People who are interested in dressing up with the attire that is immaculate in color and creation can now look for the list of ethical clothing companies of 2011 published by Ethisphere Institute. The companies listed why this institute are scrutinized thoroughly for their industry practices of marketing and manufacturing. These companies got a clean chit for making and selling their products without violating any human rights code.

Among the most noted names in the list are Adidas, the German company which is now the owner of big brands RockPort and Reebok. The company is gradually showing increase in its revenue as its retail sales in the latest year has increased by 18 %. The company has decided to start of with its new environmental strategy that aims to use complete Better Cotton in all its manufacturing segments by the year 2018. This will help the company to reduce the carbon footprints.

Another name in the list is Gap, which is the owner of five fundamental brands: Banana Republic, Gap, Athleta, Old Navy and Piperlime. Though the company is maintaining ethical standards in their production, however, the recent drop in its sales had worsened its share prices.

Timberland is yet another name in the list that has secured a notable place for its greenhouse emission reduction. The company has reduced the greenhouse emission by several degrees resulting to a reduction of 38 %. The reduction of the carbon emission of GAP has been done at the cost of the company’s vision since its profit is still running low by 50 % from its expected profit margin. Though it has not reached its desired level of profit yet the attained level is outstanding in the last quarter.

With so many brands to choose from you can now swath yourself with humanity without a hitch.

Since people have less know-how bout their spending habit, the plans to put their expenses in a proper system becomes flop as they fail to keep pace with it. Most of the people at their youth face a period of steady transition. The changes in out lives are plenty as we encounter situations like graduating from a college, taking up a job, starting a family, all of these within a very short span of time. Financial planning becomes inevitable in all these cases and needless to say that the task of balancing the spending with income becomes complicated.

This steady face of myriad changes is the right time to identify our spending habit to design our financial objectives of future in a meaningful manner. There several software that are helpful to perform this task and some of them are pretty cheap like Quickken and QuickBooks. While there are people whose financial planning is accomplished by these software, other will need help of professionals to land up to a fair plan. One free online application is available for this purpose in the website of Mint.com.

This online free software is a better option than the ones which are to be purchased. Once you purchase a software, you will be compelled by the money invested on it to stick on to it for your personal financial planning. No matter how bad it is you cannot refrain from using it. In that sense the software at Mint.com is a better one and includes numerous options to track your expenses. But prior to it, if we can have a sketch of our spending habit, we can make a practical planning. One of the biggest benefits of using this application is that software will download your bank transactions from online account system and you will be spared from the duty of inputting the details manually.

No matter how good the software is, you need to develop a habit to identify your sending realms. This will make your personal financial planning a sure win else even the most sophisticated software will fail in the mission.

Here’s one way that’s easy to work with. If you settle your credit card bill in full on time each and every month, travel rewards credit cards are the way to go for you. They’re the fastest way to rack up those miles and redeem them for free benefits and what not. Most of these credit card companies will offer you sign-up bonuses after you make your first purchase so these points too can be redeemed by way of frequent flier miles later on. Mind you, these credit card companies bank on you to pay late so don’t give them that pleasure. That’s their way of trying to get money from you since they will spend on covering your miles, so be careful not to overspend. Just pay up on time and you will emerge a winner. That is all. And yes, take those travel rewards with you while laughing at the poor credit card company that signed you up.

Social media is also a great way to accrue travel rewards. There are applications available for iOS and Android that allow you to earn travel rewards while checking in at multiple locations in the real world. An example of this is Topguest, which works with Foursquare and Facebook Places to offer you travel rewards over time that can be cashed in. If you’re really desperate, you can simply buy miles directly from the airline and use it to get a free flight or an upgrade. If you travel rewards account is close to the value you need, this could cost you less than just simply buying the upgrade or the ticket itself.

What next?

Life is much, much more than a system of checks and balances. Indeed, often times we forget that as we scrape the bottom of the barrel for that extra bit of money that we so desperately want, the average man always talking about freeing himself from the yoke of debt and being penny wise all the time. But why stay a slave to your income, why not make it work better for you? If you have a thoroughbred in the stable, you don’t keep him locked away for good, for he will wither away. Years upon years of saving have brought you to this point and it is now time for you to make the next step in your evolution; making your money work better for you.

