Why is it important to have a price book?

The purpose of the price book is not just to record prices but keep track of sales cycles. Keeping track of these two things will enable you to identify when you are getting the best deal possible. This is important if you are a stockpiler to help you identify the rock bottom price when you should stockpile something. If you are not much of an stockpiler and instead shop around the sales cycle then this tool is even more valuable to you, as it will help you determine when the next sale will come around and how much you need to buy at the lowest price to get you to the next sale.

Why Should You Have Your Own Price Book?

While you can visit this blog and be sure that I am only sharing the best bargains and deals available, the truth is that you also need to do some of this work on your own. YOU need to learn to identify best sale prices and when sales occur at the stores near you. You may have stores that double coupons, so your price book and the information you glean from it will be different from that of someone who lives in an area where coupons are not doubled or where prices are higher due to higher cost of living in general. Having your own price book will also reveal to you which stores consistently offer the best prices and deals available near you.

How to Get Your Own Price Book Together

In the past I have relied on my own memory to keep track of sale prices for items I am more likely to stock up on, or just items that I feel have the most impact on my grocery budget. But here are the steps I followed to put together my own price book:

• Narrow down the list of stores you shop more often
• Make a list of the essential items you buy more often AND have the highest impact on your budget. For example if you have small children, I am sure diapers would be on your list.
• Next time you visit these stores write down the prices of these items and record them on a notebook or Excel spreadsheet.
• Here is something very important you need to do: For some items you will need to bring the price of the item down to the unit level. This is the only way you will be able to make a fair comparison among all of the stores you are tracking.
• Once you have set up your price book, you need to keep it up. By updating it often you will be able to identify sales cycles on the items you are tracking.

I have found a price book is a great tool, because it has armed me with facts and information that allow me to make better purchasing decisions. Your own price book will help you determine what is a good deal and what isn’t and as a result save you money in the long run.

Do you have a price book?  If so, what kind of items do you keep track of in it?

If you have a question you would like answered by me, you can click here to submit it.

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.

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.

If you are not a Swagbucks member you get 30 swagbucks for just signing up. I am excited about the 30 Swagbuck codes as just 45 Swagbucks get you a $5 Amazon Gift Card.  I love those! Go here to become a new member.

Looking to make some money from home?  One easy way I have found to do this is by participating in market research studies.  I was introduced to Focus Forward, a company that does this, via the blog Money Saving Methods.  If you have not checked out Money Saving Methods yet, Carrie, the owner, shares not only money saving offers but mostly money making opportunities.

Yesterday she  shared about the following studies currently available:

• Nationwide College Students Study – $50

• Nationwide Women’s Produce Study – $150

• 1 Week Health Study Journal – $350

• Nationwide Men & Women Craft Study – $50

• $125 Nationwide Study for Creative Thinkers

• $150 New York City Study on Cell Phones

If you are interested in learning more about these studies or think you may qualify for any of them check out Carrie’s posts here and here.  You will find all of the information to become a member of Focus Forward and how to sign up for these studies.

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.

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.

Great news! Pinecone Research is accepting applications. Pinecone wants to hear from you and pay you for your opinion. Pinecone Research is one of the most reputable companies I have heard about. I have actually been hearing about it for the past two years but open sign up period has always been elusive. It is great to save money but it is also a great idea to have a chance to make some money from the comfort of your own home.

I hope someone who has been working with them will share their experience in the comments section.

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.

As part of being an Elevenmom, Walmart offered us an opportunity to participate in a long term interactive test of Smartphones.  A few of the Elevenmoms already owned Smartphones and were quick to help narrow down the choices to either an iPhone or a Blackberry Storm.  From there, the decision of which one to get was mine.  As with any other big purchase decision, I turned to my husband for help researching the phone prior to purchase. Immediately he went to the Consumer’s Report website to find out more information on the phones and the cell companies that serviced those phones.  We also visited our local Walmart to check out both phones and how user friendly they were.  While there, we also learned it would be smart to call our local stores to make sure that when we were ready to purchase, the phones would be in stock.

