Earlier this week I was very excited to read an article in the Wall Street Journal tackling whether coupons are worth it or not.  Of course, I know I am preaching to the choir here and all of you know that of course they are worth it.

However, this article does the math for you on the hourly rate you can earn by clipping coupons.  It even goes a step beyond that by adjusting it for taxes.  This is something that I had not considered myself actually.  See, if you calculate the hourly rate you earn when you clip a coupon, in actually that rate is higher.  Because that hourly rate you just “earned” by clipping coupons is not adjusted down by social security, federal or state taxes.  Since all of you are here to find out the best deals to maximize your coupons your hourly rate may even be considered a  higher.

I have said this many times, while you may have found yourself needing to clip coupons because you had to, I hope that as your financial situation improves you won’t stop doing this.  Most of us are often wishing we could earn more money.  Consider coupon clipping that side job you wish you had to earn some extra money.  Be thankful that this is a job you can do while watching TV and in the comfort of your own home.  Personally, I think that’s a pretty awesome side job.

Doing the Match on Coupons by Brett Arends.

Holiday Shopping season is here. Retailers were eager for Halloween to be over to roll out everything holiday related. You may have read in the news that Amazon and Walmart are engaged in price wars with Target following close behind.

What does this mean to you? This means that this holiday shopping season it will be a buyers’ market. The deals are already aplenty, with Walmart even rolling out one-day sales this year. I only suspect that as Black Friday comes and goes these wars will get even fiercer.

While it is already a buyers market and deals are and will be plentiful, how do you keep yourself from getting carried away? I think we can all admit that it is easy to get carried away when bargain shopping. So how do you stop yourself from being an statistic: one in 13 million Americans still paying credit card bills from last year’s holiday shopping?

1. Create a budget of how much you can spend on this year’s holiday shopping. It is important to determine how much you can afford to spend, so you stick to this amount.
2. Make a list and stick to it. This is very important. Without a list you face the risk of overbuying for some and not buying for others. Ultimately this results in you overspending.
3. Don’t jump on a deal because it is “such a great deal.” In other words, control yourself. Even if a deal is such a “great deal” if you don’t need the item what you have just done is waste your hard earned money.

I am just like you, I love the Holidays and I love shopping for others. While this is usually a blog for saving money on everyday items I understand that right now you are probably looking for gifts for others. I want to help you get a good deal on those too. Just like last year I am going to keep an eye out for really good deals on gifts. It would be helpful for me if you gave me an idea of what kind of things you are looking for (so, leave me a comment). I know most likely you are looking for toys, so I will start highlighting some good toy deals at brick and mortar stores as well as online. I just wanted to let you know this, so you know that I am adding these type of deals for the Holiday season and it is not because this blog has changed focus permanently.

I have a very exciting offer for both new and old Swagbucks members that are readers of this blog.  I have mentioned Swagbucks a few of times here on this blog.  But for those of you who are new, this is the Skinny on Swagbucks:

Swagbucks is a search and win search engine.  You earn Swagbucks when you search the web through them.  I will be honest and admit that  I am huge Google search user.  I use it several times a day.  At first I was a bit skeptical about Swagbucks.  However, that soon changed when I found out that Swagbucks is powered by Google and Ask.com.  So far I have been satisfied with my search results and have even compared search results side by side and they are very similar.  Then I was afraid about the change, after all, typing Google.com on my browser bar was a habit for me.  But I don’t even have to worry about that anymore thanks to the search toolbar Swagbucks has for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera.  Searching and earning Swagbucks while I do that has never been so easy.

I use Swagbucks every single day!  I am accumulating any Swagbucks I earn to help buy gifts for this Holiday season and lower how much cash I spend.  I regularly use the search bar I downloaded for Firefox, the browser I regularly use, and it makes it so much easier.  Swagbucks is introducing THREE new features:

1)  BRAND NEW Swag Bucks toolbar:  the new toolbar will be released on Sept 1st and is compatible with IE, Firefox and Safari.   Members will be able to log into to their account through the new toolbar in addition to being able to track their points through the toolbar.  Additionally, in September, EVERY SINGLE DAY, we will release a special “Swag Code” through the toolbar.   The only way to get the code is by having the toolbar installed. By the end of the month, those that have installed the toolbar should be able to rack up 30 FREE SWAG BUCKS!

2) SWAGGO! -  Swaggo is Swagbucks.com answer to BINGO!   During the month of September when you order selected prizes through the Swag Store you will be sent a special SWAGGO piece.  If you collect all the pieces in a row, you will let us know and will be awarded 1000 Swag Bucks!   This is a fun promotion that will only be held from Sept 1st – Sept 31st.   We will have a complete list of prizes that will award Swaggo pieces by the end of this week.

