Black Friday Madness

Black Friday is only 2 days away. It's the day where intense shoppers wake up before sunrise to fight for crazy deals. If this is your first time being one of those shoppers, here's a few tips to make the morning more manageable.

1. Make a plan. Make a list of the specific items you want to purchase. Sometimes stores will have a big ticket item discounted and claim they only have a few. You get to the store and, of course, they're out. so you end up buying a similar item that's either is more expensive or is cheaper and they need to get rid of them.

2. Have a budget of how much you want to spend on each item.

3. Drive in one car. Parking is a nightmare and outrageous. I was trying to find parking at a mall a few days ago and that was crazy, too.

4. Leave the kids at home. They'll only slow you down or get hurt in the overexcited crowd.

5. Avoid rain checks. If a store is out of stock of an item, they may offer you a rain check. However, if there are more rain checks than the store can handle you might be waiting months to get you product or not get it at all.

6. If you want to wake up later in the morning, make sure to get to the stores before 11 am. You don't all the good deals to be gone before you get there. Also, some stores are extending their Black Friday deals into Saturday. Nothing like extended store hours.

7. Stay home!!! There are still alot of good deal online as well. They may not be as great as a $3 toaster, but still pretty amazing. Plus some stores rely on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday, to sell more electronics.

8. Wait till after Christmas. The shopping season doesn't end because the holidays are over. If you're shopping for digital cameras or other electronics, wait till late January or February. That is when the fiscal year ends for foreign countries and the new models come out. The old models go on sale in the U.S.

Saving Some Green!

Times are hard these days. Although gas prices have gone down, it may not last for long. Sales are everywhere. Every company and stores are fighting for your attention and money, but their prices and even shipping haven’t done much to pique my curiosity. Though, I have been eying this Nikon digital camera, but that’s for another time. Anyway, here are some green ideas to help tie down those dollar bills flying outta your wallet.

1. Replace your light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs (compact fluorescent light bulb). They have 60-watt bulbs that use only 30-watt energy. The only slight drawback is that there is a 2 second delay when you turn it on and it may not be as bright as you need, but I don’t even notice.

2. Ask for a Belkin's Conserve Surge Protector this Christmas. This hot "green" item kills those “Phantom Power”. You know, those electronics that suck energy from your home even though they’re turned off or on standby. J&R Music/Computer World and Amazon.com has ‘em for $38.28.

3. Sign up for store free rewards programs. You shop there, so you may as well get points and money back for it. JC Penney, NY&Co and even Best Buy has 'em.

4. Quit smoking. I know, I know. It easier said than done, but there are tons of programs to help. Plus, if you buy a pack a week, you’ll have over $30 a month to spend elsewhere. Plus plus, you’ll lower your CO2 emission.

5. Cut out those extra fees. Stop paying for those things you don’t use or even want like a magazine subscription, gym membership, etc. Shop at sites that offer free shipping or that will send your item to the store for pickup (free shipping for those who don’t need their items right away). Some payment service will charge a 3% fee for using your credit card. Well,… don’t ☺. Find other alternatives like using your checking account routing or paying by check.

Do you have some easy money saving tips? Drop a comment today!
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Now playing: Alvin & the Chipmunks - Witch Doctor (Remix)
via FoxyTunes

Tech Thurs - Nextar GPS

I decided that now is a great time to start my reviews. So, every Thursday will be "Tech Thursdays". Each week, you'll be able to read up on an electronic device that I have personally used and own/owned. I'll start today with the:

Nextar C3 GPS Navigational System

After getting lost while trying to find the movie theater in my new town, I drove around for about an hour seeing only farmland and tractor crossing signs. Did I mention I was low on gas and the sun was starting to set. I was lucky enough to find a local Uhaul to ask for directions and a gas station nearby. From that moment on, I declared I would never be lost again.

I brought this little bad boy from Circuit City for about $150 to $180. It was a pretty good price for a portable GPS. It came with a computer usb cord, a wall charger, a car charger, a dashboard and windshield mount. Basically it came with everything you could need, including the ability to play mp3s on an SD card.

It worked fairly well. It took awhile to get a signal when turning it on. Not sure how many satellites they have up there, but it's not enough. Hope that it's not cloudy and you need to get somewhere because you'll be waiting for a bit. Sometimes it would lead you to nowhere and you can search for places. However, it has to be a shopping center or mall. You can't just do a search for Target, unless you know it's in a particular shopping strip, which you probably don't. It doesn't hold its charge for a long time so you'll have to charge it in your car. All in all, if you need something cheap to get you to major places that aren't newly developed then this is for you. On a good note, on Nextar's site you can enter in the correct location if it leads you to the wrong place.

So, if you have this specific product, what did you like/dislike about it?