No more points: Woolies radical rewards revamp

WOOLWORTHS will ditch it’s Qantas tie-up as part of a major overhaul of its loyalty card after shoppers complained of “points fatigue”

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St. Luke's U. Health Network gets top Chamber/Highmark award

St. Luke’s University Health Network has been recognized with the 2015 Healthy Workplace of the Year Award recently at a luncheon at Stroudsmoor.Presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in cooperation with seven regional chambers of commerce in northeastern and north central Pennsylvania that includes the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce, the award recognizes meaningful wellness efforts in the workplace. St. Luke’s is a member of the Greater Pocono Chamber of [...]

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Focusing on "why" gets best outcomes

“You can never be too rich or too thin.” While I don’t think Wallis Simpson is quite right about that, it does speak to two of the most popular resolutions made each new year: To lose weight and save money. Neither is complicated -- to lose weight you need a calorie deficit; to save money, a funding surplus. Then again, neither is easy. Both require dedication, determination, and preparation.  Right thinkingMaking [...]

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ProFoods rebranding sends timely message

Terrence Snyder, president and CEO of Pocono ProFoods that rebranded from its 73-year identity as Pocono Produce in April of 2013, recalls how he took a cell phone call two months later from someone he knew at the U.S. Open golf championships in Ardmore outside of Philadelphia.Snyder was told by the caller that the new logo of the company, a sponsor of the U.S. Open, was alongside some established high profile brands such as Berkshire Hathaway. “I was told it [...]

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Deeds, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015

Barrett TownshipLudmil A. Kosmela (Trus) Ludmil Kosmela Revocable Trust of 2002 (By Trus) to Alec B. Fenstermaker, Lot 70 and 71, Section D, Lake in the Clouds Community, $215,000J. Lawrence and Barbara B. Wilson to Harriet H. Vawter (Co-Trus), Paul E. Vawter (Co-Trus) A/K/A Jay Vawter, Harriet H. Vawter Trust (By Co-Trus), Unit 721, The Cottages at Buck Hill Falls, Phase I, Section I, $225,000Jackson TownshipWilliam M. and Anne [...]

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How to Get a Free $20 in Cash From NetSpend

Here’s another easy way for Penny Hoarders to grab $20.00 in cash for FREE!

I’ve already tested this out myself, so I can attest to the fact that it does work. Here’s how to do it:

1.) Click here to open a Netspend account for free. You’ll need to use the referral code “1180516423” in order to get the $20 bonus.

2.) You will receive your NetSpend “Visa” Debit card within 10 business days. Mine made it here in 4 days.

3.) Once you receive the card, simply log into NetSpend and activate it.

4.) In order to get the FREE $20, you’ll need to load the card with a minimum of $40.00 using PayPal, a bank account or one of the other many options.

5.) Once you load the $40.00, NetSpend will add $20.00 to your available balance on the card. I confirmed this myself with my own card.

6.) Go to the ATM and withdraw the $60.00 total from your card or spend the funds at your local store, online, or wherever you can use a credit card.

This is super easy folks! I signed up on January 12th, received my card on January 17th, transferred $40 to my card from my PayPal account on the 18th, the bonus hit my account on the 19th, and I successfully withdrew the entire $60 on the 20th.

*At the moment this is ONLY for United States residents. This only works on new accounts, so if you’ve signed up for Netspend before, make sure you pass this on to your friends and family.

Good luck Penny Hoarders!

The post How to Get a Free $20 in Cash From NetSpend appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Check Out These Beautiful, Affordable Wedding Venues

So, you got engaged — congratulations! Now comes the part that some consider fun… and most others consider stressful: planning the actual wedding.

One of the first and most important parts of planning a wedding is selecting the venue. You might have your ceremony and reception in the same venue, or hold the ceremony in a place of worship and the reception in a separate location — but either way, you’ll want to lock down your location as soon as possible since many popular venues book up months or even years in advance.

The average couple spent $14,000 on their wedding venue in 2014, according to the Knot - that accounts for almost half of the average American wedding budget of just over $31,000. For some, that $14,000 was just the price to rent their venue, and as such, they still had to pay for equipment rentals, catering service, alcohol, and a band on top of that. Others likely found that many amenities were included in their venue rental. It depends on what a location offers, so it’s important to do your research.

If you’re looking to have an affordable wedding, the venue is one place where you can definitely save a lot of money, as it comprises one of the biggest parts of your budget. For advice on how to do just that, read on.

Tips for Finding an Affordable Wedding Venue

• Go off-season: The most popular month to have a wedding is in June, so try to go off-season. Choose a month where people are less likely to get married. For example, my wedding day was on Jan. 2. The big plus was that our venue was already decorated for the holidays and we didn’t have to spend any extra money on flowers or decorations. The downside was everyone was a little burned out from all the holidays, or still out of town. But by going off-season, we were able to save a significant amount of money.
• Choose an unusual time of day: If you and your fiance love waking up early, you could have a wedding early and have a brunch. That way, the venue has time to clean up and have another — more expensive — wedding in the evening and can offer you a big discount. It’s a win/win for both of you.
• Pay up front: Most venues will require an initial deposit to hold the date you want. However, you can ask to see if they will offer you a discount for paying everything up front. Cash is king, so use it and your negotiation powers to get a better rate.
• Don’t go traditional: Most people think of banquet halls and hotels when it comes to wedding receptions, but you don’t always have to go traditional. Local parks, interesting museums, beaches, and even aquariums can be great places to hold a wedding celebration.
• Check for work discounts: Do any of your friends or family work at a local historic home? Are they a ranger at a local park? Are they a curator at a museum? Do they work the front desk at a hotel? If so, ask your connections if they can get you a discount.
• Check your college: If you graduated from a college or university, chances are there are many venues where you can get married on campus. If you’re an alumnus, you’ll typically receive a discount, so don’t hesitate to ask. I know my alma mater, William and Mary, allows alumni to get married in their Wren Chapel.

