Points.com: A way to make use of aging point balances

Points.com is a tool that can be handy from time to time. I have had an account there for years but almost never used it because of poor exchange rates and high fees to trade with others. I simply did not see much value in it and I originally signed up to get 1000 bonus Delta Skymiles.

Today I found out that Frontier Airlines is offering 1000 miles for opening a frequent flyer account. I read a blog post over at the points guy that gave me an idea: sign up for the free points and use points.com to a program I actually used. Wow! I did it in under 2 minutes and transferred 1000 Frontier miles (useless to me) into 153 Continental Airlines miles.

The above trade is a quite poor exchange rate but it took something useless to me and I get a little something I actually will use. This is a great way to make use of "orphan" points in other various programs to top off your useful accounts for airline and hotel rewards. I am going to explore this further to see what else I can use to my advantage!

Coupon Cravings!

In light of my recent pay drop I am looking heavily into coupons and cutting down my variable costs. CouponCravings.com has allowed me to do exactly that. They post great deals every day that I otherwise would not know about and possibly miss out on. It updates throughout the day so I recommend checking at least twice.

Here is a few examples of what I have gotten from the deals:

• FREE Arby's Sandwiches w/drink purchase
  
• FREE after rebate Windex and Scrubbing Bubbles
• $0.25 per can for Campbell's "Cream of" soups
• FREE movie premiere passes
• Various free product samples
• Lots of printable coupons for just about anything

This site is a great resource for saving money on everyday items. They do a lot of the homework and math for you. It saves time and money!

Tip: Amazon.com free shipping threshold

I do a good bit of my book shopping on amazon.com as they tend to be the cheapest and offer free shipping on orders of $25 or more. I do run into the problem where my order may not total $25. I found a site that allows you to bridge this gap!

Slickfillers!

This site is part of slickdeals.net where people submit good deals on all sorts of things to the forums. The best deals make it to the front page. I have saved quite a bit of money on electronics from this site so I am a fan. You just have to be careful not to buy things you don't need since it is "a good deal."

Slickfillers allows you to search for items that qualify for free shipping by price or type of item. I find that best fillers are batteries, school supplies or consumable items I use around the house and will need anyway. I figure why pay shipping when I can use that same money to get something that I will get some utility from? If you are just a few dollars short this site will prove very useful.

Just make sure you don't buy junk you really don't need. Clutter costs us money in the long run anyway. The idea is to have less stuff and more money that we can invest and have working for us. If you use slickfillers correctly you will save money overall.

Dubli.com: Gambling for products?

I have looked at and tried out dubli.com. It is a new site where you buy credits to see the price of an item. Every time you click "show price" it takes away 1 credit and drops the price by 25 cents. The idea is to find a good deal where you get something, such as a gift card or ipod, at less than it's face value. It sounds good on the surface but they actually make a fortune.

Here is how it works:

• Credits: Each one costs 80 cents. Each click of "show price" only drops it by 25 cents. If you buy the item they still make 65 cents off you. If not then they keep it all!

• Pricing: Each item starts at full value. You have to get lucky to get one that is low and not bought by someone else yet.

• Shipping: Starts at $6.95 even for gift cards. To break even you need the item to be at least 8 dollars below face value.

Bidding types: Auction, Zero, and Unique Bid

• Auction: The price gets bid down by clicking "Show Price." It costs you 80 cents (1 credit) to do this. The price drops 25 cents each time. If you like the price you can buy the item on the spot.

• Zer0: Same as auction but you only get the item if you are the person who bids it down to zero. With them making 65 cent per bid that means they make a 65% markup!

• Unique Bid: Who ever bids the lowest and is the only bidder at that price gets the item. It is time limited.

Based on my evaluation this is basically gambling for products. It is most certainly stacked in their favor because they make money no matter what price they sell it for. You have to get very lucky to get the item at the very low prices they advertise on their site. I gave this a try to figure out how it works and ended up slightly ahead on a couple of gift cards.

Don't fall into this trap! You will lose more than you stand to gain from a site like this. You are much better off on eBay or craigslist if you are looking for a deal on something. Let's be smart with our money!

