Gemstones: A Buying Guide to Finding Beauty and Value

by Gina Blitstein · 0 comments

Gemstone jewelry is a popular and highly-coveted gift for Valentine’s Day, engagements, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays and a variety of special occasions. There’s a lot of emotion connected to a gemstone purchase, so it’s best to go into it prepared to make prudent choices. Here’s a primer to help you get value and quality when entering the gemstone-purchasing arena:

What is a gemstone?

Wikipedia defines a gemstone as, “a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments.” Gemstones are often classified as precious or semi-precious. According to Zales.com, generally, diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald are considered precious, while all other gemstones are considered semi-precious.

What to look for in a gemstone

Diamonds, as “kings of the gemstones” have a grading system all their own. Others have no specific grading system, making their evaluation a bit more complicated; however, the “Four Cs” used in grading diamonds can be a useful gemstone evaluation tool:

Color – Look for clear, medium-tone, intense, saturated, vivid colors. Avoid stones whose color appears too dark or muddled.
Clarity – Look for clear, transparent gemstones with no visible flaws in the face-up position.
Carat – Gemstone prices are calculated by weight, or carat, which equals 1/5th of a gram. Each gemstone has its own density, so different gemstone varieties, even those similar in size, can vary significantly in cost. And although price is not calculated by size, larger-sized stones of some varieties (ruby, emerald, sapphire and tourmaline, for example) are rare and therefore more expensive.
Cut – A well-cut faceted gemstone reflects light back evenly across its surface area when held face up.

Where should you buy gemstones?

Feeling confident in your gemstone purchase comes down to trust. According to their website, The American Gem Society is, “a non-profit trade association of fine jewelers, jewelry, and suppliers in the United States, Canada, and some select international members. These members are dedicated to consumer protection, ethical business practices, and the development of superior gemological skills and knowledge.” This type of certification can help assure you that the seller is knowledgeable, skilled, experienced and trustworthy. Find and deal with a trusted, certified gemologist – preferably someone who who cuts the stones (s)he sells. This is a strong indication that they will stand behind the gemstones they sell you. Seek out someone you feel comfortable consulting for information and advice. Ask friends and family for recommendations as well.

Best practices and common sense when buying gemstones

Gemstones carry a lot of emotional “weight” so it’s important that you keep your wits about you when purchasing. Remember this advice when regarding all those precious, sparkly stones:

Buy what you love – not what you feel you “should” – When it comes to the hundreds or thousands of dollars you’ll probably be spending, make sure you REALLY love it – or are certain the recipient will. Don’t let sales pressure, peer pressure, perceived status, size, stone or price influence your decision. Just because her birthstone is emerald, would you buy your wife one when she dislikes green?

Buy what’s affordable – Set yourself a budget and tell your salesperson that you want the best you can get for that amount. A good salesperson will respect your budget and do right by you because, while they want to make a sale, they also want to please their customers.

You can buy gemstones without spending more than necessary or being taken advantage of. Do some research, find a reliable source, trust your eyes and don’t let your heart make the entire decision.

What’s your best advice for buying gemstones?

Do You Need to Buy Car Rental Insurance?

by Miranda Marquit · 0 comments

When I travel, I prefer to use public transportation when possible. Unfortunately, there are times when that just isn’t an option, and I have to rent a car.

As you fill out the paperwork, you are usually asked if you want to purchase car rental insurance. That way, if there is damage to the car, you don’t have to pay for it. However, purchasing car rental insurance can add between $15 and $50 per day to your rental. It’s a balancing act, and an exercise in risk assessment. Are you likely to get in an accident?

Before you buy car rental insurance, it’s important to consider the following:

Does Your Regular Insurance Cover Damage to a Rental Car?

