Auction Power Guide

I’m trying to save some money and lower my monthly bills. What are some good tips to do so? I keep the air very low. I keep lights off if not needed. I take quick showers. I buy groceries at Aldi. I drive slow to conserve gas. What else can I do? I have a lot of student and credit card debt and want to work my way out…

Make a plan see where your money is going to…cut out the extras.

Pay yourself first out of your paycheck. Then work on tackling those bills.

Thought about picking up a part-time job?
You could Ebay or sell items on Craig’s List. Maybe babysitting, garage sale, recycling. How about couponing?

http://coupons.smartsource.com//index.as…

The above is a great source for printable coupons. Next continue to buy Sunday’s paper for another source of manuf. coupons.

Some stores like Walgreens, Rite Aid, Target will take their store coupon and a manuf. coupon.

Know that sometimes you can buy groceries at the above store.

Get to know your grocery store coupon policies…do they double coupons? Buy groceries on sale with your coupons.

www.mycoupons.com Click on Shopping boards, Click on Tips of the Trade (TOT) you’ll find postings from women who spend very little out of pocket for groceries.

Sometimes you can go to the company of a product you want to purchase and see if there are printable coupons on that site.

Other sites you might want to view are:
slickdealz.net
www.fishingfordeals.com
http://www.grocerysavingtips.com
www.afullcup.com (usually you’ll find Target coupons on here)

How about joining www.mypoints.com? You can earn "money" by turning in your points onto gift cards. You sign up and receive emails which are worth about 5 pts each.

Hey everyone,

Can anyone share any tips on saving money when you have kids. Aimee is only 17months but our shopping and bills and things are so expensive so wondering if anyone had any money saving tips?

I swear by my extra freezer – I got it cheap off ebay and it now lives in our garage. Now I can buy food that’s on offer and stock up. I also cook batches of soups and sauces to freeze, much cheaper than the store bought stuff and nicer too. I can buy large packs of meat from Costco and seperate it all into bags for the freezer.
Try to cut down on your food waste, use tupperware tubs to keep leftovers as fresh as you can until using them, try to keep fruit in the fridge in this hot weather so that it lasts longer. Shop sensibly, remember that shops put the stuff they really want to sell the most (with the highest profit margin) at eye level, so learn to look around for better value products. Consider some more shop brand products, try various ones to find out what you like. Use the vouchers that you find for money off – cut them out and put them in your bag/purse when you see them so you don’t get to the checkout then suddenly realise that you left them at home (i do that frequently…) Try loyalty schemes like Tesco clubcard, nectar points, Boots advantage card. Remember that Boots have a booth just inside every store that will offer you new deals every time you shop – pop your card in every time you visit the store to see what they have – their advantage card is actually the most value when you use it well.
Would you be interested in trying cloth nappies? I use them now after never trying them with my first baby and I’m hooked. Aside from the environmental benefits, they’re also better for baby’s skin and I’ve saved a LOT of money. I understand that Aimee’s a bit older now so you don’t want to splash out for ones that you won’t use for long – you could always try this site…
https://www.usednappies.co.uk/members_area.php

You can buy used cloth nappies there for a fraction of the price – boil wash them if you’re concerned about hygiene, then as long as they’re kept in good condition, you can re-sell for as much as you spent.
(adding as I go along, lol)
Remember to switch off all electrical appliances when you’re not using them. Try to cut down how much you do use by drying clothes on a clothes line instead of a tumble drier, switch off lights during the day, turn off the tv for some puzzles or story time instead.
Find cheaper days out – kids are delighted with the park or a good garden. Invite friends round for kids’ play time and swap turns at each other’s houses. Buy kids clothes in the end of season sales – remembering what age group to buy for next summer so that at the start of next summer, you don’t have to spend a fortune on clothes they’ll be selling for half the price in a few weeks. If you watch a lot of films, try a cheap dvd rental rather than buying new ones (Tesco rental is quite good). If you go to the cinema, Orange wednesday is really good and while technically you have to be an Orange customer, you can just ask someone who’s with orange and not using it that day to get the discount code for you, then you use it at the cinema.
See if you can save money on energy by switching companies. try uswitch.com, they’ll find the best deal for you and it is quick and easy (i should know, I’ve switched several times!). Energy companies are constantly changing their prices and offering new deals, it’s best to keep an eye out for where you can save.
Review your driving, are you over-reving and wasting fuel? Think about how to drive the economical way. Try to use your air con as little as you can, that’s a real drain on the tank! Did you know that petrol stations change their prices through the week? Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days to fill up. Look for deals on petrol – such as Tesco offering 5p off a litre when you spend more then £50 in store (every now and then). I’v found Asda to have the cheapest fuel in our area.
Wash your own car rather than pay for it – get Aimee in her messy clothes and give her a cloth, it’s actually really good fun for kids! My 3 year old soaked herself on Saturday this way and she had a great time.
Also, try these sites for great tips on how to save money;
http://www.frugal.org.uk/index.html
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/
ETA – Just found this;
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/orange-wednesday#free
You can get a free orange sim card with £5 top up and use it for orange wednesday! I’m going to do that now…

The fees for selling on ebay suck sometimes. I once put some thing for sale for a dollar and free shipping.(just to see how it would turn out) and after the fees and everything i wound up owing them money!

what are some money saving tips?!

I never use the free shipping option – all that does is raise your final value, so you end up paying a higher fee! If you add your own small fee to actual shipping costs, you can offset the costs of packaging.

Also, the better you tailor your listings toward a specific set of buyers, the higher your bids will be.

Here are a couple of articles:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4887097_money-selling-ebay.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4799738_pitfalls-made-new-ebay-sellers.html