The hype is already building up for that infamous “day after Thanksgiving” (Thanksgiving in the US falls on the 4th Thursday of November) early morning shopping spree to hit the stores for sales and bargains and to start the stashing of purchasing Christmas gifts.  Did you know not everything is a good deal or on sale on this particular day? Perhaps you should wait…

When the television commercials are all about shopping “black Friday,” it is not hard to fall into the merchants trap thinking that nearly all items for your shopping list will be at their lowest price.  However, over the years that has proven to be more of a myth than fact.  While there are some good sales out there to be scooped up, there are a few areas where shoppers should shy away from as most will be “ON SALE” the first part of December.  

Stay away from the toy department or toy store.  Black Friday is not the best time to buy toys for the holidays as they will not have a deep discount.  The real deals are left for consumers to snatch up two weeks before Christmas.  Now, if you have a specific hot item on your list and you feel it will not be left on the shelf a few weeks later, maybe it is in your best interest to buy it and take your losses to not disappoint those darling children.  Stores are waiting for your arrival, so be prepared and know your prices!

Unless you are in dire need of new Christmas decorations, keep clear of this area in the stores as well.  The closer the holiday gets the more desperate the stores are to get rid of this year’s merchandise – yes, even in this nasty economic climate.  What is left, and if the past few years are any example, there will be plenty, snag those good prices for decorative and seasonal items after Christmas when they are marked down more than 50% as the festivities have past. Once again, if you see something you cannot live without and it is on sale, what the heck?  It is your cash and your decision!

Oddly, this I find rather humorous and yet, it also goes with the territory of waiting.  If you want that cool 2012 calendar, wait until the end of January or early February and just imagine how discounted this items will be.  If you are in search of a calendar for your personal office, use a day runner or your smartphone for the appointments and functions you will be attending or needing to remember.  Wall calendars in the mainstream stores are expensive and unless you want to grab a real bargain at the 99cent store, hold off.  Print out a monthly calendar and use it in your home office or kitchen for a bit.  

Clothing is being advertising and of course there will be the newspaper coupons, the online printable coupons and the mailers which certain stores will be sending out to residents, but beware that the real heavy discounts and sale items on winter apparel appear in January.  Remember these tips are for those seeking out real bargains and discounts. Many racks will be full of sales, but again, know your merchandise and your prices before you make that rush decision!

Lastly, make sure you know each particular store policy pertaining to returns!  The return time windows range from 48 hours to forever, and some stores charge a restocking fee for returns. Knowing the policy in advance will lead to less stressful shopping.  And remember you will not be the only one standing at the doors when they open, so prepare yourself for the hoards and crowds!  Good luck…

I’ll admit that I have fallen victim to the siren call of “bargains” that I didn’t know I needed until I saw them. Sound familiar? A friend and me went to a Super Center in our area, purely to look at store prices, and do some research on my saving tactics.

That was the plan, anyway. I instantly grabbed a cart just in case I spotted some irresistible price too good to pass up. We started scouring the aisles and just looking around. Well, I’ll let you guess how the story ends! When we finished walking around, our cart was full of merchandise – even though we actually didn’t need anything when we got there. This is what Impulse buying will do every time, and the stores count on that to make their profits. I can almost guarantee every person in the world, at one time or another, has went into the store for one thing and came out with something else! It happens daily. I just got a little off track, regarding why I went into the store in the first place.

The key to shopping and saving money is discipline. Learn to master the store’s savings programs, know which prices are the best deals, devise a plan that brings home bargains, stick to your list and stay within your budget. Fall off the wagon, and you could end up like me, with a loaded-down cart!!

Halloween is over and that essentially means one thing. Black Friday isn’t too far away. Black Friday traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

However, these days more and more retailers don’t wait until Black Friday. In recent years Black Friday sales start early and continue throughout the Black Friday weekend. Black Friday regularly has electronic items at their lowest prices of the year and regular consumers are caught out purchasing more items than they should. It is therefore a prerequisite that you visit the sales knowing a few tips.

Black Friday sales are usually either leaked or posted online before the sales begin. You should therefore visit these sites to see the best deals.

bfads.net

blackfriday.info

theblackfriday.com

Visit these sites and make a list of the items that you would like to purchase. That way even before you enter the store you are prepared.

Now to the tips!

Shop online first. Some of the best deals aren’t found in store, they are found online. This coupled with the offer of free shipping means checking Black Friday deals online is a must.

 Sign up for e-mail alerts. Email alerts provide you with a greater insight into what items will be on sale and on top of this regularly result in a loyalty discount.

