Saving Money

Used models of the HTC First phone, which was released in mid-April, sold for just 99 cents by the first week of May. Other Android smartphones have sold for free (with new two-year contracts). (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/File)

Top 13 things you should never pay for

By Aaron Crowe, Guest blogger / 06.24.13

There are few things more thrilling for a deal shopper than getting something for free. In fact, freebie deals are often the most popular offers on our site. From smartphones to restaurant food, there are certain categories that are regularly flush with gratis promotions. So next time your whip out your wallet, consider first if that purchase could come at no cost to you.

Android Smartphones

If you're a fan of phones with Google's operating system, then you're in luck; so many new Android smartphones are released these days that the market has become saturated — and as a result, most models quickly fall to $0 (with new 2-year contracts) after a few months. For example, the HTC First (the "Facebook Phone") was released in mid-April this year, and by the first week of May, we saw a deal that knocked it to just 99 cents. Even trendy models with lots of media hype do eventually follow the same deal path; last year, it took the Samsung Galaxy S III just four months to become free with contract. For more details on how long to wait until phones become free, read our smartphone price guide.

Phone Calls

Skype, Google Voice, and other services let you make calls for free over the Internet, though be careful if they try to get you to upgrade to a paid plan. You can drop your landline and your cell phone plans for a few months and see if these services meet your calling needs.

MP3 Downloads

Getting a full album for free can be difficult, but with the number of music credit freebies we see bundled with Amazon deals, you should be able to amass a stockpile of credits to purchase a number of MP3 downloads that tempt you. Moreover, Amazon currently has more than 50,000 free songs available for download. Not enough of a selection? Leave the DJing to Starbucks, which gives out a free downloadable song each week. ( Continue… )

A clerk straightens out her display at a shoe store in Salem, N.H. (Elise Amendola/AP/FIle)

Ballet flats, topsiders, and more: the best deals on women's shoes

By Lou Carlozo, Contributor / 06.23.13

Why Imelda Marcos has approximately 3,000 pairs of shoes, we don't know. What we do know is that this week's best shoe deals include five pairs of must-have ladies footwear, including flats from Tory Burch, boat shoes from Sperry Top-Sider, and more.
 

Tory Burch Women's Stitched Logo Chelsea Ballet Flats

 Store: Tory Burch
Price: $121.50 with free shipping when you sign up for the Tory Burch newsletter
Lowest By: $49 Is It Worth It?: These Tory Burch ballet flats are so chic, and can be yours at a discount simply by signing up for the Tory Burch newsletter. Choose from five luscious colors including Daisy, Iced Coffee, New Fire Orange, Ocean Breeze, and Rose Petal; they're available in sizes 6 to 11, though not in all size/color combinations. 
Scroll to the bottom of the page, and enter your email address in the bottom right corner; you'll be emailed a code within 24 hours of signing up with a new email address, although most arrive within an hour. 

Route 66 Women's Ornamented T-Thong Sandals

Store: Kmart
Price: $11.99 via coupon code "SANDALS20" with free shipping
Lowest By: $2
Expires: June 22 Is It Worth It?: These thong sandals feature a metal embellishment, buckle closure, and are a great pair of summer shoes. They're also a part of the best sale we've seen on sandals from Kmart in recent months, which cuts up to 40% off men's, women's, and kids' sandals. Plus coupon code "SANDALS20" takes an extra 20% off! 
To extend your savings, make sure to sign up for a 90-day trial on Shop Your Way Max to net free shipping.  ( Continue… )

A man pulls out his credit card to make a purchase at a shop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, earlier this month. Choosing the right credit card for travel can save you loads of money. (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters/File)

Choose the best credit card for summer travel

By John Ulzheimer, Contributor / 06.22.13

Your bags are packed, the tank is full, and hotel room reserved. Have you chosen the right credit card to take along?

 
Simply grabbing any credit card just won't do. If you are strategic with your choice of credit cards, not only can you rack up on rewards but you may also be able to save yourself a bundle of money and avoid embarrassing situations.

