Great News! Financial Bonds Create Record Returns!

Financial bonds are currently on track to generate their highest annual returns ever, and this robust appreciation has motivated market participants ranging from Pacific Investment Management Co. (Pimco) to DoubleLine Capital LP to predict that the four-year rally will soon come to an end.

Sharp Appreciation 

Index data provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch indicates that debt-based financial instruments issued by major financial services firms JPMorgan Chase & Co. to HSBC Holdings Plc. are currently on track to reach an annual return of 15.4 percent, according to Bloomberg.

If these bonds perform this effectively, they will surpass the robust return of 15.2 percent that bonds generated in 2009, the media outlet reports. The aforementioned financial bonds are currently outperforming industrial notes by 4.3 percent in 2012, which is the largest spread between the two groups of assets on record.

Global Economic Threats 

Although these bonds are generating substantial returns this year, speculation has been mounting that yields have been reduced to a point where investors might be prohibited from buying the debt-based instrument, considering the risks that are currently present in the global economy, according to the news source.

Any deterioration in the euro zone fiscal crisis could aggravate the existing interconnected nature of the global banking system. Pimco is currently in the process of selling some of its financial bonds, after speculating 15 months ago that these debt-based instruments could appreciate further.

The International Monetary Fund recently lowered its economic growth predictions for emerging markets, predicting that they will expand at an average rate of 5.8 percent during the five-year period through 2016. This figure is almost 2 percent lower than the rate of growth they had during the five years before the 2009 global economic downturn.

Bond Market Future

“It’s difficult to see the catalyst for further tightening in bank spreads,” Bonnie Baha, head of global developed credit at Los Angeles-based DoubleLine, which has more than $45 billion under management, told the news source. “They’ve had a terrific run this year.”

While the bonds issued by major financial services firms have experienced robust appreciation so far in 2012, Pimco founder Bill gross has predicted that the economy will produce many years of low bond returns, estimating that the debt-based instruments will return an average of between 2 and 3 percent annually. 

Get Fired and Still Qualify for Unemployment

There is nothing worse then feeling stuck in a sucky job that drives you crazy; except of course, quitting the horrible job and ending up with nothing for your pain and efforts. What can you do to make sure that you don’t get the short end of the sucky job stick? Don’t quit, get fired. Or, better yet, get laid off.

Of course there will be people, like your mother, who will insist that it is better to a) stick it out even if it is slowly crushing your soul like an ant beneath a boot heel or b) quit, so you don’t have a black mark on your record.

However, if you quit, you won’t be eligible for unemployment, especially not now with so many people who actually need help. In fact, in an economy like this one, you should be extremely unhappy and unable to take your current job for one more second before you even think about quitting or getting fired.  Quitting any job right now will no doubt have family and friends calling you a selfish idiot, and they might not be wrong.

If you can get laid off then you can definitely receive unemployment benefits. If you get fired for misconduct or disciplinary measures then your unemployment might be denied. However, no matter what you get fired for, you should still try filing for unemployment.

Read more stories about unemployment:

Getting fired without cause

This means that there was no reason for you to be fired. That there is no company written rule for the reason you were fired and that you didn’t receive adequate written warnings. However, this often doesn’t apply for at-will employees.
At-will employees
An at-will employee can be fired at any time, for any reason (except discrimination or a hostile work environment). If the employer decides to let you go, that’s it. Every state, except Montana, employers may adopt an at-will employment policy.

Things you can get fired for and definitely receive unemployment

1. You were fired for being unable to perform the job. If you were not a good fit for the job, and your previous employer is willing to state that, then you can get unemployment insurance.
2. You can prove that it was a hostile work environment. You cannot be fired for complaining about being harassed or discriminated against. You can’t be fired for reporting or complaining about illegal activity or about health and safety violations. You cannot be fired for taking family and medical leave, taking leave to serve in the military, or to taking time off work to vote or serve on a jury. If you are fired for one of these reasons you should contact a lawyer.
3. You can prove you were discriminated against. You can’t be fired because of your race, religion or gender. If you feel that you were discriminated against, call a lawyer.

Ways to subtly be “let go”

The idea here is to make your workplace more uncomfortable when you’re there without alerting your employer that you are doing it on purpose.

  • You can be subtly and sarcastically mean or cranky.
  • Pretend that you don’t know how to do something. This works especially well if you are asked to do something new.
  • Do just enough to scrape by.
  • Work very, very slowly.
  • Spend time forwarding “funny” emails.
  • Treat work as your personal social club.
  • Be constantly upset, angry, or depressed; anything but happy
  • Have a lot of ongoing personal problems.

Things to watch out for

  • Talk about religion, disabilities or anything else that would make someone afraid to fire you because of the possibility of a law suit.
  • Consistently show up late and leave early.
  • Search porn at work, or other potentially “blocked” websites.

Again, it’s a good idea to keep your job, no matter how much you dislike it, during times of high unemployment.

Laid off? Five Things to Do Right Away

1. File for unemployment. See the Young Money article “Everything You Need to Know about Unemployment” for, well, everything you need to know about unemployment.

2. Start looking for a new job. Network—talk to everyone you know and tell them you are looking for work. Your job search should become your new full-time job. Set goals for yourself and keep them. Search the job sites daily, send letters of interest to companies that you want to work for, and keep a record of everything you do and every place you apply. This will help you from sending the same company your resume and when you do get an interview it will help you remember every correspondence you’ve had with that company.

