CheapTweet Blog

Between mid-November and early January, many of us will attend and host a number of holiday parties. Throwing a holiday party can be a stressful and thoroughly un-festive experience – managing scheduling, guest lists, food, drinks, budget, decorations, and everything else. So, as we move into the main holiday party season, we want to help you in the best way we know how – saving you money.

To get things started, do you have any suggestions for throwing a memorable but affordable party? We’d love to hear your thoughts and tips for hosting a party without spending too much money. Please share your ideas in the comments!

Today marks CheapTweet’s first birthday! We officially launched on November 25, 2008, just before Thanksgiving.

And as Thanksgiving 2009 approaches, we’re thankful for what has been an absolutely amazing year. CheapTweet has grown so much in the past 12 months. We’ve managed to generate some buzz and create a new approach to finding deals. Even better, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of people save money.

Most of all, we’re thankful we’ve shared it all with you. We wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for you – our users, our friends, and our colleagues. You’ve helped us develop the site into a useful and powerful tool for finding deals. You’ve been there with us as we’ve grown from 20 Twitter followers to 20,000, and as we’ve indexed more than 2.7 million deals (so far).

So, as we end our first year – hopefully the first of many – we want to thank you for helping us get this far. In the coming year, we’re going to make CheapTweet even bigger and better for you.

Hayes & Jenn
The CheapTweet Team

We’re happy to announce the launch of our newest CheapTweet Store – NASCAR Superstore!

The NASCAR.com Superstore offers the largest online selection of officially licensed NASCAR merchandise. They have great deals on merchandise for all your favorite NASCAR drivers and really cool holiday gift ideas. And we happen to know that they’re going to be offering some amazing deals during the holiday season, starting on Thanksgiving day. So, check out the new NASCAR Superstore CheapTweet Store to find deals on all kinds of great NASCAR merchandise.

Also, be sure to follow @NASCARDeals on Twitter.

This week, Heather – our Happy Hatchling guest blogger and mom – shares her first set of recommendations for traveling with your baby during the holidays.  This week she’s focusing on spending the night away from home.

Currently, my family is scheduled to be four different states in the next two months. We might take traveling to the extreme, but almost everyone will spend at least one night away from home this holiday season. When traveling, we dearly miss our Diaper Genie, the bathtub full of bath toys, the highchair, and other comforts of home. Here is my list of traveling aids that have helped keep me sane when spending the night away from home.

1) Baby proofing essentials

Hotel rooms and grandma’s house can be a treacherous place for infants and tots. You don’t want to spend your whole holiday constantly watching out for dangers that your little one can get into. I try to baby proof one or two rooms completely so that my baby can safely play relatively unsupervised so I can relax and enjoy myself. Since this is not a permanent place of residence you don’t need fancy or expensive baby proofing items. Here are cheap solutions to that are small enough to fit in your diaper bag or luggage.

• Sharp corner protectors
• Socket protectors
• Slide lock for cabinets
• Travel gate – This gate is perfect because it fits different sized openings and folds up easily for travel.

2) Graco Pack n Play – pictured

Grandparents everywhere should invest in pack and plays. They are easy to put up and down and move from room to room. Most pack and plays also have a changing station attachment, which is great for younger babies.

3) White noise maker

Sleeping in a strange place can be difficult for children. Our family gatherings are usually pretty noisy, so it’s hard to find a quiet spot for our baby to sleep. A white noise maker can be the perfect solution to drown out loud chatting, snoring, and other unfamiliar noises. Newborns especially are comforted by white noise. You can purchase an actual noise maker device (like this one from Amazon) if you like them and decide to make one a permanent fixture in your own house, but if it’s for vacation then you could just download an app for your phone; there are white noise applications for both the Blackberry and the iPhone. Furthermore, white noise doesn’t have to be annoying. There are many sounds to choose from such as ocean surf, washing machine, shower, rain forest and more.

