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“ I knew a lot of producers, and have met more,” she says.“ I’ ve been working steadily, being independent in this gig economy.”
Since going on her own, she has appeared on dozens of media outlets, including MSNBC, CNBC, Sirius Radio, USAToday. com and RD. com. And she can still be there when her daughter gets home from school.
“ I talk about how consumers can make well-informed shopping decisions and save money,” she says. For example,“ Every month, different categories are deeply discounted. If I’ m doing a TV segment and it’ s September, it’ ll be summer apparel. I talk about what categories to avoid, and which to look for.”
Bodge’ s busiest season, of course, is the holidays. We asked her for helpful tips, which she shares here.
1MAKE ALIST, CHECK IT TWICE, AND DON’ T STRAY FROM IT.“ Shoppers need tomake lists, and set limits on what they spend per person,” she says.“ They need to limit their spending to one credit card with the lowest APR, and not gointo the next year in debt.”
2AVOID OPENING NEW STORE ACCOUNTS.“ I do recommend shopping local,” she says.“ We have great stores in the area.” But if you’ re purchasing your gifts from achain, don’ t fall into the trap of opening a new store account unless there’ s a big discount tied to doing
“ SHOPPERS NEED TO MAKE LISTS, AND SET LIMITS ON WHAT THEY SPEND PER PERSON.”
so that day. In that case,“ Only keep your card after the holidays if you’ re prepared to pay off the bill every month,” she says.“ They have the highest APR [ annual percentage rate ] you can find.”
3MAKE YOUR COMPUTER WORK FOR YOU.“ There are alot of great apps called desktop extensions that seek out deals for you while you shop,” says Bodge. Desktop, or browser, extensions work with Google Chrome, she says, and are easy to use. She recommends:
• SLICKDEALS. NET: This site has a specific Black Friday / Cyber Monday page, with the strongest deals for both dates in one place, soyou don’ t need to look through circulars for bargains. Ifyou’ re looking for something specific— say, Nike sneakers— you can set adeal alert on your computer toreceive anotice about bargains. Bodge does public relations work for Slickdeals. net.
• SWAGBUCKS. COM: Click on the site’ s browser extension button; then, when you shop, you’ ll get notices of cash-back opportunities and coupons you can use on your orders. Swagbucks. com works with hundreds of companies, including Amazon, Macy’ s and Expedia. Swagbucks. com has been Bodge’ s client in the past.
• GUMDROP BY GOODSHOP( goodsearch. com / goodshop): When you use this service, you can feel good for two reasons: You’ re saving money on your purchases, and a portion of what you spend goes to charity. The coupon website Goodshop displays a Gumdrop extension that users download to see whether retailers offer coupons on the items they want to buy. After clicking to activate the coupons at checkout, a percentage of what you spend— usually 1-2 %, sometimes higher— is donated to your favorite cause. This browser extension works with Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
• GIFTCARDGRANNY. COM: The largest online gift card site, visitors to Gift Card Granny( a client of Bodge’ s) can save an average two to 30 percent on gift card purchases. For example, a discounted Starbucks gift card valued at $ 25 might cost $ 22 on the site; $ 314.50 could get you $ 500- worth of merchandise at Sleepy’ s the Mattress Experts. These discounts can be combined with cashback offers and other coupons.“ If you get a gift card from a place you don’ t like, you can go on Gift Card Granny and give it back,” Bodge says.“ You lose a few percentage points in value, but it’ s better than having the card sit in adrawer.” ■
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2017
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