But, buyer beware. When you can’t touch it, smell it, or taste it until after you buy it, you could be getting a raw deal.

To avoid getting burned on a daily deal, keep these five tips in mind before pulling the trigger:

1. It May Not Be a Deal After All

Just because Groupon is offering noise-cancelling headphones at 80% off, it doesn’t mean you can’t find the same headphones elsewhere for an even better price.

Often, deal of the day websites quote their discounts off the original retail price. If the item has been marked down by other sellers, you can purchase from them without the restrictions of a daily deal. Simply search the product on eBay or Amazon to cross-check prices and see if it’s truly a deal.

2. Vouchers Have Expiration Dates

Whether it’s six months or two weeks, virtually all vouchers have expiration dates. Be sure to check your calendar, consult your family, and schedule time to use your voucher.

If you find yourself spending your weekend getaway cooped up in your bed and breakfast making calls or putting together a presentation for your boss, you may regret an impulse buy.

3. May Encounter Redeeming Issues

If a car detailing service offers 75% off their standard price, they may be overwhelmed by responses. While great for them, it can be a pain trying to schedule an appointment for yourself.

If a business can’t keep up with appointments, you may not be able to redeem the deal until right before it expires. Make sure you contact the business beforehand to book an appointment in advance of your purchase.

4. Customer Service May Not Be Great

Often, businesses are so overwhelmed by demand, they just don’t have the time to provide you with good customer service.

Also, if business owners know you’re paying 30% below their regular price, they may not expect you to become a repeat customer. Who would pay full price after getting such a deal? Don’t look for star treatment when you show up with that voucher in-hand.

5. Use Them With Restraint

While 70% off a pedicure may sound like an amazing deal, it’s only a deal if you use your voucher. Don’t buy a deal unless you know for sure you’re going to use it – otherwise you’re just throwing money out the window.

Deal of the day websites will flood your inbox with offers and notifications. It’s your job to be discerning. Remember not to pull the trigger unless the activity or the product excites you – not just the discount.

Final Thoughts

If your deal does expire, don’t fret. While you may not be able to get a cash refund, most deal of the day websites give you a credit to be used on a future deal.

This should offer some peace of mind if you can’t redeem the voucher in time. There are plenty of great deals to be found out there, just be discerning, plan ahead, and stay informed.

What are your thoughts on deal of the day websites?

David Bakke is a contributor for Money Crashers Personal Finance where he shares his thoughts and insights into smart shopping and careful money management.

The post 5 Important Things to Know About Deal-of-the-Day Websites appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

When considering finances and your teen, a great place to start is to make sure they know these basic money and spending facts.

1. The First Years Are Rough

Lots of young adults get in trouble early by trying to live at the standards of life in their parents’ house — the house funded by adults with established careers.

Help your teen understand that new adults live in apartments with used furniture, and eat a lot of ramen noodles.

2. Credit Is Slavery

Slavery is being forced to work without getting paid, and thus the hours you work to make interest payments on consumer debt is a form of slavery — the pay you get gives you no significant benefit.

Some debt — most notably mortgages and student loans — may be a good investment, but help instill a healthy skepticism about other forms of credit.

3. Saving is a Habit

Saving early is always better than saving later, whether you’re talking about an emergency fund, retirement account, or just amassing cash for a major purchase to avoid going into debt.

The sooner you help your child form that habit, the more likely they will be to continue it as an adult.

4. You’re Going to Need a Job

And the better the job is, the easier life will be. Not everybody needs to do everything just for the money, but it’s good to teach your teen to think about their future resume.

If she’s passionate about social work or Renaissance French, there’s no harm in pursuing those goals…but a child who’s just as interested in chemical engineering should be steered toward the more marketable path.

5. Wants Aren’t Needs

Teens get to spend their income on clothes, video games and time out with friends. Adult have to spend most of it on stuff like rent, food and utilities.

This can be one of the hardest adjustments, and among the most dangerous. The better your teen understands that while still at home, the easier the adjustment will be.

