Shopping

Saving Money at the Very Best Outlet Stores

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Just this past week I checked out a new Sketchers outlet store here in my neighborhood and I have to tell you I was pretty impressed. Located in an existing strip mall on a major highway, it was way more than I expected and actually presented itself as a very classy and well-appointed shoe store for the family. It even had their own brand of sportswear and accessories to go with its well-known shoe brand. The store was clean and beautiful, and it didn’t make me feel like I was shopping at a discount store.

Outlet stores have changed over the years, but they are still a great place to find bargains. Here's what to look for when you're shopping the outlets.

The prices appeared to be pretty awesome with discounts of 30-70% off the “regular” retail. Skechers are not cheap shoes (if price is any indicator) and these shoes were mostly priced under $50 with some under $30. A note of caution with any retailer or outlet store: don’t just believe in the fantasyland savings of things like “Reg. $250.00, now just $ 9.99”! That’s pretty much just showbiz in an outlet store. But, even with that in mind, it seemed to me I was shopping at one of the very best outlet stores I had ever seen.

Continue reading“Saving Money at the Very Best Outlet Stores”
More, Personal Finance

The Importance of Money – Revisited

There are thousands of personal finance questions that people ask about and wish they had the answers to. For example, we all wish we had the answer to finding easy ways to make some extra money, don’t we? That’s a subject that every personal finance blogger has been asked about and probably offered dozens of different ways to do it. But besides finding new ways to earn, people search on the answers to many other questions.

The importance of money can be debated, but in the end, we all need it to survive in this society. Here's why it really is important.

Whether it’s earning extra money to paying off debts, getting the best deals when you shop, learning ways to budget your money each month, or stretching your cash, every question is important and needs some kind of valuable answer. The good news is that there are no shortages of personal finance bloggers that will offer their expert opinions. But, there is one very “cerebral” question that is asked of me constantly and it’s this one:

Why is money so important?

Continue reading“The Importance of Money – Revisited”
More

Happy Blogiversary: Celebrating 5 Years of Super Saving Tips!

This month celebrates Super Saving Tips 5th blogiversary and begins year number six! Can you believe it? I find it hard to believe myself. As I approach post number 500 totaling well over 500,000 words (mostly spelled correctly), I feel pretty proud.

It's time to celebrate Super Saving Tips' 5th blogiversary! Here's a little bit about how far it has come.

So the first thing I really want to say here is:

Thank you for reading, commenting on, and supporting Super Saving Tips over the past five years!

Continue reading“Happy Blogiversary: Celebrating 5 Years of Super Saving Tips!”
Personal Finance

How Personal Finance Bloggers are Reinventing the Wheel

Every single day of the week, over a thousand personal finance bloggers (many of whom are way more successful than I am) are read by hundreds of thousands of people. All of them, and you and I, talk a lot about what’s “really important to know” or “what you have to know” about your personal finance details to be “successful”. Yes, there are always some new ways of thinking about that, but there is one undisputable truth about your personal finances. That truth is easily identified and it is:

The most important rules of successful personal finance are the ones that just never change.

Personal finance bloggers like me are reinventing the wheel by bringing new relevance and perspectives to age-old truths.

Fundamentally Speaking…

The wheel has been said to be invented by the Sumerians around 3500 BC. But, there is evidence and also a historical belief that the wheel was first used around 12,000 years before that and was “invented” many times by totally different societies that had no contact with each other. That information is interesting because it reinforces my premise that once something is established and proven to be an item that actually works and works well to accomplish a goal (like the wheel), it just never changes.

Continue reading“How Personal Finance Bloggers are Reinventing the Wheel”
Saving & Investing

The Super Saving Tips Money Savings Challenge

Today I’d like to throw down some great money saving ideas to put on your agenda and “challenge” you to save! Some of these are old tested and true standards and some are a little bit off the beaten path, but sometimes we need to be reminded about the simple ways to save our money. I am going to take my own savings challenge and report back to you after the month of May. I want you to do the same and follow these tips!

This month, it's time for a savings challenge, and I'm proposing 7 different kinds. Choose what works for you and let me know how it goes!

Money Savings Challenges for You to Try

1. A no spending to and from work week

You may be thinking, “Gary, that’s just totally impossible!” Nope. Well you ask, “how is it done?” It is quite easy actually. First, go ahead and fill your gas tank up the day before you start this particular challenge. You’re going to need gas for sure, but by doing it in advance you can easily avoid the temptations of stopping by the gas station on your way to work to get a little pick-me-up coffee and bagel. Make a cup and a snack at home before you head out the door. Can you manage to put the spending on hold for just those five work days? You can most definitely do this challenge. I believe in you. When the work week is over, you just might want to start applying this saving tactic to your life every week. Do it and you can easily save $25 every week!

Continue reading“The Super Saving Tips Money Savings Challenge”
Frugality

Free Perks You Didn’t Know You Already Have!

Finding a $20 bill in your coat pocket is something you’ve just got to love when it happens! But even though that is great news and a surprise, it is probably just your very own $20 bill that you forgot about and misplaced, so it really doesn’t give you a real “something for nothing” win. Wouldn’t it be much better if the “money fairy” just left it in your pocket for fun? Well, that is actually the case, sort of, when you take a look at some of the free perks you have and didn’t know you already have!

With credit cards and memberships, you may be entitled to many free perks that you don't even realize. Here's just the beginning of what to look for.

Free, Free, Free…Did I Say Free?

Some companies actually do give you free stuff and benefits and maybe you just don’t ever even know about it! One of my mentors, back in the day, told me something that has stuck with me through the years and its so true. He told me:

If you ever do something nice for your customers, then you need to tell them about it! After all, if they don’t know, then you have wasted all of your good intentions and the credit for it.

No credit for it and well, it is really a wasted effort, isn’t it?

Continue reading“Free Perks You Didn’t Know You Already Have!”
Cars, Home

Freon and the Exploding Cost of Your Air Conditioning Units

Ever since 1970, we have been celebrating Earth Day and we just did that again this past week. You probably saw something on the news about it and maybe even participated to help celebrate it and defend the honor of our planet, too. Even if you didn’t actually celebrate it, you at least, hopefully, did some recycling of your own garbage that helped. And soon, like it or not, you’ll have to trade in your freon air conditioning for something more ecologically-friendly.

Freon air conditioning is a danger to our planet and is about to become significantly more expensive. Find out why and what you can do about it.

Let’s face it, Mother Earth has been fighting a huge battle against pollution now for what seems like forever and she hasn’t exactly been winning the war, has she? Climate change that has been aided by humans is a real issue and there are some ways you can actually help in the fight.

Continue reading“Freon and the Exploding Cost of Your Air Conditioning Units”
Personal Finance

Life in the Financial Fast Lane?

Smart people will tell you that the good things in life will just never come quickly or easily. When it comes to things like relationships, careers, fitness, and money, for example, those who are able to achieve the best results are usually the ones among us that are the most patient.

When it comes to your finances, you want to get in the fast lane to overnight success. But it's more important to know where you're going and how to get there.

Overnight success just doesn’t happen for everyone and that is even more so when it comes to your finances and financial well-being.

Of course, this makes sense, since if that wasn’t true, life would be way too easy and you wouldn’t have to work very hard for it. It would also mean everyone would be in a really great financial position in their lives and be traveling in the “financial fast lane”. Take a quick look around and you’ll see the reality of that. It just doesn’t happen that way for an awful lot of people.

Continue reading“Life in the Financial Fast Lane?”