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    • After-Christmas sales don’t seem that great

    December 28, 2008 by

    We went to a few stores on Friday and Saturday, and I noticed a couple of things. First, there seemed to be fewer people around than in years past. The parking lots weren’t completely packed, and there was plenty of room inside the stores and mall. There weren’t any checkout lines in the stores. Even the kids’ areas at the mall we went to was actually kind of empty. It was nice.

    Second, the deals weren’t as great. Maybe the stores did a pretty good job of managing their inventories and getting people to buy with steep pre-Christmas discounts. I found the clearance sections to be surprisingly sparse. In fact, even though I said that I would wait for a 90% clearance to buy wrapping paper, the selection was so small compared to years past that I ended up picking up a couple of rolls at only 50% off. Their cute patterns aren’t holiday specific, and are colorful enough to use for kids’ birthday gifts, which is exactly what I needed – and I was afraid that if I waited a week for a bigger discount, these patterns would be gone.

    What about you? Have you found any great post-Christmas bargains?

    Filed Under: shopping

    Chief Family Officer’s Holiday Shopping Tips

    November 14, 2008 by

    Last year was the first time I fully appreciated the power of online shopping portals, deal forums, and online deals. I discovered sites like SlickDeals and FatWallet, which posted astonishingly great deals, and sites like Ebates, which give you cash back on your online purchases (read my Ebates review). I learned that if I monitor my favorite deal sites, I can give awesome gifts while saving hundreds of dollars. As this year’s holiday shopping season swings into full gear, I offer some shopping tips to save you as much money as possible:

    Establish a budget. Know how much you can afford to spend this holiday season. Don’t go into debt. Enough said.

    Establish your priorities. If your goal is to save the most money, then you should be prepared to devote your time to hunting down the best deals. But if time is more precious, then be prepared to spend a little more money in exchange for saving some time and stress.

    Get comfortable with the best deal sites. Spend some time on SlickDeals and FatWallet to become familiar with how they post deals, before the sheer number of deals posted becomes overwhelming. My personal preference is to subscribe to the forums via Google Reader, but that only shows me the first post in each thread so I probably miss out on some deals that are posted within threads. (I’ll click through if I have reason to believe there’s valuable information within the thread.)

    Find sites that specialize in deals on the things you’re interested in. For example, I like to keep an eye on toy deals at Amazon, and last year, I found that Bargain Hunting Moms did a pretty good job of highlighting some real bargains.

    Decide if you’re going to shop on Black Friday. I might skip Black Friday this year, but I’m still keeping an eye on the posts at GottaDeal.com. They post previews of Black Friday deals as they become available, which is helpful in planning your Black Friday shopping trip. If it’s your first Black Friday, try to find out what to expect. It’s been my experience that lines form outside the electronics stores and Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving Day, while the early bird at the mall has it pretty good. If you plan to hit an insanely busy store like Wal-Mart or Best Buy, do a Google search to learn how others handle the experience.

    If you shop online, don’t forget to take shipping charges into consideration. Shipping charges can turn a great deal into a terrible one, so always make sure you’ve factored them into your decision on whether to make a purchase.

    When shopping online, always shop through a rewards portal. There are very few sites that don’t offer a reward of some kind. Alas, one of them is my favorite online store – Amazon. But except for Amazon, I have always been able to earn a reward on my purchases. My favorite portal is Ebates, because it gives me cash back each quarter. But I’ve also used Upromise and my credit card issuer’s “shopping mall.” There are dozens of other rewards sites, so there’s no excuse for not getting something in return for your online purchases.

    When shopping online, always look for coupons, discounts, and promotion codes. I try to never shop online without some kind of discount, because I can almost always find a code that gives me free shipping, a dollar amount or percentage off, or a free item. For example, when I bought some items from Oriental Trading Company for Tyler’s upcoming birthday party, I went through Ebates and got 6% cash back (it was their Double Cash Back day) and free shipping, saving myself over $15. Ebates lists coupon codes and automatically applies some of them when you click through to the merchant. You can also find discount codes at sites like RetailMeNot and UltimateCoupons.

    Keep track of your purchases. This is especially important if you have to buy a large number of presents or if you have a tendency to forget what you’ve already bought. You don’t want to accidentally buy two gifts for Aunt Maggie when you only need one.

    Similarly, keep track of your expenditures. See the first point in this list and don’t go overbudget.

    If you follow all of these tips, you’ll have a houseful of affordable gifts, which should make your holiday season brighter. Happy shopping!

    Filed Under: money saving tips, shopping

    New rewards program at Ralphs

    June 29, 2008 by

    Ralphs is all about change right now. Along with cutting their coupon policy, they’ve instituted a new rewards program called Ralphs rewards. You can visit the official web site and FAQ (and see for yourself that “rewards” is written rewards every time, even at the beginning of a sentence).

