How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » cut-expenses

CouponMom.com Website Review

Amanda Miller — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:36:30 +0000

Two “Fresh Looks” this week?! You lucky readers, you!

Today I’m show you one of my favorite couponing websites: CouponMom.com.

This is a website headed by Stephanie Nelson also known as, The Coupon Mom. The main page is a simple design. One of the first things you see is where you’re asked to join. I highly recommend joining this site because once joining you’re allowed access to the entire site including the ability to filter deals by state, see drugstore deals and access to the coupon database. This site makes couponing 10 times easier than organizing deals on your own. This is one site I trust and endorse wholeheartedly. Fifteen thumbs up in my book.

Not once have I been spammed by giving my e-mail address to this site. I know that some people create a separate e-mail address strictly for couponing website sign-ups and deals so that’s always an option should you wish to keep your regular e-mail coupon e-mail free.

CouponMom links to external printable coupons sites such as, Coupons.com and Groupon where you can print coupons and deals.

One of the reasons I love this site is because of the tutorial videos offered. The videos show how to use the site and how to logically apply coupons to deals offered in stores. One of her best turitorials is how to successfully use the Coupon Organizer Database offered on the site.

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Once you join you can then view deals by national stores and by state. You’ll see on this page instructions on how to read the lists, I strongly encourage you to read through this and become acquainted with the different codes used to describe coupons.

Once you choose your preferred store, you can sort the deals by that date a coupon was released, the description of product, the sale price, final price or the percentage saved. Personally, I like to sort by the final prices, least expensive at the top, that way I can look through the descriptions of products and see if there’s anything on my list that I can get cheap.

Not all stores are listed on this site but there are most of the main stores in an area including national stores like, CVS, WalMart, Target, etc.

Do you have any coupon sites you like to use? Leave a comment for a possible future Fresh Look segment!

How To Have Weekend Fun On A Budget

Amanda Miller — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:42:47 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

As quitting time rolled around Friday afternoon I sat on the edge of my seat ready for the weekend to begin.

You see, I used to work weekends but for the summer I’ve revised my schedule to work Monday – Friday and this was my first weekend at home off for the summer.

There was only one problem.

I had zero money. ZERO You see, I was a bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding last weekend and shelled out quite a pretty penny on that. So many pretty, shiny, glorious, now invisible pennies that I found myself gearing up for this weekend for a rousing weekend of sitting on my hands doing nothing.

Which, in all honesty, sometimes make the best weekends. However, this weekend in particular I wanted to get out of the house and be with some friends.

I settled in on the couch, ready for a marathon hand sitting weekend when I remembered something. Something so glorious and exciting I reached for my phone and invited my friend out for Saturday night for a night on the town.

What, you may ask, conjures up so much energy, excitement and somehow now visible revenue? Unused Living Social and Groupon certificates.

Living Social and Groupon deals may seem like impulse buys to some but for me, I’ve always treated them like investments in fun. I love trying new places and getting a deal so I’ve always liked and supported daily-deal sites. When I purchase deals I make sure they are for something I would buy on a normal basis at full price, a company I trust and an amount I can afford upon purchasing.

This past weekend I remembered I had a deal for two fandango movie tickets and a local brewery tour. I called up my friend and told her my excitement and we set a plan to meet the next day.

We met at 4 pm and caught an early matinee of the new movie Bridesmaids. We then headed over to a local brewing company, Roth Brewery, for a tour of the facilities, two free pint glasses, a tasting, a growler and the first round on them.

By 8 pm we realized we’d had a blast and yet, hadn’t spent anything all day. This would have been an opportune moment to pull out my Sushi deal I had, however, I had used it the day before for lunch. So off we went in search of the best pizza in town. At the end of the day all we spent that night was $18 total.

Now, obviously I spent money towards the original deals but what was nice is that I’d saved these deals for a rainy day and got to use them!

The next day I received a call from another friend who wanted to get together. We were both tight on money but wanted to spend the morning together and spent a good while deciding what we could do. We finally decided upon going to the local Farmer’s Market in the morning and walking around. We spent a good two hours there and had a blast walking around, looking at local produce and catching up on life.

As I look back on the weekend now I can’t help but think how much fun I had, how much I didn’t spend and how great it was. Inexpensive fun can be knocking on your weekend window as well as long as you know where an how to save.

Summer Heat Got You Down And Your Energy Bills Up?

Amanda Miller — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:42:11 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

photo © 2006 Braden Kowitz | more info (via: Wylio)It’s summer time! Or darn close to it. Here in the South East it got hot…quick! We’ve had very little time to get used to the heat but here it is and here is shall stay.

Everyone I’ve been talking to recently has been cursing about having to turn on their air conditioners at the end of April. Recently, a ridiculously hot week struck in North Carolina and of course, OF COURSE, my air conditioner broke. For four days I had to rely on windows, fans and the power of an ice cold glass of water.

The day before the AC was fixed, I was starting to grow accustomed to the heat and being able to deal with it. Not to mention, my energy bill had a nice little breather.