First of all, determine whether or not your regular car insurance covers damage to your rental car. Some policies will cover you when you drive a rental car, while others don’t. Find out what is covered, and what you can expect from your own insurance company? If your own company will cover the costs, there is no reason to purchase the car rental insurance from the rental company. Before you make this decision, though, confirm what you need to do to file a claim and have it paid with your regular insurance company. You might have some hoops to jump through.

Does Your Credit Card Come with Rental Car Insurance Coverage?

Many credit cards offer rental car insurance coverage as one of the perks. If you have a credit card that does, there is no reason to get the coverage, as long as you follow the prescribed steps. Usually, you have to pay for the car rental with the credit card in question, and decline the insurance offered by the rental car company. If you don’t pay for the entire car rental with the right credit card, or if you don’t waive the insurance from the rental company, you might not be eligible for coverage from your credit card.

Before you do this, double check that your credit issuer offers this perk. My husband once paid with the “wrong” credit card while on a business trip. His rental car was bumped while it was parked, and the driver of the other car didn’t leave a note. We were left to pick up the tab, since he had used a credit card without the rental car insurance coverage.

When I travel, I try to be very clear about which credit card to use so that I know which piece of plastic to swipe in the right situation. I don’t want to get stuck paying the bill again.

Getting Car Rental Insurance

Making sure you are covered is a good idea. If something happens, like it did to my husband, you could find yourself in a more expensive situation than just paying the premium. Whether you buy your coverage from the car rental agency, receive coverage from your regular insurer, or get it as a perk with your credit card account, make sure that you have the coverage you need to avoid bigger costs later.

Is It Really More Expensive to Be a Woman?

by Jessica Sommerfield · 0 comments

There is a lot of debate about the cost differences between common services and commodities used by both men and women. In general, women’s products and services are often higher than men’s. Although some choose to take the feminist’s perspective on this and demand that the system is unfair to women, there are actually some very practical reasons this is the case. Let’s examine a few of the categories and discuss why women pay more, and what you can do about it.

Clothing and Clothing Care
In shopping experiments, men will almost always come away with more clothing per dollar than women. There are many reasons for this. First of all, women’s clothing tends to be more complex, styled, and available in greater variation of size than men’s clothing. Women are also more concerned about style, fit and fabric than men, and it costs more to produce clothes that are up to their standards. While men’s clothing does experience fashion changes, they are not nearly as drastic or extensive as women’s seasonal and yearly style changes. The more common a product, the lower the price. Women are partly to blame for the higher price of their clothing. For the sake of fashion, women will pay a higher price just for a particular name brand, whereas men are less likely to be influenced by these factors. Designers and retailers will charge what they know their customers are willing to pay. But, just because women’s clothing is more expensive than men’s doesn’t mean women have to settle for paying more. Items that are fairly generic (such as socks) can be bought across gender lines to take advantage of cheaper prices, and women can shop for sales and clearance deals instead of paying full price.

Dry cleaning costs more for women’s clothes than for men’s, presumably for the greater delicacy of fabrics and designs in women’s suits and dresses. You can avoid this difference by waiting for special rates on women’s clothing, or dry clean less often. Keep dry cleaning costs in mind when you’re considering clothing purchases to save even more money.

Toiletries
The next time you walk down the health and beauty aisle, notice how women’s deodorant is conspicuously pricier than men’s. Why is this? Marketers push products specifically catered to women, with added scents and attractive packaging, knowing that women will buy them. Although marketers cater packing and scents to men as well, they are less likely to choose a deodorant based on how it looks and more on how it performs. The same concept goes for shave gel, skin care, shampoo and other hair products.

Again, women can beat the pricing difference by choosing to buy generic, basic products versus their perfumed and designer-packaged counterparts. Basis products that have been around for generations (i.e. bar soap) usually work just as well as those marketed specifically for women. Take a look at your shelves at home and consider how many products you’ve purchased based on gender-specific marketing. It can be eye-opening to realize how much you’ve fallen prey to subtle marketing strategies that drive you to spend more on everyday products.

