Laura's Space to Vent

The College Student Guide to Holiday Money

2010-11-20T20:58:00.002-05:00

1. Sell your books online through sites such as Cash4Books. All you have to do is mail your books in and you’ll receive a credit through PayPal.
2. Get the local Sunday paper for coupons. Follow coupon websites to find out how you can match coupons to sales specials at grocery stores. This is an easy way to get cheap or free groceries. Use these freebies to make holiday goodie baskets.
3. Some shopping centers will give out gift cards to employees (and sometimes customers) that are willing to park a bit further away from the shopping center.
4. Take online surveys to get PayPal money.
5. Enter prize drawings in your area for a chance to win gift cards or other nice gifts.

Japanese Glass Ball Performer

2010-08-19T18:54:00.002-04:00

I just came across this really cool video called "Japanese Glass Ball Performer." You've got to watch this!

My Favorite Coupon Resources

2010-07-08T09:08:00.005-04:00

Money Saving Mom

Tip Junkie

Mrs. Moneysaver

Frugal Friends in Northern Virginia

for the Mommas

The Coupon Challenge

Blue Ridge Mountain Mama

Southern Savers

Time Management Lecture University of Virginia

2007-11-25T14:56:00.001-05:00

This is a great lecture about time management given
by Randy Pausch in 1998. Visit Dr. Gabriel Robins'
website that has links to lectures on the web by
Dr. Pausch.

Money Matters - Make Time to Use Coupons

2007-10-29T11:23:00.003-04:00

I used to work full-time at a grocery store. It's one of the nicest stores to pick from in our area. Well, actually the nicest one. :) I live in a college town, so most of the customers either work for the university or are students. We give a 5% discount for these folks.

Like most stores, you need our membership card to get the sale prices. I'd say we have quite a few good sale items and then items that are incredibly over priced. If you've been keeping up with my posts, you'll see my posts:
Coupon Resources and Coupon Clipping that describe pointers on using coupons.

So, I'd say maybe 1 in 30 customers seem to use coupons, but they buy the heck out of sale items. Several of the items are cheaper at the other grocery store next door. But who has time to save a few dollars by checking next door? (Well, I do, because I make time, but we're not talking about me right now....) So most of the items that come through my line I know have coupons on SmartSource.com. This is a free site that allows you to print coupons. I see the same customers every week and know for a fact that the coupons I handed them from the Catalina coupon machine that they crumpled up and threw away or made some comment like "I don't want these," are for items that they buy on a regular basis. Maybe you know somebody that would like to have them if you don't need them? If you give them back to the cashier, we're not allowed to give them to another customer.

So, 1 in 30 customers not using coupons when most of the time I can quickly spot missed opportunities for savings. Yet, they always ask how much they saved with their membership card. Not to mention anything that they do save they put towards prepared food. Think about it-- do you really want to feed your family food that
was made by somebody you've never met? Did they wash their hands? Do they change their gloves in between doing tasks such as cleaning the trash cans and processing freight? Coming from somebody that sees behind the scenes, make your own food.

TIPS:
(1) Compare sales flyers
(2) Use a grocery list and have list of immediate needs and longterm "will always need" items (paper towels, toilet paper, pet food, etc.)
(3) Shop when you have time! Don't bring your family if they distract you.
(4) Keep a list of prices for regular items you buy. Is that sale item really a good deal?

Coupon Resources

2007-10-29T00:48:00.002-04:00

Here are some useful sites they will help you learn about
clipping coupons successfully:

Grocery Coupon Guide
-- Has several ideas listed for how to save. I like the list
of when coupons will be published in the main newspapers. Some weeks
I just get SmartSource coupons.

Wow Coupons
--Several links to printable coupons direct from manufacturers.

SmartSource
--Print national coupons.

I saved money!

2007-10-29T00:40:00.001-04:00

$33

I saved $33 dollars at the grocery store today.
I used coupons, and matched the coupons to really
good deals on sale items at Kroger. I also get
a 5% discount because I am a college student.
I bought 2 weeks worth of food for $23.

I should have started doing this a long time ago.
I must say that it feels so good to know I saved,
and actually saved--- you know.. I didn't walk out
of the store feeling like I got good deals
because all of my items were on sale when what I
actually did was fell for the store's tactic of
making me feel like I saved but bought stuff I
didn't need.

Organizing Your Coupons

2007-10-29T00:33:00.001-04:00

To organize your coupons, try the following:

Get a 3-Ring binder and put dividers with pockets inside the binder.
You can label the pockets with categories such as:

Frozen Items
Supplies (paper towels, toilet paper, etc.)
Snacks
Pets
Cold Items (yogurt, butter)
Coupons to Trade (Don't need the coupon? Maybe somebody
else does!)

or, maybe you may want to organize your binder by the company
name.

Remember that when they expire, you'll have to go through
them, but maybe you can work out a system for keeping
up with the "soon to expire" coupons.

In your binder, you can also keep a list of common items
you buy and what the regular prices are at your local
stores. You may also like to keep a list of sale prices
advertised at other stores. You can add a flat calculator
that will fit into the binder too!

Coupon Clipping

2007-10-16T15:01:00.001-04:00

There are three kinds of customers:

(1) People that don’t care about the price of
anything and buy whatever they want regardless of
the cost.

(2) People that buy items based on in-store
specials and end up leaving with more than they
needed and fell into the buying trap.

(3) People that only buy items when they are
truly on sale, and in addition, have coupons on
double coupon day to use on these items.

Here are some tips to save money:

1. Make a list of items that you can store for
several months. As you see the items on special, and
have coupons, you can purchase them in bulk.
2. Familiarize yourself with items you have a
tendency to buy and don’t need. Perhaps seeing the
dollar amount you spend on these items and the
frequency with which you purchase them will make
you realize how this money could go towards other
things.
3. Either don’t bring your kids with you, or
allow them to participate in coupon hunting and smart
shopping habits.
4. Make sure your spouse uses the same shopping
habits in case he/she has to make grocery runs.
5. Do not buy pre-made food. Sometimes TV dinners
are priced well, but for the most part, it’s so easy
to buy these items for convenience. Consider setting
aside a food prep day where you cook several dishes
and freeze them in small portion size containers.
6. Shop at a location that has more than one grocery
store. If you plan in advance, you can make purchases at
each store based on the best prices.
7. Don’t shop when you’re depressed or hungry.
8. Make sure you check your receipts for any errors.
Don’t be afraid to ask for it to be corrected. Fruits and
vegetables can easily be wrong just because they look so
similar or the cashier may type in the wrong code.
9. Buy generic foods.
10. Don’t be shy. Go to each aisle in the store and look
for the coupon dispensers. Take a coupon!
11. Most stores will honor a price if another store that’s
a competitor has the same item for less. Keep your receipts.

Use Online Coupons at Your Local Grocery Store

http://www.boodle.com/
* Make sure your store accepts printed coupons, and be careful about sites
that offer you coupons if you pay for them. You should not pay for any coupons.

Is Cash4Books.net a scam?

2007-10-14T22:18:00.012-04:00

In a previous post, I wrote about selling your textbooks
back using online companies. I tried Cash4Books. I was
quoted about $60 dollars for my books. I mailed them
in. About a week later, I received an update that they
had been received and were being processed. A few days
later, I found out that my geography textbook that I
was quoted $25 wouldn't be accepted because it had a
free copy mark on it...

I immediately was infuriated because I thought I had
fallen into a scam.

I had bought the book online through half.com and
didn't recall any free copy marks on it. Were they taking
books from people and then reselling them without paying
for them? I contacted Cash4Books through email and very
quickly I received a response back by phone. They still had
my geography book and could send it back if I paid for the
media mail shipping. Fair enough. I also had them credit me
for the shipping cost when I mailed all my books to them. You
can either mail your box and get a credit or send your box with
a prepaid shipping label. The customer service manager was
very polite and did everything she promised. My credit was
in my account within a day. I will use them again. Cash4Books.

Update!! Since I made this post in 2007, I've continued
to use Cash4Books. I've recommended it to several friends
and they've had good success with it as well. If you're
interested in more ways to get extra cash, please visit my
blog at passiveincomedorm.com

10 Tips for Selling on eBay

2007-08-14T00:02:00.002-04:00

Earning Money Using eBay

(1) Before you go out and buy stuff at yard sales and clearance sales, sell the stuff you already have. It will cost you nothing. It’s easy to buy stuff because it’s a good deal with the hope of making a profit through eBay. The problem is that you might change your mind about selling on eBay and get stuck with more stuff than you want.

(2) Ask small retailers if it is okay to drop by for boxes and bubble wrap after their shipments arrive. If you ask to do this, make sure you do it when it’s convenient for them and follow through with picking up your stuff. Use more than one retailer in case their truck is delayed.

(3) Understand how shipping fees work. Most post offices have brochures with fees listed and you can look at usps.com to learn about media mail shipping for books and flat rate shipping. You can also have flat rate boxes shipped right to your home for free.

(4) Make sure you have appropriate sized boxes/envelopes and packaging ready for items you plan to auction before you place them on eBay. You want to ship items fast and don’t want to be delayed if you run out of packaging material.

(5) Setup 1-2 (or more) shipment days. Post your auction items so that they will end on a day shortly before your preferred shipment day(s). This will help you stay organized. Once an item has been bidded on, perhaps you may want to start prepping its packaging so all you have to do is print a packing slip and label after the auction has ended.

(6) Offer Paypal as a payment method. Utilize their “Print Packing Slip and Label”. This allows you to pay for shipping through your Paypal account by choosing the shipment method (USPS or UPS), expected shipment time, weight, and zipcode. You can add insurance and delivery confirmation. You can also notify your buyer that you are shipping the item.

(7) Setup an area to store and process orders. Make sure everyone in your living area knows not to touch your for sale items.

(8) Once you are at the point to purchase items to sell, think small and think mass quantities of the same thing. A lot of your time used to sell on eBay is from posting your auction items and shipping. If you have a little bit of variety, but for the most part the same thing to sell each week, you don’t have to create new listings and you will have little planning to do for shipping.

