WE'RE MOVING

Hi Everyone. We're Moving..... to our own website at Supershopperblog.com.
Come visit us there. We have offers you can click on and links to all kinds of deals.

See you there!

Building A Website

Thousands of online companies discount or give away their products to get you to come to their door. Why pay full price for anything when you can take advantage of so many money-saving bargains? We built our website– www.hq4deals.com to list many of them. Taking advantage of these freebies, discounted products, and promotional offers will help you save a dollar. If you save enough...you can retire to Jamaica. And what's in it or us? Well, like any other advertiser we receive a small commission for your participation.

We have over 17 deals listed so far at www.hq4deals.com. You will find 2 baby contests and a baby website offering free coupons and a baby products website. There are two teeth whitener trials, two travel and cruise vacation websites, an RV retailer offering up to 75% discounts on RV goods as well as a Dining Out book with half-price discounts. The live auction site for sunglasses and jewelry has a $25 coupon code savings offer. There's also a popular toy advertised on TV recently, a video game retailer, an online bookseller, two DVD and audio sources, and a company selling discount printer cartridges. Each of these offers has the potential of saving you money. Visit www.hq4deals.com to see more offers everyday! Maybe you can do your Christmas shopping or arrange Christmas travel plans there.

Halloween Sneaks Up On Me

Happy Halloween Everybody! I am always caught off guard by this holiday. It seems as though you are either completely immersed in it or you miss it altogether. With very little in between. I think it should be a week long celebration. In fact, I think all of our holidays should be week long celebrations. I mean, if the stores can start stocking and decorating for Christmas in September, why can't we dress up and parade around in costume from at least October 20th? Wouldn't that be more fun? Parties and parades and contests and even outings. I think it would be all kinds of fun to go to the mall in costume and to Wendy's and even IHOP.

And what has this to do with bargains and deals? Hmmmm. Well, at least you could get your money's worth out of that costume you created.

The Old man was of the solid, unwavering opinion that the best way to save money was to fold it over and put it back in your pocket. He'd be 96 this coming year. I am beginning to think he might be right. Course he was sure you should be able to fill the back of a wagon with six months of groceries with the help of five bucks and good intentions. I don't remember seeing him in a wagon but I vividly remember the sheds full of old harnesses, weathered collars and broken wheels.

It can be done today if you take the time to beat the system. Start with coupons, those in your newspaper and the ones you get by printing them out. Get a box and separate them so you can get at them when you reach the cash register. It may take more than five dollars but allowing for inflation you sure as hell can fill the trunk.

If you want to eat out, get online and see how many free certificates that restaurant has offered. Just yesterday when looking for FREE goodies to celebrate our daugher's boy we found: free Ice cream at 31 Flavors, a free milkshake at Del Taco, a free chili dog at der Weinerschnitzel, and a buy one get the second Blizzard free at Dairy Queen.

If you decide to do your Christmas shopping online, you can get promotional codes for discounts by doing a simple search on Google. And never buy new tires at new prices. Look in the Sunday Sports section and you'll find them on sale someplace; if not there go to the want ads. My brother just picked up four tires for ten dollars from someone who wanted them out of the yard. They were carrying a half inch of tread.

Well you get the pictures cause you're in them.

Buying Online

Hey, since we're just starting out here, it occurred to me that it would be good to get some input. I am searching the web for great online deals and reviewing companies. But will they be beneficial to you?

So, the question is this: What do you most often buy online? What kinds of goods or services do you purchase online?

Knowing the answer to these questions will help me better pinpoint our areas of focus.

For example: I buy DVDs online. I rent DVDs online. I buy books online. I purchase travel online. I recently bought a bathing suit online, even. I buy computer supplies, i.e. printer cartridges, photo paper, and materials for our photography business. I have purchased wallpaper online. Magazines. We bought our RV and a couple of cars on Ebay. We have purchased store gift cards and we have signed up for credit cards online.

What do you buy online?

Money Saving Tip #2

Have you ever gone into a car dealership to buy a car? It's a pretty cool place to go to look, and dream. It's a little bit harrowing to actually talk to a car salesman. Why? Because, of course, he's there to sell you a whole lot of car. Now, not just a car. A whole lot of car. Because the car you want and the car you can afford are sometimes not the same thing. There are all the add-ons--those fabulous features that raise the price. What can you live without? You live on the coast? You don't need air conditioning, do you? I mean, it's negotiable, right?

Negotiating is Part of the Game

You didn't know? There is never just one price for a car. There are so many possible prices. Don't spring for the posted price. You've got to play the game first. I knew a woman once who went in alone to buy a car. She was in her 50s and she supported herself by budgeting carefully. And she was no dummy. She followed the very nice salesman into his office to finalize the sale. But she was prepared to say no to the first offer. And the second offer. In fact, the salesman quoted her 4 prices, each one lower than the last.

How it works

I asked her in amazement how she managed that. She said, "I listened to him, then I picked up my purse." What? "You picked up your purse and then what?" I asked. She told me then that each time she thought the price was too high for her budget she took a moment to consider it then reached down to pick up her purse to stand and leave. The salesman knew what that meant---no sale. He picked up the cue, and lowered the price. She came out all right and so did he.

Just say no, or later....

I played this game the other day, though I didn't know it at the time. I was sent an email about renewing my website. It was nice enough of the company to send me a notice 3 mos in advance, but I had time. So I ignored it. I received another couple of emails regarding the coming expiration of my domain name. Procrastinating and being busy are sometimes the same thing, you know. Again, I ignored them. Each email had a better offer. Finally I signed in with the promotion code to renew. But the code didn't reduce the price...and I didn't complete the transaction. Instead I noticed the live chat button, so i pressed it.

Live chat will save you money

I love live chat. The people are so helpful and patient. I explained that I had a code and it wasn't working. Regina said she might have a few better offers for my renewal. I listened and said, no to the 2 years at 30% off and the 5 years at 65% off offers. She counter-offered with another --this one considerably reduced-- 70% off for 9 years.

Keep an open mind

No, I just want to renew one more year--not really interested in more than that. She counter-offered with one last offer--one year at 25% off. I did a quick price comparison and took the 5 year offer. Obviously 9 years and 70% off was the best offer, but I just can't think that far ahead.

So, this is the tip: Don't be afraid to negotiate. Pick up your purse. And lastly, keep an open mind. And you may just save money in the long run.

Sunglasses tragedy

A week ago our son, the youngest boy (he's 26), rushed out of church carrying our lovely granddaughter, opened the car door, and promptly sat on his sunglasses. Now I don't place this tragedy in the same category as the eruption of Mount St. Helens, but it did cause grief. Lots of it. He had to have sunglasses to drive, polarized or tinted just right, and they had to be high quality, sturdy enough to survive the tug of war with the baby. And they had to be cool, carrying the appropriate brand name.

Designer Sunglasses at a Discount

We found two places for this type of expenditure. You can find one on our website www.hq4deals.com under the sunglasses tab. This site is interesting because you can bid in a live auction on a two hundred dollar pair of sunglasses. I saw a couple of sales at a savings of seventy percent off the retail price. The other is www.ebay.com.

Me? I prefer Walmart or Kmart where you can buy a pair of sunglasses for $8.98, that almost look cool and you can lose them every other day, suffering no misplaced grief. But what do I know?

In Sync?

Since we will both be writing on this blog, you may wonder whether we are in sync or not. We're not. We may have terrific money saving ideas right along side recommendations for designer sunglasses at 50% off or a teeth whitening kit with a free trial. Because living is living. Not terribly profound, that. But you get to decide for yourself if whiter teeth will bring you joy; if discount designer sunglasses will bring you pleasure. It's all about perception.


Saving and Spending

When I reflect on our economy days, starting a business and raising our children, it amuses me to hear their perceptions of our "living." Our two oldest children knew how to "make do or do without." (The last line of a common depression era motto.) Our two youngest children knew how to spend. Our middle child feels a little schizophrenic. She is a saver and a spender. Our youngest son put it best. When recalling a certain time period he asked, "Oh, was that when Dad was rich and Mom was poor?" Living under the same roof, but never in sync.

Now we're in business together, writing this blog and managing a website we've named HQ4DEALS. It should be interesting. Saving and spending. I think it's a good balance.

Money Saving Tip #1

We are also discovering money-saving tricks we will be sharing. For instance, I was getting ready to sell some things on Ebay and looked up postage costs. I was shocked to discover that all those teensy weensy packages I mailed to my kids away at school cost more per pound than a bigger package. I was being frugal, right? I discovered that I could have sent them a package weighing 4 times as much for only $1.15 more. They could have had 4 times the goodies, the fun, the surprise for only $1.15 more.

