If you want to save a lot of money online, you have to do a little bit of legwork. Sure, you can go to the ‘usual suspects’ of e-commerce savings-price comparison engines and big online retailers. But if you really want to get juicy savings, you have to get off the beaten path.

The truth is that there are many online coupons floating around that pack quite a bit of savings. Many of these are well-kept secrets and are worth your time and effort chasing down. The good news is that, thanks to the increasingly social nature of the internet  it doesn’t have to take too much time or effort or brainpower on your part to successfully chase down some great online coupons.

Many specialized online retailers wish to reward certain small online communities for their support and loyalty. That is why some of these coupons offer savings you don’t get from regular coupons. With that said, many of these coupons are thought of by small communities as their ‘private’ possession that they don’t really spread the word about these coupons. What a shame. Good thing you can follow the tips below to track them down and take advantage of their savings.

Online Forums

For too many online coupon hunters, the usual suspects they go to for hot coupons are websites and blogs. This is a great strategy if these were the only places deal hunters and online savers hang out. The truth is, online forums and message boards can be better sources of coupons since many of these places have members who make it their personal mission to post the latest and greatest online coupons. Also, some forums have specialty sections that list coupons you can’t find elsewhere.

Twitter Feeds

Twitter is a real time snapshot of people’s thoughts in any given timeframe. People can get excited about coupons or they might be announcing their company’s coupon launch. Whatever it is, you get real quick information and all this is searchable. Use Twitter’s search engine to look for tweets regarding the product you want to save on. You just might strike coupon gold.

Facebook Fan Pages

Many companies build Facebook fan pages to act as social gateways to their users and fans the world over. They make announcements regarding product launches, upgrades, and updates using Facebook pages. Many of these announcements involve promotions and when there are promotions, there sometimes discount coupons involved. It doesn’t hurt to check out Facebook pages to see if you can a great discount coupon you can’t find elsewhere.

We are told since we were kids that saving money is important. There is no doubt about that. The habit of saving is one of the most important and crucial habits a parent can teach a child. By teaching your kid how to save early on in your kid’s life, you are establishing a pattern of personal discipline and financial stewardship that will enable your child to build solid foundations of financial comfort.

In fact, the discipline your child develops when it comes to money management can translate to discipline in other areas of your child’s adult life like avoiding drinking, avoiding smoking, knowing when to say certain things and when to hold one’s tongue, among many other useful habits. It all should start with a saving habit.

Unfortunately, many parents get so eager about teaching their kids the habits of saving that they turn saving into a miserable act. Instead of a fun exercise, saving becomes an exercise in pain or self-deprivation. This is sad and actually very dangerous for your child. Why?

Instead of associating the act of saving with something positive, your kid will view it as something negative. Your child will view saving as something he or she ‘needs to get out of the way.’ Sadly, this can only go for so long until your kid rebels in adulthood and instead of saving actually starts splurging.

Instead of helping your child become a responsible adult, your child unleashes bad impulses that end up buying your adult child in debt. Is this something you want to see happen? If not, you have to know the difference between miserable and fun savings habits.

Making saving fun

Human beings are simple – we hate pain, we love pleasure. So if you want to make the habit of saving fun for your child, you should use a reward system. When your child puts away money for a rainy day, give him or her a treat or reward. The more your kid puts away, the better the reward.

Instead of something to be feared, your child will start looking at saving as something he or she is rewarded for. Pair the reward with kind and encouraging words. Of course, you also have to nip the negative habit of self-deprivation for savings’ sake in the bud. If you see your kid starve him or herself just to save lunch money, discourage this by not offering a reward. Again, you should focus on positive savings habits not negative ones.

While it may seem difficult to stay out of personal debt, especially if you have been there before or if you have some sort of money spending issues, it is possible to stay in the black and avoid debt problems. For many people, it just comes down to taking the right actions and going through simple steps in order to stay out of debt and stay in the clear during their financial lives.

In fact, here are six simple steps that you can take when it comes to staying out of debt and keeping your money saved, healthy, and more:

Save Money, Silly!

It sounds obvious, but make it a point to do so every month. Whether that means setting aside part of your paycheck (more on that below), or just purposefully dragging money out of your checking account and putting it into your savings account over time, saving money can work wonders when it comes to getting you out of debt and away from trouble for good.

Write a monthly budget

Figure out a monthly budget – living expenses, food, gasoline, and more – and stick to it! Writing out a monthly budget can give you the outline you need so that when it comes to paying for things, you know what you can and can’t afford.

