How to Buy More Money

Here's a novel way to save some cash: buy someone's unwanted giftcard. Often you can find giftcards to any number of grocery, drug, or household stores for sale at a discount. And if you've planned ahead to shop during a sale, you stand to save a lot of money.

Check out swapagift or cardavenue to search for cards. You could also make an ad on craigslist (or post a myspace bulletin or a facebook note) offering to buy unwanted gift cards. Most gift card sites also offer the option to trade, so if your grandma gets you a Macy's card, but you're wise enough to be buying well-made clothing secondhand, you could swap the card out for a merchant with a little more utility.

Just be sure that you don't start blowing money on random giftcards that you don't need. For example, I've got some gardening projects coming up- so I'm hoping to offset costs by researching sales at Lowe's/Home Depot and then buying a gift card at a discount. When this month is over and I'm back to grocery shopping, I might try to buy a costco giftcard, so that I can buy baking supplies in bulk AND receive the built-in discount of having bought an $80 gift card for $70 or less. But I'm certainly not going to buy a $200 Nordstrom's card for $180.

Buying gift cards at a discount is also a great way to save on gift-giving. Not that you should encourage anyone's Starbucks habit, but if you really want to get someone a Starbucks card, might as well save some money on it, right?

Coupon Codes!

In this day & age, nearly all of us shop online at least some of the time. One of the most annoying things about online shopping is leaving the promo code box blank. Well, never again! CurrentCodes.com is an up-to-date, free database of current coupon & promotional codes. Next time you buy anything online, check this site before you check out!

(almost) Free Books!

Bookmooch.com might be one of the greatest websites, ever. Bookmooch is a giant, global bookswap in the spirit of peer-to-peer filesharing but with a physical commodity instead of (totally legal!) mp3s.

To get a book (or books) you spend points. You earn points by listing books, sending books, and leaving feedback for other members. It's a great way to get rid of books you don't want that aren't worth selling, and an awesome way to get books you do want. All you ever pay is shipping for the books you give away. You don't pay shipping for the books you mooch.

Buying books new makes me cringe. Between a couple of well stocked local Goodwills, amazon, ebay, and bookmooch, I never need to. Let someone else pay full retail!

GasBuddy.com is your Friend.

With gas prices stretching ominously towards the $4 mark, driving can be one of the the more difficult areas to cut costs, especially in California. I've got a 40 minute round trip commute to work and a 1hr 20min round trip commute to my boyfriend- so even on my most conservative gasoline behavior I've got to fill my tank at least once a week. The gas stations closest to my house and work tend to be more pricey than those further afield, but by scheduling my fill up to happen on the way to Boyfriend's house or on a day when my errands take me outside of my usual routes, I can save anywhere from 30 to 50 cents on gas.

My secret? Gas Buddy, a site where members update fuel prices. When gasoline first shot above the $3 mark, I was still paying $2.70 or $2.80 and filling up for less than $30.

Another good habit is filling your tank at the quarter tank mark. For one thing, it's gentler on your car (driving around on fumes during that last hour before hitting the pump makes your engine sad), and secondly it's a built-in savings of almost $10. If you ever have a week where every penny counts- think of it as gasoline insurance- you can use up the quarter tank when you just can't afford to fill up until your paycheck clears the bank.