Getting the best deals when you shop online has never been easier. All the information is right at your fingertips. There are many hot deal websites out there that scour the net for the latest bargains. Two sites that I always visit are Slickdeals.net and Fatwallet Hot Deals Forum. If you’re looking to buy something online, make sure you stop first at these sites to see if there are any recent deals.

Another tip on getting the best prices for your online purchases is make the most of the great price guarantees found at online retailers. Many popular online stores such as Amazon and Best Buy offer their customers price guarantees and price protection benefits for up to 30 days after your purchase.

So, for example, say you purchase a new LCD Television for $1000 on Amazon. A few weeks later you notice that the price has dropped to $900. Simply login to your Amazon account, click on a few links, and you will be credited the difference.

Here is a list of some popular retailers that you might shop at:

Amazon: “Amazon.com’s prices for released items will change from time to time based on a variety of factors. If Amazon.com’s price for an already-released item decreases within 30 days after we ship the item to you, we’ll be glad to refund the difference in price if you contact us.”

Best Buy: “If an item you purchased at Best Buy is advertised at a lower price at another Best Buy store in your local area or on BestBuy.com within 30 days of your original receipt purchase (14 days for select categories*), we will refund you 100% of the price difference. Simply bring in your original Best Buy receipt to the customer service counter while that lower price is still in effect.”

Circuit City: “If you purchase an item from Circuit City and we advertise the same item for a lower price within 30 days of your purchase, we will refund 100% of the difference.”

Ritz Camera: “At RitzCamera.com, our low price guarantee assures you that you are getting a competitive, low price. If you find a price lower than ours on the Internet, and you meet the eligibility requirements listed below, you may qualify for a price match.”

United Airlines: Login to your “My Itineraries” and choose “View/Modify” flight info. Click on “Change itinerary” and “Check the price of the itinerary.” If the current price is lower than what you paid for, you will be credited back the difference.

Expedia: “Expedia guarantees you’re getting the best price. If you should find a better price online for the same trip within 24 hours, Expedia will refund the difference—and give you a travel coupon worth $50.”

Travelocity: “If you find a Qualifying Lower Rate within twenty four (24) hours of your booking, we will provide you with the following per booking: One $50 Promo Code for a future “Good Buy” Hotel or Flight + Hotel vacation package booking on Travelocity and A refund of the difference between the price you paid through Travelocity and the Qualifying Lower Rate.”

Zzounds: “If you see a lower, publicly advertised delivered price, we’ll beat it. And if you see a lower, publicly advertised delivered price within 30 days after your order ships, we’ll refund you the difference.”

Guitar Center: “If at any time within 30 days of your purchase from us, you find the identical item in stock and advertised by an authorized dealer at a price lower than what you paid, GuitarCenter.com will fully protect you.”

Starbucks Store: “We will guarantee our prices for 30 days from the purchase date. If you find our price has changed on the same item you’ve already purchased on our site within 30 days of the date of purchase, we will happily refund the difference.”

Baby Catalog: “Babycatalog.com guarantees the lowest price on everything we sell. If you find an item elsewhere (before or within 30 days of your purchase from babycatalog.com), you will be eligible for our “110% price protection” program.”

Abt Electronics: “If you are inquiring about a price guarantee and have already purchased an item from Abt, please contact our customer service department within 30 days at our toll free number 1-888-228-5800”

Boaters World: “At BoatersWorld.com, our Low Prices, Guarantee assures you that you are getting a competitive, low price. If you find a price lower than ours on the Internet, and you meet the eligibility requirements listed below, you may qualify for a price match.”

Cooking.com: “We will guarantee our prices for 30 days from the purchase date. If you find our price has changed on the same item you’ve already purchased on our site within 30 days of the date of purchase, we will happily refund the difference.”

Golfsmith: “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. Just show us the lower price within 30 days after purchasing the product from us and we’ll refund the purchase difference plus 15 percent of the difference as a credit to your account.”

Smart Bargains: “We are confident that our prices on footwear are the lowest online, but if you find another qualified web site that offers a lower price, we’ll refund you 110% of the difference between the lower price and our price.”

Overstock.com: “Overstock.com guarantees that our prices are the lowest you’ll find anywhere online. You’ll know you’re receiving the best deals available on thousands of quality products. And if you happen to find a better online price out there, and meet the qualifications listed below, we’ll give you the difference.”

Simple Human: “We want to make sure you never pay more at simplehuman.com. If you find an identical simplehuman product at another retailer for a lower price, we will gladly match that price.“

Redeemer Presbyterian Church has a free 20-day devotional on the topic of stewardship.  I took a look at it and it looks pretty good.  It covers various aspects of our Christian life as it relates to money and possessions.  Right now I’m going through the Bible in an year reading, so I might try out this devotional afterwards.

The church is also offering four free downloads of sermons given by Pastor Tim Keller.  I highlighted one of the sermons yesterday in my post called “Why Tithing and Giving Require an Element of Sacrifice”.  It was a really good sermon and I’m looking forward to listening to the other three.

While reading this post on The Sun’s Financial Diary, I learned about a new benefit for those who are offered a flexible spending account (FSA) through their employer.

I always thought that a flexible spending account was only used for qualifying medical expenses, but it looks like it can also be used to help pay for costs you incur taking care of dependents. I never knew that. It goes to show that it pays to read your benefits documents thoroughly to make the most of what your company has to offer.

If your employer offers you this option in their benefits package, it basically means that you can save up to $5,000 of your pre-tax income to help pay for dependent care expenses. Things like your children’s day care or even the expense of adult day care can qualify.  So, if you are in the 25% tax bracket, this saves you $25 for every $100 you spend on your child’s day care services.  Read your benefits package material to find out more or talk with your HR department.

I don’t have children yet, in fact I’m not even married yet (almost!).  But it is nice to know that I have these types of benefits that I can utilize in a few years.

My moleskine travels with me everywhere my messenger bag goes. Almost everywhere, but not quite. Sometimes I wish I carried my to-do list on my person instead so that I could jot down something at a moments notice.

I found this neat wallet while I was surfing the web: Retro51 Elite Traveler Wallet. It comes with a nice looking pen and a place to put a pad of paper. This could replace my wallet and moleskine to be an all-in-one solution.  I could take down quick notes and whenever I’m in need of a pen I could pull out my wallet.

I’ll have to think about this since this wallet probably won’t fit all the cards that I carry.  Maybe it’s time to pare down my credit cards.

Just got an e-mail from J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly informing me that he’s starting up a finance forum. Get on over there and sign up for new account and start posting. This is the classic problem of the chicken and the egg. He wants to get a lot of participation to develop a great finance forum. He wants to have a great finance forum, but needs to attract a lot of participation.

Get Rich Slowly is a great blog. I know there are a lot of people who have benefited from the tips from his blog, including myself. So let’s support J.D. and make the forum a great finance forum as well.

Check it out here.

Just read about this on lifehacker.  Jott is a free service that transcribes your messages and sends the text to people’s e-mails.  Studentl.inc has a how-to guide to set-up your gmail account to automatically filter and label your messages so you can have a functional to-do list.

I tried out the service yesterday and its pretty good.  I recorded two messages and they came into my e-mail account after 5-10 minutes.  The website says they use a combination of computers and humans to transcribe each message.  What an interesting job… I guess I won’t send out messages that are too personal to have transcribed.

The next time I’m driving on the freeway and I think of something I need to do, I’ll use Jott.  Often times I think of things I need to get done, but I don’t have a computer or pen/paper handy to write it down.  I set the phone number to Jott on my speed dial so now I’m set to go.

Check it out over at Jott.

Letter writing has become somewhat of a lost art. These days a quick voice mail or e-mail gets the job done. But there is something very personalized about a hand written letter. I still write cards and notes to my fiancée. I’ve been doing ever since we started dating.

I found this free resource over at www.letterfu.com where you can download a free pdf file and print it to make a letter that folds into an envelope. How ingenious! I love origami and I love efficiency so this idea really got me excited. There’s a few designs to choose from. They claim that there is no cutting involved and even no gluing involved. You just write the letter, flip the paper over, follow the folding directions, and stamp and mail.

Check it out over at www.letterfu.com.

I’m all about efficiency. I’m always looking for things that can simply my life and save me both time and money. One thing that I utilize everyday is my Moleskine notebook. I don’t know when they got so popular, but Moleskin now has many varieties in their product line to suit everyone’s needs. I have a small ruled notebook which I use as a daily to-do list.

I’ve carried a PDA before (Sony Clie), but there’s something about pen and paper that digital media just can’t replicate. Plus you’ll never have batteries that die on you.

There’s tons of ways you can use a Moleskine to organize your life. In fact people on the web have created a number of systems to get organized. But to be honest, its a little too complicated for me. I’d rather use my notebook from cover to cover, one page at a time.

So, this is how I use my Moleskine:
I basically use it as a very long to-do list. Out of 192 pages, I probably have about 40 pages filled with things to do. I draw a box on the very left side and write down the task I need to do. As I finish each task, they get crossed off. So when I open my notebook, its very easy for me to see what tasks I still need to take care of. I think my short-term memory has been slipping since college. I can no longer remember all the things I need to do during the day. I always end up forgetting something. But with my Moleskine, as soon as I remember to do something I write it down and I can forget about it.
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| [x] Write a post about moleskines
| [ ] Go deposit check at ATM
| [x] Vacuum apartment
| [ ] Finish tax return on TurboTax
| [ ] Move money over to HSBC account
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I love finding a great bargain and saving money on the things I buy. But sometimes I go out of my way to find these deals and end up spending a lot of time. For example, I drove around to three different Walgreens just to find 12-packs of Coke for $1.

If I had to put a price on it, my time is worth a certain amount of money. Outside of my day job I only have a certain amount of leisure time. Is it really worth my time to save a few bucks? Or should I pay the extra few bucks so that I can save 45 minutes?

I found this neat Time Value Calculator over at MSN Money. After I input various data such as gross pay, taxes, commuting distance, and sleep, it tells me that each hour of my leisure time is worth $18.71. If my time is worth this much, it really makes me think about some of my decisions. For example, when I don’t bring lunch to work, maybe I should eat at the cafeteria instead of driving out to Costco for a hot dog and pizza.  Although I may be saving a few dollars, I’m wasting away extra free time I may have.

In the end I guess it means that the bottom line for me is not only cost but time as well. I have to weigh in both factors when I make spending decisions.

Looking for ideas to make the most of your free time during the winter holiday? Well instead of turning on the tube after a big Christmas dinner, surf the web and increase your knowledge. There are thousands or great online resources that can help educate you about personal finance, investing, budgeting, and managing your money. If you have time to spare this Christmas break why not commit to learning something new you can use in 2007. Maybe you’ve always wondered how asset allocation works. Or maybe how to open a College Savings 529 plan. Even perusing the many informative and practical personal finance blogs could prove to be invaluable for your personal finance decisions in 2007.

If you have free time, here are some great online resources:
- Wikipedia
- MSN Money
- Fund Advice
- Fatwallet Finance
- College Savings
- Kiplinger