I’ve decided to take a break from scouting out all these great savings tips … so I’m taking a vacation to ramp up for the holidays!

Keep checking the blog and Twitter in the coming months for more money saving tips in the coming weeks.

See you then, and thanks so much!

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

I can’t believe it … goodbye September, hello October! Look for some special, scary-good savings blog posts to get you ready for Halloween (and I’ll be on the lookout for candy deals!).

Ok, here go my favorite picks of the week:

1. Facebook Freebies at Nicole’s Nickels blog. Lots of free swag from iTunes, Herbal Essences, Walgreens, and the like – all you have to do is become a fan of these groups on Facebook.

2. Three chances to get a printable $5/$25 at CVS. Read Money Saving Mom’s blog here for all the links and details.

3. Crazy DVD sale at Amazon.com – lots of titles for around $5.99. Click here to browse titles. Remember, all of these DVDs are eligible for FREE shipping with a minimum $25 purchase. Thanks to The Frugal Girls! for the tip!

4. Eyemaster’s deal: Buy 1, Get 1 Free on all frames and lenses in the store, courtesy of Frugal Coupon Living.

5. Also, check out Frugal Coupon Living’s post about Redbox codes for free movie rentals. Treat yourself to a free movie tonight!

6. And it’s back – if you still have photos on your hard drive that you haven’t printed, check out Hoorray.com, which is offering 75 free prints for new customers.

And if you’re not a regular reader of Get Rich Slowly, do me a favor and check out this one blog post about financial freedom and happiness. He makes a lot of good points about walking that line between happiness today and in the future – they’re both important!

Happy weekend!

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

Summer’s coming to an end. I’m hoping to bring my electricity bill down by opening the windows in the coming weeks and retiring my air conditioner for the year. Those electricity bills from June, July, and August had me holding my breath as I opened them.

All of this anxiety over electricity got me thinking about how energy efficient my place actually was, and what I could do to improve energy efficiency around my house. After digging around a little, I found out that the answers were much more simple than I imagined:

Photo by Erica_Marshall

Compact Flourescent Lights (CFLs) – CFL’s really work – I’ve retrofitted my entire house with them. Of course, they’re more expensive than regular lightbulbs, but by using 75% less energy and lasting almost 10x longer, CFLs eventually pay for themselves. Now, the trick to using CFLs effectively is this: treat them like regular lightbulbs. That means turning them off when you leave a room, etc. If you keep them running all the time, they won’t save you any money.

Buy Energy Star products – Don’t go out and replace all of your appliances if they’re working fine. But when the fridge or the dryer or the oven go kaput, look for new models that have an Energy Star rating. By using less energy, these new appliances will have an impact on your electric bill.

Dry your clothes outdoors – Don’t let sunny days pass you by; harness the natural energy of the sun rather than paying to have your clothes dried. Hanging a clothesline outside – or even get a drying rack for indoors – will save big bucks in the long run. If you absolutely have to have that out-of-the-dryer feel, try drying some of your items, like towels and sheets, outdoors.

Unplug – Ever heard of “phantom energy loss”? When you leave a toaster, hairdryer, television, or any other appliance plugged into an outlet, it’s still sucking energy, even if you’re not using it. That’s called phantom energy loss. That energy loss can add up to a whopping $5.8 billion for consumers. So unplug everything that you’re not using – you could see a drop in your bill by about 10%. To help make unplugging a little more convenient, buy a power strip and plug your appliances into it. Turn the power strip off before you go to bed or when you’re not using that TV/hairdryer/etc.

Change your habits – Does your house really need to be kept at a steady 72 degrees? Turn the thermostat up in the summer, or down in the winter. Wear a sweater in the house, it won’t hurt anything. What about planning meals in advance? Using your oven twice a week as a opposed to five days a week can really cut into your electric bill. By changing just a few habits, you could reduce your overall bill by 10% or more!

Now, what do you do to reduce your electricity bills? Send me your tips!

