Save Money On Your Grocery Bill – Debt Consolidation
Save Money On Your Grocery Bill
Shannon Jarvies
Weve all heard about certain ways to cut your grocery bill like avoiding the grocery store when youre hungry, using coupons on double coupons day, and buying only the items on your list. These are all good tips and we should keep using them. However, Ive found a few pointers that might help you save even more on your grocery bill.
The first thing you need to do after youve made your grocery list is to try to figure the total cost of your grocery bill. Make sure youve got everything on the list that youll need because after youve made an educated guess youre going to go to your purse or wallet, take out the cash and leave the rest behind. Believe me, this will definitely cut back on the unnecessary extras because you wont have the credit cards to fall back on. And if youre like me, youd rather be hung upside down by your toe nails than be found short at the check out.
Dont be afraid to look on the day-old bread rack or in the "about to expire" section of the meat department. You have to be careful, but youll probably be able to tell whether the item is good. Just make sure to use it right away, dont let it sit in your refrigerator for a week. Who knows, it just might "meat" your expectations and save you money in the process!
Another thing to think about is the time of day, time of week and even time of month that you are shopping. Ive found that early in the morning and in the middle of the week is when the grocery stores are less busy and youll be able to get more efficient shopping done. Be careful not to go on the first day or two of the month. Some stores have been known to raise prices because that is the time that social security and welfare checks go out.
Buy in bulk when it makes sense. If youre shopping at Costco or Sams Club you still need to comparison shop. Ive found that some of the items are just as inexpensive at our local grocery store and there have been times when Costcos or Sams Club prices where higher. So most of the time it makes sense for me to get most of our groceries at my local store because we live two hours away from Sams Club
Look high and low for savings, literally. The grocery stores purposely place the higher-priced name brand items at eye level. The lower priced generic and store brands are usually higher and lower than the brand name items. Remember that the generic brand or store brand isnt always the less expensive. Some stores Ive been to list the cost per ounce, or per item trash bags so be sure to compare these prices when shopping.
Last but not least, if youve got kids at home try to find another mom to trade shopping times with. Its a lot easier to shop without kids, you wont be tempted to buy extras just to keep them quiet and youll have more time to comparison shop. Your chances of having an enjoyable shopping experience will go up as well as their chances for survival!
About The Author
Shannon Jarvies is a work at home mom with five beautiful children and a wonderful husband. Visit her Debt Management Website for debt consolidation, budgeting help and money saving tips and ideas. And join her Money Management Discussion Group
http://consolidationdebtfree.com
shannon@consolidationdebtfree.com
New Bill to Keep Banks out of Real Estate – Real Estate
New Bill to Keep Banks out of Real Estate
Sid Cameron
This week Congress introduced a bill titled, "Community Choice in Real Estate Act," to permanently ban banking conglomerates from entering real estate brokerage or property management. This is because some of the larger banking conglomerates have requested permission from the Federal Reserve Board to sell and manage real estate. Pretty much every major organization in the real estate industry is backing the bill against banks in real estate.
To be honest, the name of the bill sounded a bit Orwellian to me. My first thought is,
Warning: Todays "Non Profit Credit Counselors" Are Yesterdays Bill Collectors! – Debt Consolidation
Warning: Todays "Non Profit Credit Counselors" Are Yesterdays Bill Collectors!
Chuck Huckaby
Heres a dirty secret, todays "non profit credit counselors" are often just front organizations paid lucrative commissions by creditors to keep consumers from declaring bankruptcy!
In the "debt collection biz", creditors will sell your outstanding debt along with the debt of hundreds of others to a collection agency for cash up front.
The collection agencies will work this debt until theyve made all the money they can.
Then theyll keep selling this block of business to whomever will buy it.
This explains why you can stop being pestered by a bill collector for a while then a completely different bill collecting psychopath will start calling your house or sending you threatening letters out of the blue when you thought they were finished.
The Fair Credit Reporting Laws have put some damper on their crude activities, as have the bankruptcy laws.
But yesterdays bill collectors have gotten wise.
If people go bankrupt, the creditors get virtually nothing.
So why not figure out a way to get people to voluntarily pay much more than they would otherwise by going through bankruptcy
So today, yesterdays bill collectors often masquerade as "non profit credit counselors".
Business must be good for these "non profits" because theyre out on the internet paying $10 per lead for potential debt consolidation clients!
Their "come on" to the consumer is "Dont declare bankruptcy! It will RUIN your credit and cost you money! Use our FREE service instead."
Theres no such thing as a free lunch of course.
What unsuspecting consumers DONT KNOW is that using these services may ruin their credit anyway.
And these "Free Services" are being paid handsome commissions on every dollar the collect from you!
Then they report exactly what theyve done to the credit reporting firms and potential creditors in the future MAY consider you a potentially WORSE candidate than a formerly bankrupt person because if they extend you credit and you fall on hard times again, you stil have the option of going through bankruptcy!
Learn your rights.
Its possible for ordinary people with a computer and printer to use the law to "lick bill collectors with a stamp!"
Without giving up your privacy, without having a credit counseling firm "rat" on you, its possible to achieve the same results that others have used expensive attorneys to achieve - when you know your rights!
Cleaning your credit report is something you can do.
Paying off debts for pennies on the dollar is something you can do.
Educate yourself at sites about free credit repair techniques like http://www.CreditRepairDude.com ... and beware todays Bill Collector Wolves in Non Profit Sheeps Clothing!
About The Author
Chuck Huckaby is a freelance writer in Lawrenceburg, TN USA and publishes http://1stHowToWorkAtHome.com and http://www.CreditRepairDude.com