The Clearance Aisle

This past month Wal-Mart has had some items on clearance of interest to me. It’s mostly electronic items. By keeping a close eye on this aisle for a couple of weeks, I’ve been able to actually snag some good bargains.

What you need to keep in mind when shopping on the clearance aisle is that if there is a lot of one type of merchandise, then it will probably come down more in price. A Wii points bundle that included a classic controller glove and 2000 Wii points started out on clearance at $14.50. There were probably at least 50 of these available. I opted to watch and see if they moved at the price. They didn’t and within a few weeks they were marked down to $10. So, I bought one pack. There were still plenty of the bundles on clearance. They finally were marked down to $5, so I bought a few more. Now I have 6,000 Wii points and only spent as much I has would have on 2000 points.

You can’t wait for everything to marked even further down on clearance. There has to be a lot of the stock left. Still it’s worth a stroll down the clearance aisle just to check out the bargains as you never know what might be on sale.

Travel Size Items

With summer here, many people will be traveling on vacation. Chances are that they will be picking up supplies before they begin their trip. One aisle they will most likely visit is the travel/trial section to pick up small sizes of deodorant, toothpaste, etc.

Most of these items will cost less than a $1, making it a great deal for travel since it’s smaller in size and will take up less room. But these nice deals can be enhanced further by using coupons.

A lot of times coupons will be for 99 cents or less off an item. Saving money is always nice but when you have 99 cents off $1 item, then it becomes really enticing.

So, next time you run across a coupon for 25 cents off toothpaste, don’t dismiss it. Remember that it can be used on trial/travel sizes. It can really add up in helping to save money when getting ready for your next vacation.

Father’s Day Giveaways

Over at the Goody Blog, they are having a Father’s Day blog party by giving away some great gifts for some lucky dads.

Just follow the link and click on an item to enter to win. To enter, just leave a comment on the blog entry for that item. Over $5,000 worth of prizes will be given away to 13 dads. Enter by midnight(Eastern time) this week.

Finding a Deal

A deal is only a deal if you can actually use the product. My roommate in college loved a sale. She would buy practically anything as long as it was on sale. She bought an egg timer one time because it was only 50 cents. Did she cook? No. “But it was only 50 cents!” she would proudly proclaim.

Pass up those sales items unless you actually use the item. It’s fun to look down the clearance aisle and gawk at the cheapness of it all. But if you will never take those items out of the packaging, then don’t buy it.

For items that you buy frequently, you probably know the relative pricing of it. This is how I know that some sales items are actually a good deal. If I usually pay $3 for a cleaning product and it’s on sale for $1.50, then that is a good deal. A lot of time sales items at one store will be close to the regular price at another one. Comparison shopping might be time consuming but can save you money.

Some of the best deals in your town can be found in your mailbox. Fliers go out weekly of sales and coupons. Also the local newspaper will have sales inserts that will point you to the deal in local brick and mortar stores.

So, don’t be so quick to throw away that junk mail, there might be a deal that is too good to pass up in there.

A Site To Find Deals

With only two weeks left to Valentines Day it’s time to place your order if you are shopping on-line. If you go to One Stop Holiday Shop you will find some of your most favorite stores. Most are having sales, clearances, and offer deals on shipping. Check out this site today!

Save Money by Buying at the Right Time

There was an interesting report on the news tonight about how making major purchases at the right time of year can save you money.

To get good deals, you should buy…

• Furniture and mattresses in late winter.
• Major appliances in either April or June.
• Televisions and towels in May.
• Bedding in June.
• Outdoor furniture and dining room sets in August.
• Housewares and china in September.
• Carpets in October.
• A new home in November.
• A new car in December.

The report also mentioned that you should plan to do seasonal buying either at the start or at the end of a season, but not in the middle. This is why: at the start of the season, inventories are high; at the end, merchants are trying to clear out and make room for new goods.

Happy shopping!

Deals for Coffee Lovers

I just heard about this site, Coffee Best Buys that lets you know when the manufacturers have sales and deals on coffee, equipment and gear.

Recent deals have included $10 off at the Starbucks Store, $100 off a swanky coffee grinder and a $50 rebate on a single-serving coffee maker.

