Bradsdeal Newsletter – Get it!

Posted on August 13, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

I found a new, once a day, newsletter sent to your email inbox called Bradsdeals. Bradsdeals lists the best deals found online for that day and lists links or coupon codes for those deals. This is, by far, the best daily deals newsletter I have received. The variety is spot-on and the prices and deals are very good.

Expert, Brad Wilson, lists how much the last best deal saved compared to the deal he is listing that day so that you know if there may be a better deal available later. Often I frown on internet shopping because first, you can’t use cash, second, it is easy to overspend; however, with the prices that some of these deals have, I am willing to make exceptions. Many of these prices are affiliate prices for Bradsdeal subscribers only and can’t be found anywhere else.

Some of the products listed are shoes, men’s and women’s clothing, artwork, designer jewelry and accessories, electronics and much more. These are not off-brand products either.

If you are not willing to clog your inbox with another newsletter, there is a website, www.bradsdeals.com that you can visit each day for more handpicked deals, and from there you can also like bradsdeals on facebook. The website also includes a savings blog and coupon codes and printable coupons.

Bradsdeals is a jewel in the world of online shopping and is worth a look. Be sure you at least visit the website. Click here to sign up for the newsletter.

Saving money

Oil of Olay Rebate

Posted on August 3, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

If you go to www.olay.com right now and sign up for Club Olay, there is a printout for a $20 rebate with the purchase of $50. Pair it with the sale this week at CVS for selected Olay products with $5 ECBs back. I suggest two purchases at CVS, using the ECBs to buy your second Olay product. The rebate is good until September 2011 so you don’t have to spend $50 whoppers in one shopping trip. I researched K-Mart, Target, and CVS on the deal. Target was by far the cheapest on Olay products, but with the sale at CVS, I suggest if you are going to purchase this week, buy CVS. Happyskincare everyone!

1, couponing, Saving money , , , , , , , ,

A Current Dilemma

Posted on July 29, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

An interesting dilemma has come about all over America, which is most certainly affecting my family, and also affecting the safety of yours. As the Federal Government goes broke, so do the the State and Local governments. With no money to pay their people, they are choosing to cut down on Law Enforcement.

Many would think that it is a rash decision to cut out community safety over road improvements or parks and recreation. The truth is, for the last several years, they have been cutting out everything but Law Enforcement.

Local LEO’s have been living on next-to-nothing for at least the last three to four years. Cost of living has gone up, their paychecks have stayed the same. No raises, no pay for overtime, and very little incentive to stay in the field. But now it is getting really deep. With money taken from retired LEO’s to pay our teachers and entire police departments being laid off, were are headed down a frightening path.

Just this past month, the entire police department of Alto, Texas was given walking papers and their citizens were told to buy a gun and bolt their doors. An entire graduating class of Missouri Police Academies were given a “Congratulations; now you’re fired” speech. State Clerk’s offices are laying off employees, and county Sheriff’s offices are running off of budgets from 2007 and skeleton crews.

What does this mean for the American people? Total pandamonium, “wild-west” mentality, and martial law may be what you are thinking. But chaos is part of what got us here in the first place. Can we look to the Great Depression for answers? Somewhat, but this is a total new era. We have become an Urban society, and it will be more difficult to recover from such a blow. Since that time we have become so dependent on our government, that we have forgotten how to take care of ourselves and others.

A small town of seven hundred people may not need local law enforcement. But there are several larger cities that will crumble under the weight of such a thought. There are places where gang violence and drugs reign supreme, these places cannot afford to lose what little control LEO’s have. There are underlying, internal thoughts within us all that keeps us in check, even if only slightly, when you consider enforcement if you get out of line. It is what keeps prisoners from taking over prisons. Four hundred to thirty are great odds for anarchy, yet prisons maintain control.  It is what keeps a correctional trustee from snagging the purse of the clerk when it is next to the garbage can they empty.

So the next time you see an Officer on the street, shake their hand and pat them on the back. Call your mayor’s office and your county commissioners and let them know you support local law enforcement, and offer any solutions you may have. Just know that before long, law enforcement may be strictly a voluntary service, and Officer Smith may need a helping hand for his family.

 

History, Psychology of spending

Economics 101 and how the Government failed this

Posted on July 12, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

The White House warns this week millions of Americans may NOT receive federal benefit checks, for Social Security, Veterans, Medicaid – if there isn’t a deal to raise the nation’s DEBT limit in next 3 weeks. How many have ever gotten out of debt by raising their debt limit? Perhaps we should have thought about the impact of lending money for bail-outs when we had none to lend. Now the whole government is in trouble, and everyone suffers. Dare we whisper the word “depression”? It’s coming folks, and if we raise our debt limit, that’s exactly what will happen. The only way to get out of this mess is dramatic budget cuts, spending only what we have, and put a housewife in charge of the bills!