4) Baby monitor

The baby monitor I recommend for traveling is the Babyphone app for the iPhone. It turns your iPhone into a baby monitor and calls you on another pre-entered phone when it hears the baby cry. When my family travels we often share neighboring hotel rooms. This app is perfect for letting your baby sleep in peace in the room next door or down the hall while you stay up guilt-free past his or her bedtime with your friends and family.

Happy Holidays!

We’d like to welcome our newest CheapTweet Store – The Body Shop!

We’re very excited about this store – we’ve been fans of The Body Shop and their products for a long time. The Body Shop has an extensive selection of naturally inspired, ethically produced beauty and cosmetics products, ranging from hair, makeup and bath products to candles and other items for the home.  The Body Shop believes that there is only one way to beautiful — Nature’s Way.

Check out The Body Shop CheapTweet Store – they have a lot of holiday specials right now!

This week, we’re rolling out Official Accounts on CheapTweet.

Official Accounts are Twitter accounts that we have verified are run directly by reputable merchants. If you see the Official Account badge (pictured below), you’ll know that clicking on that deal will take you directly to the merchant instead of going through middlemen or 3rd party sites.

We do this to help you know who to trust, so you can find the best deals. There are lots of people on Twitter who offer deals and coupons. Many times, those links go to – or through – a 3rd party site so these people can collect a fee for sending you on to the merchant. Often these deals are the exact same as the ones offered directly from the merchant. With Official Accounts, we can help to be sure you’re getting the deals directly from the source without having to go through any middlemen. Plus, you know you can trust the sellers we’ve marked as Official. There’s more information about Official Accounts here.

This process is done entirely by hand; we review each account to make sure it’s actually the real thing before marking it as official. So, if you think your (or another) account should be marked as Official, just let us know and we’ll look into it!

Today marks one week until Thanksgiving. This means Black Friday and its online companion, Cyber Monday, are not far behind. But, don’t worry! CheapTweet has you covered.

We have found thousands of Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday discounts already. And since we scour Twitter for all mentions of savings, we also have links to ads, articles and blog posts about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. CheapTweet.com can be your all-in-one holiday shopping stop – from planning and research to shopping and purchasing.

And if all that is too overwhelming for you, you might prefer to search for exactly the sales you’re looking for. We can do that, too! Just type what you’re looking for in our search page, and you’ll see only the deals you want.

To make it even easier, below are a few of our more popular Black Friday searches. Also, our sponsor DealTaker has done a terrific job rounding up some of the top Black Friday ads.

• Walmart
• Toys R Us (be sure to check out all their holiday deals here)
• Target
• Amazon
• Best Buy
• Sears
• JC Penney
• IKEA
• GameStop

Happy shopping!

Just in time for the holidays, we’re happy to announce the launch of our newest CheapTweet Store – Stein Mart!

Stein Mart is a nationwide discount department store, with fashion, accessories, home decor, bedding and shoes for men and women, at prices up to 60% less than department store prices.  They have high quality merchandise for a great price, and we think they’re a perfect fit for CheapTweet. We’re very excited to have them on board.

So, whether you’re shopping for yourself or looking for a holiday gift for a loved one, check out the exclusive deals and discounts in the CheapTweet Stein Mart Store.

Note: This post is part of our holiday sponsorship by Best Buy. Though this is part of an official sponsorship, the experience and this write-up are completely our own.

At CheapTweet, we only partner with brands we think will provide value to you, our users. We absolutely will not promote a retailer if we wouldn’t shop in their stores ourselves.

So, we thought we should check out Best Buy’s value proposition. Our goal was to see if we would feel comfortable encouraging you to do your holiday shopping at Best Buy. So on a recent rainy Sunday, I visited the nearest Best Buy retail store. Specifically, I wanted to learn more about Best Buy’s price match guarantee and their employees, otherwise known as the “Blue Shirts.” Here’s what I found out.

