Its time to go back to school, and for college students nothing is more annoying than having to pay hundreds of dollars for textbooks, especially since the publishers seem to come out with a new version of the book every semester.

So before you get in to credit card debt trying to afford your text books try some of these ways to save money on textbooks for 2011.

Rent Your Books Instead

Sites like Chegg or BookRenter let you rent your textbooks for the semester so you don’t have to sink all of that money in to buying a book you probably won’t be able to sell at the end of the semester (you know, when they come out with the “new new version”). I really wish this option was available when I was in school!

Buy Your Books Online

If you can’t rent your books, sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble offer HUGE discounts on the average textbook compared to your college bookstore, and you may even find a used copy for a big discount (something your college bookstore will conveniently be out of).

Look for Coupons

You can also look for discount coupons at places like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or even maybe your local bookstores to help you save even more on your order. This time of year these stores want to make the sale so they are extra eager to give you deals like free shipping or a percentage off your order to make that happen.

Buy The E-Reader Version

Is your textbook available on Kindle or NOOK? Not every book will be available but a lot of textbooks available on the e-reader cost a lot less than the physical book.

This may not be ideal for those of you who like to highlight or make notes in your textbooks, but if you’re like me you’d rather save money on the books instead.

Buy the old version

More often than not the new version of text books is only slightly off from the old versions. There might be an extra chart, some slightly updated info, and the page numbers might be off, but it’s usually not enough to make a big difference.

Skim through the old version and the new version to see if you can figure out the difference. If the page numbers match up most of the time then odds are you can get by with the old… cheaper… version.

Borrow a book from a friend

Do you know anyone who already took the class? When I was in college I kept a few of my textbooks, so some of your friends may have as well. They may also have kept their notes from the year. You may get an old version of the book (see tip #4) but hey, you can’t beat FREE!

There are any number of ways to save money on textbooks for the 2011 school year. Be creative, shop around for the best prices (that means no waiting til the last minute!) and you’ll really save a lot on your textbooks.

Photo Credit: wohnai

The cost of a college education can range from high to astronomical depending upon which university your child has qualified for. In order to afford the price of tuition and books (see: save money on textbooks for ways to save here), not to mention room and board, food, computer, mobile phone plan and a plane ticket home for Christmas, etc, you need to have a plan and you need to start early.

The best time to start is right now. Failing that, begin when your child is born so that you have a substantial number of years with which to amass the small fortune that is required. The longer you have, the more the power of compound interest works in your favor. Even Albert Einstein said this is the most powerful force in the universe.

You also want to take careful consideration as to the amount of risk you take on in your investments and savings for college. It is much better to have not quite enough than it is to have nothing. If you plough your college savings into a high risk investment and lose it all you could be in big trouble. Therefore you will want to consider more conservative investments such as savings bonds, money market accounts, certificates of deposit and think about incorporating them inside a tax advantaged vehicle like a 529 savings plan or an ESA.

Bonds

The Treasury Department has a wealth of information on savings bonds and can help you identify which ones are best suited to your needs. Bonds are also a great way for relatives to help you save for college.

Money Market Accounts

These are just as safe as your savings account and usually offer a much higher rate of interest. You can purchase them at your bank, but there is usually a minimum amount required to invest so be sure you can meet this requirement. Once over the minimum you can set up the account so that you can make a monthly deposit of just about any amount. This is a great way to build up your savings.

Certificates of Deposit (CDs)

These are also very safe investments. Generally the longer the term of investment the higher the rate of interest you can earn. Also the more you invest the better the interest rate, but there are usually significant penalties if you withdraw the money early. Be sure to choose wisely.

UPromise

UPromise is a rewards program sponsored by Sallie Mae that helps you save money for college (for either yourself, your children or other relative) whenever you buy products or services from UPromise partners. The amount depends on what you are buying but quite a few popular retailers, grocery stores and gas stations participate in the program. The rewards you earn are automatically transferred to your 529 account and can get you some serious free money for college over time. For more information on UPromise be sure to check out our UPromise review.

Make a plan

It is very important that you make a savings plan and stick to it no matter what. Whether that is saving $10 a week or $250 a week, decide on what you can afford and stay with it. Do not succumb to temptation to pull money out of your savings or even not to deposit one week. Do whatever it takes to keep making contributions to the savings plan.

