Rebates: Was I Supposed to Mail That In?

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Rebates are great at luring us to buy products.  But getting around to mailing them in can be another story, particularly in the busy lives that we lead.  Here are my “rebate tricks” to getting the most for my money:

• Make a rebate tracker.  Yes, Excel is used for more important things like quarterly reporting and tracking all sorts of official data, but it works just as well for household items like rebates.  I built a spreadsheet to track my own rebates which includes: date of purchase, where purchased, amount of the rebate, date submitted, amount, and if I received it.  If you want a copy of it, drop me a comment or email and I will be happy to send it to you. 

  I built my “rebate tracker” so that I could have a reference point to make sure that all of my rebates were being paid out to me.  And if there is something that seems to be taking a bit too long, I contact them.  I have saved a couple of hundred dollars this way because there have been times that my rebate was “lost” and I had to help the company “find” it.

• Use online rebate submission whenever you can.  At least with an online submission you can have a tracking number attached to your rebate as a point of reference.  It tends to be a lot easier as well, particularly with companies like Staples and Rite-Aid helping the process along with their “Easy Rebates” programs.  They aren’t stupid; they know it goes a long way in building customer loyalty if the rebate process isn’t painful.
• Skip the small rebates.  If you have a rebate that you have to mail in and will give you only 50 cents or $1 back, why bother?  The stamp will cost you 44 cents + the cost of the envelope and your time.  Your time alone is worth more than a couple of cents!

Have a great week!

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: discounts, rebates, saving money, saving online
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Yucky Bathrooms

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Bathrooms, particularly when you have kids can get kind of yucky after awhile, particularly if your kids (and/or your spouse) spend a lot of time playing outside in the dirt!  Here’s how I’ve managed to save both money and time while keeping the bathroom grime to a minimum!

• Clean while you condition your hair.  How many of us actually leave the conditioner in our hair for the recommended 3-5 minutes?  Try this instead: put in your conditioner, turn off the water and pick up your Kaboom! (an extremely effective cleaning product that won’t burn your lungs like bleach) and a scrub brush and clean while your conditioner is working its magic on your hair.  You are already in the shower anyway, so you might as well make some good use of your time!
• Replace the vinyl shower liner with nylon.  There is a reason that hotels don’t have vinyl liners–they would have to replace them too often when they get moldy.  Instead of grappling with scrubbing your vinyl liner, replace it with a nylon mildew resistant one instead.  If the nylon liner gets grimy, you can simply throw it in the wash!
• Keep a container of Clorox or Lysol wipes in the cabinet. These are great for between major cleanings–you can quickly wipe down a sink or toilet without having to drag in the whole bucket of cleaning supplies!  The same goes for one of those Magic Erasers–they work pretty well on grout and paint stains.
• Use a flushable toilet brush.  These are the kinds that have a handle that releases the flushable ”brush” part into the toilet.  They are more expensive than having a regular old toilet brush, but if you are like me and grossed out by the bacteria & water harbored in that brush holder, this is a much more sanitary solution.

Happy cleaning!

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: cleaning, home improvement
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Tired of Outlook? There is a better way

Monday, July 13th, 2009

So I was once again wrestling with Microsoft Outlook.  Tried to send the same email 5 TIMES and my system kept crashing!  The error message from Microsoft was essentially “You have an old version of Outlook, so your system is crashing.  How about going to our website to buy a new version?”

So I looked into buying a new version of Outlook.  I went to Amazon to get some honest opinions…and learned that many of the same problems I was having in Outlook 2002 had not been resolved for the 2007 version (the newest available).  So instead of plunking down $100 for a new version of the same problem, I thought, There has got to be a better way.

And there was.  Enter Mozilla Thunderbird.  Great functionality.  Easy to use.  Doesn’t crash.  And FREE, because it is Open Source software.  It was easy to import all of my folders and addresses into Mozilla from Outlook (when Outlook wasn’t busy crashing in the middle of the process). 

So if you are exasperated with Outlook, know that there is a better way.  You can download it here: http://download.cnet.com/Mozilla-Thunderbird/3000-2367_4-10213643.html?tag=mncol

Have a great week!

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: computers, open source, saving money, saving online, top 10
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Vacationing on a Shoestring

Monday, July 6th, 2009

If you have been hesitating about booking a family vacation this year due to the economic situation, you are definitely not alone.  You know you need to get away but lavish vacations are out this year and possibly for many years to come.  So now what? 

If you are traveling with your family (or extended family), try renting a property instead of staying in an expensive hotel.  If you rent a house, you will also be able to save on things like valet parking, eating out every meal, and if there is a washer/dryer, you can even go home with clean clothes! 

If you rent a house, consider splitting it with another family that you are friends with.  This could allow you to get a larger, better property for less money!  And if your children are too young for full-time school, consider vacationing after Labor Day.  The weather will still be nice and the prices will drop dramatically.

Here are a few websites to help:

1. www.vrbo.com & www.homeaway.com : Vacation rental by owner websites where people list their vacation rentals nationwide.  You can look at the properties, dates available, etc.  You can also try Googling “Rental properties + (destination)” and often you will receive a listing of real estate agents that handle rentals in that area.

2. www.homeexchange.com: If you happen to live somewhere that other people like to vacation (say, Florida, California, near a major theme park, etc.) consider swapping houses with another family who lives where you want to go.  However, even though you can browse for free, there is a fee to actually use the service. Still, for $100/year, it is a lot cheaper than a vacation rental.

3. www.travelzoo.com: When in doubt, try Travelzoo.  It is not a home rental site, but their travel deals are excellent, particularly if you are trying to plan something at the last minute.

Enjoy!

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: kids, top 10, travel
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