    The new program incorporates Ralphs Club (which used to get you the sale price) and also has an earnings component. You earn one point per dollar spent. (Exclusions apply – scroll to the bottom of the page to see them. Does anyone know why milk is excluded?) You can also earn points by bringing your own shopping bags. Once per quarter, you’ll receive a $5 “rewards certificate” for every 500 points earned. Points roll over from quarter to quarter, but reset to 0 every January 1.

    Supposedly, they will also send coupons and “offer emails,” but I’m a little skeptical that they’ll do it often or that the coupons and offers will amount to more than a token savings.

    At least converting the card was fairly easy. They put a very personable young man at the table near the main entrance, trained him to call every woman “Miss” no matter how old she was, and put out a plate of cookies that immediately attracted Tyler’s attention. (I loved hearing the young man say “Miss” to the 80-year-old woman who wanted to know the effect of the new program on her Senior card. The answer: there are extra perks for seniors anymore.) All I had to do was hand over my Club card, wait for him to transcribe the old number onto the new card application, then fill in my name, address, phone number and email address. Normally, I wouldn’t provide all that info but I haven’t heard or experienced anything bad about spam or junk mail sent to Ralphs Club card holders, and I had to provide my address to receive those rewards certificates. And maybe they actually will email good coupons, especially with programs like Shortcuts now in place.

    If you do get a new card, don’t forget to register it with UPromise, if you’re already a member there.

    Filed Under: food, shopping

    New Ralphs coupon policy

    June 28, 2008 by

    Out here in California, we have Ralphs supermarkets, which are part of the Kroger family. Up until Wednesday, Ralphs doubled coupons with a face value of up to $1 (so you would get $2 off for a $1 coupon). But according to the LA Times, now they only double coupons with a value of up to 50-cents. They will take off $1 for coupons with a face value of 51 to 99 cents.

    I used to do most of my grocery shopping at Ralphs, but five years ago, there was a widespread lockout/strike at the major chains. The supermarkets agreed that Ralphs would stay open and share the profits (which might have been held illegal, if memory serves). Since I felt bad crossing the picket line and didn’t want to face the picketing workers, I started shopping almost exclusively at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. And for the last five years, I’ve done my weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s. I particularly like their wide selection of and reasonable prices on organic and hormone/antibiotic free products.

    But lately, as I’ve gotten into using coupons more thanks to The Drugstore Game, I was thinking about shopping more at Ralphs. With double coupons, there could be some really good deals to be had. And I did pick up a $330 gift card for $300. But this new coupon policy is putting a damper on my enthusiasm for shopping there again.

    How much does a store’s coupon policy affect whether you shop there?

    Filed Under: food, shopping

    The Drugstore Game: Is it worth it?

    May 5, 2008 by

    It’s been almost two months since I started playing The Drugstore Game, so I decided to do the math and see how much I’ve saved. That way, I’ll have a better idea if all of the effort is worth it.

    As background, I used only my CVS purchases in my calculations, since I spend very little at Walgreens and I buy only items that are steeply discounted (usually with a weekly ad coupon) or free after rebate (usually with a manufacturer’s coupon, making them more than free, plus I get an extra 10% on the rebate by having the rebate credited to a Walgreens giftcard).

    So in the last two months, I’ve spent $80 at CVS. This includes approximately $20 in makeup that I bought just for the bridal shower I attended about a month ago.

    To compare what I would have spent if I hadn’t shopped at CVS, I went through my receipts and added up the cost of things I would have bought anyway: toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, the makeup, tissue, etc. I used the price I would have paid for these items if they were on sale and/or if I had a coupon at stores like Target and Ralphs. My total was over $130, and I’m pretty sure that’s conservative.

    So, the verdict is that I’ve saved at least $50 in less than two months by shopping at CVS. And, I’ve gotten many more items that I wouldn’t have bought at other stores. We are actually using some of these things, like razors, greeting cards, and deodorant. And there are quite a few things we’re donating or giving away, like over-the-counter medication and hair dye. It’s actually been a mental adjustment to learn to buy things I don’t need, simply because they are money makers (i.e., free after ECBs plus overage because of a coupon).

    As I get more experienced and skilled at calculating the various deals for CVS, I expect to spend less and less out of pocket while buying more and more. I hope I will never have to pay for toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and conditioner ever again.

    The other thing to consider when calculating how much I’ve saved is that I’m now making significantly fewer trips to Target than I used to. I have good self-control at CVS because I know that without ECBs and sales, their prices are generally higher than other stores. But at Target, I will often temtped by things that are on clearance. So I’m sure my savings are actually a lot more than just $50 in two months!

    Filed Under: Drugstore Game, money saving tips, shopping
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