Everyone is looking for Christmas deals this weekend to finish up their Christmas shopping before the holiday.  We just finished ours this afternoon, and we survived! Here are a few deals that caught my eye recently.

Blockbuster Free Trial

A Blockbuster free trial of their online movie service can be a good stocking stuffer if you have any movie buffs in your family.  The free trial allows you to try out the service and see how you like it before committing to a monthly membership.

Omaha Steaks Deals

If you’re not a meat eater this won’t be for you but if you are there are some good deals to be had.  In addition to their Omaha steaks free shippping offer they are also running thier 19.99 sale.

They have a whole range of foods like filet mignon, top sirloins, pork chops, bbq pork, burgers, and chicken fillets on sale for $19.99.  With regular prices on the food packages ranging from $35 – $60 the sale offers considerable savings -  $19.99 Sale

Angies List Deals

Angies List is offering 50% off their gift memberships during the holidays. Typically you need an Angies List promotion code to waive the activation fee but for the gift memberships they’re waiving the fee. 

Gamefly Deals

Gamefly is like Blockbuster Online but for video games, not movies.  Once you’re a member you can select a certain number of games and they’ll ship them to you.  After you finish those games you send them back in and they ship you the next ones on your list.  Gamefly is running a special this weekend, if you sign up for one month you get a second month free – One Free Month

Christmas deals on high end items like jewelry, watches, and designer clothes may be easier to find this shopping season.  Some luxury brands are starting “private sale” websites where they sell their purses, watches, shoes, clothes, etc in online sample sales, according to a recent New York times article.

Luxury items aren’t really my thing but if you lust after name brand products, some of the private sale websites may be able to get you some of the best christmas deals, high end merchandise at considerable discounts.  Below are some of the websites that the article mentions:

• Gilt
• Rue La La
• One Kings Lane
• Ideeli 
• HauteLook

I’ve never been to a sample sale, when I sold on eBay I always bought surplus and overgoods from a third party.  Based on the article, sample sales sound like a bit of a zoo, with a big line and wait to get in.  Then, once inside you dash around trying to find the best deals before everyone else does, like the sample sale scene from the Confessions of a Shopaholic movie.

The private sale websites get rid of the waiting and dashing and can still save you a good deal of money off the retail price. So if you’re looking for something name brand this year, these may be some of the best websites for luxury christmas shopping.

Cyber Monday deals are the bargains that the lazy shoppers have been waiting for!  Why drag yourself out of bed early on Black Friday when you can shop from your computer on Cyber Monday right? 

Here is a look at some Cyber Monday deals for 2009:

• Cyber Monday – Atlanta Bargain Hunter
• Baby Product Steals on Cyber Mondays
• Cyber Monday Deals
• Small Business Deals
• Sams Club Cyber Monday
• Coupon Deals on Cyber Monday
• Thrifty Mom Cyber Deals

Good luck bargain hunting!

I was looking back through the posts on the site from last November and saw a bunch of posts on Christmas shopping, Black Friday, etc.  The shopping season is here again so here are some tips on budgeting, shopping, and holiday deals:

• Black Friday Deals or Cyber Monday Savings?
• Christmas Budgeting – Building A Christmas Fund
• Christmas Deals on eBay – Strategies for Saving Money this Holiday
• The Best Websites For Christmas Shopping Deals
• Earn Extra Money For the Holidays – 10 Ways to Boost Your Gift Budget
• Christmas Shopping Calendar – Dates to Save You Money
• Christmas Gift Cards – Choosing the Best Gift Card
• Christmas Shopping and Saving Tips for a Troubled Economy
• Christmas Deals to Save You Money While Holiday Shopping

Deals and promotions keep popping up lately, I’m guessing partly because it’s close to the end of the year and businesses are making a push to meet or exceed their goals for the year. I’m sure part of it has to do with Christmas deals for the upcoming shopping rush.  Here are some of the promotions going on that you might be interested in.

Angies List Promotion

Angie’s List gift memberships are 50 percent off through the end of the month.  Since it’s a gift, they’re waiving the activation fee so you don’t even need an angies list promo code.

TradeKing Bonus

The TradeKing promotion where you earn a $50 bonus for opening an account and making a trade was extended through the end of the month.  Here’s a TradeKing review for more detail on their service.

ING Direct Bonus

If you open an ING Electric Orange account by November 30 and set up Direct Deposit you’ll be eligible for a $25 bonus. You have to enter Reference Code EM382DD to be qualify for the $25 bonus. After two Direct Deposits are made within the first two months (60 days) of account opening, the bonus will be automatically applied to your account on day 60.

American Express Gift Cards

American Express gift cards have always come with fees that eat into the amount of money you’re giving away.  They recently removed the monthly fees so the recipient no longer has to worry about the balance depleting until it’s used.  American Express is also running a promotion through the end of the year where they’ll waive the purchase fee so it doesn’t cost you anything to give the card.

