Archive for 2008
Best Site for Saving Yourself Headaches
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
After we’ve found what we’ve been looking for, whether a car, a lawnmower or a tax preparation service, we often hesitate before handing over our cash. Am I making the right choice? How likely is it that something will go wrong? How will I know if there is a recall? And what if what I am buying hasn’t been reviewed by Consumer Reports? With all of the items that make up our households, figuring this out can be a daunting task.
Enter www.consumeraffairs.com and give yourself some peace of mind (or something to worry about). www.consumeraffairs.com screens and publishes complaints and problems from everyday folks as well as recall information on just about everything. They have an easily searchable database so you can zero in on your item without wasting a lot of time. And if you check the site before you buy, you could save yourself some money and aggravation as well!
This site is a comprehensive resource for checking up on a company and product before you buy. Or, if you have experienced a problem, you can see if others have been in the same situation and if they have been able to resolve it or not.
If you sign up for their newsletter, you will receive an email once a week talking about all the current consumer issues–whether its subprime mortgage scams or exploding Fords or vitamin shams–to keep you in the know! Also, they include a list of recalled items from cars to toys to power tools. This way, you can get your item fixed or replaced before anyone loses a finger–or worse!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
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Shopping While Saving Money & Time!
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Sorry for missing last week’s post! My book’s deadline is July 1st so I am racing to get it completed. Time is just flying–I cannot believe it is summer already! Nicolas is very close to walking, which is great. But it also means he is very close to running!
So on with the Top 10 Savings list…
For those of you who like to research products before you buy them, check out www.consumersearch.com. This website “reviews the reviews”. So instead of having to surf and search for other people’s opinions on different items, www.consumersearch.com does the legwork for you. They have experts for a variety of categories–from kitchen appliances to gym equipment to automotive and electronics reviews. They read the reviews, come up with a general consensus, and present their findings in a short article as well as an informative info table. Talk about saving time, money and hassles! I use this as a jumping off point so that I don’t have to look through every model of every brand–it’s a huge timesaver!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: reviews, top 10
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Saving Big on Appliance Repairs
Monday, June 9th, 2008
Hello! For those of you on the East Coast, I hope you are surviving the heat. It’s rather hot here, even by CT standards!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: appliances, top 10
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Truly free downloads
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Hi everyone!
Sorry for not posting last week. Last Monday we returned from visiting family in France and it has taken me a week to get caught up and get my house back together again! In addition, with knee surgery tomorrow, it has been Super Turbo around our household!
So back to the Top 10 list…
As far as software is concerned, I absolutely love www.download.com. This site belongs to CNET, which also does computer hardware and software reviews. The beauty of www.download.com is that you can search their software database for whatever you are looking for–whether it’s anything from money management to wine cataloging to you name it. Downloads receive reviews from both the editors as well as the public so you have both sides of the story.
Some of the software is trial period, some is outright free, and all are spyware tested. Why is spyware tested important? Because a lot of “free” programs are subsidized by placing spyware in the program so that your shopping habits and/or personal info can be sold to other companies. Not cool. With www.download.com, you know exactly what you are (or aren’t) getting.
So the next time you are looking for a software program and don’t have the time to scour the Internet or run to Best Buy, try www.download.com and enjoy the time and money saved!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: software, top 10
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Managing your home improvements
Monday, May 19th, 2008
One of the bigger challenges I have found in doing home improvements is when we’ve had to call in professionals to sort something out. If we hadn’t had the problem before or didn’t like the last electrician or plumber or whatever, we were starting from square one.
And so went the process of calling a bunch of companies from the phone book, getting one call back (or two, if we were particularly lucky!) and hiring them because we had no choice. Sometimes we’d get a referral from a friend or another trusted professional. Sometimes this worked, but usually the referral never called back or did shoddy work and then we felt bad about telling the referrer.
Enter www.servicemagic.com. It is a referral service for all sorts of home improvement contractors, from handymen to roofers, plumbers, you name it. You log on to the site and you tell them what service you are looking for, how large the project, and how soon you want it completed. You enter your contact info, and boom! you are given the names and info of 3 professionals in your area. And guess what? These people actually call you! They actually come out for estimates! And they are actually nice! And the whole process is free!
The way it works is this: the contractor pay to be a part of the service as well as for each referral they receive (unlike with Angie’s List where you pay for membership). So that is a good incentive for them to contact you. You have no obligation to use their services, but since they are paying for the referral, you want to use www.servicemagic.com if you are seriously considering a repair or upgrade, not just to price a “someday” project.
www.servicemagic.com has a price estimator for those “someday” projects that is quite specific and based on zip code, which is great as the cost of labor and materials can vary widely across the U.S.
We have found some great home improvement people for around our house through www.servicemagic.com and hopefully you will too!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: home improvement, top 10
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Saving and printing
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Belated happy Mother’s Day! Hopefully everyone had a good day!
Now, onto another Top 10 website…
Many moms today have (or are trying to start) home businesses. This requires some start up cash and advertising as well as a business plan!
