried away.

So how are we going to get out of this terrible mess ? That’s the $700 billion question that hopefully the current and next adminstration can answer.

Meanwhile, how can we live debt free ?

1. Breaking up your debt amount into smaller portion.
Experts recommend that you pay off the credit card debts with the highest interest rate first. However, you may want to focus on the smallest balance first if you are overwhelmed.

2. Record every expense.
Cost control is inevitable. Go through expenditure and remove the extras. Reduce eating out and live frugally. Detail record keeping will make you more aware of your expenditure.

3. Pay on time.
It help with your credit score and late payments will only make things worse. Not only will you have higher rates if you pay late, it will impact your loan application. At least pay the minimum by due date to maintain your credit score. Discuss with your lender to move the due date if your payday is different.

4. Supplement your income.
Taking on extra hours or getting a second job to earn more cash which will help you to pay off your debt.

5. Get help asap
Talk to a financial advisor or a credit counselling agency to over haul your financial help and work out a plan overcome your problems. Get enrolled into a debt management program in which the agency can negotiate with your lenders to remove late fees and lower interest rates. Most participants get out of debt in less than 3 years. Find a credit counselling agency at www.nfcc.org or www.aiccca.org

Finance