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

What is it about Fridays that put me in such a good mood? On top of feeling extra-chipper today, I’ve got my top picks of cool, fun, free, and discounted stuff from the blogosphere:

1. Free admission to hundreds of museums nationwide, courtesy of Saving with Shellie. But the deal’s only good for this Saturday, 9/26 – a perfect way to get the kids out of the house and soak in some knowledge.

2. Frugal Coupon Living’s blog recently posted a deal at Walgreen’s: 30 photo prints for $3. Use code: APPLE30. Act quickly – the code expires this Saturday. Compare that deal to the 75 free prints from Hoorray.com. Details here at The Frugal Girls’ blog.

3. Eat like a king at home and save a few bucks in the process with this FREE ebook, 27 Restaurant Copycat Recipes. Thanks for the tip, Money Saving Mom!

4. Another great tip from Money Saving Mom: Take a quick (and fun) quiz about flus and flu season on the CVS website and get a $5/$25 coupon. See all the details here.

5. Remember all that hoopla a week or two ago about the secret money dangers of debit cards? Well, Bargain Babe has a great update: Chase and Bank of America are agreeing to lower their debit card fees. This is a must read!

Just for kicks, check out Get Rich Slowly’s post, 5 Ways to Rescue Your Rotten Résumé. I really enjoyed this post, and it’s got a great lesson for us all: no matter how comfortable you are at your job, no matter what a rock star employee you are, it never hurts to be prepared.

Happy weekend!

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

I’ve been cutting expenses, so I decided to cancel my home phone service and use my cell phone exclusively for everything now. I never use all my minutes anyway, so why am I paying redundant bills for a home phone AND a cell phone?

I thought I was being smart — until I saw a commercial for MagicJack last night.

Photo by pvera

The MagicJack is this little gizmo that you plug into your computer’s USB port or into a phone jack in your house. The device itself costs $39.95 plus S&H, so factor that into the cost. You can also purchase MagicJack at Best Buy, Walgreens, and other retailers.

According to the website, MagicJack features:

· Your own phone number (well, of course)

· FREE local and long distance calls

· FREE call waiting

· FREE directory assistance

· FREE voicemail

· FREE caller ID

You get all of this for just $19.99 a year. That’s right, I said per year. That beats the pants off of my previous phone service, which ran about $35 a month and didn’t include a long distance plan. The company’s tagline is “Never pay a monthly phone bill again” – and that sounds pretty good to me.

But is all of this too good to be true? Like all good things in life, there are a few downsides to the MagicJack.

The website claims that if you switch providers to MagicJack, you’ll be able to keep your current phone number for a small fee – but it doesn’t specify exactly when they’ll be able to do this. International calls are an additional fee – you have to buy minutes for international calls directly from the company. And, if you’re not comfortable using new technology, this probably isn’t for you – you’ll be required to hook the MagicJack to a computer with Internet service.

And there’s more: Some user reviews, like this one from Ripoff Report, have a few issues with MagicJack, including poor customer service (no real people to talk to), and slow refund waiting periods. There also seem to be issues with calling 911, as well as making calls where you have to enter information (like entering your SSN when you call your bank or insurance company – that feature doesn’t work well with MagicJack). If you want additional reading, the Boston Globe’s Article, MagicJack Far From Enchanting, was a helpful resource.

MagicJack won’t be the ultimate solution to everyone’s phone bill. There are obviously some issues with the product and the service, but for occasional phone users, this might be a good alternative.

I’m interested in hearing if anyone out there has used MagicJack, and how the service works for you. What are the benefits to using MagicJack over a service like Skype? Post a comment and let me know if MagicJack is a great deal or just another short-lived fad.

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

Ok kids, here we go with my top picks from the blogosphere’s best frugalistas:

1. For the Mommas’ post about guidelines for using coupons, and how to handle difficult cashiers.

2. 2 year subscription to Marie Claire for $5 on Amazon.com, courtesy of The Frugal Girls! I LOVE this magazine – think about what a great gift this would be for someone!

3. Get one free rental from a Blockbuster kiosk when you use this code: PTPX91X. Check out Frugal Coupon Living’s post for more details.

4. Go to www.gap.com or your local Gap store – their fall sale started this week, with discounts up to 40%. Great if you need to stock up on jeans or sweaters for the impending cool weather!