Government programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid were created to help the American people, not bankrupt the country. Perhaps we should run a credit check before you are allowed to run for office, (or as an adviser). Who has the answers?

1, debt, History, Psychology of spending , , ,

Why laziness can cost you everything

Posted on July 7, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

How many successful people do you know who are lazy? There has never been business owner who created a business and then went to the couch for the next six years and made hundreds of thousands of dollars. There has never been an employee who was not criticized or reprimanded for being lazy. Laziness can affect more than just your finances. Laziness can affect your relationships, your health, and even the outcome of your children’s behavior. So what do we do to avoid laziness? Frankly, it is nothing more than a choice. There are no lazy pills, or energy drinks strong enough to keep us from our own downfall; however, there are a few things we can do to help our situation. Here is a few things we can do to ensure our laziness doesn’t get the better of us:

  1. See a doctor. Many times, there are underlying health issues that keep us without energy or motivation and your behavior is mistaken as laziness.
  2. Consider therapy. Even if physically there is nothing wrong, often times cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis, or counseling can affect our behaviors, and help us overcome obstacles.
  3. Exercise. By exercising, we release extra serotonin in our brain, giving us a healthier, happier, more energized body.
  4. Motivation and Self-Discipline. Often times, we must just kick ourselves in the butt, force yourself off the couch and just keep going. Just ten minutes extra a day stay up and moving and before long, it will become second nature.
  5. Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible has great wisdom, especially when it comes to laziness and wealth. With little tidbits such as “Laziness leads to a leaky roof”, or “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin”. Often, when I am lazy, I look and my hands are just that, folded. I immediately unfold them and find something to do. I never want to say to myself “Just ten more minutes of doing nothing”, because then I know that ten more minutes could be the difference between progress and failure.
  6. Find a partner to motivate you. My motivation is my son. I gave him permission to say, “Mom, you’re being lazy” anytime I lay on the couch and ask him to take my plate to the kitchen, or to pick up the phone. In turn, he’s learning a lesson and helping me at the same time. He is helping cure me of my laziness, and learning that he must do for himself in life. Often, finding someone to help push you along goes a long way.
  7. Seek the wisdom of others. Often, if you ask other people how they keep going, what they do to avoid laziness taking over their life, they will be happy to tell you. They will be happy to help you along the way. Often, by asking others for their secrets to success, you can become successful by following in their footsteps.
  8. Charge forward no matter the odds. We are often lazy because of our own feelings of being overwhelmed. We become bogged down by what life throws at us and we give up. We feel life is meaningless, and we just stop living. By charging forward, taking a little bite out at a time of life, you can accomplish anything.
  9. Meditation or stress reduction. Sometimes, by simply closing our eyes and relaxing for fifteen to twenty minutes a day, we not only gain more energy but we reduce the overwhelming stress and feelings of fatigue that overtake us. There are many techniques to meditation, but the best one is just to try to quiet your mind and your body. No mantras, religions, or life-style changes necessary; simply quieting the body.
  10. Turn off the Television! More well intentioned people have suffered from laziness since the invention of television than any other cause. The TV produces serotonin in your brain, causing you to have a “feel-good” mood, without having to put forth effort. Just by turning off the TV for twenty minutes more a day can give you the motivation to become more successful.

By letting laziness control our lives, we are letting failure in. With proper motivation and help, we can keep from losing everything, from prosperity to respect. Don’t become a victim of laziness.

Psychology of spending , , , ,

CVS and the Extra Care Buck

Posted on July 6, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

Can you ever say that you have shopped at a pharmacy, spent less than $20, and brought home over $100 worth of products? By utilizing the CVS Extra Care Buck (ECBs), you can do just that.

Here is the CVS savings checklist to help maximize your savings:

  1. Begin by signing up at CVS for an Extra Care card,
  2. always visit the coupon kiosk in the store before you check out.
  3. go to www.cvs.com and sign up for an online account. Often you will get an email for a percentage off your purchase, or so much money off your purchase in the form of a printable coupon.
  4. Visit your local CVS and purchase a green-tag by the register. A green-tag is a tag the clerk scans on each visit for using reusable bags instead of plastic bags. After so many scans, you get money off your next purchase.
  5. Sign up for CVS beauty club online. For each $50 spent in beauty club, you get $5 in ECBs.
  6. Gather coupons from your Sunday paper or online printable coupons. Get a notebook and sales paper and write down all sales, coupons, and any ECBs you get in return.

ECBs are printable coupons you get back for so much off your next purchase. For example, if you purchase Headache medicine for $5.99 and you get $5.99 ECBs in return, then your next purchase, you can take off $5.99. By calculating your sales and the ECBs you will get in return, you can actually save up to 80%, without clearing shelves, holding up lines, or breaking the store’s bank.

Most EBCs have a limit of 1 or 2 for the week, so you can’t just do multiple purchases, over and over, until the shelves are empty. But multiple transactions can be to your benefit, and if you’ve done your calculations correctly, take no more time than one long transaction and the clerks at CVS are all very friendly and helpful, I’ve never met one that minded multiple transactions.

Go through different scenarios to get the best deals. Here is a scenario example:

Brand X Headache medicine is on sale for $5.99 with $5.99 EBCs and you have a $2.00 off manufacturers coupon, Brand Y lipstick is on sale for $8.00 with $3.00 ECBs, and a $5 off manufacturers coupon.

In your first transaction, purchase the $8.00 lipstick, using the manufacturers coupon, plus the $3.00 coupon off from the coupon kiosk inside the store, and so your lipstick is now free!

In a second transaction, purchase the Brand X headache medicine, giving the $2.00 manufacturers coupons first, and then the $3.00 ECBs you have. In the end, your second transaction is only $.99. In all you have only paid $.99 for what will usually cost you up to $14 in sales, and up to $20 regular price!

You can often bundle three or four different items in one purchase and still save, it will become aggravating to the clerk, and others in line, if you do a separate transaction for each item in your buggy. Try to limit your multiple transactions to three or four per visit.

The great thing about ECBs is they are good on any purchase in the store, even items that aren’t on sale.  The downfall of ECBs is they do expire, so you should try to use them before their expiration.

You won’t always get everything for free, but with ECBs you will definitely save money. The key to saving the most is to use your coupons with the purchase. It makes a big difference in the savings. Also, often there are coupon dispensers around the store, so be sure to look closely for extra savings.

Remember CVS has groceries too and they usually have some really good sales; however, there are usually not any ECBs with groceries, but with the right combination of products purchased, you can buy groceries with EBCs acquired from other purchases.

If you visit hotcouponworld, you can get sales papers up to two weeks for extra grocery planning, and read more about how to save at CVS.

 

budgeting, Budgeting your groceries, couponing, Financial, Saving money , , , , ,

Is not fulfilling your dreams costing you money?

Posted on July 4, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

Are you working in a job that some-what pays the bills, but makes your days drag on, leading you into laziness and depression? Working in a job that is not your dream job is costing you precious money. When you don’t fulfill your dreams, your unmotivated attitude spills over into every part of your life, including your job. Your work suffers. You turn in half-hearted work, you take extra sick days during the year because you just can’t seem to face your job, and your boss often notices and rides you harder at an attempt to threaten you into motivation. Perhaps the answer is to follow your dreams and, with preparation, quit your dead-end job.

We’ve all seen the beer commercial that says fulfill your dreams and you’ll never work a day in your life, this could not be more true. In order to fulfill our happiness and prosper, we must find our “soul purpose”. This is not to be mistaken with “sole purpose”. No person has only one purpose in life, we are not defined by one thing, but many; however, we all have a soul purpose. Things that are instilled in us that make us great and unique, and when properly fed, make us flourish.

Some of us are born knowing what we want in life, others flounder, sometimes for decades, and never really believe they “have a dream”. Be assured, we all have a dream. Perhaps somewhere along the way, yours was crushed by a criticism, a well-intentioned parent, or it just got lost along the way. So the question is, how do we discover our soul purpose? We go back to our childhood and begin a timeline of greatness in our lives.

Get a notebook and write down all the things that you loved to do as a child. Dance, sing, color, rebuild toys, no matter what it was, write it down. Now write down all of your accomplishments in your life that you can think of, each moment that you showed greatness and were proud of yourself. Perhaps it was a poem, or maybe when you caught the flyball in left field. No matter what they were, each time you felt pride, write it down.

This may not come to you right away, and that’s ok. Think on it; close your eyes and focus on your breathing and just picture your life on a time line. Each time you think of something, write it down. Next, write down all of your talents. Maybe you are a problem solver, a great mechanic, a singer, or a cook. Write down about fifteen or sixteen things you know you are good at. If you can’t think of any, think of what you have been complimented on during your life. Each time you can think your boss or a friend said “you’re so _____, good job!” Write it down. Eventually you will see a pattern in all of these things and four or five will stick out and come together. These are the things you should be doing with your life.

What do you do if your opportunity has passed? Perhaps your soul purpose was to be a dancer, but you are thirty-five years old and have no experience or professional training? This may happen, it doesn’t mean you have to stay in the dead-end job. Take a community dance class. Make contacts with the teacher and find out how you can help. Perhaps you can work in the studio, perhaps there is a community theatre in need of thirty-five year old dancers. There is always a way, you do not have to give up.

Also, look at the other things you have written down. You could also be good at clever titles or sayings. Maybe you helped your boss come up with a slogan and you were very proud of that. Continue with the dance class, but look into working as a copywriter or something in advertising. No one has to have one dream. Always think to yourself, when I grow up, I want to … and just keep at it, even if you’re fifty years old.

So now you have your dream and you’re ready to transition into it. For some, this will be easy. It will be as easy as applying for another job, for others it will require planning. A six month wages savings plan may be in order. The key to this is motivation. How quickly do you want that savings plan full? Would a second job, gaining experience and a little money, be helpful in attaining that goal? Working for someone in the field you want to go into will give you experience and tips on how to transition properly, even if you must volunteer to begin with. Even if that second job is delivering pizza and has nothing to do with advertisement, if it gets you closer to your goal, you should go for it.

There are always excuses for why you shouldn’t go into a field or why you shouldn’t quit your job. It is up to you to push yourself past these excuses. Affirm every day, My soul purpose is _________ and I will push forward until I fulfill that purpose. Never give up on your purpose. Once you begin to fulfill your dreams, you will find you can prosper and you are happier doing it. It may not be overnight; but if you persist, eventually, you will make up the difference and happily adjust your lifestyle to a successful one.

Psychology of spending, Saving money , , ,

Extreme Shoppers – why they give a bad name

Posted on July 1, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

Since the television show Extreme Couponing premiered, extreme shopping has given “Frugal Shoppers” a bad name.  Hoards of Moms (and some Dads) looking to save thousands of dollars have flooded couponing forums, purchased hundreds of dollars in binders and paper cutters, and cleared out the newspaper racks (some by theft no less). They have cleared out shelf after shelf of products and left cashiers full of disdain and frustration for anyone with more than two coupons.

The show has encouraged theft, fraud, and selfish stock-piling and some to the extreme of hoarding. Sure, many of the couponers give the items away to food banks, making themselves feel generous, when in all actuality, they are taking advantage of companies and hurting, not only their business, but the economy as a whole. Sure, they may pay a clipping service a couple hundred dollars for three thousand coupons, but everyone else is losing out on thousands of dollars, costing prices to go up, and jobs to be cut.

When one “extreme shops”, ordering three thousand “free” boxes of cereal for the food bank, they are creating a vicious circle that hurts everyone in the process. The store or the company must pay for the extra shipment, plus the extra labor and gas. The cereal company must pay the store the price of the coupon, plus .08 cents extra for each coupon for allowing the coupons to be used in their store. The cereal company raises their wholesale price to make up the difference, and then the stores raise their price.  The general shopper must now pay more for the product to pay both the company and the store back for the “free” three thousand boxes of cereal.

Because there are now 1 million extreme couponers instead of 1 thousand, the company and the store must cut precious jobs to pay for the extra overhead, causing more people to have to go to the food bank for “free” boxes of cereal because they are out of a job.

Not only are the “extreme” creating problems for the companies, they are creating problems for the everyday shopper. No longer is it convenient to shop anytime of the day. You must call the store and find out when a truck is coming so that you know if an item is actually going to be in stock because the extremers have just bought 40 boxes of pasta and left none on the shelf.

Companies are changing their coupon policies where you can only purchase four items of the same with a coupon per one transaction, meaning longer lines at the store because now they are purchasing items with ten different transactions to hit their limit to buy the 40 boxes. The grocery stores are also changing their digital coupon policies where you can no longer stack coupons, but may either use paper or digital, but not both. Extreme shoppers are paying nothing, the rest of the shopping community is paying a fortune in time and effort just to run to the store for an extra can of cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving morning.

The extremer has become a nightmare for cashiers and store managers. When an extreme couponer comes in, the manager might as well just hang around because they will have to override the system a dozen times, because the extremer insists on the coupon, refund the transaction because the extremer didn’t read the fine print, or call district to find out what to do when they scan so many coupons the cash register won’t work anymore; all the while, there are six people standing in line behind them.

