One of the things that is often neglected in the family budget is back to school shopping. These kinds of neglected costs often wind up costing more than we anticipate because we did not plan for them. When you go shopping without a plan and a budget you are more likely to buy on impulse, buy things that are too expensive, and buy things that you really do not need. This can all be avoided with a bit of planning and research on the part of you and your children. Before you buy even one pencil or go to one single store follow these simple steps and the experience will be easier on both your nerves and your wallet.

Back To School Shopping Tips:

Gather the troops - Back to school shopping is not something you can do by yourself. Your children will want to have input because they want specific items either because they really need them or because the wan to have the coolest backpack. It is important for children to have a say in the items you buy for that first day of school, but more important is for them to have an understanding of the costs of these items and the sacrifices that they might need to make. For example, you and the children can sit down and discuss which things they needed last year that you did not have or which things your purchased that they wound up not using. Then you can all discuss which items are really important to them to be both fashionable and functional.

Budget, budget, budget – Your budget should be iron clad, with no exceptions. As soon as you start spending a little extra on one thing it will lead to spending a lot extra on everything. Instead, set a realistic budget that takes into account those items you will spend extra on to get higher quality and those items that you can spend less on to be more budget friendly. Remember to leave a little money in reserve for ongoing expenses like replenishing lost or used up items. If you have a child who is absent-minded and tends to lose things have him make a list of everything and the cost of each item. In the event he or she loses something require them to pay all or a portion of the cost to replace it.

Set your list in stone – As you are discussing the back to school shopping with the kids come up with an absolute list. This will have to include all of the items that are required by the teacher and those that your child wants personally. The kids school list should be easy enough to find online, but do some research to make sure it is correct. Sometimes these lists are just passed on from year to year so double check with the teacher or some other parents to make sure that you really need everything that is on the list. You might be surprised how much is on the list that the teacher does not actually require students to purchase or at least purchase right away.

Shop at home - No, not on the Internet, first shop in your own closets and drawers. You, like most of us, probably have piles of pens, paper, folders, and pencils scattered around the house from the previous school year. Gather up all of these items and cross check them with your list. You might have plenty of pencils and pens so you can check them off your shopping list before you step foot into any store.

Buy used items - This is especially important for those students who have to purchase books. Look at online auction sites or on display boards for them slightly used. They are always loads cheaper and tend to have the added benefit of notes written in the margins. If you wear uniforms in class or in physical education class look for them gently used too, you’ll save yourself a bundle and no one will know the difference. You can also make a bit of money toward your school shopping by selling your used items. Keep that in the minds of your children and remind them that the better they take care of their things the more money you will be able to sell them for later.

Look for sales and discounts - Every big retailer knows that the school supply buying frenzy is a chance to make big profits. Because of that they will put certain items on sale for rock bottom prices to lure customers into their stores. You have to be careful though, because for every cheap item there is another item that you need that is not on sale. Look for coupons and sales on the items you need from each store. It will be worth shopping around to get the best deal, even if you have to take a day or two and hop from store to store to get the best deal. Be sure to take advantage of mail-in-rebates too, you would be shocked at how many of those go unclaimed. If you live in an area that has interest free days for back to school shopping, plan to do the bulk of your shopping then to get the most savings.

Keep shopping - If you always have the school supply list handy you can easily pick up the things you need whenever you come across deals. You do not want to overbuy, but keep in mind that you will need items through the year and in the following years. Once the school year has started the retailers will drop prices to clear out inventories, it is a perfect time to stock up on the cheap.

Everyone can stand to save money on back to school shopping. All you have to do is know exactly what you need to purchase and what you and your kids can live without. Once you make your decisions be vigilant about sticking to both the list and the budget. If you can do that and follow some of the tips listed here your back to school shopping will be a minor blip on your budget instead of a major budget bust.

This article was written by Timothy Ng who is a regular personal finance writer and part of the team at Credit Card Finder, a 100% free Australian credit card comparison and application service. Visit the Credit Card Finder website for more information on credit cards.

I read a fantastic quote in the Four Hour Work Week book. People don’t want a million dollars, they just want million dollar experiences. Tiger Woods on the other hand, prefers his 100 million dollar experiences. Yes you read that correctly, 100 MILLION DOLLARS!

That’s the reported amount (down from the original $750M figure) that Elin Woods is expected to receive from this divorce settlement. In return, she essentially can’t bash the man or make another trillion dollars from writing a tell-all type book.