Which brings me to today’s topic: saving money in the summer.

During my stint without AC I turned to the web and found some excellent articles on BillEater.com on keeping energy costs down and not relying on the AC.

Like many other sites the number one tip for saving on your AC bill is to, you guessed it, keep the AC off as long as you can. Open your windows and use fans to keep the house cool. Also, be sure to shade windows with direct sunlight to prevent heat from coming inside.

In order to keep your AC off as long as possible you need to train your body to become accustomed to the warmer months. Which means first and foremost you’re going to need to drink a lot of water.

Second, staying away from mid-day heat and going in and out of air conditioned places will help you stay cool at home. If your body is constantly going through spurts of heat and chill you’ll be more likely to turn on that AC at home.

By cutting off the AC in your car you’ll not only help your body maintain its temperature but you’ll also save gas. It’s been shown than you’ll save gas by rolling your windows down instead of using the AC in areas where you drive 45 mph or less. Driving any higher than this speed limit with the windows down will actually increase your gas costs as the wind at high speeds slows the car down and more gas is needed.

Inside your house be sure to check your windows for cracks where air might leak out or in. Keeping your house well insulated will help keep costs down and cool air in. If you find cracks around your windows be sure to caulk them up as soon as possible.

You can test the efficacy of your windows by placing a medium-sized fan on top a ladder at the high setting outside of the windows. With the fan outside blowing on high and the window closed, move your hand around in front of the window from the inside of your house. If you feel any air, check to see where it is coming from and seal the cracks with caulk. Repeat until you cannot feel any air coming through. – Source

Using thermal curtains will also help maintain a constant temperature as these curtains keep cool are in during the summer and hot air in during the winter.

Some other tips for keeping energy costs down in your house:

Replace old lightbulbs with energy efficient bulbs. While they may be expensive at first they last for a long time and give you the same amount of light with less energy, the savings are incredible!
Wash your dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher
Use the proper size stove burner when cooking. Using burners that are too big for an item only waste energy.
Only boil the amount of water you absolutely need, this will boil the water faster and cut down on unneeded gas or electricity.
Use the appropriate dishes when baking. You can actually decrease your oven temperature by 25 degrees if you cook with a ceramic or glass dish since they hold heat well.
Only Preheat the oven when needed. If you’re cooking something for an hour or longer preheating the oven is often a waste of time and energy.
Use the microwave to keep food warm. The insulation in your microwave will help keep your food warm if you finish cooking it early and put it in there with the door closed.
Cook dinner in your Crock Pot. As shown in the box below, using your Crock Pot is much more friendly on expenses than other cooking means. I also find it helpful to cook on an electric skillet instead of the stove top.

Here are some rough estimates of the energy used to feed a family of five one casserole, ordered by the most expensive cooking method to the least:
$.45 – Electric Oven
$.18 – Electric Range-top Burner
$.12 – Toaster Oven 
$.08 – Gas Oven
 $.06 – Gas Range-top Burner
 $.05 – Pressure Cooker
 $.02 – Crock Pot
$.01 – Microwave Oven – Source

Do you have any simple and effective tips you use to help cut down costs in your home? Tell me about them. Post them in the comments!!

Other Related Articles to Read
CouponMom.com Website Review
How To Have Weekend Fun On A Budget
Humor: US Solves Credit Crisis, Credit Cards
Read the full article at GetOutOfDebt.org, click here: Summer Heat Got You Down And Your Energy Bills Up?

Humor: US Solves Credit Crisis, Credit Cards

Steve Rhode — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:05:40 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt
The recent bailout of several major financial institutions by the United States government has raised concerns of a “credit crisis” in America. Borrowing money has certainly become a favorite pastime, with the US government alone in hock for over ten billion dollars. And with the average American owing more than $8,000 in credit card debt, paying everything back is going to take a while.

Fortunately, there are companies that can help reign in debt. That’s why, after hearing a commercial on the radio, President George W. Bush made a call to (555) BIG-DEBT, the number for the Big Debt Credit Counseling Service. Bush, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, members of the House Ways and Means Committee, and members of the Senate Budget Committee, met for four hours on Thursday with John Little, a senior counselor with Big Debt.

Henry Paulson, still under scrutiny for his handling of the federal budget, was pleased. “I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of calling them before,” Paulson said during a post-meeting press conference. “Big Debt told us about secret programs that credit card companies and banks don’t want you to know about. We were able to cut 200 billion in credit card debt right off the top. And with easy monthly terms, and an equivalent increase in middle-class taxes, we’ll have the full debt paid off ten years sooner.”

Humor: US Solves Credit Crisis, Credit Cards Gather.com, MA - 2 hours ago And with the average American owing more than $8000 in credit card debt , paying everything back is going to take a while. Fortunately, there are companies …

Click Here for Credit Card Debt Help

Source: Humor: US Solves Credit Crisis, Credit Cards

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Read the full article at GetOutOfDebt.org, click here: Humor: US Solves Credit Crisis, Credit Cards