Create an opportunity for splurges

Sure, you’ll want to splurge sometimes, so let it into your monthly budget once or twice every thirty days. Create opportunities for a fun splurge or two, so that no matter what, you can reward yourself and enjoy it without getting too crazy.

Manage your money online

Manage your money up to the minute with your bank by setting up your accounts online and on your mobile phone. You can check your money, tabulate expenses, and more as you figure out how much you can afford to spend and what you should avoid.

Set aside part of each paycheck

Every paycheck, every two weeks, set aside at least 25% of it for savings, if not even more (if possible). Make it so that ever so slowly, you start saving more and more money over time and you stay further and further out of debt in the process.

Get with an accountant or financial planner

If you need to, don’t hesitate to get with a financial planner, an accountant, or somebody else professional who can help you manage your money and get the most out of your savings. They can help ensure you are on a path to saving money and helping yourself over time, and they can work to assist you in any way possible to stay out of debt with tangible, reliable solutions.

All in all, staying out of debt doesn’t have to be complicated or messy. You can do so by making a concerted effort and following these six steps to ensure that you keep yourself above water, so to speak, and that your money won’t disappear before your eyes thanks to bad management. A little preparation can go a long way when it comes to staying out of debt.

Dogs are often adopted without much thought as to the long-term cost of care. Sometimes this can lead to the dog being given up or abandoned because the owner is unable to care for it financially. Before getting a dog, it’s important to know how much caring for it will cost so you can determine if you can financially afford to have a canine companion now, and forever.

Read the following 10 common expenses to see how much owning a dog really costs.

1. The Dog

Depending on the breed and source, a purebred dog can cost anywhere from $500 to $2000, give or take. Mixed breed dogs from your local shelter will cost $50 to $200 in most areas. Whether you get a mixed breed or purebred, one thing is the same. Older dogs will cost less and as a bonus, they will already be housebroken.

2. Food and Treats

Depending on the size of your dog, you are going to go through a lot of food and treats. Obviously bigger breeds eat more, but regardless of whether you have a poodle or a great dane, you’ll want to feed them high-quality, nutritious dog food and treats. Expect to spend $20-$60 per month on food.

3. Toys

Toys are important to keep your dog busy and happy. If you don’t provide him with a safe place to chew, he may decide your favorite slippers look like a fine substitute toy. This is especially important if you have a puppy. Luckily, you don’t need many toys and you don’t need to buy them very often. $25-$150 per year worth of toys should do the trick.

4. You dog must have at least one leash and one collar. Many dog owners prefer to have multiples of each, and both require periodic replacing. Set aside $20-$50 each year to get your dog properly fitting collars and leashes each year.

5. Grooming

It’s a common misbelief amongst new dog owners that they can do all of their grooming themselves. No matter which breed of dog you have, you’re probably going to turn to the professionals for at least one good grooming per year. Nail clipping and other more frequent services can also be done at the groomers. Expect to spend $30-$500 yearly to keep your dog looking his best.

6. Routine Veterinary Care

The cost of routine veterinary care can vary wildly depending on where you live. Expect to spend $100 a year for well check-ups in a cheap market and $300 in a higher market. Blood work can add on a couple hundred dollars and yearly dental cleanings can easily cost $200. Costs increase if your dog is sick or has a medical condition. If you don’t get your pup pre-spayed or neutered, that service will also run a few hundred dollars.

7. Preventative Medicines

Preventative medicines aren’t just for aging pets. Flea and tick medication also fall into this category as well as heart worm preventer. Expect to spend about $300 a year on preventative medicines.

8. Training

Training your dog to obey simply commands will make your life a lot easier. A good training course will cost between $25 and $300 depending on where you live, but it’s worth every penny.

9. Pet Sitters or Boarding

When you go on vacation, your pet will need somewhere to stay. Boarding them at a kennel or hiring a pet sitter isn’t cheap. Often, the cost of boarding your pet may be as much as your travel expenses. On average, dog owners spend $100-$300 per year on boarding expenses.

10. Emergencies

Emergencies include chronic illnesses, disasters and unforeseen urgent care needs. Planning for emergencies by seeing aside money each month can help in the event that something happens to your four-legged friend.

All together, dog owners spend an average of $1100 to $3500 on their pets. Owning a dog is a big financial commitment as well as a big time commitment. Make sure you have plenty of both before bringing a canine into your family.

