Managing your household budget is harder than it may seem: you need to take into account so many things, calculate all your (possible) expenses and (if you are smart and frugal) save something for the future.

Things become even harder if you run a (large) family where everyone has his own needs and you have to think for all of your family members.

Various people have different tricks – this post offers only one possible solution getting money management help from free online tools that are designed to make your lives easier. Here are the 5 most usable of basic free online budgeting tools:

1. Buxfer

Buxfer is a handy utility that will be helping you manage your monthly budget.

Monitoring: Set spending limits per category and stay within those limits by monitoring your expenses and getting real-time alerts on your mobile device.

Reminders: Get email reminders when your bills are due.

Charts and graphs: Foresee your financial future and meet your financial goals with help of various visualization tools:

Accessibility: Access Buxfer with your Blackberry, iPhone, SMS, email, Twitter, Facebook, iGoogle, Netvibes and more.

2. ClearCheckbook

ClearCheckbook is an extremely easy way to track your spending, set a budget, and organize your finance.

Plan and save: Set your spending limits and when you would like them to reset and the tool willl track everything for you.
Moreover, go back and look at previous months limits and how close to your limit you came.

Compare: Get visualized data on all your history and stats for easier management and comparison:

Scheduling: Set and schedule your transactions (including recurring transactions) and get notified when your payments are due.

3. MoneyTrackin

MoneyTrackin is a free online tool allowing you to track all your expenses and income without effort:

Manage: Log all your transactions (expenses/income) and tag them to organize them better. Grab visualized reports and summaries of your spendings:

Discuss: Share tips with other users and take advantage of the community knowledge to save money.

4. Wesabe

Wesabe is a free money management utility that combines easy-to-use budgeting tools with a thriving community of people anonymously sharing ideas and advice to help everyone get more value for their money.

Manage and Compare: Set spending targets and track how close you are to the limit:

Share: Discuss your money issues, saving tips, etc:

5. PearBudget

PearBudget is an easy-to-use, almost free ($3 per month) budgeting tool allowing to manage your spendings.

Step 1: Select the categories you want to use in your budget;

Step 2: Drag each category to the appropriate column: monthly expenses (like groceries or rent) versus irregular expenses (like car maintenance or property taxes)

Step 3: Set the amount of money you plan to spend on each category;

Step 4: Set your planned monthly income;

Get your budget and summary of your budget:

Smart shopping means buying only what you really need, finding the lowest price possible and never paying more than the thing is worth.

Buying certain stuff used is a smart idea: for example, many people choose to buy or borrow kids’ stuff from their friends and relatives (because children grow fast and they don’t want to spend much money on the things they will need no longer than 6 months or so).

But saving does have its limits as well. Here are 5 things you better not buy used:

1. Used Shoes

People may want to buy used shows for various reason: they may want save on footwear they don’t need often or even happen to need it only once (like wedding shoes for example) or they may just love vintage style overall.

Here are some reasons why you should avoid buying used shoes:

1. Think about many bacteria and fungal infections that might be found there;
2. Shoes tend to mold to feet of people who wear them for some time; shoes worn by someone else have been adjusted to their feet and will unlikely to mold to your feet.

2. Used Mattress

The problem with a used mattress is that you don’t know who used it before and you are never sure you cleaned it well: a mattress has many layers and it can be stuffed with extra material – so you never know how deep someone else’s bacteria got.

Of course, people may say that you still sleep on used mattresses in the hotels or whenever you spend a night out of your home, but do you feel safe there? Do you want to feel the same way when sleeping at your own home?

Cleaning a used mattress may take you some serious effort: the best way to ensure the mattress is clean of any germs and insects is to hire a professional which is expensive and results in you saving nothing.

Besides, mattresses aren’t meant to last forever. The best ones are normally intended to be used no more than 10 years – so by buying an already used one you have a good chance to get yours expire in a couple of years.

