Sowing Wealth

Get the Sunday paper only for the coupons

I was just reading that about 97% of main shoppers in households use coupons to save on groceries. Average savings is 7% on the grocery bill. This data comes from an industry assn that tracks coupon usage.

What I'm doing is just subscribing to the Sunday paper, which is where most of the coupons are. Unfortunately for the manufacturers I rarely use a coupon to buy a product I don't normally buy. When I do make the effort to clip coupons and remember to take them to the grocery store I definitely pay for the paper subscription fee. That makes the rest of the paper free. Not a bad deal for a few minutes work.

If I don't get around to using the coupons, then I try to read more of the paper to justify the subscription fee. Interestingly, when you start with Sunday only the paper will eventually call you and offer to give you the rest of the week almost free. They want to sell their ads for more and they can if there are more subscribers.

Of course, this whole deal comes crashing down if our local paper goes the way of others across the country that have already folded. Get subscribed now while you still can.

Get the Smart Money 2009 Tax Guide Free

Smart Money magazine, which is a good source for personal finance information is currently offering a nice freebie through their website. It's a tax guide to 2009. It's a 36-page pdf you can download and refer to throughout the year to be aware of ways to save on your taxes. Considering the price I'd say it's definitely worth a look.

It's broken out in to sections covering the stimulus bill, deductions and credits, tax traps, retirement, investments and capital gains (I wish), your home and real estate, for business owners, and filing extensions and refunds.

Remember, it's always a good time to be getting smarter about how to handle taxes. You can get the free tax guide here.

Thinking About Using Constant Contact?

If you own a small business like me, then you probably would like to start sending out a monthly newsletter as a way of staying in touch with your customers and interested prospects. Constant Contact is a great way to simplify this process. For my last business I used Microsoft Publisher to create a template, then 1ShoppingCart to send out the newsletter.

Constant Contact is easier and cheaper to do the same thing. They have 300 templates you can choose from and each one is customizable to a great extent. They also help you to make a coupon for your newsletter, create sign up boxes for your website and even have an auto-responder. These features along with detailed analytics are yours for just $15 a month. It's a very good deal considering the impact it could have on your business.

To start they'll let you try it for free for 60 days. If you're even thinking about it, go for it. If you decide to sign up, then come back to me for a referral. Why? If I refer you and you pay for an account, we both get a $30 credit. That's good for two more free months for you. That means you get your first four months of service for zilch. I think this qualifies as a no-brainer if it's right for your business.

What if you don't have a business? Then you could use their templates to create family newsletters with pics of the kids and news about what's happening with everybody that you send to friends and family once a month. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? You could even do this around a big party or vacation, then quit the trial. Or, sign up with me as your referral partner and use the tool for free for four months before every paying a dime. Keep this idea in mind around Christmas time for all of you that like to send out the Christmas letter as opposed to the generic photo card.

Staples Offers Better Deals than Office Depot

Since I own a small business I do buy office supplies every few months. I'm signed up to receive mail from both Office Depot and Staples. I gotta say that I find the deals from Staples to be superior to OD. Case in point the best recent offer I've received from the Depot is 21% off a $100 purchase. I thought this was actually pretty good and had started flagging items in the catalog.

A few days later I received a mailer from Staples for $25 off a $75 purchase. For starters this promo requires a smaller purchase to take advantage of it and even better it's a 33% discount versus a 21% for Office Depot. Plus I'll get free home delivery, which OD also offers to be fair.

What I also like about Staples is that they don't exclude all tech from the offer. OD does, which really bugs me. What's so bad about giving a discount on software? I mean, really. Deciding not to purchase anymore from Office Depot? That was EASY.

Stimulus Plan Could be a Big Boost to Home Buyers

I've read a few articles on the latest massive stimulus package coming down the pike. One item that's caught my eye is the proposed $15,000 credit for new home buyers that isn't just for first-timers. This could be a real boon for people in the market right now. I know of one friend who's looking. This should be the incentive he needs to make a move once this is put in to action after the Pres signs the bill on Tuesday.

Of course, there will be stipulations around it and you should talk with a CPA to make sure you fully understand the program before going out and buying a home based on it. Sure does sound like a winner at this point though. If this program were to be combined with 4% interest rates, which I've heard talked about we could see some serious buying action throughout this year. Wish I could participate.

Get Serious About Saving Electricity

I get Consumer Reports every month. It's a magazine worth much more than the subscription price. This latest issue has a little sidebar about two different electricity meters. One of them is called the Kill A Watt and it costs just $23 on Amazon.

What you do with this thing is you plug an appliance into it and then plug it into the wall. It will then tell you how much electricity that appliance is using. You'll need a copy of your latest electric bill to really understand how much the appliance is costing you since the Kill A Watt doesn't know how much you pay for electricity.

With this unit you can tell what appliances in your home are the real electricity hogs and you can then replace them with more economical models. This reminds me of when I replaced my electric water heater last summer and I started saving a hundred dollars a month on my electric bill. I can easily see this device paying for itself many times over as you find new ways to lower your consumption all around your home. I'll be getting one real soon. The first thing I"ll check is how much the space heaters in my house cost to operate.

