Build My Budget

When it comes to budgeting and saving, my wife and I save as much as possible each month. When we get paid, we typically pay ourselves first by making a transfer to savings and then pay our bills that are due out of that paycheck.

We don't "splurge" very often on anything other than eating out and pretty much stick to our financial plan. Often enough, we wind up spending our "extra" savings on traveling because that is one of our favorite activities to do together.

Another activity we really enjoy is going to local arts & craft shows. We enjoy seeing what the artists have to offer and almost always find something that we would "love to have." It's almost always too expensive, however, and we wind up just purchasing our favorite treat (usually fried!) from one of the vendors.

When I stop and think, it's easy for us to avoid purchasing anything at these shows because of sticker shock. All we have to do is take one look at the price and we're out of there before the seller can say "Hi."

It's time to shop! It's that time of year again when the brave individuals who really want to take advantage of some Black Friday deals will wake up at 4am and venture out to their favorite store.

It can be difficult to get your hands on all of the best deals, so you're going to have to form a plan of attack!  Below is a list of 10 shopping tips which might be the difference between saving a lot, or just wasting a lot of time.

Check the end for a bonus tip or two which might really save you money too!

Look at Online Buying Guides first
For those of you who already have the your desired items in mind (TV, Laptop, Camera, Printer, GPS, Vacuum Machine, etc), there are existing Black Friday buying guides for each popular category, so that you only need to do minimal research.

I know how tough it can be sometimes to escape a bad spending habit.  There are just too many excuses, a.k.a. reasons, to spend money.  Doesn’t it seem like if you think about it long enough, you can justify buying just about anything?

Recently I visited one of my favorite personal finance blogs, Frugal Dad, and I stumbled across The Ultimate Collection Of Money Saving Tips: 122 Ways To Trim Your Budget.  I think it's a really valuable post because it has so many great tips for saving greenbacks! 

Some of my favorite tips from the post are:

13. Natalie:  I find that making everything you can possibly make yourself saves me a lot of money, is better for my family and for the environment. I make my own laundry detergent, deserts for our lunches, bread for house lunches, mayonnaise, etc. Anything I can do myself I will at least try it.

41. mpnmom:  Best money-saving tip? Restaurants.com - you can buy gift certificates to local restaurants at a fraction of the face value. Example: certificate for $25 off a $35 meal costs $10 - total savings on dinner out $15. I have noticed that the site has frequent sales also. Last month I purchased $25 off a $35 meal certificates for only $2 each - 80% off! I have already used them at the restaurants and they work great. You can bet I’ll be getting one of these each time I plan a special dinner out.

52. Chris:  I price compare and plan my coupon shopping by going through the grocery flyers. Wal-Mart will price match other grocery sales flyers saving gas money driving to each store to get the lowest cost.

61. Dawn:  What we’ve started to rotate “a home night out”. A group of friends all take turns being the host for dinner and DVDs. The other couples get a night out and your turn only comes up once every three times (at least for our particular group)

70. Sarah:  My favorite money-saving tip…pay yourself first! Make sure you budget for YOU and your savings.

102. Kat:  I’ve learned over time even with my coupon shopping to only take cash and only $50 when I shop. No debit cards, no credit cards, no checkbook, just cold hard cash. Helps to force me to stay within my budget.

112. Frugal Dad:  Never buy anything on impulse.  The last thing I do before going through the checkout line is take an inventory of my shopping cart.  I try to always find at least one thing I don’t really need and put it back on the shelf.  If I come away still wanting the item I can pick it up on my next trip, and by then I’ll know if I really did need it.

These are just a few of the excellent money-savings tips that Frugal Dad readers provided in this post.  I think there is a tip for just about anybody on this list, whether you are the savvy financier or not!  What are your favorite money saving tips?

Chris

BuildMyBudget

Some people..ok, ok-- a select few of my family and friends will be happy to know that Monica and I finally purchased a coffee maker and are starting to drink coffee. I occasionally would drink a cup at work a couple of years ago but stopped because it typically led to a 50-yard sprint to my office’s restroom followed by a dose of Montezuma’s Revenge. Hmmmm, perhaps that was too much information.  Anyway, so you might ask why have I started drinking coffee all of a sudden?

It seems this year like I really don't have much shopping to do.  Maybe I've cracked under the media's pressure, but it could just be that all of my family and friends already have the stuff they need.  Add to that my wife and I have set a $50 budget this year for each other and POOF!