3. Update your resume. Add your last job to your resume. Be clear, concise, and focused. Try to keep your resume one page—don’t go above two pages. Update your list of references and let them know they might be getting calls. Make sure you are ready for that new job. If you haven’t had to interview for a few years make sure that you have an interview suit that fits. If you have to buy a new one choose a classic cut that will never go out of style.

4. Get health insurance. If you had health insurance with your job then you should get papers for COBRA. COBRA is a continuation of your health care, except now you will be paying the full amount. However, it should still be cheaper then individual health care. And you don’t want to be without health care—one unexpected accident and you could burn through your savings and be accumulating debt in no time. While you have some free time start a new exercise program and begin eating healthy. This will help you deal with the stress of being unemployed and save you money—getting sick can cost a lot in medication and co-pays. For more information about COBRA: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML

5. Cut out the extras.
This means cancel what you don’t need. Cable TV is a good place to start (plus then you won’t be tempted to waste good job searching time in front of the television). Eat at home. Clip coupons. In short, cut every non-essential cost from your life.

Negotiate A Block of Hotel Rooms May Yield Perks

If you’ve ever been to a wedding you’ll likely have seen, along with the invitation, information that indicated that the happy couple has negotiated a special rate with the hotel on a block of rooms. Well, now it’s your turn to negotiate this block of rooms and it’s your job to make sure two things happen:

  • The deal is actually a deal and,
  • You get something out of it.

When you negotiate, be sure to have a general idea of how many rooms you will need and for how many days. Hotels hate having empty rooms and hotels that occur on weekends where that hotel won’t be jam packed (concert or convention weekends would thus be a bad weekend to pick) are great opportunities to negotiate a better deal for your guests. After you get a deal, check to see that you can’t beat (or even match) that deal through travel websites – it’s not a deal if anyone can get it.

Second, make sure you get something out of it like a free room for yourself or some other perk. It’s not uncommon for a hotel to throw in a free room if you hold the reception there or get a whole block of rooms actually reserved and used.

Skip Bottles and Cans, Go With A Keg

If you’re going with the pay as you go method when it comes to the bar (where you pay what your guests drink), consider springing for a keg instead of individual bottles. Just as it was in college, a keg of beer, even with the location markup, will be far cheaper than a keg of beer. When you go to negotiate with the location with respect to the bar, mention that you want to get a keg (you may have to provide a tap if they don’t have one) instead of going with individual bottles.

Vons SoCal… What does “no more doubles” really mean?

Vons in SoCal will stop doubling as of tomorrow, August 1st.

I know that none of us like to hear that, especially me! Vons has been my store since I got married in 1980. But… Even though Vons has been doubling for most of these past decades, some weeks, I shop at Albertsons, a “no double” store. Why? Because at TheGroceryGame.com , we have comparison shopping made fast and easy. It’s fun to log in and merge my “big 3″, Vons, Ralphs, and Albertsons, and sort by savings percentage. Within seconds, I can ascertain where the lowest prices and best deals are for my weekly grocery shopping. I also like to use the search feature to search all the stores’ deals for specific things I need, like orange juice, eggs, bread, and more… And lo and behold, there are weeks it turns out that Albertsons has the best deals, even though double coupons are down the road.

The fact that a non-doubling store could win my favor over a doubling stores is not surprising for two reasons: #1 the biggest savings are not about coupons, but about the sales. And #2, most coupons are for one dollar, and they don’t double anyway.

As we’ve done in the past, just to see what this really means, we did the numbers on the Vons list this week. There were (are) 169 blue and green deals on the Vons list thru July 31st. Noone would buy all 169 deals, but for the sake of this exercise, here are the #s… There were 229 deals on this week’s Vons list, of which 169 were blue for “investing”. IF you bought ALL the blue items:

WITH DOUBLES:

  • 169 blue items
  • Orig Total: 861.84
  • You Pay: 380.25
  • You Save: 481.59
  • Savings: 55%

NO DOUBLES:

  • Same 169 blue items
  • Orig Total: 861.84
  • You Pay: 391.16 (difference of 10.91)
  • You Save: 470.69
  • Savings: 54%

Even with coupons not doubling, the difference is barely noticeable, but we’ve got bigger problems to think about… If you follow my blog, you know grocery prices have been rising, and even the USDA tells us that in 2013, consumers will begin to feel it. But you’re not alone…TheGroceryGame.com has always been at the helm of steering Gamers to the best, fastest and easiest savings nationwide. The higher the prices go, all the more reason to get the best possible savings!

During a 4 week free trial of TheGroceryGame.com, even in the land of no doubles, most families save enough to buy a deep freezer!

Now is the time to dig in and play smart!

My perfect summer BBQ corn!

After trying countless different preparations, our favorite summer BBQ corn is the easiest!

But first… I am very passionate about good fresh corn! My boys used to call it “corn on the bone”!

