Money Saving Tips!

1. Here's a site where you find your local area and when people looking to get rid of things for free they make a post with the items they have. Most of the time I've found that they don't post pictures but hey, it's free, can't complain! I've goten a ton of outdoor little tikes toys for my kids. www.freecycle.org
a. For the little tikes toys and other outdoor toys that are sun faded you can get a $5 can of paint at walmart called Krylon Fusion, it's made for plastics and will make your items look brand new again! Or the best site to order from online is www.orientaltrading.com.

2. Also most people know about craigslist, it's a great place to buy and sell in your local area. They also have a 'free' section, I recently got a mahogany tv armoire in excellent condition! www.craigslist.com

3. Another big one that I use is ebay. Which everyone knows about! However, the trick that I use is to go in the section I want something from, and sort it by distance. It will bring up the listings that are closest to you and show you the distance. A lot of sellers will allow you local pickup, if you ask, at no charge. I've been getting my boys brand new gymboree, the childrens place, polo, gap etc. clothes for about $1 per item. www.ebay.com

4. Here's one for college savings for our kids, which as we know tuition prices are on the rise and we should all start saving now. Online shopping is such a huge convenience, and a lot of times a big money saver. www.upromise.com is a site that you shop through, it sends you to online stores but tracks your purchase to give you a percentage directly into your childrens college savings account. This is the best site if you're preparing to buy a house because you can automatically get up to $3000 into your kids 529!

5. Although upromise is great you can typically get back a higher percentage by using www.ebates.com , plus they seem to have more stores to choose from than upromise. So we usually use ebates and then when we get the check we deposit it into our kids college accounts. When you sign up it will ask you for a referral (not necessary but if you're signing up anyway it will give our kids a bonus), our email address is daunfamily@yahoo.com .

6. For diapers www.babyage.com seems to be the cheapest I can find, I've found it to be cheaper than the more well known diapers.com site.

7. For online shopping make sure to always look for coupon codes, just go to your search engine and type in the name of the store and 'coupon code'. Nine times out of ten you'll find something, typically free shipping!

8. Buy realestate. Especially multi-family foreclosures. Places to rent are in high demand because so many are losing their homes to foreclosures. Plus interest rates are so low right now! www.bankofamerica.com has no closing costs and offers competitive interest rates.

9. Here's the best one yet. Get a financial investor! Have them invest both your childs college savings as well are your retirement. Start saving a little bit now and you'll be rich by the time you retire. Edward Jones is a very reputible company and we have LOVED our financial investor and want to reccommend him to everyone! His website is http://www.edwardjones.com/cgi/getHTML.cgi?page=/USA/IR/market/index.html&CIRN=505463 . US economists are saying that this is a GREAT year to invest because prices are so low. Contact him and prepare for you and your families financial future!

Hope that some of these things we've found beneficial help you too!
Kimberly