It’s no secret that you can buy pretty much anything online these days.

But while you’ve learned to turn to Amazon for books and check eBay instead of heading to the flea market to spend your antiques allowance, there are a few things you’re still stubbornly picking up at your local drugstore.

Join the 21st century, save money and find out what you aren’t buying online but should be.

What: Car tires

Why Buy Online: It seems counterintuitive, but there’s no reason to spend all day in a smelly tire shop to get new wheels. National stores like Discount Tire or Tire Rack actually have websites where you can enter the make/model of your vehicle (and a few other details) and get a huge list of all the tires available in your area. This system lets you compare warranties, view ratings and prices, read reviews and — most importantly — take time to consider your options, far away from the icy stare of the mechanic at the checkout counter who wants to go home for the day. Simply choose and pay for your tires, then book an appointment to have them installed whenever it’s convenient for you.

What: Photos

Why Buy Online: You’ve finally set aside the time to go through several gigabytes of digital snapshots, and now you want something to hang on the wall. Instead of driving to the local photo place with your CDs in tow, why not upload your pics from home, edit and crop them ’til your heart’s content, then cruise by to pick them up on your way to dinner? Most people don’t realize that discount stores actually have super printers that spit out some of the best-quality photos around, giving you proof-positive that the baby looks more like your side of the family without forcing you to shell out for premium prints.

What: Makeup

Why Buy Online: You may be used to stopping by the drugstore to restock your supply of mascara, but online beauty product retailers keep you from paying convenience store prices for your war paint. Since you already know what brands and shades you like, there’s no need to try them on — and this way you can get free shipping your purchases, as well as tons of free samples. Big online retailers also have the flexibility to let you return products if they turn out to be the wrong shade (even if they’re used).

What: Gift cards

Why Buy Online: It’s easy enough to pick up a gift card for your niece’s birthday, but ordering online makes the most practical present in the world (a.k.a., free money) more personal by letting you customize the design on your card, or even upload your own images to display. Plus, you don’t always have to pay full value. Sites like Offers.com use gift card coupons and deals to get you extra discounts (i.e., you pay $65 for a $75 card) and send the cards directly to your recipients, in case you can’t make it in time.

What: Shoes

Why Buy Online: In case you haven’t heard, online retailers like Zappos and Road Runner Sports have revolutionized the footwear business by all but opening a shoe store in your bedroom. With free shipping both ways (some of the fastest shipping we’ve seen anywhere, incidentally) and a 60-day guarantee that lets you wear your pairs for up to 2 months and still send them back if you want to, it’s better than a brick-and-mortar shoe store any day.

Stop wasting money, and start saving by shopping online for these 5 items.

So you don’t want to spend money but you still want some new staff. The desire is quite understandable but sounds unrealistic.

Well, actually, this is quite possible; and here are two ways to get something for free:

1. Free Offers

Ok, we have previously said that there’s nothing absolutely free under the sun but that doesn’t mean you can’t still be a smart freebie hunter.

Why is it such a great idea?

• You become a smarter shopper (taking advantage of many free offers, you try a lot of products and can compare their quality, prices, etc. You are also quick at learning about and trying new products and their benefits);
• You learn to save (freebies are often offered along with coupons. By becoming a smart freebie hunter, you also learn to find and take advantage of good timely deals).

Example?

ListFreeSamples is one of the best examples: it has a clear interface and structure: freebies are sorted into various categories like make-up, pet supplies, clothes, etc:

2. Do-It-Yourself

Has it ever occurred to you that you can make plenty of things you buy at home? Yes, this takes much time but why not spend less time watching TV and sitting in front of the community (twittering) and use it to make something valuable?

Why is it such a great idea?

The three best things about DIY is that:

1. It is free;
2. It is fun (especially if you take the opportunity to spend some valuable time with your family doing things together);
3. It is eco-friendly (because you recycle old stuff).

Example?

This blog I stumbled across recently lists an overwhelming number of DIY gadgets made from total waste, take these DIY iPhone docks and stands or this zipped plastic bottle box as examples. The resource has been a constant source of inspiration to me!

3. To Conclude: Avoid Scams

Getting something for free is always nice but for one important things: many scammers take advantage of the fact that people love free stuff. Therefore you should be aware of the fact that there is much scam in the freebie area.

Whenever you are offered something for free, make sure to research if the offer is valid.

Considering you have received an offer by email, here’s a quick infographic for you to make sure the offer is valid:

If in the end you arrived to “Give it a try” box, you may also consider running a quick search in Google to learn more about the free offer provider.

So feel safe when hunting for free stuff – good luck!

Piggy bank is a great way to save some money.

The best thing about it is that you don’t notice how you accumulate plenty of money – you just insert change in it whenever you remember to and on some day you have plenty of it accumulated.

If you don’t focus on accumulating plenty of money and just do that randomly, the process becomes even easier and stress-free.

Here are top 10 creative piggy banks that will make money accumulating even more fun!