Type of accounts

Education savings accounts (ESAs) and Plan 529s are excellent vehicles. With a Plan 529 your savings will earn interest tax free. With an ESA you can contribute up to $2,000 per year for each designated beneficiary. While you don’t get to make a tax deduction with your contributions your savings will multiply tax free.

Education costs are already expensive and they will only get more so; however you can plan for these costs. With common sense and a little dedication you really can save a large sum of money and have your child attend the college of their (or your) dreams.

Adaptu.com is a website and community designed to help you manage your finances and serve as a resource to answer questions about investing, insurance, savings and generally all things finance related. Their goal is to provide the resources necessary for individuals to take control of their financial lives. By doing so, individuals will be better prepared to weather any economic storm.

Tools

Manage My Finances – this is one of the essential tools that come with an Adaptu membership. In one place you can view all of your different bank accounts and financial transactions from bill payments to simply shopping online. Their financial accounts aggregator is easy to use and simple to see your net worth or a host of other bottom line figures that you might be interested in. There are also tons of charts and graphs that you can easily click through to visually see your entire financial picture. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

The calendar format is particularly useful. Here you can input when you get paid, when you spend money and can see when upcoming bills are due. This can allow you to project expenses and income and really assist in your financial planning from month to month.

Manage My Investments – This section is similar to the ‘Finances’ section but designed specifically for your investment accounts. This would cover IRAs and Roth IRAs, a plan 529 savings for college, online trading accounts and even real estate investments.

Investor Center – This is where you can gather all the news stories that relate to your investments in one easy to find and easy to see place. Here you can find detailed information to help you track your performance.

Financial Comparison – In this section you can compare your own performance to others within the Adaptu community. This includes not only your investments but your day-to-day financial picture as well. You can compare how much you are spending on food (or any other spending category) with the national or state average.

Community

This is the biggest advantage of joining Adaptu. The financial education that is available through their community pages is eye opening. Within the community you can get together with other like minded individuals and discuss nearly anything of concern. You can comment on existing questions or create your own tailored to your specific needs. They have a wide variety of forums based around several big questions (such as education, marriage, career, property, money management, family, health, retirement, etc), polls and groups. Adaptu is really focused on the use of video and they provide a spot for you to upload your own which really makes it easy to put a face to a blog post and humanize the community.

Summary

The community aspect of Adaptu makes doing your finances fun and really adds to the experience. It is FREE which immediately helps your finances. The money management tools are great, especially the calendar utility and all the wonderful visuals that are available. The email alerts are very useful as well giving you warning if your balances get low or important updates on your investments. You can even keep track of your reward points in the various loyalty programs that you belong to. Give Adaptu a try. Why not? It’s free!

The most important thing you can do if you are trying to stretch your pay check is to find out exactly where you are spending the most money each and every month. This means that you must draw up a budget and be vigilant with your accuracy. Once you know where your money is going you can begin to do something about hanging on to it a little longer.

The grocery store always takes a significant portion of any family’s income. Ditch the convenience stores and head to the warehouse superstores for better pricing. Look at the local flyers, take advantage of the sales and don’t be afraid to use coupons – think of them as free money. In fact, there are many online coupon websites that can really save you money. Drop the name brand products and scoop up the store brand or generic, the quality is often indistinguishable from their name brand competitor and you will save a bundle.

Take a close look at your cell phone bill. Do you actually use all of the minutes that you are paying for? Do you really need to pay for 3-way calling? Take a look at BillShrink.com to examine your choices for cutting your cell phone bill in half.

Think you are paying too much for insurance but still want the peace of mind? Consider buying a cheaper insurance increasing your deductible. If you increase your home owners deductible from $250 to $2,500 you can cut 30% off your premium payments. You can do the same thing for your auto insurance. Your total savings depend on your driving record and where you live, so be sure to ask your provider what discounts you will qualify for.

Television and Internet savings are also possible if you shop around. There is more competition than ever in the market today and this is good for consumers looking to save. Again, Bill Shrink can assist you in your shopping efforts. The average savings gleaned by families who switch to a lower priced plan add up to $425 a year.

