Geri and I love to go Black Friday and After-Christmas shopping to get the best deals on holiday gifts. Sometimes we give them right away, sometimes we stash it away for next year’s giving.  We’ve all done it, buy the perfect gift on sale to give following year, then buy something else during the year, and something else, until we have a collection of these perfect gifts in our basement.  And there they sit.

Wikipedia defines an overdraft as occurring when “withdrawal from a bank account exceeds the available balance which gives the account a negative balance—a person can be said to be overdrawn”. An overdraft fee is a service that a bank or credit union offers its customers to assure that they will not be charged a fee for insufficient funds, which can be as high as $38.00 per check. It is good to have for an emergency, but we tend to overuse and abuse it, and the banks love that!

We Moms have to be frugal by making a dollar stretch and a penny squeal.  But are we raising our children to be frugal?  It is our responsibility to teach them early the respect for money and more importantly that money doesn’t grow on trees.

I believe that all children should have a little responsibility around the home that will earn them a little money.  My children had small chores like making their beds, picking up their toys, etc.  Keep it age appropriate. When I paid my boys they were asked to save 10%, give away 10% and the rest they could spend.  The 10% they gave away usually ended up in the church offering plate.  Today my oldest son is in college, works part time and gives to two charities.

In this tough economy, most hotels and airlines have cut prices to offer incentives to bring in customers.  But car rental companies have done just the opposite…they’ve raised prices.  Average rates have gone up double what they were last year.

Here are a few ways to beat the high prices.  These may be unconventional but they will save the money.

Here’s a simple, painless way to save a bit of money. When you write a check for a payment, make sure you write the real amount on the check, Then, in your checkbook register, round the figure up. For example, if you write the check for $8.69, enter it in your checkbook as $9.00. This will “add” 31 cents that you won’t see.

When you deposit money into your account, round the figure down. If you’re depositing $34, then enter it as $30. This add $4.00 that you won’t see.

Of course, the extra amounts will actually be in your bank, but because you didn’t write it down, you don’t spend it. You will never, see or feel the lack of these small amounts but over time, it adds up to big savings.