4 Steps to the Lowest Price on All Online Purchases

March 4th, 2010 Mike
Save Money While Shopping Online

I would say that a majority of the purchases I make (outside of groceries) are made online. Why? Because I am almost always able to find what I’m looking for cheaper than any store offers it. I’m going to show you how. It’s a pretty simple strategy, but one I can almost guarantee you’re not using right now.

This strategy will save you a great deal of money for years to come! After you give it a read, try following the steps before you make your next purchase. Then share a comment about how much it saved you!

1. Do some price comparison.

  • I hope that it is common sense that you should shop around for the lowest price before you buy something. I suggest you use sites like Bing Shopping or Google Product Search. Both sites do a good job of gathering the prices for pretty much anything you might be buying. They even throw in reviews and information about the product to keep you informed!

2. Find and use coupons.

  • I’ve already written about some places you can find coupons online here and here. You should spend a good amount of time checking these sites to see if you can find a coupon for the site you’re shopping at. Many times, you can also find coupons just by doing a simple search in a search engine. You may also find coupons being sold on eBay which you can purchase, but this obviously will cost you some money.

3. Utilize “cashback” websites.

  • Not familiar with these? Take a look at my post about cashback websites first. Basically, these sites will help you to save an extra 2-8% on your purchase. In exchange, those sites get a cut of your purchase as well. Everybody wins!

4. Utilize your credit card’s reward program.

  • In general, I’d say that most college students probably shouldn’t be using credit cards. That is only because they’re usually not used responsibly. For those of you that use a credit card, you more than likely get a certain percentage back on most purchases. Use that credit card and this will help save you maybe an extra 1-2% off the total purchase.

If you follow those four steps, I can almost guarantee you are going to make your purchase for the lowest price possible at that time. This does ignore the possibility of sales going on at different times throughout the year. If you’re not in a hurry to make a purchase, make sure you follow the deal sites I have mentioned before and wait for a great deal! Happy shopping!

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What’s Your Credit Report’s GPA?

November 16th, 2009 Mike
Credit Cards

So, let’s hear it! What kind of GPA does your credit report have? What?! You don’t know?! Well, do you know that what you do to your credit now will be as significant to your future finances as what you do academically will be to your career?

While certain academic mistakes can be repaired after you find your focus and intellectually buckle down, repairing financial mishaps are not that easy. In fact, certain financial mistakes made during matriculation can take up to seven years to mend. So knowing your score and what’s in your credit report should be just as urgent to you as knowing the grade of that research paper you just submitted.

One of the most common mistakes college students make is misusing credit cards. Granted, it is hard to keep your head above financial waters while in college. And ascribing to the “buy now, pay later” adage is not a very hard sell. However, credit card companies know exactly how, when, and where to dangle reward offers that makes signing on the dotted line very appealing. So you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that in 2008, the average credit card debt of undergraduates exceeded $3,000, according to USA Today. The old adage applies: “If it sounds to go to be true, it is!” It’s best that you learn that one now!

Think of it like this: would you take really difficult classes that you hate? (You know the kind of classes I’m talking about….where your best would only get you a C.) Did I mention these classes wouldn’t even count towards your degree, so the blood, sweat, and tears would only be in vain! Let me guess, the answer would be an emphatic NO!!!!! So why would you use a credit card without really needing to, and without any understanding as to how a credit card really works?

Not using a credit card may be easier said than done. In the last decade the cost of attending four-year colleges has increased close to 50%, and during recessions, lenders tighten their purse strings. Using credit cards may sometimes be the only way students can live while they aspire to be the next Oprah, Dr. Oz, or Jack Dorsey. However, your credit report is going to be with you every step of the way. A credit report is not your Facebook or Twitter page; you cannot just sanitize its contents whenever you want.

Your credit report includes your personal information, financial history, employment history, notes from previous creditors and so much more. It contains so much information because it provides insight into your creditworthiness and your integrity. It would be in your financial interest to keep the GPA of your credit report on the Dean’s List.

It may be cliché, but knowledge is definitely power—especially—when it comes to your credit.

Carrie Davis is the lead columnist for SpendOnLife.com, an online resource dedicated to ensuring readers have the latest and most thorough information on credit scores, debt, and identity theft. She has a passion for educating others on how to achieve financial independence.

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Sustainable Living: Transportation

November 12th, 2009 Mike

How you get around and off campus can directly impact your finances, health, and the planet. Here are some ideas on how to do so while keeping some change in your pockets.

  • Walk or bike when you can. (Actually, investing in a good bike is a good idea.) I understand that those of you going to a big school where it takes 30-40 minutes to walk across campus aren’t necessarily going to embrace this idea, but think about how much better shape you’ll be in as a result! You will also not have to pay for gas money or a bus ticket. You can also walk and bike places off campus if you live in a confined-enough area (think going to get a few groceries, going to the movies or a park, etc).
  • Take the bus if it’s not feasible for you to walk or bike. Find out if it costs to ride campus or city buses for students, or if you can get a discounted fare (you probably will be able to!). See if you can get a pass for the whole year or semester, because it’ll likely be cheaper than paying as you ride (if you are going to ride the bus a lot). Many buses will also take you places off campus. On another note, more and more buses are using either gas/biofuel mixes or going completely to biofuels, so you are also doing the planet a favor (versus driving).
  • Carpool if you really have to have a car. Find some other friends who also need to go where you are going and have everyone chip in a few cents for gas. It will cost less for everyone involved and be much better for the environment.

There are also several things you can do to improve the accessibility on your campus, like finding out where bike paths are (and if there aren’t any, maybe you could start up a project with the city to get some! that would certainly look good on a resume!), or finding out about bus schedules and where the buses go, along with fares and discounts.

Do you have any other ideas for ways to get around campus and town without spending too much (or any) money?”

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

Thanks for reading! If you found this post to be useful please tell your friends and then please: Subscribe | Follow Me on Twitter | Like Me on Facebook

Sustainable Living: How Often Do You Do Laundry?

November 10th, 2009 Mike

No, really — before you turn away in disgust, hear me out. First of all, there are many items that can be worn multiple times before you have to throw them in the wash (granted, this is assuming you don’t actually get them dirty, muddy, etc). These are items like pants, sweaters, jackets, towels, and those shirts you don’t really do anything in. If you find yourself washing these types of clothes every week, rethink your laundry habits! Of course there are some items that you can’t wear again (underwear and socks), but you can also avoid having to run these items through the washing machine quite so often as well.

First, since we’re here to talk about saving money, think about how much money you’re using on laundry. Let’s say you do laundry each week. If you have two loads of laundry to wash at $1.50/machine (that’s the price here, anyway), that’s $3 a week to wash your clothes. To dry, you’ve got another two loads at 25 cents for half an hour each, but the dryers don’t really get anything dry unless you go for an hour. That’s another dollar total for drying. $4 a week on laundry adds up to between $16-20/month on laundry. That doesn’t really sound like much, but for a whole year that’s $192-240 spent on laundry! That doesn’t count in the cost of detergent, dryer sheets, fabric softener, or anything else you use in your laundry. Think… if you only did laundry every other week, your costs have already been halved, and you’re already down to less than $120 a year on laundry instead of $240. That’s a pretty big difference.

Second, from an environmental standpoint, think about the effects of doing laundry. You’ve got the water used (and maybe you use hot water, which means you’re also using the energy to heat up the water), the energy it takes to run the machine, the heat and energy needed for the dryer, the chemicals in the detergent, softener, sheets, and whatever else you use, the plastic used for the detergent bottle, etc etc etc. You also have the effect of wearing out your clothes faster by washing them more frequently, which means you’ll need to buy new clothes, and that opens up a whole other can of worms.

So here are some things to think about with regard to doing laundry:

  • Don’t do it as often.  Be smart about it of course, and you’ll save money and help out the environment in a way you might not have thought about before.
  • Use cold water. Cold gets things just as clean, and you won’t waste hot water and energy (and save money doing so).
  • Hand wash things. Some things, like underwear, socks, and certain kinds of shirts are pretty easy to hand wash. You will save money by not using the machine. Plan accordingly: some items have to be hand washed anyway, so just do a big batch all at once.
  • Air dry. This isn’t feasible all the time, and I realize that clothing just doesn’t “feel the same” if it hasn’t gone through the dryer. But some things you might not notice a difference if you air dry them (perhaps towels, socks, certain shirts).
  • Think about what you’re buying. You could even make your own detergent – there are recipes all over the Internet. Think about what you’re putting in your water, on your clothes, and what eventually will end up on (and in) you and the planet. Do you really want a bunch of harsh chemicals to be there?

Do you have any other ideas or tips? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

Thanks for reading! If you found this post to be useful please tell your friends and then please: Subscribe | Follow Me on Twitter | Like Me on Facebook
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