So how do you get the word out there about your business? Well, business cards are a great start! Then you have coordinating stationery, calendars, magnets, etc. But this stuff gets very expensive very fast and if you want to design your own logo, well, forget it–that’s out of our league, right?
Wrong. Head over to www.vistaprint.com. Here you can print pretty much anything you want (from stationery to folders to pens to T-shirts) at great prices. And you get their stuff fast even if you order their standard shipping service. And the quality is very good–you wouldn’t know you were getting your items from a discount online printing service.
They have a huge selection of templates…or you can create your own. It’s easy to edit since you do it yourself–which I find is much simpler than going back and forth with a printing company to correct problems. And if you want a custom logo, they will work with you on that as well! You can even upload photos pretty easily. They also do rubber stamps, invites, holiday cards, you name it.
The only downside is that when you check out they offer you tons of different add-on items, but it is simple to say “no thanks”.
The best part of all…access them through www.ebates.com (discussed in the previous post) and you will not only get special coupon savings, you will also receive 10% cash back on your purchases! How’s that for a good deal?
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: printing, top 10
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absolute best & fastest way to save money online
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Happy Monday!
Finally some nice weather in Connecticut–enough for the weeds to really start growing again!
Each of the next 9 weeks, I am going to be posting my absolute favorite ways of saving money online. Since I have already introduced you to one of my top 10 in an earlier post (www.beautypedia.com), we only have 9 left!
For those of you who shop online regularly (and not so regularly), here’s my absolute, hands down, favorite and easiest way to save money online.
Who’s heard of Ebates? If you haven’t, zip over to www.ebates.com ASAP! Sign up and they give you a bonus of $5 or $10, depending on how you choose to receive it. That’s not the best part, though, but it is not a bad start.
Here’s how it works: all you do is search for a website on www.ebates.com. Each site that they work with automatically gives a percentage of cash back. All you have to do is access the website through Ebates. That’s it! Ebates also has coupons for these websites, so you can save even more! Then, at the end of each quarter, Ebates sends you a check!
And Ebates has TONS of websites that they work with–everything from airline and travel websites to contact lenses and pet food.
Example: www.vistaprint.com. GREAT for small businesses, personalized stationery, calendars, you name it–for great prices. If you access through www.ebates.com, you will save an ADDITIONAL 10% plus whatever discounts they are offering. Awesome!
What do you do if you have gone to a website, put everything in your cart, and are about to check out? Open www.ebates.com in another window and see if site is affiliated with them. If they are, click through Ebates.com and go back to the sitewhere you were doing your shopping–now with extra savings coming your way!
An easy thing that I have done is to stick a Post-It on my computer with a big “Did you use Ebates?” message. This way, I never leave my extra savings behind.
If you want to be nice, tell them you heard about it from ktdelfau@yahoo.com…
Happy virtual shopping!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: online, saving money, top 10
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Buying and applying makeup: 2 different animals
Monday, April 28th, 2008
So, as I was getting at in my last post, makeup buying is a funny thing. There is that moment, whether in the department store or drugstore or wherever you buy makeup–the potential new addition to your arsenal. It looks great on the packaging, on the ad, in the container. Then as you pay, a certain amount of hope courses through your veins. This will be the one that transforms me to that babe in the Lancome ads, maybe even with no Photoshop necessary.
If it is a lipstick, the packaging comes off in the car and on it goes. Sometimes, it’s truly a hit–and we vow to buy that shade until they stop making it (which, unfortunately in many cases, will be in about 6 months–damned makeup companies!). Same with mascara.
If it is something like a foundation, powder, or eyeshadow, we must restrain ourselves and wait until we get home to rip it out of the packaging. If it was purchased at a department store, we maybe even had a “color test” on our cheek or one eye (why don’t they ever do both?) and now can’t wait to try the whole face.
On those rare occasions, the full face application is a success. We may not look like the Lancome chick, but we are not looking like the before shots in the beauty ads, so that’s okay.
Many times though, it doesn’t work out. And you are left standing there with a problem. A foundation that is too dark and turns you into one of those spray-on tan Oompa Loompa girls. Or too light and funeral-home worthy. Or the powder makes you realize you haven’t waxed your mustache in a really long time. Or the eyeshadow is so dark it looks like you applied your mascara to your eyelid by accident.
Now what are you supposed to do with this unfit makeup item? Try to make it work? Toss it in the back of the closet with all of the other misfits? Can’t throw it in the garbage–it’s hardly used and the guilt makes us reach in and dig it out.
Better solution: return it.
Huh? But it’s been used! It’s makeup! Doesn’t matter. Return it. Take it back to the store where you bought it and tell them the truth. It didn’t match, it didn’t do what it promised, whatever the reason.
Yes, with the exception of Target, the store will take it back. I have tried this in department stores and drugstores alike, and can vouch that it works.
Here are the rules:
1. Keep the receipt and original packaging. Make sure this includes the product barcode. You may be able to squeak by without a receipt, but best to have it.