Price Match Guarantee

Best Buy offers a price match guarantee. I wanted to know how that price matching works and in what situations.

I spoke to several Best Buy employees. The way the price match guarantee works is simple: If you can find a lower price on the same item at a nearby store, Best Buy will match that price. That offer only extends to other physical stores and does not include websites like Amazon.com, unfortunately.

To see how the price match guarantee works, I talked to a Blue Shirt who helped confirm competitor prices (we called Fry’s and Conn’s) of a couple HDTV models I was looking at. Only in one case was the HDTV priced lower at another store, and the Blue Shirt said he could sell me the Best Buy HDTV for that price, eliminating my need to drive or even call around to other stores myself. It only took a couple minutes, and I was confident knowing I could save $40 on that TV. The other thing to watch out for is that the lower-priced item needs to be in stock at the other store for Best Buy to price match it. Some other limitations apply (more details here about the price match guarantee).

Blue Shirts

I also wanted to test out the customer service at Best Buy. The store was pretty crowded (it was a Sunday afternoon, and lots of people were out shopping). It took several minutes before I could get a Blue Shirt’s attention; they were all busy helping other customers, so at least I wasn’t being ignored. Once I got a free Blue Shirt, I started asking questions about HDTVs.

The Blue Shirt I talked to – Devin – was quite knowledgeable about the different kinds of HDTVs. For example, this Best Buy store had a big display with some of the new, ultra-thin LED HDTVs and I was curious what he thought about LEDs versus LCDs. He was honest – they’re a fairly new product line – and encouraging – they save more energy than other HDTVs and have great picture quality. He even told me about a customer who had come in that morning and saved $200 on the 46″ LED TV with a price match. He also shared his opinions on which TV brands he liked. He said Samsung is their best-selling TV brand, and he really likes Sony electronics. We discussed price and size, and what would work best for my needs and my home.

The store was packed, but Devin took the time to really explain my options. He did not pressure me at all (he said he does not work on commission) and he seemed honest and helpful.

Product Selection and Value

Best Buy certainly has a large selection of HDTVs. While I was browsing, I used my cell phone to check the prices at Amazon.com for certain models. Though they weren’t having an advertised sale at Best Buy, a number of models were marked down between $50 and $500, which made them competitively priced to Amazon. For example, a 32” Samsung LCD HDTV at Best Buy for $549.99 and at Amazon.com it was $534.00; that’s a difference of only $15. The 40” Samsung LED HDTV was the exact same price at Best Buy as it was on Amazon.com and in some other cases, Best Buy was even cheaper than Amazon.

Best Buy also offers a number of in-home setup options and warranty plans. Devin said that, for a fee, Best Buy technicians can even test the light in your home and adjust your TV’s setting for the optimal picture in your space.

So, after this exercise, how do I feel about Best Buy? I feel good. They offer a ton of different products at excellent prices, and their employees are courteous and helpful. I tested out the price match guarantee, and it works. So on that note, I feel confident we can recommend that you do your holiday shopping at Best Buy.

We’re very excited to announce the launch of the new Dell Outlet CheapTweet Store! Dell Outlet offers big discounts on all kinds of Dell products, from laptops and desktops to monitors, printers, and all kinds of electronics, software and computer accessories, and they all come with the trusted Dell warranty and support. And starting today, you can now find all those great deals on CheapTweet.com.

The @DellOutlet Twitter account was created in June 2007, and has more than 1.4 million followers. Dell Outlet has already earned more than $3 million in revenue from Twitter by posting Twitter-only offers and Dell Outlet deals. Dell Outlet is a pioneer in the use of Twitter for both customer service and sharing deals. Since we started CheapTweet, we’ve admired @DellOutlet as one of the most innovative brands on Twitter and we’re incredibly pleased to be announcing their store.

So, if you’re looking for a great deal on a computer (or any other electronics item), check out the Dell Outlet CheapTweet Store.