Marlene Alexander
Aug 18th 2008 at 6:30PM
Filed under: Bargains, Home, Saving, Shopping, Health
You can spend a lot of money keeping the bathroom stocked with essentials. But if you don't need to have a name brand, you just may find that the personal care aisle at the dollar store has many quality products that will do the job just as well. Again, please check prices in your area.
1. Band-Aids. For years I tried different store brands in an effort to save money. The individual strips were hard to open and the plastic was of such a poor quality that it would tear. I had all but given up when I discovered Medi-Care at my local dollar store. They are sterile, open easily and stay put. My store has them in packages of 60 regular or clear, five large size and children's cartoon designs. Johnston and Johnston bandages cost $3.27 for a package of 40 or a package of 10 large. The larger, patch type band-aids are 20 cents each at the dollar store. The brand-name ones, at the price I saw, would be about 33 cents each. The off-brands won't "cling in soapy suds" but under normal circumstances, they do the job very nicely, thank-you.
2. Purell hand sanitizer cost $4.87 for 237 ml bottle with a pump. The dollar store brand comes in a 236 ml. pump bottle for $3.87 less.
3. Anti-perspirant. The department store carries Dove Antiperspirant for $2.97. I tried and liked the dollar store brand which also goes on clear. I'm beyond caring about advertising hype. If a product works, it works, but this is definitely a more personal thing and only you know if a dollar store knock-off is right for you.
4. Disposable razors. These men's razors have three blades, an extra long handle with a good grip and a pivoting head. They come in a package of five for a buck. That's only 20 cents each. I saw 10-packs of Gillette disposables with pivoting heads for $6.46 or about 65 cents each. My husband, John, tried the dollar store razor and pronounced it "fine." My feeling is a razor blade is a razor blade is a razor blade.
5. Toothbrushes. The cheapest toothbrush I could find in the department store was a Colgate toothbrush with a tongue cleaner for $1.97. The two pack of no-names from the dollar store also have a tongue cleaner and nice handles. In my humble opinion, these are great toothbrushes for 50 cents each.
If you were to buy the name brand products mentioned, you'd be paying $19.54. The dollar store off-brands will only set you back $5 for the lot, a savings of $14.54.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Home-Equity Freezes Pit Banks Against Customers
By Marshall Eckblad
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley (MS) added some of its well-heeled clients to the long list of customers whose lenders have frozen or reduced their home equity loans.
While federal laws do not allow lenders to force responsible borrowers to repay the loans immediately, those same federal statutes allow lenders to reduce or eliminate customers' home-equity lines of credit if the lender can reasonably determine that a borrower's home has fallen in value.
"A segment of clients was recently notified of a change in the status of their home-equity line of credit due to a change in the value of their property and/or their credit profile," a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley said.
Many other lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Washington Mutual Inc. (WM), have recently made similar statements as they've moved to reduce the credit available to borrowers in declining housing markets.
Home equity loans use a borrower's home as collateral, of course, but typically only the portion of the home's value that exceeds the balance of the borrower's other mortgages.
"If the equity cushion goes down in value, then the lender holding the line of credit has concerns," says Don Lampe, a partner at law firm Womble Carlyle in Charlotte. Lampe is also the chairman of the American Bar Association's Consumer Financial Services Committee.
According to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the nation's lenders held $625 billion in home equity loans at the end of March, up from $611 billion at the end of last year. But those outstanding balance levels don't include credit that consumers have not tapped, meaning lenders' potential liability is far higher.
"The whole subprime situation has really forced the bankers to pull in their horns," says Mike Moebs, founder of Moebs Services Inc., which provides bank industry data to the Federal Reserve.
Even if borrowers haven't tapped their home equity lines, they can find it jarring to find - usually out of the blue - that the money is suddenly not available.
Take the case of one Bank of America Corp. (BAC) customer, who received a letter earlier this year saying the bank had reduced her available home equity credit from $96,000 to $5,000.
"A recent review indicates that the value of the property securing your Home Equity Line has decreased," the letter said, "which has significantly reduced your available equity."
The borrower, who did not want to reveal her name, lives in a "high-powered" zip code in Rhode Island, and both she and her husband earn white-collar-level salaries.
"I'm just ticked off," the customer says. "To go from $96,000 to $5,000 is absurd."
Lenders must decide whether to freeze lines of credit on a loan-by-loan basis, and home-equity loan contracts generally allow borrowers to challenge a lender's finding that the borrower's home has in fact decreased in value.
Yet, says Lampe, lenders "don't have to get a full-blown appraisal in order to support concerns over declining valuation."
Instead of hiring droves of appraisers, a number of bank industry experts say lenders are evaluating loans by using automated tools that estimate current housing values for general regions or zip codes, and then using those tools to decide whether to freeze or eliminate a borrower's line of credit.
But those tools are controversial, since they apply general market data in estimating the current market value of a specific property.
According to federal statutes posted on the FDIC's Web site, "a creditor may...reduce the credit limit" available for a home equity loan if "the value of the dwelling that secures the plan declines significantly below the dwelling's appraised value."
Lenders have increasingly taken advantage of those rights, says Lampe, as properties around the nation have fallen in value.
"This trend has really been underway for the better part of six months," says Lampe.
These days, it's not just risky subprime borrowers who are seeing the banks close their coffers.
Barefoot Bankhead, a partner with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, says the industry is seeing a "general spreading of the delinquency rates into Alt-A and prime borrowers" - or creditworthy borrowers, often wealthier, who lenders had traditionally considered safe bets.
The fact that Morgan Stanley is growing concerned about some borrowers' ability to pay - especially since many of them are also wealth management clients - raised a few eyebrows on Wednesday.
Higher-quality borrowers - and especially the wealthier among them - can find it insulting to open the daily mail only to find their credit lines cut. While lenders would ideally use more personal methods - say, a phone call - to alert borrowers to the coming change, "no one's staffed to do that," says Bankhead.
Since wealthier borrowers often use private banks or other lenders that cater to high-end clients, they're "much more likely to get a call with a head's up than the average borrower is," says Bankhead.
But with home prices still falling around the nation, attorney Lampe says borrowers of all stripes should be digging out their mortgage paperwork and reading through the terms and stipulations with a fine-toothed comb, to avoid being surprised when their lender shuts off the home equity spigot.
Many borrowers took out loans when housing values were booming, and rarely did a close read of the paperwork.
"The time is now," says Lampe, "to get the paperwork out and read it again."
-By Marshall Eckblad, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4306; marshall.eckblad@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-06-08 1702ET
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley (MS) added some of its well-heeled clients to the long list of customers whose lenders have frozen or reduced their home equity loans.
While federal laws do not allow lenders to force responsible borrowers to repay the loans immediately, those same federal statutes allow lenders to reduce or eliminate customers' home-equity lines of credit if the lender can reasonably determine that a borrower's home has fallen in value.
"A segment of clients was recently notified of a change in the status of their home-equity line of credit due to a change in the value of their property and/or their credit profile," a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley said.
Many other lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Washington Mutual Inc. (WM), have recently made similar statements as they've moved to reduce the credit available to borrowers in declining housing markets.
Home equity loans use a borrower's home as collateral, of course, but typically only the portion of the home's value that exceeds the balance of the borrower's other mortgages.
"If the equity cushion goes down in value, then the lender holding the line of credit has concerns," says Don Lampe, a partner at law firm Womble Carlyle in Charlotte. Lampe is also the chairman of the American Bar Association's Consumer Financial Services Committee.
According to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the nation's lenders held $625 billion in home equity loans at the end of March, up from $611 billion at the end of last year. But those outstanding balance levels don't include credit that consumers have not tapped, meaning lenders' potential liability is far higher.
"The whole subprime situation has really forced the bankers to pull in their horns," says Mike Moebs, founder of Moebs Services Inc., which provides bank industry data to the Federal Reserve.
Even if borrowers haven't tapped their home equity lines, they can find it jarring to find - usually out of the blue - that the money is suddenly not available.
Take the case of one Bank of America Corp. (BAC) customer, who received a letter earlier this year saying the bank had reduced her available home equity credit from $96,000 to $5,000.
"A recent review indicates that the value of the property securing your Home Equity Line has decreased," the letter said, "which has significantly reduced your available equity."
The borrower, who did not want to reveal her name, lives in a "high-powered" zip code in Rhode Island, and both she and her husband earn white-collar-level salaries.
"I'm just ticked off," the customer says. "To go from $96,000 to $5,000 is absurd."
Lenders must decide whether to freeze lines of credit on a loan-by-loan basis, and home-equity loan contracts generally allow borrowers to challenge a lender's finding that the borrower's home has in fact decreased in value.
Yet, says Lampe, lenders "don't have to get a full-blown appraisal in order to support concerns over declining valuation."
Instead of hiring droves of appraisers, a number of bank industry experts say lenders are evaluating loans by using automated tools that estimate current housing values for general regions or zip codes, and then using those tools to decide whether to freeze or eliminate a borrower's line of credit.
But those tools are controversial, since they apply general market data in estimating the current market value of a specific property.
According to federal statutes posted on the FDIC's Web site, "a creditor may...reduce the credit limit" available for a home equity loan if "the value of the dwelling that secures the plan declines significantly below the dwelling's appraised value."
Lenders have increasingly taken advantage of those rights, says Lampe, as properties around the nation have fallen in value.
"This trend has really been underway for the better part of six months," says Lampe.
These days, it's not just risky subprime borrowers who are seeing the banks close their coffers.
Barefoot Bankhead, a partner with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, says the industry is seeing a "general spreading of the delinquency rates into Alt-A and prime borrowers" - or creditworthy borrowers, often wealthier, who lenders had traditionally considered safe bets.
The fact that Morgan Stanley is growing concerned about some borrowers' ability to pay - especially since many of them are also wealth management clients - raised a few eyebrows on Wednesday.
Higher-quality borrowers - and especially the wealthier among them - can find it insulting to open the daily mail only to find their credit lines cut. While lenders would ideally use more personal methods - say, a phone call - to alert borrowers to the coming change, "no one's staffed to do that," says Bankhead.
Since wealthier borrowers often use private banks or other lenders that cater to high-end clients, they're "much more likely to get a call with a head's up than the average borrower is," says Bankhead.
But with home prices still falling around the nation, attorney Lampe says borrowers of all stripes should be digging out their mortgage paperwork and reading through the terms and stipulations with a fine-toothed comb, to avoid being surprised when their lender shuts off the home equity spigot.
Many borrowers took out loans when housing values were booming, and rarely did a close read of the paperwork.
"The time is now," says Lampe, "to get the paperwork out and read it again."
-By Marshall Eckblad, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4306; marshall.eckblad@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-06-08 1702ET
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc
Friday, August 08, 2008
5 Best coupon clipping sites
5 Best Coupon-Clipping Web Sites
By Kelli B. Grant
August 8, 2008
THESE DAYS, IT'S safe to assume that most consumers are looking to save a buck or two. And for a whole host of Internet entrepreneurs, that spells an opportunity.
A slew of new web sites offering coupons and online promotions are flooding the Internet. And while these sites offer a wide breadth of discounts, they're also causing a lot of confusion among shoppers, making it more difficult to weed out the really good deals from the duds. "There are hundreds, if not thousands of coupon sites out there offering the exact same thing," says Edgar Dworsky, founder of consumer advocacy site Consumer World1.
The proliferation of these sites isn't just about about saving shoppers money. As part of so-called affiliate marketing programs, retailers offer cash to these web entrepreneurs each time they get a consumer to make a purchase on their store's site. The enticement these sites use: coupons and other discounts. Each site uses a unique promotional code so the retailers know where the customer is coming from. Usually, though, that's the only differentiating factor among these discount sites. Most of the underlying deals are identical.
While choosing among hundreds of discounts may not seem like a bad thing at first, it's the relative sameness of these sites that makes it hard for shoppers to find the best deals and discern whether the offers they see are legit or not, notes Mary Hunt, founder of money management site Debt Proof Living2. Some have more extensive retailer partnerships and therefore offer a broader range of deals. Others are more diligent about updating offers and weeding out expired coupons.
We asked Dworsky, Hunt and other consumer advocates and deal hunters to point out the free coupon sites they turn to purchase after purchase. Here are five worth bookmarking:
Coupons.com3
Why the experts like it: Coupons.com offers as wide a variety of timely coupons as you'd find in the grocery shoppers' gold standard: the Sunday paper, says Dworsky. Phil Lempert, founder of news site Supermarket Guru4, praises the site's simple layout, which makes it easy to browse available coupons, and then print them out for in-store use. Enter your zip code for area-specific deals. There's just one minor drawback: "There are still some retailers that will not accept Internet coupons," cautions Lempert. Check that your supermarket does so before downloading the site's coupon-printing software.
Sample deal: Save $4 on Bausch & Lomb (BOL5) Alaway antihistamine eye drops.
CouponCabin.com6
Why the experts like it: CouponCabin.com keeps its discount fare fresh, says Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for Consumer Action7, a consumer advocate. Staffers update deals three times a day, and frequently check each coupon code to ensure it works. Sections for "most-used coupons" and "favorite deals" point shoppers toward the best ongoing promotions at online retailers. An added bonus: A weekly email newsletter alerts consumers to the latest deals every Monday.
Sample deal: Link to The Children's Place web site through CouponCabin.com and use coupon code "FA78" at checkout to save 15%. Offer expires Sept. 2.
CouponMom.com8
Why the experts like it: CouponMom.com covers a lot of ground, listing online coupon codes, printout coupons and free samples, among other types of discounts. And while other sites are riddled with offers and banner ads, CouponMom.com's simple design makes finding discounts easy, says Garen Daly, host of Massachusetts-based radio show "Frugal Yankee." Deals are reliably accurate, too, adds Tawra Kellam, founder of frugal living newsletter Living on a Dime9. Members can find all available coupons from several sources using the virtual coupon organizer. Sign up for email alerts on sales at favorite retailers, or on a shopping-list staple like the kids' favorite brand of peanut butter.
Sample deal: Link to discount gift certificate site Restaurants.com through CouponMom.com and save an added 40% on any restaurant gift certificate order. (Shoppers pay $6 for a $25 gift certificate, instead of the regular — already discounted — rate of $10.) Ongoing deal.
RetailMeNot.com10
Why the experts like it: RetailMeNot.com's dedicated community is what makes this site stand out. Users indicate whether a discount code worked for them or not, helping shoppers quickly filter out bad deals, says Hunt. They also add comments, pointing out when a code last worked, or any strings attached. "It's pretty darn reliable," she says. Email alerts notify you when new codes are posted for your favorite retailers.
Sample deal: Save 30% off regular-priced merchandise at J.C. Penney (JCP11), and 10% off sale-priced merchandise using coupon code "applause." Offer expires Aug. 19.
SmartSource.com12
Why the experts like it: SmartSource.com merges local store sales and a wide array of printout coupons and online deals to help consumers maximize savings, says Lisa Lee Freeman, editor in chief of Consumer Reports' ShopSmart magazine. The selection is great, and entering your zip code yields even more deals specific to your area. (As with Coupons.com, check that the supermarket accepts printout web coupons before downloading the software.)
Sample deal: Save $3 on any Dexatrim Max weight-loss product.
Also See:
5 New Ways to Clip Coupons13
How to Save on (Almost) Everything14
5 Ways to Save on Online Shipping Fees15
Links in this article:
1http://www.consumerworld.org
2http://www.debtproofliving.com
3http://www.coupons.com
4http://www.supermarketguru.com
5http://www.smartmoney.com/cfscripts/Director.cfm?searchString=BOL
6http://www.couponcabin.com
7http://www.consumer-action.org
8http://CouponMom.com
9http://www.livingonadime.com
10http://www.retailmenot.com/
11http://www.smartmoney.com/cfscripts/Director.cfm?searchString=JCP
12http://www.smartsource.com
13http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080602-five-new-ways-to-clip-coupons
14http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080625-how-to-save-on-everything
15http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080715-save-on-online-shipping
URL for this article:
http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20080808-coupon-web-sites
By Kelli B. Grant
August 8, 2008
THESE DAYS, IT'S safe to assume that most consumers are looking to save a buck or two. And for a whole host of Internet entrepreneurs, that spells an opportunity.
A slew of new web sites offering coupons and online promotions are flooding the Internet. And while these sites offer a wide breadth of discounts, they're also causing a lot of confusion among shoppers, making it more difficult to weed out the really good deals from the duds. "There are hundreds, if not thousands of coupon sites out there offering the exact same thing," says Edgar Dworsky, founder of consumer advocacy site Consumer World1.
The proliferation of these sites isn't just about about saving shoppers money. As part of so-called affiliate marketing programs, retailers offer cash to these web entrepreneurs each time they get a consumer to make a purchase on their store's site. The enticement these sites use: coupons and other discounts. Each site uses a unique promotional code so the retailers know where the customer is coming from. Usually, though, that's the only differentiating factor among these discount sites. Most of the underlying deals are identical.
While choosing among hundreds of discounts may not seem like a bad thing at first, it's the relative sameness of these sites that makes it hard for shoppers to find the best deals and discern whether the offers they see are legit or not, notes Mary Hunt, founder of money management site Debt Proof Living2. Some have more extensive retailer partnerships and therefore offer a broader range of deals. Others are more diligent about updating offers and weeding out expired coupons.
We asked Dworsky, Hunt and other consumer advocates and deal hunters to point out the free coupon sites they turn to purchase after purchase. Here are five worth bookmarking:
Coupons.com3
Why the experts like it: Coupons.com offers as wide a variety of timely coupons as you'd find in the grocery shoppers' gold standard: the Sunday paper, says Dworsky. Phil Lempert, founder of news site Supermarket Guru4, praises the site's simple layout, which makes it easy to browse available coupons, and then print them out for in-store use. Enter your zip code for area-specific deals. There's just one minor drawback: "There are still some retailers that will not accept Internet coupons," cautions Lempert. Check that your supermarket does so before downloading the site's coupon-printing software.
Sample deal: Save $4 on Bausch & Lomb (BOL5) Alaway antihistamine eye drops.
CouponCabin.com6
Why the experts like it: CouponCabin.com keeps its discount fare fresh, says Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for Consumer Action7, a consumer advocate. Staffers update deals three times a day, and frequently check each coupon code to ensure it works. Sections for "most-used coupons" and "favorite deals" point shoppers toward the best ongoing promotions at online retailers. An added bonus: A weekly email newsletter alerts consumers to the latest deals every Monday.
Sample deal: Link to The Children's Place web site through CouponCabin.com and use coupon code "FA78" at checkout to save 15%. Offer expires Sept. 2.
CouponMom.com8
Why the experts like it: CouponMom.com covers a lot of ground, listing online coupon codes, printout coupons and free samples, among other types of discounts. And while other sites are riddled with offers and banner ads, CouponMom.com's simple design makes finding discounts easy, says Garen Daly, host of Massachusetts-based radio show "Frugal Yankee." Deals are reliably accurate, too, adds Tawra Kellam, founder of frugal living newsletter Living on a Dime9. Members can find all available coupons from several sources using the virtual coupon organizer. Sign up for email alerts on sales at favorite retailers, or on a shopping-list staple like the kids' favorite brand of peanut butter.
Sample deal: Link to discount gift certificate site Restaurants.com through CouponMom.com and save an added 40% on any restaurant gift certificate order. (Shoppers pay $6 for a $25 gift certificate, instead of the regular — already discounted — rate of $10.) Ongoing deal.
RetailMeNot.com10
Why the experts like it: RetailMeNot.com's dedicated community is what makes this site stand out. Users indicate whether a discount code worked for them or not, helping shoppers quickly filter out bad deals, says Hunt. They also add comments, pointing out when a code last worked, or any strings attached. "It's pretty darn reliable," she says. Email alerts notify you when new codes are posted for your favorite retailers.
Sample deal: Save 30% off regular-priced merchandise at J.C. Penney (JCP11), and 10% off sale-priced merchandise using coupon code "applause." Offer expires Aug. 19.
SmartSource.com12
Why the experts like it: SmartSource.com merges local store sales and a wide array of printout coupons and online deals to help consumers maximize savings, says Lisa Lee Freeman, editor in chief of Consumer Reports' ShopSmart magazine. The selection is great, and entering your zip code yields even more deals specific to your area. (As with Coupons.com, check that the supermarket accepts printout web coupons before downloading the software.)
Sample deal: Save $3 on any Dexatrim Max weight-loss product.
Also See:
5 New Ways to Clip Coupons13
How to Save on (Almost) Everything14
5 Ways to Save on Online Shipping Fees15
Links in this article:
1http://www.consumerworld.org
2http://www.debtproofliving.com
3http://www.coupons.com
4http://www.supermarketguru.com
5http://www.smartmoney.com/cfscripts/Director.cfm?searchString=BOL
6http://www.couponcabin.com
7http://www.consumer-action.org
8http://CouponMom.com
9http://www.livingonadime.com
10http://www.retailmenot.com/
11http://www.smartmoney.com/cfscripts/Director.cfm?searchString=JCP
12http://www.smartsource.com
13http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080602-five-new-ways-to-clip-coupons
14http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080625-how-to-save-on-everything
15http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080715-save-on-online-shipping
URL for this article:
http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20080808-coupon-web-sites
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