If you grab a cup of Joe in the morning and another to help you with your drive home, you may be spending as much as $10 a day on coffee. If you eat out for lunch, that can be another $10-15 per day. Over the course of a month this can add up to $500. Consider buying coffee in bulk on a site like CoffeeForLess.com and make it at home and pack a brown bag lunch with a thermos, you can cut those costs in half. You will probably end up eating better as well.

Mortgage rates are as low as they’ve ever been, and now is the time to refinance before the rates go up. You can still get a 5 year adjustable rate for less than 4%. Take the time to shop around at the various lenders. Don’t forget to also check with the smaller banks and credit unions as they can be quite aggressive compared to the big national banks. You may have to jump through some hoops but you can literally save hundreds of dollars a month with a refinanced mortgage.

Do you have a second (or third) car? If so, put it up for sale. The American Automobile Association estimates that even though you may not drive your second car very much (say less than 15,000 miles per year) this will still cost you $8,500 a year in expenses (insurance, repairs, gas, taxes, fees and depreciation). Besides, if you do sell it you will immediately be putting cash in your pocket, which is always a good thing.

You’ve probably seen Upromise advertised at gas stations and grocery stores, and you might know that it helps you save for college, but what exactly is Upromise?

Here’s all you need to get started…

1. Click Here to open a free UPromise account
2. Register your store rewards cards and credit cards to your account
3. Get free money for college when you buy things

That’s it… really.

Upromise is a program that lets you earn money for college when you buy products from participating companies either online or in stores. Basically it’s similar to those cash back reward cards that we all love so much, but instead of giving you travel points they give you money for a college savings account.

Here is how it works in a little more detail: When you buy something from one of the Upromise partners, a small portion of the sale price is donated back to you in your Upromise account. Each quarter this amount is transferred to your tax deferred 529 savings plan. Or you can choose to put this money towards existing Sallie Mae student loans, or you can ask Upromise to cut you a check.

Upromise was created by Michael Bronner and in 2006 was bought by SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae) which is the nation’s leading college education source of funds. Since 2001 Upromise has put over $500 million towards tuition assistance. Upromise has partnered with over 30,000 retailers including online stores such as Gap.com, Target.com, Best Buy, Apple, Sears.com, Homedepot.com and more.

Thousands of restaurants are partners that offer discounts and allow you to earn savings. Thousands of grocery and drug store items also sport the Upromise branding and allow you to grow your savings. Even filling up with gas at ExxonMobil will earn you money.

Getting ready for college? We have ways for you to save money on textbooks for the upcoming year

A nice feature that Upromise offers is that you can sign up friends and family and have them tied in to your account as well. That way grandma and grandpa can contribute to junior’s college fund, too. And all while going about their normal shopping routines.

While the amount that you earn through Upromise rewards is not going to cover tuition at Harvard or MIT, you can earn many hundreds of dollars, perhaps thousands, all for doing what you would normally be doing anyway. It really is free money, so why not go for it?

IIf you are already planning to make a purchase, then it makes great sense to check out the Upromise website and see if a partner retailer can assist you. If that is the case then use the link on the Upromise site to make your online purchase and watch your savings grow.

Understanding how much money you should save is one of the biggest questions in your personal finance life and everyone has a different answer, depending upon your individual circumstances. Since there is no hard and fast rule as to how much each person should save, the answer is that “it depends”. Yea I know that sounds like a cop out but as a general rule the following financial rules of thumb will give you an idea about how best to approach the amount of money you should save:

Savings

Most personal finance folks advocate saving 10% of your gross pay, and this is a great place to start. You need to put money away for retirement, an emergency fund, college education and other goals. Obviously the more you can put away, the sooner those goals become attainable. However, you also need to live for today, and not just for tomorrow. Your individual circumstances dictate how much you can save, but start with that 10% figure mentioned above. Once you determine how much that will leave for day-to-day expenses, you can make any necessary adjustments.

One thing that works great for me is putting my savings in a separate bank where it’s out of sight and out of mind. Personally I use ING Direct (see ING Direct review for more details) so that I can transfer it back and forth quickly if I need it, but when I log in to my regular checking account I don’t see the money. If money burns a hole in your pocket like it does with me this is a great way to trick yourself in to saving.

