Clothing Shopping For Bargain Hunters Like Me

By MoneyBlueBook

I'm your typical guy. I enjoy following sports and I generally find shopping to be tedious and sort of boring. I can handle online shopping, but clothing shopping at a brick and mortar store for me is a major hassle and I always feel like I'm getting ripped off. $80 for a sweater...oh my. $65 for a dress shirt...goodness gracious. $65 for a pair of khaki pants...holy...

The scary part is that these are prices for men's clothing. I can only imagine how much women have to pay for their clothes. Historically, women's clothing have always been much more expensive than that of men's. Who knows why - material maybe? But that's a discussion for another later day.

I Prefer Shopping Online

So where does a reasonably frugal person like me shop? Well I'm definitely a point and click shopper. I do the vast majority of my shopping online since it's much more convenient and substantially cheaper as well. But clothing is one of those things that you really need to try on before you buy. Fit is important and frequently, clothes look different online and in magazines than they do when you're wearing them.

Malls Are Not My Thing

I enjoy the mingling feel at I get when I'm at the local mall but I really can't stand shopping there for too long. Shopping at the mall wears me out physically and I just don't have the stamina for it. The funny thing is that I like to run and have no problem running half marathons, but

By MoneyBlueBook

You know the routine. You walk up to the retail or department store checkout counter to pay for the stuff you're going to buy and the sales lady asks you if you'd like to receive 10-15% off your purchase today by applying for a department store credit card. Especially if you are buying a lot of things, it's always a big temptation at the checkout line, but signing for any store credit card like Macy's, Bloomingdales, or Home Depot just to get a one time discount may hurt you in the long run. You may save a few dollars now but it is likely to weaken your FICO credit score and be counter productive to any debt reduction plans you may have. They may be very easy to apply and qualify for, but they are nothing but debt traps, especially for college students looking to build credit.

It Will Ding Your Credit Score

Even if you intend to promptly pay off all balances, the mere act of applying for credit will hurt your FICO score because it is considered a hard pull credit inquiry. Although the hit is not significant, if you make it a bad habit of frequently applying for department or retail store credit cards to take advantage of one time discount offers, this could spell trouble. Every credit inquiry hurts your score so it is best to stay away from this temptation.

Department Store Credit Cards Have High Interest Rates

If You are trying to get out of debt or have been relatively

By MoneyBlueBook

Well after a few years of having Costco membership, I've finally decided not to renew it anymore. The cost savings I got from buying in bulk simply wasn't adding up to justify the membership fee. I love their cheap tasty pizzas but I'm fed up with having to drive such a long way to get to the nearest store and having to put up with the extremely long lines at the checkout counters. At Costco, I probably end up spending more money than I ordinarily would, buying products that I ordinarily wouldn't buy, and wasting more time waiting in line than I would at a nearby grocery store, like Giant or Safeway. I think they are a great company, but they need to open up more stores and organize a quicker checkout system.

Buying in Bulk Is Only Worth It For Large Families Or Those Who Have A Need To Shop In Large Quantities

I currently do not have my own family so buying in massive bulk doesn't make too much sense for me. If I was married with kids that might be a different story since the kids would probably help to consume everything.

Most of the items at Costco come in huge portion sizes and you often end up buying mega size items that you wouldn't ordinarily buy. Have you seen the size of their cereal boxes? It's huge! Yes, buying in bulk allows you to spend less money per serving but it's only worth it if you are able to consume it within a reasonable

By MoneyBlueBook

You never know what life will chuck your way, so you should always be prepared for anything. If you keep your finances and paperwork in order, you'll be in better shape to handle anything unexpected.

A few nights ago I received a sudden flurry of phone calls and e-mails from family members with sad news. My ailing grandfather, who had been bedridden in the hospital for more than a year due to a stroke, suddenly took a turn for the worse and was nearing his end. As the oldest grandson, I had a familial duty to be there. But since my grandfather lived overseas, getting to him at a moment's notice wasn't going to be easy. Things started to get hectic immediately as I began to make plans to fly overseas to join my parents at my grandfather's side as soon as possible. I wish I had anticipated earlier and made better preparation for the unexpected.

Here is how you can stay ready and avoid the chaos that follows an emergency situation:

Keep Important Documentation Up To Date And At the Ready

If you have family in another country, including Canada and Mexico, make sure your passport is valid and ready for travel at all times.

In my case, I had one major problem. My U.S. passport had only one more month before it expired. Since most countries require that your passport be valid at least 6 months beyond the date of your trip, I would not be able to travel internationally unless I got it renewed as soon

By MoneyBlueBook

I think I am secretly a big government, socialist type person (go communism...just kidding). I like freedom of choice but sometimes having too many options can get cumbersome and mind boggling. Frequently, it's good to just have a handful of recommended choices.

When it comes to picking the best travel website to do your airfare or hotel research, there are so many to choose from it can be overwhelming. Many popular news sites like CNN have provided their own top travel website lists, but I think they list way too many. I love lists but I'm not a fan of long lists containing too many choices. Too many choices means I need to take extra time to sort the diamonds from the rough. Just give me the best choice I always say. So that's what I'll do.

Bottom line, after comparing ease of use and prices among the numerous travel websites, my overall favorite is SideStep. The site consistently gave me the most competitive search results. I use it in conjunction with my other two favorites, Expediaand Travelocity. These three sites will give you the best search and pricing results.

Compare Prices Using Sidestep With Expedia and Travelocity

SideStep is what they call a meta search engine because it aggregates and consolidates search results from a wide variety of travel sites. The service pulls airfare and hotel information from more than 150,000 hotels and 600 airlines to give you pricing information based on your search criteria.

By MoneyBlueBook

I'm a frequent eBaybuyer and former seller. I've learned a few tricks to get the best deals when buying through eBay auctions. Getting the best deal does take a little extra research but the savings are worth it!

1) Run eBay Searches Using Different Keyword Combinations

The example I'm going to use to demonstrate my eBay buying tricks will be from my experience in buying Smartrip metro cards. These are the magnetic debit cards that people living in the Washington D.C. area use to take the subway. The card can hold upwards to $300 at a time and like gift cards, there is an eBay market for people looking to buy them at a discount.

When running searches for the metro cards, I use a wide variety of keywords such as Smartrip, SmartCheck, D.C. Metro cards, D.C. subway cards, and Smart Trip. People frequently advertise their products on eBay using different names. Try punching in spelling errors like "dimond" rather than "diamond". You won't believe how many sellers frequently misspell their ads, thereby limiting the number of available buyers bidding on their auction. Less bidding competition gives the smart eBay buyer a greater chance of getting a great deal. It's really not all that difficult to profit from ebay typo bargains.

You can also create a favorite saved batch search for several keywords. At the eBay search prompt, select "Advanced Search", enter you keywords and remember to click on the box that indicates "Save This Search to eBay". If you want to create a search that