While Stella usually indulges my laziness by combing through the financial blogs and picking out our weekly roundup on her own, I thought I'd try something new this week and scrounge around for them myself. The result of this was lots of sports-related stories!
With Black Friday rapidly approaching, there are plenty of deals
coming out that are making saving money during the holiday season
easier and easier. This time last year, the recession was in its
infancy and companies were still trying to figure out the way to
attract new customers. During the holiday season of 2008, plenty of
people were looking for deals. In fact, Savings.com saved people
almost $4.4M* during the holidays in 2008. The most popular
category was electronics and Savings.com's electronics deals saved
users over $1.5M.
In one of my previous posts, Take Me Out To
The Bar Game, I wrote about how you can save money by going to
a bar instead of watching a live sports game. Turns out people all
over the country are taking that advice a step further and just
watching the games from home.
Recently the Washington Post reported that NFL TV ratings have been rising due to the
recent economic downturn. They're claiming that more people are
watching games from home either because they want to get their
money's worth out of the HDTV they bought or because watching games
from home is free. Both theories make sense.
I've been elected to write this
week's "Home Sweet Home" edition of Herding Cats--which is fitting,
because I do indeed live at and work from home. Since today is All
Hallow's Eve Eve, it was also fitting that we feature a few stories
about ghosts.
All of today's articles serving
as virtual shooting-range targets for my warped sense of
comprehension share the same general theme: food. It's something I
admittedly don't know much about anymore due to the diet plan I've
followed over the last few months, the likes of which limits my
life sustaining nutritional intake to non-processed foods best
described as boring.
Being a creature of habit and
patterned processes carefully refined over time to yield more
positive results than negative, I welcome this mundane feeding
process which lacks in both general good taste and creativity, but
serves up a healthy portion of predictability. Thank goodness for
you, the news articles on the menu today subscribe to anything
but...
Inspired by the upcoming film NO
IMPACT MAN, a story about a family that goes off the grid for a
year, I decided to write a blog about some simple lessons from mom
and dad that go a long way in being green. While NO IMPACT MAN'S
extreme lifestyle is inspiring, there are also simple things all of
us can do every day to make a difference.
Our Community Manager, Sara
Dunham (aka "WiscoVixen"),
has gone Hollywood on us. She's appearing on Best Deals TV Show to
tout the benefits of Savings.com.
Best Deals TV
Show is southern California's #1 most-watched consumer program
on KTLA 5 and KCAL 9. Consumer reporters Lynda Halligan and Andrew
Amador travel all over southern California searching for the best
buys and value for services.
The spot will air on L.A.
channels KTLA 5 and KCAL 9 starting this Saturday. Early birds can
catch it at 8:30 AM PST on October 11th and 25th on KCAL 9. Night
owls can get their Wisco-fix at 1:30 AM PST on the 10th, 17th, 24th
and 31st on KLTA 5.
Consumers are obviously holding
onto their hard-earned dollars and making sure to get the most bang
for the buck when they do decide to spend money. We've seen some
places where consumer purchasing behavior has changed drastically
during this year, and we predict that, in order to lure consumers
into buying, some retailers are going to have to work overtime to
provide good deals.
Based on the data we're
observing, there are some areas we think are going to be good
places to find deals before the end of the year.
The recession has hit all
retailers hard. Will "Black Friday" be the cure for the economic
downturn doldrums? Or will it be a game of chicken between
retailers and shoppers waiting out the flurry of holiday sales and
promotions in hopes of scoring the deepest discounts?
As we begin to come out of the
worst part of the recession and enter the vital holiday season,
there are trends appearing every shopper should keep in
mind:
Buying a new TV, or a new
computer, printer, or anything electronic for that matter can be
pretty darn exciting--especially when you are saving money with
some great Best Buy coupons. But the question remains,
what to do with all your old electronic items?
If you missed out on cashing in on that clunker
in your driveway, now is your chance to cash in on that clunker in
your kitchen. The question is, will the program be ultimately
worthwhile for our environment and your wallet?
