Gather Little by Little

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One of the many ways I save a considerable amount of money is by using free software. With the advent of Open Source Software there are a number of really great AND free software products available. Software such as Microsoft Office 2007 and Adobe Photoshop are awesome and very sophisticated pieces of software but they are also frequently cost prohibitive for the average user and frankly more than the average user needs.

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This article is part of an ongoing series where I write about Money Saving tips and strategies each Monday. You can see the rest of the series articles here.

I’m always on the lookout to save money, but I also understand that you often get what you pay for. Two years ago when I was shopping around for my first Blackberry I ran across a refurbished one that was literally $300.00 less than a new one. This to me was a huge sign to me that there must be something really wrong with it. Thus I did what I always do, I headed over to Google to get the real scoop. Turns out, refurbished products can be great deals. I called the Cingular sales department, and found out that refurbished Blackberries look no different than the new ones, and that the only difference is the warranty, which was 90 days instead of a year.

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Photo by: Sean F

From Glblguy: This is a guest post by my dad who has been doing carpentry, home repairs and maintenance as a hobby since he was a teenager. My dad is a retired manager from IBM Corporation where he worked for 30 years. I have learned a lot from him and as a result have saved a lot of money working on my house, with some help form him of course. I hope you will too!

This article is part of my ongoing Money Saving Monday Tips Series.

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It’s new years eve and almost the start of a new year. Since July of this year, I’ve written more than 200 articles and received more than 1600 comments from you. Next to my How to Get Your Finances Under Control, One Small Step at a Time series, I personally enjoyed writing the Money Saving Monday Tips the most. Since this last day of 2007 is a Monday, I thought I would recap all of the articles in that series.

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This article is part of an ongoing series where I write about Money Saving tips and strategies each Monday. You can see the rest of the series articles here.

Generally, keeping the change involves telling someone you are giving money too to not bother giving you your change back. Unless you’re leaving a tip, I can’t imagine why anyone would do this. I am going to flip the concept of “keep the change” around with this money saving Monday tip and suggest that you always get your change back and keep the change!

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This article is part of an ongoing series where I write about Money Saving tips and strategies each Monday. You can see the rest of the series articles here.

I’ve been shaving using disposable razors since the very first time I ever shaved. Disposable razors work OK, but I never really got the quality of shave I wanted, and the razors are expensive. This is particularly true if you use one of the newer Mach III or Fusion razors. Sometime back, I found an article The Simple Dollar had written about shaving. Trent’s method of shaving sounded like something worth trying, especially if I could get a better shave for less money.

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Back in July, just a week after starting this blog I started my series of Money Saving Monday articles. Each Monday I provide a tip that I use or do to save money. With this being one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year, I thought I would republish tip#1 again, as using the PriceProtectr has saved me a considerable amount of money and I want to make sure my new readers are aware of it. Which by the way reminds me, I’d encourage you to read through my archives. My writing has improved a great deal since then, but there is still some pretty good articles in there.

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One of the recent changes we’ve made to our spending is buying generic products. This includes generic branded medicine, food and non-food products. I’ve found that you can save a significant amount of money purchasing generic products and in general with no sacrifice in quality. There are generics for almost everything: trash bags, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, canned products, frozen products, milk, bread, etc.

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The big shopping time of the year starts this Friday or Black Friday as it is often called. It’s called black Friday as it is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and frequently moves retailers from “in the red” to “in the black” from an earnings and profit perspective.

Until this year, we were always scrambling to come up with enough money for Christmas gifts and frequently relied on our credit cards to get us through.

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I love clothes, especially nice clothes for work but I detest paying the high prices most major stores charge. Here are some places you can get decent clothing and not pay an arm and a leg for them:

Thrift Stores

Probably the cheapest option, thrift stores can contain some great bargains if you are willing to spend the time looking through the clothing. Clothing items can frequently be found for just a few dollars each and are often in very good if not new condition. Of course you won’t find the latest fashions there, but you will find clothing dirt cheap. Primary stores in our area are The Salvation Army and Goodwill.

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