Compare prices

According to the postage chart it's $4.90 for 1 lb and $6.05 for 4 lbs. Do you ever read the price per ounce data at the grocery store? Do you compare the unit price to evaluate your spending power? Well it breaks out like this: a cost of $4.90 for one lb vs. a cost of $1.51 per lb for 4 lbs. Isn't that a huge difference? Just think if you sent a 10 lb package. The cost would be about 2x as much as 1 lb, but the weight would be 10x greater.

Save on Postage

I don't know about you, but I have completely given up on sending any more of those teensy weensy packages. From now on I'm going to save on postage by filling up a box with a present for everyone, rather than sending 4 separate presents. Or maybe I'll just enjoy getting more bang for my buck and start sending monster packages. I know my kids will love it.

Cutting Costs without Cutting out the Fun

Making do vs. Living large

My husband and I are polar opposites. I have always been in the "make do" frame of mind. And he has always taken the "live large" position. I should have known that this would be the case when we went apartment hunting as newlywed college students. After looking at every kind of "remodeled for married students" apartments, we shuddered at their makeshift quality.

One had a shower drain in the kitchen eating area and a makeshift shower curtain, and another had a ceiling height so radically different that going from one room to the next required that you duck through the doorway while navigating a step down. Perilous, I thought, if one's mind or attention happened to be elsewhere. These, of course, were the bargain apartments--near mazes and "make do" places to live. But live was the operative word here. How do you live showering in the kitchen and ducking your head through doorways? My husband's perception was that "living" may cost a few more dollars than "making do" does. We kept looking.

It has always been so for us. The quality of your life is something to be considered deeply. Just because you are stretching a dollar doesn't mean you should forego the pleasures of life that bring you joy.

Stretching Your Dollar

Economizing

The economy needs your money. What money? you may ask. I need my money to stretch down the street and around the corner. I can't be worrying about the economy. I have gas to purchase (at ever fluctuating prices) and bills to pay, an ever escalating mortgage payment and, at the very least, a working cellphone. (Gone are the expectations of a land line.) And I'm cutting back! I used to have a gym membership, a second car, regular dental visits, medical checkups, affordable childcare, dinners ou,t and vacation trips. I'm lucky to have a job. But something had to give.

What to do?

So...you can throw in the towel or you can look around for alternatives. Most of us don't want to go without the simple pleasures. We also don't have time for the back to basics routine, i.e. homemade bread, gifts and clothing. Time is money, and we are, after all, trading as much time as we can muster for as much money as we can make to keep our lifestyles afloat. Isn't that about right?


Deals, Offers, Discounts

This is where we come in. We, meaning the Super Shopper bloggers, are looking for deals. Real deals. Two for one deals. BOGOS. Free trials. Discount sales. Coupons. Bonus gift items, clearances, and savings. We know they are out there. Advertisers, retailers, online businesses are looking for you. They are willing to offer more free shipping, product trials, and 50% off deals than ever before. It just makes sense to take advantage of these offers.

How to save money when there's none to save and you haven't got any.

Milton Friedman was reputed to have said, "there is no such thing as a free lunch." But there is. He just didn't know where to look. The only difficulty is knowing where the soup line begins and ends and making sure you're in the middle, getting your share. The fact is that in a capitalistic society there are companies with trillions of dollars' worth of merchandise vying for your attention and they are willing to give you "stuff" to attract your attention.

WHO WE ARE

Where, Oh where are we coming from? Fact is we have six kids: some ours, some other people's, but we ended up with them because...well we like them. Trouble is they are starting their careers and are at the front end of a long road needing to save money, stretch a dollar, be miserly (or miserable because they don't have enough dollars to stretch). So we began looking for deals that would assist them in solving this problem...or in putting it off, or in helping them ignore it. Eating, however, is hard to ignore.

STRETCH YOUR DOLLARS

OH YEAH, how can you make ten dollars look like a hundred? On the food bill that's easy. Use COUPONs. My good buddy, Kenneth, once a week would go shopping for grub. The goal was to see how much he could get for free. His record best was $15.23 for $236.89 worth of food. Your local newspaper, especially the Sunday edition, is a good place to start. Borrow your neighbor's for double the deals then go to these sites and others for more coupons you can print out on your computer: www.coupons.com and www.CouponShare.com. Be at the store early because these days a lot of folks use coupons.