Money Saving Tips

So you want to save money. So do I. There are probably a million in one ways to do it, so I don't know why it can be so hard sometimes. It's kind of become my thing. My M.O. if you will....

Anyways, this post is to put some ideas out there on how you can save money easily.

First of all - USE COUPONS. Buy the Sunday paper. Where I live it's cheaper to buy it either at Dollar General or Meijer. You won't save money if you buy stuff just because you have a coupon. The best way to save is use coupons to buy things you already use when they're on sale. I try to save coupons for when an item is on sale and than I stock up. I routinely get things that I would have bought anyways for pennies or even free.

Second - Make use of catalina deals in a store. A catalina is a coupon that prints out at the register when you pay. The deals are usually advertised in the store circular or by signs. For instance, Meijers had Betty Crocker Fruit snacks on a catalina deal. If you bought 3 you got a coupon for $1.50 off your next order. Well, I only needed 2, but hey they cost $1.86, so why not buy 3 the 3rd one ends up being $0.36 after the catalina deal.

Third - If you buy online shop through a rewards program like ebates or mypoints. You get a percent back for each purchase. Many retailers are listed. It takes minutes to do it this way and you'll get a check for your efforts.

Fourth - Shop smart. Look at clearance racks first, than move on to sales. Or even better, try out alternative shopping methods. My mom used to routinely hold clothing swaps. It was great, we all brought clothes we didn't want/fit anymore and "shopped" from our friends stash. Everyone ALWAYS took something home, the extra was donated. We brought clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry, ect. It was a blast. I think this would work great if you have friends with kids, and could do a kids exchange. Unfortunately my friends all have boys or girls whose sizes wouldn't match with my girls. But I would love to do this.

Fifth - If you want to make a big purchase check online prices first. We recently needed bunk beds for our girls. The one we liked was $1200 in the furniture store. We found an almost identical one on Amazon.com for $500. And you know what? When it came and was set up, I like it even better than the more expensive one! That's $700 in my pocket. I spent that $700 on my new couches. The couches were bought at American Freight. They're Simmons leather and so far are great. Way cheaper than the regular furniture stores. Check online to see if there is a location near you, they are located nationwide.

Sixth - Save your change. If you have a "extra" you'd like to save for set up a jar. In our family we use cash for everything. We average about $75 a month in change. It all goes in the jar, which gets deposited into our vacation account once a month. Easy money that we don't even miss. Plus husband's pockets don't jingle when he walks, and my purse is lighter. Everybody wins!

Seventh - Check sites like craigslist.com. Of course use common sense with this. My husband is always the one to do exchanges, ect. But it can be great. We got a Wii for free last year by doing an exchange for an item we no longer had a use for. Loved it.

These are my money saving ideas. What are yours?