Important rules for choosing the best corn:

  • Start with fresh in season corn – Can’t do this just any time of year. Starting as early as April and through August is the time to make our move. And if you haven’t been in on the corn party this summer… The time is now! Get with it!!!
  • Where to get the best corn – If you planted corn in your backyard… Bravo! I can brag about my broccoli, tomatoes and a few others, but I’m not a good corn grower. ??? Or if you’re lucky enough to live near corn fields, eat corn every day! The next best thing may be a farmers market or produce stand if you have one nearby. But don’t poo-poo your supermarket just yet… I’ve been thrilled with my Vons corn (Safeway store) ever since it came in season. Plus, and I’ve heard great reviews on Kroger corn nationwide, as well as other supermarket chains having tender juicy sweet corn. Most supermarkets are securing deals from growers and distributors and moving very good fresh corn in their stores at great prices too. So if you don’t have a corn field next door, don’t despair.
  • Choose tamper free ears! – You know that trash can they have in the produce section next to the fresh beautiful ears of corn? Where there’s usually several people gathered around murdering their own corn? I usually grab that trash can, and start having a party throwing husks all over and laughing like a hyena! (Sigh) Ok, I haven’t done that. But you will see me plowing through trying to find some ears that have not been adulterated! Make sure your ears have not been tampered with! The ears must be just as God intended… CLOSED tight in their husks, until you eat them! I hear you, “How do know I’m not getting bad corn?” If you open them now to check, it will guarantee that even good ears WILL be “bad”, as you are opening them up to die, and the little kernels will not be as succulent as they were in their little husky blankets. So… I play with my odds this way… If I have eight people for a BBQ, I buy and cook at least ten ears (Ok, yeah, I would really do 12 for 8 people). Besides, our corn turns out so good, some people eat two! Cook them all. And any that are not pretty in all places for your family or guests, set aside and wrap tightly for the fridge. For leftovers tomorrow, cut off the small marred areas (usually only a few kernels), and use all those good kernels for salads, creamed corn, or just a side dish of corn, or bake in cornbread… You will not waste all the corn on those extra ears.
  • Choose ears that are moist and green, not drying husks.
  • Don’t get greedy on the size! – Bigger isn’t better! A medium to small slender ear will be the best. I know that’s decadent, because you are paying “per ear”.  And I know it’s out of character to hear me tell you to get less for your money, but it’s worth it for tender sweet kernels. Let me help you rationalize, because admittedly I struggled with this for years… If you’re playing TheGroceryGame.com, you’re saving tons on everything else. Plus the corn is is at a good price this time of year. And…  This is your splurge!

Now that you have the best fresh, tender, sweet, perfect, un-marred ears of corn all safe in their little husky blankets, here’s what you do:

1. At least one hour before, soak the corn in water, leaving them safe and secure in their husks!

2. Grill on low on the BBQ. Think of the corn as having four sides, and turn on all four sides, a total of 10-12 minutes (about 2-3 minutes each turn). Close the lid the whole time, only opening to turn the ears.

3. Remove the corn (still in husks) and place in a plastic or paper grocery bag, and wrap the bag of corn in one or two big towels. If you’re at a pool party, a big beach towel is perfect, and fine if it’s damp! I’ll tell you I have just wrapped them in a towel and skipped the bag many times. And it’s fine. But I prefer the plastic bag, as it seems to keep the moisture in, and the towel allows it to steam more. So that’s what I think is best.

4. Let it steam in the towel for about 10 more minutes.

5. Melt butter in a mug in the microwave, and serve with a butter brush. My favorite for butter or BBQ sauce are these $1 paint brushes from Home Depot www.HomeDepot.com

When you remove the husks, the silk will almost fall off! It’s much easier to shuck when cooked this way, than when the corn is raw… and better!

I stand at the end of the BBQ buffet with a trash can, and shuck each ear as my guests come through. I hand them an ear, and steer them past me to the butter brush!

Make sure you have plenty of sea salt within reach of everyone at the table.

And for those who like it (me and my son Christian), mayonnaise and parmesan cheese! (Mexican style!) Not that it needs anything at all, but… Yum!

Corn handles??? Pshaw! Put out lots of those napkins you’re getting on sale with coupons all summer.

Get messy, dig in, and enjoy!

The Cross body purse and other liberating travel tools

Yep, I travel over 150,000 miles a year, which puts me at the top of the food chain in frequent flier status with my chosen airlines, which means I get upgraded to first class for free on almost every flight. But don’t go thinking it’s glamorous or special. It just means that since I often spend an average of 22 hours a week in the air, and 5-7 flights a week, I’m a mess! I’m a road warrior, fighting my way through airports, rental car lines, hotels with no towels, no time for coffee and a broken hair dryer which housekeeping promised to replace, and didn’t. And dont forget, i still have to “work” each day. Yes, do the math, and it comes to about 3-5 hours of sleep usually, so I try to sleep on the plane. But at the moment, I’m somewhere over Kentucky on wifi. Here i sit in first class on a Friday night with mud and salt caked on my boots (snow in Pittsburgh and Chicago), a torn sleeve, a chipped nail, a bad hair day, and about to eat my first meal, some sort of rubberized “chicken?”… And the guy across the aisle hates me because I guess my new cross body purse brushed his shoulder… I apologized, and tried to explain that it was my maiden voyage with this beautiful tassled glittery appendage, but I guess that’s not good enough. It’s ok though because I quit talking on flights years ago. Would rather sleep or work, or in this case, play!