Five Affordable Wedding Venues

I selected five amazingly affordable wedding venues from all across the country. From California to Colorado, from New York down to Virginia and Louisiana, all the venues below are beautiful, memorable — and even better, cost half or less than what the average American couple spent on their wedding venue in 2014.

Option #1: The Old Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge, La.

Photo: Old Governor’s Mansion/Facebook

Price: $3,500 for 250-300 people

I couldn’t help but include my own wedding venue, The Old Governor’s Mansion in the capital city of Louisiana. The Governor’s Mansion was the first venue I saw, and I immediately wanted to book it. I majored in history in college and grad school, so I loved the home from the moment I stepped in it.

I also liked how I wouldn’t have to do anything in terms of decorating it. The gorgeous chandeliers, beautiful wall colors, and historic furnishings were all the decorations I needed. And since we got married on Jan. 2, there was a large Christmas tree right when you walked in and several other holiday decorations that fit in perfectly with our wedding colors of red and white. Plus, as you can see, the venue is remarkably affordable.

Option #2: Brooklyn Historical Society in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Photo: Oh Darling Photography/Brooklyn Historical Society via Pinterest

Price: $5,000 for first-floor event space package, various options for seating.

New York City is one of the most expensive places to get married in the country — the average Manhattan wedding cost more than $75,000 last year. With prices for hotels and banquet halls sky-high, a bride on a budget needs to look for hidden jewels.

The Brooklyn Historical Society is one of those jewels. Get married surrounded by books or in the equally enchanting and classic Great Hall. There are many different places to get married and have the reception within the Brooklyn Historical Society, so contact them to find a location that would best suit your wedding needs.

Also, ask about becoming a member, which may help you get a better rate. Because membership fees are tax deductible, this venue might cost less than you’d imagine. For photos of weddings in the Brooklyn Historical Society, check out their Pinterest Page.

Option #3: Piedmont Community Hall in Piedmont, Calif.

Photos: HereComestheGuide

Price: $3,800 for Saturdays (8 hours)

This attractive city-owned property in Northern California makes a remarkably affordable wedding venue given its Bay Area location. And hefty discounts are available if you’re willing to wed on a Friday or Sunday or in the off-season (Nov.-April). Local Piedmont residents also get a price break.

You can also rent their outdoor plaza or Tea House, either in conjunction with the main hall or separately, at rates ranging from $400-$700.

Option #4: Sunshine Mountain Lodge in Allenspark, Colo. (near Boulder)

Photo: Sunshine Mountain Lodge/TripAdvisor

Price: $990 for you and 30+ guests to celebrate and stay the night

If you’re interested in a complete do-it-yourself wedding to save money, the Sunshine Mountain Lodge in Colorado might be the perfect place for you. Not only can you have a lovely ceremony and reception here, but you can have access to all their facilities — so your guests can stay the night and you can cook some meals, too.

One bride in particular describes her amazingly well-thought-out and sweet wedding where she had a blast with all her friends and family and only spent $2,000.

Option #5: The Mariners’ Museum Courtyard in Newport News, Va.

Price: $1,800 for Saturday

The Mariners’ Museum is an award-winning museum set on a 550-acre park. It’s in a beautiful part of the country near many other historic locations like Norfolk, Va., and Colonial Williamsburg, so out-of-town guests can easily be convinced to make the trek.

There are a number of different parts of the museum that you can rent out, but the least expensive on a typical Saturday evening is the courtyard. The best part is that you’ll be supporting a museum that preserves some pretty significant history while having a unique venue for your special day.

Other Ways to Save On Wedding Venues

Go smaller: I know your mom wants you to invite all your third cousins, but the truth is, by keeping the guest list smaller, you’ll have many more options for a cheap wedding venue. A wedding with 50 guests or fewer can have a reception in a nice restaurant or other small space that might be much more affordable and offer a lot more charm per dollar than a big wedding factory. Plus, it’s not only the space that will be more affordable — because you have fewer people to feed and entertain, everything else will cost less, too.

Go shorter: Many venues will rent the space for about three to five hours. You can always ask for a 2.5-hour reception and ask if you can save on the price by shaving off 30 minutes. A lot of people won’t hang around for a full three-hour or longer reception (we only had a few people waving goodbye to us at the end!), so don’t pay for time you don’t need.

Go outside: While hotel ballrooms and function halls can cost thousands of dollars, the great outdoors is often completely free. State parks and beaches and city parks often allow wedding ceremonies and even full receptions on their grounds, although they may require you to purchase a permit. Alternatively, does someone in your family have a sprawling, lovingly landscaped back yard? Ask if they’d be willing to let you use it for your wedding in lieu of a gift. Just make sure to come up with a contingency plan for bad weather, such as renting a sturdy outdoor tent.

Ask for a discount: If you might be eligible for a discount — for instance, if you served in the military — don’t hesitate to ask for one. Even a 5% to 10% discount can make a huge difference when planning a wedding.

Elope: Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the cheapest wedding venue is none at all. Ask around and you’ll find more than one bride who wished she would have eloped instead of spending thousands of dollars on a wedding and reception. Sometimes, it’s better to save your cash and pay off debts or put a down payment toward a house instead of burning it all on a one-day party.

A Final Note

Planning a wedding can be extremely hectic, but also fun. As long as you stay organized and take a break when you feel stressed, you will be able to enjoy the process.

When I got married, I kept a large binder with all my wedding receipts and contracts, and I appreciated being able to find things when I needed them. So, as soon as I booked my wedding venue, I gave “Venue” its own folder in my binder, and that’s where I kept contact numbers and receipts.