During the holiday season, you probably received at least one gift card. While the intention behind the gift is probably nice, what do you do if it’s for a store or restaurant you don’t frequent? You can’t return gift cards, which means it’s time to get a little bit creative.

Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do with unwanted gift cards that won’t offend the giver and won’t leave you with a gift you don’t want, don’t like or don’t need. Read on to discover 3 creative uses for unwanted gift cards.

1. Sell it online

There are plenty of websites that will buy your unwanted gift cards from you for a discounted price. While you may not get back the full face value of the card, if it’s something you wouldn’t use anyway you may just be happy to get something out of the deal.

You can also try selling it on Craigslist or eBay, though it’s unlikely that you will get the full face value at either of these websites. Expect people to be a little suspicious of your offering, and be willing to call to validate the card while the buyer is present.

2. Regift it

If you know someone else that would like the gift card, you can always re-gift it and save yourself from having to buy a gift later on. Be sure that you give it to someone who will actually use it so you don’t put someone else in the same situation you’re in right now. It’s also important to not re-gift it to someone who knows the person that originally gave it you to avoid hurt feelings.

3. Donate it

Sometimes you can donate gift cards to charitable organizations and then use the gift as a write-off on your taxes. Check with shelters and groups that work with children, as they are the most likely to accept a gift-card donation. Your gift will make a difference in someone’s life and you’ll get a nice write-off next year.

Just because you don’t need or want a gift card doesn’t mean that you can’t put it to good use. Be tactful about how you go about ridding yourself of the piece of plastic so that you don’t offend the giver. As always, it’s the thought behind the gift that counts, so keep that in mind as you look for ways to go about exchanging the gift card for something you really want or need.

It might seem like we are stating the obvious but people do get addicted to credit cards. Just like any addiction, credit card shopping addiction can be broken. You just have to be methodical and strategic about it. If you try to break your habit without getting a full understanding of how it works and what triggers it, you might actually be causing more harm than good since you are taking action before getting a full understanding.

Break the chains of denial

The first step to breaking your plastic addiction is to acknowledge that you have a problem. If you don’t acknowledge that you have an addition and that this is a problem that harms you, you won’t make any progress. Whether you are addicted to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or, yes, credit card spending, the truth is that no progress is possible if you fail to admit that you are addicted. You have to break the chains of denial and face your addition.

Admit that credit card addiction is harmful

Many people can admit they have a problem with credit cards, but all that progress goes out the window when they dismiss the addiction. Some people even excuse their addiction by comparing it to ‘worse’ addictions like sex addiction, drug addiction, or alcoholism. You won’t make any progress if you keep comparing your addiction to other addictions.

You have to realize and acknowledge that your addiction is harmful. Just how bad can it be? How is a lifetime of struggling to pay the bills sound like to you? Not much fun, right? How does a lifetime of worrying about money and feeling pressured sound like to you?

In fact, if you don’t realize how harmful your credit card spending addiction is, you might be digging yourself into the ground since all the stress and worry you feel might find a release in other addictions or generally unhealthy living patterns.

Use the power of 21

Once you have admitted that you have a problem and stopped giving yourself excuses, your next step is to stop using your credit card for frivolous spending for the next 21 days. It won’t be easy and it won’t be pretty. Still, it is necessary. Expect to stumble. Expect to fail.

However, resolve to get back up and keep trying until you hit 21 days. Once you get to 21 days, go for 21 weeks. Once you hit 21 weeks, go on for 21 years. You can do it. There is no other way.

Having good personal finance habits is one of the keys to a being successful person in life. Being stable financially leads to healthier relationships and a better state of mind. People aren’t born already being good with money, they learn it in their youth. It is in that 10 or so year timespan that this  knowledge is learned. Therefore, if you want your kids to not follow the same mistakes you’ve made, you’ll need to teach them good personal finance habits like these:

Give Your Children An Allowance

Every week, give your child a certain amount of money. The amount you give them depends on things like how much you can afford, their age, their grades in school and their household duties. Give them the same amount every single week. If they want an advance for the next week, just say no. If they want a raise, just say no. When your kid wants to buy something but they can’t afford it, you need to tell them that they need to save their money until they have enough to buy it. Avoid giving in when your child begs for extra money. You will in reality not be helping them, but just teaching them how to overspend.