5. Thanks to Money Saving Mom for posting the $10 off coupon on a purchase of $10 at The Great Indoors. This is for in-store purchases only, but the offer doesn’t expire until 9/26/09.

That’s it for this week – did I miss anything? Let me know your favorite deals for this week and I’ll be sure to post them.

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

Many thanks to Get Rich Slowly, who recently blogged about this USA Today article on the mounting debt among our youth. It’s a very sad subject – and the problem is only getting worse.

Sometimes twentysomethings don’t have the option to avoid debt – as in the case of student loans. Others, though, rack up tens of thousands of dollars worth of credit card debt before they’re old enough to drink. In a consumer culture that values iPods and smartphones, exotic vacations and flat screen TVs, it’s no wonder that young people don’t know how to control their financial impulses.

Photo by me and the sysop

So I started thinking – what’s the best advice for managing simple finances that I could give our debt-laden youngest generation? I’ve come up with a list of five things that every young adult should start doing NOW to avoid a bleak financial future:

1. Cut up your credit cards. It goes without saying that using credit cards is not a solution for supplementing your income. Learn how to live without credit cards now (if you NEED a credit card for emergencies, leave it in a drawer at home so you won’t be tempted), and you’ll thank yourself later.

2. Never default on a loan. Especially not student loans – those will come back to haunt you in the future. Do your best to pay your debts every month, ON TIME! If you’re having trouble making your monthly payments on a student loan, call up your creditor and explain the situation: many will be glad to reduce payments for a certain amount of time if your situation is financially sensitive. It never hurts to try – besides, your creditor would rather get paid a little than have to go after you with a bill collector.

3. Start a budget and stick to it. Track your spending for a month and then take a step back: are you spending tons of money at Starbucks? Hundreds of dollars on video games? What are the biggest drains on your wallet? Try cutting out extraneous expenses, and then rolling some of that money into a savings account. You may have to learn how to cook, or spend a few nights watching movies at home instead of going out. Remember: cheating on your budget is only cheating yourself.

4. Start saving – any way you can. The first step is to open a savings account, if you don’t have one already. You can start by taking 10% off the top of your paycheck and rolling it into a savings account. Or, if that sounds too daunting, try just saving $1 a day for a month. The next month, increase your savings to $1.50 or $2 a day. Keep going, adding to your daily savings minimum every month.

5. Plan for the future. It’s hard to do this when you’re young, but it’s never too early to start thinking about retirement. Time is working to your advantage, so start maximizing your employer’s 401(K) benefits. If that’s not an option, start saving on your own: Read Get Rich Slowly’s blog about compound interest and young people to get you started.

There are lots of great resources for young people trying to navigate their personal finances on the web. I really liked Frugal Law Student’s Advice for Young People, as well as Finance For Youth’s blog.

So, what do you think? If you had to guide one of these financially-strapped, debt-carrying youngsters, what would be your best advice to avoid some of the mistakes you’ve made along the way? There’s an entire generation waiting to hear it.

Xo

Callie the Savings Queen

Labor Day has come and gone and our four-day week is already over! As promised, here’s my favorite money saving tips and tricks for this week:

1. Check out the 50 free prints and free shipping from Snapfish.com on Money Saving Mom’s website. The offer lasts until Sunday, September 13^th, so jump on it!

2. Save major bucks by making your own dishwasher detergent at home, courtesy of Frugal Coupon Living. All you need is some borax and baking soda – super easy!

3. Stock up your home office or get a few early Christmas gifts – Vistaprint is offering FREE return address labels, note cards, stamps, posters, magnets … the list goes on and on. All you have to do is pay for shipping. When you visit the site, just click on “Free Products” on the left hand navigation bar. All of these offers last until October 8^th.

4. Thanks to Bargain Babe for the heads up on the 90% discount at Restaurant.com. That means you can get a $25 gift certificate for $1. Of course, all of their gift certificates come with a lot of caveats, and I have yet to find a really great deal on the website – you guys let me know what you think of Restaurant.com (oh, and use code: NINETY to get the discount!).