Your wedding venue is one of the most crucial decisions you’ll make when planning your wedding. It could end up being the most expensive part of your budget, but it can also be the one thing that really creates a unique setting for your wedding day. You don’t have to go overboard and tour 40 venues; just select a handful once you nail down your budget, tour them all in close succession, and then choose one with your fiance.

Trust me, once you select a venue, you will instantly feel like this wedding is really happening now — because you’ll need to pick a date that the venue is available and put a deposit down.

It’s exciting, but it’ll be even more exciting when you find a venue you love that’s unique, memorable, and most of all, affordable. I hope the above ideas can help you get inspired to find the wedding venue of your dreams without breaking your budget.

Related Articles:

• How to Find Affordable Wedding Rings
• Tips for Finding Affordable Engagement Rings
• 20 Ideas for a Frugal (Not Cheap) Wedding
• Where to Find Affordable Wedding Invitations

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Want More Money When You’re Older? Here’s What to Do Now

If you were born after 1980, you’re part of the millennial generation and are between the ages of 18 and 33 as I’m writing this article in 2014. You’re also known as Generation Y because you came after Generation X, which is my generation. Gen X are people born from about 1964 to 1980.

The millennial generation has some other not-so-flattering nicknames. It’s been dubbed the Boomerang Generation because of its members’ propensity to move back home with their parents, perhaps due to financial hardships.

It’s also been dubbed the Peter Pan Generation, which refers to a perceived immaturity or unwillingness to grow up exhibited in millennials’ tendency to delay starting a career, getting married and having children.

Now, before you think that everyone’s pegged young folks as slackers, various surveys and studies about millennials have also shown you’re an incredibly educated and optimistic group.

But that education comes at a cost — as so many of you who are burdened with huge amounts of student loan debt know all too well. Additionally, many millennials were traumatized by the last recession, don’t like the stock market and are leery of investing.

Whether you agree with these millennial characteristics or feel stereotyped by them, here are five decisions that you, or anyone who wants to achieve financial success, must make to grow rich:

1. Live Within Your Means

One of the most important decisions to make when you’re starting out is to live within your means, or never spend more than you earn.

It sounds so logical and simple, right? But unfortunately, it’s incredibly easy to overspend when you make credit card charges that you can’t pay off in full every month.

Your life may not be as lavish as your parents’, your high-earning friends’ or your friends’ who live beyond their means. That’s OK.

With hard work, smart spending and consistent saving, you can achieve your financial goals and dreams. No one said we were entitled to have everything we want right out of the gate.

Living within your means comes down to aligning your spending with your values. So think about what you really want to do or have, and make sure you’re allocating your money there, and never spending mindlessly.

Shifting into conscious spending and saving is a simple but powerful milestone that’s required to grow rich. I discuss the psychology of spending and how to set your priorities in Chapter One of my book, Money Girl’s Smart Moves to Grow Rich.

2. Leverage the Power of Time

If building wealth is one of your goals, the second decision you must make is to value your time and put it on your side. Here’s why that’s so important:

Let’s say you go out to lunch with coworkers every day and spend $15. That’s almost $4,000 per year that you could be funneling into a retirement account if you brought leftovers to work instead.

If you’re 25 years old and invest $4,000 a year in an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) or a workplace 401(k), you’ll amass a surprisingly huge nest egg. With an average annual return of 7%, you’d have close to $1 million by the time you’re in your mid-60s.

Now, I’m not saying you should never go out to lunch or spend money on entertainment. My point is that you should never spend habitually or unconsciously without understanding the security and future financial freedom that you may be giving up if you invested that money instead.

3. Make Saving a Habit

When you’re just starting out, it can be difficult to start saving and investing on a regular basis. Few people feel like they have discretionary or extra money to set aside. But you must create the habit of saving (even small amounts) as early as possible, no matter how much it hurts.

Here’s a quote from Aristotle that sums it up, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

I recommend you save a minimum of 10% to 15% of your gross income starting with your very first paycheck. If you have a retirement plan at work, such as a 401(k) or 403(b), that’s an extremely valuable benefit you should never pass up.

If you don’t have a workplace retirement plan, open and contribute to an IRA instead.

4. Always Have a Financial Safety Net

When you have trouble getting ahead financially, one of the most common roots of that problem is not having a safety net, such as emergency savings.

For instance, if you have an unexpected car repair or lose your job, you may have no option but to finance your expenses on a credit card. Then the debt accrues interest and grows bigger every month, becoming even more difficult to pay off.

Instead, make a decision to save and always keep a minimum of three to six months’ worth of your living expenses in an FDIC-insured bank savings account. If you’re starting from zero, start with a small goal, like saving $100 first, and then building up to $500, $1,000 and so on.

Consider automating your emergency savings by having a small percentage of your paycheck directly deposited into a separate account. After a couple of paychecks, you won’t even notice that 2% or 3% is missing from your main account.

The peace of mind a financial cushion gives you is amazing. So cut your spending and make temporary sacrifices so you can fund your emergency savings account as quickly as possible.

5. Get the Credit You Deserve

A study from Experian, one of the nationwide credit bureaus, revealed that many millennials have poor credit because they don’t pay their bills on time.

If you’re habitually late paying bills, please realize your payment history is the most important factor in calculating your credit scores.

Another study from the Consumer Federation of America showed that millennials don’t understand how far-reaching or important credit is to their entire financial life.

Only 18% know the types of businesses — including lenders, credit card issuers, insurers, utility companies and cell phone carriers — that can use your credit to evaluate you as a potential customer.

Building good credit doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of having credit accounts, such as a credit card or car loan, and managing them responsibly over time.

Take advantage of online bill pay through your bank or using an application like Quicken, to make sure your money management never slips through the cracks.

Your Turn: Do you face any of these financial challenges? What habits have you developed to save money for your future?

This post originally appeared at Quick and Dirty Tips, a network of podcasts and digital content offering short, actionable advice from friendly and informed authorities. Laura Adams, host of the free Money Girl podcast, is a personal finance expert and award-winning author.

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The Best Price Trackers to Beat Black Friday

Every year, throngs of shoppers flood the nation’s leading retailers on the day after Thanksgiving, eager to seize their deeply discounted Black Friday haul. And every year, those who don’t venture out shake their heads at footage of shoppers camped in parking lots, fist fights over merchandise, and shelves swept bare in minutes.

For some, Black Friday is as much about people-watching as it is about shopping. But if you’re among those who want to score some serious deals, take a deep breath and reconsider: Black Friday might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

We’ll take a look at why that’s the case, when you may be able to score better deals, and how price trackers can be a crucial tool in helping you pay less without fighting the crowds.

Black Friday Might Not Be the Best Day to Shop…

Though there has been some pushback by stores that have stood firm on staying closed, many retailers have started opening on Thanksgiving Day to give the most dedicated shoppers a crack at the best deals. And retailers such as Amazon offer deep discounts for weeks before Black Friday.

According to a large Adobe Systems study of pricing data going back to 2008, prices actually hit rock bottom for the entire year the Monday before Thanksgiving, and the lowest prices of the holiday season were offered on Thanksgiving Day itself, not Black Friday. Similarly, a Savings.com study of 1.5 million deals over five years found the best prices about a week before Black Friday.

…but Cyber Monday is Worse

Recently, the line has blurred between Black Friday and Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving traditionally popular for online shopping — said Daniel Green, co-founder of Amazon.com price tracker CamelCamelCamel.

“Cyber Monday was traditionally all about the tech toys, whereas Black Friday has a bit of everything,” he said. “In recent years, however, they have blended together into one long deals week, which may reduce the number of ‘good’ deals on any given day.”

Despite some predictions to the contrary, Cyber Monday proved more popular than ever last year. But if you’re among those planning on skipping Black Friday crowds in favor of Cyber Monday, beware: Adobe’s analysis actually found that overall prices zoomed back up to pre-holiday levels that day, and would-be shoppers were often frustrated by inventory decimated by earlier deal-seekers.

The news isn’t all bad: On Cyber Monday, you can still find deep discounts of up to 50% off on clothing, shoes, and certain small electronics. However, if you’re hunting deals on large electronics, appliances and home goods, computers, jewelry, and travel deals, experts say you’re better off looking at other times.

Jason Hamilton, co-developer of price tracker PriceZombie, said Cyber Monday is still worthwhile if you consider that prices are usually lower online from day to day. “I think Cyber Monday has better deals than Black Friday since most online retailers have a lower starting price to begin with. Online retailers will also drop prices on a significant amount of their existing stock to the lowest price of the year.

“One thing to keep in mind is that many online retailers will not guarantee delivery times for Cyber Monday deals,” he warned.

For Some Items, the Best Deals May Be Months Away

Year in and year out, nearly every item you’ll ever want follows a predictable pricing pattern. This happens for a variety of reasons — new and updated model releases force retailers to get rid of older ones cheap, or supply and demand dictate that seasonal items are no longer a hot commodity (snow blowers in June, anyone?).

In particular, you can save big on electronics if you pounce after a new model is released. “Shoppers can get a pretty good deal on the previous model of an item if they are willing to skip having the hot new thing,” Green said. “A great example of this is Canon DSLR cameras: Sure, the 5D Mark III is better than the 5D Mark II, but a lot of hobbyist photographers aren’t going to push either camera to its limit, so why not save a thousand bucks and go for the Mark II?”

You also may be able to nab a sweet deal by heading out once the holiday crush is over. “Look at open-box items just after Christmas,” Hamilton said. “It is amazing how many people return even high-end items, and many retailers routinely take 30% or more off for open-box items, bringing them down to well below Black Friday pricing. In many cases, the items I bought last year were not ever opened.”

The bottom line: You can often can get a deal equal or better than what you would on Black Friday by paying attention to this yearly pricing cycle. According to Consumer Reports, here’s when you can expect the best deals for certain products in any given year:

When to Buy	What to Buy
January	Bedding/linens, Toys, Exercise equipment, TVs, Winter clothing
February	Humidifiers, Indoor furniture, Exercise equipment
March	Digital cameras, Humidifiers, Small consumer electronics, TVs, Winter sports gear
April	Computers, Digital cameras, Lawn mowers, Spring clothing
May	Athletic apparel/shoes, Camping/outdoor gear, Carpeting, Cordless phones, Lawn mowers, Mattresses, Small consumer electronics
June	Camcorders, Carpeting, Computers, Indoor furniture, Pots, pans, and dishware, Small consumer electronics, Summer sports gear, Swimwear
July	Camcorders, Indoor furniture, Outdoor furniture, Swimwear
August	Air conditioners, Backpacks, Dehumidifiers, Outdoor furniture, Snow blowers
September	Bikes, Digital cameras, Gas grills, Lawn mowers, Shrubs, trees, and perennials, Small consumer electronics, Snow blowers
October	Bikes, Computers, Digital cameras, Gas grills, Lawn mowers, Winter coats
November	Baby products, Bikes Camcorders, Gas grills, GPS navigators, Toys, TVs
December	Bikes, Camcorders, Gas grills, GPS navigators, Home appliances (large and small), Small consumer electronics, Toys, TVs

Is Anything Worth Braving the Black Friday Crush?