3)  A new “Back to School” section in the Swag Store:  This section will feature everything your child may need as they get ready for the new school year.  The “Back to School” section will feature an assortment of items for elementary schoolers up to high schoolers!

If you are already a Swagbucks member, download the new toolbar right here.  I am excited about the 30 Swagbuck codes as just 45 Swagbucks get you a $5 Amazon Gift Card.  I love those!

If you are not a Swagbucks member I have an exclusive offer for you: This week and through 9/10 you can become a Swagbucks member and earn up to 5 Swagbucks right off the bat. All you need to do is use the code swagsense (case sensitive) when you register. In addition to earning 3 Swagbucks for becoming a new member you will earn an additional two Swagbucks because you used my special code.  Go here to become a new member.

Four months ago I shared with you my family’s plan to pay off in six months our new minivan.  As I spelled it out back then, I talked my husband into sending every bit of money that we could get from out budget to our newly acquired car loan and that if we did so, we should be able to pay it in 6 months.  At the time he was very skeptical.  However, as time started going on and we started making payments he started believing in this.

I am ECSTATIC to share with you that we have done it!!  Yes, the car is ours not the bank’s!  I am not going to lie we had a lot of setbacks in these past four months:

• A section of our siding was blown off: Final Cost $600
• Our water heater died.  Thankfully my husband was able to install the new one himself saving us money in the process: Final Cost $650
• Our dogs went for their yearly check up and one of them needed an added procedure: Final Cost $550
• A section of our fence needed to be replaced, hubby did the work himself of course: Final Cost $320

If we had not been prepared for those expenses, all of them would have set us back an additional $2,120.  But thankfully an emergency fund and careful planning allowed us the ability to weather these extra expenses.

As I mentioned in my initial post I am sharing this with you not because I want to gloat or show off.  I do this because I want you to see that it can be done.  YOU CAN DO IT TOO!  Maybe you have come to this blog because you need to find ways to stretch your dollars.  What I hope you will walk away with is a new skill that will allow you and your family to create room in your budget for the things that matter to you.  Sure, at times being frugal and using coupons seems time consuming, frustrating and laborious, but guess what? every new skill has a learning curve you need to go through.  Don’t give up and allow yourself some time to learn the ropes and start using them for the benefit of your family.

I am celebrating by giving back to you.  I want you to know that I am thankful for your readership. I hope every time you have read my entries you have been able to tell that I really love what I do. I am thankful I have been given the opportunity to help others live better by spending their money more wisely. Every time I write a blog entry I hope that at least one of you has saved money by taking advantage of that deal.

I am giving away TWO $25 gift cards.  The winners will get to choose what store s/he would like to use that gift card from these choices: Walmart, Kmart, Target or Walgreens.  To enter this giveaway all you need to do is tell me about you and provide feedback on this blog.   Please use the following form to leave your entry.  One entry per person please. If you are reading this blog entry in your email newsletter or blog reader and can’t see the form please click through to this website to enter.

This giveaway ends Tuesday June 23rd at 9PM CST.  U.S. residents 18 years and older only please.  I will pick two winners and contact them.  If after 48 hrs they don’t contact me back I will select another winner. Good luck!

Sorry guys, code should be fixed now and working.

Almost two months ago I shared with you how I was going to “earn money from home” by using Swagbucks.  Swagbucks is a search and win search engine.  You earn “Swagbucks” when you search the web through them.   I have been using ti dayly for the last two months and average two, but for sure one Swagbuck earned per day.  To make sure I use it everyday, I use it to search for the sites I visit everyday.  For example, I know a lot of you visit this blog via Swagbucks and thank you for that!  But the best way to accelerate your Swagbucks earnings is by participating in Swagbucks events.  For example every Friday is Mega Swagbucks day.  Last Friday, I earned 10 Swagbucks right off the bat!  It really made my night and I was excited to share that on my Facebook page. In addition you can accelerate how many Swagbucks you earn by spreading the word between friends and family and getting them to start doing the same.

I am being very diligent about using Swagbucks because I want to accumulate as many Swagbucks as possible to help fund my Holiday Gift Fund.  So far, it’s looking good and I would love to be able to trim my out of pocket expense by redeeming Swagbucks earned for Target Gift Cards or Amazon Gift certificates.

This week Swagbucks is launching a lot of new features on their website including:

• On Tuesday: Video Game Section Expansion: We will be adding 1000’s of new and used titles to the video game section of the Swag Store, and offering a special sale on many of these titles.