This really is about my cross body purse, but first… I can assure You that when you travel, you don’t need about half of what you pack. Take inventory of what you actually used the next time you unpack from your suitcase. Then take everything out of your purse, and sort into two piles, “used” and “not used” . You’ll thank me for the epiphany. The last three years, Ive survived quite nicely with about half of what i used to haul around the map, and im rarely lacking for anything i cant get if i really need it. I take only travel size everything. And I have a whole system of pragmatism that dictates all that I do. No time to go into the pertinent details of my master packing system, because ive got to tell you about my new love…

On this trip, I decided to downsize my big over the shoulder purse to a tiny cross body purse, because all of this hauling and schlepping has just about ruined my already ailing neck. i had to admit to “self” that my big shoulder purse was probably much more responsible for my troubles than my 33 pound suitcase. So i took the risk and changed a major component in my travel strategy, which meant I had to downsize everything, and slash and burn others. I wrestled with parting with a lot of what I had been married to, thinking “but what if I need it?” The adventurous side of me won th battle, saying, ” tough it out! Now, I have a tiny comb, instead of a brush, hence the bad hair day (and no blow dryer that worked), One chapstick (a must when traveling), one lipstick, small tube of antibacterial hand lotion, immune tablets, zinc lozenges, a few credit cards and ID In a side zipper (no wallet). The only thing I ended up missing from my big purse was my Fedex #, but I quickly made a phone call and got it. Fedex is part of my routine… when I leave the studio, on the way to the airport, I have to drop by Fedex each trip to ship the props to the next city. I have prop boxes leapfrogging all over the us. They should have their own frequent flier miles… But back to the cross body purse… The verdict.. my trial run was a success… I’m a new woman! Follow my lead and be liberated!

My husband gave me the one I’m currently in love with for Christmas, and it’s perfect. But I WANT MORE! Its probably midlife crisis, but I’m loving fringe and tassels. So I’m logged in to wifi to get work done, right? Not! Here’s a few I have my eye on:

http://www.polyvore.com/leather_tassel_cross_body_bag/thing?id=12230336

http://www.ecrater.com/p/9383325/tassel-fringe-womens-handbag-shoulder

Are we learning anything?

The January issue of Woman’s Day magazine is just now hitting the stands. In it is a very insightful article about how this economy has radically changed the way that “we” shop for groceries. According to the 2010 American Pantry study, we all fit into one of four categories according to how we shop. Additionally, the survey of the 2,000 shoppers reveals that 92% of us have changed the way we shop in the last two years. 

So the vast majority of us have spent the last two years changing our shopping habits like we change our underwear, stumbling our way through, trying to find ways to save. This, amid conflicting advice from various experts from blogs to TV news reports, concerns me greatly to say the least.

Just yesterday in the supermarket, I saw a lady filling her cart with less than good deals. The trouble is, I know she was looking for savings, because she was looking at prices, picking up one item, and then putting it back for another. She looked perplexed. And she should be! I read things all the time that make me shudder. And I hear news reports on how to save money, which will only leave a hole in your wallet. Sure, you may save more than before, but you may not, in taking some of this advice that is seemingly shooting from the hip most of the time. So no wonder that poor lady was confused!

I have reporters asking me all the time, “What’s true?” They say they hear things like, “Stay away from the center of the store to save the most money”. What? You’re not allowed to buy oatmeal? By the way, we never pay full price for things in the center store, because we KNOW how to save money in every part of the store! But I digress… And the study shows that 80% of us stay away from big packages because we don’t want to waste food. 80% of us are wrong, people! You’ll see me quoted in the article that yes, in many cases you should steer away from the biggest of the three sizes, as often times, the medium size is less per unit or ounce. But staying away from big sizes because you don’t want to waste food, only means you haven’t learned how to store food. Wrong reason! And there’s more. So much more…

Things are a changin people! And believe me, The Grocery Game databases have been humming away like none other, keeping up with those changes. Yes, things have changed, and old cliches don’t work anymore, and quite frankly, some never did. But the good news is, there’s always a way to save. It just may not be the way you think it is, or thought it was.

I could go on ad nauseum, but I won’t… 

All this to ask the question, over the last two years… “Are we learning anything?” But more importantly, “Are we learning the right things?”

Black Friday Survival!

The BEST way to avoid crowds and even get killer deals is to do a lot of your black friday shopping online.

Amazon has already started alot of black friday specials, usually the Monday before black friday.  It gives you almost a full week to browse.  You can also make wiser choices, as the impulse to buy is lessened.  It is also easier to comparison shop. By that time, the shipping is usually free if over a certain amount. No parking, no hassles, same great deals! SO awesome!

Also, if you go to blackfriday.com, they update the deals as they become available. Most internet black friday deals are available starting at 2 pm est on Thanksgiving day.  They say to buy early to avoid the stock being depleted.  You can link directly to the sales from that website.  

Also, check with the drug stores and supermarkets.  They often also offer black friday deals and are not nearly as crowded. In fact, it’s almost like a normal day sometimes. Drugstores, especially have great gift items for the holidays on Black Friday sales, typically, toys, perfume sets, watches, and more. 

Steer clear of deep discount department stores like Target, Kmart, Walmart. Try stores like Office Max, Staples, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, where the lines are typically much shorter, and not the mass chaos like the aforementioned. But still killer deals!