So what should you do to not fall into this category? Perhaps the best piece of advice is to coupon! By all means, use the coupons; just don’t be extreme. Do not be a shelf-clearer. Stick to a four-item limit with coupons. Don’t teach your children to steal, to commit fraud, or to “dumpster-dive” (which is a crime in most states). Be generous and give to food banks, just don’t do it with someone else’s money. Don’t keep more than a four month stock-pile. Items go on sale in a twelve week cycle, that means the item will go back on sale in twelve weeks, there is no need to buy ketchup for three years when it is on sale every twelve weeks.Be courteous to others who are shopping and if you have three buggies worth of groceries, let someone with only a jar of spaghetti sauce in their hand go in front of you.

Be nice to the newspapers. Don’t go to a newspaper machine, put your money in for one paper and steal twenty. You take jobs when you steal papers, and food out of their children’s mouths, all so that yours can eat anything out of the garage for the next three years. Be nice to the grocery stores. Do not demand the manager each time a coupon doesn’t scan when you have four items already in your buggy. Don’t call corporate and complain that the cashier rolled her eyes when she saw you coming with six buggies and a “binder” full of coupons. Give them a break, they really don’t care that you saved 90%!

The truth is “extreme shopping” is a lot of work. It is something that will go out of style when many people figure out it takes hours of work a week. With the change in coupon policies, many will find it not as rewarding as they show on television. But right now it is in full swing, and it is unethical, inconvenient for others, and economically damaging. Perhaps the show should come with a warning.

1, budgeting, Budgeting your groceries, couponing, History, Saving money , , ,

Swagbucks – The virtual scavenger hunt

Posted on June 30, 2011 by dmsmithblogger | Permalink 0

One of my favorite games as a kid was a scavenger hunt. By searching here and there and following clues, eventually you find all the clues and often get a prize at the end! This is why I love Swagbucks. Just for doing what I would normally do online, I can earn swagbucks and I can trade them in for prizes that are shipped directly to my home, and its all for free!

How is this possible? Like many free programs, Swagbucks uses referral programs and product affiliate programs to help pay their bills. Many people would be wary of signing up for a program where you must “product test” or go through fifty offers and jump through a thousand hoops to get a free $5 gift card. They should be! With Swagbucks, you can earn bucks all kinds of ways, and none of them (except maybe the tasks sections and surveys) take more than two to five minutes and there are no hoops to jump through.

Since joining Swagbucks a month ago, I simply downloaded the toolbar (which is optional). Every day, I login to the toolbar and I earn a buck. I take the daily poll and earn a buck. I do all of my web-searches through swagbucks and, usually about three times a day, I earn anywhere from 8-30 swagbucks. In the afternoons they often have a two minute video to watch for extra bucks and I usually watch those until the offer expires earning me another 8-10 bucks. I sometimes check the swagbucks blog, facebook, or twitter page for swagcodes. Codes are little sayings that you copy and paste into the gimme box on the homepage for extra bucks.

Since I am on a budget, I don’t usually sign up for the special offers, but if you are so inclined, you can earn major bucks by completing trial offers, or earning bucks for shopping through their affiliate programs.

When I first signed up for Swagbucks, I didn’t do anything more than sign into the tool bar and do the daily poll and use the search bar. Within a matter of weeks, I had two hundred dollars just from those three things. Now that I am addicted, I earn close to 50-75 bucks a day, and there are ways to earn much more (if you have the time).

What do I like most about Swagbucks? The prizes of course! They truly are not out of reach. Many rewards programs offer great prizes, but you feel like you will never earn enough to get those points. With Swagbucks, they are in reach. Just this week, I ordered a ladies t-shirt and expect it to be here by tomorrow. Another great thing is you can video yourself opening up your prize box and upload it to Youtube and earn more swagbucks!

They also WANT YOU to find more bucks! Swagbucks offers a “Swidget” for your website, blog, or social media page which tells you when new swagcodes are available. The only downside I have found to earning bucks is it’s addictive. If you are like me and find yourself distracted by the possibilities for more bucks, you can visit this blog for instructions on getting RSS feeds so you never miss a chance at swagcodes.

For a free customer rewards program, I find Swagbucks to be the most interesting and easiest to earn of them all, and it doesn’t cost you a dime, which is always a plus. For more information about Swagbucks or to sign up for swagbucks click here.

 

1, budgeting, Saving money , ,