Mind you, our suggestions are by no means comprehensive or definitive; it’s just a push in the right direction for you. Where you choose to go from there is entirely left to your own volition.

Travel the world

The entire world is but a book, and he who has not traveled has read but a page. Quite a few love to travel as and when they get the time to get out, but many equally prefer to just laze about and do absolutely nothing in their free time. While we agree that pointlessness is a joy in itself, experiencing something new and beyond your comfort zone is an exhilarating experience. Sure, some vacations will cost you an arm, a leg and a kidney but there are also those that will not cost you the world to see the world. Do your research before you go, there’s always a trip for every budget and tourist.

Delegate

You’re a force to reckon with within your office confines, rapidly delegating work to those you feel worthy of polishing your shoes. So why stop there? Apply the same entrepreneurial and management principles in your day to day lives as well. Get someone to do your work for you that is better than you and then leave things to him (or her) while getting on with your own life. The internet has made the connection with job seekers and those with needs complete, and you can find anyone to do almost anything for a reasonable fee. Do you need to do a bit of spring cleaning, or perhaps cook a great meal for you? What about that one task you hate doing, something as mundane as organizing your vast collection of DVD’s? You’ll be surprised how much a little money can go a long way towards smoothening out your life.

Get a wealth manager

Some question whether a wealth manager is an expense or an investment. We simply retort by saying that all investments are, by their very nature, an expense. But what makes an investment special is that it is an expense that returns to you manifold. All too often we worry about making money, money and more money and it’s a cycle that never ends. So why not stop worrying about your money and get someone on board to do exactly that? Sure, it sounds like frivolity, but if you can find someone trustworthy to manage your finances, do so. The best ones always pay off their fees several times over.

These are just some possible solutions, but we’re sure you can think of something more to suit your own needs. So look closely at your needs and weigh up decisions before you jump into them and if you can understand how best to channel your money, it’ll look after you just as much as you have been looking after it.

Year-end and early-year sales are the best occasions in which you could get good discounts. This is the time of the year when retailers try to clear out their old stocks. They sell these stocks at very low prices. So if you’ve been waiting to buy a couple of expensive T-shirts from a retail store for long, just check out now. There are good chances of your getting them at 30-40 % discount.

Good shopping is not only about perfect timing because you don’t get discounts on everything that is available in the market. There are three main categories of items that you can expect to get a discount on. They are clothes, home appliances and electronic games.

For clothes there can’t be a better time than now, especially when the retailers are in a hurry to dispose off old clothes and fill the shelves with new ones in their place. Go to Banana Republic and you’ll get reasonably good clothes at prices much less than the usual. But you should also check out the conditions for the sale before you actually go to the shops. Firstly, many shops are not agreeing to redeem your gift coupons for items sold on sale. Secondly, you may have to buy clothes in the sale under the condition that they will not be exchanged or returned. In the case of clothes, the latter becomes a slightly risky clause because there is every possibility that once you try out an outfit you might find that it is not fitting you well. So before you make a purchase see that you take the best decision. Try out the clothes in the trail room of the retail outlet before you actually buy them.

The time is ripe for purchasing home items too. Domestic appliances and gadgets, and home decoration items are being offered for cheap right from during the holidays. But if you want to buy a brand new TV set just wait a week more. The Super Bowl connection will make retailers sell TV sets at lower prices at this time of the year.

The time is also perfect for purchasing video games. Now, since you know what to buy when, just time your shopping perfectly and save yourself a huge amount of money.

Auto

• New Vehicle:
  Every year during fall, you will notice the launch of new cars in the automobile market. Hence, the month of September is ideal to grab the best deal on last year’s cars. Visit any automobile showroom during the end of September especially on a weekday to get the undistracted attention of the salesperson, who is striving hard to reach the monthly target.
• Used Vehicle:
  Most of the used car dealers rise their inventory in April to boost their sales in spring season. During this time, you will get good variety and negotiated price.
• Recreational Vehicle:
  Good deals are introduced by dealers in winter. However, buying a recreational vehicle is similar to buying a new car.
• Gas:
  Fill up your tank on a weekday. If gas price is going up, fuel up early morning. And if it’s going down, fill up in the evening. Changes in price usually takes place between 10 am to 3 pm.
• Oil:
  Changing car oil can come cheap if you go to a new garage.
• Tires and other parts:
  You can get a free car check-up, free oil change and ‘Buy 3, get 1 tire free’ offer during national Car Care Month (April) and Fall Car Care Month (October).
• Car Wash:
  Get best deals on full service car wash by visiting in early hours (before 8 am).