But what about those tempting Black Friday ads that blare savings of 50%, 60%, even 70% off? Certainly, retailers’ top Black Friday deals — otherwise known as “doorbusters” — offer adventurous shoppers impressive savings that can still be worthwhile. Here are the items that pop up on stores’ ads year after year at rock-bottom prices:

• Appliances/home goods: Cookware, countertop appliances, tools, vacuums
• Large electronics: TVs
• Small electronics: Tablets, laptops, wearables
• Media: DVDs, video games
• Toys

If you set your sights on a tempting Black Friday deal, make sure you’re realistic about what it will take to snag it. These doorbusters are typically retailers’ loss leaders; that is, the items are deeply discounted purely to get you in the door — so you’ll buy other things at not-as-compelling prices.

“Retailers trot out the big ticket items to attract shoppers, and hope they stick around to buy a bunch of other gifts, too,” Green said.

Black Friday ‘gotcha’ tactics

Unless you’re willing to camp out on the store’s doorstep, limited quantities mean you might not get the item you covet. Will you have the strength to walk away, or will you wander the store aisles in search of other purchases just to justify the trip?

Buyers should also beware of certain unexpected sales tactics including shorter-than-normal warranties, annoying mail-in rebates, and “gotcha” return policies that are stricter than they are the rest of the year.

“You really need to do some research before slapping down your credit card,” Hamilton said. “First of all, retailers use Manufacturer’s Retail Price as a base price when advertising things like ‘50% Off!’ PriceZombie will show what the product has actually sold for in the past. While Black Friday deals are usually the lowest price of the year, it may only be 5-10% off the regular price. Weigh the hassle of going to the store on Black Friday versus the savings.”

And when it comes to high-dollar electronics, be particularly careful: Experts caution that items such as doorbuster TVs are almost always off brands, and those that aren’t might be made with cheaper components.

“You think you’re getting the expensive, high quality, fully featured model, but on closer inspection the Black Friday model is similar but not the same,” Hamilton cautioned. “Check model numbers and features for the Black Friday model that is on sale, and make sure you’re buying something you really want to own. Especially with TVs, Black Friday sales are often for the previous year’s model or have cut down features like fewer HDMI ports or missing SD card slots. The unique model number also prevents store price matching policy from having to kick in.”

In other words, you won’t be getting cutting-edge technology for that rock-bottom price. If that’s what you want, be sure to wait until mid-December or January, when the better models see deeper discounts.

Price Trackers Make it Easy to be a Deal Hunter All Year Long

If you’d rather spend the day after Thanksgiving relaxing and spending some extra time with your family, you don’t have to miss out on low prices. Price trackers make it easier to score the best deals all year long — all you need is a little patience.

Here are our picks for the top three best price trackers, for the holiday season and beyond:

CamelCamelCamel

If you do any of your shopping at online megastore Amazon, no matter the time of year, check out the curiously named CamelCamelCamel. This price tracker focuses solely on Amazon, giving you a handy graph that lets you see how high an item’s price has gone in the past and where it is now in comparison. It also shows third-party prices so you can gauge whether there’s a better deal elsewhere.

You can simply type in the product you’re eyeing on CamelCamelCamel’s website, or you can install a browser extension that lets you track prices without even leaving Amazon. You can also sign up for email alerts that will tell you when an item drops below a certain price.

SlickDeals

The SlickDeals price tracker isn’t quite as fancy as CamelCamelCamel, but it allows you to track deals at a wider range of retailers — more than 50 to be exact, including big-box stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, and Kmart.

All you need to do is enter the link to the item you’re coveting, and you’ll get an email when the price drops. You can also add a module to your web browser that shows you the price history of an item at any supported SlickDeals store.

PriceZombie

If you want the detail of CamelCamelCamel across a wider range of stores, like SlickDeals, then you’ll want to check out PriceZombie. It’s compatible with more than 100 stores including Amazon, Best Buy, Ikea, and Overstock (though not Wal-Mart, unfortunately). PriceZombie actually lets you compare prices at a glance, showing what an item is going for at all supported stores that carry it.

PriceZombie also shows you price history and allows you to sign up for price drop alerts. A couple other nifty features: You can use the “filler finder” to find cheap items to tack on to your order to meet the minimum for free shipping, and the price protection tracker will notify you if a price drops after your purchase and makes you eligible for a refund through your store or credit card’s price protection benefits.

You can use Price Zombie by going to their website or as a browser add-on that you’ll need to install. It’s currently compatible with Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.

Don’t Shop on Black Friday Without a Plan

If we haven’t dissuaded you from a Black Friday shopping trip, at least cook up a strategy that will give you the greatest chance of success.

A good place to start is checking out ads in advance with BFAds.net, a site that collects all major retailers’ Black Friday ads as soon as they’re released (or leaked — whichever happens first). That way you can zero in on your must-have doorbuster(s), and decide whether it’s worth camping at that store before it opens.

On Black Friday, you’ll also do well to remember the frugal shopper’s mantra: If you don’t really need an item, either for yourself or as a gift, even the steepest discount can’t make it a smart purchase.

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Five Strategies for Handling Slow Progress Toward Your Goals

When you start paying attention to your finances, the progress can feel amazing. Over the first few years of our financial turnaround, we saw our net worth go from negative to positive. We also witnessed our net worth make some amazing leaps in terms of percentage growth, moving from what seemed like a tiny net worth at the start of one year to an amount that was a pretty nice portion of our combined salary at the end of that year, meaning we saw a roughly 300% jump in our net worth.

Amazing, amazing stuff.

Over time, though, our progress felt like it was slowing down. At the start of one year, our net worth was at roughly $40,000 and at the end of that year it was at $70,000 because we managed to save $30,000, which is a 75% improvement. The next year, though, we managed to save $35,000 and saw our net worth rise from $70,000 to $105,000 – but that was only a 50% improvement. The next year, we managed to save $40,000 and watched our net worth rise from $105,000 to $145,000, which was only a 38% improvement. (Note these numbers are a rounded approximation to make the idea clear.)