The post What Your Teen (Probably) Doesn’t Know About Money appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

Living in a world filled with constant demands on everything from time to money can lead to a hectic pace few can keep up with.

But, what if there was a way for you to relax, gain perspective and gain control of your mental health and financial well-being? Well, there is. And, the good news is it requires very little time or money, just a little effort on your part to embrace the world around you.

Nature’s Bounty

If you find yourself battling a depressed mood or struggling to get stress under control, a visit to your doctor is always recommended. However, you may find that connecting with nature can help turn the tide or at least give you some much needed breathing room.

The natural world around us is unrivaled in its ability to affect our mood. Think about the first warm spring day or that beautiful sunrise bouncing off trees filled with autumnal-shaded leaves. How did it affect you, your mood and your energy?

So, how can you take advantage of all nature has to offer? Get out and take a walk along a country path, spend time tending to your garden or let a babbling brook lull you into tranquil thoughts.

Studies, such as the one published in Science Daily, suggest that doing so can be beneficial for your cognitive abilities and mood, which will ultimately affect your decision-making processes and outcomes.

The Money Connection

Stress and mental health can have an impact on all areas of your life – including your finances.

While more research needs to be done in the area of how mood affects an individual’s financial decisions, some studies suggest that depression or anxiety can alter an individual’s decision making process resulting in risk-taking or risk-aversion, according to a report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

It’s not hard to see how this is possible. When anxiety and depression set in, even small financial difficulties seem insurmountable. Without a clear mind, overreactions can snowball into poor decisions and sometimes disastrous outcomes.

Leap of Faith

Life’s many curveballs can leave you depleted, defeated and flat-out overwhelmed and exhausted. While some may be able to handle life’s challenges with ease, the fact of the matter is not everyone does.

Take a leap of faith and learn to find beauty in every day. Learn to appreciate the rain and clouds just as you do the sun. You may find if you strive to find beauty in the world around you on a daily basis, that the dark days don’t seem as dark.

It may take some time to reap the benefits, but the natural rhythms and cycles of nature could be just what you need to realize that this too shall pass – leaving your mind clear to approach financial decisions with a better perspective.

Take some time to connect with the natural world around you – your mood and wallet may thank you.

Photo Credit: GGG

The post How to Improve Your Financial Outlook by Connecting with Nature appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

Infographic brought to you by: Rather-Be-Shopping.com

The post Save Money by Using the New Online Coupon Strategy appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

Clever marketing is used to lure consumers into making impulse buys  – that and a healthy dose of society’s attitude of keeping up with the Joneses — keeps consumers going back for the latest and greatest gizmo or toy. Ever stand in line waiting for the latest Apple product?

“It takes some discipline to avoid impulse buying,” Dominican University associate marketing professor David Aron told Bankrate.com. “Remember, just because it’s there doesn’t mean you need to buy it.” To help curb impulse spending, try putting these helpful tips to work:

• Delay the purchase. Think there’s something you can’t live without? Think again. “Ultimate Cheapskate” author Jeff Yeager recommended at least a week to quiet that demanding voice that says buy it. He challenged his friends to try this method of curbing spending and found it worked. “Most people who try this say that, more than half of the time, they never go back to buy the item after the week-long cooling-off period, and even when they do return to the store with the intention of buying it, when they see the item again they often decide they no longer want it,” he wrote for AARP’s blog.
• Make a list and stick to it. Whether shopping for groceries, gifts, clothes or other items, easier to focus on what is needed to be purchased if there’s a shopping list.
• Be prepared to say no. It can be especially difficult when children want something while you’re shopping. “It’s hard to say no to our children because we want to give them more than we had,” Certified Financial Planner Hillary Price told Bankrate.com.
• Don’t use credit cards. Pay with cash. Credit cards give consumers an easy way to make spur of the moment purchases, but consumers need to stay away from them because of the high interest rates on those purchases. Try paying with cash instead. By limiting purchases to what cash is in hand, when it’s gone, the shopping trip is done.
• Try layaway or return some items. Yeager recommended both of these options as a way to save money and curb impulse buying. If caught up with buyer’s remorse after making a purchase, a consumer always has the option to return the unused item. He warned, however, not to make a habit out of returning items, because stores track returns and might refuse the consumer.

By putting these tips into practice, you too can get a handle on impulse buying and work on getting and staying out of debt.

How do you curb your impulse buys? Please share your tips in the comments.

Photo Credit: laurariumartín

The post 5 Tips to Help Stop Impulse Spending appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

It’s OK to admit that you need support to succeed — everyone does — and that’s where “gamification” and using social media come in to help you meet your goals.

Everyone Needs Support

It’s actually tougher to do something on your own. There’s no one to encourage you to stick to a goal, and chances are, you’ll stop short of reaching your goal. By surrounding yourself with like-minded people, you will gain peer support and be able to maximize your efforts in the push toward the goal.

Enlisting support also makes you accountable to someone — a simple way to make sure you stay on track because you feel like you have to answer to someone, according to the self-help website PickTheBrain.com.

Gathering support around you can also provide emotional and practical support through encouragement and ways to reach your goals. You can even try turning journey to reach your goal into a game to make it fun — that’s called gamification.

Gamification

Gamification is when you put game mechanics — like winning badges when you achieve a milestone on the path to a goal — to a non-game activity such as saving money.

In short, gamification turns what could be a chore into fun. This is Payoff’s own approach to helping you meet your financial goals.

You start off sharing your dreams — what you would like to do. Then you share those dreams with others on Payoff.com who can comment on your dreams. You can view and comment on their dreams, too.

After you share your dreams, you set up financial goals to meet those dreams,  no matter how big or small they are.

You can track your progress on Payoff.com and earn badges, and maybe even win cash “sur-prizes.” Every stop on the way of your journey toward the dream you can get encouragement and ideas from your fellow dreamers. The ability to connect with others to reach the goal doesn’t stop there.

Social Media

On your dreams listed in your Payoff account, you can tag Facebook friends, companies, keywords and places, too.

It turns reaching a financial goal into a social media event and makes you accountable, too — all the better for making that dream come true.

What other ways can you use social media to succeed in meeting your financial goals?  Share your thoughts with us on Twitter or Facebook.

Photo Credit: Marcin Wichary

The post How Being Social With Your Finances Helps You Succeed appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

If you answered no to that question, you’re not alone. About 40% of working Americans today are not saving for retirement.

What’s more shocking is 25% of American families have no savings at all, according to the numbers company Statistic Brain, which culled the information from sources including the Federal Reserve, U.S. Census Bureau and the IRS.

Just 18% of people surveyed say they are sure they have enough saved for retirement. That leaves the vast majority of people worrying that their golden years may have more rust than shine.

But, there are some things you can do to save even if your budget is stretched to its max. Here are some ideas for you to start saving for retirement, even if your budget is reaching its near-breaking point.

Pay Down Debt

Tackle the debt with the highest interest rates first.

To break out of the holding pattern of paying the minimum payment due on that debt, try to put more money toward paying off that debt each month.

Any extra money that comes in can be used to pay against that debt — a raise or bonus at work will seem even sweeter when you know it’s going to take a chunk out of your debt.

Assess Your Budget

Are there places to trim your budget? Once you identify areas that can be cut from your monthly spending, you can use that money toward retirement.

For example, instead of visiting the local coffee shop each morning for that trendy — and expensive — jolt of wake-up juice, make the visit a treat once a week.

Say a typical stop costs $5. By cutting down the visits to once a week instead of daily, you’ll save $20 a week to put toward retirement. By the end of the year, you’ll have almost $1,000 to invest for retirement.

Make Some Extra Cash

Consider taking a part-time job or taking odd jobs like fulfilling a “honey-do” list for a neighbor to get extra money.

Such odd jobs — like a handyman — can add up and you’ll also be helping get small household chores done for someone who may not be able to do them because of physical limitations.