First and foremost, whatever credit card you take with you has to be open and usable. That might seem obvious, but credit card issuers have a habit of shutting down credit cards because of long-term inactivity. If the card is closed for a reason other than something negative on your credit reports, no notice of the closure is required. So, before picking a card you haven't used for a while, call the bank to confirm it’s still open.

While you’re on the phone, confirm the card's credit limit and interest rate. ( Continue… )

People check out laptop computers at the Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal in New York, New York earlier this year. College students can buy Apple products at a discount or even trade in their old iPods for Apple gift cards that could go toward buying a new Macbook. (Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/File)

The best discounts for college students

By Tucker Cummings, Guest blogger / 06.20.13

It seems like summer just started, but students will be headed back to school in just a couple of months. While many adults say that their 20-something years were some of the best in their lives, being a student is rarely the best time in someone's financial life. Between tuition costs and living expenses, there are plenty of students who are surviving on Ramen noodles while they try to pinch pennies.

In fact, a recent study of college student finances found that 58% of incoming freshman in the U.S. took out some form of student loan, and of students who attended public universities, each took out an average loan of $6,400. What's more, a recent survey conducted by the College Savings Foundation found that only 49% of high school students have started saving for college. While most savers had at least $1,000, that's barely enough to cover the cost of textbooks in a student's first year.

Despite these discouraging financial figures, it is possible for college students to enjoy this time in their lives on a budget. Thanks to numerous student discount programs from top retailers, students can get amazing savings on groceries, travel, and computers. Here's a look at some of the best student discounts and perks we've found, from retailers to restaurants, and everything in between.

Student Discounts on Apple and Tech

While tuition and living expenses make up the bulk of college costs, many students also need to make hefty tech purchases to get ready for school. The main requirement? Not an iPad, but a laptop.

Dell offers students a $200 gift card with the purchase of select laptops over $699.99 (expires September 26; select the "Student & Member" tab to find this promo), which knocks several models to all-time low prices. And while the Dell team suggests using the gift card to buy an Xbox 360 4GB console (which comes with a free 1-month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership), students can also put the gift card towards the purchase of a wireless printer, an external hard drive, or other peripherals. ( Continue… )

Jose Cirado and Louis Rocano grill hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken during a Memorial Day Barbeque in Queens, NY, in 2006. With summer inviting families to dine outdoors, Carlozo offers readers eight tips for buying the gas grill that makes the most sense for them. (Ashley Twiggs/The Christian Science Monitor)

So much at steak: 8 tips for buying a grill

By Lou Carlozo, Guest blogger / 06.19.13

Summer kicks off the grilling season in many parts of North America, and while a gas grill is a home appliance of sorts, it's nowhere as easy to purchase as a toaster or a blender. On the one hand, you could spend as little as $68 for this two-burner gas grill at Walmart (with in-store pickup, a low by $107). Or, you could opt for the mighty Kalamazoo K750HT Hybrid Fire Freestanding Grill, which packs 75,000 BTUs of burger-searing firepower and boasts a 33" x 22" primary grilling surface. Its base sticker price? A cool $14,795: enough to buy a Walmart grill for you and 200 of your closest pals, and still have change for a brat run to the supermarket.

Before you get burned, seared, or otherwise broiled on your gas grill search, here's a handy buying guide to landing the grill of your dreams: this checklist will help you separate necessities from the frills.

Pick Your Fuel Source

Using propane tanks is convenient and always having a spare tank around eliminates having to leave the BBQ to make a propane run. But natural gas is another fuel option; it'll cost you less in the long run, but you'll have to run a dedicated line from your home to the grill, and cheaper grills (under $300) aren't usually built to accommodate this option. You can outfit your propane grill for $100 or less with a natural gas conversion kit, but keep in mind that the grill you choose will otherwise take one fuel source and not the other.

How Will You Use Your Grill?

OK, we wise guy: We know you're going to cook food on this thing. But have you stopped to consider how much food and of what type? A good rule of thumb is that your grill should hold enough food to prepare a meal for as many people as you regularly cook for. If that's two, a small grilling surface will do. But if you love to entertain, then surface size matters — and the bigger the better. What's more, not all grills are equipped with the capability to, say, cook via rotisserie. ( Continue… )

Nate Labadie of Commerce Township, Mich., mows with a riding lawnmower in May as volunteers mow the grass at O’Shea Playground. Maintaining your own garden is hard work, but with the right power tools — and the right prices — you can trim, plant, and cultivate to your heart's content. (Lauren Abdel-Razzaq/Detroit News/AP/File)

Five power tools you need for your garden

By Tom Barlow, Guest blogger / 06.18.13

Who doesn't love a beautiful garden full of lush flowers and vegetables, or a lawn with perfectly uniform grass immaculately manicured? These outdoor landscapes involve hard work, planting, cultivating, weeding, pruning, and harvesting. Fortunately, we live in an age where power tools can alleviate some of the hard work that is necessary to bring about a handsome garden and lawn. We've already discussed the specifics to finding the best lawn mower deal, and now here are five power tools in particular that should find a home in the shed of those of us who aspire to orderly greenery.

String Trimmer

Weeds are the number one nemesis of the home gardener, but the string trimmer allows gardeners to regain the upper hand. This tool uses a rotating monofilament string to cut weeds off at their feet. The string trimmer is also the best solution for edging around sidewalks and driveways, and trimming close to tree trunks where the lawnmower doesn't reach.

What to Look for
 String trimmers come with straight and curved shafts. The curved type are good for trimming up close, while the straight shaft models are better for cutting when you need to reach further away from the body, such as up a hillside. The straight shafts are usually heavier and more expensive.

Trimmers vary in the diameter of the circle they will trim; a 12" cutting path is a good size for home lawn care use. Look also for bump feeding, in which tapping the bottom of the trimmer on the ground allows a new section of string to advance into the cutting zone.

String trimmers, like each of the power tools discussed here, come in three forms: gas-powered, corded-electric, and battery electric. Unlike older models, the modern gas-powered trimmer is not particularly polluting, but it still requires fueling, tug starting, and the occasional tune-up. ( Continue… )

Air conditioning units line the exteriors of apartments in Boston, Mass. Cooling your home throughout the summer can be expensive, but Carlozo says you can cut your air conditioning bills by making sure your unit is new and periodically rotating out your unit for a ceiling fan. (Josh Armstrong/The Christian Science Monitor/File)

Seven ways to cut your air conditioning bills

By Lou Carlozo, Guest blogger / 06.17.13

Though we're technically still in the season of spring, June is off to a hot start in many parts of the country, and that means one thing for millions of sweltering people: air conditioning. And while we may take air conditioning for granted, it's generally an expensive luxury. Americans spend more than $22 billion a year on electricity to cool their homes with air conditioning — and use a whopping 183 billion kilowatt-hours, according to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy. That accounts for at least 15% of all energy used in some homes, and in warmer climates can represent up to 70% of a summer electric bill.

If you're shopping for a new air conditioner, you'll notice quite a few different sizes and models. But one thing's for sure: Savings are always chill. Here's a quick primer to staying cool and keeping your wallet from overheating when picking out an A/C unit.

What's a BTU and How Many Do I Need?

Chances are you already know that BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, and that the more BTUs an air conditioner cranks out, the stronger its cooling power. But here's the problem: Most American consumers aren't sure how to translate BTUs into the square footage of a room. (No disrespect to the Brits, but maybe we need an American Thermal Unit, where 1 AMU corresponds to 1 square foot.) ( Continue… )

Home theater salesperson Justin Standish, left, helps a customer with information on flat screen televisions at a Best Buy store in Nashville, Tenn. in 2008. Some 2013 HDTVs are already going on sale at significant discounts. (Mark Humphrey/AP/File)

Eyeing an HDTV? Here's how to get the best deals.

By Louis Ramirez, Guest blogger / 06.17.13

So your decade-old HDTV is on the fritz and you're now forced to decide between making the jump to a 2013 model or purchasing an older, but cheaper, HDTV. We know it's a difficult decision to make, and with select HDTVs hitting all-time low prices, we can see why you'd want an "older" model.