We were actually saving more than ever before, but the growth rate of our net worth was slowing down.

To make matters worse, all of our goals for the last few years have been very long term goals. We’re looking at things like financial independence or a nice home in the country or early retirement, goals that take many years to achieve and are still far off in the future.

Many days, it feels like we’re approaching those goals at an absolute crawl.

Sure, our overall net worth is the highest it has ever been and, as we age, we do get closer to those goals, but the pace is slow. Early on, there were big successes every month. Now? It feels like the successes we want are years away.

This valley, where it feels like the next destination is so far away, often feels like it would be a great place to quit. We could buy the exact country home that we want right now, but we’d be in debt. One of us could retire right now, but we’d be in a precarious situation. Alternately, we could just start buying things and fulfilling all of our little whims, but all that would do is just make our big dreams move even further into the distance.

Through all of that distraction, though, we’re still pumping along. Day by day, week by week, we’re moving toward our goals. We’re even picking up a little bit of speed, as our dividends and returns on our investments grow.

How do we keep ourselves on this path? We employ five strategies.

Strategy #1 – Focus on the Shrinking Distance to Your Goal

Over time, as your net worth mounts, your percentage increase each year is going to decrease (unless you have a big jump in your other sources of income). That’s disheartening, because it makes you feel like your progress is actually slowing down when it might not be.

Instead, I’ve found a lot of value in looking at how much distance I’ve crossed toward my goal. Instead of counting up from my current level, in other words, I count down from my goal.

Let’s use really round numbers to give you the idea. Let’s say my goal is $1 million and each year I add $100,000 to my investments. At the start of the first year, my investment total is $100,000 and, over the course of that year, I add $100,000 more to it. That means that the distance to my goal went from $900,000 to $800,000 over the course of that year, which means I moved 11.1% closer to the goal (the $100,000 my investment grew divided by the $900,000 I still have to cross). The next year, I add another $100,000 to that goal, reducing the distance to the goal from $800,000 to $700,000. That means I moved 12.5% closer to the goal (the $100,000 added divided by the $800,000 left to go at the start of the year). The first year – 11.1% – was good. The second year – 12.5% – was even better.

That kind of measurement of my progress makes me feel like my continuous efforts really are producing better and better results over time. It makes it clear to me that staying on track is paying real rewards. I’m moving faster and faster toward my goal over time, and I’m excited again as I want to see that percentage progress each year really spike.

You’re not changing anything about the numbers at all. You’re just looking at them through a different lens – you’re looking at the distance left to go and you’re seeing that as time passes, you’re moving across that distance faster and faster and faster, and you want to do what you can to keep accelerating! At least, that’s how I feel.

Let’s work through a more specific and perhaps realistic example of this. Let’s say that our financial goal is to have $1 million in investments and we have $200,000 in the bank. Your goal might be very different – maybe you just want to have $20,000 for a down payment and have just $4,000 in the bank. This is just an example, to illustrate how this works.

The traditional way to look at that financial state is to look at your net worth. Let’s say that you have $20,000 in other assets – you have a decent car and some collectible items – and no debts, so your complete net worth is $220,000. Each year, you’re managing to dump $10,000 into your investments and then the investments increase in value by 7%.

So, at the start of the year, your net worth is $220,000. You add $10,000 to your investments during the year, bringing the total of your investments up to $210,000, and they increase in value by 7%, bringing it up to $224,700. Add the $20,000 in other assets you have back in and your net worth went from $220,000 to $244,700 that year. Your net worth went up 11.2% that first year! Great!

But what about year two? Your net worth is $244,700 at the start of the year, of which $224,700 is investments. You add another $10,000 to your investments and they go up by 7% overall, bringing your investment total to $251,129. Add back in that $20,000 in other assets you have and your net worth went up to $271,129. Believe it or not, your net worth only went up 10.8% your second year. Based on the metric of net worth, you’re actually slowing down.

So let’s look at it another way. Your goal is $1 millon in investments. At the start of the first year, your investment balance at $200,000. You have $800,000 left to save. During that first year, your investment total goes up to $224,700, as noted above. You now only have $775,300 left to go. During that year, you devoured 3.1% of your remaining goal – not bad. But during the second year, your investment total goes from $224,700 to $251,129. You now only have $748,871 to go. During that second year, you devoured 3.4% of your goal.

Maybe 3.1% to 3.4% doesn’t seem like a big leap to you. Sometimes, it doesn’t seem like a big jump to me, either. But here’s the thing – as long as I keep things steady, that number gets bigger and bigger. In year three, it’s going to be about 4%. The next year? About 5%. Why is that happening? I’m knocking off bigger and bigger pieces of my remaining goal. To me, that’s exciting. That’s invigorating. It makes me want to keep my foot on the accelerator, because I know that the harder I push, the faster that percentage grows, and the faster that percentage grows, the faster my goal gets there.

So, for me, I focus on how much distance to my goal that I’ve covered in the last year, expressing that as a percentage. As long as I keep working, that percentage keeps growing.

Strategy #2 – Focus on Your Own Behavior and Day-to-Day Choices, Not Your Overall Financial State

In our relationship, I’m much more of a numbers person. I’m inspired by the numbers more than Sarah is. Perhaps you’re more like Sarah and you’re not a big numbers fan. What can you focus on instead to get you through that valley?

We usually achieve this by focusing mostly on our own behavior and day-to-day choices. I do this myself, but Sarah excels at it. We both like to look through our spending and other behavioral decisions throughout the day and ask ourselves whether they make sense.

Personally, I do this through a “weekly review,” something I’ve mentioned before on The Simple Dollar. Once a week, I spend an hour or so looking at what I achieved during the past week, what I hope to achieve the next week, and also think about some of the day-to-day choices I made (I usually do this with the aid of my pocket notebook and my credit card statements, as well as my own memory). Were they good ones? Bad ones?