Interested in Prosper Loans? - Forum

I am an active borrower and investor on prosper.com. I have done this for over a year now and have been satisfied with the results. I have made good lending choices and borrowed money to reinvest. My current average interest rate is 18.38%. Not a bad return!

I currently give monthly updates of my status as an investor and also belong to a group on prosper called Socorro Capital Partners. We exchange listings that we like, discuss financials, and compare strategies and performance of our portfolios. We also run a forum that is very helpful to lenders and borrowers alike:

SCP Forum

I am a moderator on this forum and we stay on top of all things propser and also dicuss general finace and the economy and markets. We are a small but growing community as prosper is now live again and we are gaining new members to the forums. Check us out!

I will be giving another update to my own prosper status on Sept 15.

Saving Money: Coupon Resource

Lately I have come to love my coupons. I have found some great ones that I have taken advantage of such as free sandwiches at Arbys, Groupons for restaurants, Restaurant.com 80% off deals, and the list goes on. This stuff adds up fast!

I found a site that is updated constantly with great deals. It is actually a blog that I found out about from a friend and I find myself checking several times a day now. Their are many great deals to be had. Here is the site:

Coupon Cravings

This site has printable coupons that are on popular items such as food, household, travel, and many others. Some of them can be a little tricky to get but always worth the trouble. In today's economy I am always looking to save a buck and this helps a lot. It takes care of a lot of the searching for me!

Have a look and start saving more today!

Nolo.com: cheap legal documents and more!

Nolo.com is a great resource for common legal documents. They offer wills, trusts, and other estate planning documents. They also do landlord/rental documents, business documents, and even small claims and criminal documents. They also have "nolopedia" on common issues that most of us have on various subjects. Nolopedia is free to read.

They also sell software and books for creating the above documents for much less than what it would cost you from an attorney. I have personally used their LLC maker and will creation software for myself. I have had an attorney look at them and they are well done and legit. I will use them in the future for leases since I will be renting rooms in my house.

The site can also help you find an attorney for whatever law needs you may have. I also recommend calling the state bar to get a referral to an attorney for your specific needs.

ebates.com: Earn money for purchases you already make!

I am always looking for a way to make an extra buck. ebates.com allows me to make online purchases and get rebates for shopping at their 1,100+ affiliates. You accumulate money as you shop (using links from their site) and they will send you a check or pay by paypal if you prefer. Payments are made quarterly on set dates. I prefer check so I don't have to eat a paypal fee (upwards of 3%!).

They have lots of big names such as Kohls, Sears, eBay, Orbitz, Old Navy, and the list goes on and on. It is free to join and you get paid to buy things you would buy anyway! This goes great with a rewards points or cash credit card (assuming you pay your balance each month). This is a great way to pad your savings a bit by shopping normally.

I am kind of upset that I did not know about this sooner. I could have saved hundreds over the years! I am just happy that I am signed up now and can start using this money to help reduce my debt. They give you a sign up bonus of $5 cash. Click here to join and get your $5 today and begin saving!

Website: The ITA Software Matrix

I would like to share a tool I use to find the best deal on airfare. I found this site one of the easiest and most flexible to use. It searches nearly all of the airlines to find the lowest fare between destinations. It is also very fast!

http://matrix.itasoftware.com

It is free to use for anyone. Simply click "Log in as guest" and you can begin searching. When booking vacation I like to use the Full Month search or Weekend search so I can see which days are cheapest. It even mixes airlines to get the best price. Very handy!

You can also specify a certain airline or airline alliance so you can get points for your particular program. I am currently an elite member of Delta Skymiles so I focus on Skyteam airlines, for example. The fare has to be a lot lower than a Skyteam member for me to buyoutside of it. Elite status has many benefits that I value as a business and leisure traveler.

I should note that you cannot book the flights from this site. It is a search only tool meant for travel agents. Once you find the fare you want you have to go to the airline's website and book it from there. It is a lot less of a hassle than it sounds like. Just jot down the times and flight numbers and make sure it matches up when you book it.

They are also working on a new version, matrix2, which is supposed to be even better. I look forward to seeing what new features they add to the already great tool. They provide links where you can have a look for yourself. So far I have only seen layout changes but have not used it enough to make a complete evaluation.

Quicken Online is FREE!

I just discovered that Quicken has an online version of their software that is 100% free! It tracks all of your accounts in one place and you can set up budgets and it will also show you trends. You can also set up alerts to be sent to you via e-mail or text message.

I also love this as they have a free iPhone app where I can see where I stand before making a purchase or if I am on the road in real time. I no longer have to drag out my laptop and startup some slow software then wait for it to update. Big thumbs up to Intuit for this one!

I think this is a great solution for everyone. With the demise of Microsoft Money and the evolution of smart phones and the internet it is time to go online with our financial tracking. Quicken online takes us to the next level where we can see and manipulate numbers in real time without logging into each account.

It is easy to set up but takes a little up-front work. I just signed up today and had to add all of the login information for all of my various financial accounts. It is good at pulling transactions over (done automatically every night) and has some good graphs. A couple of my accounts were not available so I requested them to be added. It supports loans, investments, banks, credit cards, cash, mortgages, and most other financial accounts.

Once you have all the accounts added you will have to categorize your transactions (in some cases). This is a manual process to start but the site "learns" where you put them and will do it automatically for you next time. You can always change them manually if it is not correct. I am very impressed with this feature as it saves tons of time and energy and generates more accurate reports.

It also has lots of great graphs and a "trends" section where you can see how much you are spending and where. It also tells you if you are living beyond your means or if you are getting ahead. You can set budgets by category and also get alerts if you go over. Very nice!

This service is similar to mint.com where you can create budgets and the like. I love the added bonus of SMS/e-mail alerts and a free iPhone app that makes this an all around excellent product, especially for FREE! Feel free to comment on your experiences with it!

Earn free flights with Skymiles Dining

Note that most airline miles programs offer their own variation of this. I chose Delta Skymiles and I live in Atlanta and Delta the main airline here. Check your respective program's site for their version.

Skymiles dining allows you to earn miles at certain restaurants (usually smaller, non-chain places) no matter which credit/debit card you use. This has been really helpful for me as some of my favorite places are part of it and I am at "VIP" status where I can get up to 10 miles per dollar spent including tax and tip!

You have to go to their site an register your credit and/or debit cards. They track which restaurants you spend money at and credit your miles accounts accordingly. At 10 miles per dollar this can add up fast. My experience has been that it will take a week or two for the credit to show up in your miles account. It is always credited for each dine out you do.

I earn enough miles from dining (I travel for work and try to find good places that give me miles on the road) so that I can at least get my vacation flights with the miles I have. This cuts the cost of my vacations down to accommodation, food, etc. Obviously a lot cheaper.

The also send out bonus offers from time to time where you spend a certain amount in dining or just simply double miles for dining. I don't go overboard but try to get these bonuses if I can so I can get more free flights overseas.

Vacation/Travel Deals: The Travelzoo Top 20

I have been a subscriber of this weekly newsletter for a while and some good deals do come around. They also send you alerts for really good deals out of nearby airports. Here are a couple examples for deals I have found on Travelzoo:

• $200 round trip all in to Belize from Atlanta on American Airlines (via Miami)
• $150 2-night cruises out of Florida (great for a short trip)
• $500 round trip to China.

This is a free newsletter. I highly recommend signing up so you can get a deal on your next trip. It includes both domestic and international travel deals each week and also looks at resorts, packages, events, and just about anything else fun. Enjoy!

Daily Deals: Woot.com

There are quite a few of "daily deal" websites that feature one item everyday at (usually) a good price. Every once in a while you find some real deals. Woot.com is my primary source for this as their product quality has been great thus far.

Other sites, such as midnightbox.com, have the same idea but tend to have not as popular items. Even still I find some good deals. Most of them change their items at midnight local time and the really popular items sell out fast.

They also do "mystery bags" for $1 each (+ $5 shipping) where you can actually end up with some good stuff such as a plasma TV or ipod or laptop. Granted this is not common you can still get some neat stuff cheap.

Every once in a while they will have a big sell off where they post items and once it sells out a new item comes up. This can be entertaining but also bad for the wallet for those without control. That said there are still deals to be had on these types of sites. The really good deals get posted on slickdeals.net most times and sell out very fast!