Stay away from big ticket items, like big screen TVs, which draw the most crowds. Instead think smaller gift purchases, and get some items for next year birthdays, Anniversaries, Valentine’s, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day. Make a shopping list for the year, and you can get them all in one day at rock bottom prices, because you’ll avoid the higher traffic big ticket stores.

Get a head start. Some stores are open on Thanksgiving Day! I would rather laze around with the family though. But if you want to beat the crowds… Maybe that one is for you!

Go with a friend. You’re going to be in line for awhile. Will be nice to enjoy doing your time with a friend that you enjoy.

Don’t carry a purse. Wear a backpack with snacks and water. If you’re a serious Black Friday shopper, you’ll make better use of your time, if you don’t have to get in long lines for food and drink. And will save you money!

And here’s a good one… Shop online and pick up it later from the store. Lots of retailers offer the same great Black Friday deals online. And to avoid shipping costs, many let you pick it up at the store, at a later date!

In the end, if you decide to go out there and battle the crowds, try to keep a good attitude. Wear good walking shoes. Take vitamins, and get plenty of sleep before you go out. Just decide you’re going to have a great day, no matter what! 

The Grocery Game Announces Musical Holiday Contest with $1000 Prize

LOS ANGELES, CA, 11/23/2010 – TheGroceryGame.com, the largest grocery savings and online coupons website in the world, is thrilled to announce their new musical holiday contest for all of their Facebook fans.

To enter the contest, entrants must upload a video of themselves singing their favorite holiday song and post it to the Grocery Game Facebook wall. The video can include family, friends, pets, background music, dancing, costumes and props. Creativity is encouraged; the only requirement is the song must mention “The Grocery Game” at least three times.”

The winner of The Grocery Game musical holiday contest will be chosen by how many “likes” their video receives on The Grocery Game fan page. First place wins $1,000, second place wins $500, third place wins $200, and the top ten finalists will all receive a copy of “Shop Smart, Save More!” by Teri Gault, founder and CEO of TheGroceryGame.com.

Discounted and even FREE Gift Cards!

Now more than ever, retailers are offering gift cards at a discount. In this economy, I expect to see lots of discounted gift cards as we approach the holiday season. Retailers need an influx of cash, and need to bring shoppers into their doors into the new year as well. So this is a great way to do it.

You can bid on or buy gift cards on Ebay. There are plenty of people out there who have received a gift card, and just really need the cash. So you may be surprised at how many you can find. I’ve done it, and been happy with it. But there are things to look out for.

1. Check satisfaction rating of the seller. 

2. If the card has been carried around in someone’s wallet for a long time, and looks worn, it may not be so good for a gift. But works perfectly for you to use to purchase a gift.


When buying on ebay, Watch for ridiculous shipping fees. There’s a fewodd ones on there.


Another great way to find gift cards on the resale market is to check your local paper, or resale paper. This one eliminates the risk considerably. If you buy from a private seller locally, you can see if the card is in good condition. And bring your cell phone, and call the merchant on the back of the card, and check the balance before you buy. Plus you can haggle with the seller.

A quick and easy place to find lots of merchants offering discounted gift cards is through my sister site, www.TeriToday.com. In Teri’s Advantage, you can create a free log in to access all kinds of deals. After you’re logged in, type “gift cards” in the search field, and you’ll see lots of discounted or free cards to choose from. Most of the cards can be purchased on line at significant discounts, and with free shipping for the cards.


Unexpected bonuses… A few weeks ago, I bought two 8.99 razors on sale at Target for 6.99 each. I used 2 coupons for $4 each, and got  a $5 Target gift card that I can use to buy gifts. In essence, the razors cost 50 cents each by stacking the deals: sale + coupons +  $5 giftcard = great savings for holiday shopping.


Free gift cards! Yes, free! Keep an eye out for drugstores that periodically offer a $25 gift card for transferring a prescription. And you’ll be amazed at how many great gift options you can find at drugstores, especially during the holidays, toys, perfume, watches,and more!

This is how I do it!

You can use the new website any number of ways, depending on what works best for you. After the last two weeks of playing with all the ways to use the list, I came up with a process that I really love! This description may seem long, but when I’m doing it, it’s all just quick clicks. Describing it takes alot of words. So bear with me, please. You may decide you like my routine!

I keep my inserts intact, which means I don’t keep a coupon file. Saves me tons of time now, since the list will sort by coupon insert and date. And takes me much less time than cutting and filing all my coupons!

You may do it totally differently. But here’s my process. 

First, I have my defaults set. You can choose to set a number of things for “now” or as “default”. I click “Show/Hide”, then under “category filters”, I made my default to hide: alcohol, baby products, and feminine products. I have Marley, so I want to keep seeing the pet items. He loves his treats!!! Off and on, I stock up on baby supplies to make baskets for baby shower gifts, or to donate. But I have a good supply, and I don’t have any showers coming up. If someone I know is going to have a baby, I can un-check that, and I’ll have months to stock up! Once I become a grandma, I will gladly “uncheck” that default setting to see baby stuff! I will stock up on SO much baby food, baby wash, and all kinds of goodies! I look forward to that day! 🙂

In “Show/Hide” I did not choose to show all details on the list. I like the brevity of scrolling through the collapsed items. That seems cleaner to me in determining the bottom line of cost and what I want to buy. The details open up automatically as I select items, so I like to see details only when I check the items. I also do not choose the default white background. I tried it for awhile. But for me, I find the black background to be easier to look at. These two features I just mentioned were not in the official launch, but members wanted it, so we added it. There are a number of things in “Show/Hide” that were added post launch as per members’ requests. Check out the other options under “Show/Hide” as you may customize with other things as your default.