Hair services
There’s no question that personal grooming services cost more for women than for men. A basic men’s haircut can be as cheap as $5, whereas women’s cuts exceed this by $2 or more. Women’s haircuts are admittedly more complex and artistic than men’s, but beware of salons that feature significant price differences between men and women’s haircuts. Many salons now list one basic price for haircuts, regardless of gender, and then list other hair services such as styling and blow-drying separately. Save money by getting just the haircut and then going home to style it yourself. Check Youtube and Pinterest for ideas and tutorials on styling techniques rather than paying a stylist to do it for you.

So, while it’s true that when it comes to many purchases, it’s more expensive to be a woman, you can more than make up the difference by avoiding gender-marketing and pricing traps on these and more items you purchase every day.

Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets Affordably

by Gina Blitstein · 0 comments

The kitchen would be considered the most-used room in many homes. It gets used like no other room in the house, enduring extremes of heat, grease, grime, humidity, smoke and splatters. Just by virtue of being the “furniture” of the kitchen, cabinets can be particularly susceptible to the ravages of the unique demands of the room. All that wear and tear can make kitchen cabinets look dingy and, by association, make the entire kitchen a dull and unappealing room.

While replacing cabinets is an option, it’s a pricey proposition. Most kitchen cabinets can be refinished very affordably, giving them and the entire kitchen a cleaner, fresher appearance. The most popular way to refinish kitchen cabinets is to paint or re-stain them.

Before you decide to refinish your cabinets

Determine the composition of your cabinets
Solid wood, wood veneer and metal cabinets can be refinished as a do-it-yourself project; however laminate and melamine finishes must be “refaced” which is a process generally left to professionals. Solid wood can be stained or painted and wood veneer and metal can be refinished using paint.

Decide upon the refinished look you desire
If your cabinets are solid wood, wood veneer or metal, start making definite refinishing decisions! Take plenty of time to decide the color you want. This is a substantial, albeit relatively easy, project, so make a concerted effort to find a shade you’ll be willing to live with for a long time. This is also an opportune time to update your cabinet hinges and pulls.

Do you have the time to refinish your cabinets?
Cabinets in a small kitchen may take only two or three days; but it could take a week or more to complete those in a large one. Your kitchen will be unusable for a good portion of the time you’re working on this project so make certain that you can deal with the inconvenience during that period.

Choose the appropriate refinishing products

I strongly suggest that, once you’ve decided between stain and paint and shade or color(s), you consult with a professional at your home improvement store to guide you to the most appropriate product(s) for your project. Select the highest quality refinishing products and application brushes you can afford; this is no place to scrimp. Choose the finish you like best, but bear in mind that satin and semi-gloss paints are the most durable and easily cleaned.

If updating your hardware, take an existing hinge and pull to the store to make certain that the new ones you select will fit the existing drill holes. This will avoid the need to add additional time to the project for hole-filling and drilling.

The basic process of refinishing kitchen cabinets

Cabinet doors and drawer fronts must be removed for refinishing. Unscrew the hinges and, if you’ll be reusing them, keep track of which came from where.
Clean all surfaces with a soft cloth and TSP (tri-sodium phosphate), available at home improvement stores, to remove all traces of grime and grease.
Sand all surfaces with 220-grit sandpaper.
Thoroughly wipe surfaces again to remove sanding dust.
Fill scrapes and holes in wood with wood filler.
If staining, cover worn spots in existing stain with a matching stain-repair marker.
Apply stain or paint as directed, allowing ample time for drying between coats.
Reattach, replace pulls and enjoy your “new” kitchen!

Cabinet refinishing resources
How to Refinish Kitchen Cabinets Without Stripping
Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Refinishing cabinets is an affordable solution to a dingy kitchen, providing a lot of “bang” for the buck.

Have you refinished your kitchen cabinets?

