Written by Paul on December 3, 2008.
With the economy going down that means people are not spending as much on travel. This also means that there will be deals all over the place for people ready to take a trip.
The hardest hit is going to be with the cruise lines. They have experienced such growth that tons of new ships are going to be sailing. The industry is predicting a 10% increase in the number of total cabins for each of the next three years. Also the cruise lines have been great about avoiding areas that are in a recession. The problem for them right now is that the whole world is in a recession so there is nowhere that is a great place for a cruise line to take their ships.
From a consumer perspective cruise lines make most of their money by people spending money on the ship not on the cabin fees. So they are many times willing to sell the cabins at a loss just to fill up the ship. So right now you have the perfect storm of low supply, high demand, and a pricing structure that favors the consumer.
Written by Paul on December 2, 2008.
So you slept in on Black Friday and Cyber Monday passed you by without even the click of a mouse, but you are still in need of Christmas presents and a new gadget or toy for yourself. The good news is that the sales are not done. In fact Black Friday tends to set the new price range for many items.
Now this does not happen immediately. In my experience the prices go back up for about a week to two weeks. Then retailers really start to get nervous and start dropping prices. Now this year, with the economy in a slump it is highly likely that retailers will continue to throw sales at us so as to pull in as much of the money that is out there into their store.
Right after the sales I find the best place to start is Amazon.com. They sell just about everything and if you are looking for a deal for Mom or another person who is into anything dealing with your home you can check out their Amazon.com Home and Garden Sale
where you can get up to 82% off.
With the big sales behind us I will continue to keep you updated on great sales and deals I find but hope to get back to regular personal finance writing soon.
Written by Paul on November 30, 2008.
Thanksgiving is over and now we have only three and a half weeks until Christmas. I hope you have started your shopping.
Free sample of Pro-Tex hand sanitizer
Free sample of Fruit Rollups
Free sample of Glad Force Flex trash bags
Complete a quiz for a free sample of Nikwax Wool Cleaner
Free sample of Lipstock Chapstock
Free sample of Olba’s Sugar-Free Lozenges
Free sample of Teasta using code “TRYME”
Send an e-mail and get a free sample of TLC Whole Life Pet Food
Free sample of Bubble n Beads dog shampoo (first 500 each day)
Written by Paul on November 29, 2008.
Well I didn’t get my two targeted items. I only got the digital camera. In fact I was not willing to ask one of my wife’s grandparents to drive me out to Wal-Mart at 3 AM to get in line so I just purchased the item online and had it delivered to my house. It has been a great Thanksgiving weekend for family even if it hasn’t been the best for shopping. Today we are going to be traveling into Boston and checking out the Freedom trail. If we have enough time we will travel around to a few more historic sites. Checking out history is great because most of the sites are either free or charge minor fees. Plus whenever a landmark comes up in conversation you can say that you have been there.
Remember that Monday is Cyber Monday and that many of the great doorbuster deals that are available on Friday will reappear at online retailers. I Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving and that you were able to spend it with family.
Written by Paul on November 25, 2008.
So this BF will be different for me than most. I am going to be visiting my wife’s grandparents up in Boston so my list will be shorter than a normal year. Also if I cannot get anyone to go with me (we are not renting a car since we are staying with family) I may be pushed to actually sleep in this BF. Give me a sec while I wipe the tears from my eyes.
O.K. I’m doing better. So I have trimmed down my list from a normal year so that I may be able to swindle convince someone to go out to the stores with me on BF.
My main goal is to get a camcorder. The target is the JVC 30gb camcorder from Wal-Mart. Now I usually steer clear of Wal-Mart on BF because I do not like the idea of getting trampled, but they have the best deal on a 30GB camcorder so there I will head. No if I were at home I would have a choice of three Wal-Mart locations and would choose the most rural to ensure less competition, bu I may have to settle for a more urban store this year.
Since I do not think I will be getting to multiple stores this year I am going to also try and score a 10MP digital camera while at Wal-Mart. This should be easy since both items are in the same area. The key is to grab an associate first and get them to unlock both items.