So that’s it on my default settings on “Show/Hide”. 

Each week, I go through these steps.

1. I hover over the day I’m going to shop on the calendar on the left. 

2. On the “Comparison Shopping At” box on the upper left, I check only the stores that are shopping days according to the calendar for the day I’m going to shop.

3. I click “Change Sorting” and choose “Savings %”. Now my list is sorted with all deals in all stores I’ve selected, starting with the free items, and going down by savings percentage.

4. I check off all the things I want to stock up on until I get to 60-70% range. Now, I begin to think about what I’m out of and pay attention to blacks and blues, and become even more selective. I do go all the way to the end, even into low savings percentages, because maybe there is something there that I really like, or forgot that I “need”.

5A. Now I change the sort order to sort by “aisle”. I usually only shop one store. So I will scan through and see which stores have the best deals for me this week, with the most things I like. Then, I go to the “comparison shopping at” box on the upper left, and uncheck the stores I will not be going to, leaving the one store checked that I have chosen for this week. The items that I had previously checked are all there, just without the other stores’ items. I really like this, because some weeks one store is better than others, and vice versa. I like being able to compare quickly and choose the best store each week.

5B. If I have time to cherry pick (go to multiple stores), I uncheck the stores that have the same thing. Like if 3 stores have Wishbone salad dressing, I choose the one with the best price, and uncheck the list items from the other 2 stores. I also change quantities as I go, in case I decide to get more of something. This updates my subtotal too! (running subtotal of what I’ve checked, is shown on bottom left box)

6. Now I click “Gather Coupons”. I love this so much! Because it will only show me the items that have coupons. And it’s listed by coupon insert and date. And since I don’t keep a coupon file, it’s a huge time saver for me! On the left is a tally of the sections from the paper that I will be going into to find my coupons. Sort by coupon date is something that members have asked for for many years! Plus the printables are sorted in groups too, so I can easily see what I need to print, as well as electronic coupons (cellfire), and others.

7. I hover over any symbols to see the notes I need to know about. I really love not having to look down at the footer or up in the header to figure out what those abbreviations mean!

8. Now I click “Print and Shop”. Since I left it at sort by “aisle”, it’s ready to print that way. But if I didn’t leave it by “aisle”, I could choose it by “aisle”, or another way. Printing the list by “aisle” works for me. Because I can put my coupons in order of my printed list, and find things in the store very easily. When it prints, if I had multiple stores, it will print out each store separately and sorted by aisle.

I love the tally of the subtotal on the left. I watch that as I’m checking off items. It’s great to know about how much I will be spending! And I like to see my savings percentage. Funny thing, when I shop at one store, I’m usually right at about 67% off! if I cherry pick, I’m usually saving 80% or better! 🙂

Maybe you’ll try my routine. Or find a method that works for the way you shop!

Whipping WalMart… Once Again

Yes, I’m whipping WalMart… AGAIN! I probably blab about it too much. But I can’t help it. So without further ado…

Even though they’re losing some market share to alternative markets, WalMart still has consumers under their spell. This article articulates some of the problem, although not news  to Grocery Gamers:

Now see Grocery Gamers’ comments here:
IN addition to what the Daily Finance article has to say about Walmart pricing, let me tell you the foundational reasons why WalMart is not the cheapest place for groceries. Despite their convincing sales pitches which imply that they meet or beat all local sales of their competitors, that’s not entirely true. Here’s the facts:

#1 – WM will not match competitors’ UN-advertised sales. This is important, because sometimes, more than half the best deals at your local supermarket are UN-advertised. And those UN-advertised sales will typically dip lower than WalMart’s “every day low prices” (EDLP).

#2 – Whether advertised or not, WM will not match BOGOs. You know those great “Buy one Get one Free” sales at your supermarket? WM does not match those. Again, a BOGO will typically dip lower than WM’s EDLP.

#3 – WM don’t match % off sales. If Kraft products are all 50% off for example, Walmart doesn’t match that.

Even though I’ve preached it until I’m blue in the face, TheGroceryGame.com has been forced to offer lists for Walmart! Yes, forced! Because people want it, we have Walmart LISTs nationwide. Here’s the funny part though… People get the four week FREE trial, in which they have access to all our LISTs. So, in some areas, there may be as many as 9 other LISTs during their trial. So those who come to TheGroceryGame.com looking to save at Walmart rarely end up keeping Walmart as one of their store choices. By using their trial period to compare prices at all supermarkets in their area, they learn that I’m not crazy after all! The local supermarket beats Walmart over all, every where!

Just poked into our databases to make sure I’m not crazy, and that nothing’s changed. Here’s just one typical example, some hard #s for Ragu pasta sauce this week:

Walmart in Meijer area with coupons:  $1.20
Meijer with coupons: 52 cents

Walmart in Winn Dixie area with coupons: $1.20
Winn Dixie with coupons: 90 cents

I could go on and on with the above exercise. But suffice it to say, this is what we see nationwide on most of the grocery prices in our databases.