Sometimes, I won’t even draw a conclusion during that review. Instead, I’ll think about it when doing something else, like taking a shower or driving to the nearest town of any size. I’ll run through that decision in my head, figure out whether it was the right call, and then if I didn’t make the right move, I’ll imagine the situation as if I did make the right move.

Asking myself all the time whether my expenditures are actually wise has, over time, really sharpened my internal sense about whether I should spend money on something. I have a clear sense as to whether a purchase is actually a need or just a want that I’m convincing myself that I need. I also have a clear sense as to whether or not a particular purchase will bring me lasting joy – and I usually come to the realization that it won’t.

Strategy #3 – Automate Your Future Planning, Then Focus on the Short Term

At this point, most of our bills and all of our investing is completely automated. Most of the time, the only reason I check my checking account online is to make sure that any income that we’re due to receive is actually deposited on the expected day and to make sure that there weren’t any unauthorized transactions.

This achieves two vital things at once.

First of all, it ensures that we keep moving toward our financial goals without having to think about it. Each and every week, money goes into our investment accounts. Each and every week, our bills get paid a few days before their due date. Those things happen automatically without us having to think about it. The only drawback – and this is a small one – is that we keep a nice buffer in there in case something goes wrong.

Second, it reduces the amount of money we actually have available to spend in a given month. Since a lot of our money is leaving automatically, we don’t have a whole ton of money that’s left behind after all of the automatic transactions are finished. We have to be a little bit careful with that money. We can’t just spend recklessly on every whim or else we’ll either start building up credit card debt (which we know to be a very bad choice) or we’ll overdraft our checking account.

This method, sometimes described by other personal finance sites as “pay yourself first,” basically forces us to budget our lifestyle. Since a significant portion of our income just vanishes into investments, and another significant portion disappears into our regular bills, we’re left with a pretty small amount with which to do things like buy food, household supplies, clothing, and entertainment and hobby expenses.

This isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s a very good thing. It ensures that we don’t allow our spending to escalate just because we have money. We could most certainly afford more things than we buy, but why? We honestly have everything we need. And even if we chose to do so, we’d have to make the active choice to cut our weekly investment funding – and that would be a miserable choice.

Strategy #4 – Discover Non-Financial Goals to Fill Your Heart and Mind

People who turn around their finances in an abrupt fashion are usually able to achieve that because they’re very goal-oriented and achievement-oriented people. They set goals in their life and they’re able to work toward them effectively, and a financial turnaround is the result of applying that mindset to finances.

However, there comes a point where most personal finance goals are long term things. Sure, you have a strategy for getting there – like the automatic strategy discussed above – but in terms of day-to-day choices, there’s really not much to do.

This can leave people struggling. Often, the thing that has put people in a position to have that kind of turnaround is a laser-like focus on their finances, and when you reach a point where things are on autopilot, you really don’t have anything to focus on with any intensity.

Obviously, the best approach is to find other areas of your life to focus on. The trick is to make sure that when you refocus with new goals, you don’t let go of the attributes that brought you financial success to begin with. In other words, don’t switch to new non-financial goals that involve extensive spending.

For me, I switched my focus to family matters, community matters, and independent learning. I found many ways to engage in all of those things without ramping up my spending very much at all (I’d say not at all, but there were a few expenses here and there). I simply pushed my goal-oriented self onto other goals.

As I said, this approach works well when you combine this strategy with the previous strategy and put your finances on autopilot. In that situation, you’re essentially functioning as someone with a lower salary and a somewhat different focus on life (though you haven’t left your financial skills behind).

Strategy #5 – Devote Your Energy to Increasing Income

If you still feel a strong need to do everything you can to maximize your financial state, pour your energy into increasing your income.

Increasing your income is a tricky area to talk about because it’s not always as cut and dried as cutting back on your spending. Everyone is in a very different situation, with differing skills and differing amounts of time available and different professional and personal situations, all of which radically alter their ability to increase their income.

Still, there are many general approaches you can take, utilizing your spare time and energy, that can result in an increase in income.

You can start a side business, which can eat as few or as many hours as you wish and provide another income stream for you.

You can create information products, like starting a Youtube channel, writing a book for the Kindle, or creating a website. Those strategies might not earn you very much, but once you’ve produced something, the income from that thing becomes a largely passive stream.

You can improve your education by going back to school. If you’re in a strong financial state at the moment, this could be a good choice depending on your career status and goals.

You can get a second job, filling your spare time directly with time and energy exchanged for more money.

You can maximize your position at work through things like improving personal performance, building strong professional connections, and stepping up to the plate for big and challenging projects.

Of course, you can also combine these approaches, moving from one to another until you find one that clicks for you.

The advantage of doing these things is that they usually don’t have a negative impact on your main finances. Instead, they just introduce the possibility of significant upside for your income, which could mean a massive acceleration of your financial goals if you find success.

Success is not a given in the professional sphere, however, and no matter how hard you try, it’s never going to be as easy as simply buying generic products at the store or installing LED light bulbs to trim your energy bill. It will take a lot of work, a lot of skill, and more than a bit of luck. However, this strategy has no limit to the potential upside.

Final Thoughts

Sarah and I use all of these strategies to help us maintain a great financial direction now that we’re in a bit of a valley on our progress toward our goals. We have big dreams, but they’re simply not going to happen immediately, so we look for ways to keep us grounded financially as we wait.

If you’re in that same boat – you’ve achieved success with your turnaround but now you’re finding it difficult to be patient as you work toward your next big step – apply some of these strategies. Look at the numbers in a new way. Focus on your behaviors and little choices. Automate everything and live off of a small budget. Find new goals. Work toward a big bump in income.

