The Power of Yelp!

Okay so if you are not familiar with Yelp.com you should totally check it out. It's an online review site for all kinds of businesses - not just restaurants. You set up an account for free and then you can go to town writing reviews for businesses that you patronize or in my case...sometimes "try" to patronize! The good, the bad and the ugly experiences are all online for consumers to read about. It's a great place to check out what customers have to say about a place before you go, or to make comments about your experience when you do! It's also a great way to vent when you've had a bad experience and care to share that rebelliously with others!

I've only recently decided to become more active with this site but I have been reviewing places I visit frequently for a little over a year now. I have found that not only does this provide a nice online, timeline diary of sorts of my comings and goings but also to remind me of the places or the choices I have made that were both great and not so great. And recently I have discovered a new benefit to doing so! When management of said establishment likes or dislikes your review, they will sometimes contact you to either "Thank you," or to apologize profusely and try to make up for the bad experience you've had! Either way, I have found both my positive reviews and negative reviews have come with rewards.

Once I had a small problem at a hotel I stayed at with a noisy set of patrons directly above my room - I still wrote a positive review because management did take care of the problem for me, but upon seeing my review, they thanked me for being courteous and offered me a nice bottle of wine for my next stay there! Wow! That is customer service!

Apologies from management flow frequently with negative reviews, but sometimes the business wants to make sure to retain you as a customer and will then offer a discount, a gift card or your next meal on them just to try and make you happy! It's nice when these things happen and you can always update your review on Yelp to let others know that management really does care and made an effort to make things right!

So get on the Yelp bandwagon and put your fingers to work - it's fun and can be rewarding to both the business and yourself!

Flea Market Mania!!!

Is it me or have you noticed how wildly popular flea markets and yard sales have become? After all, who doesn't love a good bargain? But now in addition to going to traditional flea markets and yard sales, you can also find these same treasure online!

If you are one of the few people who have not yet ventured onto Facebook, you are missing out on the many benefits of social media. Facebook has a multitude of yard sale groups for just about any given geographical location. For example, if you are in Delaware, you might search for the New Castle Co Delaware Online Yard Sale group. If in PA you might try the Bucks County Yard Sale group or even the Fairless Hills group. Within these groups you can search for bargains or post something you have for sale. The upside is there are no fees like there are on eBay. You of course still should use caution when meeting up with the buyers or sellers, but these groups offer the convenience of buying & selling at your leisure!

Apparently even my dog loves a good bargain! Yes you heard that right - if you do not believe me, you can see for yourself! I have posted a video to show you how much of a bargain shopper she is just like her mommy! Enjoy!

Friends & Time Can Save You Money!

If you are like me, you are always on the hunt for the best price when you need to purchase something. Depending upon what it is that I am buying, it could take me several weeks or months to do enough research to make sure I get the best price! This was the case when buying my car and then later down the road when I needed to buy tires for my car. I wasn't in a hurry and I felt the need to do the research because I wanted to educate myself on what kind of tire I should buy. However, not everyone has the luxury nor the desire to spend countless hours researching like I do. I rather enjoy it.

Recently, I have been scouting around looking for a gym that has a pool close to either work or home. Since there are only a few options in my area, I called 3 places and obtained pricing to make a comparison. Since I am a single homeowner with a mortgage and a car payment, money is strictly budgeted to say the least and sometimes extra cash on hand is just non-existent. Needless to say, I was not liking what I was finding. Despite having been a previous member at two of these places, I would be expected to pay a Joiner or Registrations Fee. At one of these places it was $100. In addition to that $100 was another $35 "annual fee" and they wanted 2 months up front!!! This simply was not feasible to come up with $170+ to walk in the door. I was thinking more short term membership to make sure I could... 1) Make this work with my job schedule and 2) Stay committed and at these rates, that was not happening!!

Well after being totally discouraged by the pricing, I decided to share my results with my friend. She after all worked out at one of the places I had not yet called on. She happened to know from going there that they had a special for $25 a month! That sounded great. So I called and yes there was a joiner fee that I could manage but again, two months up front. This place was still less than the others I had called. So it was girlfriend to the rescue as this was pretty much going to be my decision! But that is not where the story ends.

While contemplating all of this information and having decided that I would wait for one of my next paychecks before I took the leap, this same friend called me a few days later and told me that the very gym - her gym - was now offering a Groupon! What really? A 3 month membership for only $44!? That's less than $15 a month!  SOLD!!! I must have overlooked or not yet read that Groupon email alert, but I am so glad she saw it and shared it with me! So the moral of this story is that if you do not make quick and rash decisions and share what you are looking to purchase with friends, you can end up saving money, because sometimes you don't always find the bargains you are looking for on your own! So link up with your friends, or a money saving group, or blog, eh hum like this one and you might just save a few bucks on something you want or need!

Selling Business 2 Business? Do you know about Manta?

Living in a world of conducting Business 2 Business sales for 20 + years, one has to get resourceful when prospecting for new business leads. Let's face it, it's much easier to get your foot in the door at a business when you at least know the business owner's name. Getting that information is another thing. Often times the secretary/receptionist aka "the Gatekeeper", is not so willing to share that information when you ask for it because that is the first big red flag to them that this is just another sales call on the phone! So having information about the business on hand, including knowing who the right person to ask for is crucial to getting past that gatekeeper and reaching the appropriate person. This information is not always on the company's website so you need to know where to find it.

If you sell to businesses and have not used Manta.com then you must check it out. You can search any type of business and narrow it down to a specific city and/or state, so you can search for restaurants in Wilmington, DE or plumbers in Philadelphia, PA. You get the idea. The results will show you multiple listings and within each listing will be the company's contact information along with estimated annual revenue, number of employees and yes, mostly always the business owner's name. There are other sites that offer this information but I have found Manta to be the most reliable. Every now and then a business may get sold and the owner's name will not be current because they have not updated their Manta record, but for the most part, this site is an incredibly effective business tool - and it's free! 

Also, if you are business owner, don't forget to create a listing on Manta for your business. This makes it easy for other business owners to find and do business with you and it helps with your search engine rankings being listed there!

Welcome to My Blog!

I've decided to write this blog to compile all of my nifty tips, tricks, savings and money making ideas all into one place. Besides being an expert on organized barter, I have helped countless friends and business owners learn tricks to save money on items they need to purchase to just learning how to stretch the almighty dollar. I once turned $2 into $200 and plan to share that story with you down the road. My goal is to reach 500 subscribers and at that time I will share that story with you!

My nickname is Christine the Bargain Queen, if there is a bargain to be found, I will find it! If there is a way to get something cheaper, I will put forth the time and effort to know about it. Additionally, I like to compare products and research things to death before I buy them! From cars and tires to mattresses, etc. I want to make sure I am getting the best value for my money. I'm also a DIY (that means Do It Yourself) kinda gal! I am a single home owner and therefore without the luxury of a spouse's income, I am forced to make ends meet on a modest income. If I can learn how to hang drywall, and spackle, tape and sand it, so can you! I am hoping that this blog will also encourage other single women to learn how to be stronger and more independent! I am extremely fortunate that some of my closest friends and family members are just that - strong independent women. They shop wisely, tackle projects themselves and are always there to lend a helping hand. We share these traits and share our cleverly frugal ideas with one another and so now I am sharing them with you!

Please support this effort by inviting your friends to subscribe to this blog! And if you would like to contact me with a cleverly frugal idea that you would like to see discussed, please feel free to contact me.