Does Your Credit Union Offer a Savings Lottery?

by Miranda Marquit · 0 comments

One of the more interesting things I read recently was a story on CNN Money about credit unions that offer savings lotteries. In state’s where it’s allowed, credit unions can offer savers lottery “tickets” in exchange for opening CDs. For each $25 a person adds to their CD account, they get another “ticket” — up to whatever monthly limit is in place.

These CD accounts allow savers to put more money into them, but they can’t withdraw the money before the term is up without running into a penalty, which is the case with any CD. Credit unions might offer small monthly prizes and rewards for savers, but the real prize is the grand prize of $25,000 that some members win. Usually, there is a group of credit unions banding together to offer the annual grand prize, so you’re “competing” against credit union members statewide. But it’s still an exciting prospect. You could win!

Credit unions are the only financial service providers in on the act. The app SaveUp encourages you to save by offering rewards and prizes, and a shot at a $2 million jackpot. This puts a new spin on the concept of a lottery.

Savings Lottery

One of the the things I like about this idea is that you are being rewarded for setting money aside. If you participate in one of these savings lotteries, the money you put in grows (albeit slowly) and you have the chance of winning a decent chunk of change that could really help your financial situation. Even if you don’t win, though, you have still bettered your financial situation. Contrast this with gambling lotteries in which you pay your money — and it’s gone.

The chances of winning the lottery are very small, and they’re even smaller if there’s a huge jackpot. When you spend money on lottery tickets, that money just goes by the wayside. With a savings lottery, at least the money you spend goes into a bank account and you have the chance to earn interest. And, while putting the money in a CD might not be as good as investing it, it’s still better than spending it on something that won’t benefit you in the long run.

A savings lottery also has the potential to encourage the habit of saving. Part of the battle with setting aside money is getting into the habit of saving. If you are rewarded each time you add money to your CD account, you get in the habit of adding that money. Eventually it becomes second nature. Hopefully, at some point, you’ll even boost the amount you set aside and consider branching out to increase how much you add to a retirement account or that you invest.

For too long our society has focused on consumerism and encouraging poor financial choices. There has been this idea that spending is its own reward, when really it’s not. The rise of savings lotteries is a step in the right direction — a direction that rewards consumers for saving their money, rather than spending it.

6 Ways to Save on a Gym Membership

by Jessica Sommerfield · 0 comments

A common New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight and get in shape, and a popular way to accomplish this is by joining a gym or health club. Of course, a gym membership isn’t necessary to establish a fitness routine; there are many other at-home options for the self-motivated. But for those who need the accountability of a place and time, the motivation of being around others with similar goals, or the help of a personal trainer, a gym is the place to be. Since one of the biggest roadblocks to getting a gym membership is the expense (most gyms charge several hundred dollars a year), here are some ways to trim the cost so you can afford to trim your body.

Realize a gym membership is a commitment.
Many people make the mistake of joining a local gym and then losing interest or motivation after a few months, never to return again. If you do this, you’re either paying for a membership you’re not using, or faced with a steep cancellation fee. Treat the membership contract just as you would any other contract, and respect the terms. This is why it’s important to shop around before you commit to a gym. Most gyms allow prospective members to enjoy a week’s free pass before signing, so take the time to decide if you’re ready to commit. If there is more than one gym in your area, try them all to find the best fit for you.

Join at the right time.
Just as there is a prime buying season for other products and services, the beginning of the year and late spring are the busiest seasons for gyms. Gyms frequently advertise promotional pricing at these times to lure in the freshly motivated. Any time of year, it’s best to join near the end of the month, since clubs are trying to reach their membership sales quotas and may be more open to striking a deal.

Negotiate your fees.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate your membership fees. For instance, agreeing to pay up front for a full year may be cheaper than paying monthly. Comparison shop at other gyms and mention deals offered elsewhere. You can also ask for a limited membership restricted to certain days or times of day, or ask for a cheaper rate if you drop extra services included in the membership fee.