If I were at home I would probably hit four stores and get a little of my Christmas shopping done but I really want my wife’s family to continue to like me and thus, will settle for one or two stores. I will however be on the hunt for Cyber Monday where I can shop from the convenience of my own home.
Written by Paul on November 22, 2008.
I am pumped to be helping Joe Sangl and the I Was Broke Now I’m Not team to launch a completely new website called Next Steps. This site is designed to help people take their next step in becoming financially free. Whether you are new to the path of financial success or just need to brush up on some of the new ways that people are winning with money, Next Steps is a great place to start.
Written by Paul on November 20, 2008.
Last year I spent a lot of time explaining Black Friday and how I prepare for it. If you are venturing out on the day after Thanksgiving then here is what you will need to know:
Black Friday Pt. 1 - ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE!!! — In this section I talk about being physically ready to take on BF. This will help you know exactly what you need to be ready for the long wait outside the store and how to attack your primary location.
Black Friday Pt. 2 - It’s All in What You Know — Here I detail all the site that can be of interest and help you get your list of items together.
Black Friday Pt. 3 - ATTACK!! — This post details how I cover multiple stores in one day. I will say a quick change to my rankings. After last year I would move all the office supply stores up to a 3.
Black Friday Pt. 4 - The Lazy Man’s Black Friday — For those who hate shopping ( like my wife) there are other options to take advantage of if you want to sleep in on the greatest shopping day of the year.
On Monday I will be discussing my personal target list for this years Black Friday, but I hope these posts help you get your BF strategy down to a science.
Written by Paul on November 17, 2008.
With a few more vendors posting their Black Friday ads I am pretty close to finishing off my strategy. I will be sharing it here over the next few days. In the mean time here are this weeks free samples.
Free sample of Purell Hand Sanitizer
Free sample of Dove Cream Oil body lotion
Free sample of Benefiber
Free Glad Storage Bag sample
Coupon for a free Zout Triple Enzyme Stain Remover
Free sample of Bertolli’s Premium Sauce in a microwaveable pouch
Free sample of Klean-To-Go personal protection packet
Free sample of Facial Wipes for completing short survey
Since giving to a soldier is always a great way to be patriotic why not send a prepaid phone card to a soldier overseas
Written by Paul on November 15, 2008.
Just in case you were wondering I am working on Black Friday strategies. This, work, and a remodeling my master suite (I am so tired of sleeping on a futon) have been consuming most of my time. By Tuesday I will be ready to reveal my master BF strategy. Ads are coming out so fast and furious it has been hard to keep up but I have targeted my “Big Buys” and am narrowing down the choices.
In the mean time it might be nice to go out to a restaurant so Check out Restaurant.com where you can normally get a $25 gift certificate for $10, but right now if you use the code “DESSERT” you can get that same $25 gift certificate for $3.
Written by Paul on November 12, 2008.
Ultra Mobile Personal Computers (UMPC) are all the rage right now, especially if you have kids. These mini laptops have everything you need in a computer but not enough power to run really high end games (games that require very fancy video cards). They are great for word processing, surfing the web, watching online videos, etc. The UMPC’s that I have tried were able to do everything I wanted for my everyday use and are so small they can fit into a medium sized woman’s purse (the purse is medium sized, not the woman). The best deal I have seen in a while for one of these great little devices is now on Amazon.com. The Asus EEE PC with a 160GB hard drive and Windows XP Home is now on sale for only $342.00 and free shipping. This is an amazing price for a UMPC with that much hard drive space and running a windows operating system. If you have not heard of Asus you should feel comfortable with that name brand because they are the premier manufacturer of motherboards in the world. They have been around for more than 20 years and any computer nerd worth his weight will have heard of them before.
Now there are other EEE PC models that are less expensive but they will either not have the large storage space or will be running a Linux operating system. If you have no experience with Linux I suggest you stay away from it until you have had a chance to use the operating system.
If you are looking for a computer that will do everything a teenager or college student needs and are trying to not break the bank the EEE PC is going to be one of the best ways to accomplish that goal.
