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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Meijer joins the fight for your toy dollars
Meijer announced today, Nov. 4, that it was slashing prices on more than 400 popular toys, and offering many toys for less than $5.
The price reductions fall under the Price Drop category of Meijer’s new pricing program, which was announced last week.
Toys appear to be the most overt battleground for companies trying to win your business for this year’s holiday season. And the result has been an early present for parents — lower toy prices overall.
Already this fall, Toys R Us, Walmart and Target have made huge price cuts on toys and games.
And now it is Meijer’s turn. The Toy Price Drop program, as the store is calling it, reportedly includes virtually all toy categories, with discounts of up to 30 percent off the store’s usual prices.
Some of the toys noted among the discounted include:
Hot Wheels Basic Cars for 88 cents
Disney Cars character with eyes for $3.58
Littlest Pet Shop Teeniest Tiniest Take-along Pets for $5
Polly Pocket Fab Fit doll packs for $5
Bakugan Starter Pack for $9.88
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Action Figures for $10
As this year’s toy wars have emerged, I have been watching the sales at these stores. There is not one store that has shown itself to be the single best place to shop, but all have had fantastic deals at different times.
The best ways to get the best deals is to know what you are shopping for and check these store ads. I also will continue to note the best deals here and in the Sunday Here’s the Deal columns.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Consumer interest, Savings, Thanksgiving and Christmas
WSU expert: How to control credit card debt
William Wood, a Wright State University Raj Soin College of Business faculty member and expert in financial services, said there are several things consumers can do to cope with the maze of credit card changes now under way.
“Because of the recession and other economic factors, many of the large banks that issue these credit cards are increasing their fees, reducing balances and even canceling cards that reflect infrequent use,” said Wood, who directs the financial services program at the college.
He outlined these steps consumers should follow to help control debt. Some of these steps may seem obvious, but all bear emphasizing.
— Always pay your bill on time because late payments can bring penalties, which will cost you more money over time, and also hurt your credit score.
— Try to pay off your credit card bill each month to avoid the accumulation of interest fees on the outstanding balance.
— If you are trying to pay down a balance, pay the minimum on your lower interest cards and pay as much as you can afford on your higher interest rate cards.
— Pay more attention to how your card works and the rules you need to follow to avoid excess fees.
— If the interest rate seems high, contact your credit card company to seek a lower rate on your outstanding balance if your payment history is good and without late fees.
“The credit card companies want to keep your business, so you shouldn’t be afraid to contact them and try to negotiate a lower interest rate,” Wood said.
— Use all your credit cards occasionally for small purchases that can be paid off each month.
“This keeps your card current and reduces the chances of a card being terminated over lack of use,” he said.
When cards are canceled by the credit issuer, that lowers your credit score and increases the ratio of credit used to available credit, which also lowers your credit score.
— Work to keep the balances for all of your cards no higher than 25 percent to 35 percent of the total available balance for all the cards.
“This is really important because the ratio of your credit balance to available credit is a key factor in determining your credit score,” he said.
— Be selective in terminating one of those cards with a zero balance because your ratio of credit balance to available credit will increase, which can hurt your credit score.
“For example, if you terminate a card with a $10,000 limit when your totals for all your open credit card accounts are $5,000 owed and $40,000 available credit, you will be left with the $5,000 balance on $30,000 available credit, which increases your ratio of debt to available credit and thus adversely affects your credit score.”
Wood, whose expertise includes personal financial planning, retirement planning and estate planning, has taught at Wright State since 1996.
He directs an innovative practicum in financial planning that recently was honored with a business education award from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
For more information, call Wood at (937) 775-3175 or e-mail him at william.wood@wright.edu.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Consumer interest
Roosters offers $10 off for veterans
Roosters restaurants will honor our country’s service men and women on Veterans Day by giving all military personnel, active and inactive, a free $10 Cluckin’ Buck for use in the restaurant.
Veterans Day is Wednesday, Nov. 11.
All a veteran needs to do is drop by any one of Roosters three Dayton area locations — 3501 N. Main St. in Dayton, 103 N. Springboro Pike in Miamisburg and 257 W. Central Ave. in Springboro — and show his or her military ID to get the $10 Cluckin’ Buck.
Cluckin’ Bucks are only good at Roosters and are the same as cash.
“Everyone at Roosters is humbled by the sacrifices all the military personnel make for our freedoms that we all take for granted,” said Dan Ponton, Roosters president. “Veterans Day is their day; please remember to go out of your way to thank them.”
For more information, call Ponton at (614) 774-9573 or e-mail him at danponton@roosterswings.com.
Applebees and Golden Corral are among other restaurants and businesses offering Veterans Day deals. See the post from earlier this week for more information.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Holiday deals, Savings
Target has ways to save big on Wii games
As I mentioned in Sunday’s Here’s the Deal column, Target is having a great sale on Wii games in which you can buy two and get a third for free.
With the high price of Wii games, that can mean a savings of around $50.
But that’s not the only way to save on Wii games at Target this week. As mentioned on the Deal Seeking Mom site Tuesday, Nov. 3, Target also is offering a number of games for $14.99 each.
The Mom also has links to great coupons for Target, one of which offers $10 off when you buy two Wii games.
Making it possible, as she puts it and if you play your deals right, to get 6 Wii games for $30.
Now that is a deal.
Check out the Deal Seeking Mom site for more details.
Also on the Wii front, Best Buy also has some titles for sale, as does Amazon and, of course, eBay.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Savings