There are some really good deals here if you are dedicated to good coffee, the best gear and good deals. You can also sign up for the blog’s feed so you’ll be alerted whenever a new deal is posted. That’s important because sometimes the deals are one-day only offers or limited time rebates. Check it out!

Permanent Clearance at Fingerhut

Fingerhut, unlike most retailers, has a permanent clearance section on their webpage — making it very convenient to save it as a bookmark.

For instance, right now, here are some of the impressive deals:

Save 60% on an Air Press Massager (was $49.99, now $19.88).

Save 48% on Underlit Table Soccer (was $119.99, now $62.88).

Save 42% on a 17″ Gas Trimmer/Brushcutter (was $249.99, now $144.88).

Nothing For Free

Years ago I would surf the internet and sometimes come across websites that was pretty much a link list for hundreds of websites that were giving away free samples and free stuff.

Being a teenage with nothing to do I sign up with tons of those sites, usually for free t-shirts and hats. Overall I filled out many surveys and signed up for approximately 50 items and recieved one. A t-shirt, lucky me.

The thing about these “free stuff” is that of course there not really free. You are paying with your information. You name, age, address and they sometimes even ask you to give them a name and address for up to three or more people that you know. Most of the time they sell this information or use it to bombard you with hundreds of junk mail.

Now they’ve upped the ante. I can only just roll my eyes at the so called “free stuff” I see now. The new kinds of free just makes me wonder who falls for this? If you click that link you will see a website offering a “free” $300 gift card to use online at The Gap. But I have come to be used to their tricks and I immediately scroll to the bottom of the page for that now familiar tiny print they put up.

That print usually tells you to do three or more things before you can get your “free” item. Number one you must give them your real information. Number two you have to sign up with lots of places that they show you. Sometimes these incentives go on for pages, there are just so many. However you usually will be asked to sign up for only two or more. But you can sign up for all of them if you feel like it. And number three is you have to get someone else in a different home to sign up for the same thing before you can get that great prize. If you look at it correctly, you will see the similarities between those deals and selling your soul to the devil.

Because IF you even get that prize, you have got it, only after jumping through those hoops. Plus many of the incentives they want you to sign up for you have to pay money. A lot of them can only be completed after you’ve given them your info, including credit card number. So you are actually paying for that “free” gift. Also some of those offers also want you to complete offers from them to sign. So you now have given your information to a lot of companies who can sell it or use it to send junk.

Another type of free deal you see online a lot is usually for electronics such as an iPod, Playstation 2 or even an Xbox360. The catch is they put your name on a list and when your name gets to number one, they send you the gadget. However to move your name up the list, you need to refer other people. Take a look at this one to see how it looks. You can get a free laptop. All you have to do is sign up and refer a bunch of people then you get it. The worst thing about these things, is the fact that you can be 12 or 13 to sign up. Who do you think they are targeting when they are offering free Playstations?

Just take a look at what this website Freepay is offering. Free ipods, laptops, Playstation, computers, games, and even gift cards worth hundreds. Some adults will rush into trying to get them. For a child this is like being in candy store and all the candy is “free”.

Bottom line, read carefully when you see “free” electronics and other items. Better yet ignore them all together and warn your children.

Best Book Deals

I love to read, and while I have a really wonderful public library in my town, it doesn’t always have all the books I need. And, let’s face it, sometimes you just want to own a book.

We also have an amazing used book store, and a Barnes and Noble, of course. B&N is great when I need a book now, but when I can wait a little bit I love to get a deal.

Amazon is great when you can find someone selling used books in good condition. Sometimes you can even find the books you want on eBay, if you’re willing to bid and maybe not get the item you wanted.

My favorite source for book deals, however, is Best Book Buys. this comparison shopping site gives you prices from a number of new and used book retailers on the web. You can search for books by author, title, subject or ISBN and then compare prices.

I recently did a search for the last book I read, which retails for $14.00. Half.com had it used for about $6, and the site calculated it would cost me a little over $9 with shipping. That’s for a used copy. Prices ranged from $5.89 to $14.00 without shipping.

The great thing about this site is that it allows you to see at a glance what is out there. It tells you if the books are new or used, which states have to pay sales tax and how the item is usually shipped. Clicking the buy button takes you to the site where the book is located.

This is a quick way to save big bucks on all the books you need without having to search 10 or 12 book sites yourself.

« Previous Page — Next Page »