|Insider Tips on How to Maximize Your Dollar

I’d like to introduce Gen-A’s newest discount partner, Golfsmith (who just happens to be having a big Labor Day Sale!)

I could tell you all about Golfsmith’s 40+ years in business and how they have nearly 30,000 individual golf and tennis products in stock and ready to ship, but in my moneysaving mind, all you really need to know is that they have a big Pre-Owned section!  This week’s feature: save $200 on a pre-owned Callaway X-22 Tour Iron Set.

 If you are a Gen-A member and would like access to their sales and specials, just log in to the Gen-A site, click on the Benefits tab, scroll down and click on the Golfsmith logo.

You will see a banner for the Golfsmith Outlet store where they are having a Semi Annual Sale and Clearance Event; you can save 10 – 60% off original prices + free shipping on orders of $99 or more!

Here’s a sampling of some of the items currently on sale at their online outlet store:

• TaylorMade 2009 Burner Tp driver was $399.00, now $129.98 (save $270.00)
• Nike Dymo Squared Driver, was $299.99, now $129.99 (save $170.00)
• Never Compromise Gm2 Exchange Putter was $229.99, now $59.99 (save $170.00)

 Plus, you can save up to 60% on golf apparel, as well as additional savings on golf shoes, accessories, balls and bags.

One thing you should know about Golfsmith is that they’re extremely customer oriented.  Here’s why I say that:

• They have $5.99 flat rate shipping every day.
• 115% Low Price Guarantee:  Golfsmith.com will match 100% of a published price on a stocked item PLUS an additional 15% of the difference from a competing web site on any identical, in-stock item.
• 90/90 Playability Guarantee:  If for any reason you are not satisfied within the first 90 days after your club purchase, return your clubs to Golfsmith and receive a credit of up to 90% of the original purchase price toward your next club purchase.

 GO FORTH AND GOLF!

For 3 Days Only!  Get $100 in free dining when you spend $100 at Advance Auto Parts.  This offer will be valid Saturday, August 28 and will end after Monday, August 30th .  If you are a member of Gen-A and would like to take advantage of this offer, or to find out more information, simply log in to the Gen-A website, click on the Benefits tab, and then click on Advance Auto Parts.  Remember, since it doesn’t start until tomorrow, it’s not yet posted on our site . . . but come Saturday morning, grab your cup of coffee and log in to get your deal!

It’s called Group Discount Buying and it’s become a favorite of Internet bargain hunters.

My first experience with this: When I lived in LA I used to get a particular type of facial that was difficult to find here in Austin; and when I finally did find it, I also found that it cost twice as much here as it did in LA! 

That is, until I found out about Group Discount Buying.  I was able to buy it at a 50% discount, which brought it down to the price I was used to paying.  It was about this time I decided to make these discounts available on the Gen-A website, these are the types of deep savings that I like to pass on to our members!

On the Generation America website  (you will need to be a member and be logged in to access these) we have links in our Benefits section for Groupon and LivingSocial. 

LivingSocial offers one fantastic deal every day with discounts of up to 90% at local restaurants, bars, spas, theaters and more.

Groupon features daily deals from top local businesses in over 140 cities around the world. It has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and was named the #1 Hottest Website for 2010 by Fox Business News.

How it works: you will need to sign up to get on their email lists—each day they’ll email you what their daily deal is, which is always at least 50% off on some of your favorite restaurants and activities.  They aren’t in every city however—although both of them are adding new locations all the time—so check to see if your city is included (if it’s not you can send them a request to add yours ASAP!).

For example, today’s deal (for Austin, TX) on LivingSocial is: two private horseback riding lessons for $49, which is 62% off the regular price of $130.  Groupon’s deal today is: pay $10 for $20 worth of Mexican Brunch or Lunch at Carlos Santana’s restaurant: Maria Maria.

As a final note, I’ll share my thoughts on using coupons—they only really work to save you money if you use them on things you already buy, or have budgeted for in advance.  In your efforts to “save money”, you could be easily enticed to purchase things that you don’t normally consume–resulting in frivolous purchases that eat up your available cash, so please proceed with a certain amount of caution!

My very favorite place to buy bath products (shampoo, conditioner, scrubs, lotions, shower gel, etc.) is . . . Marshall’s believe it or not!

I used to splurge and buy an expensive salt scrub that cost $25.00 (from a name brand store).  It was very luxurious, smelled great and left my skin feeling fresh and well, scrubbed.  I never did like paying that price though.

One day I wandered over to the bath and body products section in a Marshall’s store and ended up buying not only a comparable scrub, but a couple of shampoos, conditioner, lotion AND shower gel for the same price I used to pay for that one salt scrub!  And I’m talking equally luxurious brands:  shampoo from France, lotions from Great Britain, shower gel with olive oil from Italy, Dead Sea salt scrubs from Israel.  So now, that’s the only place I go to buy those items.

Once I get home though, I do take the price tags off.  Like I said in my first post: I love looking like I spent beaucoup bucks on something; who has to know where I got it from?  ; )

Even a savvy shopper like me learns new ways to shop smarter every day.  I recently went to buy some vitamins and went to one of my favorite vitamin stores: Vitamin Shoppe.  I like them because they carry some of the specialized brands that I prefer even though they are 25+ miles away from my house.