5. Thinking of making a major purchase? Get Rich Slowly has a great post out today, a flowchart to help you decide if you really need to buy something – or if you can do without.

And ever since this NY Times article about debit cards hit the newsstands, there’s been a lot of talk about debit cards and their secret downsides – I really enjoyed Not Made of Money’s blog about protecting yourself when you use a debit card, Five Cent Nickel’s blog, The Dark Side of Debit Cards, and Bargain Babe’s analysis of how debit cards are designed to make banks money.

Summer’s almost over – enjoy it while you can. Thanks for reading, see you next week!

xo

Callie the Savings Queen

Photo by Andres Rueda

So I’m pretty proud to admit that I’ve made it this far in life with only one store credit card. The idea behind store credit cards – along with the little “apply-and-save-15%” spiel you get every time you buy something — is really just annoying to me.

Just about any retailer you can think of has their own store credit card, from Target to Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s to Banana Republic. SO, what’s the big deal behind these store credit cards? And why are they always pushing you to open one up? (I almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of BibleMoneyMatter’s experience at a Kohl’s store)

And, are they worth it? No.

Here’s why store credit cards don’t measure up to regular credit cards:

1. Low credit limits of only a few hundred dollars won’t help you build up credit.

2. Most can only be used at the store where it’s issued – in other words, you can’t use your Victoria’s Secret card when you need to make a run to the grocery store. Or if the terms do allow you to use the cards at other stores, the interest rate is usually different depending on the purchase.

3. High interest rates and high late fees. This is the biggie: a day late on your payment, and you could be looking at sky-high finance charges (20% isn’t unheard of). Add in an additional late fee of $25 or more, and that 15% in savings isn’t really saving you anything.

When you take a step back and really look at the store credit card offers, the benefits are never really that great. We’re a nation obsessed with credit – but do we really NEED a wallet full of credit cards?

How they hook you:

Discounts. Rewards. Low introductory APRs. Promises of future discounts, coupons, or membership into their “preferred” customers. Store credit cards will stop at little to suck you in. And their hardball sales tactics tempt you every time you shop.

What to consider:

The important thing to remember is that, just because you regularly shop at a store doesn’t mean their store credit card will benefit you. Don’t sign up at a store – take the application home with you and really think about some of the following things.

What’s the fine print? Be sure to read all the fine print about interest rates and late fees – do they offer better deals than you’re getting on your other credit cards? The answer is usually not.

Will the card really benefit you? Do you make purchases often enough at a single store to justify a credit card? Generally, I’ll bet that you won’t be making large purchases – is 10% off a $50 purchase really worth the potential pain and hassle of a giant late fee or inflated interest rate?

Are you responsible enough to use it? In other words, will the store credit card tempt you to overspend, or buy things you don’t really need? Are you willing to accept the penalties of the late fees and ginormous APRs? If not, then pass it up.

As I said earlier, I do have one store credit card, from Best Buy. I used it to purchase a flat screen TV earlier this year, after my old TV literally just died in the living room one evening. I thought about it and decided to take the plunge – with 0% interest for 18 months, I thought the Best Buy card was a good deal for me. The TV has already been paid off with no penalties to me, just the added leisure of paying for the TV on my own time instead of paying cash.

The Bottom Line:

Credit cards are designed to make money. They’re not designed to give you discounts on purchases or points toward a vacation in Maui. They want you to give them money, not the other way around.

So unless you’re really vigilant about paying your credit cards in full every month – and unless the rewards really are that mind-blowingly good – you’re probably better off just skipping the store card altogether and paying cash or using a regular credit card. Interested in learning more? Read BankRate’s awesome article which compares the good, the bad, and the downright dirty of three store credit cards: Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target.

As always, let me know what you think – is there a store credit card that really is worth it? Any out there that offer great rewards AND low APRs? I’m all ears!

Xo

Callie the Savings Queen

$100 Grand Prize

Kimberly W.

2010 Entertainment Book:

Photo by squarejer

Spoodles

Rebecca

Rita S.

Thanks to everyone who participated!  And congrats to the winners — I hope you enjoy the prizes!

xo

Callie the Savings Queen