3. Used Underwear

Maybe you like expensive designer underwear that you can’t afford but that reason is not enough to justify wearing another person’s underwear no matter how hard you tried to clean it.

Underwear is meant to be something intimate and personal, you don’t want to imagine who wore it before you, do you?

4. Used Cosmetics

It is funny to think anyone ever wants to sell used cosmetics but yes, they do. Even eBay, the huge stock of various (sometimes really weird) staff, prohibits selling used cosmetics:

Used cosmetics present some serious health and safety concerns because the products and applicators used to apply them often come into direct contact with the body.

5. Used Tissue

OK, this is rather a joke. Hopefully, you never got an idea to buy a used tissue or toilet paper but it looks like some people do:

Save money by saving energy

The great thing about summer is that it is hot. This means less energy spent on heating and cooking, yet more energy spent on cooling. Let’s see how we can save some money (and become more green and frugal!):

1. If you can’t do without fans and air-conditioners, use them wisely: adjust the air conditioning throughout the day to meet your needs. And of course, look for the ENERGY STAR® label.

2. Replace filters in your air conditioner – this will make it work more efficiently and thus spend less energy.

3. Cook outside: getting your whole family together for evening barbecue will be both fun and refreshing experience for your relatives. Make it your new family tradition and you will notice how much closer you become!

Image by oskay

4. Dry your laundry outside: OK, this one works for the suburbs only but if you are happy enough to live outside the city, imagine how good your linen will smell if it dries in the fresh air.

5. Use cold water more often: hot summer is a great time to start taking cold showers, for example. It is both good for your health and saves your energy on heating the water.

6. (Obvious) Keep your lights off during the day: it is sunnier during the summer than during the rest of the year, so don’t forget to take advantage of that!

Save money by saving other Nature resources

7. Save on watering your lawn: Summer heat makes you water your lawn much more often, try doing that early in the morning to prevent the water from evaporating so quickly.

8. Save gas by switching to the bicycle! Really, sometimes it is both refreshing and energizing to take a quick ride to your work instead of idling in traffic jams – and this saves your money too!

Keep updated of summer sales and deals

9. Make sure to subscribe to sites alerting you of the hottest deals and sales. Summer is the time of greatest sales ever. I don’t mean getting obsessed but keeping an eye on best summer deals can considerably help your budget.

by jenn jenn

Save money on summer entertainment

On top of all, summer is the best time to take some rest and relax to get ready for the next working season. Who says you can’t have a good rest on a budget?

10. Keep an eye on summer travel deals;

11. Take advantage of fresh-air summer events: free concerts, theater events, movies, art shows;

12. Get more flexible and smart about your summer travel: consider these 5 tips for example;

Save money on food

13.Growing your own vegetables and herbs is a great way to save money!

Photo by superbez

14. Switch to farmers markets: unlike supermarkets pricing, product prices at markets are often negotiable. Also, you can save a fortune by buying from same sellers daily or weekly and thus having great bargains from them.

Save on your other bills

Use any opportunity to take advantage of opportunities summer can offer! For example:

15. Stop paying for the gym and start jogging: take a leave of absence from your gym membership and enjoy your exercises in the fresh air! Grab your camera to take photos of the morning scenes for more fun!

Any more tips on saving money during the summer? Please share them!

Post image: Pink Sherbet Photography

Do you ever lose control over your shopping? Or do you ever wish you hadn’t bought something? Here’s the actionable guide on how to become a smart and frugal shopper.

1. Maintain Daily, Weekly and Monthly Shopping Lists

Saving money requires strategy, and having a shopping list is a pertinent step in your strategy. Taking a shopping list to the store helps prevent buying useless junk. If you go in with a definite idea of what you need, not what you want, then you are more likely to be able to discipline yourself to stick to your list.

Professional budgeters suggest making your grocery list according to the layout of the store, to avoid “danger” areas, like the junk food aisles.

2. Pay in Cash

Making purchases with cash makes it easier to be realistic about how much you can spend. Credit cards allow you to fool yourself into thinking you have more money than you actually do. Budgeting gurus advise consumers to freeze their credit cards in a huge block of ice, so you will only use it in the case of real need.