 However, I recently did some research and found that, in general, buying vitamins online saves you money—on the vitamins themselves as well as on gas, wear and tear on your car and travel time.

 One website in particular has especially good prices. I did a comparison of their prices versus VitaminShoppe.com and the in-store prices at the Vitamin Shoppe.  For more info: please take a look at the comparison chart below.

If you are a member of Generation America, you can sign up for the Value Health Discount Card (login, click on the Benefits tab and scroll down to the Health & Beauty section).  This card provides 10% to 60% discounts on dental, vision, pharmacy, chiropractic and other health benefits.  If you buy the premium plan, it also gives you an additional 10% savings on any vitamins purchased on VitaCost.com.  Orders may be placed online or toll free by phone.

 Also, when you’re on the VitaCost.com home page, take a minute and scroll down to the “Coupons, Discounts & Deals” tab.  They offer a free one year subscription to “Health” magazine with any purchase of $50.00 or more as well as some other really great specials…definitely worth a look.

 In conclusion: I wish I’d had this information a week ago!  I could have saved myself $25.00 not to mention about an hour of travel time.

* Value Health Discount Card: 10% Discount on vitamins purchased on VitaCost.com .  

 ** The VitaCost.com site states: “In the states of Florida, North Carolina and Nevada, you will be charged that state’s sales tax on all products.” The VitaminShoppe.com site states: “Residents in some states must pay applicable sales tax for certain types of products. To see if your order will be charged sales tax, please click here; or refer to your local sales tax rate as applicable.”  I checked and there were 33 states that will have to pay sales tax on all or part of their orders. Vitamin Shoppe (In Store): My Vitamin Shoppe in-store receipt showed that no sales tax was charged.

*** VitaCost.com offers free shipping on any order of $79.00 or more, otherwise they charge a flat rate shipping fee of $4.99.  VitaminShoppe.com offers free shipping on orders of $99.00 or more. They also have a flat rate fee of $4.99 for orders less than $99.00

Free music still exists!  Login to the Generation America website , click on the Benefits tab, scroll down to the iTunes logo and click on it—you’ll see a special offer from iTunes for a “Free Single of the Week”.  This is a great deal…nothing beats FREE!

Hi.  My name is Suzanne and this is my blog.  I’ll be writing about one of my favorite subjects: saving money.  I have many years of experience in this area.  I thought I’d begin by relaying a little bit about me and my enthusiasm for the fine art of saving.

There’s not much I like to brag about, but I do love to brag about the savings on my purchases.  I love the hunt.  I love getting something of good quality for a fraction of the price.  I love the idea of looking like I spent beaucoup bucks on something.  I also love the thrill of seeing a tag with the original price followed by all the various markdowns (hopefully there are many!) slashed to an even better, more enticing price.

My all time winner in this category was a Carmen Marc Valvo dress I bought at Neiman Marcus Last Call which I ended up getting for 4.3% of the original price.  95.7% off!!  How this came about was that I decided to take the plunge and browse the clearance rack.  Now, this isn’t just any clearance rack…this is THE clearance rack; the one that you don’t see most people browsing because, well…it’s just too plain embarrassing.  I mean, we all know we’re already shopping in a Clearance store—but to shop the Clearance rack at a Clearance store?  If you’re still not convinced, Last Call has now labeled this clearance rack the “Chip and Dent” rack.  I think that says it all.  This rack usually contains clothing that is barely suited to still be for sale.  There are items missing buttons or with broken zippers, or part of the outfit is missing altogether.  And of course the sizes are either way too big, or something so small it could double as a handkerchief.  So it was, with mild trepidation that I wandered over to peruse said rack and found The Dress.  In my size.

The original price for this dress was $2,250.00.  That’s two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars in case you thought I had misplaced a zero somewhere.  From there it was marked down to $787.00 and then to $195.99 when it finally landed in the Chip and Dent Rack.  In addition to this new low, the clearance rack held a sign announcing an additional 25% off the lowest marked price.

As it turns out, I happened to be in the store on a special day wherein if you used your Neiman Marcus Credit Card, you then saved an additional 30% off your total purchases.  To clarify, I asked one of the sales ladies about it which she confirmed.  Apparently it was a pretty easy task to accomplish she informed me, in that all you had to do was turn over your driver’s license plus the last 4 digits of your Social Security card and wait about five minutes for approval.

Mine took about three.

Once my new credit card was approved, she rang the dress up and announced the bottom-line total: $97.75.  We both looked at each other and gasped.  The only words I could utter at that point were “Them’s Target prices!!”

[One word of caution must be entered here: the interest rate on a Neiman Marcus credit card is in the, let’s just put it this way “Empire State building region”, so my advice is to ONLY use it to get the extra discount and then pay it off immediately! As a matter of fact I double-checked with their Customer Service department and found out you can shop there, pay with your NM CC and immediately go to the Customer Service desk to pay off what you’ve just charged.  According to the person I spoke with, many people only use their NM CC as a “discount card” in just this fashion.]

If there are any like-minded shoppers out there (you know who you are) that has a similar price reduction story, share it with us on this blog!