As the summer sun warms the thick August air, the real heat for parents of school age children is coming from back to school spending. With the price of everyday necessities burning a hole in your wallet, you will be relieved to know that there are many effective ways to cut the cost of those expensive school purchases. From sneakers to scissors, these 10 steps will help you stretch your school supply budget and still send your kids off to school in style. (more…)

A price book is simply a list of the items you use regularly and the best prices they sell for in the stores where you are willing to shop.  A price book is an excellent tool for tracking prices, sales and buying opportunities.  Prices in a price book should be listed by cost per unit so you can easily compare different size packages from different stores.  When you see a deal in the weekly flyer or in the store, you will know instantly if it is really a good deal and worth your time to go out and purchase.  Just because an item is on sale doesn’t automatically make it a good buy.  The regular price at some stores may be less than the sale price at others.  Your price book is an invaluable tool to help you determine if a sale is really a deal. (more…)

Want to Buy Much More for Less? Imagine filling your cart with your favorite groceries, but only paying a fraction of the total cost. By mastering the following eight steps, all shoppers who buy groceries can get the most out of their hard-earned money.

1. Learn the art of couponing. Smart shoppers know, without question, that using coupons wisely is the greatest money saving technique when it comes to buying groceries. If your stores double coupons, your savings will be even greater. Find multiples of the coupons for the products you use through coupon clipping sites like www.thecouponclippers.com . Buying more than one of an item when it is a great deal is the best way to stock up so you never pay full price. Organize your coupons so you can find them when you need them and you never miss a great unadvertised sale. Traditional accordion coupon organizers don’t allow you to see or find your coupons easily. By using the three-ring binder method, you can find your coupons quickly, store many more than an accordion organizer, and you are less likely to let coupons expire. See www.smartspendingresources.com for examples of binder organizers. Smart spenders pay for a good portion of their groceries using coupons and save more than 50% off their weekly budgets each and every week. (more…)