No matter which of those strategies you use, you’ll find tools that will help you make it through this challenging period and, eventually, you’ll find yourself coming through the other side, reaching that goal that seemed to be incredibly distant not all that long ago.

Good luck.

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Can Bike Sharing Help You Save Money?

Bike-share programs have popped up across the country, from New York City to Madison, Wisconsin. The idea is to encourage people to choose bicycling over other ways to get around, especially for short rides.

Typically, you register with your credit card and then simply check out a bike from any location in your city. When you’re done riding, return the bike to a designated dock, lock it up and walk away.

They certainly sound convenient, but can bike-share programs help you save you money? We examined four different services to see how the costs break down.

B-Cycle (Madison, Wisconsin)

If you simply walk up to one of Madison, Wisconsin’s B-Cycle bike racks, you’ll pay $3 for your first 30 minutes and $3 more for each 30-minute period beyond that.

Or, you can become a member and enjoy unlimited 30-minute rides for $5 a day, $7.99 a month or $65 a year. If your rides are more than 30 minutes, you’ll have to pay an extra $3 per 30-minute session. The maximum daily charge is $75.

Is It Worth It?

If you take short (under 30-minute) rides on a regular basis, the annual membership probably makes the most sense. You can bike as many times as you want for a year for less than half the price of buying a basic bike.

If you’re looking to take a lot of long-distance bike rides, it makes more financial sense to skip this program and buy your own trusty bike.

And if you’re familiar with Wisconsin’s weather, you’re probably wondering what happens in the winter. If you only want to ride during the warmest months of the year, just buy a four-month membership for around $32.

This program offers a perk some people might find useful: Since it tracks your GPS data and other information, your account shows you how many calories you burned on your ride.

One rider found the bikes worked well for occasional commuting, but he ran into a few problems, including technical glitches with the system. However, he noted the bikes were in excellent condition.

B-Cycle (Nashville, Tennessee)

Nashville’s B-Cycle program is similar to Madison’s, but it operates with a different rate structure

You’ll have to purchase a membership to use this program, but a 24-hour membership is only $5. A week-long membership will run you $10, a month is $15 and a year-long membership is just $50.

With your membership, you’ll get the first 60 minutes of every ride for free. If you ride longer, the next 30 minutes is $1.50 up to a maximum of $45 per day.

Is It Worth It?

If you take rides shorter than 60 minutes on a regular basis, the annual membership fee is your best bet. It would take two or three years of membership fees to pay for a basic new bike.

Citi Bike (New York City)

Everything costs a little more in New York City. (To give you an idea, if you earn $50,000 in Nashville, you’d need to earn more than $123,000 for a comparable lifestyle in Manhattan.) The cost of bike sharing is no exception.

Citi Bike offers a few different membership options, including an annual pass for $149 (which earns you unlimited 45-minute trips) and two shorter-term membership options.

The 24-hour pass is $9.95 and the seven-day membership is $25. During your membership, you’ll enjoy unlimited 30-minute rides.

The system aims to encourage shorter trips and discourage longer ones, charging up to $12 per 30-minute period for short-term members who take rides over 90 minutes.

With a short-term membership, rides from 30-60 minutes are $4, and those between 60-90 minutes are $9. Then it’s $12 for every 30-minute period thereafter.

With an annual membership, you’ll pay $2.50 for rides between 45-75 minutes, $9 for rides between 75-105 minutes and $9 per every 30-minute period after that.

Is It Worth It?

A lot of people think so. Crain’s reports New York residents and visitors take 34,000 Citi Bike rides each day.

One New Yorker, who resisted purchasing a Citi Bike membership at first, soon realized he got more than his money’s worth.

In 17 days alone, he took 42 trips via the bikes. If he had purchased a basic single subway or local bus ride for each one of those trips instead, he would have spent $115.50!

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The most basic subway or local bus ride in New York City costs $2.75. A seven-day unlimited pass is $31 and a 30-day unlimited pass is $116.50. You could get a whole year of Citi Bike membership for a little over the price of one month’s Metrocard.

(Though again, you’ll want to consider the impact of winter on your desire to bike.)

DecoBike (San Diego, California)

With gorgeous weather year-round, San Diego is a great place to commute by bike. DecoBike operates under a partnership with the city, and this program has 1,800 bikes around town.

The program offers standard memberships featuring unlimited 30-minute rides for $99-$125 per year or $20 per month (with a three-month minimum). Deluxe memberships allow unlimited 60-minute rides and are available for $199 a year or $30 a month (with a three-month minimum).

You can also get your fill of 30-minute rides for $35 a week or $50 for one month. Or choose an hourly rentals for $5 per 30 minutes, $7 for an hour or $12 for two hours. You’ll pay $5 for each additional 30-minute period.

Is It Worth It?

With this program, your annual membership costs about the same as it would to actually buy a bike. If you’re a regular rider, it might make more sense to purchase a bike, but casual bikers might prefer the bike-share program.

Critics say the program competes with bike-rental companies in the area, and some argue the bike stations are not located in ideal areas for commuters. However, the program is still in its first year, so hopefully with a bit of time, it’ll work out the snags.

Will Bike Sharing Save You Money?

If you’re looking to head out for an occasional ride, any of these bike sharing programs are a great way to get some exercise and be outdoors. When you’re visiting a city, using a bike to get around town is also a fun and affordable option.

However, if you’re using a bike for your everyday commute, it probably makes more sense to buy your own both for reliability (you’ll always know it’s available) and cost.

You can pick up a basic new cruiser for $130 or so. Craigslist and garage sales are good places to check for used bikes, but be sure they’re serviced and in decent condition before you start riding.

Your Turn: Would you try one of these bike rental services?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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