Jan. 24 coupon and sales report

I live in the 48162 zip code in Monroe, Mich. All of my coupon and sales and deals reports are for my local readers.

There are two coupon books each in my home-delivery editions of The Monroe Evening News and the Detroit Free Press today. Look for offers on Bob Evans sausage, pet food and party food.

Trends I’m seeing in this weekend’s sales fliers include clearance prices on winter items such as space heaters, deals on store-brand products, party food deals, Valentine’s Day merchandise, baby attire, athletic shoes for adults, tax filing and financial software, and family pack meats.

Continue reading Jan. 24 coupon and sales report …

From Monroe on a Budget.

Christian PF’s list of 10 downloadable financial softwares

I started a financial software series around the New Year’s holiday on the thought that if I was working on my bookkeeping for fiscal year 2009, then my readers might also be doing that too.

I haven’t had a lot of time for researching special topics during the past two weeks,  so that project stalled out about halfway through.

In the meantime, Christian PF has put together a list of 10 Options for Downloadable Financial Planning Software. So if you are wondering how a computer can help you keep your household finances in order, that’s one list to check out.

Continue reading Christian PF’s list of 10 downloadable financial softwares …

From Monroe on a Budget.

The Money Crashers 2010 New Year’s giveaway

If you go to my speaking appearances or community education classes in Monroe, Mich., you know that I usually provide grab bags of coupons. Furthermore, my frugal blogging friends in Toledo provide goodie bags as door prizes (products bought with the help of coupons) at their / our joint appearances.

But I haven’t done any giveaways from my blog.

First reason: I don’t have any fun swag to give away. No books, no coupon organizers, no cash in my marketing budget.

Second: I haven’t figured out how I would handle the logistics to do even a sponsored giveaway! I get a headache just thinking about that.

But I have, on occasion, pointed people to giveaways and contests elsewhere. Here’s a very interesting one:

The Money Crashers site has announced its 2010 New Year’s giveaway.

This is a random draw contest. You earn entry points by tweeting, posting on your blog, becoming a Money Crashers fan on facebook or sign up for an e-mail list.

As I’m looking over the rules, it looks like I’m already eligible for the drawing through a couple of directions. Reason: I am quite involved with personal finance social media, especially the PF blogger community on Twitter. So I may as well also tell my blog readers about the contest.

Now, while I was not able to sponsor a prize myself, I will tell you there is a VERY impressive list with more than 100 prizes: Cash, iPods, gift cards, financial software and financial books.

So now you know what some of my friends in the PF community are doing this month. Be sure to thank your prize sponsor if you win something.

Continue reading The Money Crashers 2010 New Year’s giveaway …

From Monroe on a Budget.

The Money Crashers 2010 New Year’s giveaway

If you go to my speaking appearances or community education classes in Monroe, Mich., you know that I usually provide grab bags of coupons. Furthermore, my frugal blogging friends in Toledo provide goodie bags as door prizes (products bought with the help of coupons) at their / our joint appearances.

But I haven’t done any giveaways from my blog.

First reason: I don’t have any fun swag to give away. No books, no coupon organizers, no cash in my marketing budget.

Second: I haven’t figured out how I would handle the logistics to do even a sponsored giveaway! I get a headache just thinking about that.

But I have, on occasion, pointed people to giveaways and contests elsewhere. Here’s a very interesting one:

The Money Crashers site has announced its 2010 New Year’s giveaway.

This is a random draw contest. You earn entry points by tweeting, posting on your blog, becoming a Money Crashers fan on facebook or sign up for an e-mail list.

As I’m looking over the rules, it looks like I’m already eligible for the drawing through a couple of directions. Reason: I am quite involved with personal finance social media, especially the PF blogger community on Twitter. So I may as well also tell my blog readers about the contest.

Now, while I was not able to sponsor a prize myself, I will tell you there is a VERY impressive list with more than 100 prizes: Cash, iPods, gift cards, financial software and financial books.

So now you know what some of my friends in the PF community are doing this month. Be sure to thank your prize sponsor if you win something.

Continue reading The Money Crashers 2010 New Year’s giveaway …

From Monroe on a Budget.

The Money Crashers 2010 New Year’s giveaway

If you go to my speaking appearances or community education classes in Monroe, Mich., you know that I usually provide grab bags of coupons. Furthermore, my frugal blogging friends in Toledo provide goodie bags as door prizes (products bought with the help of coupons) at their / our joint appearances.

But I haven’t done any giveaways from my blog.

First reason: I don’t have any fun swag to give away. No books, no coupon organizers, no cash in my marketing budget.

Second: I haven’t figured out how I would handle the logistics to do even a sponsored giveaway! I get a headache just thinking about that.

But I have, on occasion, pointed people to giveaways and contests elsewhere. Here’s a very interesting one:

The Money Crashers site has announced its 2010 New Year’s giveaway.

This is a random draw contest. You earn entry points by tweeting, posting on your blog, becoming a Money Crashers fan on facebook or sign up for an e-mail list.

As I’m looking over the rules, it looks like I’m already eligible for the drawing through a couple of directions. Reason: I am quite involved with personal finance social media, especially the PF blogger community on Twitter. So I may as well also tell my blog readers about the contest.

Now, while I was not able to sponsor a prize myself, I will tell you there is a VERY impressive list with more than 100 prizes: Cash, iPods, gift cards, financial software and financial books.

So now you know what some of my friends in the PF community are doing this month. Be sure to thank your prize sponsor if you win something.

Continue reading The Money Crashers 2010 New Year’s giveaway …

From Monroe on a Budget.

Financial software: Quicken 2010

I will tell you up front that I have used Quicken’s Mac products since 1996 – but I really do not like Quicken 2007. It is a way more complicated piece of software now than what I need or want.

That being said, Quicken has a lot of fans. Obviously, it is the right software for a lot of people.

Quicken 2010 for Windows is now available. The price ranges run from $59.99 for “deluxe” to $149.99 for “rental property manager.” If you have been a Microsoft Money software user, you are being “invited” to convert your files to Quicken 2010. The Quicken Essentials for Mac is expected for release in February.

Free Money Finance recently wrote Four Things I Like About Quicken and the comment section is pretty good. Fiscal Geek also has a review on Quicken 2010 with lots of comments posted there too.

Quicken’s well-known features include tracking expenses, net worth and investments. I found it easy in the older versions to set up household spending reports by month, quarter and by year. When I did my family’s grocery spending analysis for my public speaking engagements, I pulled that data report from Quicken.

A related product is Quicken Home Inventory Manager. I used one of the early versions of that software and I really liked that program.

(I’m not done yet. I’m bookmarking other software and services. Check back during the next few days …)

Continue reading Financial software: Quicken 2010 …

From Monroe on a Budget.

Financial software: Crown Financial Ministries

Crown Financial Ministries is a program that I’ve known about it for 20 years, when just the print workbooks and resource books were available under the Christian Financial Concepts banner.

I haven’t used any of CFM’s software. I’ve read the books, listened to the radio show, and accessed the free web resources. But CFM does have a collection of software and online services that you can use to keep track of household finances.

• Crown Money Map software focuses on budgeting, organizing, reminders and reports, financial teaching and advice. It can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. There is a free 30-day trial available. If you want to buy, the software costs $60. Here is the customer review page at Amazon.
• The Mvelopes Personal program is an online service. It’s meant to help you track spending as you go based on a household budget – which is much different than the “look back” methods that some personal software systems are set up for. You can access the service on your data plan mobile phone. It will work on either Mac or PC. There is a free trial. If you sign up for a two-year plan the cost works out to be $7.40 a month.
• The Set Your House in Order software is new, and lets you store key information that will be needed in case of a family emergency such as medical records and bank accounts. There is a free trial available. The software costs $50 for boxed version or $40 for download. It is a Windows-only program.

Continue reading Financial software: Crown Financial Ministries …

From Monroe on a Budget.