Having decided on an iPhone, we called our three local stores to find out which one had them in stock.  Then we headed to the store.  I have to say my personal shopping experience was very straightforward and as short as it gets. A lot of this was due to the pre-buying research we had done.  We also didn’t have a phone contract to worry about since ours had expired more than a year ago, so we were “free agents” if you will.  Since we knew what we wanted, and why we wanted it, we didn’t waste any time getting a sales spiel from the sales person.  The only thing we had to decide on the spot was the cell phone plan we would get.  It did take some time to get our new cell phone contract set up on the system and complete the purchase transaction.  Throughout it all, the sales person handling it all was very helpful and knowledgeable, which was of course a great advantage.  In total, from the time we walked in to the time we left it took about 1hour and fifteen minutes.  I took some of that time to do some light grocery shopping and entertain the boys a bit.

I have had the iPhone for about three weeks now, and I have waited this long to share this with you because I wanted to give you some feedback on how it has changed my life.  First, the process of downloading applications has been slow for me.  I have relied on the other mom’s input regarding what applications have improved their life.  I have particularly found a grocery list, personal to-do list and the ‘All Recipes’ applications very helpful.

• I have mentioned before that menu planning is a struggle for me.  But the Dinner Spinner iPhone App helps me find easy, quick and proven recipes to make with the ingredients that I have on hand.
• Here’s another struggle for me, every time I go to the grocery store, I make a list and I always end up leaving it on the counter top of my kitchen.  ‘It  never  fails.’  Now, I enter the list on my phone (and I can even organize it by aisle), and the phone list is always ready for me.
• Here’s another way the iPhone has helped me: how many times have you been to the store, but can’t remember the deal that you read about?  Then you get home and pull out your bags, and then it hits you.  Well, a Smartphone with 3G access allows you to open your favorite ‘deals website’ to double check their list of deals, so you won’t forget about anything.
• If you rely a lot on Google Calendar, the CalenGoo application lets you access and modify this info from your Smartphone.  Never miss anything again.
• If you are a blogger who uses WordPress, you can also download the WordPress application to have access to your blog on the go.  This is how I was able to edit one of my posts this past Wednesday, while I was at the Milwaukee Zoo, through my iPhone.  If you use it regularly for this purpose, then it could be considered a business expense and be able to deduct it from your blogging income.  Oh! and let’s not forget to mention that you can use Twitter and Facebook.
• Finally, as a mom, you can also download applications to help you keep your kids entertained when you most need it.  How many times have you handed your cell phone to your kid while at the check out lane to keep him from ‘losing it’?  Well, now you can do that, but now, he can actually do something that will keep him entertained other than by hitting the number keys.  There are a lot of educational game applications available for different age groups that you can download for free in some cases.

So, yeah, as you can see I have become quite addicted to my iPhone, and that’s the only drawback I have found.  Unfortunately it is easy to let it become a time sucker but as with any other lifestyle technology, it is up to you to set limits and boundaries.  I also don’t want to mislead you, an iPhone is not “cheap.”  It goes for $297 each, plus a monthly extra charge of $30 on your cell phone bill for the data package.  But I like to define frugality not only in monetary terms but also in terms of value.  An item’s worth should not be defined only by it’s price but also by the value that it provides.  I think, and other Smartphone users will probably agree, that a Smartphone is worth it.  However, you do have to weigh your own personal lifestyle to see if it really is worth it for you.

For the past few days I have noticed a few other blogs mention Cashbaq in their deals. I was a little hesitant to look into this, mostly because I am already signed up with Ebates. I didn’t want to deal with another account to keep track of. However, a few bloggers on Twitter were kind and showed me how easy it is to sign up for Cashbaq and why I should do it.

Signing up for Cashbaq only requires a name and email account. That was a plus to me at the time since the computer I was using didn’t have Roboform on it yet. I went back later to my account to add my payment information. This was another plus for Cashbaq. I can get paid via Paypal, which is much easier and should be faster than getting a check in the mail. Another great thing about using Cashbaq is that you can get your rebates back monthly. That is if you accumulate more than $10 in cash back in any given month. In contrast, Ebates pays once a quarter, after you meet the minimum amount required of $5.01.

I am not giving up on Ebates. As a matter of fact it is beneficial to have both. Even though there is some overlap in the merchants both companies offer, the cash back discount for some of them may differ. For example, instead of getting 15% in your purchases at Restaurant.com through Ebates, you can get 30% back through Cashbaq. That $25 Gift Certificate is now only $1.40 through Cashbaq instead of $1.70 through Ebates.

Cashbaq is offering a $5 bonus when you sign up with them. Use my referral link and not only will you get your bonus but so will I, thank you so much!

1. Doing my own research: A lot of this is part of my own shopping around for things that I need. I am regularly on the lookout for things on sale that my home needs. Since I started this blog, I also keep an eye out for things I think my readers may need as well. Spotting your own deal has to do with knowing what’s a good sale. I am always comparison shopping and have been blessed with good memory for some things. Remembering prices and sales comes easy to me and that helps in spotting a good sale price or discount.
2. Getting a helping hand: They say it takes a village to raise a child, I say it takes a village to spot a deal. Communities like Hotcouponworld and Slickdeals make it easy on everyone to find the deals. There is a community out there of deal seekers that are not only looking for the deal but also willing to share it with others. I also regularly get emails from readers sharing their own finds with me so I can then share them with you. Thank you!
3. Networking: I subscribed to a lot of great blogs. It would be impossible for me to mention favorites because it would be a really long list. I get a lot of deals from them, after giving credit of course! I also recently joined Twitter and have been finding deals there as well. That’s how I found out the Ralph Lauren Towels deal from Meredith. It really shows you the value of networking, Meredith’s is not a deal blog but she shared about what she had done that day and in doing so let others know about this deal.

I don’t have a problem sharing with you how I find the deals that I find. I hope that visiting this blog provides you with ideas and tools so that you can find your own deals. It is my intention, though, to make your life easier by being an informational resource that saves you time. This is what’s funny about what I do: I have never had more fun doing a “job” than I do in keeping this blog. Doing this is something I really enjoy because it is something that I like doing. When I used to work as an auditor, and I loved being one, the days dragged by and I can’t say I looked forward to the next day. But as silly as it sounds, I look forward to writing the next money saving blog entry.

• “I lost the receipt/Form/UPC for this rebate.”

Solution: Implement an easy organization system. I have turned an old wipes tub into my “Rebate Box.” In it I keep letter sized envelopes, a notebook, address labels and stamps. As soon as I get a rebate form I am interested in doing I put that form inside one of the envelopes. As I compile the rest of the requirements for the rebate (usually cash register and UPC codes) I enclose them in the same envelope. When I have gathered all of the requirements then my rebate is almost ready to go out. All I need to do is address this envelope and complete the form.

• “I missed out the rebate submission deadline.” and “Yay! I got a check in the mail, but I am not sure what it was for.”

Solution: Get your rebate out as soon as you have all requirements together. This one was a big one for me. I had been dragging my feet forever to get a couple of rebates out that I missed out on the submission date. Use the notebook in your “Rebate Box” to keep track of rebate deadlines. Also used this same notebook to keep track of those rebates you sent out and reconcile this list with the checks you receive when they start coming.

• “I am overwhelmed, this rebate stuff is too much work.”

Solution: Evaluate and establish guidelines for what rebates you want to do. Rebating CAN be a lot of work if you decide to pursue every rebate out there. I recently came across a form for a rebate to get $1 off meat or chicken after purchase of salad dressings. Where after the cost of the stamp, all I would really be saving is 58 cents. I can save that so much easier by just using a coupon or implementing another easier to do money saving strategy. So establish a lower limit on the rebates you want to do. I have decided nothing less that $5.00 is worth my time anymore. UNLESS, it is for a product I actually use very often. This is the second guideline to establish, consider doing rebates for those items you actually need and will use. A few months ago there was a rebate to get $8 back when you purchased hair coloring for men. Sure after rebate I get this for free but there’s no need for this in our household.

Right now I am saving all the money I receive from rebates to fund our Holiday Gift fund. It’s great to save without feeling a budget crunch.

How many of which size diaper you stockpile will directly depend on:

1. Birth weight of the baby: This impacts whether you need to stockpile newborn diapers or you go directly to size one diapers. The average baby in the United States weighs seven and a half pounds at birth. That puts the baby in newborn sized diapers but for how long? This bring me to the second variable:
2. Growth rate of baby: How much and how fast your baby grows affect how many packs of diapers you get on each size. Breastfed babies are known for growing very fast initially. My first son was born 7 and a half pounds ant by a month old he was over 11 pounds. My second son on the other hand was born 6 and a half pounds and by a month old was barely ten pounds big. As a result he ended up using more size one diapers than my oldest child.
3. Baby’s body build: Some people believe that the way the baby’s body is built affects how the diaper fits the baby and as a result how well the diaper works. This is why you will hear some people saying that Huggies diapers fit better chunky legged babies whereas Pampers diapers fit better lean babies. I have been able to switch back and forth between brands of diapers without any impact on how well the diaper works. It has been my experience that babies begin to leak from their diapers when they are ready to move to the next size up.
4. The diaper itself: Diapers are of course not standard and you will have some diapers that are supposed to be size 3 but are smaller than the competition’s size three diaper.

With this in mind when you start building a diaper stockpile you need to know the number of diapers that come in a pack and the weight range the diaper is good for. HotCouponWorld has the most extensive diaper chart I have found yet. Their chart has diapers per pack for every brand available out there.

All of this still doesn’t answer the question of how many diapers and of which sizes. That is because the answer is a big “it depends” and the best you can do is guess what your needs may be and be prepared if you have to buy diapers to supplement your stockpile. Most likely you won’t be able to stockpile all of your diaper needs, so make sure you always have diaper coupons on hand.

Finally let me share with you what we have used in the first 8 months of my baby’s life: two newborn jumbo packs, eight size one jumbo packs, ten size two packs and three size 2/3 (only Pampers makes this size). We switched to size three diapers when my youngest was around 4 months old and I estimate we will be in it for a few more months. I think I still have another twenty jumbo packs of size three diapers. If anything this is the size you are safest stockpiling because a baby will be in it for a few months. If you would like to read about other people’s stockpiling experiences check out this thread.

• First I want to direct you to Cathy’s post on Creative Strategies for Coping with Rising Costs. In Part Two of these series she talks about how to play the drugstore game (a term she coined) and resources to help you play it right. Also check out her second blog CFO Reviews and everything she has written about her experience playing the game here.

• One of the people she recommends reading and that I also recommend you read is Crystal at MoneySavingMom. She has also written two primers on how to shop CVS and Walgreens as well. Make sure to check out her entire beginners guide that can be found on the right bar on her blog.

• A final resource that I want to share is the forums at HotCouponWorld. There are many things that I like about these forums but what stands out to me is the community itself. Here you will find thousands of people sharing helpful tips to help you save money. That is the main focus of the boards and the majority of the topics are centered on that. I also enjoy that the moderators are really good about maintaining the integrity of the website. There are many ways to use coupons and many opportunities to abuse them. Here you will find the right way to use coupons. You can also find about deals sometimes weeks in advance and you can also use their forums to trade coupons and take your savings to another level. Finally I like that you can find forums for the stores that interest you. The thing about blogs is that you usually are reading about the savings trip for that person in particular at the store that interests that person. At HCW you can choose your store and read how many other people shop at that store.

I hope this list of resources is helpful in getting you started in this journey of saving money. I really can’t believe how much my shopping habits have changed since I started using coupons and shopping Walgreens or CVS. At the beginning I was happy just to save money, then I was ecstatic to get it free, now if they are not paying me to take it from their stores it doesn’t interest me. I hope you will take a look into this way of shopping and benefit from it.

• Bush Grillin Beans .25 with $1/1 coupon.
• Cascadian Farm Purely Steam frozen veggies for $1.77/box. There are $1/1 qs out.
• Cattlemen’s original BBQ sauce $1.78 — Q for 75 cents off plus there is a MIR (a tag wrapped around the neck of the bottle) for the full purchase price of $1.78.]
• Farmland bacon $2.50. Coupon for $2/1.
• Farmland Ham Steaks $2.88. Coupon for $2/1.
• Farmland diced (also chopped) ham 1lb for $2.50, less $2/1 coupon = .50/pkg.
• Honey bunches of oats with chocolate clusters was on sale $1.98 ( if sale is over it is still only $2.28) there is an IP coupon out there for $2/1.
• Huggies Travel wipes $.98 use the $1 off Huggies bath and Body coupons
• Kashi Granola for FREE! They were $2 each and I had 2-$2 IP from the Kashi website
• Kashi Go Lean cereal for $2.00, which makes it free after $2/1 IP.
• Kens 7 oz Lite Accents Salad Dressing Spray 1.93 – 1.00 q 5/4 = .93 (My inserts had $2/1 coupon so FREE!). My inserts also have $2/1 Ken’s dressings. These sell for $2.24 per bottle at my local Walmart. So only $0.24 per bottle after coupon. Of course if you have a Pick and Save near you, you will get paid $0.25 per bottle to take it, now until 5/14.
• Kraft Bagelfulls are approx $1.89 less $1/1 coupon
• Live Active Cereal 12cents after $3.00 IP
• Luzianne 24ct Family sized tea bags (regular) for $1.53 -.60/1 mc= .93
• Malt-o-Meals with $1/1 printable makes it cheap or free
• Minute Rice Ready to Serve Rice $1.38 w/ $1/1 q from 4/27 Red Plum
• Muir organic tomatoes are $1.22 use $1/1 IP
• Ortega taco seasoning is .50 there is a coupon out there for $1/2 Ortega products
• RONZONI SMART TASTE PASTA purple box. $1.50 at my SW and there is a $1 Q expires 5/31/08.
• Silk Soy milk was 2.78 less the 2.25 IP.
• Tabasco Pepper Sauce .98 – .50 q 4/20= .48
• Vlasic pickles $1.98 $1/1 printable q
• YoPlus 4pk yogurt are $1.98- $1/1 q= .98

For the complete list check this thread. Here you will also find the document with detailed information as to where to find these coupons in your inserts. You can always check the coupon database at HCW for more information on coupons. I love to use it to see if there is a coupon out there for an item I need. It’s very useful tool.

Q= Coupon
IP= Internet Printable coupon
MIR= Mail in Rebate

When people talk about diversifying their portfolios they are usually referring to saving on a mix of stocks, bonds and cash. But they forget that it is also important to invest on a mix of taxable and non-taxable accounts. We are investing for retirement in both a 401K account and a Roth IRA. Why do we do that? Because we want to shelter some of our retirement savings from being taxed when the time of taking distributions comes around.

In Money Magazine May 08, there is an article that states that tax rates are at one of its lowest points currently. Did you know that at some point tax rates where up to 70%. I think most of us are too young, or where not paying taxes at the time to know what that was like. The fact is that tax rates are currently very low and with government funded programs such as Social Security or Medicare needing a transfusion very soon, a tax hike is not out of the question.

But we invest in a Roth IRA not only because we expect tax rates to be higher in the future but also because we think we are paying less taxes now than we will in the future. Currently we have children we can claim as dependents, a mortgage that allows us to take a tax deduction. But we expect that as the time to retire gets near we will become empty nesters and we certainly hope not to have a mortgage payment by then. With less deductions we can expect to pay more income taxes and we would like to be able to use more of our retirement income to live on not to pay taxes with. Hence the reason we are protecting some of it now by investing in a Roth IRA.

There are other good reasons to save on a Roth IRA too. A Roth IRA can serve as an emergency fund for you. Of course having an emergency fund is always best. But for times when those savings are not enough you can also tap into your Roth IRA up to the amount you have contributed without paying any penalties or having to worry about paying the money back like a 401K loan. Also, you can use it as a way to save for college. You have heard it before, you can borrow money for college but not for retirement. Say right now you think it is best to focus on saving for retirement, when the time comes for your children to start college you think you are in a position to devote some of your retirement savings to pay for it, a Roth IRA allows you to withdraw any money you have contributed without paying taxes on it.

There are few things in life that are certain, taxes being one of them. When planning for your future don’t leave them out of the equation. For us, I think it will be nice to use our retirement savings to enjoy our final years instead of seeing Uncle Sam keep a good chunk of them.

1. First, figure out how much money you need to have withheld from your paycheck every month. This step will require a bit of work but the exercise is very worth it. By now you have probably received your last pay stub. With it, plus some additional information you can estimate your 2007 tax liability using this tax estimator (first link on the left side). I think they recently redesign this calculator. The couple of things I notice are missing are deductions for 401K contributions and also for student loan interest paid. If any of those two apply to you I will deduct them directly from your gross income when using this calculator. By now it is too late to make any adjustments to your paycheck if you owe or are owed a refund but it is very useful to know where you will stand come April 15th of next year.
2. Once you have determined your estimated tax liability, adjust your paycheck to more closely match what you need to have withheld. For this I use the paycheck calculator found here. Basically what you need to do is the following: if your tax liability this year is $2600 and you estimate that next year your income won’t change drastically and your situation will remain mostly the same (i.e. you won’t be adding any dependents, or buying a house, get divorced or get married) then you can assume that your tax liability next year will be very similar to what it was this year. If you want to make sure you don’t end up owing at all then you can add $xx amount to this year’s tax liability and have that amount deducted from your paycheck. So, let’s say you decide that you would like to have $3000 deducted from your paycheck and you get paid every two weeks. You need to have $116 withheld from each paycheck for Federal Tax purposes. You need to play around with the number of federal allowances you can enter in the calculator until the amount being deducted from your paycheck is closer to what you need deducted. Once you have determined the number of allowances you should be claiming submit a new W-4 form to your payroll/HR office to make the changes.
3. You can also use this paycheck calculator to estimate what your paycheck will be if you have had significant changes to what gets deducted for employee benefits. Maybe your health insurance premium has increased, or you have decided to increase your 401K contribution. Enter any of these changes in the voluntary deduction section.

This really is a work in progress, so you might need to revisit this calculation sometime mid-year. Even then, last minute changes can ultimately influence your calculation. Every year I engage in these calculations at the end of the year. Also, during the year I calculate our tax liability every few months. Yet, I am still looking at a sizable refund for next year (adding a dependent will do that). I, however, enjoy knowing where I stand in terms of our tax liability. I rather engage in this exercise a few times during the year than be surprised once a year with how much I may end up owing the IRS. If you have any questions about how to use any of these calculators please feel free to leave a comment and I will answer promptly.

1) Before you do any more gift spending this season, sit down and figure out how much you can truly afford. I found a guideline online to spend 1.5% of your annual income ( I am not even going to go into how little sense that makes to me considering the national savings rate is negative, but whatever). However, figure out how much it makes sense for your family to afford. Consider your particular situation: if there has been a layoff in the family, income lost, additional expenses, or maybe you have a nice bonus coming to you soon. Maybe you are counting on a nice tax refund to help pay for this year’s gifts.

2) Once you have determined how much you can afford to spend, make a list of all of the gifts you need to get and how much you would like to spend. Reconcile this list with your budget and determine if you need to make any changes to your list in order to meet your budget.

3) Do not be afraid to cut back on the number of people you are gifting or the amount you are spending on some people. Some ideas are:
-Instead of giving gifts to each one of your siblings and their children consider drawing names. In my family, we only give gifts to the children, no longer to my siblings.
- Consider cashless gifts. With a newborn coming soon to my household the best gift anyone could give me is the gift of time. Offer to bring me a homemade dinner for my family, or maybe just come and visit while I get stuff done around the house. Consider doing this also with older relatives. They probably appreciate more you coming over to visit and helping with household chores or maybe doing their holiday shopping for them. Help is an often overlooked gift and it’s probably one of the most appreciated.
-Consider homemade gifts. I know a lot of people are considering this in the advent of all of those toy recalls. For more frugal gift ideas check here and here for additional information.

4) Consider cheaper shopping alternatives: Online retailers can offer significant savings this time a year. They know they are at a disadvantage with brick and mortar stores because it’s more difficult to draw you in to their website or put you in the holiday “spendy” mood. Also, another advantage of online shopping is that it can help in controlling how much you spend. You are more likely to look just for the item you are interested in, instead of wandering around retail displays and picking up additional impulse buys. Also, try shopping outlets. I personally love outlets. I do most of my clothes shopping there.

5) KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SPENDING. This is very important if you want to stay within budget. The purpose of a budget is to serve as a guideline. If you set one and don’t come back to see how you are doing against it then it’s purpose is lost. Reviewing your budget will help you make adjustments and stay on track.

I hope these ideas help you stay on budget this holiday season and make sure above all you spread love and cheer all around.

Through the years I have tried clipping coupons. I have always quit because:

1) The savings have never seemed worth it to me. I mean saving $0.25 on a bottle of Joy dish washing liquid is not going to drive me to early retirement.

2) I have also never been lucky enough to live near a store that doubles (let alone triple) coupons to make the effort more worthwhile.

3) Most of the items I found coupons for are not things we usually consumed. I don’t buy Pillsbury Grands, or Crescent Rolls on a regular basis and have no use for canned soups.
So, it just seems that clipping coupons was just not for me. However, it seems it’s time to backtrack on that perception. Over the last month I have been introduced to several resources that have shown me how to make clipping coupons work for me.

Not having a newspaper subscription and not wanting to get it because I was sure whatever coupons came with the Sunday newspaper wouldn’t work for me, had been another reason I wasn’t clipping coupons. I found two solutions to this little problem. First, I found the website Taylortown. In this website you can preview the list of coupons appearing on your Sunday newspaper as early as the Wednesday before. There are a few minor differences in the list the website posts and the actual coupons you might get. But I think those are due to regional differences and how companies decide to market their products. But the vast majority of coupons is the same. Now, I am able to decide in advance if I want to buy that Sunday’s newspaper or not because I can determine in advance if there are any coupons that would make it worthwhile for me to get it. Second, I have found that I can get my Sunday newspaper at a price cheaper than the weekend subscription. My local Dollar Tree store carries the Sunday newspapers for, you guessed it, one dollar. The cheapest price I have found so far.