The idea of picking a huge block of ice or melting it with a hair dryer might be all the incentive you need to leave that card alone and wait until you actually have the cash to buy what you want.

3. Avoid Payday Shopping

Again, this is a matter of psychology. If you go into a store having just cashed your paycheck, it is easy to tell yourself you have plenty of money. You were, after all just rewarded for your hard work. Surely you have earned the right to splurge a little, right? Of course, twelve days from now, when you don’t have enough money for gas and payday is still two days away, those little treats you bought yourself won’t seem so important. Yet, you will manage to forget starving the last two days when you get the next paycheck, and the cycle starts all over again

4. Eat Before Going Shopping

Diet advisors have been saying for years shopping when hungry makes you more likely to buy junk food and other items you don’t need, just because our brain is telling your stomach you need food, so you buy everything that looks good. If you go grocery shopping after just eating a meal, you will likely be full, and will not even have the desire to be in the store very long. You will be more inclined to get just what you need and leave.

5. Store Money in Several Envelopes

Keeping your money arranged in categories helps you keep track of how much money you are spending in each area of living. It also helps you to stick to a goal of spending no more than a set amount on anything one thing. Keeping your money in large denominations also helps prevent you from spending a dollar here and there, which definitely adds up over time.

6. Try to Stick to Familiar Stores

Walking around aimlessly in a store allows you to chance walking by all those yummy things you know you shouldn’t have. If you shop in places where you know the lay of the land, so to speak, you are better able to control your impulses by avoiding areas where “danger” items are.

7. Never Buy Anything in the Checkout Line

The checkout is notorious for drawing in the impulse buyer. Magazine headlines scream at you to try the ABSOLUTE BEST diet ever, and Brangelina are forever snagging your eye in those sensational tabloid photos. Retailers also know all the bright, colorful things in the checkout line will catch your attention simply because you are bored.

The next time you are waiting for the woman with five months worth of groceries in line in front of you, tell yourself that no, you do not need a credit-card sized pack of handi-wipes or a wind-proof lighter, or that irresistible combination keychain/snow shovel/blood pressure monitor.

8. Never Buy Anything Just for the Sake of Using a Coupon/Deal:

Coupons are a great way to save money, but only if they are saving money on stuff you actually need. “Saving money” on something you did not really need in the first place does not constitute saving money, no matter how much you try to tell yourself so. There is the old joke about the woman who comes home from shopping with bookoodles of clothes and junk, and tells her husband that everything was on sale, so they actually saved money. This is a tried-and-true tactic of marketing … people will buy things just because they are told it is a good deal and they need it.

9. Be aware of Common Tricks

Gone are the days when subliminal messages enticed us to the concession stand at the movie theater. Marketers and retailers still use the powers of suggestion, however. The packaging and marketing of a product is the most expensive cost of the product to the retailer, so realize that when you pay for high-end items, you are usually either paying for the name or the fancy packaging. Don’t be fooled by bright colors and misleading labels. Retailers are students of psychology, and they know the power of color to guide people to buy things.

10. Use a Calculator

Calculators are useful when you go shopping, because they help you figure out how much a discount actually saves you. Many times retailer will “trick” customers into thinking they have taken a much bigger discount than they really have. Splitting a discount is a deceptive way of making consumers believe the discount is higher than it actually is. Also, the calculator allows you to keep track of how much you are spending and calculate your freecreditscore. In addition it can help you figure out which item is actually the better deal. For instance, when buying laundry detergent, a calculator could help you to figure out how many cents you are spending per ounce, comparatively.

Images by e-magic, Bill in Ash Vegas, kevindooley, Pink Sherbet Photography, rick, markhillary

Consumers are easily manipulated because:

• they are bad at math;
• they shop with their heart rather than their head.

This means you might be wasting your money (that is not so easy to earn) because you are being manipulated.