Where am I going with this post? Well to be honest I just wanted to comment on this mega-popular topic.

It’s easy to mock and judge the situation. However, it’s unfair to judge what happened because nobody knows what went on behind closed doors in their relationship. It’s also unfair to comment on the morality issues because in reality we’re all hypocrites. Speaking of hypocrites, I once had a friend in college that judged me for going out. One day after a difficult exam he bragged to me about how he never got caught cheating. So he doesn’t go out but he cheats on tests. What an honest man.

Here are the first few points that hit me after hearing about the Tiger Woods settlement:

Money can be taken away. No matter how much money you have, it can always be taken away from you. In the last few months alone, ultra-rich celebrities like Hulk Hogan and Tiger Woods have had large chunks of their fortune taken away from them. I’ve written about lottery winners that went broke. The sad reality is that you work hard for your money, but it can be taken away from you at any given moment (lawsuit, divorce settlement, or lousy investments).

Watch what you do. Nobody is bulletproof. You can have all of the contingency plans in the world, but you can still get caught. You can lose your job, you can lose a colossal client, or your wife can catch you cheating with over a dozen different women.

Always ask for help. It doesn’t matter if you’re $40,000 in debt, you can’t find a job after college, or you’re a sex addict. If you need help, ask for it right now! And no, reading about your problem is not enough. You need to make bold moves. Otherwise, you will continue with your downward spiral and there’s no telling when you’ll eventually hit rock bottom (i.e. being known as a cheat all over the world).

This post may have made no sense but I really wanted to jot down some of my thoughts on this. Do you think that the reported 100 million dollar figure is enough or not enough? What do you make of this whole situation?

This is a guest post from Alban, a personal finance writer. He offers personal finance tips and help people to compare first home buyer loans.

Mainly deriving from cockney English and African American idioms, slang has become an increasing popular way for groups to create exclusivity and style by creating their own languages. I found that the best way to sound cool, when I was researching words for money and merging them with ways to say “I don’t have any”, was to use the names of world currencies and words that were never intended to have that meaning. Here’s 15 cool ways to let everybody know that if you wanted to put your “2 cents in”, you couldn’t:

1. Runnin’ On Empty
Have you ever wondered how long you could drive on empty before your car physically stopped moving? This is one of the most scary and exhilarating things to try. We all know that when the gauge says empty there is still a reserve that will allow us to get to a station to fill up (thought to be enough to drive 40km or 25 miles) so to say you are “runnin’ on empty” means you haven’t got much to spare.

2. Scrounging For Shrapnel
Somehow coins magically always end up falling out of our pockets when we sit on the couch. Coins are compared to shrapnel which were metal fragments that were put in bullet shells to make projectiles and create a more damaging impact. I can remember an instance when I was a few cents short when I heard the ice cream man coming and thinking he’d be gone before I got some money and permission from my parents; so where did I go to get those last few cents for my icecream? You guessed it, found a nice shiny dollar and got TWO!

3. Looking For Loot
I don’t know whose idea it was first, but it was very smart of Banks to put the money in those bags with the dollar signs on them when they were getting robbed, that way the police would know who to chase.

4. Chasing Chips
Often done by those who can’t afford to, gambling has long been thought of as a way to make lots of money, fast. Portrayed all over the world from card games in classic “Western” movies to tiles in dingy basements in the Asian underworld, with so many ways to gamble, the thrill associated with not knowing the outcome and the chance to win money, it provides the perfect combination that can attract anyone.

5. Diggin’ For Dinero
The Spanish word for money, Dinero became apart of the American slang vernacular when Robert De Niro became the acclaimed actor he is today.

6. Ploughing For Pennies
When it was time for the seasonal harvest, this was when all the hard work paid off. The harvest marked the end of the growing season and was cause for much celebration in many religions and tribes. Much money was to be made from producing crops, but farmers always took risks with bad weather conditions and bad harvest timing, which would certainly result in a poor yield and quantity.

7. On A Quest For Quid
The English are well known for their rhyming cockney slang and have well over 100 words that describe money. Some are based on their political past (like a “Maggie”, named after Margaret Thatcher) and some are even based on famous crimes that took place. One example is what we know as a Grand ($1,000) is known a “bag of sand”.

8. In Pursuit Of Pesos
The Peso (literally meaning “weight”) was the first currency to use the dollar sign ($), which the US later adopted and up until the 12th century was the most traded currency in the world. The US used the Peso as their currency up until 1792 and it set the benchmark of comparison for most Asian currencies during that time.