So, take your blinders off, and take a good hard look. Or don’t look in that direction anymore. Liberate yourself! And enjoy winning The Grocery Game at your friendly, beautiful, local supermarket, and save even more money!

There now…  Doesn’t that feel better?

What I wish I had known about getting into college

Now that Christian’s going off to college, there are so many things I wish we would have known long ago. Thankfully, Christian got accepted to the private university of his choice, and even got a partial scholarship. But during this process there were things I wish we had known to do before he started his freshman year in HS.

#1 Spend some time going through college applications on college websites with your child. – Once you start to see the fields information that must be filled in on the applications, you and your student will have a better idea of what he or she needs to be doing now, in order to give great answers to those questions in the future.

#2 – Start taking SATs as early as possible. You can take them again and again, and the higher score prevails. This is VERY important. While a high GPA is ideal, a good SAT can counteract less than perfect grades. Also, some scholarship grants are based on either a high GPA and/or a high SAT.

#3 Take advantage of all the support materials and programs at www.CollegeBoard.com. This is the site where you sign up for your SAT. All you have to do is opt to participate in the many support programs available. Sign up for the free Collegeboard SAT “Question of the day”, which gives you a daily dose of how the questions work, and is very helpful. If Christian had been doing this every day for just a few minutes for a couple of years, I think it would have helped him immensely with his score. There are also lots of other great tools on the website. There are also SAT study DVDs, CDs, etc for purchase.

#4 Become active in an extracurricular – Nearly every college application asks about extracurriculars. If your child excels in academics, she should join a chess team, a debate team, spelling bee, or any other academic activity for which you can attain accolades and awards. It needs to be an official extracurricular through the school or other reputable organization. Your student should strive to win awards, which he can cite on the college application.

#5 Another extracurricular can be a sport. Scholarships abound for athletes. If your son or daughter shows outstanding athletic ability, it can pay off big to augment their natural ability with ongoing private lessons in the sport. $6,000 invested over the course of 4 years in high school for our first son Joe resulted in a six figure scholarship. A great investment! To reach for an athletic scholarship, your child will also need to excel in club and tournament teams during the off season, which means all summers and all vacations will be booked! If they don’t “make” a good tournament or club team, chances are they will not be competitive when it comes to winning an athletic scholarship for that sport. Be realistic, and try to look at your child objectively. Basically, if your child tries out for several good tournament teams or club teams, and doesn’t make the teams, chances are those coaches are going to be seeing what college coaches see as well. Maybe they’re not as athletically competitive as you may think. So be careful about putting your eggs in the wrong basket!

#5 Make the extracurricular a “job” – Our boys knew they were not going to get into college on the merit of their academics alone. So we made rules about their sports, baseball for Joe, and football for Christian. They knew that this is what they do, not just for fun, but primarily to get into college, and hopefully win scholarships! In addition to keeping their grades up, their “job” was to go to the gym, get proper rest, and practice their sport on a regimented schedule. Their commitment, along with our financial support paid off for both of my boys.

#7 Be active in a charity or community service organization – College applications will want to know that there was a consistent commitment to some sort of organization. The longer you’re involved the better. The frosting on the cake is that it builds character. Note: Christian helped an Eagle scout friend with a number of his projects. He got some very nice thank you letters on Boy Scout letterhead. But it wasn’t his own project and wasn’t something he could mention on the college application or in the admissions interview. Christian had participated in several “IServe” projects through his school, spent weekends landscaping at youth camps, construction work at Salvation Army camps, etc. He did talk about that on his college admissions interview, which he felt was helpful in getting accepted.

I hope this helps you to realize that getting into college, and especially getting a scholarship is something that requires alot of work and commitment throughout the high school years. It’s more than just good grades. Talk about college often. And make college a goal. It’s worth it!

Supermarkets Chasing Consumers

Grocery shoppers are changing how and where they shop. Those who never set foot in smaller discount alternative markets are now going where they “think” the savings are. So supermarkets are chasing these consumers in various ways…

Most major supermarket chains have and still are lowering a thousand or more prices to EDLP (Every Day Low Prices). Safeway and Kroger banners did some lowering over the last few years. A&P just started a new price lowering campaign, with a new spokesperson, Kelly Ripa. Probably one of the biggest celebrities ever signed on to a supermarket. They mean business!

Some major chains are opening up smaller alternative markets, with a focus on discount groceries. Delhaize, who owns Food Lion, has their smaller discount version called Bottom Dollar. And Wakefern owned Shoprite has their PriceRite discount version. Both companies have vowed to roll out more this year and next. Delhaize has held at 28 Bottom Dollars since 2008, and are now expecting to move forward again, and double the number of stores by end of 2010. Properties are cheap, and it’s a good time to roll out more stores.

We also have numerous dollar stores on the rise, along with discount grocers like Aldi. Together, they’re taking a greater share of the market than ever before, and expanding with more stores. Aldi opened up a plethora of stores in the Dallas area. Plus, they’ve managed to attract shoppers even in more afluent areas of DFW. Consumers are on the move!

With all that said, I promised to reveal the Aldi comparisons that we did for some press in the DFW area. We spent $95.67 at Aldi on groceries, health & beauty and paper goods. Using coupons with sales at Kroger, we bought the same quantity or more of brand name products for $65.69, a 31% savings over Aldi. The same results are expected when playing nationwide. Remember, we’re investing at the right time, with rock bottom sale with coupon.