Take advantage of your employer’s matching program in their 401K plan. This is free money and you should aim to maximize their contribution. But don’t stop there! As you get closer to retirement, you may find that you want to save quite a bit more than 10%. Whatever amount you choose, be sure to pay yourself first. Take the amount you save off the top of your income. Don’t contribute to savings after you have paid the monthly bills, as you may find that you have less and less to put towards savings.

Experts agree that you will need roughly 75 percent of your pre-retirement income when you retire. Another way to look at your retirement needs is that you will want a lump sum of roughly 20 times your annual retirement expenses on top of a pension or social security payments.

Get Rid of Debt

The less debt you have the better and since you aren’t getting much of a return on saving you need to pay off debt first (see: save money or pay off debt) Naturally large items (such as a house) typically require some debt financing. Many experts feel that your total monthly payments should not exceed 36 percent of your gross monthly income. Once again, individual circumstances will dictate what you can manage, but a good goal is to pay off debt as fast as possible without putting too much of a pinch into your lifestyle.

How Much To Save For A House

An old rule of thumb says that you shouldn’t pay more than 2.5 to 3 times your annual income for your house. Figure out the total by adding up your gross salary (and your spouse’s if married), and multiply this by 2.5 or 3 and this should tell you the best price range to stay within when looking for a house. Another way to calculate what to spend on a house is to determine your debt to income ratio. Use 36 percent as the ideal to aim for and you can figure out monthly payments that should be affordable.

Have An Emergency Fund

Your emergency fund is to cover expenses during an emergency, like losing your job or some other serious financial hardship. This means actual money in a savings account, not a credit card for emergencies where you could potentially be charged high amounts of interest. Most experts tend towards having 3-6 months of expenses saved in your emergency fund to weather such hard luck scenarios.

Do you have a rule of thumb for saving? Share it with us below!

Have you been putting off saving money because you don’t think it’s possible to save money AND have fun at the same time? Nonsense! There are many ways you can save money without drastically impacting your lifestyle. The following tips will have you saving money, spending less and spending smarter:

Make a Budget

This is critical to saving money. If you haven’t set a budget I can almost guarantee that you will have money problems at some point. With a budget you can eliminate impulse purchases that often take a huge bite out of your wallet or decide whether it makes more sense to save money or pay off debt… without a budget how would you know? A budget will also force you to make informed decisions on what you can and cannot afford. Don’t forget to budget for entertainment and vacations. If you eliminate these, you will eventually get burned out and quit budgeting.

Don’t want to set up a budget because you’re too busy? Take advantage of the free tools at Mint.com (see: Mint.com review), the new kid on the block Adaptu.com (see: Adaptu review) or if you’re not a fan of using the web to manage your money then you can give the tools at YouNeedABudget.com (YNAB) a try. YNAB isn’t free but it’s an incredibly good software for budgeting.

Bank Statements

Use your bank statements to help you keep track of your actual spending habits. Sometimes a list of figures in black and white can really hit home and provide a dose of reality. Try to differentiate between those purchases that you really need and those that you merely wanted (there IS a difference). Also, keep track of your bank charges and do not pay for services that you do not use.

Cut The Credit

If you do pay with credit cards be sure to pay off your balance every month. Paying interest is a needless expense. If your interest rate is too high consider a 0 percent balance transfer offer and use that extra money to pay down principal.

Start Saving Now

The ability to save has more to do with our mental attitude than our ability to earn. If you can sign up for an automatic transfer of your money into a savings account, with the rest of your earnings going into your daily banking account, you can begin to save without pain. Also, you will be able to see your savings grow each month, which is very motivating.

Yearly Bills

Take a look at last year’s property tax bill. Depending upon where you live and the value of your home the bill will vary significantly, but if your amount owed was around $3,000 it is close to the average bill. If you divide that amount into 12 monthly payments ($250 per month) you can make the overall payment easier to handle, instead of having to come up with $3,000 all at once.

Here is how to start saving money: Open up a high interest savings account (like the ones offered at ING Direct or Ally Bank) and make your monthly deposits of $250. At an interest rate of 2% compounded daily you will earn an extra $32 and will easily be able to pay the municipal tax bill at the end of the tax year.