The other resources I have found have to do with helping me get the most bang for my buck. Coupons can save you money, but to make sure you save the most with them, it’s best to combine them with store sales. But how do you find out about all of these sales? By reading blogs like this one.

We have also all heard of using The Grocery Game to make the most of your coupon clipping. Unfortunately I have never been lucky enough to live near a place where her list could work. Or the supermarkets around me have never been in the list of stores she tracks sales for. To use this service you also have to pay though. However, at the Couponmom you can get similar research done for you for free. You do need to register to use the services provided but afterwards you can access all of this information for free. She also doesn’t track all grocery stores out there but she does quite a few. And again, she pairs any current sales with coupons (even letting you know from which insert it came) to make sure you save the most.

Finally, I have also discovered online coupons. I try to check at least once a week the website Coupons.com.

I hope that if you don’t clip any coupons sharing how I am making it work for me this time around will make you give it another try. Who knows, maybe an extra $0.25 off a bottle of Joy dish washing liquid CAN lead me to early retirement.

This could come in handy to find cool holiday gifts on sale. Check it out!

Oh! Finally, if you scroll all the way to the last worksheet in my price book you can take a peak at my obsessive-compulsive diaper stash inventory. Gosh! sometimes I am such an accountant!

Saving is like trying to lose weight: we have the best intentions to do it but not usually the willpower. That’s why I love automatic investing. It’s like no-brainer saving. When I first introduced it to my husband he was worried that we were not going to be able to afford sending $25 to our savings account every pay period. But did he even notice that it had been already two pay periods since I had started doing it? No! And that’s one of the reasons I love using it.

• Automatic investing is convenient: The money is taken out before I even get my hands on it. So I never count it towards my budget.

• It also helps me stay consistent with my savings commitment. Because my budget has been adjusted downwards, I am not tempted to spend the money now and send in extra next time to make up for not saving this one time. But that time never comes.

• It can also help you save more. Once you have determined that you CAN live without those $25 every paycheck, then you start thinking about what you need to tweak this time in order to be able to do without another $25.

Whether it’s savings towards an emergency fund, a vacation, Christmas gifts, or retirement, automatic investing makes it easier for you to be able to reach these goals. Now, if someone could come up with a way to lose weight automatically. Then we would be set.

When I decided to finally put together a price book, I chose to track prices of things that I usually stock up on, or things that I buy often. So for example, I have meat (ground beef, turkey and chicken breast), toiletries (diapers, wipes, toilet paper), household cleaning items (paper towels, cleaning pads, laundry detergent, dish washing liquid) and other items such as soda. These were the things in my budget that I thought were worth looking into. For other grocery items that I don’t buy often like peanut butter, or ketchup, rice, I find out where I can buy it cheaper and then get it there.

I am accountant and as such I have a great affinity to using Excel, so I decided to use it to keep my price records. I have different tabs for the different products. For every item I have: Date (of sale), store name, brand, product size, price and the unit price. I have also added an additional column at the end, if for a certain product I have manufacturer’s coupons available. I have it as an add on because I may not have that coupon available every time I decide to buy so I don’t want it to bias the rest of my records. I suggest you keep track of prices for every product and every brand you will consider using or are available to you. I started recording prices of items at the stores I shop at: local grocery stores, Sam’s, Costco, Target and Walmart.

I found that with things like paper towel, or toilet papers you have to find a common denominator to make comparisons effective. Manufacturers have found ways to confuse you with the way they market their products in different outlets. For example, toilet paper is sold as: mega, jumbo, big, double and regular rolls. So you need to bring it down to how much each sheet costs to be able to make a fair comparison. I have laundry detergent down to cost per load and dish washing liquid to Oz if liquid or loads if using tabs or powdered.

I guess it might seem overwhelming at first but it really wasn’t. It took me one visit to each store with a notepad on hand and the list of the items I wanted to track. Now that I have it set up, all I need to do is look at the weekly sale circulars and see if any advertised sale beats what I have recorded in my price book. If I find a better sale, I record it because I want to identify if those sales are cyclical. So maintenance is quite easy.

I have found having a price book a great tool, because it has armed me with facts and information that has allowed me to make better purchasing decisions.