9. Rummaging For Rubles
During WWI, food shortages and rising prices became very serious problems in Russia. Together with inflation these shortages were especially a problem in the capital, St Petersburg, where poor transportation networks made reaching suppliers particularly difficult. Shops closed early due to a lack of bread, sugar, meat and other provisions, and lines lengthened massively for what remained. Not surprisingly, strikes increased steadily from the middle of 1915, and so did crime; working-class women in St Petersburg reportedly spent about forty hours a week begging in food lines while some turned to prostitution or crime.

10. Trawling For Treasure
With the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and because they feature Johnny Depp, acting like a pirate has now become even cooler. Legend has it that Pirates would bury what their stolen fortunes in large chests and create maps so they could find them again later. These maps were usually misleading in case they fell into the wrong hands.

And the last 5 ways you can sound cool is by making comparisons…

11. I’ve got less Dough than a Pizza Hut
A variation of the slang word for money “bread” (words for money were often coined for the value of what it could buy), it is only natural you would compare your financial situation with what Pizza Hut use to make their pizza (isn’t it?)

12. I’ve got less Tenners than an opera
Making a Pun on the word “tenors”, a Tenner is an English slang word for a £10 note. An Opera usually has four male voices, with the tenor being the highest and most difficult to perfect.

13. I’ve got less Green than a golf course
The aim of golf is to get the ball to the green in the least amount of shots possible. The green is the most manicured part of the course, with tremendous efforts taken to mow and cut its grasses to precise lengths. Directly related as well to the color of money in Northern American, the “Greenback” is a common name used in the Foreign Exchange market.

14. I’ve got less Jack than a deck of playing cards
Originating from the prostitute murderer “Jack the Ripper”, to say I haven’t got “Jack” became part of the English vernacular because Jack’s existence was thought to be a hoax. Solidified by the fact that the murders were never solved and Jack never caught, saying you had “Jack” meant you had nothing.

15. I haven’t got quite enough Dosh to be Posh
The word “dosh” is now used to mean a reasonable amount of spending money but is said to have originated from Elizabethan England as a shortening of the words “doss-house”. A doss-house was a very cheap hostel or room where one would sleep on a bundle (French word ‘dossier’) of straw. It is not uncommon to hear that the word Posh originated from England and stands for Port Out, Starboard Home, referring to the wealthy that we able to travel by ship and requested the first class cabins that were shaded from the sun on outbound voyages east and homeward voyages west. Apparently this is not true.

With the amount of words we have to describe money, there is an endless array of phrases, metaphors and analogies to describe your financial worth. As I’ve discovered, the secret to sounding cool, in this instance, is to mix an historical link with a humorous play on words. And remember, you read it on the Internet, so it must be true.

This is my first summer living on my own. Even when I lived at home, one of my greatest expenses has always been food. This is why I’ve made it a personal goal this summer to learn how to eat well on less money.

A buddy came from out of town this weekend. Our tradition is to go for a nice breakfast in the morning. We usually just head over to a local breakfast shop, eat our food, share some laughs, and pay the bill. This time around my friend brought up something interesting, “for someone that writes about personal finance, you spend an awful lot of money on food.” This got me thinking. As a result, we made a conscious effort to try to have a cheap, yet effective breakfast this time around.

Here are the initial ingredients/basics that you’ll need for this simple, yet effective bachelor’s breakfast:

1. Oil.
2. Pans.
3. Spices/condiments.

This is the actual food that you will need for this bachelor’s breakfast:

• 6 eggs- 3$
• Bread/buns- $2
• Bacon- 3$
• Home fries-2$

There you have it. The perfect breakfast for the young person. Once the basics are purchased, you can feed 3 grown men for under $10. Most breakfast places charge at least 5 bucks a person. All you need now is to figure out how you’ll take turns preparing breakfast.

Stay tuned for an interesting week here at Studenomics!

I’d like to consider myself a fairly tech savvy kind of dude. I got all kinds of neat and helpful apps on my iPhone. There’s just one app/program that I still haven’t used. That is mobile banking. I still haven’t tried mobile banking.

I was eager to get my online banking account setup from a very early age. Despite all of the security concerns that others warned me of, I still went ahead went it. Now in 2010, rarely do you hear of any issues with online banking. Will the same hold true for mobile banking? Will mobile banking be the norm in a few years from now?

