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Companies spend a lot of money on advertising their products to the public and unfortunately that good advertising often works: people tend to buy products that they have seen on TV or read about in the magazines. Sometimes, however, those products are not the best buy. They are expensive because of the brand they are sold under at the same time they are no different that the rest of the products on the shelf. Generic, or otherwise called store brands can often save shoppers lots of green.

A good example is CVS. What does a regular CVS customer buy? Cosmetics, medicine, household supplies. So let’s get two separate carts and shop. Shampoo, toothpaste, face cleanser, pain reliever, cotton swabs.

Cart 1: contains Head & Shoudler’s Dandruff Shampoo, Classic Clean; Crest Vivid White Night Toothpaste; Clean & Clear Oil-Free Daily Pore Cleanser; Advil Ibuprofen Coated Gel Caplets; Q-tips. Total for this cart: $35.00.

Cart2: CVS Dandruff Shampoo 2 In 1, CVS Bright White Whitening Toothpaste, CVS Oil Free Acne Cleanser,Pain Relief Rapid Release Gel Caps Extra Strength, CVS Cotton Swabs Flexible Plastic. Total for this cart: $13.39.

Looking at the above, it is easy to see that the CVS store brands have saved us $21.61, which is a nice piece of change. Worried about the quality of what you are buying? Compare the ingredients and you’ll see that they are 100% identical in most products! Why pay for the brand name when you can have the same for less?

Tags: cvs | save money | store brands | generic

Rent / Mortgage, Vehicle and Food are usually the biggest expenses that we have to deal with every month. And while you can live without a car, food you definitely can’t live without. And since starving is also not an option, let’s see how you can reduce your grocery bill by becoming a smart shopper.

Coupons are a great way to save money. Your Sunday newspapers had a ton of them. Most stores also have free programs that you can join and either receive cash-back or point, which are then translated into valuable discount coupons. Of course, don’t just buy stuff because you have a coupon. You can also look-up coupons online, before you go shopping. Have your list ready, and before visiting the store Google the products that and check for coupons online.

Bulk shopping. Bulk food is always cheaper and it also save you gas and time, since you don’t need to drive to the store often to buy it. Try to concentrate on non-perishable items. A good idea is to repack bulk foods into smaller packages when you get home. If you are buying perishables, freeze them.

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We use more and more energy as days go by. One hundred years ago there were no computers, videogames or DVDs and VCRs to plug-in, no cell phones, PDAs or laptops to charge. The new electronic devices & appliances era has brought up the consumer’s energy consumption to unseen levels. And the higher the demand, the higher the cost of that energy. And it is not just about your bills, it is what it costs to our environment what matters as well.

You have most likely seen the Energy Star symbol already, and although many people are familiar with it, they actually don’t know what it means. As per Energy Star’s website, “ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.” This program awards different products with the Energy Star badge, which indicates that those appliances, office equipment or electronics help you save money and the environment by consuming less energy than ordinary products. The Energy Star website also has a whole section with great tips on how to save energy by learning to do simple things such as turning off the lights while we are not in the room, changing the air filters regularly, replacing high-wattage bulbs with Energy Star ones and many more. An excerpt from Energy Star’s website shows how important those energy-saving practices are: “If every American home replaced their 5 most frequently used light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save close to $8 billion each year in energy costs, and together we would prevent the greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars.” That’s a lot of money, isn’t it?

So, if you are looking into saving some cash on your bills, why not take a couple of minutes to review Energy Star’s website? Remember, you are not only saving green on your monthly bills. You are saving the environment for yourself and for your children.

Tags: energy star | save money on bills | energy | environment

Driving around in a car really costs more and more these days. Besides the high gasoline and maintenance prices, vehicle insurances also can take a solid bite out of your pocket. Your insurance companies charge well, but thankfully there are some ways in which you can help lower your auto insurance premium.

Your insurance premium is computed on the basis of many factors, such as the year, make and model of your vehicle, your driving experience and record, your place of residence, driving habits and even your credit score.

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$1.59 was the price per gallon of gasoline back in 1970s. This year however, this precious liquid approached and quickly surpassed the $3 per-gal mark.

What causes gasoline prices to soar? There are multiple reasons for that. Typically, rising costs are common for the summer, because a lot of people are going on vacation and more driving is involved. Holidays, such as Thanksgiving are also a precondition for a higher demand and respectively higher price. Major disasters, such as hurricanes can also be “helpful” (for example, when hurricane Katrina hit, refineries went out of order, causing a spike in prices due to higher demand and lower supply). The cost of crude oil, refinery processing costs, marketing and distribution costs, and taxes are directly reflecting on what the consumers pay at the pump. Some states such as California and Chicago require clean-burning fuel which can only be supplied from certain refineries, once again resulting in elevated prices.

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