2. If returning to a drugstore, tell the cashier exactly what happened. My usual problem is: “It made me look ready for the morgue.” A woman cashier will usually empathise and a man, well, he doesn’t want to get between women and a makeup problem.
3. If returning to the department store, do the same. Most of the department store makeup lines are really quite understanding and will refund your money with no questions asked. And don’t feel embarrassed–it happens all the time. Just don’t end up walking away from the counter with twice as much stuff as you just returned.
4. Drugstore: don’t buy 3 of the same color and try to return all at once. Sometimes they will take them, but you might get yourself blacklisted (been there, done that at Walmart). Instead, see if the makeup line sells mini-tester shade packets, usually with 3-5 colors in them. This will help immensely.
If you have a really hard time finding the right foundation color, save yourself the headache and go to the department stores. Pretty much everything else you can get in the drugstore, but if foundation is a constant problem for you, it saves more time and money (and gas money!) to get it over with at the department store. Besides, unless you are spackling your face with the stuff, it will last awhile.
And if you aren’t even sure where to start, seriously check out www.beautypedia.com. I really don’t mean to sound redundant, and no, I don’t get a cut of the profits. Paula’s listings are so helpful. For those of you intimidated by the makeup people at the department stores, it is a real equalizer.
Anyone have a favorite foundation that they just can’t live without? Mine is Prescriptives Flawless Finish in Ecru. But at $40 a bottle, I use it carefully.
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: beauty, makeup, returns
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Makeup tips for real women
Monday, April 21st, 2008
Do you ever get that feeling that you have “outgrown” your make-up? It’s sort of like outgrowing your pants. You realize the look that worked in your 20s all of a sudden seems to not work anymore when you hit your 30s. Or when you become a mom and stop getting any sleep.
I look at photos from when my son was born back in September to what I look like now…and it seems like the 7 months of lousy sleep has put 5 years on my face. The bags under my eyes have bags large enough to be charged an extra $25 if they were going to fly US Air anytime soon. And the cover-up that used to hide the circles isn’t enough anymore.
But what’s a mom to do without a lot of time or cash in the budget for beauty products? When it seems like all of the info on beauty products out there promises to get rid of wrinkles and “aging signs” that don’t go away…and all of the women advertising this stuff are either 25, 25 and airbrushed, or 35, botoxed and airbrushed. Or had really great lighting. (Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could walk around with people carrying studio lighting for us all day so we could all look dewy and stunning?)
For a long time, I have been following the work of Paula Begoun. She is a former make-up artist turned consumer advocate and publisher of Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me (currently in its 8th edition), a book that puts in real people-speak exactly what the cosmetics companies are selling and if it works or not. However, the book is huge, so going to the website and accessing all of her reviews there (www.beautypedia.com) is worth the $25/year subscription. You can search just about any cosmetics and skincare line available in the US as a whole or product-by-product! And to save you time and money, she has her list of Paula’s Picks, so you don’t have to try to figure out what is good and what isn’t. She even has a free cosmetics dictionary for nerds like me who like to look up exactly what is in my face cream.
And guess what–you’ll find that there are plenty of products at the drugstore that are good to even better than what the department stores carry. For a lot less. (What a relief for those of us who like paying 99 cents for a lipstick!) So it was back to consult Paula again, to find out what to do with this ol’ face of mine. More on that next week.
But in the meantime…have you found any drug store products that have worked better than the department stores?
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: advertising, beauty, make-up, skin care
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So you’re organized. But a couple of coupons slipped by.
Friday, April 11th, 2008
Alright, I promise this will be the last coupon installment for a little while and we’ll move on to bigger and better savings.
However, before we leave this topic, I want to bring to your attention something that I find to be a good cause that won’t take much of your time.
Coupons and good causes? What do they have to do with each other?
So you’ve reorganized your coupons and now you have peace of mind (as if! with kids and pets running around the house!). But alas, there are still some that end up expiring or you ended up not needing them.
Before you throw them in the garbage, consider sending them to military families overseas.
Huh? Check out www.ocpnet.org. It is a group that has organized a way to send coupons (both expired and non-expired) to families overseas to use in their PXs and commissaries. Manufacturers will honor their coupons up to 6 months after the expiration date if used on our military bases.
It is really easy to do–just send any unused or unneeded coupons with normal, domestic postage to one of the bases on OCP’s list. Send them “OFFICIAL MAIL” so your envelope doesn’t have to be addressed to a specific person. And don’t forget the customs form.
This is a great project for kids, church groups, Boy/Girl Scouts organizations, or anyone wanting to make a difference who doesn’t have a lot of extra money to give. It’s also a little way of saying thanks to those who sacrifice so much for the rest of us.
In other news, tax season is almost over-yay! As much as I enjoy preparing and reviewing returns, it’s time for it to be over. I think this comes from the “saver” side–if I can find a way (legally!) to save you money on your taxes, I will do it. It takes some thinking outside the box, but it is worth it.
Have a great weekend!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
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