Saturday, February 20, 2010

Consignment Sales


Consignment Sales can be a great place to get good deals on retail products, like clothes, toys, baby furniture/gear and even gifts. One of my favorite consignment sales is Just Between Friends. JBF is a franchise that can be found nationally. (Click here to find a sale near you.) Most of these sales are twice a year: Spring and Fall. I save up my money and buy name brand clothes at a fraction of the cost. All of the items are hand inspected, so I know they're in good shape.

No matter what kind of consignment sale you might find, think outside of the box. I bought Birthday presents for my kids this past Spring. At their age, they don't know if their present is brand new or slightly used. I bought items that were clean and in good shape. I guarantee they'll be well used in our house and I only spent about 1/4 of the regular retail price. Sometimes you can find items that are brand new in-the -box or with tags. Hey, at this point being frugal is a sport and a necessity. I won't tell if you won't.


What great deals have you found at a consignment sale?

Swagbucks-Great Way to Earn Gift Cards!

I have read a ton about swagbucks but haven't had time until today to look into it. I finally got around to checking this out and I have to say it's pretty cool!

Swagbucks.com is a search engine that rewards you for searching the Internet. You can earn gift cards and other prizes by collecting what they call swagbucks. For example, if you get 45 points you can earn a $5 Amazon Gift or you can save up for a huge prize like an Xbox.


When I first read about this I was very skeptical and wondered how easy is it to collect swagbucks? Well just for signing up I earned 3 swagbucks! I then downloaded their toolbar and started using this to search the Internet just like I normally do and I earned another swagbuck in just a few minutes.


I love swagbucks because I can earn cash or prizes for just searching the Internet like I always do! Sign up today and check it out for yourself!

Thanks to Becentsable for this post.

Gift Giving Budget

Do you often find yourself strapped for money whenever you have an occassion that requires a gift? Believe me, we've all been there. Here are a few strategies to help you get started.

1) Just do it. Sit down and make a Gift Giving Budget. Plan ahead for all your Birthdays and Holidays. If you take a few minutes now, when those occassions arrive, you're not caught off guard. My husband and I take part of our tax refund each year and set it aside for Christmas. Now I can rest easy because we've planned ahead (and I can use that money to get great deals off season).

2) Start a Gift Giving envelope. We're big Dave Ramsey fans (Financial Peace University). He advocates an envelope system. Each pay period/month, put a set amount of money in your Gift Giving Envelope. When you get a bonus or extra money, add to your envelope. This will help you from over spending on your Gifts.

3) Start a Gift Reserve or Stockpile. When you find great deals at rock bottom prices that will make perfect gifts, and you already have the money set aside, buy it! Create a gift box or bag in a closet, under the bed, etc... for all these gifts. Then you can go "shopping" from your own stockpile while saving time, money AND gas.

4) Don't shop last minute. You'll spend more money than you had intended.

Giving is so much fun. Saving money while you're doing it is even better. Try thinking outside the box. Shop off season. Watch for sales. And most importantly, stay posted to Your Retail Helper for all the newest retail deals.

Kohl's Deal - Ballerina Barbie for $.99


This past weekend, we needed a Birthday gift for a friend. I bought this Barbie for $.99 (before tax).

The regular price was around $7.99. She was on sale for $5.99. I used a $5 Kohl's store coupon that I received for signing up for Kohl's Sales Alerts. Making my total Out Of Pocket (OOP) only $.99.

Watch Your Retail Helper for more great gift giving deals.

Mobile Coupons

Mobile Coupons are all the rage. Imagine being able to show a cashier a text message/code or an actual image of a coupon on your phone or mobile device. The cashier either uses their register to scan the coupon or enters the coupon code. Voila! You've entered the realm of paperless coupons.

Two of my favorite free apps on my iPhone are mobiQpons and Yowza! (
mobiQpons is available for other mobile devices, unfortunately, Yowza! is only available on iPhone and iTouch. Even if you don't have a mobile device that will allow mobile coupons, you can still visit mobiQpons.com and print off a hard copy of their coupons.)

As always, stay posted to Your Retail Helper for all the latest mobile coupon offers.

Good luck. What's your favorite mobile coupon app?

The Couponizer - Coupon Organizer


One of the keys to saving money using coupons, store incentives and rebates is to be organized.

One of my favorite tools is The Couponizer. Not only can you use it for your grocery coupons, but it's a great way to keep all your loose internet printable Store coupons (Old Navy, JC Penney, Kohls, Target, etc....) and Manufacturer coupons. It has customizable pouches to keep track of all your Rebates in one place and sleeves to hold all your Store Loyalty Cards. It's small enough to pop into your purse or bag, too. Click here to find out how to order The Couponizer.

What's your favorite coupon organization tool?

Earn Money for Shopping Online


ShopAtHome, Cashbaq, Mr. Rebates and Ebates are a great way to earn a little money back for your online purchases.

All you have to do is sign up. Then, when you are getting ready to place an order online, go to ShopAtHome, Cashbaq, Mr. Rebates or Ebates first and search for the website you're ordering from. They have a huge list of websites that they work with! Then just click the link to the website and place your order like normal. In a few weeks your account will be credited with cash back for a percentage of your purchase. You can typically get your money back by check or paypal. This amount is typically around 4% but they sometimes run specials and have 20% or more!

Just for signing up with ShopAtHome, Cashbaq and Ebates you get a $5 bonus!

Stay tuned to Your Retail Helper for current deals with ShopAtHome, Cashbaq, Mr. Rebates or Ebates.

Thanks to Becentsable for this post.

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