Selling items on consignment or through local ads also can help bring in extra funds to give a boost to retirement savings. Since the typical American family has an average of $35,000 saved for retirement — so says Statistic Brain – extra cash can go a long way toward boosting that savings. The company based that average on data gathered from the IRS, the Federal Reserve and the Census Bureau.

Consolidate IRAs  or Not?

Do you have more than one rollover Individual Retirement Account — usually from former employers?

You could consolidate them to put the power of a larger sum to work in your investments.

You want to be careful combining those rollover IRAs with Roth IRAs, however. If you keep the rollover accounts separate, you may be able to put them in to a future employer’s 401(k) program, Maria Bruno, of Vanguard’s Investment and Research Group, told Kiplinger.com.

Do you have any other ways to start saving for retirement even if your budget stretched? Share your ideas with us.

The post How to Save For Retirement When Stretched to The Limit appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

Before the warm winds start to usher in the sunny days and activity-filled evenings, sit down and get your finances in order.

You’ll be surprised at how much of a relief it will be once your finances and office are organized in a manner that helps not only your budget, but your sanity as well.

1. Sort Your Files by Category

Take some guidance from personal finance guru Suze Orman and start with digging out everything and sorting it into a few major categories.

Use the categories that apply to you and add others that make sense for your financial situation. A few of the major categories most of us will find useful include monthly bills, pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns and investment statements.

Also dig out all of your policy documents, such as car titles and insurance policies, and important documents including your will and marriage license, and place them in separate piles.

If you follow this strategy, you’ll be able to tackle the various aspects of your financial house one obstacle at a time. This can keep the process from getting overwhelming.

2. Only Keep What You Really Need

Now – you’ll want to go through each pile and keep the necessary documents and trash the rest. Throw out utility bills and pay stubs after one year. Keep any final statement for cancelled utility services, such as satellite television, to prove the debt has been paid in full. Bank and credit card statements should also be kept for one year.

The trick here is to utilize any online statement software your utility company, bank or credit card company offers to help you reduce the amount of paper you physically have to keep. Download these statements when available and keep them on an external hard drive for easy access and safekeeping.

What documents should you keep?

Keep IRS tax returns, including any supporting documentation for deductions, for a minimum of three years. You should keep the final copy of every tax return for life. Make sure you keep paperwork related to investments trades for a minimum of three years as well, just in case the IRS decides to conduct an audit.

Policy documentation should be kept as long as it’s active. In addition, deeds to your home and car titles should be kept as long as you own the property.

3. Keep Your Importance Documents Safe

Each category should have its own folder. In addition, separate each into subcategories if necessary.

For instance, utility bills should all be in one large folder. Within that folder should be individual folders labeled for each utility, such as electric, telephone, cellular phone.

Important documents, such as your will and marriage license, should be kept in a fireproof and waterproof safe. Make it a portable safe; if possible, for easy transport should you ever need to evacuate your home in response to a disaster.

4. Shred Sensitive Information

Don’t just throw out personal documents in the trash. Either invest in a shredder or make use of your fireplace or backyard fire pit to help destroy sensitive information.

While you’re getting organized, consider making a list of all of your creditors for security and budget purposes. List the creditor name, address, phone number, payment due date and any pertinent information, such as the account number.

Use this list to help create your family budget and then store it in your safe. With this list, you can easily contact your creditors should you be a victim of identity theft.

In addition, this list will help your significant other take care of the finances should you become hospitalized or unable to perform your duties as household financial director. Pick a rainy spring day and tackle your finances to ensure the sunny days ahead can be enjoyed.

Photo Credit: KOMUnews

The post 4 Easy Tips to Organize and Spring Clean Your Finances appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

Though using credit cards can sometimes be a valid strategy under controlled circumstances, you should still be aware of these ways providers rig the game in their favor.

1. “Free Money”

This comes in the form of cash back, airline miles, coupons and a variety of other rewards for using the card. Although it feels like free money, remember you get it for spending more money than you receive. Never let it be an excuse to spend more than you have to.

2. Interest Changes

Low-interest introductory rates, especially on balance transfers, are everywhere these days. The feel like a good deal, but they’re intended to get you to charge way more than you would have otherwise.