Now, dollar stores… Our Quality Control department put together some figures from our databases nationwide compared to “Dollar Tree”. Frozen fruit was the best deal, and was the same or beats the frozen fruit at most supermarkets when on sale with coupons. Other than that, supermarket sales beat Dollar Tree by an average of 34%. Add a coupon to the mix, and supermarkets blew them away. The difference with coupon and sale was as high as 80% savings over Dollar Tree. 

Don’t try this at home… If you do your own comparisons, you’ll come up confused. But if you play TheGroceryGame.com, you’ll agree. We’re not eliminating Aldi and Dollar stores from reality. We know there are good deals, and even Gamers stop in for “need shopping”. But they’re not the last word in savings. If you understand The Grocery Game, you know that EDLP (Aldi), has low prices all the time. But when major supermarkets (Hi-Lo pricing) goes on sale, their sale prices typically dip lower than Aldi. Add a coupon, and you’re saving even more. It’s a 12 week cycle that we follow to invest in Grocery Game style. It’s strategic and it works, with or without coupons.

Too bad consumers don’t know all that. If they did, the supermarket chains wouldn’t have to build all those smaller version discount stores… sigh…

10 on Tuesday: Packing Tips

I am moving in 3 weeks. I am moving in 3 weeks. Wait… I’m moving in 3 weeks? Yikes. I’d better start packing!

Packing is the worst, man. Having to cram all the I’ve accumulated over two years of living in this house into boxes and then into pick-up trucks is going to be so much work. Goodness gracious, I need a nap just thinking about it.

I scoured the Internet for the best packing tips I could find (let’s be honest, I need them, too). I hope these help you in your moving endeavors!

1. Plan ahead

Give yourself at least six weeks to pack so you’re not scrambling around at the last second, cramming fragile items into boxes. Full disclosure: I did not plan ahead. I am less than a month away from my moving date and have not packed a single thing. Whoops.

2. Do you need a moving truck? Probably not

If you’re moving major appliances like a refrigerator, washer, or dryer, you may need to rent a moving truck. However, if you’re just renting you probably don’t have these items. Rally up family and friends with trucks to help you move your furniture. I mean, why else did they buy a truck?

3. Free boxes at big stores

Many stores have free boxes left over from shipments. Call Hannaford, WalMart and other major retailers in your area and see if they have any boxes you can snag for free. They may only cost $1 a box at storage unit and rental places, but they add up quick.

4. Wrap it up

In the weeks before your move, save those Sunday newspapers to wrap plates and other breakables.

5. Light items, big boxes

Linens, pillows, towels and blankets are all relatively light. Pack them up in large boxes.

6. Heavy items, small boxes

Imagine packing your entire stash of textbooks from all four years of college into a large box, and then topping it off with your cinder block collection (I kid). Just because it fits in a big box, doesn’t mean you should pack it in a big box. You would need a forklift to carry the box into your new place! Stick to the “heavy items, small boxes” rule and you won’t need any machinery to unpack. 

7. Label, label, label

Mark each box with which room it’s destined for and a brief description of what’s inside to make for easy unpacking.

8. Pack essentials last

As you get down to the last days before your move, you should pack almost everything. Almost. Keep essentials available for the last few days. Pack a bag as if you’re going on a three or four day trip somewhere, complete with toiletries, clothing and necessary electronics/chargers. Live out of that bag until the move is complete.

9. Unpack before you unpack

Huh? What I mean to say is, unload everything from the various trucks, cars and pack mules you used to transport your stuff before you start opening boxes. Go step by step for a smooth moving process.

10. Clean before you unpack

Don’t put your nice clean things into the dirty, dusty cupboards or closets that someone else used before you. Clean them first! It’s much easier to clean before your things are put away.

Now, where did I put that packing tape…

Top 5 Reasons for a Budget

If you don’t have a budget, why should you set one up? If you are generally aware of how you spend your money, what is the point of creating a restricting and time-consuming budget? 

The truth is, a budget doesn’t have to be restricting OR time-consuming. In fact, it can provide a framework for you to reach your financial goals, and give you the flexibility to enjoy life! 

Here are my Top 5 reasons for setting up a NON-restricting budget

REASON #1

http://www.learnvest.com/2014/10/keep-it-simple-the-one-number-strategy-to-budgeting/

A budget makes it easy to visualize your financial goals.

The budget is a tool that enables you to do the work each month, in order to reach the bigger picture – your goal. Whether your goal is buying home, a car, going on vacation, traveling, or paying off your student loans, your monthly budget is your way to get there!

REASON #2

A budget can help put boundaries on different parts of your spending, while allowing you some flexibility. A budget is NOT about depriving yourself, and you don’t have to count every single penny that you spend. Basically, the budget tells you how much of your pay can go toward bills and goals, and how much you can enjoy. 

REASON #3

Budgeting is simple! The “Fixed, Financial Goals, and Flex” guidelines help you to remember where your money needs to go. The categories are simple and straightforward.

REASON #4

It’s easy to see where you need to cut back. 

REASON #5

You feel in control of your financial life, and your financial future! 

For more details on how to create your budget, visit LearnVest.com and watch the video that takes you through the simple, pain-free steps of budgeting. I hope that you are encouraged to try out a simple budget to help make your life easier!