I know it’s a Sunday and nobody feels like immersing themselves in a thought-provoking, analytical discussion. So let’s talk about mobile banking. I’m curious to see what you guys have to say about mobile banking, compared to traditional banking and online banking. Have any of you guys tried it out yet?

Are you guys ready to give mobile banking a try?

Personal finance bloggers are always talking about saving money and ways to save money. Today I’m here to own up to my mistakes and let you guys know that just because someone writes about money it doesn’t mean that they’re great with their money all of the time. We all make mistakes and sometimes the best thing to do is to look back and laugh at them.

Here are some of the stupidest ways I spend/waste money:

Eating out. I make my own food 75% of time. It’s when I don’t that I blow lots of money. What can I say? I love to eat and I don’t skimp out when I eat out.

Parking. I drive to places that I should probably take the bus to. Oh well, I hate the cold and wasted hours of my life the past 5 years while taking public transportation everywhere. The driving is worth it but when it comes time to park in certain areas of the city, all I can do is suck it up and curse on the inside.

And the stupidest way I spend money? Instead of telling you, I can show you…

Yes I love to smell good even though I know there are no real benefits to it.

Your turn. What are some of the stupidest ways you spend your money?

Have some fun and please don’t judge anyone.

Before I write anything else I wanted to wish a…

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND SEASONS GREETINGS TO EVERYONE!

Now I realize that it would make no sense to write a full post on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve since everyone is busy getting together with family and all of that fun stuff. Instead I want to ask you guys a question in hopes of receiving a quick and brief response.

How much money did you spend this Christmas?

I personally do not want to share exact figures because I went all out this year.

I gave one of my brothers a laptop for free. Well to be honest I received this laptop for free from the giveaway that I held this past summer. The company was kind enough to send me a netbook and a laptop, and I was kind enough to give one to my brother who was moving away for college.

I purchased a golf set for my other brother. We started playing golf together in the summer. I drove by a sporting store in my area that was having a liquidation sale and they had two golf sets left. After haggling for a bit I was offered a decent discount on both golf sets. Now I have to figure out a way to stop losing to someone nine years younger than me.

I got my parents a weekend getaway to the Bahamas. Yep I really went all out this year.

You can play “Price is Right” and a guess how much money was spent.

Once again I ask you guys- how much money did you spend on Christmas shopping this year?

Take care and all the best!

Thanksgiving is almost upon us and the Black Friday sales are slowly being revealed by retailers. You can’t go anywhere in the cyber world or the real world without hearing about the amazing Black Friday doorbuster sales that are coming.

Before Black Friday hits and you find yourself stuck trying to find parking for 2 hours it’s important that you are prepared for this event. I have no clue as to where did the term Black Friday come from but I can share some Black Friday shopping tips to help you become a sales pro:

Create a detailed list of what you want based on fliers. If there is something (or 345 things) on your Christmas wish list that is featured in a flier promoting Black Friday sales then make a note of it. You should try to be as meticulous as possible when keeping up with Black Friday ads. The reason for this is so that you can purchase as many of your NEEDED items as possible and a minimal amount of the filler stuff.

Check online fliers. The Monday following Thanksgiving is known as “Cyber Monday” and it is the online version of Black Friday. With that being said, don’t for one second assume that there won’t be any deals offered in the cyber retail realm.

Do not force anyone to go shopping you. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I absolutely hate it when I’m forced to go shopping. Don’t get me wrong I’ m not some dude that never shops. I just hate to be dragged along for a whole day of deal finding and rummaging through countless piles when I could be at home doing something more productive.

Bringing a shopping partner. Don’t force anyone to go shopping with you but if someone is willing to go with you then take advantage of this. If both of you have similar interests then you will have an easier time filtering out the junk and finding the deals that truly matter to you guys.

Only spend money you have. This doesn’t necessarily restrict you to just cash. I often will use my credit card and then simply transfer the money over from my checking account when I get home. Black Friday sales are an easy way to rack up credit card debt that will follow you for a long time.

Check online merchants throughout the day. I remember going on Amazon at random times during the day to find some exceptional deals. Online merchants are aware that many users are out and about at the shopping malls and

Final thoughts:

Okay do you really have to shop? The reason I ask this is because I could use some new clothes but I do not under any circumstances NEED any new clothes. My girlfriend is always bothering about my wardrobe (and other things) but I feel that I have soo many shirts and jeans that I haven’t worn in years.

