Walmart, Target, Macy’s and other retailers plan big sales on Prime Day

It’s official: Amazon says Prime Day 2019 is going to be a two-day event starting on July 15 — but don’t think the other retailers are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

Stores like Walmart, Target, eBay and more are “primed” for success as well: Big sales, discounts and deals will be the order of the day for retailers not named Amazon.

Other retailers holding sales on Amazon Prime Day 2019 

“Even now we are seeing these retailers be very attentive to what Amazon is doing,” says Charis Brown, managing editor of ClarkDeals.com. “For example, as Amazon released its first official Prime Day deal for a Toshiba 43” smart LED Fire TV for $179.99, Walmart dropped the price of an RCA 43″ TV to $159.99.”

Here’s the upshot: Amazon is likely going to win its annual shopping holiday, but don’t think the competition is going to lay down for Prime Day 2019. Here are the other stores with Prime Day sales:

“eBay this year it’s hosting a humorously titled July 15 “Crash Sale,” referring to Amazon’s rocky start to Prime Day last year with a site crash that lasted for hours,” Charis says.

The retailer is also offering free shipping without a membership and and up to 80% off from top brands like Adidas, Apple, Dyson, Garmin, and Samsung at eBay.com/deals.

The retailer says its plan to counter Prime Day will be to release “thousands” of rollbacks and special buys online from July 14-17. Walmart is also promising free shipping on select rollback items and two-day shipping on others.

Target has launched “Deal Days” to counter what Amazon is doing on Prime Day.

Advertisement

Target is promising to have select items delivered to your home by Shipt within hours. If you have a REDcard, you can get free two-day shipping on most items.

“This year, we’re giving guests more discounts across even more of our assortment with two days to save on hundreds of thousands of items and offering the best options in retail for delivery and pick up on their terms, including same-day,” Target VP Mark Tritton says in a written statement.

Best Buy is a doing what it can to attract shoppers in the days surrounding Prime Day, including throwing an Apple Sales Event and putting more products on its Hottest Deals page online.

Not to be outdone, Macy’s is countering Amazon by throwing its Black Friday in July sales event, which features deals on jewelry and more. The store is also offering free shipping for a limited time.

Prime Day 2019: How to get a good deal online

With so many retailers offering sales, you may want to know the best way to approach this sales holiday to get some great deals. Here’s what Charis says:

“There is going to be lots of competition leading into and during Prime Day, and you might get a better deal on a similar item at another retailer! In this case, it’s very important to price compare by using a tool like Google Shopping.”

Find deals from retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Target on ClarkDeals.com every day!

Should you refinance your mortgage now?

Mortgage refinancing rates in recent weeks have been dropping at a pace we haven’t seen in quite a long time.

As of this writing, the current average 30-year fixed mortgage refinance rate is down to 3.70%, according to Zillow. That’s down more than a full percentage point from the nearly 5% rates we were seeing in late 2018:

Clark Howard’s simple rule for when to refinance your mortgage

So, if the interest rate you’re paying on your mortgage is significantly higher than the rates you’re seeing now, should you refinance?

Money expert Clark Howard says yes.

“One week recently, refi applications were 60% higher than the previous week,” Clark says. “That’s no accident. A lot of people are recognizing that they can save a lot of money in the long term by refinancing now.”

So how do you know when you should refinance?

Here’s what Clark says:

“If you can make back the cost of the refinance in 30 months or less, you should do it. It just makes financial sense. That’s the trigger.”

When you figure out what you’re going to have to pay to do the refi (there are almost always costs involved) versus what you’d be saving on interest per month, you can figure out the break-even point.

“So, you should be sure you’re going to be staying in the house for at least 30 months,” Clark says, “but most people end up staying in a house longer than they think they’re going to.”

Advertisement

While the 30 month rule is Clark’s general gauge, there are calculators available that will show you exactly what your break even point will be and how much money you can save over the life of your loan:

As you punch your particular numbers into the calculator, you might see what your monthly payment would be if you refinanced into a 15 year mortgage. Rates for those are even lower (currently averaging 3.18%, according to Bankrate), so if you can afford what is likely to be an increase in your monthly payment, you pay of your loan quicker and potentially save even more money over the long haul!

“The huge advantage with a refi is going into a 15 year loan,” Clark says. “If you’ve been in your loan for a while, going into a 15 is the grand slam.”

More stories you might enjoy from Clark.com:

How to make money as a pet sitter

If you’re a dog or cat person, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to monetize your affection for animals. There are a lot of people out there right now actually making money as pet sitters!

Believe it or not, there’s been quite a bit of market research around the pet-sitting industry. More than 80 million households in the United States have pets, according to a study by Acosta, a sales and marketing firm. That means that the market is there for you animal lovers to turn your hobby into a full-scale business.

