Lining up my strategies for surviving the holidays while on the austerity budget. Decided to share with you my time tested tactics for getting the most for your dollar on Black Friday. Here are my 12 tips for surviving Black Friday.
Read your paper. Check Black Friday sites. Thursday’s paper will be stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey with ads, coupons, and circulars. It's your best source for Black Friday savings in your local area. Take a few minutes to map out the savings for the items you’re looking for. Pay attention to the times of specials listed as most stores will be offering special discounts that are time sensitive (e.g, doorbuster or early bird sales.) further capitlize on the coupon deals. Don't have a paper, visit one of the aggregator of Black Friday sales such as blackfriday.info, black-friday.net or Dealtaker
Do your research before Friday. Make your list of big ticket items. Research the product beforehand. Save yourself some buyers remorse caused by buying a bad product at cheap price.
Map out your shopping trip. Map out your travel route based upon your buying priorities. Many of the deals offered this season will be time-sensitive deals requiring early visits (e.g., earlier bird specials) to the store. These deals are offered with a “no rain check” condition. When the supply is gone, it's gone.
Check your prices. Use an online price comparision site like Pricegrabber, Bizrate, Shopping.com, Streetwise, or Dealtaker to help you compare the sales flyers prices for your item. Pay attention to the product options included in the product. Sometimes stores offer a stripped down product at a low ball price to get you in the door. Sounds like a good deal until you start to tally up the costs of the extras needed to make the product run as you’d expect it too. In store and need to do a price check? Dial up FruCall (1.888.d0.frucall), enter the bar code for the item, and learn the price that online retailers are offering the product at.
Be the early bird. The best deals are likely to be the early bird or doorbuster deals. Know when your stores open, get in line at least 1-2 hours in advance of the store’s opening, and run to whatever items you need to buy.
Make nice with your neighbors in line. If you’re standing in line for a few hours, make friends with the people in line around you. Offer up some of your dougnut holes, exchange shopping tips, and most importantly, save your spot in line should you need to dash off to use a restroom.
Order online. pick up at the local store. Lots of retailers will be posting their Black Friday specials before the actual day. Take advantage of the ability to order your items online and pick them up at the local store to save on shipping and the headaches of crowds.
7 days of Black Friday. (Tues – Monday) Stores will start marking down items on Tuesday for the rest of the week to entice consumers into their stores, so it makes sense to shop early if you can. Also, check retailers’ websites in the days prior to Black Friday as there are often “web special” deals in advance of the in-store promotion.
Return and rebuy. If there is a product that you really want and you know its going on sale for Black Friday, buy it in advance. Return it to the store during the sales promotion and rebuy it at the lower price. Make sure you understand the store’s price adjustment and return policies before doing this tactic as the store may have a “no returns” policy or have a time-limit on price adjustments.
Bring the proof to get the lowest price guarantee or a price match. While many stores will offer a “lowest price” guarantee, in order for you to get it, you’ll need to provide proof in order to get it. This means you’ll need to produce a copy of the sales ad where the product is being advertised for less. Save yourself some time, by taking advantage of a store’s price match guarantee. If it’s on sale at a competitor but also at the store you’re at, ask for a price match. This can save you several car trips to other stores on Black Friday.
Know the return policies. Knowing the stores return policy while you figure out where to buy an item. Given less consumer spending due to the faltering economy, I’ve noticed a few changes in store return policies that I’d like to share with you: (1) Elimination of the extended return timeframe. Standard or short return timeframes have been implemented. (2) Implementation of re-stocking fees for big ticket or large items. (3) No receipt; No Return. Also, retailers are clamping down on requiring receipts for returns/exchanges so make sure to ask for gift receipts for hassle free returns.
Charge It. Charge cards like MasterCard, Visa, and Discover offer free benefits that drive up the value of your products above and beyond that offered from a store branded card. Benefits include: extended warranties, Return production, and sales price protection. Of course, charge only what you can afford to pay off.
Happy Shopping!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The Dining Out Stimulas Plan
Even in these tough times, eating out at a restaurant is one of those simple luxuries you just can't seem to give up. And you shouldn't have to. Eat well and spend less by using these tips to managing to a better food budget without going for broke in the process.
1. Use a coupon. Browse your Sunday coupon flyers for discounts at your favorite nationwide chains like Olive Garden, TGIF, and Bugaboo Creek. Use the coupons in your Entertainment book. Flip through the coupon directory of your yellow pages book. Check out Restaurant.com or Open Table for the latest deals and promotions. Call your local chamber of commerce or tourism board for coupons to your local restaurants. (It's ok. You can be a tourist in your own city!)
2. Search for Kids Eat Free. Google "Kids Eat Free" and "Your town" and find out which family friendly restaurants are offering deals or visit a site like Mommysavers.com . You can also use this same tactic for "early bird specials" and "senior citizen" discounts.