At Savings.com, we celebrate coupons on a daily
basis. But we were still stoked to hear that September is National Coupon Month. We're not
surprised that an entire month had been dedicated to coupons--given
the steady rise of usage we've witnessed over the last
months.
The goal of the Obama-created "Cash for Clunkers"
program was simple: stimulate the economy and reduce carbon
emissions by getting gas guzzlers off the road. A goal, that at
first glance, seems noble--a veritable win-win.
While it may have helped consumers save money,
the long-term environmental effects may, or may not have been worth
it.
This past week, I (along with several of my
co-workers) attended an out-of-town conference for several days
and I have to tell you, it's really good to be back! Not that I
didn't learn a lot and wasn't grateful for the opportunity to spend
quality time with my fellow Savings.comers, but sinking into my own
bed, with my own pillows last night was a welcome relief from
strange hotel rooms and crowded airplanes.
So in honor of that, I give you this week's
finance blog round-up--the "Home Again" edition:
Much like we've seen with gas prices, the
recession can be your friend when it comes to baseball ticket
prices, too.
Major League Baseball was certainly grateful when
the recession waited until the end of the 2008 season to rear its
ugly head. Despite attendance dipping about 1% from 2007, America's
wealthiest sport saw its revenues climb half a billion dollars.
Luckily for sports fans, that trend will not continue.
By the beginning of the 2009 season, most teams
had already downed the proverbial stiff drink and prepared to offer
creative ways for their fiscally weary fans to enjoy an affordable
trip to the ballpark.
The economy sucks. No big secret there, right?
And it's no secret that the federal and state governments are
feeling similar economic pressures as their residents. I don't
think this could be any more evident than it is for those of us who
live here in California.
Last week, KABC-TV in LA ran a story
called Online
Coupons: Beware of the Bargain that tells the story of a woman
that was scammed by an online coupon service. Via a popup on their
site, this service promised her a great deal in exchange for some
of her personal information. She ended up with a load of phony
charges on her credit card statement, and she's still in the
process of straightening out her finances.
It seems only fitting as we prepare to celebrate
the 4th of July--the day our forefathers declared independence in
response overzealous taxation--that some welcome news on the tax
front comes our way. Specifically, a resolution to the dreaded
"Amazon Tax" known as "AB178" in California.
It's that time of the week again, time for the
Savings.com blog round up for the week of June 28th. We've picked
some of our favorite blog posts from the past week and compiled
them into a concise list for your reading pleasure. This week's
theme: Financial Crimes.
A recent study suggested that the average wedding
costs upwards of $29,000. Even Jim and Pam of NBC's The Office
discussed a quickie courthouse wedding to save money and
trouble.
You know the recession is really hitting home when America's
favorite fictional couple are feeling the crunch. Now that jobs are
scarce and people are tightening their belts, is the traditional
wedding the next victim of the economic downturn?
I remember getting my first credit card. I had
just been laid off from my job when it arrived. When I called my
mom to tell her the good news, her response was "They gave a
credit card to someone who is unemployed?"
Over at 24/7 Wall
St., they're reporting on the latest market rally saying that
calling it a "a mere recovery would be an understatement of the
year." And the biggest winner in the stock turnaround?
Our CEO, Loren Bendele, spoke out about the proposed "Amazon
Tax" bill that's going before California legislature this upcoming
Monday in a guest post on VentureBeat.com.
Here's what he had to say:
Even though many folks are tightening their pursestrings these
days, entertainment purchases will continue to be made. Throughout
hard times in history, people have pursued escapism, and
entertainment has always filled that need. From musical comedies in
Leninist Russia and free outdoor screenings during the Great
Depression to Woodstock during the Vietnam War, people needed a way
to escape the difficult times...and we're no different, although
we're not dealing with anything nearly as grim as those three
examples. Whether you're buying movie tickets, paying for your Netflix
subscription, or downloading songs to keep your iTunes
library and your iPod updated, your purchases may become less
frequent, but it's doubtful that they'll stop altogether.