Worse, many of them have very restrictive conditions. Fail once, and you’ll pay the full interest — starting at the beginning of the loan.

3. Slow Payment Processing

This is one of the dirtiest tricks the companies use, dirty enough that some legislation began limiting the practice in 2009.

If the company sets up systems to take one week to process incoming payments, payments that arrive even six days early could get processed late and rack up a late fee. Fight this by paying electronically a week or more ahead of your due date.

4. Surprise Fees

Even “no fee” credit cards will hit you with surprise fees at any opportunity. Lately, they’ve even started charging fees for not using the card, and for cancelling the account.

The only way to fight this one is to read that long, boring user agreement carefully — and to re-read it every time you get that new one in the mail. The easier method is to not use credit cards at all.

5. Increasing Your Limit

Another trick designed to get you to spend more, this one feels like a reward or approval. Here’s the thing: you’re most likely to receive an increase when you have a pattern of paying off your balance in full each month.

That increase is there as an attempt to get you to charge more than you can pay off — and thus set you up for financing charges.

6. Inflated Exchange Rates

Using your credit card while on vacation in foreign lands is easier than traveler’s checks and safer than cash — but might not be worth the cost.

Most cards charge a flat foreign usage fee, plus process the charge at exchange rates far worse than you’ll get at the airport or the bank.

Photo Credit: MollySVH

The post 6 Secrets Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.

One thing that the recession taught many of us is that frugality is a desirable trait. And one thing many parents wish for their children is a frugal, debt-free lifestyle that gives their kids the freedom to follow their dreams.

Try the following time-tested tips for raising children who value and respect money.

1. Start money lessons early

Whether to give children an allowance and at what age is a point of contention among many, but one thing is certain — without some sort of income kids can’t experiment with money.

Children require currency to discover things like the magic of saving and what savings can buy, or how if you spend your allowance the day it’s received, you’ve got a long wait until next week or next month.

Even if the amount is very small, see that your children have some money with which to learn their lessons under your watchful guidance. Most kids can start earning an “income” around the age of 4.

2. Set a good example

No doubt you’ve noticed that children learn by what you do, not what you say, and you can be assured that they are watching you carefully.

If you live below your means and make wise purchases, they are likely to model your behavior. On the other hand, if they see you going on shopping sprees as soon as you get your paycheck, they’ll probably follow suit when they get their own job.

3. Encourage environmentalism

Mother Nature is naturally frugal with her resources, and her lessons can teach children a great deal.

In the animal and plant kingdom there is no such thing as waste. Those eggs that get laid and don’t hatch become food for other animals.

Reduce, reuse and recycle is common in the natural world, where leaves fall to the floor of the forest and decompose to become food for the trees. Teaching children to understand and respect Mother Nature and to make decisions that are good for the environment naturally teaches them to be frugal.

4. Participate in community service work

When children give of their time to those less fortunate, they often see a much different world from their own. Meeting another child who only has one pair of shoes or is homeless puts things in perspective when your kids think about asking for the latest video game.

When your kids are old enough to understand, rather than accepting gifts at their next birthday party, ask if they’d like to request that party-goers instead make donations to charities chosen by your children. You may be pleasantly surprised at their enthusiasm at the prospect of giving.

5. Set aside money in a “fun fund”

It’s important that children understand that frugality is not about deprivation or being cheap, but the mindset represents freedom and an uncomplicated lifestyle. Set aside money in a “fun fund” earmarked for whatever activities or toys or games your children consider enjoyable.

Let your kids know that there’s nothing wrong with wanting electronics like an Xbox, to travel to Disney or to go to the movies.

What’s wrong is teaching kids that it’s okay to purchase these desired objects or experiences with credit cards or money meant to pay other bills. Creating a fun fund teaches them to be frugal about how they spend their money so that they can save for their dreams.

What’s another way we can teach kids to make wise money decisions?

Photo Credit: Hobbies on a Budget

The post 5 Ways to Teach Children to Be Smart With Their Money appeared first on Payoff.com Blog.