5 Great Sites For Online Shopping

February 25, 2010 by Mark Riddix  
Filed under Shopping, Spending and Saving

Are you looking for a great deal on that new 52 inch flat-screen TV that you have been saving for? Are you searching for the lowest price on your new cell phone?  Before you run out to your local Best Buy, take a few minutes and shop around online. There are a number of great sites on the internet that can help you save money on your next purchase. Let’s take a look at the 5 Best Places To Shop Online To Save You Money.

BensBargains.net

How to Spend Less on Music Downloads

February 25, 2010 by Sally Aquire  
Filed under Shopping, Spending and Saving

an ipodIf you regularly download music to your iPod or MP3 player, you will find that the costs quickly mount up. While some people turn to illegal downloading to save money, there are legal ways to get cheaper music downloads without having to resort to illegal methods. Here are some tips for spending less on legal music downloads.

1. Shop around

Most of my friends and family stick rigidly to iTunes for music downloads, especially if they’ve got an iPod. When I asked them why, only a few of them knew that you can buy music from elsewhere and still download the tracks to your iPod or MP3 player quickly and easily.

The 3 Worst Credit Cards That You Could Ever Own

Credit CardsI was looking through the mail the other day and noticed a stack of credit card applications. From television commercials to internet ads, we are bombarded with credit card advertisements. Credit card companies pitch products to people whose credit ranges from excellent to poor. Individuals with credit ratings that fall in the fair to poor range are often preyed upon by “fee harvesters”. Fee harvesters are companies that offer low-credit, high-cost cards. Signing up for a credit card with a high interest rate and exorbitant fees is like having an albatross around your neck. It is better not to have a credit card than to be stuck with a high-cost card. With cards like these, it makes sense that More Americans Are Saying No To Credit Cards.

How I Got A Great Deal On An Apple iMac

February 22, 2010 by Erik Folgate  
Filed under Shopping, Spending and Saving


Last week, I finally took the plunge and switched my alliances with PC and Windows and switched to Apple. I bought a 21.5″ Apple iMac with 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card with 256MB memory, and a 3.06GHZ Dual Core Intel processor. I should just move to San Francisco and start wearing black turtlenecks, because I will never go back to the days of Dell and Microsoft. It’s been 4 days since I first started using it, and I love it. My ability to quickly create screen casts, web videos, manipulate and edit photos, and work in several different programs all at once has vastly improved. I don’t know what it is about the Mac OS or the programs designed for Macs, but they load and run SO much quicker than Windows and Windows-based programs. For example, Firefox opens instantly, whereas, even in Windows 7, Firefox hesitates to open for about 10 seconds. Ever since I bought an iPhone about a year and a half ago, I’ve had the itch to switch my computers to Apple, but the price tag had always deterred me from making the switch. I never thought I’d be able to spend less than $1,700 to $1,800 for what I wanted, but I ended up getting this iMac for $999, which was exactly my threshold for what I was willing to spend. How did I do it? Read below:

How to Build an Emergency Fund on an Irregular Income

moneysavingYou know the importance of building a solid emergency fund as a financial cushion if things go wrong, but this can be even more important if you’re self-employed, because you can’t rely on a fixed paycheck every month and may need to fall back on savings to make ends meet on bad months. Because of this, it can be very challenging to build a decent emergency fund if you don’t earn a regular income. For example, your clients may not pay their invoices on time or you may struggle to find enough work just to meet your monthly bills, leaving nothing left over for boosting the emergency fund. Here are some tips for creating an emergency fund if you can’t rely on a fixed income every month.

Becoming Wealthy Is Like Becoming An Olympic Athlete

February 17, 2010 by Erik Folgate  
Filed under Financial Advice, Spending and Saving


The Winter Olympics started last Friday, and I am not too intrigued by most of the sports included in the Winter Olympics, but I do love the women’s figure skating, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and the bobsled competitions. As I was watching the Olympics the other night, I gained more appreciation for the athletes the more that I thought about the training it took for them to reach this poing of being one of the best in the world in their respective sport. Then, I started thinking about how all of the principles of an Olympic athlete correlate to the financial principles that help people build wealth. Passion, Perseverance, and Discipline are three attributes of an Olympic athlete that we must all possess if we want to win with money.

Tips for Cheaper Household Cleaning

February 16, 2010 by Sally Aquire  
Filed under House and Home, Spending and Saving

bathroomIf you’re making an effort to clean the house on a regular basis, you may be finding that you’re having to frequently replace your cleaning products, especially if you’re using different products across the various rooms. These kind of costs can quickly make a sizeable dent in your budget, but you don’t need to spend a lot of money to keep your home clean. Here are some tips for cleaning your home on a budget.

Kitchen and bathroom cleaners

You can easily make household cleaners for these areas of the home from ingredients that are already in your kitchen cupboards. In particular, white vinegar has a range of uses:

5 Ways to Save Money On Cosmetics and Toiletries

February 15, 2010 by Sally Aquire  
Filed under Personal Finance, Shopping, Spending and Saving

cosmeticsIf you’re looking for ways to tighten up your budget, consider taking your beauty allocation out of the monthly budget to free up some extra cash.  After all, that new MAC eye-shadow is a luxury, not a necessity, even if it does make you feel beautiful when you’re wearing it. Here’s the good news: you don’t need to give up your beauty budget altogether when tightening up your budget, you just need to shop smarter.

Part 1: 6 Tips For Saving Money On Groceries

February 10, 2010 by Sally Aquire  
Filed under Coupons, Shopping, Spending and Saving

in the supermarketAccording to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends a minimum of 14% of their monthly household budget on food but many money experts believe that the true figure is at least 20% or even closer to 25%.  If this statistic rings true for you, you’re probably already wondering how you can shave money off your grocery bills to free up some more money in your budget. Here are 6 ways that you can do this.

1. Plan ahead

How I Scored 4 Free Flights Last Year – All Without Using Frequent Flyer Miles

February 9, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Frugality, Spending and Saving

overbooked flight voucher(‘DiggThis’)You don’t have to wait to redeem your credit card rewards or frequent flyer miles to earn a free flight. With a little bit of patience, flexibility, and luck you can be on your way to a free flight quicker than you can say “overbooked.”

Overbooking flights is a standard practice in the airline industry. It’s a way to hedge against passengers who skip out on reservations or to collect double fares if a prepaid passenger doesn’t show up. Most of these no-shows are business customers – leisure flyers tend to book trips early and show up when they say they will. (Source: America’s Most Overbooked Airlines / Forbes.com)