One of my most important Black Friday shopping tips is to cut down your random purchases as much as possible. 80% off anything is always enticing. I mean ALWAYS. We have all bought an item simply because it was 80% cheaper. Watch out for this phenomenon as you look through Black Friday shopping sales.

Additional Black Friday resources from around the blogosphere:

Some thoughts on Black Friday @ The Simple Dollar

Christmas Shopping – Black Friday , Cyber Monday , and Beyond @ Cash Money Life

Holiday Shopping: Tips For Black Friday & Cyber Monday @ Moolanomy

Tips For Shopping Black Friday & Cyber Monday @ Free From Broke

Black Friday Shopping Tips: How To Get The Best Deals On The Things On Your List @ Bible Money Matters

On Monday I compared “big wins” to “daily frugality tips,” and discussed the benefits of both options. Today I wanted to discuss something that would fall pretty much right in the middle- Using coupons to save money. More specifically an online coupon sharing resource like Coupon Chief.

The reason that using an online coupon site falls in the middle is because you can save a few dollars on shipping on your next book order or you can save a couple of hundred dollars on your next High Definition TV purchase.

How helpful are online coupons?

The thing I like about Coupon Chief is that it is very transparent and easy to apply. A few readers pointed me to other coupon sharing sites but I disliked the fact that I had to siphon through many different links to finally get the coupon code. The coupon for each item is clearly displayed and there is even a direct link to where you can go to make the purchase. The ease of navigation was also a contributing factor to me staying on the site.

Of course just like any other money saving resource, there are tiny savings and then there are exorbitant savings. You must keep in mind that not every day you will find an amazing offer. For example, when planning a vacation it takes me months until I find the right place at the right price.

Recommendation for saving money

If you are planning to purchase anything online or planning to make any large purchase in general, then you really should check out Coupon Chief before hand. Even if you save a few dollars on free shipping or a 5% discount on a DVD, it’s still better than nothing. I personally am a strong proponent of paying for value. The common misconception is that you can not save money when paying for value. I find that online coupon sharing sites are making it easier for us to save money on all of our purchases (especially textbooks).

A word of caution about Coupon Chief

One thing that I need to stress is that it is not a deal if you do not need it. Meaning that it can be very tempting to buy that second laptop for 30% off but do you really need it? Deals are great if you are already looking to make a purchase. If you buy stuff just because it seems like a “great deal” then you definitely need to avoid coupon sites until you get your spending under control.

At the end of the day, coupon sharing sites like Coupon Chief are perfect for those working on the saving money equation of personal finance. If you are extremely focused on the earning more aspect of personal finance then you may want to focus your energy on other activities.

Hi, I’m LAL from LivingAlmostLarge and LAL musings. I am a 30 year old graduate student hoping to find financial freedom one day. I’m currently a DINK (dual income no kids) but that will be changing sooner rather than later. If you are interested in the journey of parenthood, finances, and job hunting, please stop by. But for now I’d like to thank the Studenomist for this guest post.

Dating as a student, who pays?  Traditionally men have “paid” to take women out. But with the rise of women in the workforce and delaying of marriage till later in life, it appears that traditional rules are becoming less applicable to the dating scene.

But dating as a student is different. Anyone whose a student is typically broke and in debt. Though they might be working, the majority of students are full time students and not full time workers going part-time. So many do not have a steady stream of income, as they work part-time or flexible hours.

So who pays?  Do conventional rules apply?

I think when dating as a student, most dates should be dutch. I don’t think there should be an expectation of the man to pay for the woman no matter what. Perhaps if a student is dating a person with a full-time job and steady income, then it would be perfectly acceptable for the working person of either sex to pay.

Another option is to do “cheap” dates. Instead of going out to a bar, buy a 6 pack of beer and drink at home. Instead of dinner out, cook at home. Take a snack and go to the library for a cheap study date. Grab a cup of coffee at home instead of Starbucks. Go camping for a weekend for a vacation instead of a “real” vacation.

I think part of the problem is that society labels dates as “dinner, dessert, and a movie”.  A night out ends up costing $30/per person, which adds up fast. Plus students often enjoy going out hitting bars or night clubs, which with cover and drinks also adds up fast.

But with people staying students longer, even part-time or going back to “retool”, I wonder if the dating etiquette will evolve as we’re evolving as a society.

What dating rules do you think apply to students?