You can use the American Express promotion code of EMC11A to get 100% off the purchase fees through the end of December. – click here

Help paying medical bills is one of the biggest challenges facing families on the verge of debt or bankruptcy. Medical debt and the rising costs of health care and insurance continue to ruin the credit and lives of people across the country.

In August, The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit healthcare action group, reported that family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 119 percent between 1999 and 2008 and were destined to rise another 94 percent by 2020 to an average annual cost per family of $23,842 “if cost growth continues on its current course.”

Health Insurance & Debt

Most individuals know that present-day health insurance isn’t a protection against massive amounts of uncovered medical debt. The American Journal of Medicine reported the results of a random sample study in June. The results stated that in 2007, before the current economic downturn, an American family filed for bankruptcy every 90 seconds in the aftermath of illness even though three-quarters of them were insured. The study added that 60 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States in 2007 were driven by medical incidents.

One of the most damaging aspects of medical debt is that it may occur suddenly and pile up at lightning speed. An overnight hospital stay – depending on tests and treatments – may easily cost several thousand dollars.

The bottom line: Your health could be your biggest money issue.

Health Insurance Planning

Whether you’re facing a planned medical procedure or have to undergo treatment in an emergency, it pays to devise a battle plan to keep costs under control, and keep the person you’ve designated as your health power of attorney in the loop. A financial planning professional, health insurance agent or your employer’s human resource department might be good places to start a discussion about avoiding unnecessary costs during physician’s office visit or hospital procedures. 

One of the main things all individuals should do if they have time before an exam or procedure is check whether their insurance covers it.

Medical Debt

But if you’re currently facing significant medical debt without insurance or after insurance refuses to pay a significant portion of your bill, here are some steps you can follow:

Relax first and then check for errors: Medical Billing Advocates of America, a Salem, VA organization of businesses that consult with individuals and companies to examine bills for mistakes and correct insurance mistakes, says that there are duplicate charges in almost every medical bill. Watch the bill closely, write down questions you have and then make an appointment with the doctor or hospital’s billing office to politely review those questions.

Make sure the insurer is dealing with the bill: If you undergo a hospital visit or a procedure, you may get a summary of fees from the hospital or the physician that say “not a bill,” which may lead you to put it aside and forget about it. Check in with your insurer to check the status of the claim before you get a surprise weeks later that they have refused to cover the bill. Make sure you’re watching every step of the process from the moment you leave the hospital or doctor’s office.

You can negotiate: If you are stuck paying out-of-pocket for a significant portion of the bill, see if you can negotiate that fee downward. Call the physician or hospital billing office to see if you can get a discount on the total bill, and see if there is a financial counselor at the hospital you can deal with.

Get help: A medical billing advocate generally works on major uninsured medical debts – ranging from the tens to the hundreds of thousands of dollars – and typically charges anywhere from 15 to 50 percent of the bill as a collection fee for negotiating with the hospital, physician or the insurance company. That’s a hefty price to pay for someone else’s expertise, but in certain cases, it can make sense. Failing that, many states have indigent care funds that offer some relief for individuals with substantial medical debt.

Ask for a payment plan: If you have a substantial cash balance to pay, ask the medical center or physician if you can pay on time. Just make sure you know what they’re charging you to do that.

Remember – attitude is everything: Keep in mind that many medical practitioners and their staff members have as many problems with the way the system runs as you do. Do you research first – learn all you can about conventional charges for certain procedures before you call and question the billing center. Ask questions calmly and politely. Show appreciation for their help. If you have to discuss more billing issues with them in the future, it might make it easier. 

This post about paying medical bills & avoiding medical debt is produced in association with the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the leadership and advocacy organization connecting those who provide, support and benefit from professional financial planning.

Overstock or returned goods can save you a ton of money!  I’ve written in the past how I used to buy merchandise like this, then turn around and re-sell it on eBay for a big fat profit.

However, even if you have no interest in making extra money on eBay, overstock goods and returned items can can score you some really great deals for your own use.

Getting a 64% Discount

For example, our son loves cars and trucks and used to have a blast riding in our neighbor’s Fisher Price Power Wheels car.  After they moved away I thought he’d never ride in one again because they’re pretty expensive but we just bought him one today for 64% off!

The one we found retails for $250 and we bought it for $60 cash (minus a battery charger) at a local overstock store.  Often times these types of stores will have a random assortment of various goods but this one actually had rows of power wheels and other powered kid cars.

Merchandise Brand and Quality

These are the same cars you’d find for sale at Toys R Us. Some of them are returns, some are merchandise that didn’t sell, and some are cars with small defects. For example, ours was brand new but they had lost the battery charger in shipping so I came home and ordered one online for $30. Still, buying a $250 car for only $90 is a pretty sweet discount.  I didn’t have to pay tax or shipping and it was already assembled.  I pulled it out of the back of the car when we got home and our little guy took off down the sidewalk. 

