Sabrina’s Money Matters

Check out the Super Affiliate! Zac Johnson is giving away free stuff because he’s been slacking lately…so go capitalize on it all you money makers, make me proud!!!

The Nintendo DS Lite that I won from BobMeetsWorld.com arrived two days ago, sorry for the delay, but we had to get aquainted.

“You Have Been Pre Approved for a MasterCard / Visa / American Express / Discover!”

There’s nothing I hate seeing in my mailbox more, the same is probably true for you as well….if not yet, it will be after you read this…

Steve from SaveAndMake.com and I’ve Tried That gets 3 - 4 offers a week and asked me how to stop these offers from plaguing him.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know, those Pre-Approved credit card offers are considered “soft pulls” to your credit report probably accounting for 2/10 of a point each “soft pull”. These can drag your score down drastically at the tune of 3 - 4 a week.

You can go to the Opt-Out Prescreen website to get rid of them, additionally you can opt out for five years, or a lifetime.

Here are the “Frequently Asked Questions”. I always look at these, they’re good for general things you should know about the website itself and the process.

Alternatively, you can opt-IN to the “firm” offers, so that instead of just “Pre-Approved Offers” which are conditional and you still have to have your credit run (actual inquiry to your credit) for final approval, when you receive an offer in the mail, they’ve already pulled your credit report and decided how much to approve you for, etc. These are the kind you really don’t want to have coming to your house, those are actual cards they’re sending and if someone steals it from your mailbox or post office box, you could have your identity stolen.

This is not something I would recommend unless you are signed up for credit monitoring and monitor your credit closely so that you could catch any theft of your credit immediately.

This website notifies Experian, Equifax, Innovis (new) and TransUnion, so they’ll all know that you don’t want junk mail and those stupid paper credit cards anymore, or that you want credit cards in your mailbox, lol.

I have been looking forward to writing this article for you guys, this is going to be fun. I love saving money this way.

Bargain shopping is something I see as a challenge. My little needle at “the man” that taxes everything right down to the gas in my car.

First things first, do you have a Sam’s or Costco near you, or a similar bulk shopping type of discount store? The premise behind these retailers is to save you money in taxes, by charging a membership they are able to offer wholesale prices on items in bulk. Some of you think it’s not worth it if you’re shopping only for two people or just one of you even, I disagree. You can buy all of your paper products in bulk and store them and be stocked up for months at a time at a fraction of the price at a grocery store. You can often find high end items as well at a discount.

I’m a member of Sam’s club that also features auctions on their website similar to EBay, auctioning vacations, televisions, flat screens, etc. Great prices and a more limited amount of people bidding because it’s exclusive to certain Sams’ Club members.

Second, if you have children, buy their clothes second hand. Every parent knows that young children’s clothes are rarely worn out, if ever even worn at all. The younger the child, the less they’ve worn their clothing, so you can find great clothes at great prices for the little ones, it gets a little harder to find great stuff when the kids get around 8 and up, they start getting a little rougher on their clothes.

I’ve bought great old concert t-shirts second hand, you’ll find lots of blood drive t-shirts, which are great to do work around the house in and you can usually get several for less than $10. Great around the house working clothes. Not to mention women’s shoes, we all must admit we go through them and get dissatisfied with them somewhat quickly. Fads fade or whatever the case may be, that’s a section at the thrift store I always go through, I love discount shoes! It’s one of my many weird little quirks.

Third, online shoppers, before you click that final checkout button, open a new browser window and search for a coupon for the retailer you’re buying through if you’re not already using a discount. Just Google something like, “old navy online coupon” and see what you find, I usually can save 10 – 30% on everything I buy online.

Perfume shoppers especially should comparison shop, there are so many fragrance companies out there and they are very competitive online.

Fourth, by the Sunday paper and clip coupons. Buy the early edition Saturday and make it a fun little thing you do on Saturday afternoon while you’re waiting to switch loads in the laundry room. Then make sure you take them with you to the store. Only clip coupons of things that you actually use don’t add things to your list just to use a coupon, then you’re defeating the purpose of clipping coupons because you add to your grocery bill rather than take from it. Don’t forget to sign up for those grocery store cards too, just about all of them have one now and they do make a significant difference.

Yesterday me and the boys went for an out of the ordinary trip to the grocery store for a last minute dinner idea, when everything was said and done, we got a side of ribs and a half gallon of ice cream for free because of that membership card.

Pretty cool.

So let’s review the few tips in this article that I’ve explained for bargain shopping….

1. Buy in bulk and save.
2. Buy kids clothes secondhand.
3. Search for coupon codes when shopping online.
4. Clip coupons for the grocery store.

Rest assured this is not all in financial and bargain shopping tips I’ll be bringing you, but this is a good start.

Baby steps will always lead to grand things.