Next to tuition, books are the next most important and expensive item on a college student’s academic list of expenses. Textbooks can range cost hundreds of dollars, and are heavy to cart from one place to another. Many of these books are now available through e-readers, like the Kindle DX, and at much lower cost than in physical format. As college students tend to be early adopters of technology, you will see many of them going for the e-reader instead of buying their textbooks at the college bookstore.

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Food is a necessity of life, but the cost of food for a family can vary depending on diet, financial assistance, and even gardening skills. If you’re trying to make ends meet, one way to help reduce stress in other areas is to pay attention to how much you spend on your food bill. Learn how to create a budget that fills your belly and provides breathing room in other areas for rent, gas, and other necessities with these five simple ways to reduce your food bill.
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Tax time is here and for some lucky folks, that means a nice tax return! What can you do with a bit of extra cash? Here are the top 5 ways to use your tax refund and have some fun too!

1. Become an Angel Investor

You may not have huge loads of cash, like famous angel investors, but what you do have can help someone start a business. There are numerous sites that will help you fund social or business projects worldwide. Some sites, like Prosper.com, will allow you to lend your money to others for a specific purpose and then gain interest on that money. Other places, like Kiva.org, aren’t commercially oriented to provide a large return in interest, but they will make you feel good for helping a worthy cause.

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Thrifts stores have more going for them these days than just second hand clothes for sale. You can get toys, furniture and jewelry in a variety of different thrift stores. Goodwill stores even offer reconditioned computers in some areas for only $150 each. With so many people out of work or having trouble making ends meet, a trip to the thrift store can help put a little shopping fun back in their day without the guilt.

What You Can Find

More and more consumers are finding some great deals at their local thrift store. Depending on the store’s policy, you can find either costume or real gold and silver jewelry. In many cases, the jewelry was stuck into clothing by mistake and donated. Most thrift stores make it a point to notify owners when that happens, and the jewelry is returned. Otherwise, if no contact can be made and no one claims it, after a few months it is assumed to be donated and put up for sale. This gives the buying public the opportunity to buy nice jewelry pieces for far less than at retail prices.

Other great finds include antiques. You can find antique dishes and furniture, and sometimes lamps. If you’re not into antiques, people often donate brand new items, still in the box or with tags, because they simply don’t like the purchase, received it as a gift, or are unable to return it to a store. Just because it’s brand new doesn’t mean it’s priced higher. New clothes go for the same as used, and only do some household items get priced a little higher. Yet, you can still get a great deal sometimes for as little as 5 bucks.

Thrift Store Shopping Increased By 35%

Thrift store owners have reported on average a 35% increase in sales. You can blame the economy and the fact that thrift store shopping is now seen as a smart option, rather than only for those with a low-income. Even pawn shops, another place that used to be stigmatized by public opinion, have become more popular too. As people continue to look for ways to save money, thrift store shopping will continue to increase in demand for the foreseeable future.

If you’ve looked at the fares online right now, you’ve probably wondered where all the deals have gone. On top of paying huge fares for tickets, airlines are now charging to check in bags too. Is there any way a traveler can get a good deal these days? The answer is yes! There are still ways to plan ahead for the vacation and either get lower prices while shopping online or securing tickets via mile rewards programs. (more…)

With the economic boom of the 80’s and 90’s, many membership cards cut their cost of membership to zero. You could get a credit card without an annual fee pretty easily. You could even obtain a free payday loan without much fuss. You could get a shopper’s card for free, too. Even though warehouse clubs continued to charged a membership fee, they were minimal. No one would have considered paying an upfront membership fee a good deal. Times have changed, and with it comes the reappearance of the annual membership fee. Along with it, though, is the possibility of obtaining higher value from your membership cards than you would without the fee attached. (more…)

We all know that supermarkets are out to get us - but we all fall into the same old traps of buying “bargains” from the end caps and putting stuff we don’t need into our shopping cart over and over again. But here are a few more tricks retailers use - if you are aware of them, then there’s a better chance that you can avoid their traps.

• If you don’t buy it now, you won’t be able to buy it - some retailers (especially of clothing and other non-perishables, for example) deliberately keep you guessing about which items will still be there on the shelves the next time you come back to the store. They want you to feel pressure - if you don’t buy it now, maybe you’ll never see it again.
• You really need ten jars of this - the buying in bulk trap is a tricky one, because sometimes buying a bulk offer is a really smart thing to do. You should ask yourself if you really need a large quantity of the product - will you use it within a reasonable time frame, and will you remember it’s in the cupboard. You should also check if it is actually a good deal - sometimes it won’t be.
• You must have this appliance - advertising or demonstrations that show you how useful a product is are forgetting one important thing: until that moment, you have survived perfectly well without this product. Remember that fact and you’ll come home with fewer new-fangled devices that you don’t end up using.

When you think of coupons, you may think of small ads that promise a few cents off a purchase for the hours spent pouring over multiple coupons, cutting them, filing them, and then using them. That’s the reason couponing, while saving people money, was never that popular with most people. That’s changing though as electronic coupons are bringing in a younger crowd of fans, while providing businesses with savings in printing and greater Internet exposure. They truly can provide a lower price while shopping, at the same time also making it easier and less time consuming to implement them into your budget. It’s time to take another look at coupons, whether you’re on a budget or trying to gain new customers for your business. (more…)

Finding a bargain got a lot easier with the advent of the Internet. All sorts of consumer products are easier to shop, compare, and even discount over the Internet, from different kinds of savings accounts to travel arrangements. Here are a few easy ways to scout around for good deals and make the most of the Internet. (more…)

New York City is one of the most exciting places in the world. It offers an enormous range of cultural and recreational venues, restaurants, shopping and unending scenery. Even someone who enjoys “people watching” will be able to dedicate countless hours to their favorite past time. Many people visiting the city want to know which is the most expensive neighborhood in New York, but there actually is no firm answer to such a question. (more…)