Do you think this is fair? Would you like to be sure you are spending your money because you want, not because someone wants you to? Do you want to save?

Then let’s learn which tricks sellers may be using to manipulate your shopping behavior.

Shopping momentum

Shopping momentum occurs when a buyer literally “can’t stop”‘: the first purchase produces a psychological impulse that makes him / her buy more.

How this works: Shopping has two phases: deliberation and implementation. The actual buying moves us from deliberation to implementation phase: we continue buying without returning to the deliberation stage.

How not to be tricked: break the shopping momentum. A good way to do that is to pay by cash and use several envelopes / pockets where you take the money from:

• counting cash makes you think: you thus return to the deliberation stage;
• paying from different envelopes forces you to return to the deliberation stage to think if the purchase was a good idea.

Confused consumers

A sales technique called “disrupt-then-reframe” can trick consumers into buying.

How this works: the seller first presents a confusing sales pitch to a customer and then restates the pitch in a more familiar way. Meaning, they first utilize technical jargon, complex terminology or large product assortments and thus “attract the consumer’s attention” who becomes eager to ‘understand’ the pitch.

How not to be tricked: in this case, knowledge is your best weapons. Just remain cool-headed and realize you are being cheated.

Double discounts

Ironically, shoppers are more attracted to the double discount, even though it involves less savings. An average American is not very good at maths, which is why a sale offering “20 % off the original price plus an additional 25 % off the already-reduced sale price” is effective.

How this works: the maths behind this is both complex to explain and spot. Say, one store offers 45% discount, while another one offers 25% + 25% discount for the same product. Which one do you feel is better? The second one? Wrong! In reality, the second offer is about a ~43 percent discount, because the second discount is taken on the reduced amount after the first discount.

How not to be tricked: well, use a calculator! Counting your money is the best way to save it. So counting ho much you are actually saving will help you understand who is honest and who tries to trick you.

Post images by jpockele, Cosmic Kitty, Jesse757, artykle.com

Facebook unites your friends, relatives and colleagues for you to easily connect with them. Being thus a handy and popular social tool, it is quite natural it can be also turned into an awesome shopping tool: imagine your friends accompany you with your online shopping, giving you advice and sharing their experience!

Friends are the people you can trust; with Facebook applications you can ask them to review the products you plan to buy or rate a retailer you are considering. You can also help each other by exchanging coupon codes and notifying each other of best deals.

So here is the comprehensive collection of Facebook shopping tools:

Track Coupon Codes via Facebook:

Simply Best Coupons: this application is Facebook version of popular website SimplyBestCoupons.com. Without leaving Facebook you can find best coupons and deals. The procedure is really simple:

• Select your country;
• Select you favorite online stores and shopping categories;
• Select the notification type (email or facebook notification);
• Invite your friends;
• Search by the retailer’s name;
• Add your comments and rate the retailer:

Coupons.com offer printable discount coupons on Facebook:

“Simply add the application, and we’ll instantly provide you with a selection of coupons for everyday products. For every coupon you print, discard, or share with a friend, we’ll replace it with another until you’ve bled us dry!”

Next Coupons app allows the user to suggest retailers they’d like to receive coupons from, and also select from shopping categories that interest them. That way the deals the users get are tailored specifically to their interest, and they can be informed of hot coupons and discounts without even having to search for them.

Free Coupons: on adding the app you’ll see a list of popular brands, just click on any to add your favorite shops to your profile:

Cheap Deals & Coupons posts a box on the left side of your profile, then it feeds in 5 lines of text, which consists of deals on the Internet and how they are rated. A “5″ rating means that the deal is SUPER cheap. A “1″ means that the deal is no good! Immediately after adding the app, you’ll see the list of recent deals and coupons throughout the Internet.

Me coupons offers to give your friends a gift that lets them spend more time with you in real life. Send them a “One Free Hug” or “Free Drink” coupon or create a personalized coupon for that special friend. You can even text your friends your coupon so that they can redeem it in real life!

Coupons Community by eCoupons offers a handy navigation with a drop-down menus. Besides, it allows members to submit new coupons.

Get Organized with Facebook Shopping and Wish Lists:

What I Want app (which can also be added to pages) offers to add items to your wishlist from any store and notify your friends. You can share your wishlist with your Facebook friends or with non-Facebook users too:

• Manage your wishlist according to priority, quantity and purchases.
• Search for products from all your favorite online merchants such as Amazon, Apple, Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Buy.com, Gap, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, and thousands of others.
• Create: shopping lists, What-I-Want, What-I-Have, recommendations, wish lists, etc.

JungleBook shows your Amazon wishlists on your profile to let people know when you add items to it.

• Let your friends see what gifts you want, and find out what to buy your friends.
• Create and share lists of products on Amazon.
• Examples of lists you can create: “My favorite Books”, “Top 10 Rock Albums”, “Music I Bought This Year”, “Gadgets I Want From Santa”, etc.
• The lists you create are submitted to Amazon to be saved, and so are shown on both sites.

What would you buy? offers shopping polls and wishlists. Create a poll to compare two similar products and let your friends vote and browse through your friends’ polls.

Access Product Reviews:

Needdit lists reviews from people you know and trust.

CNET Product Review(s) displays a widget-like block reviewing an item. The search option sends the user to CNET site.

I Want One app provides you and your friends with the ability to vote on different Amazon.com products. Instead of trusting the customer reviews on Amazon you should ask your friends to review the product. Add the product to your list and ask your friends to vote on the product.

Comparison and Social Shopping via Facebook:

My Shopping allows you to shop online with your Facebook friends. You can search for books, music, movies, gadgets, clothing, or anything you have a need for. You can then rate, mark, and share items. For any item you can view how many of your friends like or dislike that item, as well as compare the lowest prices available from retail stores. Write reviews or rants, and let your peers know how you feel about that product.

Image credit: jelene

2008 was the first year in the history of eCommerce when US customers said they preferred web over the store for holiday shopping. According to e-tailing group‘s third annual “Mindset of the Multi-Channel Shopper Holiday Survey,” the major reason (88% of respondents) for choosing the Internet for shopping is saving money.

Really, the Internet offers so many tools and resources for saving money that bargain shopping has become a new highly popular phenomenon of today’s web: 44% (nearly half) of shoppers who have made an online purchase in the past three months call themselves “bargain hunters” (The Conference Board – 2008).

This time I am listing resources that find the lowest product price even the geekiest and smartest online shoppers will find useful!

Promo Codes: this is a handy and well-organized site offering a wide range of money saving options.

Here’s a sample page listing Kohls promo codes:

• See new deals for any brand mark;
• See each deal details (amount and expiration date);
• See most reliable deals;
• See less reliable deals:

MobSaver lets you find the lowest price via SMS message! Just text UPC or ISBN number of an item to save@mobsaver.com and the system will send you a text message with the item prices on Amazon and eBay:

• The lowest prices for new and used items on Amazon.
• The current bid price on eBay. If there are more than one item available on eBay, you will be sent a price range.

Mobsaver is free and doesn’t require any signup. You will have to register only if you want to keep track and save the looked-up items to your mobsaver account.

BeatThat! is a community-driven website of deal hunters who share lowest prices they were able to locate throughout the Internet. Not only the site allows to easier find the best deal, it also offers you to earn money by being a bargain hunter: most active and reliable members are paid for finding great deals:

BeatThat! is run by its Deal-Finders – those hard-working people who scour the Internet for the very best deals on every single product on the site. Why do they do it? First of all, they love the “thrill of the hunt” – looking into all the nooks and crannies of the Internet where great deals reside. Second, they get a lot of attention and respect for their skill here at BeatThat!. And lastly, they get paid for it! If you think you’d like to become a BeatThat! Deal-Finder, just read on!

