It's that time of year again to appreciate your favorite loved ones and significant others. But, relax, it doesn't have to be a big stress. Let the many flower services do the hard work for you. While you are at it, get some miles, points, or cash back, too!
If you have a favorite provider like 1-800-Flowers, or FTD, check to see what promotions are running before you plunk your cash down. Among many other deals, eBates is offering 20% cash back on FTD purchases. That's awesome. Given that flowers can run $35-50 with delivery/service fees, that definitely helps. Don't want cash back, your favorite airline is definitely having a miles earning bonus, too. Visit their site before buying and you might be awarded with not only a big kiss from your sweetie, but a bounty of miles. Definitely see if there is a coupon, too, to save even more.
Bonus tip: depending on when you order your flowers for delivery, you might save a few bucks on the delivery/service fee. Obviously, February 14 is preferable, but if she's flexible, you might save a few bucks by delivering them a day earlier, with a promise of dinner next day.
Income tax documents are probably already available to you to start completing your taxes. One excellent source for tax records is your credit card statement--specifically the year end one. I just got a notification from Chase that my 2011 year ends are available.
Here is why they are good to have:
1-Purchases are categorized, such as charity, travel, dining, and entertainment. If you engaged in any of those activities on a volunteer/non-profit basis, and itemize your taxes, they are a good back up to your receipts. Be sure to verify that the organization is in fact a registered non-profit.
2-In a pinch, you can reference these documents while filing your taxes. Receipts are cumbersome and clutter your filing records. Year end statements, saved to a computer, are much more efficient.
3-In an audit situation, handing an auditor a print out of neatly categorized purchases is much better for appearances than a stack of paper, odd-shaped receipts. Think about it.
I am sure there are other good reasons to keep your year end statements for tax purposes and I would like to hear from you on them. In general, they also help with tracking where you spent money and for what purpose.
In closing, a good strategy for filing taxes painlessly, and at little expense, is to use a service such as Tax Act Online. I have been using it for years and there is a lot of basic functionality that is available for free that will help you on your way. Helpful functions include instant calculation of the refund or taxes due, filing tips, simplified language describing complex tax topics.
Chances are, you will be receiving a store gift card this holiday season. It's easy to see why. They are convenient, never go out of style, and easy to ship, or even send electronically. But, actually using them might come with some unforeseen headaches, namely, what to do with a balance of only a few dollars left after a purchase. I will discuss what you can do to make sure that gift card is truly a gift and not a lump of a coal.
Did you receive a gift card for something you like? Great! Did you receive a gift card for a restaurant that you never go to, and that was famously mocked in the movie "Office Space?" Not so good. Did you receive a Visa/Amex gift card? There is another strategy you can use to get their full value as well. Let's address each scenario below.
First, for when you received a gift card for a place you like, do a bit of research before buying something to see how much it will cost. Certainly don't overspend, but it's much easier to just use the full value of the gift card in one shot rather than having an annoyingly small amount left. Did you use it all? Good. No? See the next scenario.
Second, if you are not able to use the full value of your gift card and don't want to fork over extra cash in order to use it, or just don't want the gift card period, you can do a couple of things. Depending on how much is left, say, over $10, you can see how much the card is worth on a gift card re-seller aggregator site, such as Gift Card Granny. Visit the site, pop in the name of the retailer, and hope that it is listed. If it's an obscure store, you might be stuck with that balance. But, if its a big name store, such as Home Depot, there's a huge market for their used gift cards. Depending on the site listed on Gift Card Granny, you will take a hair cut between 10-30% of the remaining value From there, you can either get a PayPal credit, or be sent a check.
Third, if you received a cash/debit gift card, they can be used just like credit/debit cards, but sometimes combining them with other payment forms, when you are short the value of your purchase, can be cumbersome. For example, if you have a $25 Visa gift card and an item costs $27, you need to make up the difference somehow, or n item costs $23, and you have a balance. Just as with scenario 2, if you don't want to just spend to use the card, you have a great option. Amazon's gift cards can be purchased for minimal amounts. I recently had $0.24 left on an AMEX gift card and used it to give myself a $0.24 electronic gift card. When I redeemed it, the value just got transferred to my Amazon account and now I can use that towards a future purchase without carrying around a cumbersome debit card.
The bottom line is to not get discouraged with gift cards if you have remaining value. There are viable options that will serve everyone's interests.
If you haven't heard of American Express' Small Business Saturday, get excited. On November 26, spend $25 at a small business and you will receive a statement credit for $25. That's right: spend $25, get $25. All you have to do is register your AMEX card here and then patronize your favorite small business.
Where can I find a small business that accepts AMEX? Easy. Just search using this link and look for "See where you can shop to earn your $25 statement credit."
For more great offers from American Express, you can sync your card here and receive other statement credit promotions and deals.
Some time ago, I wrote about P&G launching an eStore to compete not against grocery stores or e-drugstores per se, but assuming against other consumer products companies, such as Unilever, maker of Lever 2000 soap and other products. P&G's hook? $5 flat rate shipping, no matter what you buy. Since the store has been functioning for some time, I figure it was time for a review and comparison.
The first thing I noticed was a slick, clean, and easy to use interface. Products are categorized logically and have a large picture so you know exactly what your buying. The second thing I noticed was the site offered digital coupons, which was a nice surprise. So far, so good. But most importantly, let's talk about prices. How do they compare with other online stores?
Here are a couple of items and how they stack up (without coupons):
Item
Store
Price
Shipping
Total
Gillette Dry Skin Hydrator Body Wash - 16 oz
P&G eStore
$3.99
$5
$8.99
Drugstore.com
$4.99
$5.99
$10.98
CVS.com
$4.99
$5.49
$10.48
Tide 2X Ultra Detergent Spring & Renewal
P&G eStore
$8.49
$5.00
$13.49
Drugstore.com
$8.39
$5.99
$14.38
CVS.com
$9.39
$5.49
$14.88
The results from this limited experiment are clear: the P&G eStore wins out on a few sample products. However, there are a few things to consider as well in price comparison with the other online retailers. First, after spending $25 (any time) at Drugstore.com, you get free shipping on select items, and the coupons that the P&G eStore listed are also available digitally with Drugstore.com, too. Drugstore.com promo codes via Retailmenot.com or other coupon sites can lower your costs, and you can earn "Drugstore.com Dollars" for for savings on future purchases. Moreover, by shopping through a portal, such as Ebates, you can receive cash back for your purchases. Drugstore.com also participates in the Shop Runner program, which for $79/year, you get "free" two day shipping with no minimum purchase and special savings offers. Several retailers participate in this program.
Second, CVS.com has free shipping after spending a whopping $49 on selected items, they do not seem to have digital coupons for the P&G products as does the eStore and Drugstore.com, but they do have Extra Bucks you can earn just by buying their products, which can be used for future savings. You can also earn Upromise dollars by shopping at CVS.com, and use promo codes to save even more. Just visit Retailmenot.com or Evreward.com for any available coupons.
Bottom line: you have a few viable options to choose from when shopping online for these products. I would stay away from CVS.com if your purchase is going to be under $49. Paying for shipping will mitigate your savings. If you are planning on spending more than $25 anyway, then carefully compare Drugstore.com and the eStore. You will have to pay $5 shipping, but the savings could make it worth it. If you have the time, also check if you are better off just buying the products at the brick and mortar store using regular coupons. Depending on how savvy you are, you might even get them for a lot less, or even free.