But what if we told you that some 2013 models are already seeing solid discounts? And what if these TVs provided better picture quality than any of their predecessors? Maybe you'd consider the latest and greatest? Well, we took a long look at the first round of deals on 2013 TVs and found that the prices are lower than you might expect.

2013 HDTV Prices Have Dropped 40%

CES 2013 may be a hazy memory at this point, but many of the TVs announced in Las Vegas in January are currently stocked at your local big box retailer. And the good news is that many of these sets are already seeing steep discounts, ranging from a minimum of 3% off the manufacturer's price to a surprising 40% off. These promotions include new sets from name-brand companies like Panasonic, Samsung, and LG. (We've yet to see noteworthy deals on major 2013 models from Toshiba and Sharp.)

What's especially surprising is that many of the discounts we're seeing are for premium or mainstream models. ( Continue… )

A father plays with his son on a beach facing the Adriatic sea, near the city of Durres, in April. One of a father's gifts can be sound advice about saving and spending money. (Arben Celi/Reuters/File)

Father's Day gift: a father's advice to his son about saving

By Tom Corley, Contributor / 06.16.13

At age 9, Tom Corley saw his multimillionaire family go broke overnight after a fire destroyed the family business. He went on to head an accounting firm and write a book, “Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.”  Recently, after his son graduated from college and set off on his own, Mr. Corley wrote him this e-mail (with formatting added):

Hi Son. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about saving and budgeting since you moved into your apartment. I wanted to give you some financial advice that I wish someone had given me at age 23:

1. Live below your means – Set aside 20% of every paycheck. Live within that 80%. Do this no matter how much money you make. Surviving on this 80% forces you to live below your means. This enables you to accumulate wealth. This is a Rich Habit. Most have the Poverty Habit of living beyond their means. This is why so many in America are in debt with credit cards, student loans, auto loans and mortgages that exceed the value of their homes.

2. If you get a raise or bonus, set aside 20% of that raise or bonus in addition to the 20% on your regular pay. Same principle as in #1. This ensures that you stick to your savings strategy no matter how much money you make. Not doing this may lull you into increasing your standard of living through the purchase of more expensive things like a bigger apartment, an expensive home, an expensive new car, a boat etc.

3. Max out your contributions to your company retirement plan. If the company matches your contributions, great. That’s free money. Not doing this is a Poverty Habit and means you are foregoing retirement savings and the free money from your employer.

4. Know what you spend every month. Create a monthly budget and track what you spend every day in that month. Not doing this means you really have no control over your expenses and could cause you to spend more than you make.

5. The power of compounding is your friend and will help you accumulate more wealth. If you invested just $250 a month for the next 40 years you would have $500,362 (using a 5% return on investment) when you hit age 64. The power of compounding turned $120,000 into nearly $500,000. $600 per month will turn in to $1,200,900. Of course your net pay is going to rise during your career. If you stick to Rule #1 and #2, your savings will increase with your earnings.

Son, every young person thinks if they work hard they’re going to hit it big and make a lot of money but the reality is very few ever do. The bulk of wealthy people are wealthy because they were taught how to manage money by their parents or they learned about money from some mentor in life. Those who learn these Rich Habits accumulate much more wealth than their peers. Most of the wealthy don’t make a lot of money but they do save a lot of money. Wealthy people know where their money goes. They budget their expenses. This gives them total control over how they spend their money. In order to be wealthy you have to accumulate wealth, not wait until you make a lot of money. Focus on accumulating wealth and if you get a big payday one day – great. It’s icing on the cake. If you stick to the 80% Rule above you will save a lot of money and you will be wealthy by age 45. You will be one of the few among your friends and colleagues because most parents don’t teach their kids the importance of saving, so nobody saves. Accumulating wealth is not about hitting it out of the park. It’s about getting singles. You get enough singles and you will win the game.

I love you

Dad

– Tom Corley is a certified public accountant, certified financial planner, and president of Cerefice and Company in Rahway, N.J. His financial self-help book is a byproduct of his five-year study of the daily activities of 233 wealthy people and 128 people living in poverty.