3 Enjoy the Freebies. Skip the appetizers at the restaurant and enjoy the basket of bread and that little plate of olive oil.
4. Do Lunch. It's less expansive than dinner and equally delicious. Better yet, do breakfast and save even more.
5. Order Sides/Salads. A nice salad and a tasty appetizer is a great meal for one. And it tends to be $3-5 than a main entree.
6. Split a Dinner. Restaurant dinner portions are equivalent to 2- 3 meals. Tres unhealthy for one person to consume. Rather than order two dinners, spilt one dinner and order an appetizer. When dining with Dreamboat, we typically save $7-9 when we split.
7. Drink the tap. Skip the mineral waters, club sodas, oxygenated water, and holy water. Drink the water from your city tap. Its probably as pure and tasty. And you'll be so "green" -- no bottle means you'll be doing your share of saving the environment.
8. Skip the Special. Always tempting when the waiter reads the special, but rarely do they mention the price. On a recent dinner out, I ordered the special. It wasn't until the bill came that I realized it was $15 more than almost anything else on the menu.
9. Order a Doggie Bag. Leave No Crumbs behind. Today's dinner is tomorrow's lunch. Restaurant portions are typically 2-3 meals worth of food. Stretch your food budget, by leaving 1/3 of what's served on the plate for the doogie bag. You'll be the talk of the lunchroom.
10. Go to new restaurants. A new restaurant that has just opened for business often attract new customers with discounts and specials. These are often advertised in the newspaper, menu mailings, or those Value-Pak direct mailers. Keep an eye out and take advantage.
11. Understand how to menus are designed. Menus are designed to drive profitable choices by the customer by focusing the consumer not on the price but the product.
- Restaurants tend to list the prices into the food descriptions rather than off to the right side margin, and remove the dollar sign to help avoid price shopping by customers.
- Resist buying either one of the first two items or the last item in each menu category. Restaurants tend to place the menu items with the highest gross profits in these spots.
- On three-panel (page) menus, people most often look at the center panel first, and then move counter clockwise. On two-panel (page) menus people most often look at the top right-hand side first. So, restaurants put their high profit items such as specials or specialty drinks in these spots.
-Beware of stars, symbols, icons for house specialities. They're designed and placed near items that are priced higher. Attention grabbing and wallet draining all at once.
See you around town!
1. Use a coupon. Browse your Sunday coupon flyers for discounts at your favorite nationwide chains like Olive Garden, TGIF, and Bugaboo Creek. Use the coupons in your Entertainment book. Flip through the coupon directory of your yellow pages book. Check out Restaurant.com or Open Table for the latest deals and promotions. Call your local chamber of commerce or tourism board for coupons to your local restaurants. (It's ok. You can be a tourist in your own city!)
2. Search for Kids Eat Free. Google "Kids Eat Free" and "Your town" and find out which family friendly restaurants are offering deals or visit a site like Mommysavers.com . You can also use this same tactic for "early bird specials" and "senior citizen" discounts.
3 Enjoy the Freebies. Skip the appetizers at the restaurant and enjoy the basket of bread and that little plate of olive oil.
4. Do Lunch. It's less expansive than dinner and equally delicious. Better yet, do breakfast and save even more.
5. Order Sides/Salads. A nice salad and a tasty appetizer is a great meal for one. And it tends to be $3-5 than a main entree.
6. Split a Dinner. Restaurant dinner portions are equivalent to 2- 3 meals. Tres unhealthy for one person to consume. Rather than order two dinners, spilt one dinner and order an appetizer. When dining with Dreamboat, we typically save $7-9 when we split.
7. Drink the tap. Skip the mineral waters, club sodas, oxygenated water, and holy water. Drink the water from your city tap. Its probably as pure and tasty. And you'll be so "green" -- no bottle means you'll be doing your share of saving the environment.
8. Skip the Special. Always tempting when the waiter reads the special, but rarely do they mention the price. On a recent dinner out, I ordered the special. It wasn't until the bill came that I realized it was $15 more than almost anything else on the menu.
9. Order a Doggie Bag. Leave No Crumbs behind. Today's dinner is tomorrow's lunch. Restaurant portions are typically 2-3 meals worth of food. Stretch your food budget, by leaving 1/3 of what's served on the plate for the doogie bag. You'll be the talk of the lunchroom.
10. Go to new restaurants. A new restaurant that has just opened for business often attract new customers with discounts and specials. These are often advertised in the newspaper, menu mailings, or those Value-Pak direct mailers. Keep an eye out and take advantage.
11. Understand how to menus are designed. Menus are designed to drive profitable choices by the customer by focusing the consumer not on the price but the product.
- Restaurants tend to list the prices into the food descriptions rather than off to the right side margin, and remove the dollar sign to help avoid price shopping by customers.
- Resist buying either one of the first two items or the last item in each menu category. Restaurants tend to place the menu items with the highest gross profits in these spots.
- On three-panel (page) menus, people most often look at the center panel first, and then move counter clockwise. On two-panel (page) menus people most often look at the top right-hand side first. So, restaurants put their high profit items such as specials or specialty drinks in these spots.
-Beware of stars, symbols, icons for house specialities. They're designed and placed near items that are priced higher. Attention grabbing and wallet draining all at once.
See you around town!
Monday, November 10, 2008
What's free today
In the age of online media, where reading the daily newspaper from your computer is routine and ordinary, friends often wonder why I still subscribe to the newspaper. Here are my reasons:
1. It's a simple luxury. I live an online life; I need to unplug like everyone else. And who can resist the tactile sensation of flipping pages? And its pretty cheap deal. I get 7 days for the price of 4.
2. It's a social thing. Dreamboat reads the with his coffee; I read it post-workout; my retired neighbors grab the paper when we're done, then pass it along to the person next door, who saves the comics page for wrapping paper. Doing good in all sorts of ways.
3. Keeps me smart and informed. And if that isn't enough, the daily crossword that I complete has bolstered my Scrabble score.
4. Reaping the benefits of free. The online version of my paper doesn't include the same level of free items/giveaways as the newspaper version. Here are a few quick examples:
- Coupons: I clipped over $125 of coupons from the Sunday paper. While I'll only use $8 from this week. I'll donate the remaining coupons to the local library where other savers can use them.
- Free movie passes. In today's Boston Globe, there is an ad for complimentary movie passes to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. ($22 savings, the equivalent of 4 weeks worth of the home delivery of my newspaper). All you need to do is send your name, age and email address to boystripedboston@alliedadvpub.com.
- Free audiobook from Audible.com. You can download a free audiobook as part of a free trial 14 day membership. You'll be required to provide your credit card information as part of the membership registration and the membership will renew automatically at the end of your free trial. Cancel your membership before the free trial ends, the download is free for you; and you will not incur any additional charges.
Happy reading
1. It's a simple luxury. I live an online life; I need to unplug like everyone else. And who can resist the tactile sensation of flipping pages? And its pretty cheap deal. I get 7 days for the price of 4.
2. It's a social thing. Dreamboat reads the with his coffee; I read it post-workout; my retired neighbors grab the paper when we're done, then pass it along to the person next door, who saves the comics page for wrapping paper. Doing good in all sorts of ways.
3. Keeps me smart and informed. And if that isn't enough, the daily crossword that I complete has bolstered my Scrabble score.
4. Reaping the benefits of free. The online version of my paper doesn't include the same level of free items/giveaways as the newspaper version. Here are a few quick examples:
- Coupons: I clipped over $125 of coupons from the Sunday paper. While I'll only use $8 from this week. I'll donate the remaining coupons to the local library where other savers can use them.
- Free movie passes. In today's Boston Globe, there is an ad for complimentary movie passes to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. ($22 savings, the equivalent of 4 weeks worth of the home delivery of my newspaper). All you need to do is send your name, age and email address to boystripedboston@alliedadvpub.com.
- Free audiobook from Audible.com. You can download a free audiobook as part of a free trial 14 day membership. You'll be required to provide your credit card information as part of the membership registration and the membership will renew automatically at the end of your free trial. Cancel your membership before the free trial ends, the download is free for you; and you will not incur any additional charges.
Happy reading
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Holiday Fun. Go Early. Save Big
Every Christmas season, I plan a day of holiday celebration of fun, laughter, and good cheer with Dreamboat (my husband). It's a day for ourselves to enjoy some simple luxuries offered during the season that don't involve mall shopping. Good cheer at a considerable discount is our focus (and we'll be using our Discover Cash Back Rewards to purchase our tickets so it literally won't cost us anything!) Passing along a few good bargains I've discovered in hopes that you'll plan your own little adventure.
Christmas Festival November 7 - 9. Hundreds of American Craft Artists appear at this Christmas festival hosted at the Seaport World Trade Center. The Festival runs this weekend (November 7 - 9) will put you in the holiday spirit. Buy direct from the artists can save you a holiday bundle. Check The Boston Globe for $2-3 discounts off the admission price. Kids under 2 go free!
BlueMan Group. Now - November 16. Buy tickets early for the holiday season and save a bundle. Tickets only $45 (regularly priced $58) must be purchased by November 16 for shows December 3 - January 4.
City of Boston Tree Lighting. Nov 29@ 6 p,m. Nothing starts the holiday season off like a good 'ole fashion tree lighting. And nobody does it better than the City of Boston with A-list celebrities, local performers, carolers, Santa and more at the Boston Commons and Public Gardens. Free.