Negotiating Prices

Many times you can bargain with the store owners because they buy the stuff for pennies on the dollar and have room to negotiate.  One of my friends went to the same store last weekend and talked the guy down to $190 on a car he was selling for $250 that retailed for around $400.  Of course, there is often no return policy on goods like these so make sure you test it out well before you buy it.

Finding the Stores

Your best bet on finding stores like this is to simply ask around. I hear about most of these places through word of mouth.  You can also do a web search on the words overstock or overgoods and the name your local cities.

Happy shopping, Hopefully you’ll save a lot of money

Microsoft Office is a software product that I use extensively every day.  Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are the two apps that I use daily and Access and PowerPoint are programs that I’ll use off and on.  Unfortunately, I don’t have Microsoft Office on my laptop at home which slows me down if I ever try and work from home.  I’ve been putting off buying Office 2007 because it’s not cheap but just yesterday I found out a way I can get it for only $9.95!

Apparently, some companies have what’s known as the Microsoft Home Use Program where employees can use the enterprise license for a copy of the software at home.  I just signed up for ours, here’s the email I recieved with a link where I can buy and download Microsoft Office 2007 for only $9.95!

I’ve listed some of the frequently asked questions below, it also talks about an employee purchase program that offers a good discount if you want to buy the software outright. So check with your company to see if they’re a part of these programs, it could save you a lot of money!

What’s the difference between the Microsoft Home Use Program and the Employee Purchase Program?

The Employee Purchase Program covers Microsoft’s most popular consumer software products that are typically bought in a retail store: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Money, various software, games and hardware. These products are for the employee’s personal use and are purchased and owned by the employee.

The Home Use Program covers Microsoft products for which our company is a licensed user with active software assurance coverage: Microsoft Office, Windows XP, Project, Publisher and Visio Professional. The employee pays only for the cost of the media and shipping. The employee may use software procured through the Home Use Program while employed by the company and as long as the software has active software assurance coverage. The employee does not own these licenses and must uninstall the product in the event that they terminate employment with the company.

How much of a discount is available?

The Employee Purchase Program discounts run between 20 and 40 percent, and the employee owns these products. The only costs incurred for the Home Use Program are for media and shipping; the employee can use the product as long as they are employed at the company.

What if I leave the company? Do I need to uninstall the software?

Any product purchased under the Employee Purchase Program is owned by the employee. Products installed under the Home Use Program must be uninstalled in the event that an employee leaves the company.

Can I re-sell the licenses I purchase through these plans?

No. Only the employee may use licenses under the Home Use Program. However, because an employee owns software purchased through the Employee Purchase Program, the employee has discretion over these products.

Is there a limit on the number of copies I can buy?

Employees are limited to one license of any Home Use Product and up to three copies of any one product under the Employee Purchase Program.

This is the third in our series of best deals sites online. We’ve already discussed Slickdeals and Hot Coupon World and now take a look at FatWallet.

FatWallet

(Thanks to Christy from Art of the Coupon who shares her money saving expertise with us in this series of posts.)

FatWallet is another site that is successful because of member submissions. Like Slickdeals, they divide their site into forums which focus on different types of deals. Fat Wallet forums feature:

Hot Deals: The deals posted here are usually the same as the deals posted on Slickdeals. However, FatWallet has some exclusive relationships with certain stores, and offers coupons available only to their members. Those types of deals are authored by the site owners, instead of by regular members. They are always listed at the top of the forum, and prominently advertised as FatWallet Exclusives

Travel Deals is a forum dedicated to finding deals on plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other tips for traveling for less. While Slickdeals has these types of deals, they are mixed in with the general Hot Deals and are not as easy to find.

Online Auctions is a forum featuring tips and tricks for successful selling on ebay. This forum is of limited interest to anyone who doesn’t sell at online auctions, although it does offer some information for buyers on fees and taxes they might incur if they buy from certain online auctions.

One Time Use Coupons is a forum where people post coupons they receive which aren’t for general use. They usually give these coupons away to specific members who ask for them within the discussion, so if you aren’t an active contributor to Fat Wallet you may not have much success getting any deals from this forum.

Free Stuff is similar to the Slickdeals freebies forum. Many of the same offers are posted in both locations. However, Slickdeals has separated this category into Surveys and magazines, so it is a little easier to find exactly what you are looking for on Slickdeals.

Finance is probably FatWallets best forum, although it is catered to a specific audience. Here, people post general financial questions and tips for things like investing and real estate. There are also threads dedicated to good credit card offers, or to offers for free money when opening bank accounts.

If you are looking for a new credit card, or a 0% balance transfer offer, this thread can be invaluable to you. If you have a tax question, a question about your credit report, or an investment question, you can also get advice here (but take the advice with a grain of salt, because it is coming from strangers on the internet, after all).

Navigating FatWallet

- When you open a forum, you can select a Subcategory so you see only posts you are specifically interested in. For example, when you open the Hot Deals forum you can narrow your search to see only books, computers, flowers, gifts, or a number of other sub-categories of items.

- Just like on Slickdeals, there are comments from other users to help provide you with more information about the deals.

- You can subscribe to topics of interest here so you can see a list of topics that have been updated with new comments when you sign on

- You can add a post as a favorite, so that it is featured at the top of the list of topics within the forum.

- You can set a Topic Alert with specific keywords so you are notified whenever someone posts a specific deal within a certain forum. You can decide to have this alert sent to you once a day, or instantly every time someone posts a deal with that keyword so you never miss out on an opportunity to buy. You can also subscribe to different forums via RSS here as well.

Who Should Use Fat Wallet?

One of the key features of FatWallet that is not offered by Slickdeals, is Cash Back. FatWallet has a list of over 100 stores that offer cash back. If you are going to purchase anything from one of these stores (and you don’t already use a Cash Back site like Ebates or MyPoints) then you should definitely go to FatWallet first. By simply going to this list and clicking through to the store before you make your purchase, you can get anywhere from 1% to 15% of your money back.

The list is alphabetical and very easy to browse, either by category or store name. If you are just interested in general deals and freebies, FatWallet and Slickdeals are almost interchangeable as I mentioned above.

In addition, the Finance forum on FatWallet is very useful to people who open bank accounts to get free money, or who are interested in playing the Balance Transfer game on their credit cards. There is a wealth of information that can help you in these endeavors that you won’t find elsewhere. The travel deals are also organized best at FatWallet, so if you need a good rental car discount code, this should be your first stop.  

The best deals site reviews we started yesterday took a look at Slickdeals. Today’s deal site review will cover the savings available to you at Hot Coupon World.

Hot Coupon World

(Thanks to Christy from Art of the Coupon who shares her money saving expertise with us in this series of posts.)

Hot Coupon World caters to a different type of customer than Slickdeals and FatWallet. Although they do have sections that discuss freebies and general deals, I think of Hot Coupon World almost as the “Housewives Haven” because its strength is far-and-away its classic couponing information.

In addition to detailed lists of the best deals at almost every grocery store in every area, Hot Coupon World has databases of all available coupons, resources for trading coupons, and programs where advanced couponers can mentor newbies. Hot Coupon World has too many forums for me to list them all, but their most useful forums are:

Drug Stores: This forum contains almost the same information as the Slickdeals.net drugstore forum. The only difference is, there is less discussion and sometimes hidden deals are missed here.

Grocery Stores: This is Hot Coupon World’s most useful forum because it has information that can’t be found elsewhere. The grocery ads from almost every single grocery store you can think of are listed here, along with coupon match-ups to the weekly ad, and discussions of special in-store promotions and other great deals.

National Chain Stores: This forum discusses deals at Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart and other “big box” stores. Again, a lot of the information here is replicated on Slickdeals, but it is organized as a separate section here. There are also other stores that aren’t covered in as much detail on Slickdeals, such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Children’s Place, and a whole list of other stores that can be found at almost any local mall.

They also have other forums, dedicated to saving money on Pet food, baby products, prescriptions, or at office supply stores.

Navigating Hot Coupon World

Hot Coupon world breaks their forums up into the most detailed list of subcategories. In some ways, this makes it easier to get to exactly what you want. On the other hand, it gives you a lot to look at in the beginning.

• You can subscribe to threads via email, or to have them listed on your member page when you sign on
• You can Search within forums, or the site as a whole for particular keywords
• You can subscribe to different forums via RSS to be notified when a new discussion is posted
• A Quick Links option allows you to view all new posts or to view your subscribed threads
• There doesn’t seem to be a Deal Alerts feature here

Who Should Use Hot Coupon World?

Hot Coupon World is a great place to find deals at your local grocery store, especially if you are in a smaller grocery market. If you have a young child or a pet and need diaper deals or good prices on pet food, this site can help you find these particular deals easily and quickly. Their coupon database is also invaluable to help you find a particular coupon from the newspaper or online.

If you are interested in learning how to coupon at your local stores then this is a great place for you. They have a mentor service, and lots of articles on how to coupon effectively and how to store your stockpile. Their trading forums are great for people who want to trade coupons- much better and more organized than anything at Slickdeals or FatWallet.

This is not the place to find deals on televisions, or general products, nor is it the place to find freebies. Although they do offer these services they are more limited than Fat Wallet or Hot Deals, and you can’t elect to be notified whenever a product that piques your interest comes up.