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For many children, the year’s memories are highlighted by the weeks spent at summer camp: splashing in a pool, riding horses, eating with hundreds of their friends. Unfortunately for many of these children, summer camps around the nation are changing, responding to a slowing economy and rising fuel prices. (more…)

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Even if you’re pinching pennies, buying a gas-friendly vehicle is still within your grasp: think used. Reaping all the benefits at a fraction of the cost, a used car that doesn’t guzzle gas is a great option on a budget. Of course, it’s important to buy a good used car, and for that reason, Consumer Reports compiled a list of the best used fuel sippers: (more…)

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Creating a good home budget is one of the most effective ways to ensure you have some financial security. Having a budget means you won’t spend more than you have, you can plan ahead and you can also make adjustments when unexpected financial events occur. But what are the key features of a good budget? Here are some characteristics of a budget that we think are the most important: (more…)

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It’s been frustrating lately to have the cost of running your car constantly rising, right? As well as trying to find the cheapest gas, though, there are a bunch of other ways in which you can run your car more cheaply. A recent list of tips at The Street had all kinds of ideas for how to save money on your car expenses. Some of the most useful included: (more…)

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Try telling someone in their twenties that they shouldn’t spend money on fashion, cars or eating out, and the advice will very likely fall on deaf ears. When retirement is thirty or forty years away, it’s easy to live for the moment and enjoy the “must haves” of young life. But Ginger of Girls Just Wanna Have Funds had some great advice for cheap alternatives to satisfy these desires. (more…)

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If you’re one of the many people living from pay check to pay check without having much hope of breaking the cycle of debt and repayment, you’ll be pleased to read a few tips from the experts at CNN Money. Rather than going through the obvious money saving strategies, they talk about a few ways that could net you a little extra cash and start to dig you out of the cycle. (more…)

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It doesn’t matter what the economy looks like, as Benjamin Franklin famously believed, a penny saved is a penny earned. And when it comes to our utility bills, there really is something we can do to save a bit every month.

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A lot of us imagine that to be more environmentally friendly we’d have to spend more money. But a new David Bach book called Go Green, Live Rich suggests exactly the opposite: if you live a greener lifestyle, you can actually save money.

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Continuing in their upward spiral, gas prices show no signs of relief, so it may be time to take a look at what kind of car you’re driving. Many Americans make the daily work commute along, and do so in cars built for off-road adventures or big family trips. If you fall into this category, you may want to consider trading your now-more-expensive-than-ever gas guzzler in for a more fuel-efficient model.

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When you’re trying to save money, it’s easy enough to stop going out to dinner or cut back on a vacation - but going to the supermarket is something that you can’t avoid. But here are some tips on keeping your supermarket bills lower:

• Go to the supermarket less. It’s an obvious tip, but we sometimes get caught up in rushing into the supermarket on the way home from work to grab something for dinner. Make a list, plan ahead, and try to get it down to a weekly shop - perhaps with a smaller trip mid-week for fresh fruit, vegetables and bread.
• Stick to your list. Don’t buy anything that’s not on your list, unless they’re staple items at a bargain price. Eating before you go to the supermarket also helps you stick to the list and avoid impulse buys because you’re stomach’s rumbling.
• Don’t be a brand snob - basic brands or supermarket own-brands are always cheaper but not always lower quality. Plenty of studies have shown that nobody can tell the difference. The packaging may not be so pretty, but it’s how it tastes that counts.
• Know the supermarket’s tricks. Remember that they are trying to make you buy more - that’s why they put all the candies and magazines near the checkout, so you’ll see them while you wait. They also put milk, bread and other staple items in far away spots so you’ll have to walk through the whole store. And sometimes the “specials” at the end of the aisles are not specials - check the prices to be sure you’re actually getting a bargain.