Tuesday Thrifty Finds - August 5, 2008

This week's Tuesday Thrifty Finds are not only great for the Mom, but will be loved by our teenagers. So, whether you have one living in your home or use one to baby-sit your children, be sure to share these great thrifty ideas.

Stretching the Mighty Dollar
It can be both fun and rewarding to teach our teens about money and how to stretch the mighty dollar. Once they get the Thrifty Bug in them you can enjoy watching them bargain shop, save and plan out what they will spend their money on.

Here are some tips for your teenagers on stretching their might dollar
By Ryan Sylvester (printed in USA weekend)

· Leave your money at home. This can keep you from caving in on sales that you would normally be rushed into.
· Don't date someone with expensive taste (ice cream is better than sushi anyhow).
· Stash your money in a jar. Tape a picture of your long-term goal on it as a reminder to keep your spending-hungry hands out of the jar.
· If you can't handle having your money in a nearby jar, then let the professionals take care of it for you. Go to your local bank and open a savings account.
· Ride your bike and save gas.
· Bet yourself or a friend that you can go a week without spending a dollar. If you're still having trouble, there's only one thing left to do -- ask your parents; they have a lot more experience with money, and you can learn from their mistakes rather than your own.

I also havesome great money advice for your teenagers from http://www.debtfree-revolution.com/:

Do not finance a vehicle! Please, you are young… don’t sign your life away to impress the girls and other boys at school by trying to drive something that you can’t pay cash for. If you finance a vehicle at age 16, by the time you get to college it won’t be impressive enough to catch the eye of that sorority sister who is in your English comp class, but the payments will still be there and you will probably still be upside-down in it.

Do everything you can to get scholarships, grants, work-study, and pay cash for your college tuition and textbooks. Your grandma, my mother, had student loans from pharmacy school for FIFTEEN YEARS…that’s longer than you’ve been alive so far! Student loan payoff terms are getting longer and longer, and it’s just not worth it. Slow down, go part-time and work while in college if you can’t get enough free money. I am doing it, and it is so much better than going into debt.

Stay far FAR away from the credit card tables at school. Thankfully, the high schools haven’t started letting those financial predators on premises yet, but I see them every single semester on the college campus. You are very good at math, so do the numbers to prove to yourself that credit cards are a really bad deal for the consumer if you don’t want to take my word for it.

You have seen me do a budget for over a year now, and I have let you watch in the hopes that you will do this for yourself. I also hope you noticed how much we have been paying to get out of debt! If you do a budget your entire life, and LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS, you won’t fall into debt like I did. Learn from your mom’s mistakes here, kiddo!

Start saving for an emergency fund. You have seen me handle car problems and fix the heat in the dead of winter because I had an emergency fund. It doesn’t need to earn much interest…just have it.

Start saving for retirement as soon as you have some extra money. Even just $50 per month at your age will grow into an amazing amount by the time you get old enough to be concerned about it (once you figure out that you might possibly live past the age of 30). You’re starting to work with compound interest problems in math, so you can probably now figure how starting early will make you literally millions of dollars.

What teen money tip do you have to share with the 24/7 Moms?

Freebies

Here are some freebies for your teenagers:

FREEbie Sunsilk samples http://www.sunsilk.us/samples.php
(US teens 16 and older so Mom, you may have to sign-up for your younger teen)

FREEbie Free Beinggirl Sample Kit for Teen Girls 11-14 http://www.beinggirl.com/en_US/home.jsp Teen girls between 11-14 can register here and request a free sample kit that includes 2 Regular Tampax Pearl Tampons, 1 Lite Tampax Pearl Tampon, 1 Always Infinity Feminine Pad, 2 Always Pantiliners, and 1 Always Feminine Wipe. Look for the "FREE SAMPLES" link on left page menu. Click and complete the short survey to request a free sample kit. Female teens, U.S. only.

FREEbies from Degree when you sign up to be a Degree Girl at http://www.degreegirl.com/Girl/Newsletter-Signup.aspx (you have to be 13 or older)

FREEbie sample of aqua fresh tooth paste at https://www.aquafresh.com/FreeSample.promo (teens 13+, U.S. only)

FREEbie samples of max factor make-up http://www.maxfactor.com/user/get/homepage.do
Here's an irresistible offer for teen ladies from from Max Factor cosmetics. Select your country on page and click on "Send me there". Look for the "Join up!" link on top left of next page. Click and register to receive their free newsletter. Be sure to check the "I would like to receive news and free samples from Max Factor" box below the last question on the form. U.S. teens 13+ only.

This is a great site to find FREEbies for teenagers http://www.teenfreeway.com/index.html



Bargain Shopping:

Sign-up to be on your favorite store's email list to receive special offers and discounts through out the year:

Victoria Secret/ PINK http://www2.victoriassecret.com/emailSignup/email.html?passedEmail=

Old Navy http://www.oldnavy.com/

Pac Sun http://www.pacsun.com/ get 15% off when you sign-up to be on their email list and FREE shipping on your first online order at Pacsun.com

Ann Taylor Loft http://www.anntaylorloft.com/

Bath and Body http://www.bathandbody.com/

Charlotte Russe http://www.charlotterusse.com/

Forever 21 http://www.forever21.com/

American Eagle http://www.ae.com/

Which stores do you or your teen shop at shop at? Google it and sign-up to be on their mailing lists for more great offers and specials sent directly to your in-box.


Coupon Princess (Queen):
I consider my my two teen daughters to be Coupon Princesses. They are learningthat by using coupons they can save money as well as get FREE stuff .

Here are a few recent coupon offers that my two future Coupon Queens have used:

FREEbie Auntie Anne's pretzel at your local store with coupon:
http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=11146&zid=cg19&nid=10

FREEbie PINK (Victoria Secret) makeup bag by using the coupon that is in the August Seventeen magazine – this is a $24.00 value now through August 31, 2008, while supplies last. My girls both loved this freebie.

FREEbie Sephora gift on your birthday - sign-up for your free birthday gift from Sephora. The gift my girls received was Sephora vanilla cupcake bath and shower bubbles. We received our coupons in an email and took them to the mall to pick up the birthday gift.

Sign-up for your gift at:

http://www.sephora.com/beautyinsider/;jsessionid=CTIW5V55TX44YCV0KRRRXCQ

FREEbie quiznos Sammie sandwich coupon when you sign-up at
http://www.quiznos.com/offers/


Share your teen shopping bargains and thrifty ideas with us at trisha@247moms.com or post a comment.