Now, imagine what other yearly bills you have to pay. Water and sewage, perhaps? Again, just divide the total amount by 12 monthly payments and deposit that into the high interest savings account and pocket the interest.

Be Creative

Spending money can be fun, but so can saving. A romantic candle lit dinner at home can be just as good as going out to an expensive restaurant. A simple picnic on the beach or at the park can also be loads of fun. Take a vacation and explore your home state or country rather than spending money on an international flight. It will be better for your wallet and the environment. If we start saving early we can realize our dreams and still live life to the fullest today.

Do you have a fun way to save more money? We want to hear your ideas!

Benefits of Using Mint.com

• This software is free, making it kind to any budget.
• Financial summaries and alerts can be sent via email or text message.
• It offers lots of money saving tips that are tailored to your specific financial situation.
• It is available wherever there is an Internet connection, including your smart phone.
• Budgeted funds can automatically roll over if unspent.

Drawbacks of Using Mint.com:

• Some people have reported having difficulty reconciling accounts.
• Some people have reported having difficulty with multiple currencies.

The biggest hurdle for most people is the security question. Mint.com’s answer to this is that their site uses 128-bit encryption software, which is the same security level that the best banks use. They are monitored and verified by TRUSTe, VeriSign and Hackersafe, and supported by RSA Security, which are the top online security companies. In addition, Mint.com is a service that can only monitor your accounts.

You cannot move money between accounts or make withdrawals through Mint.com – and neither can anyone else. An added bonus feature is that Mint.com will email you with an urgent notification if a large or unusual transaction has occurred in one of your accounts so that you can personally verify that it is legitimate.

Once you are set up and provide all the login information for your separate accounts, Mint.com will download the transactions and file them into various expense categories. You will need to make some edits during this process, but this is typical of financial management software no matter how much you pay. Mint will also allow you to assign labels and notes to your transactions for even greater budgeting detail.

Setup is very easy and Mint.com already works with over 8,000 different US financial institutions. With the Intuit purchase, they are expanding into other countries as well, including Canada, and more banks and brokerages are being added all the time. There is also a very handy overview page that summarizes your accounts all in one place. Here, budgets can be charted and made to graphically represent your financial fitness. The ‘Ways To Save’ section is specific to your financial details and for people who are not accustomed to budgeting and planning for the future this can be a very helpful tool.

Have you used Mint.com for your own personal finances? Let us know about your experience in the comments below!

So many of us are cash strapped these days, whether it’s unemployment, a down economy or just don’t have a lot of money, we are all looking for ways to keep more green in our pockets but when Christmas rolls around it can be particularly stressful because we don’t want to “let our loved ones down” by not splurging on big gifts.

If you are feeling the crunch of the holiday season and are looking for a few ways to make it through financially here are some solutions…

Buy For Less People – Even if you don’t spend a lot of money on individual presents, buying for a lot of people can really add up. Before you hit the stores, take a step back for a minute and ask yourself if you really need to be buying something for everyone. My family has a “just buy for the kids” rule in place so that keeps the bills quite a bit lower. Another option could be a Secret Santa where you each get one name and buy for that person only, but everyone gets a little something.

Buy Smaller (and Cheaper!) Presents – If cutting down the list of people you are buying for simply isn’t a realistic option for you try cutting down the amount you spend on each gift. This doesn’t mean everyone gets a pack of tube socks for Christmas, but you dont have to go overboard either. If you find something that the person you are buying for can really use it will be a much better gift than some expensive trinket that they don’t need. Besides, one nice yet reasonably priced gift should be more than good enough for most people.

Shop Around and Use Coupons – You can save a lot of money by shopping around or using discount coupons. Whether it’s standing in line on Black Friday, clipping discount coupons out of the Sunday paper or buying online from sites like Amazon.com (they have a nice list of holiday toy ideas by the way) you can really rake in the savings if you shop smarter. With so many online retailers offering big savings, you can comparison shop in a matter of minutes and you never have to get out of your pajamas to do it.

Eat Cheaper Meals – This is an area where people spend a ton of money and perhaps don’t even realize it. My wife was looking at prices on a ham from one of those specialty stores and it was $55! I’m no cooking expert but $55 for a ham for 6 people just seems a tad outrageous. Quite frankly I would rather have a big spaghetti and meatball dinner instead and we could probably feed twice as many people for less than half that cost alone… let alone all the side dishes and drinks that will be served with it as well!