• On Wednesday:  Shop&Earn Favorites: This great new feature gives you the ability to choose your ‘Favorite’ stores in our Shop&Earn mall, and receive updates on new coupons that originate from these retailers.  So not only will you get SwagBucks for your purchases, you will be notified immediately when a great deals becomes available!

• On Thursday:  Swagbucks.com 2.5 Launch.  Swagbucks.com 2.5 is the next evolution of the Swag Bucks homepage. It will feature a new cleaner look, with easier navigation & quick links and a few new special element.  Swag Bucks Widget:    The widget  will feature a search box, prize images and swag code alerts.

To celebrate these new additions on the Swagbucks website, Swagbucks has provided Common Sense with Money readers who have not signed up with Swagbucks yet a special code.  In addition to earning 3 Swagbucks when you first sign up with Swagbucks, by using the code MONEYCOMMONSENSECODE (case sensitive), you will get an additional 3 Swagbucks for a total of 6 Swagbucks for signing up with the website.  This new code works for new sign ups only.  This code is available for new sign ups between now and June 16th at 11:59pm PST. If you are already signed up for Sawbucks, you can use this code to get friends to give Swagbucks a try and earn extra Swagbucks form their referrals.

If you are signing up for the first time, please check out my initial post about Swagbucks.  I explain how I have added the Swagbucks search bar to my browser to make use of this search engine easier and faster for me.  So, if you haven’t yet I highly recommend you give Swagbucks a try.  Make sure to add the search back to your browser so it becomes a habit to use it faster.

This offer is expired now.

Pinecone Research is still looking for people.  This time they are looking for males ages 18-24.  So, if you are a male in that age group or know one who would like to get paid for theit opinion, share this with them.

Last night Tara and I talked about making money from home on our radio show.  We invited as a guest Carrie founder of the website Money Saving Methods.  Carrie blogs about taking surveys, mystery shopping, taking advantage of online and bank offers to earn an income from home.  Carrie has been doing this for four years! So she is surely an expert on the subject.  If this is a topic that interests you, I highly recommend you listen to the show where we asked a ton of questions about how to get started and do it right, what are the best offers and many more.  But most importantly add her website Money Savings Methods to your bookmarks and list of sites you visit every day.  The offers she shares with her readers are offers that she has researched or from companies she has dealt with in the past.  With time you could be like her regular readers who have earned thousands of dollars, this year so far.  To listen to the show you can follow this link or hit plan on the blue Blogtalkradio player on the right side bar of this blog.

Tonight on our radio show Money4Moms, Tara and I will be continuing our series “Make Money from Home.”  Since we have heard so many great things and successful stories from other Swagbucks users we knew that should be our first stop.

Here’s the skinny on Swagbucks.  Swagbucks is a search and win search engine.  You earn “Swagbucks” when you search the web through them.  I will be honest and admit that  I am huge Google search user.  I use it several times a day.  At first I was a bit skeptical about Swagbucks.  However, that soon changed when I found out that Swagbucks is powered by Google and Ask.com.  So far I have been satisfied with my search results and have even compared search results side by side and they are very similar.  Then I was afraid about the change, after all, typing Google.com on my browser bar was a habit for me.  But I don’t even have to worry about that anymore thanks to the search toolbar Swagbucks has for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera.  Searching and earning Swagbucks while I do that has never been so easy.

Like I already mentioned, you earn “Swagbucks” when you search the web.  Swagbucks also runs free Swagbucks promotions for even more chances to earn prizes.  There are other types of prizes you can redeem by using the Swagbucks you have earned but I particularly like the $5 Amazon Gift certificate (45 Swagbucks gets you one $5 Amazon GC). It’s a great way to take advantage of Amazon deals without spending your own money.

This week and through 4/20 you can become a Swagbucks member and earn up to 5 Swagbucks right off the bat.  All you need to do is use the code MONEYCOMMONSENSE (in all caps) when you register.  In addition to earning 3 Swabucks for becoming a new member you will earn an additional two Swagbucks because you used my special code.

If you become a new member, follow my advice and make it easy for you to use it regularly.  If you use Internet explorer as your browser, download the Swagbucks toolbar so you can search through it more easily.  Your new search toolbar would look like this

If you use Firefox, add the Firefox plugin.  You can set Swagbucks as your default search engine option within the menu at the top-right of your window.  Your search bar would look like this:

I hope you tune in to our radio show this evening, Wednesday 4/15 at 9PM CSt/10PM EST.  You will hear more success stories from people have been using Swagbucks  for a while.  We have as a very special guest Andrea from MommySnacks.net.  To tune in you just need to follow this link to listen online.  If you can’t tune in live, you can also listen on demand through that link or by using the blue Blogtalkradio player on my right side bar.