Travel

• Air Tickets:
  To get the lowest airfare during non-holiday season, book your tickets at least 21 days in advance. However, you also have to spend some days watching the prices before booking. On weekdays, airfares are revised at 10 am, 12.30 pm, and 8 pm. Updating is done only once on Sundays and Saturdays. According to the past records, you can avail tickets at lower price on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and rarely on Saturdays. Wednesday is the cheapest day to travel, whereas Sunday, the costliest. An exception to Wednesday is the one that comes before Thanksgiving. If you get a ticket at cheap price, don’t wait much because price fluctuation depends on market demand.
• Common Traveling:
  Traveling to any part of the world during peak season can be very expensive. Everything from airfares and stay to food and leisure activity is overpriced. Going in the off-season can help you to save enormous amount and the destinations are less crowded.

Food

• Supermarket:
  You will find better deals on Sundays. If you are going on a weekday, shop in the evening. You can save lot of money on the items that has to be sold before day’s close. Get coupons from Sunday newspaper to get added discounts.
• Coupons:
  You will find discount coupons throughout the year in Sunday newspapers. However, you will find many of them in November and December. Turkeys can be purchased at very cheap rate just a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. During spring season, you will notice many coupons offering discounts on ham, frozen food, seasonal food. In summer, find coupons with discounts on ice creams and other grilling products. And find best soup deals in Autumn.
• Grocery (from farms):
  Most of the dealers avoid carrying perishables back to farm. Hence they intend to sell the whole lot before the closing. So, evening is the best time to buy groceries from vendors.
• Champagne:
  Due to intense competition and excessive supply, you can savor champagne at a very low price during celebration and holiday season.

Clothes and Accessories:

• Clothes:
  Don’t buy any outfits as soon as it enters the mall. Wait for eight weeks and shop on a Thursday evening. On Thursday, the weekend sale starts and you have a good range of clothes at discounted rates. Instead of impulsive buying, it is suggested to buy during season-end sale.
• Clothes for newborns:
  It may sound foolish, but don’t wait for your kid to be born. Shop during pregnancy at season-end clearance.
• Jewelry:
  Holiday and wedding season is the most expensive period. Don’t buy jewelry during this time.

Wedding

• Wedding:
  Like traveling, having a wedding during off season will help you to save a huge amount. If you reside in a cold region, you will save lots in winter months. Likewise, summer months are quite economical in hot regions.
• Wedding costume:
  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is best to buy Christmas wedding gowns and suits.

Other

• Toys:
  Retailers are generally gearing up for holiday’s seasons during October and November. Hence, this period offers a better bargain.
• Wrapping Paper:
  Post Christmas, that is in January and February.

So, if one of your New Year resolutions is to save money, I am sure you might succeed with the help of these tips. Let me know if you have any other tips.

Saving each dollar by earning cash back on your card, preparing a new budget, not eating out, disconnecting your cable, etc. is a good way to accumulate. However, finding the best bargain is crucial. You cannot just buy anything at anytime, especially when you are being frugal. There is a right to purchase everything.

There is, however, a big problem. How do you when is the right time to buy the right thing? Here is the list:

House and furnishings

• House:
  Generally, most of the purchasing and selling of houses is done in the months amid March and August. So, if you are looking for a better offer, try bargaining in the winter or autumn.
• Floor Covering:
  A good house looks better with remarkable flooring. Find the best deals on carpet, tiles, and other floorings during the end of the calendar year, when the demand and sales is quite low. You will get it cheap at almost any retailer.
• Decorative Furniture:
  New furniture is stocked by retailers in January and June. Hence the unsold ones are up for sale.
• Gas Grill:
  Demand for gas grills is low during winter months.
• Cookware:
  The graduation and wedding days of April-May provides good deals. If you miss it, don’t fret. Wait till the holiday season (Oct-Nov) to get better ones.
• Linen:
  Linen lovers term January as “White sales”, or they wander through the shops during the end of each season, that is to say initial spring days. Linens are sold at over 65% off during this season.
• Mattresses:
  The new ones enter the retail market in the month of May. So, the old ones are sold at a discounted rate.
• Vacuum Cleaners:
  Like any other product, old vacuum cleaners are up for sale when the new ones are bought by the retailers during June and winter end.
• Hardware:
  Find the best deals on Father’s Day or the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Home Appliances:
  Generally, discount is offered in holiday weekends like 4th July, Presidents Day, Columbus Day, and Labor Day. Also, search for better deals during the months of September and October, when new stocks enter the retail market. These days are the best time to buy any appliance.
• Air Conditioner:
  The sale of AC’s during chilly months is very low. So, the price is considerably down.

Flora

• Flowers:
  Tulips can be bought cheap in February, whereas peonies during May. If you are a flower enthusiast, learn this rule. Unlike home products and holiday packages, flowers are cheap in season.
• Shrubbery:
  The best time to purchase bulbs, trees, and shrubs, is autumn. This is the time when nurseries try to clear the accumulated stock.

Leisure

• General outdoor items:
  You can get the best deals on swings, swimming gears, beach toys, and many other outdoor products in August, when most of the retailers stock their space with winter and fall supplies.
• Bicycles:
  New models are introduced every year during February-March. Get the best deals on the old models in these months.
• Boat:
  Boat exhibitions are held amid January and March offering best prices to customers.
• Fitness Centers:
  Like me, every overweight individual of America resolves to lose flab from 1st January. Hence membership rates are quite high during initial months of the year. However, join any gym at the lowest prices in spring and summer. Also, ask them to waive off the enrollment fee. Trust me, they will.
• Watching movies:
  Not everyone can avoid going to theaters just to save some dollars. So, they best way to spend less is watching matinee shows.
• Other tickets:
  Get the best possible deal on any ticket by buying much before the event.

Electronic Devices and Gadgets:

• Blu-ray players:
  Days subsequent to Black Friday and Christmas offer best deals to buy blu-ray players.
• Television:
  You can find discounts throughout the year due to intense competition among television brands and electronic outlets. You will find better deals on days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Black Friday, after New Year, earlier than Super Bowl, plus in the days of May and June. Commonly, new models are introduced in August and September. So, you can also avail better deals on old models.
• Mobile phones:
  Don’t buy phones just when they are introduced. You will get it at very low price after six months of launch. Also, try to find coupon codes online.
• Digital Camera:
  New, improved models will soon arrive in the market after any Consumer Electronic Show or Photo Marketing Association meet. Jan-Feb is the best time to search for old models.
• Computer:
  You won’t get many deals after the holiday season. However, don’t target the latest gadget with smart looks. Go for the older version, which the retailer is dying to get rid of. You can also avail free shipment and free accessories.

So, if it’s not urgent, wait for the right time. Okay, enough for home and home-products lovers. My next article will have something for people, who love traveling, eating, driving, and wearing.

• Want to go out for a movie? Just wait! I have a better idea! Why don’t you bring in the movie DVD and call in your gang? Your home is a better venue in comparison to the movie theatre when with friends. You don’t have to sit glued to a chair for two hours! Just make yourself comfortable on the couch and watch your favorite movies. You’ll be saving up on expensive ticket costs too.
• Cooking the party menu all on own? Well, conventionally that may be so. But how about pooling in the food? It will save you a lot of money, time and effort. If you friends volunteer to bring items to the party don’t refuse. Don’t look too greedy either! Offer to host the party all by yourself but if your friends insist on contributing don’t refuse. Apart from saving you money and resources, your guests will get to taste variety and appreciate each other. As an activity, a fun cookery contest will be a nice idea. Pool in money for some gifts and give to the winners. Announce the contest a week before the party so that your guests get ample time to prepare for it. Your friends can also be requested to exchange food between them and take back home any of the food that is left.
• Gifts are a major attraction of any fun party. But at the same time, they are the items that we spend on the most during any party. Instead of the host of the party getting gifts for a dozen guests all on her own, which can be a costly proposition; people can pool in to buy gifts. This by itself can be an activity. The gang chooses names of people and decides what to gift each person. It then collectively buys for that person. In this way, every person gets a gift and every person contributes to buying the gift, therefore sharing the monetary burden.
• Making own gifts is an economical proposition. Gifts bought from stores can be really expensive. Instead, try to make some gifts at home. For women, you need not go and buy ornaments from branded jewelry shops. Buy some beads or other jewelry material and make some fancy fashionable items. Beautiful decorative pieces can be made using wood and leaves and inexpensive material. Your creativity is the only limiting factor.

• The quoted sale prices are most often ridiculous! Be careful of the wording used to bait customers. What is the difference between selling 1 pack of potato fries for $2.50 and 2 packets for a bargain sale price of $5.00? If you are alert to these subtle tactics, you’ll save yourself a lot of money. If you want to know about more sales tactics visit a good website like This Is Money.
• The shopping crowd is maddening and sometimes fatal! Most often at very busy shopping malls, you get to stand in long queues to get a chance to shop. Stampedes are quite common and there were occasions where salespeople and/or customers were killed or badly injured by it. Read about this Black Friday Fight and then decide if you’d like to be a part of such a situation.
• Don’t expect salespersons to show you utmost respect. That is correct! If you think from the point of view of the executive, he/she has to work beyond usual hours and satisfy fastidious customers. Naturally when stressed out so much, you cannot expect them to be very patient with you and show respect. I feel visiting a shop when there’s no sale will elicit a cordial and patient behavior from them. You stand a better chance of being shown around the shop for selecting your items.
• Highly discounted items sell off soon. Imagine, if you were to stand in a long queue for hours together to buy that much hyped $400 HP Laptop, only to find that the stocks are exhausted, before your turn to buy them came. Limited quantities and hoarding of the stock by sales persons are manipulative ways in which stocks with heavy discounts are made scarce. Also, many times a much publicized sale item is not available after customers take a lot of pain in waiting for their turns to buy it. Sometimes, merchants advertise some products to bait customers and then try to sell some others on the pretext of unavailability of the item advertised for. You go to a shop to buy your dream product and come back home with another, most often, not as good as the product advertised for.
• Items on sale are generally those that did not get bought earlier, not those with a high demand as claimed by retailers. Do you think a retailer would slash prices if an item were really in demand? Most often retailers put those items on sale that they want to get rid off soon.
• Sales tempt you to buy more than you need. Beware of online scammers who come up with fake review sites that misguide people into making a beeline for some retail shops whose owners bribe them for good reviews and high rankings in their lists.

Talking about stampedes, let me tell you that the scene is not expected to be all that out of control at some malls. You need not bother about getting injured as the malls have taken special safety measures. Especially since a store worker was tramped to death last year on Black Friday. Most stores are having the double line queue system and that means you’ve got to wait for long hours. Some shoppers intend to reach their favorite stores as early as 3 A.M! Can you beat that?

After coming to know about Black Friday stampede and rush, many of us will back out of the plans to venture out for shopping on Black Friday. But if you’ve still got unflinching enthusiasm for a Black Friday shopping spree, let me caution you that see to it that your effort is well paid.  Don’t get carried away by advertisements too much. Many a time, you get to see that the items that are offered on huge discounts are more often old stock or less popular brands. After all, the pains that you take to get a good gift for your beloved should be paid off well, isn’t it? So why not go online? That will save you the trouble of standing in long queues, for long hours and turning up with something not quite good.

Amongst the best deals that you can actually think of here are three stores/brands that you can most probably think of visiting to get goods worth your hard-earned money and efforts.

• Apple has a Black Friday sales which you can check out on their websites. Visit some good tech blogs where you can get information on huge discounts. You can expect to get up to 30 % discount on computers.
• Why don’t you go for a 42 inch HDTV plasma or LCD TV? This is the time you’ll get them at highly competitive prices.
• Go for netbooks which are being offered at good discounts. Go through online consumer reviews to find out more about the deals. Visit websites like Dealnews.com and Retrovo.com for tracking any worthy sales offers.