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Are you always looking for that perfect deal? Want to get the most you can for every dollar you spend? Here are 11 different ways for you to find T.H.E. B.E.S.T. D.E.A.L. when you shop.

T.AKE ADVANTAGE OF DOUBLE COUPONS Many grocery stores offer double coupons, most of the time up to $0.50 (doubled to $1.00). Cut them out of your Sunday paper and use them!

H.OLIDAY SALES This is a great time to shop. You can get great discounts many times throughout the year. Look for sales in your paper around these times: Presidents Day; Memorial Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving; and after Christmas.

E.LECTRONICS AND APPLIANCES You can usually take advantage of some sort of mail-in rebate or gift card rebates with big dollar purchases like electronics and appliances. Check around at your local stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy and Circuit City to get the best deal with rebates. Only drawback it can take 6, 8 or even up to 10 weeks to receive the rebate.

B.OTS There are Shopping bots such as Shopzilla.com or Pricegrabber.com that make it easy for the consumer to comparison shop and find the deals.

E.XAMINE REVIEWS BEFORE BUYING Check out the product reviews online before you spend the money. Often times, they will lead to a discount code, sale or free shipping.

S.TORE CREDIT CARDS Many stores offer their own VISA or Mastercard sponsored store credit card. You can really take advantage of some great offers and rebates by signing up for one of these cards. Sidenote: try to pay off the balance each and every month and only apply for those cards where you frequently shop (youll get the most bang for your buck that way). Example: Kroger (a grocery store) will award points for all purchases made in the store and outside the store using the Kroger Mastercard. These points are tabulated and rewarded on a quarterly basis with gift certificates that can be used as cash in the store (Ive gotten up to $80 in one quarter). PLUS theyll give you a $0.15 per gallon discount on Kroger gasoline purchased with the card.

T.AKE A LOOK AROUND Make sure you do some browsing before jumping on that great dealthere may be an even better one right next door!

D.ISCOUNTS, DISCOUNTS EVERYWHERE There are always great deals in the: Sunday paper; Val-Pak coupons in the mail; local restaurant coupon deals; and coupon sites such as coupons.com and couponchief.com. Take the time to check these outit can save you a bunch of money!

E.FFICIENCY IS THE KEY Many online shopping carts will allow you to combine or stack their deals and codes. You can get free shipping, 10% off AND receive a free gift all at the same time!

A.SK AROUND If you see someone wearing a cute pair of shoes or that new tee youve been dying forask them where they got it. If they got a great deal, they will be more than happy to tell you about it.

L.OOK FOR USED OR CONSIGNMENT SHOPS They have great prices on name brand goods and items that have barely been used. There are always hidden treasures to be found in these shops.

When you break it down into a formula, its not so overwhelming, is it? Use these steps as a guide to help you find the best deals around. Happy shopping!

Tracy Ebert is the owner of: My Special Note ( http://www.myspecialnote.com ), an online retail store offering personalized gifts and letters for the special kid in your life; and MomsNiche.com ( http://www.momsniche.com ), an online resource for moms looking for recipes, craft ideas, articles on parenting, and organizational tips. She lives in Virginia with her husband and three children.

posted by phoenixrnlr  # 10:51 PM 0 comments

Are you a car club organization and trying to get more people to join? Usually car clubs grow due to word-of-mouth and yet you need your first group of people in the car clubs so they can tell their friends. One of the best ways to get a car club going is to send out direct-mail marketing packages within a thirty-mile radius to all the zip codes near where the club meets.

If you send out direct-mail marketing coupon packages to all the people in the area with pictures on them of members cars and invite people to a local gathering in a parking lot you will find many people showing up just to see what it is about. Once they show up then you can talk with them and give them a form to fill out if they feel like joining.

We have found when building car clubs that this is one of the best ways to build them up quick and it does not cost very much. In fact if you will loan the club a $1,000 dollars to do the first mailing you will find that the number of people that that mailing brings back will most likely pay for the money you have spent and the club can pay you back.

Direct mail and direct-mail marketing in coupon packages works very well for car clubs and if you are thinking of expanding your car club or want to get a new car club going, then I would suggest you use direct-mail marketing. Please consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; www.WorldThinkTank.net/

posted by phoenixrnlr  # 12:16 AM 0 comments