Joining with a group or referring other people may also save you money. It never hurts to ask.

Find deals online.
Gym membership deals are frequently featured on a gym’s social media page and service discount groups such as Groupon. Take advantage of any deals you can find before you sign for your membership; if you find a coupon after you sign, it can’t hurt to still ask for the discount.

Find out if your employer or college offers discounts.

Many employers are realizing the importance of physical fitness to their employees’ health and productivity, and encourage it by partnering with gyms to offer special rates and discounts. Don’t just assume your employer doesn’t offer a discount for gym memberships because you’ve never heard of it; ask your human resources department.

Larger universities are starting to offer free or reduced memberships to not only current but former alumni. If your Alma Mater is close by, this could be the perfect solution for you.

Take advantage of insurance discounts.
In addition to non-smoking discounts, most major insurance companies offer discounted gym memberships since fitness increases health and lowers the risk of its beneficiaries . In many cases, you can save $200-$300 a year by contacting your insurance company and asking about this perk.

Once you’ve found the gym you love at a price you can afford and decide to make a commitment, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your fitness goals this new year.

Can’t Return It? Remake It!

by Gina Blitstein · 0 comments

Toward the end of last winter, I purchased a pack of replacement furnace filters at a home improvement store. When I got them home and set to the task of removing the old ones, I realized that I’d purchased the wrong size replacements. Fortunately, I hadn’t yet opened the package, so, planning to return them for a refund – or to replace them with the correct size – I put them in the car so I wouldn’t forget next time I was at that particular store. Well, up until a month ago, those furnace filters sat in the back seat. Not once in all those months did I go back to that store.

In the interim, I purchased the correct size at another store. But last month, I did finally bring the filters back to the store where they were purchased. The very nice associate asked if I had the receipt so she could refund the amount I’d paid. I didn’t. She offered to look it up by my debit card (and my husband’s) in case I’d paid that way. She could find no record of the transaction. She told me the best she could do is to look up the item’s value on the computer and give me store credit. Under the circumstances, I told her that would be fine. She came back to me with a refund amount of – get this – $.01 – yes, a whopping one cent. Why so little? Because in the year that they’d been sitting in my back seat, the store had discontinued the item. Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of a 3-pack of furnace filters for which I have absolutely no use.

This situation made me feel financially irresponsible. I wasted $14 by not returning them sooner and I still had to incur the expense of buying the correct filters. As an avid penny-pincher, I hate that! We’ve all been there, though – being “stuck” with merchandise that we don’t need or want but are unable to return for a number of reasons, such as:

no receipt
having purchased an item that’s on clearance
having purchased an item that’s been discontinued

What can we do to lessen the blow of these losses? It’s all in the way you look at the situation.
The key is to redefine this oversight into an opportunity rather than an irresponsible mistake. I’d dealt with this type of situation before with these items:

The shirt from the clearance rack on which I discovered a stain upon getting it home
The bed sheets that were the wrong size but couldn’t be returned once laundered
The discontinued end table on which I discovered a scratch

I couldn’t return any of them so I decided to make the best of them. It was time to kick my creativity into high gear so I consulted the Internet for ideas on repurposing these purchases into something worth the money I’d paid for them. Here are some of the most useful and interesting ideas I’ve discovered:

Clothing

Covering/camouflaging stains

Embellishing to cover stains–tutorial!
Hide Stains on Clothing

Man’s shirt too smallMake dress from mens shirt

Decor

Camouflage/repair scratched wood furniture
How to Repair Scratches, Dings, and Dents
Paint Makeovers: An Expert Tells All
Decorative Painted Furniture

Household

Wrong size bed sheets
Creative and cool ways to reuse old bed sheets

Wrong furnace filters
Air Filter Art Projects

Unfortunate purchase or unique opportunity? It’s all in the way you handle it.

How have you made the best of a financial faux pas?

Watch Out! You Might Be Part of the Target Breach

by Miranda Marquit · 0 comments

Not too long ago, I received word that my information was part of the Target security breach. This came as a surprise to me for a couple of reasons:

Originally, Target said that only those who shopped in the store during certain dates were subject to this breach, and I hadn’t shopped at Target during those times.
I haven’t actually shopped at Target in years, since there isn’t one where I live.

However, I have used Target.com in the last two years, and I have been inside a Target in the last five years. Apparently this was enough for my name, address, phone number, and email to be taken. Target is offering a year of free monitoring from Experian as part of its effort to provide restitution.

If you are concerned about what might be done with this information, or if you are worried that your debit or credit information has been taken, you will have to be a little more vigilant going forward.

Changing Card Information

If you think your card information might have been compromised, it makes sense to change that account number as quickly as possible. In most cases, this can be done by calling the issuer. If you are fast enough, all you need is a new card number. When my credit card number was one of those stolen during the PlayStation Network hack of a few years ago, I called my issuer and they assigned a new number to my account, and sent me a new card. The same thing can be done with a debit card. A new card number can be connected to your checking account, without the need for you to get a new bank account altogether (which can be a pain).

Be Vigilant

You will also need to be vigilant about your credit report going forward. Make sure you check regularly for this information. You can get one free report from each of the bureaus through AnnualCreditReport.com and free sites like Quizzle offer you access to the information in other reports (for example, Quizzle offers access to Equifax data). And, of course, you can pay for access to your credit reports.

It might not be a bad idea to sign up for the credit monitoring offered by Target. That way, you can at least be alerted if someone opens credit in your name. Staying on top of that is important, since you don’t want your credit ruined by a fraudster. It’s a good idea to check anyway, but if you have ever done any business with Target, your information might be at risk.

It’s hard to know the extent of this breach, since it appears that Target doesn’t actually know the extent of it, either. It keeps getting worse. If you have ever shopped at target, in person or online, your information could very well be compromised.

This is another reason, too, that I’ve started to use a credit card more when I do my shopping. I pay it off each month, but it’s only one card, and it’s easy to change the account number if I need to.

Budgeting Apps: Experience with Goodbudget

by Jessica Sommerfield · 0 comments

It’s a new year and a new month, so my husband and I decided get back on track with our budgeting system. We’ve had success using the old-fashioned envelope method in the past — a system in which you create spending categories and set aside allotted funds in separate envelopes (coupon sorter, expanded file, or whatever works best for you). This helped us stick to our budget because after a specific envelope was empty, we couldn’t spend any more in that category. Providing for categories such as his and her ‘fun money‘ kept the system from becoming too restrictive while controlling our spending. Although we had tremendous success with this method, we quickly learned a few things about it we didn’t like:

It’s tedious to re-fill paper envelopes every pay period.
It’s inconvenient (and unwise) to tote around envelopes full of money.

Although we tried to modify it to meet our lifestyle, we ultimately abandoned it. So, in keeping with our growing electronic dependency, we decided to try a budgeting app for our Android phones. I have to give my husband most of the credit on this, since he did the research to find the program and set up our preliminary ‘envelope’ amounts. He stuck with an electronic envelope system since we were familiar with it from the past and knew it worked well for us, and chose Goodbudget since it was simple and the basic program is free (doesn’t it seem a little counter-productive to spend money on a budget?)

So far, here is my experience with the system (similar to many other budgeting apps for Android and iPhone).

I enjoy the visibility of our spending.
Since a budget is just a plan, it doesn’t help unless you put it into action. The electronic envelope system on Goodbudget allows you to ‘see’ your spending as you record daily transactions and assign them to envelopes. A level bar gives you an at-a-glance view of where you’re at with your spending in each category, and alerts you to categories that are over-drawn by placing them in red. It can be eye-opening to see exactly how much you’re spending on say, eating out or entertainment, but it’s a necessary first step to correcting the problem.

I have already learned where we need to adjust our budget (or spending).
Since some of our spending categories fluctuate from month to month, it’s difficult to know at first how much to assign to them. Using the Goodbudget app for the first few weeks has been an experience in trial and error, but that’s okay. We adjust it accordingly and move on. For instance, the grocery envelope seems to be spot on, but the gas budget is a little shy. When we see these discrepancies between what we think we should be spending and what we’re actually spending, it allows us to make the decision of whether to allow more funds for that category or find ways to cut back.

I am enjoying the potential for ‘doing things’ with our money.
One of our budget envelopes is titled ‘extra car payment.’ The bi-weekly amount we’ve set at first doesn’t seem significant since it’s only 1/6 of our monthly payment, but it will allow us to potentially cut hundreds of dollars in interest and be debt-free sooner. Another category is titled ‘things we want.’ This will be for larger items that aren’t provided for under our monthly needs such as groceries and household items. Instead of waiting to have extra money, we’re planning to have money for those items. And, as a true shopper, I will enjoy the process of deciding what to spend it on and making the purchase guilt-free.

This is only our first month of using the Goodbudget app, so stay tuned for more updates on how it works for us in the coming months.

What’s Your Old Cell Phone Worth? Liquidate Before You Upgrade

by Gina Blitstein · 0 comments

Whether you upgrade your cell phone regularly or infrequently, you may eventually find yourself with a collection of old cell phones with which you don’t know what to do. In the past, older cell phones were thought to be of little or no value, and so were discarded – or stashed away in a drawer somewhere – when a new model was procured. Today, however, there are numerous places to trade in your old mobile phone for cash or credit.

The amount you can get back for your phone will vary upon the brand, the model, its age, condition and the company through which you trade it in. iPhones, due to their initial cost and popularity, enjoy the highest trade-in values. Unless you paid a pretty penny for your phone in the first place – or unless it’s nearly brand new, though – don’t expect hundreds of dollars for your trade in, no matter what the ads say. High or low, trade-in amounts vary among companies, as does the form of the payout. Consult several services to discover the one that will give you the most desirable combination of trade-in value and payout type. For instance, one company may offer you more for your phone than another but only offer that amount in store credit when you would rather receive cash.

Where can you trade in your phone and in what form can you receive payout?

Some common places to consult when trading in your old cell phone are:

Your Cell Phone Carrier – receive credit on the purchase of a new device
Best Buy – receive a Best Buy gift card
Target – receive a Target electronics gift card
Wal-Mart – trade-in value is determined at a Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club, then applied to the purchase of a new phone with a two-year contract or a prepaid plan
Amazon – receive Amazon gift card credit
Gazelle.com – receive your choice of an Amazon gift card or payment by PayPal or check

You’ll discover a multitude of easy-to-use services to trade-in your used mobile phone by searching the Internet. Simply provide the brand and model of your phone and its condition to discover what you can recoup on trade-in, how to receive it and the type(s) of payout available. If you conduct the transaction online, you’ll need to mail the phone, usually free of charge, to the trade-in service.

In addition to potentially putting a few bucks back into your pocket, responsibly recycling electronics – rather than simply tossing them in the trash – is an important environmental consideration. Toxic chemicals, including arsenic, cadmium, mercury and bromiated flame retardants are contained within electronics such as mobile phones and, when dumped into landfills instead of being properly disposed of, can contaminate the groundwater.

A critical personal safety note: You’ll want to make certain that your device is completely wiped of your personal information before trading it in. Consult the Federal Trade Commission’s Disposing of Your Mobile Device to be certain your private information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands via your recycled device. It’s the careless handling of such personal information that can lead to identity theft.

No matter the trade-in value you receive, whatever you get is better than the nothing you get from a phone you simply set aside or discard. Considering the cost of a new phone can be many hundreds of dollars, getting something – anything – back for your old one can help offset your cell phone expense.

How much is your old mobile phone worth?

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