Let's Go shopping

Hi All,

500,000 coupons for 50,000 stores.  Wow.  That sounds too good to be true.  But its not!

Check out RetailMeNot.com - click on this link to visit the site.

So what the heck is the site all about you ask? 

Simple...users can click on a link for coupon codes, product deals, printable coupons and more. 

But wait, there's more....users can click on a search box at the top right part of the site and enter the name of a retailer (Nordstrom, Sears, Sephora, Kohls, JCPenney, Best Buy etc.) or a manufacturer (Nike, Little Tykes, Step 2, OskKosh B'Gosh, Domino's, Claire's, etc.) and up pop coupons.

Users click on a 'Show Coupon Code' box to reveal the code.  Information included in the advertisement include the number of people that used the coupon today, when the coupon expires, details of the coupon. user comments and more.

Users can  choose from a variety of coupon types including coupon codes and online sales.  Further, users can choose from various discount types including BOGO (buy one get one), free shipping, free gift and % off. 

The site also has a bunch of specialty pages for Black Friday Deals, Cyber Monday Deals, Christmas Sales and Free Shipping. 

Users can click on this link to Join RetailMeNot. In addition, users can use Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter to log on to RetailMeNot.

Users can also get the RetailMeNot mobile app by clicking on this link.

Enjoy the site and the app - here's to saving money!

Regards,
Stu

Top Personal Finance Blogs

Hi All,

I don't regularly blog about finance topics - they are too complicated and rife with possible pratfalls and mistakes.  But....some time ago I came across a site called Wise Bread.  The Wise Bread FAQ describes the site 'as a community of bloggers...to help you live large on a small budget.'

Readers can subscribe to Wise Bread, become a fan on Facebook or visit the Wise Bread website.

One of the more impressive sections of the website is the 'Top Personal Finance Blogs' section. What is fairly unique about the site is that they rank personal finance blogs.  How do they do this you ask?  Excellent question. 

The ranking of the 'Top Personal Finance Blogs' is calculated sing six third party measurements that measure a blogger's influence and reach. Issues such as social media influence, link profile and traffic rank are addresed by the Wise Bread 'Wise Score'. 

That all being said, essentially the Wise Bread 'Wise Score' ranking can be thought of as 'the percentage of the Personal Finance blogosphere that a particular blog outranks'.  Click here for even more information.

So, what are the top 5 personal finance blogs according to Wise Bread?  Click on the link and you'll go to the summary page from Wise Bread for the particular personal finance blog.

1. Consumerist
2. Wise Bread (self serving - I'll go to number 6)
3. Money Saving Mom
4. The Krazy Coupon Lady
5. Get Rich Slowly
6. I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Enjoy the sites - hope they are helpful.

Stu

Coupon Websites

Hi All,

Just a quickie blog post today - but I think it might cover one of the most popular topics around currently. I'm talking about coupons and couponing.

The internet is a vast resource for this type of activity. There are dozens and dozens of websites that offer up coupons and advice on saving money.

Some issues to consider when signing up for coupon websites:
1. Try to make sure that they are legitimate. Consider sending the owners an email. If the site has a bulletin board or blog, follow it for a few days or a week to make sure the site isn't just trying to poach your email address.

2. Don't give out personal information like phone number or address. Likewise, don't include a social security number or a credit card number. That is just way too much information to give out to a coupon website.

3. You might want to consider creating a separate email account for when you sign in to the various coupon websites so that the emails are separated from your regular email.

Now, on to the coupon sites.

Coupons.com - possibly the mother of all coupon sites....Similar to the other sites listed below - Coupons.com has a comprehensive list of topics on the left side of the screen. For example, there are automotive coupons, beverage, flowers and gifts, foods, health care, household, entertainment, office supplies, personal care, pet care, restaurants and more topics for coupons. One different with Coupons.com is that you can see the coupons on the first page - you just click on the coupon you are interested in and then scroll down to the next page of coupons. When you are finished you need to click on the print icon and you will be prompted to download the Coupon Printer installer. Essentially this downloads software to your computer to download the software...fyi, you only have to do the download once.

CouponMom.com
CouponMom is a well organized coupon site that has been seen on the Today Show, CNN, and Oprah's television show. The site has categories like grocery deals, drugstore deals, restaurant deals, online coupons, free samples, and a blog. Don't miss this site!

CouponCabin.com
Site has links to coupons by vendor or store name and by coupon type (food, clothing, category, printable, online coupons, etc...) The thing that I never understood about these various coupons sites is that they have categories that encompass two categories. For example, when a user goes on to these sites, they are, by definition, looking for printable coupons. In addition,all of these coupons are online - so why do these sites have these two categories? Beats me - but the real interesting thing about these sites are the coupons themselves.

Users can download software the first time they visit the site and then they'll be able to print out the various coupons that they check off on the site. Pretty simple and easy to do - even the download is fairly easy. Users can search the site using the search box at the top right side of the homepage. There is also a section on 'Extreme Couponing Made Easy' - click here for that link.

Enjoy and hopefully the sites will save you time and money!

Regards,
Stu