As many website and other business owners know, VistaPrint offers free business cards, where you pay only the shipping cost of under $7. However, these cards come with the VistaPrint logo on the back, and you only get the option to choose from 30 designs. To upgrade to 250 “premium” business cards costs $23.99 and creating your own design costs an additional $6.99.

With a little bit of planning ahead, however, you can get your business cards for $5.99 plus shipping for 250 cards. Before ordering your cards, register for a VistaPrint account. Make sure you check the box asking if it’s ok to e-mail you special offers. Within a day, you should receive some e-mails giving you “special offers” on your first purchase. They’ll offer you premium business cards for $5.99. 

When I accepted the offer, I decided to see what they would charge me for uploading my own design: whether it would be $6.99 or if they would increase the price of the cards back to $23.99. When I tried though, they charged me nothing!

I paid $5.99 for the cards and around $7 for their slowest shipping. My total came to $15 for 250 customized, good quality business cards. I don’t know whether if you wait longer they send you the ”free premium business cards” offers I’m getting daily now. You may want to try if you’re not in a rush to get your cards.

Unless you also plan on spending large amounts of money with VistaPrint and ordering regularly, I would register with a different e-mail account than your normal one, as you get BOMBARDED by e-mails from them. There have been days when I’ve received three e-mails from them with “special offers”. While it’s useful if you’re going to be printing lots of marketing materials, it’s pretty annoying when you just don’t care.

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While at work a little while ago, I was wondering about the disastrous affairs of people’s finances. Personally, I am extremely debt-averse, and do my absolute best to keep some money in my chequing account.

I work for one of the big five Canadian banks, and see first hand the state of people’s finances. However, our society’s dependence on debt and the average financial knowledge of people only became clear to me after a conversation with a coworker, who was looking to get a line of credit. I asked her whether she was returning to school, whether she was going to purchase a car, or what. She answered “no” to everything.

She then told me she wanted to get this line of credit, not because she needed it or was even in any sort of financial trouble, but because she wanted a little bit of extra spending money. I asked her whether she thought paying back a line of credit at 11% per year was worth this, letting her know that on $5000 she would have to pay back over $500 per year. I explained to her that she could be investing that money, or putting it towards saving for a home, but that getting a line of credit for the sake of being able to spend more at Guess wasn’t the greatest idea.

It was from this conversation that I decided to create this blog. We can all use some basic financial tips, and sometimes some not-so-basic ones that can help keep our finances in order and save us more money for whatever we wish: a vacation, our retirement, that 42″ LCD TV at Best Buy and yes, even clothes.

Drop by for new daily tips and advice to make your money work for you. You’ll also find links to great offers, coupons and other money-savers!

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