Half price tickets within City of Boston. The City of Boston and ArtsBoston are offering a limited number of half-priced tickets for almost every major holiday show in town. Thank you Mayor Menino for pulling this effort together.
Holiday Zoolights at Stoneham Zoo. November 27 - December 23. Get into the holiday spirit by strolling along tree-lined paths lit by thousands of twinkling , visiting some animals, and sitting with Santa for a free photo opp! Tickets cost $4 per person. Visit during opening weekend (Nov. 27 - 30) and save your self $1 per ticket.
Christmas in Salem December 5 -7. Halloween ain't the only game in this town. Spend a day touring Salem’s beautiful and historic homes while they’re decked with boughs of holly. $25 per ticket if you buy in advance; $30 per ticket if you buy on a tour days. And don't forget stop by your local library and reserve a free pass to the Peabody Essex Museum. Its top notch!
See you around town!
Christmas Festival November 7 - 9. Hundreds of American Craft Artists appear at this Christmas festival hosted at the Seaport World Trade Center. The Festival runs this weekend (November 7 - 9) will put you in the holiday spirit. Buy direct from the artists can save you a holiday bundle. Check The Boston Globe for $2-3 discounts off the admission price. Kids under 2 go free!
BlueMan Group. Now - November 16. Buy tickets early for the holiday season and save a bundle. Tickets only $45 (regularly priced $58) must be purchased by November 16 for shows December 3 - January 4.
City of Boston Tree Lighting. Nov 29@ 6 p,m. Nothing starts the holiday season off like a good 'ole fashion tree lighting. And nobody does it better than the City of Boston with A-list celebrities, local performers, carolers, Santa and more at the Boston Commons and Public Gardens. Free.
Half price tickets within City of Boston. The City of Boston and ArtsBoston are offering a limited number of half-priced tickets for almost every major holiday show in town. Thank you Mayor Menino for pulling this effort together.
Holiday Zoolights at Stoneham Zoo. November 27 - December 23. Get into the holiday spirit by strolling along tree-lined paths lit by thousands of twinkling , visiting some animals, and sitting with Santa for a free photo opp! Tickets cost $4 per person. Visit during opening weekend (Nov. 27 - 30) and save your self $1 per ticket.
Christmas in Salem December 5 -7. Halloween ain't the only game in this town. Spend a day touring Salem’s beautiful and historic homes while they’re decked with boughs of holly. $25 per ticket if you buy in advance; $30 per ticket if you buy on a tour days. And don't forget stop by your local library and reserve a free pass to the Peabody Essex Museum. Its top notch!
See you around town!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Missing Michael's Coupons
I used to receive a Michael's coupon circular in my Sunday Flyer. Other readers report receiving a similar coupon in the Wednesday edition of their local newspaper. But now, everyone's talking about how there are no Michael's coupons in the newspapers at all. What's a crafty gal to do? Check out these good suggestions below.......
Sign up for and read the Michael's mailings. Get on their mailing list and receive printable coupons. Receive an electronic version of their upcoming sales. On Wednesday/Thursdays of a sale week, Michael's typically send an email reminder of the sale and 40% off one item printable coupon.
Check the Michael's website for coupon deals. Never hurts to do a quick online check to see if there are coupons available for use.
Check your receipt when you buy at Michaels. Whether you buy and item or return and item, Michael's register presents you with a 50% off 1 item coupon, redeemable the next week.
Check online coupon sites such as Dealigg or Couponmom for printable coupons.
FYI. While Michael's does not honor competitor's coupons. Competitors such as JoAnn Fabrics and AC Moore will accept Michael's coupons. If you're lucky enough to be on multiple craft store mailing lists, you have the opportunity to double dip on savings buy using the store's own coupon and one of its competitors.
See you at the store!
Sign up for and read the Michael's mailings. Get on their mailing list and receive printable coupons. Receive an electronic version of their upcoming sales. On Wednesday/Thursdays of a sale week, Michael's typically send an email reminder of the sale and 40% off one item printable coupon.
Check the Michael's website for coupon deals. Never hurts to do a quick online check to see if there are coupons available for use.
Check your receipt when you buy at Michaels. Whether you buy and item or return and item, Michael's register presents you with a 50% off 1 item coupon, redeemable the next week.
Check online coupon sites such as Dealigg or Couponmom for printable coupons.
FYI. While Michael's does not honor competitor's coupons. Competitors such as JoAnn Fabrics and AC Moore will accept Michael's coupons. If you're lucky enough to be on multiple craft store mailing lists, you have the opportunity to double dip on savings buy using the store's own coupon and one of its competitors.
See you at the store!
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