1. His / Her Bank

This is such a smart idea: when ever a coin gets to “his” budget, it inevitable ends up in “her” budget:

2. Bank Face

I am not sure what the actual idea is behind it: but this is quite funny – whenever you tuck a coin into it, the face actually moves the way it looks like it “eats” the coin. Definitely, to see the face move again and again you will be sure to spend a lot of money before this stops being funny:

3. Coin Bank Room Divider

Besides being a good storage facility for your saved money, this actually looks good and will fit your interior. Besides, when you have nothing to do, you can kill an idle hour counting how much money you have collected so far:

4. Grenade Piggy Bank

5. Bomb Bank

Similar to the previous one but a bomb:

6. Darth Vader Bank

There’s some really cool symbolism here: hiding money in pure evil:

7. Spend/Save Coin Bank

“The unpredictable pivoting tray collects, deflects and randomly deposits coins into either the ‘Save’ or ‘Spend’ section. It’s a win, win!”

8. Golden Egg Coin Bank

Inspired by the fable of the Goose with the Golden Egg by Aesop:

9. Financial Crisis Piggy

Not sure how much money it can store but it definitely rocks!

10. Coin Lamp

The idea behind this coin bank is simply genius: if you want to put the light on, feed it a coin – a great incentive to put some coins daily:

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

Do you use FireFox? I bet you do because it is an awesome browser. What makes it even better is quite a number of tools you can add to enhance its functionality and customize it based on your needs. So let’s see how we can turn FireFox into a powerful shopping tool:

Woot Watcher monitors the Woot! web site, and keeps you updated with the current item, price, and if it is sold out.

BuyBuddy adds some social element to your Amazon shopping: as you browse the Web, the addon locates products that are offered through Amazon and ‘tags’ them. When you purchase these tagged products, the BuyBuddy toolbar will automatically select one of your buddies to associate with that purchase. Through the Amazon Associates program, a portion of the purchase price will be deposited by Amazon into your buddy’s Amazon Associates account.
If you don’t have any friends, you can always enter a list of charities or non-profit organizations that participate in the Amazon Associates program.

Price Protectr Toolbar has a huge number of cool features:

• Search for any product right from the toolbar (the search will open on a new tab);
• Watch the price with one click;
• Save products to buy them later;
• See retailer rating; etc

Currency converter: a very handy FireFox addon, especially if you often deal with different currencies. Just click on any currency data on any web page to convert that amount across over 180 foreign exchange rates right on your screen. A few more features include:

• Invert the conversion you make and access to daily, weekly, monthly, and annual charts depicting the historical exchange trends of the currency pair that you selected;
• Customize the settings based on your location;
• Remember your last conversion and use those FROM and TO parameters for your next conversion request so that you don’t need to make the same selections each time.

Coupon Searcher is a multi-feature browser toolbar for deal searching. It includes Google-powered search engine and desktop alert feature. It has both FireFox and Internet Explorer versions.

RetailMeNot: when you visit any store, it will inform you if it has a coupon code available for that store. You don’t ever notice it, it won’t bother you. Then you visit an ecommerce site, and then it pops up quietly on the page. So it won’t bug you unless you go shopping: see it only when you need it! The add-on works by updating an internal database once per week from the collaborative coupon sharing website – retailmenot.com

KeepCash Coupon Notifier is a similar to above – it notifies you when online coupons exist for a site that you are shopping at. You can forget that it’s installed and then when you’re shopping, it acts as a friendly reminder that there are online coupons available. Enjoy!

Book Burro is another similar sites but for books. When you visit a webpage with a book on it, it pops up showing you prices for that book at other booksellers. It doesn’t slow down your browser as no communication with other sites will occur until it is clicked. Clicking the panel will open up a list of your libraries, book stores and online services. In addition, information about pricing and availability is added to the list – all without visiting any other pages.

Price Drop is another shopping tool for Amazon: it adds a link to each product on Amazon inviting you to track its price. Just go to an Amazon product page, and start tracking it; you’ll get a notification if its price drops.
You can also check out your tracked product list using the drop icon, or the Tools->PriceDrop menu.

PriceAdvance is a handy shopping addon 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.

PackageMapping extension makes it easy to get tracking information for a package and display the tracking progress on Google Maps. Simply highlight the tracking number, right click, and select “Track and Map Package”. The tool currently supports 4 service providers: UPS, U.S.P.S., FedEx, DHL.

Grocery List Generator helps with your grocery shopping. It is a helpful little addon to store your recipe-ingredients and other groceries you need regularly. It creates a well-organized grocery list to help make your grocery shopping as easy as possible.

A few tools for eBayers:

eBay Buddy is a Firefox addon for active eBayers. It provides comprehensive menus which allows you to easily access hundreds of sections on eBay as well as several related sites and tools.

eBay Counter is a Greasemonkey user script which adds a live countdown timer to active eBay auctions.

myTimeZone for eBay is a Firefox addon that allows to customize dates and times on eBay listings for your specific location. Besides, it provides automatic currency conversion and total price sorting options.

Post image by Glutnix