Teach Them Proper Budgeting

Guide your children on how to budget their money properly. You can do this by teaching them to list down all the expenses they have and identify which of those expenses they really need and which ones they don’t. Then, you can also teach them on how to budget the money they get from their allowance and how to properly allot them on their expenses. This will teach them how they can properly handle their income in the future as well as teach them on how to prioritize more important things over luxuries.

Let Them See The Household Expenses

It is also a good practice to allow children and especially teens to see the monthly household expenses such as utility bills, grocery expenses, insurance, and the likes. This will teach the young people that there is a cost that accompanies everything they see or use at home. This will prepare them once they start living on their own and start paying bills on their own apartment. They will also gain an appreciation for all the hard work you do to pay all the bills.

It is very important for parents to teach their children as early as possible about the importance of having good personal finance habits, as this will help them build a good foundation when they set out in the future on their own.

With each passing day, it looks like we can’t escape the power of the Internet. If we need to look up stuff for work, we run a search on Google. If we need to book some tickets, we get on Priceline and other sites. Heck, if we need baseball stats, we just get on Wikipedia. The Internet is as indispensable as it is addictive.

The good news is that thanks to the Internet, we can supplement our income by making money online. Just as the Internet revolutionized buying from catalogs, it has also given us many ways to make anywhere from a few hundred bucks a month to making more than our day job’s salary. This is a great boost to any household’s personal finances.

Saving money is great but boosting income is even better. The ways you can earn money online is limited only by your imagination-you can make extra money doing everything from buying and selling on ebay to posting ads on Craigslist to posting referral links on your Facebook account.

Here comes the bad news: shady operators and scammers look at the huge army of Internet users looking for online income opportunities as a helpless pool of suckers waiting to be conned out of their hard-earned money. Follow the tips below to avoid becoming a victim of make money online scams.

Be Suspicious of People Offering To Share Money Making Secrets

You have probably come across an email or forum post or facebook post of a person that claims to make a lot of money and is willing to share the ‘secret’ of such money-making techniques. Dubbing themselves online money-making ‘gurus,’ these characters supply all sorts of ‘proof’ like pictures of them standing next to Ferraris, Lamborghinis, or Porsches. Usually, their sales pages will have several ‘testimonials’ of people ecstatic at the amount of money they are supposedly making from the ‘secrets’ they learned.

Before you whip out your credit card so you can boost your personal finances with these online moneymaking ‘secrets’, think about an obvious question for a second. If someone’s ‘program’ or ‘blueprint’ for making money online is so successful and ‘fool-proof’ why is he sharing it? Why doesn’t that person just keep it for himself and earn the tons of cash he claims he makes?  The truth is that most of these ‘secret’ make money online programs only ‘work’ for a small amount of people. Why? They either require a lot of money to pursue or time to pursue.

Moreover, many of the affiliate marketing make money online programs out on the Web require effective online traffic generation skills-exactly the type of skills most Internet users don’t have. No wonder most of these ‘programs’ and ‘secrets’ have a disclaimer that is essentially the same-’your results will vary.’

I am not saying that there are no legitimate online money making programs. All I am saying is that you should only join programs where the ‘guru’ or program author completely lays out what is expected of program participants. Try running a search for real reviews and criticisms of the program or money-making technique so you have a clear idea of what you are getting into. Remember, as the old saying goes – if it is too good to be true, it probably is.

Beware of Fake Job Postings

One of the most effective ways to make some extra cash online is to do freelance jobs. Many people scan through Craigslist’s want ads sections to find side jobs. Be careful of many of the listings there. Many scammers posts fake job ads.

How does the scam work? You reply to a job ad and you get a letter saying they are interested in hiring you but you have to take a skills assessment test. Guest what? The assessment test costs money. After you have paid for the test, you never hear from the ‘employer’ again.

Another variation of this scam is ‘job training.’ The fake employer responds with an email that he or she is eager to hire you but you have to train. Of course, you have to pay for the training. Once you finish training, the ‘employer’ is gone. If you found yourself victimized by these scams, figure out how you paid for the training or ‘skills assessment.’ If you paid via Paypal, dispute the charge with Paypal. If you used your credit card, dispute the charge with your card provider. If Paypal and your bank get enough complaints, they’ll shut down these scammers’ payment processing accounts. Good riddance.

The Bottom Line

There are just way too many people online who are eager to take your money. They never give suckers an even break so you have to be on your toes all the time against being scammed online. Read the warning signs above and be on the look out for them. You worked hard for your money-don’t lose any of it to online scams.