The Kill A Watt is today's solution. Tomorrow's is the Greenbox web based solution. I just read about this Bay Area company in Forbes magazine. They are coming out with a new product that will measure your power consumption all around your home, and then display the information on your computer. This will enable you to get a much more holistic view of your consumption than the Kill A Watt device can provide. Having this kind of informaiton would really be terrific. I can't wait to get this. I've added myself to their mailing list to find out when it's available. 

Beware of the Stimulus Scam

Heard on the radio today about a new scam that's going around. Let's just call it the stimulus scam. Here's what's happening: people are getting e-mails from the IRS telling them they are eligible to receive a stimulus check. To claim it they need to click on a link and provide their Social Security number.

You can imagine what happens next, their identity is stolen. This is so unfortunate because there are a lot of people who don't understand how the stimulus package will be executed. In fact, they don't seem to know that it hasn't even been approved yet. Otherwise, the scam could never work.

From what I understand it is working. Please don't fall for such a scam. You should be very careful to never heed any e-mail that asks you for personal information that you will provide by following a link in the message. That is a huge red flag.

If you get such an e-mail you should always contact the company by telephone and ask about it. Or, log into your account to see if the same message is waiting for you within your account. Chances are very good there will be no such message. Neither the government, nor financial institutions send out messages like this.

Save with Amazon's Subscribe and Save Program

I like extra soft toothbrushes. Once you've used an extra soft brush you'll never go back to even soft. They're much gentler on your teeth and gums. I used to get them from my dentist until she disappeared on me. Unfortunately I can't find them in any of the stores I frequent.

My wife has told me on more than one occasion to look at amazon.com first to be sure they don't have what I'm looking for. Especially because I have an Amazon Prime subscription, which gives me free 2-day shipping on anything they stock for one low annual price (think it's $89 now).I saved a ton on one of my daughter's Christmas presents purchasing it from amazon. It really pays off on heavy items. So, I went and looked for a toothbrush on amazon's site. Sure enough they had one.

Alas the one I found is not sold by amazon, which means I can't use the Prime plan. Drat the luck. No worries, here's what you do in this case. You start digging around the listings on the page beneath the item to look for other related items. Oftentimes amazon does carry a version but it may not be the first one to come up in your search. I managed to find one that looks really good. I have to buy 6 of them, but that's OK. It's not like I want to go buy one every month.

But wait, it gets better. They have this Subscribe and Save program that lets you agree to purchase the item every so often on a subscription basis. Do that and you'll get an additional 15% off on each purchase including the one you make today. This is the perfect item for such a subscription. I will never stop buying toothbrushes. If I don't like them, then I can cancel the subscription without issue. I think you still get your first purchase at 15% off, which means you're actually paid to try the program.

So now I'm getting high quality extra soft toothbrushes delivered right to my door for less than $3 per; and in six months I'll get some more. I love amazon.com. By the way if you want to support my blog, please purchase items from amazon through the search box on this page. This is why didn't hotlink the amazon mentions in this post.

Credit Card Companies are Changing the Rules

I received a letter from Citibank on Saturday just after I heard on a radio show that they and some other companies are sending out such missives to clients. Lo and behold, I got one. It seems they're upping the rates and fees on my account with them. Now I pay off my balance with them each and every month so I'm not too concerned, but it is a warning to us all that times change.

If you get such a letter and you are carrying a balance, then you're not as ambivalent as I am. I understand since there's money on the line. Here's how you can handle this. If you have a balance and the issuer wants to raise your rate to a level that will hurt you, then you have the right to opt out of the new terms and conditions. What does that mean? It means you don't have to play ball with them. They can't force you to accept the new terms.

But, what they can do is cancel your account as soon as your current term expires. That's specified by whatever the expiration date is on your card. If it expires in a month or two, you're toast. If it expires in a year, you're golden.

If you're on the toast side you can try to move the balance to another card at another bank, but chances are you'll pay a 4% transfer fee (used to be 3%) and your rate might not be all that good, but if it's less at all, then you might make out for a while. Until that bank changes their terms. Look at Discover for favorable terms on a balance transfer.

If you're on the golden side, you can opt out and decide what's your best move as your card nears expiration, or do nothing like me. One thing you should do for sure is avoid carrying a balance if at all possible. You are totally a sitting duck if you're carrying a big balance on the bank's books.

Could Banks Be Nationalized?

I listen to the weekly public radio show called Marketplace Money through Audible.com on a semi-regular basis. On last week's show there was a story on the recent reversal of fortune with some of the banking giants. Both Citi and Bank of America were down over 50% since January 1, 2009. I actually didn't even know that BofA was down to the $5.00 level. What a shock to hear that.

BofA has since risen to $6.58 while Citi is now at $3.55. You might think that at these prices there's little downside risk and plenty of upside potential for the stocks. However, you might not be thinking that these banks could be nationalized. This is when a bank is taken over by the Federal Government for a period. After the bank is stabilized, then it's returned back to the private sector through a sale. The Marketplace Money story said this happened in Sweden once and it worked out well. Of course, Sweden's financial system is a little less complex than ours.

Anyway, if a bank is nationalized the depositors' money is still just as safe as it always was. They might experience changes in level of service as the government seeks to solve liquidity issues. The people that would totally lose out are the shareholders. They would lose everything in a takeover.

My point is that we don't think much about such a possibility, but anything could happen at this point and it's far from completely out of the question. Something to think about if you're thinking about picking up some Citi at $3.58.