At the beginning of the year, my husband and I decided that this would be the year we would replace one of our SUV cars with a minivan.  We would like to have another child and there was no way a third car seat would fit in either car.  This was a planned purchase and one we have been preparing for the last two years.

Two weeks ago my husband got us an AWESOME deal on a new Toyota Minivan. He found us a 2009 Sienna LE with 800 miles on it for $19,500. What a steal right? you won’t believe where he found it: on Ebay. Yes! we bought our new car online, without even looking at it or test driving it. In fact, the car was not even in this state, he had to fly to NY to get it and drive it back home to WI. I realize this is a fairly unconventional way to buy a car for most people. But just so you know, according to Bankrate.com, Ebay Motors is the largest used car seller/lister in the United States. This is not the first time we bought a car online either. Four years ago we bought his Jeep through Ebay as well. My husband is very diligent in doing all the research necessary and because of that we are confident in the purchases he makes. This was our biggest purchase online though, and of course we took care of everything to make sure we were protected.

Although we had enough money in savings to pay cash for it, I have such little confidence with the current economic situation that I didn’t feel comfortable draining our emergency savings fund for this, so we took on a car loan.  But we are intent in paying this off ASAP and that’s why our financial goal for 2009 is to pay off this car loan in six months and we are going to use the Snowball Debt Pay off Method to get rid of this loan.  If you haven’t heard of the Debt Snowball Method, I want to direct you to this Primer Jamie from Paid Twice wrote about it.  If you have debt and would like to pay if off quickly, this is a concept many have found useful in their debt-free quest.

Our car debt numbers break down like this

$21,500 amount of car loan
plus $600 interest cost of loan over next six months
less $4000 ->We have been saving for a family car for the last two years.
less $4400 -> from tax refunds and other money owed to us
less $4500 -> from sale of my husband’s car
= $9200 amount of loan outstanding after cash contributions

Our car payment is $410 a month.  Last week we refinanced our home loan and that freed an extra $150 from our budget that we can send to this loan.  We are also stopping cash savings for this period of time.  In total we can pay $680 a month until the car is paid off.  Six monthly payments should knock down $4080 from the amount we owe.  That leaves us with $5,120 that we have to come up from our income over the next six months to pay off the car loan.   Here’s where the concept of snowflaking is going to pay off for us.  We plan on just going on a barebones budget for the next few months, create surpluses and send any extra money we can scrape off to this loan.

This is the first time we are doing something like this.  But as I told my husband, it is not a challenge if we don’t push ourselves to the limit.  I am sharing this with you not to show off but to make myself accountable to this goal.  When I first met my husband, I remember he would tell me that a car loan is one of those things that is always part of people’s budget.  For a long time, I bought into that.  I don’t anymore, we don’t anymore.  By saving diligently and planning carefully you CAN break the cycle and get rid of your car payment.  This is what this challenge is about: to show you that it can be done.

This past week I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that discussed the comeback of layaway. I was even more interested about this topic after I watched commercials advertising the Layaway Program at Kmart. So I decided to start reading about it more to try to figure out who could benefit under this payment plan. Initially I thought there could be something positive about layaway and even came up with three arguments to make my case for it. That was until I started looking into the first argument.

At first, I thought that the cost of putting items on layaway was cheap. I found online the terms and conditions for Kmart’s layaway program. Their $5 Service Fee seems reasonable and cheap enough. But then I pulled out my calculator to determine the effective interest rate this fee posed. For example if you put on layaway a $100 value item, you are effectively paying 5% in interest to do that. Since the layaway period is 8 weeks, that 5% turns into a 32.5% APR you are paying on this purchase. That’s almost a loan shark.

In absolute terms $5 doesn’t seem like very much does it? But look how much it is. Skip layaway and start your own “Saveaway” program. Go ahead, hit the stores with your holiday shopping list and make a total of how much everything you would like to get will cost. Then divide that total by the number of weeks that are still left until the holidays. Put that money aside every week. You can either accumulate it in an envelope or head to the store and buy a gift card if you think you may be tempted to spend the money. When the holidays are almost here pull out your cash or gift cards and go shopping without any second thoughts of the interest charges you could have been paying.

Don’t be fooled by these “easy payment” programs. Once you get through the fine print you can be surprised by how much worse than even using a credit card they are.