Here is how BeatThat! helps you shop online:

• Search for any product and choose the one you actually need;
• See the best deal right under the item description;
• Pay Attention to the store ratings (make sure you shop with “green” retailers, i.e. those that are “the best in terms of customer service and delivering what they promise.”)
• See the deal ratings and comments;
• Compare the deal with the prices offered by Amazon or Best Buy;
• If you still need a lower price, add the product to watch list: you can set the system to notify you by email when the product price drops below the amount you specify.

BeatMyPrice invites anyone to try to beat their price and even requires no registration: just submit the item name, deal URL and price and let the service beat your price.

The site does provide the huge list of prices for almost any item you submit. However the relevancy of the results returned leaves much to be desired: you’ll see prices for similar items rather than for the exact product you need.

PriceAdvance is a handy shopping companion for FireFox and Internet Explorer that will look for the lowest price offered by Amazon.com, BestBuy or WalMart. It will instantly alert you to current deals once you visit the merchant’s website.

While you shop for products at your favorite merchants, PriceAdvance will automatically search other retailers for better prices. When prices are found a small overlay window will appear in the top left of your browser window. To view a product in the overlay, click the price or company logo.

Image by Refracted Moments™

Shopping online means you enjoy your staying at home and getting your purchase delivered right to your front door. But it also means extra expenses to cover shipping charges. It is quite natural you want to carefully plan and cut down those expenses.

Below you can find useful free online tools that will help you estimate shipping cost or save on shipping by locating a free shipping deal.

Calculate and compare shipping cost:

Use official service providers’ shipping calculators:

Postage Price Calculator (by United States Postal Service) estimates the shipping rate by destination, postage shape, weight and shipping date. It will calculate the shipping price for a number of shipping services and will also add maximum dimensions and postage value for each (click “show dimensions” link for that).

FedEx Rates and Transit Times – calculates shipping costs based on the destination and package specifications (weight, type, etc). You will need to complete several steps to actually get the detailed quote. It does have a few pretty ninfty features like Zip/ Postal code lookup, currency and measurement converters.

Use third-party shipping comparing tools:

ShippingSideKick compares shipping rates for UPS, USPS, FedEx and DHL. All you need is to fill up a form providing the destination and shipping information.

The shipping terms comparison is represented in the form of a table where each color stands for a separate service provider. You can thus compare prices based on the shipping day and transportation service:

ShipGooder searches for rates from FedEx, DHL, Purolator, the U.S. Postal Service, Canada Post and local couriers.

The comparison of shipping rates is represented via two tables – you can compare pricing by the courier and by shipping terms (ground versus expedited shipping). You can thus choose the most suitable conditions: the courier and the date of delivery:

You can also bookmark the report, send it to your friend or export it to Excel.

Locate the free shipping deal:

FreeShipping.org collects free shipping offers from all over the Internet and presents it to you in a user-friendly interface: you can find the suitable deal by the merchant’s name using the search option or the drop-down menu – e.g. Best Buy coupon codes – or by category (using the sidebar navigation).

The codes are organized in a table containing the exhaustive information for you to qualify: the minimum order price, the expiration date and the code itself. Besides, you can see the overview of the retailer’s shipping and return policies and his overall reputation.

The service is free, easy to use and requires no registration.

Amazon Filler Item Finder (as the name suggests) is meant for Amazon.com fans. It locates Amazon items that qualify for free shipping by category and the order price. The service also offers a handy FireFox extension and Greasemonkey plugin.

Set the shipping price yourself

UShip is an online shipping auction that unites online buyers to shipping services and  wholesale dropshippers. The site lets you submit your package details for transportation services to bid for the privilege to ship your package. The service is free (unless you need some advanced options) but requires sign up (which takes no more than a few minutes to complete). You can also choose bid-alerting methods (email message, phone call, text messages).

Make sure to describe your package in as much detail as possible to make sure you’ll get relevant bids and save time on further discussion. Apart from required fields the form even allows you to upload your package photo and submit additional details: