Nothing quite excites me like a brand new way to bargain hunt, except maybe passing along my latest finds.

So enjoy some tips from your favorite debtress about working the World Wide Web for deals of all kinds.

Freebie Heaven: CouponMap.com

This site combines two wonders of the modern world: Google Maps and online coupons. In order to manipulate its money-saving goodness, you have to:

1. Enter a ZIP code, address or landmark. This flexible location feature makes the site great for any occasion: whether you’re in your living room or on vacation in a strange town, you can find coupons for places nearby.
2. Click on a coupon landmark. A map of your area comes up with tiny pairs of scissors (for coupon clippers, get it?) indicating each available coupon. When you select one, you’ll get a list of coupons to choose from for a given outlet.
3. Proceed with your purchase. Once you click, you’ll be sent to the Web site for the company in question, where you’ll be given specific instructions about how to cash in on your bargain.

The Debtress says: This site is particularly useful for eating out – coupons for freebies with your order or reduced-price gift certificates (you pay $10 for a $25 gift certificate, for example).

Two Chances to Save: PricePlease.com

This site offers a doubled opportunity for you to get the best deals on stuff you want. Here’s what you have to do:

• Browse online for your dream product. Find the item you plan to purchase online and copy the URL from the page that has an “add to shopping cart” option.
• Open PricePlease.com. Paste the URL into the box you’ll find on the PricePlease Web site, then choose your method of savings (”price drop alert” or “refund alert”).
• If you choose “price drop alert”: This function will email you if and when the price of your desired item drops. That way, you can wait to buy until you’re sure of a bargain.
• If you choose “refund alert”: This function sends you an e-mail if the price drops after you buy it, so you can contact the retailer for a refund. This is great for items you need right away but still want to save on.

The Debtress says: A nice way to track prices online without making that your full-time job!

Know All Your Choices: CheapUncle.com

This site works by compiling the prices from various online retailers so you can choose the best one. You have to:

1. Name your product. You type in your product’s name into the site’s search bar – you can be as specific or general as you want (e.g. “Mizuno Wave for Women” or “Running shoes”).
2. Browse the offers. You’ll then be presented with a variety of products at various prices. You can click on items to learn more.
3. Make a choice. Once you’ve seen a product you like, you can explore the coupon options presented and figure out how to get the best of the best deals.

The Debtress says: Excellent when you know what you’re looking for, and helpful to get expected price ranges if you’re just beginning a search.

This recent article from Salon.com highlights one area where Americans may feel guilty cutting back, even when they have to: weddings.

But, as the writer points out, getting married on the cheap doesn’t have to mean forfeiting a glorious day.

Step 1: Forget the Hype

Remember: we’re part of a culture that:

1. Spawned a show called “Bridezillas”, and
2. Has an average wedding cost of almost $30,000.

Something tells me there’s a connection. In order to plan for your big day, make sure you can let go of the myth of the perfectly coordinated wedding – it’s just not worth the debt you’d have to take on.

Step 2: Figure out What You Can Spend

Once you’re ready to hop on the wedding-budget train, get ready to crunch some numbers.

• Work as a team. This will be good practice for budgeting household expenses down the line, plus you’ll both have a say in major decisions.
• Decide what your priorities are. Willing to blow a few grand on a dress and skip the open bar? You know yourselves best, so plan to spend more where it will make you happy.
• Set a date. If you haven’t already chosen the day of your nuptials, you may want to consider your salary-to-savings ratio. Not the most romantic way to choose, but it may be more practical to tie the knot after you’ve saved some dough.

Step 3: Call in the Troops

The great thing about family and friends is that they want to help with your wedding because they love you and not because you’ll write them a massive check when everything’s over.

Figure out how to harness the creativity of your loved ones to save serious green. Bonus: you’ll probably end up making amazing connections as you collaborate on this once-in-a-lifetime project.

Send out the call for help. Let your loved ones know (in an email, letter, or phone call) that you’re planning a down-home wedding and need some help. Ask them if they’d like to contribute in any way. (If you have an idea about people’s potential contributions, consider sending a personalized note.)

Loosen the reins. Because you’re asking for serious favors, you’ll have to turn off your inner control-freak (and we all have one). If you think anyone you know would try to sabotage your plans, don’t invite that person to contribute.

Don’t think you can plan a wedding at home? Consider these money-saving tricks others have used:

• Have a green-thumbed relative grow and arrange flowers.
• Brew your own beer for the reception.
• Ask the best cook(s) in the family to whip up desserts or appetizers for your guests.
• Get a crafty sewer to stitch the perfect dress – or hit upscale consignment shops and visit a tailor to get a great find fitted.
• Place disposable cameras around the reception hall for guests to take pictures or hire a photography student from a local school.
• Skip the band and set up an MP3 player with rented speakers for dancing.

The recession that’s caused unemployment to hover near 10 percent has also forced us to return to the thrifty ways of our not-too-distant forebears.

The latest thing we’ve managed to cut costs on is childcare.

The High Cost of a Night Out

Babysitters have an important job – so it’s no wonder they often charge around $10 per hour for watching your children.

But if you’re trying to pinch pennies, a night out may be financially beyond your reach.

After all, you may have to pay for dinner, parking, tickets of some kind, gas and, of course, babysitting.

Working Together to Save Some Green

Babysitting co-ops are not new, but they have surged in popularity recently. Here’s how they work:

• A group of parents gets together. Once you have the initial desire for a co-op, you can visit sites like babysittingcoop.com or babysitterexchange.com to get idea for how to establish yourselves as a group.
• You determine your own rules. It’s important to decide what you want in co-op members: think in terms of safety (does the family have a swimming pool?) and convenience (will you have to drive miles to pick your kids up?).
• You invite or accept new members. Once you know what you’re looking for, you can actively recruit members (on craigslist.org or elsewhere, or by word of mouth) and expand your support network.
• You take turns going out (and watching kids). Depending on the size and atmosphere of your co-op, you and your spouse may find yourselves spending more time together than you ever thought possible on a tight budget.

Keep Track of Duties

Of course, no two families are alike, and caring for three kids under the age of five is very different from caring for two older than eight.

Many babysitting co-operatives have hashed out point systems that allow members to “earn” and “spend” points based on how many kids they have, the ages of their kids, when they go out and how long they stay.

This can help prevent resentment from building up and keep people from taking advantage of the nature of the co-operative system.

Additional Resources
Babysitting Co-Op Startup Guide (PDF)

Check out my list of top songs about tough financial times…

1. 2pac hollers to his sisters on welfare in the popular and timeless “Keep Ya Head Up”.
2. In “Shelter From the Storm”, the voice of Bob Dylan emerges from a lifetime of toil.
3. Dave Matthews laments overworked hands, dues and debts in the unique “Pay For What You Get”.
4. Marvin Gaye couples lyrics about inflation and hopelessness in the classic “Inner City Blues”.
5. Disgusted, invisibly bound, and anything but free is Bob Marley in “Concrete Jungle”.
6. Cold War Kids’ lead singer Nathan Willett empathizes with the argued necessity of robbery during hard economic times in the soothing “Robbers”.
7. Ryan Adams works his hands to bleed because there are mouths to feed in “In My Time of Need”.
8. In his debut album, Bon Iver sings of times when you’re money’s gone and you’re drunk as hell in “Re: Stacks”. Sing it, Bon.
9. A figurehead in the American folk movement, Woody Guthrie wails of unemployment and the hard travels of migrant workers across the U.S. in “Do Re Mi”.
10. Randy Newman breaks hearts as he describes broken windows, empty hallways, and the general signs of an economic downturn in “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”.

What do you think? … Please add your own top songs to this list!

Music not enough to heal your savings account. Learn more about how filing bankruptcy may help you get control of your debt.

For any family with kids, the beginning of September often means dropping significant cash on must-have back to school supplies.

Here’s what you can do to stretch your school supply dollars as far as possible:

Work the Sales

Take advantage of government giveaways.

• Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. are having tax-free holidays some time this summer. If you’re in or near the border of one of them, you could save some cash off the top by shopping on these dates.
• Shop around. Many major retailers offer super-low price items to get shoppers in the door. Find out who’s slashing prices on what items and save big money by buying mainly sale items at any given store.
• Consider online shopping. Many online retailer outlets offer coupons specific to Internet purchases. Hit the Web sites of your favorite stores before heading out of the house.

Salvage, List, Budget

• Know what you already have. Many of your kids’ basics from previous years may still be good. Make it fun by designing a “scavenger hunt” for your children to see how many of their school supplies they can find at home.
• Leave with a list. As with any kind of shopping, it’s easier to stay on track if you know exactly what you need before you leave home. Cross-reference your list with sales notices for maximum efficiency.
• Set a dollar limit. Let your kids know there’s a budget  involved. That way, you can determine together what items are most important to your children – and pinch pennies where they won’t mind as much.

Get the Best Clothing You Can

• Clean closets first. Before trying anything new on, know what you have and need. You may be able to make some items into hand-me-downs or get a few dollars by selling them at a garage sale.
• Consider alternative clothing sources: Thrift stores, garage sales and even swap meets with other families could provide you with “new” clothing before you fork over money for full-priced items. Limiting your kids’ truly new items will be easier if they have some semi-new stuff as well – and don’t shy away from clearance racks!
• Wait a while: It’s not likely that your children will need winter clothes right away, so consider waiting until weather cools off before purchasing heavier clothes. This will lessen the initial financial burden on you and your credit cards.
• Get creative: If your children crave embellished garments, let them get crafty at home. Buy basics and allow them to use glitter or iron-on patches to get the trendier looks for less.

If your dollars just don’t stretch as far as they used to, then it may be time to look at serious debt relief options, including filing bankruptcy.

Earlier this week, GM announced that 225 of its dealers in California will participate in a trial of a new program that allows consumers to buy new cars on the online auction site eBay.

If all goes well, the program could incorporate more dealers as early as September.

The move is seen as part of the company’s revamping efforts after it filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Buying a Car Online: How it Works

So how will getting a new Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac or GMC be different from buying, say, an antique lamp?

Here’s how the GM’s eBay-specific purchasing site, gm.ebay.com, will work:

• Browse the goods: Rather than exploring a car dealership in person, those who visit the eBay site will have the option of viewing various models online. Currently, shoppers can peruse 2008, 2009 and 2010 models.
• Ask questions: Shoppers will have a chance to submit queries about various automobiles to guide their purchasing process. The site will also include features that help customers calculate the trade-in value of their current vehicle and whether it meets criteria for Cash for Clunkers.
• “Buy it now” button: By simply clicking this icon, online shoppers will be able to buy a car at the established supplier price, according to sources. But consumers will also have the option of submitting a lower price, which individual dealers can either accept or reject.
• Arrange financing and payment: In order to make sure your purchase is affordable, you’ll be able to work out payment plans on the site.

Web Car Buying = Less Pressure for Shy Folks

Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president for U.S. sales, has been quoted for pointing out the benefits online shopping may have for people who are intimidated by the car dealership atmosphere: by submitting price offers and other difficult questions over the Web, timid consumers may have a better chance of getting a “deal” on a car.

12 Million Monthly Shoppers Already Browsing eBay for Cars

Although General Motors may be the first to specifically market new cars on eBay, the market itself isn’t new: sources indicate that as many as 12 million people visit eBay Motors each month, usually to purchase used cars.

The GM-eBay program is set to run from August 11 – September 8

After that time, the companies will evaluate the program’s success and could extend it.

Ever been to a new supermarket – maybe in a new city, state or even country – and been surprised at how familiar its layout seemed?

Turns out that’s no accident: according to this almost creepy Economist article, the layout of the grocery store is carefully designed to make us buy, buy, buy.

The weirdest thing is that the model it uses is a UK chain that I’ve never been to – and the description of the layout exactly matches my home market.

Subtle Psychological Tricks to Make Us Spend

1. Purchasing Zones: Apparently, vendors place merchandise at specific points in the store in order to appeal to a customer’s likely state of mind, such as:
   • The decompression zone: When we first enter a store, studies have shown, we need some time to “decompress” before we begin shopping. In supermarkets, this area usually has promotional items.
   • The chill zone: This is the second area of a store a consumer hits. It generally has browsing-friendly items like books and magazines, designed to promote impulse buys and slow people down.
2. (Psycho)logical Boosters: Ever wondered why fruits and veggies are the first food you see in the market? I have – I mean, they’ll get bruised if I put them in my cart first! But it seems produce comes first because consumers tend to feel good about themselves if they stock up on healthy food first, and are in a better mood for the rest of the trip – and happy consumers buy more.
3. Basics in the Back: Essential items are often in the back of grocery stores – or in the middle of aisles. This is no coincidence: the more items you see on display, the greater the chances you’ll buy something not on your list.
4. Multisensory Lures: Even though it’s more efficient to ship bread and other baked goods from a central baker, most grocers now have bakery sections. And it’s no wonder: those fresh smells are irresistible and push us toward buying delectable baked goods. They may even trigger happy memories, which may incline us to making purchases.

Consumer Habits: A Lucrative Study Topic

Unsurprisingly, research on how and why we spend money is well funded and often kept secret.

After all, every company wants to have an edge over its competitors, and when two products are essentially the same (as with dryer sheets, coffee, cereal, etc.), the only noticeable difference may be in how they’re marketed.

And, good news for producers and marketers is often bad news for us, the consumers, because we’re likely the targets of their clever psychological tricks to get us to spend.

Resist the Subconscious Pull at the Store

There are a few tricks for avoiding the lures of the supermarket and sticking with your grocery budget:

• Never shop hungry: You’ll buy more than you need and that bakery smell may be more than you can take.
• Bring a list: If you know what you need ahead of time, you’ll be less likely to make impulse buys when you’re in the aisles.
• Avoid areas you don’t need: If you need nothing in one aisle, skip it.
• Look up and down: Make sure you’re looking at items placed above and below eye level – cheaper brands typically appear on these less-coveted shelf areas.

