Financial tips?

I see a lot of blogs that feature saving tips. I am no expert but here are some of my own tips.

Thrifting -- Go to garage sales and thrift stores but don't buy everything just because it is cheap. I have fallen into this myself and now I use an amount of thinking before I buy. Do I need this? About how many times will I use this?

Cheap stores--If you are brand conscious but can't afford a regular priced branded item, there are stores for us, Ross Dress for Less, TJ Maxx, and Nordstrom Rack. They have branded items for much cheaper prices.

Sale-- This is probably our favorite,except, you have to be prepared for the crowd, the long lines. You can prepare in advance by using the printed ad so you know in advance what sections or department you have to go to.

Shop online--You can compare prices easier and a lot of online stores now offer free shipping. You save a lot of time and money by doing this.

Coupons-- I use this a lot now and it helps. $10 less every time you go to the grocery. It is not much but if you multiply it and think about the savings in a year, they all add up.

Some other financial insights:

Some people resort to debt consolidation. It makes sense to do this when you are unable to pay the monthly debt. In the US, it is easier to get a new car, get loans, in short time have a lot of debt. Instead of having late payments or totally unable to pay with those high interest rates, I think debt consolidation can help. There are some non-profit companies like http://www.anewhorizon.org/.

Buy a house instead of rent. I wish we can do this ourselves but houses here are crazy expensive and the condo fees are too high. But renting is something that we pay every month for something that we won’t own.

Eat out less. I just thought we haven’t been going to restaurants lately, only fast foods during our vacation. We’ll definitely save if we don’t each out too much and cook meals at home.

Before I end this post, here are some really cute piggy banks. The first one is my favorite.