Always check the stores’ return policies. One of the worst things with Black Friday is purchasing a product only to realize it is a dud. Always make sure the item you purchase can be returned if it is faulty.

Check specially priced bundles/packages. Often retailers combine two or more items into a specially priced package. These deals can save you a lot of money but they may also save you no money at all. Always be sure to check the prices of the individual items in the bundle. This way you will know if the package is a rip off.

Good luck with your shopping on Black Friday 2011. And remember using these tips won’t only help you prepare for the sales; they will also save you a lot of money. 

You would have to save money from your pay checks and just hope that shirt or jeans will still be there for that price.

That situation is always a bummer but now, it shouldn’t be.

Here is the company of No More Rack. They have deals that slash prices off every store out there. The prices are so low, you wouldn’t believe that they are still making money or a profitable business.

They are, they aren’t greedy like many major corporations or companies, but just want to give the best deal out there for the their customers.

I have gotten ear rings and head phones from there for less than 10 dollars each and they are great. I have money in my pocket still after purchasing things from there.

You can get hand bags for 25 dollars and O’Neill shirts for 11 dollars. They have deals every day and you just don’t know what they will bring out next.

So click this link and sign up and be one of the lucky members that get a free 10 dollar gift card for the company. They pay you just to sign up, what a great incentive. Click this link and sign up http://www.nomorerack.com/?cr=403849

Then again, the death of a family member, usually a Parent, is also the reason for the quick sale of such items of property when that Parent lived out of State and the children want nothing more than the money derived from the sale of that abandoned property. Thieves do break into vacant homes of people who have passed away and they do take whatever they believe is valuable.

It is sad buy true that criminals make an effort to determine who it was that died and find out where those people once lived. So too, if that person lived in a nursing home, well, that person might have nothing more than a watch and some personal jewelry items.

In any event, when the sale of such property must be accomplished as soon as possible many people make some truly stupid mistakes. The worst mistake is to not know the true value of the items in question. The next mistake that many people make is to simply give away such items without being able to receive a tax deduction for the worth of such items. In some cases an Estate tax must be paid and the value of the property received is also subject to an inheritance tax.

It is truly a shame that even the deceased people within the Country of the United States of America are still required to pay taxes. It’s also a way for our Government to simply take a portion of the Estate that should rightfully go to a relative.

Be that as it may, attorney’s fees might have to be paid in advance, should the property of the deceased person end up being disputed in Probate Court. The end result could take many years and cost more than the value of the Estate.

So, those who desire quick cash from the assets of a deceased relative should make every attempt to have those assets willed to a survivor or, in the case of Real Property, share ownership of such property so that a quick claim deed will then allow you to assume sole ownership of that property without court interference. Then again, you might have to pay a huge Real Estate tax bill assessed on that property and that’s another reason to raise cash in a big hurry.

It is sad but true that within some States of our Country people can pay those Real Estate taxes and put liens on the property in question and then take legal ownership of that property just for paying the back taxes. They can also add their own additional cost that a relative must pay, in order to retain ownership of said property.

So, Dear Reader, if you need some money in a big hurry, know the value of what you’re selling and receive cash for each item in question, even if you choose to sell that item far below its true worth. The next mistake that some people make is to take personal checks, rather than cash for those sold items. As a matter of fact, fake certified checks are used by some criminals to purchase such items from otherwise distressed people. Call the bank that issued the check, in order to determine if it was requested by the person who is buying your property.

Another mistake that people make is to spend more money promoting the sale of their property than the property in question is truly worth. Newspaper ads for yard sales and/or the items in question could cost as much as those items are truly worth  You also have to invest your own time to sell those items.

I rented a booth within a flea market to sell some of my unwanted items. That too can be a waste of time if you don’t at least sell enough to cover the cost of the rental.

In regard to being safe as you sell that property, a stranger can do anything, including simply rob you, by taking small but expensive items at your yard sale. You must watch those people and be careful not to allow that to happen but still be friendly. Keep the valuable stuff close at hand so that a stranger can’t simply grab a put the item in a pocket or bag and walk away.

People also like to make their own offers for such property. Don’t take less than 70 percent of the asking price for whatever you sell. It’s more than likely that you under priced the item, causing you not to receive a reasonable price to begin with.

More often than not, your lack of knowledge, as a result of your need for cash in a big hurry, might be the reason why you fell short of your goal. That being, being able to pay for your living expenses when you most needed that extra cash. Wise up and don’t allow yourself to be played for a sucker because you fell on hard times. Your loss is another person’s gain. Good luck and happy selling.

If the supply is perceived as limited, people go crazy to buy! (Wikipedia image)

Retailers love the holidays. The National Retail Federation (NRF) of the U.S. says holiday purchases can comprise up to 40 percent of a retailer’s yearly sales. With this spike in consumer sales at the end of the year, it’s no wonder that some stores rely on the year-end rush to turn a good profit before the cycle begins again in the next year.

Coming from a financial downturn, the sales figures can only go up and both retailers and wholesalers can only make the most of it through tried and tested marketing methods which turn on the consumers. Market experts and consumer psychologists say it’s the limited-time offers that excite the consumer to buy. The buyer knows for a fact that if they don’t act fast, they lose out on all the good stuff. There’s also this competitive rush that they get when they know others are out to get to their prized product.

Psychologists say that the lure of the bargain is naturally hard to resist and it’s what makes consumers less rational and more emotional. This means they act more on impulse rather than thinking first before taking an item to the counter. Marketing professor Kenneth Manning says the many cues in a retail environment can make people feel they are getting a good deal. The decision-making turns emotional [instead of logical].

The crazy shopping spree madness somehow feeds the primitive hunting and gathering tendencies of people. It’s like survival in the modern world and the retailers know that if they put all the stops and deadlines, consumers become more competitive. It’s like buyers give in to their more primitive tendencies to survive and no longer care if they step on the foot of others.

It’s clear what sellers can learn from the natural tendencies of consumers, but what can the buyer on a budget learn from all this? It’s simple. If you don’t want to spend too much on Black Friday or Christmas sales, then take a “logical Vulcan” with you to be your conscience! That should dampen your buying spirits a bit and save you money!

Kids Toy Box Blog

1. Look for special offers, but don’t trust them. Just because something is on offer doesn’t mean that it is a good deal. A store may usually sell something at 20% more than a rival, and put a 10% discount on it – so it looks like a bargain but actually it isn’t.
2. Don’t buy what everyone else is buying if you can avoid it. Sometimes you feel like you just have to get the latest must have item for kids, but the prices usually reflect the demand, so if you can avoid the ‘must have’ items you’ll probably get a better deal.
3. If you have a specific product that you know you want to buy then go online to do a price comparison search – but don’t buy straight away. It is well worth going into the mall and asking to speak to the manager in physical stores – then tell them what the online price you found was and ask if they can beat it. If they can’t then you buy online when you get home and know that you have got yourself the cheapest possible deal, but often they will because it is better for them to get a sale with a very small profit than no sale at all.
4. Use coupons! They aren’t just for groceries any more – there are loads of coupon websites where you can get cheaper prices on pretty much anything.

You may also like to take a look at this other article that I wrote about the best video games to buy for christmas

If you are a person who is into Black Friday in a big way then you are willing to put up with all of this.  You are that one person who wants to bargain hunt, look for those great deals.  Wal-Mart, Target, etc., these retail stores have such hot offers that you would be willing to sit out in line for that midnight opening.

Then you have those people who are willing to wait in line, but then again, they are not willing to put up with rude people.  You have those folks who are pushing, shoving, yelling, etc.  They just absolutely make Black Friday an extremely bad experience for us folks who are patient and going with the flow.

I am not one of those Black Friday folks.  I tend to wait til the last minute to purchase my Christmas gifts.  Plus, for the past several years, I have been giving gift cards versus buying individually.  It makes it a lot easier for me.  Plus, it gives people the opportunity to be able to buy what they really want and need.

As for the bargain part of Black Friday?  Well, you can also get great bargains right after Christmas.  These bargains are just as good as Black Friday.  So this is when I’ll hit the stores if there is that special something I’m looking for or rather for my Christmas decorations.

So if you are out there for Black Friday, even at 6:00 p.m. at night, have fun and be careful.  Hopefully, all of you have gotten some great deals, but at the same time have not emptied your wallet.  With the economy, all of us know that times are tight and tough, so spending extravagantly can be dangerous.  Of course, unless you are able to and are not affected by the economy.

In any event, happy safe shopping and a very Merry Christmas to all.

Happy Black Friday!

1) Take a hike. This is the season to enjoy nature even though there’s afoot of snow on the ground. There’s something soul soothing about walking through quiet woods, enjoying the snow covered scenery. If you can’t make it to the woods , then walk to the park in your neighborhood or just around the corner. Any kind of activity will get rid of all those holiday pounds you’ve gained.

2) Take up a winter sport. Now that there’s snow and ice on the ground you can get out the skates and skis. This is also the time to take lessons if you’re new to it. There’s also that childhood classic, sledding. Hit your nearest gold course (many will let you sled there) , grab a thermos of hot cocoa and start sledding (or tubing)

3) Go to the beach. Seriously it may be January but it’s the beach is an ideal place to relax. Bring a picnic if the temps are in the fifties and sixties. Fly a kite. Feed the gulls and pigeons. A winter beach more relaxing than a day at the spa.

4) Clean house. January is the month to start anew. Clean the house as you take down decorations. Spend your snow days scrubbing the tub or cleaning out the old year’s clutter. Donate any old magazines to area nursing homes. Give sheeting, clothes, old toys and shoes to shelters. Go through your pantry and decide what’s going to be kept what’s going to be donated and what has to be thrown out. Start the new year off with more room and less garbage.

5) Celebrate Barack Obama’s inauguration. We had a rock and roll election year 2008. celebrate the victory of this great man with your own party. January 19th falls .on a Monday. Stay home and watch it on TV. Celebrate with a bottle of champagne and a sigh of relief.

6 ) Book a vacation getaway. The worldwide economic crisis has created a big dent in winter escapes. You can find packages to the Caribbean for as low as 85 per cent off. Also gambling destinations such as Atlantic City not only offers casinos and entertainment but also major shopping along with walks along the beach. Las Vegas also offers shopping gambling and fine dining at low prices. Some European cities are also very cheap thanks to a bad economy and a low valued euro.

7) Chill out with your own at home spa weekend. You can buy products or create your own. Settle in for a lavender soak followed by a mud masque, Finish off with a mani/pedi along with a soothing cup of hot, herbal tea. Invite girlfriends over for facials and mojitos. Besides it’s a plus to get rough winter skin softened and exfoliated .

Take a class. Let 2009 be the year you learn something. Take a language class or skiing . Think about finishing up that degree you started ten years ago. Go on to the next level. Any knowledge is powerful and it may be handy for your current or next job. If you don’t; have the time look into online courses. Any university or college has them and you can attend class at two in the morning. (something that would have been cool back during our undergrad days).

9) Shop til you literally drop. Thanks to zero to little shopping over the holidays, stores are offering one of a kind bargains to clear out their overstocks. This is the time to invest in that big screen TV or buy that down coat. Take advantage of the traditional sales on sheets, towels and blankets. This is also the perfect season to stock up on shower and wedding gifts for those big events occurring in 2009.

Don’t think of January as an after holiday let down. There are plenty of activities for you to do despite the freezing weather. It’s definitely the most fun filled month of the entire year!

It is said by the media that the grocery prices should go down in about two years. Since when does this ever happen? In all of my life since I can remember going to the grocery store, prices either stay the same or rise. Therefore, I have no hope that prices will go down anytime in the future or ever. There are a couple of factors leading into why the food prices continue to go up.

One reason food prices have been rising is due to weather. There is a drought that has been going on in Australia that is drying out crops. This in particular has hurt the world exports for milk and wheat. Over the past couple of years the weather has damaged crop production in Europe, Ukraine, and parts of the United States which will lead to higher prices.

The economy in China, India, and Malaysia is doing well enough that there has been more purchases of food and a larger demand on the global food supply there. The tremendous population that they have in China and India in particular has increased on the need for more food. This has created another problem for the rising cost of food.

Since the dollar continues to lose its value it has a direct effect on the food surplus. The food goes overseas which inevitably rises prices here.

We cannot leave out the fact that the cost of gas a part in it. In order to send the food to various parts of the country it costs more money since the large trucks have to pay more for gas to get to their destination. This causes problems for companies to maintain an income without losing too much by having consumers pay a part of the cost.

Have you noticed how much bread has gone up from the past price of $1.29 to almost $4.00? There used to be a store down the street from my house that only sold bread. All of the bread was sold for only $1.00 each. They have gone out of business since they couldn’t maintain the low cost any longer. Milk has gone up to $4.00 a gallon when it used to be $2.50 and that was considered high.

The only way to not spend too much at the grocery store these days is to use coupons that can be found in newspapers either daily or weekly. Only buy the item if it is on sale unless it is like milk and will never go on sale and you can’t live without it. Despite buying milk that isn’t on sale, if most of everything else you buy is on sale or you have a coupon then this will help you not have to continue to pay the increasingly high prices.

For instance, if you see an item that you enjoy eating and you can freeze it for awhile without it spoiling then buy several of the same item when it goes on sale. Items you can live without do so. If you think about it, as we continue to decrease the food we eat and increase the amount of walking or biking we do in a day (since gas prices are so high that we would rather not drive) then imagine how much healthier we will become.