Additional Resources:
The Psychology of Spending: How You Spend Affects How Much You Spend (PDF)

How to file bankruptcy.

Sweeping financial cutbacks since the beginning of this recession have led to the popularity of the phrase “do more with less.”

The newest statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that American workers are getting less money for doing more work.

Part One: Productivity Shoots Up

(For statistical purposes, “productivity” is understood to be the amount of product made per man hour – in other words, how efficiently American businesses are producing goods.)

Overall productivity rates for the second quarter looked like this:

• 6.4 percent increase in the business sector
• 6.3 percent increase in the nonfarm business sector
• 5.3 percent increase in manufacturing
• 3.9 percent increase in durable goods manufacturing
• 2.0 percent increase in nondurable goods manufacturing

What does this mean? Basically, people worked fewer hours and produced more goods.

In other words, American workers intensified their time spent at the office or factory.

Part Two: Work Hours Drop

So how much less did we as a nation work in the second quarter of 2009, compared to the first? The numbers paint a somewhat gloomy picture.

• In the business sector, hours worked fell by 7.5 percent for all members (proprietors, employers and unpaid family workers), compared to last quarter
• In the nonfarm business sector, hours worked fell by 7.6 percent
• In the manufacturing sector, hours worked fell by 14.4 percent (19.6 percent for durable goods and 5.3 percent for nondurable goods)

These figures probably aren’t surprising, considering the hundreds of thousands of layoffs and forced part-time work that have plagued the U.S. since the recession began.

Part Three: Pay Dips

The last part of the productivity puzzle comes from looking at how compensation for this increased work has changed since the last quarter.

In the business and nonfarm business sector, compensation has fallen since last quarter (by 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively) – in the manufacturing sector, it’s actually risen 4.4 percent.

Bottom Line: Many of Us Hanging onto Jobs, But Working More

These numbers illustrate a trend unsurprising to anyone working or looking for a job: employed Americans are apparently happy to be working at all, whether or not their salaries and work hours are better than they were a few months ago.

All of this extra work and less pay has many people considering filing bankruptcy.

Additional Resources
Bureau of Labor Statistics Report: Productivity and Costs, Second Quarter 2009

“I just left my driveway with no money. I was negative $65,000 from school loans and I bought my car right before I left…” remarked Daniel Seddiqui of California to a local reporter.

Seddiqui’s situation is not uncommon to a vast majority of recent college grads, also not unlike the plight a hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country, but how he has found resolution to it is.

Seddiqui didn’t let the rising unemployment crisis keep him down. Instead, he used the primary characteristic used by the founders of our great nation- ingenuity- to address and conquer his state of affairs.

With an ingenious plan to overcome his unemployment predicament Seddiqui set out on a pilgrimage to find 50 jobs in all 50 states.

Partnering with his ingenuity this enterprising 27 year-old recent college graduate used his resilience and determination to guide his plan.

“[I] just made it all work. I had no other options,” Seddiqui told reporters.

The Man

After having failed over 40 job interviews within his chosen field of economics Daniel Seddiqui decided he was going to put the power back in his hands and find jobs where others aren’t looking.

This resulted in his cross-country journey to small towns and big cities alike.

The Plan

Success for Seddiqui is finding temporary employment which produces enough income to keep his trip alive.

In regards to his earnings and temporary assignments Seddiqui explains to reporters:

“I’ve probably made from $50,000 to $60,000 this year. And I have saved all of it. Three-thousand dollars in one week when I was in Minnesota medical device manufacturing. And the lowest is probably $100, but I was working with Amish people building furniture.”

Some of the other jobs Seddiqui has found himself in are working as a marketing specialist, a first-base coach for a minor league baseball team, and a lobster fisherman.

The State of Unemployment

Even with the Department of Labor recently releasing their weekly statistics of unemployment claims, noting claims are down by 38,000, the news that unemployment is still on the rise and should reach a staggering 9.5 percent is an overwhelming aspect to the reality we as a nation are facing. More people are filing bankruptcy, too. More than 1 million people could file this year.

But it is news of stories such as Seddiqui’s, which prove that ingenuity, innovation and determination are the trinity for success now and in the future.

Most citizens in a similar situation of needing adequate employment but having little apparent options to do so should take note of Seddiqui’s plan.

Not so much for the idea he created but for the concept behind it.

Not everyone can set out on a trek of temporary employment in ever-changing locals, but anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation of needing employment can find opportunity amongst the shrouds of their everyday surroundings.