(9) Do not post your items for a low amount and hike up the shipping cost. Think about how you shop on eBay yourself. If you see an item for a dirt cheap starting price, but then see the shipping is high, don’t you just move on? Build some of your shipping cost into the dollar amount you originally post your item for. Keep your posted shipping cost low. Be careful not to be too generous because you don’t want to take a loss.

(10) FEEBACK IS NUMBER 1!! You give a buyer feedback, and they give you feedback. Your buyer will rate you on things such as your speed of shipping, communication, packaging properly, posting the item as it really is, etc. Most buyers will not buy from you unless you have 100% positive feedback. Especially if you are a new seller, just 1 negative feedback score will really hurt you.

Should I Sign Up for an eBay Store?

Although your eBay store will cost you under $20 a month, you should spend several months selling on eBay before making the leap to sign up for a Store. You need to make sure that you are really committed to selling online. Keep in mind that in addition to the subscription fee for the Store, you are also going to pay for each item you post in your store.

What Should I Sell?

Start with things you already own. It’s no cost to you and you get to clean up your house. After a few months of doing this and building up your income, put this money towards buying small items. You can buy on eBay, at yard sales, or clearance sales. Try to buy several of the same things to make shipping and posting quicker. Fragile items require more packaging.

What about Drop Shipping?

SCAMS! This seems very risky, and the time required to find something that it not a scam, may be very frustrating for you. Keep everything in your control and do not pay anyone to give you a “list” of drop shippers.

Selling Your Textbooks- the quick way

2007-08-07T22:44:00.001-04:00

So after today, I decided to investigate the option of selling my books online to sites that claim to pay you after you mail the textbooks to them. This seems very risky. The first site I looked at called textbookwheel.com appears to be a scam. This site has had several different mailing address in different states and I found a few complaints online about how they never pay you for your books. Some of the them I've seen on the net for many years. I picked three random books I have leftover from classes to see how much each would offer to pay me.

Here are the books I requested quotes for:
Calculus ISBN 0495011606 (by the way this costs over $180 at my school bookstore!)
Physics ISBN 0131536311
Chemistry ISBN 061852844X (and this one is about the same. No used ones available... figures.)

Here is what I was quoted:
AbeBooks.com- total $151.82; Bluerectangle.com- total $78.37; ecampus.com-$164.30; textbooks.com-only will buy back 2 books, total 128.75; valorebooks.com- total $161.70

In most cases it appears to be about the same buyback amount as the bookstore at my school. This would be a good option for books that are no longer being accepted for buyback, though. Most of the sites reimburse you for shipping and will even allow you to print a prepaid shipping label. Also, if you are missing a CD that is supposed to be included with the textbook, you might not be able to sell it back at all through some of these sites. Ebay, Half.com, or Amazon would be good options in this case. With Half.com, you get shipping reimburses if you prompty ship your textbooks to the buyer within 48 hours. This can be hard though if you are really busy or work during the regular post office hours. The other thing to consider is having to get packaging materials for your books. I get my boxes from an old job I had.

One thing I try to do is buy my books online and then resell them back to the bookstore. I can sometimes manage to make a profit. However, I'm finding that the bookstore changes their inventory quickly or they become overstocked, so this doesn't always work. Don't forget about trying other university bookstores, also. They might be able to take them back.

Boycott School Bookstore

2007-08-07T21:10:00.001-04:00

My classes ended a few days ago, so today I decided to resell my geology textbook and lab manual. I kept my manual in perfect condition and did not write in it. First of all, I usually buy my books on Half.com or Ebay.com because they are so much cheaper. For example, my microbiology textbook was $40 online, but $117 at the bookstore. I decided to take geology about 2 weeks before the class started so I purchased the textbook and lab manual at my school bookstore. I just knew I'd regret it... but I was worried about having points deducted for not having my lab manual at the start of class. It was a 10 week summer class and a few weeks without a book could have really hurt. I live about 25 minutes away from my school and I didn't want to drive across town to be told that they weren't able to take back my books, so I called them. The immediate answer was that they would not tell me unless I was there in person. Ok, I can understand that they might not take MY book back if something were wrong with it, but all I wanted to know was if they had room in their inventory. I could have read off the ISBN. So I drove across town, and was told no. But I came prepared with 8x11 sheets of paper advertising my used books. When I was posting them on a bulletin board that usually has tons of signs for used books and various services, I got snapped at by a school employee from about 12 feet away in front of about 20 other students registering for classes. She couldn't have gotten off her tush to come politely tell me? So I went into another building and posted them on another bulletin board. (And I know for a fact that these boards are used for exactly what I was using them for... because I've asked the staff before what the regulations were for sizes of signs. I used to post hiring signs when I was a retail manager). My school uses Follett for the bookstore. Everything is commercial. Their sign that says they buy back all books is BS. Most of my professors have no clue how much the books cost, and they require the most updated version because of 1 or 2 corrections. There is always the case where the older ones just aren't available anymore so you have to buy the $100+ new one. So with this, I encourage you to plan in advance what books you need and buy them at a really low price online. Do research and resell them back at peak times. Make a profit!