Give To Charity Instead – This option may not work as well for kids, they usually won’t understand, but if you’re buying presents for an adult consider giving to charity in their name. Charities like the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army and Operation Homefront are very worthwhile charities that could use your help.

These days most people know someone who has been stricken with cancer or some other insidious disease. A donation to help find a cure would be a very heart warming gift and would make a much bigger difference in the world than buying a pair of gloves or a new scarf. Besides if being selfless isn’t enough, Free Money Finance had a great post about how giving grows your net worth… it’s a great read and may inspire you to dig a little deeper and make a bigger difference.

Don’t Use Credit Cards – If you get nothing out of this post, please try to stick with this one. No matter how much you spend on Christmas, do it with cash, check or debit cards… in other words use the money you have and don’t borrow from credit cards just to buy extra expensive gifts! As I pointed out in my $1,247.23 Bag of Candy post about credit card rewards, credit card interest adds up quicker than you think, and the majority of us who say “I’ll just pay it off in January” will never do that. Don’t let a little financial stress around the holidays turn in to a lot of stress for all of 2011!

I know this will sound corny and half of you may be rolling your eyes at me saying this but Christmas and all other holidays celebrated around this time of year are about giving and family, not getting expensive gifts that we love for a day and then move on and forget about the next. No matter how many “car in the driveway with a big red ribbon on it” commercials I see this December, I’m not losing sight of what really matters here… and it’s not blowing through your budget!

After a few years of being down, many of us are finding ways to get our finances back in order. While some extra money in your pocket is great, understanding what to do with it is a different story. Our friends, family members and of course random personal finance bloggers are telling you that you need to save more money, but is it smarter to save money or pay off debt with it?

The Argument for Saving Money

Saving money not only makes our bank statement look pretty and not only helps us to make big expensive purchases like a house or car, or pay for your child’s education down the line, but it also provides us with a certain amount of security in situations that may require a lot of money like the loss of a job or large unexpected medical bills.

How much money you should have saved is a matter of personal preference, but the way I try to figure out how much money I should have saved is to add up all my expenses for an average month and multiply it by the number of months it would potentially take me to find a new job. That way I know that should I lose my primary source of income, all of my expenses would be covered.

The Argument for Paying Off Debt

As a result of the bad economy or just poor budgeting habits, almost all of us have too much debt on the books. Whether it’s credit cards, mortgages, car loans, student loans or any other kind of debt, we have too much of it and I know I don’t have to tell many of you that it weighs on your budgets and your emotions. So if you find yourself having some extra money would you be better off paying off debt than just sticking it in a bank account somewhere?

One of the main reasons why people like to pay off debt first is that credit card interest rates (or rates charged for holding other forms of debt) are usually much higher than you could with a savings account. Even ING Direct, who has one of the nation’s highest savings account interest rates, is only yielding 1.10% at the time of this writing. If you’re sitting on credit card debt of 19.99% or higher obviously you would be losing money here.

One of my favorite benefits of paying off debt (aside from the relief you feel from not having it) is the free cash flow that it creates. Many of you have heard of Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball, which essentially says pay off the debt you can get rid of fastest and then use that money to pay off other debt and so on.

The more cash you free up each month the more leverage you have to pay off other debts. Well once you get everything paid off you can use that cash for fun things too. Looking back I used to pay anywhere between $200 and $1,000 or more every single month paying off my credit cards, so once they were paid off for good I had a lot of extra money to invest, put in to my son’s 529 account or just to take my wife out to a nice dinner with.

Saving Money vs Paying Off Debt

So what should you do with your extra money? Well there is no one right answer for everyone as we are all in different boats, but here’s what I would do if it were up to me… First I would put away at least a couple month’s expenses in the savings account. These days nobody’s job is truly safe and you need to have at least some cushion to pay your bills if you don’t have a job. Once you have that cushion built up to a comfortable level then you need to start paying off that debt as fast as possible.

The truth is whether you save money or you pay off debt with it, you won’t go wrong with either option so do what makes you feel comfortable in your own personal finances and you will be much happier as a result.