Thinking of working from home? Here’s how to make money pet sitting

Obviously, you must love pets, but more than that, you’ve got to see them as your potential clients do: as family members. A pet sitter’s responsibility isn’t just to watch Fido; they’re expected to provide and maintain a healthy, safe environment at all times. That goes for what the animal eats, where they play and where they go you-know-what.

How much money do pet sitters make?

Is pet sitting for you? The going rate for a pet sitter depends on a lot of factors. Glassdoor.com  has pet sitting pay as low as $7 an hour and up to $2,000 a month. Obviously what you take home will be based on the amount of time you put into it. One question you’ll have to decide is whether you want to get paid hourly, by the day or even a weekly rate.

It’s a good idea to focus on the scope of your work as well. Are you going to run what is essentially a dog-walking service or will you offer full pet-concierge amenities? Logically, the more you can offer, the more you can charge.

In addition to liking animals, you’re going to have to be a people person— someone who can win a family’s trust in a short period of time. A confident smile, capable resume and solid references will go a long way.

It may make sense to test the waters first by signing up to work with an online service. That way, you can get a feel for the rigors of “industrial” pet-sitting as well as learn some market trends first-hand.

Here are some online pet-sitting resources

7 easy steps to free up storage space on your iPhone

If you’re like me, it seems that your iPhone always runs out of space at the most inopportune times. If your iPhone storage is full or nearly full, you’re going to quickly need a way to clear up space on your device.

I’ve had at least four generations of the iPhone, so I know a thing or two about how to free up storage space. In this article, I’m going to go over some steps you can take to clear space on your iPhone.

How to free up storage space on your iPhone

You may be wondering why your iPhone keeps running out of space in the first place. The short answer is that you may have too many videos, photos, apps and other files stored on your device.

How do you find out what’s using up space on your iPhone?

The first thing you need to do before you just start deleting files is to find out exactly what’s taking up most of your storage.

To find out, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and you should see a bar graph that shows how much space you have, like so:

From the screenshot above, you can see that apps take up the majority of the space on my iPhone, followed by messages and photos.

Here are 7 steps to free up storage space on your iPhone

Here are some recommendations Apple’s iPhone Storage screen shows you to free up storage space:

1. Auto delete old conversations

Under that graphic in Settings, Apple tells you how much data you can save if you automatically remove messages and attachments sent and received more than a year ago.

Advertisement

2. Review large attachments

It will also show you how to see large files that you have sent or received so you can see determine whether to delete them.

3. Uninstall unused apps

Many of us have apps that we seldom use. They’re literally just taking up space that we need for other things.

If you scroll down, you can also see the last time you opened an app.

Just find the “Last Used” line under the app’s name and that should help you decide whether you should keep it or delete it to save space.

If you click on the app, the iPhone also gives you the option to “Offload” the app, which will delete it from your device but restore all of the documents and data you had if you choose to re-install it.

4. Back up your files with a cloud storage service

The obvious choice here for an iPhone user is to use iCloud, which comes with 5GB of free storage space. Aside from iCloud, here are some of the most popular cloud storage services:

• Dropbox — Free account comes with 2GB of free space
• Google Drive — Free account comes with 15GB of free space (including your other Google accounts)
• OneDrive — First tier with 5GB of free storage

5. Back up your iPhone files to your computer

You can also choose to back up your iPhone to a desktop computer or tablet. You can do this either with a cord or via iCloud.

The good news is that your iPhone will no longer be the sole database for some of your most important files and data.

Advertisement

The not-so-good news is that this option may take up quite a bit of space on your computer. Here’s how to transfer photos from your iPhone.

6. Manage photos

Speaking of iCloud, if you go to Settings > Apple ID, ICloud, iTunes & App Store > iCloud > Photos, you can see several options to save space on your phone by managing your photos. They include the ability to:

• Automatically upload photos to iCloud: Once you opt in, you won’t have to remember whether the photos you take are going to the cloud. This can also be a great data-reducing measure for your phone.
• Remove photos and videos: Confirming that you want to “Remove from iPhone” will wipe the selected photos and videos from your device.
• Turn off Photo Stream: Turning this feature off will delete all Photo Stream photos from your iPhone and save space.
• Optimize iPhone storage: This will automatically downsize full resolution photos and replace them with smaller versions that take up less space.

7. Buy more mobile data

Aside from those options, you may decide that you want to simply buy more storage space, which can be done by going to any of the cloud services listed above.

Review

In conclusion, here are the best ways to free up storage space on your iPhone:

• Delete old emails and attachments
• Review old attachments and other files
• Uninstall apps you don’t use
• Back up your files to the Cloud
• Transfer files to a computer
• Manage photos
• Buy more data

If you find that your issue is more due to the way you use your phone, check out some ways to conserve your mobile data on an iPhone or Android device.

More Clark.com stories you may like: