I love books, but I hate paying for them. I'm an active particpant in www.paperbackswap.com and I love it. Basic theory is that you swap books with other members. If you send a book to someone, you get a credit to receive a book from someone. Head on over to their link for more information.

On that site, I'm also a Box-o-Books member, which means I can swap books directly with other people without using up credits. It rocks and my "to be read" pile keeps growing and growing and growing!

Make sure to clean the lint out of the vent on your hair dryer often. I just did mine and it's back to the speed it was when I bought it. That means that I spend less than 1 minute drying my hair instead of the 4-5 minutes. Less electricity used means more money in my pocket. And I didn't have to buy a new hair dryer!

By simply joining the Blizzard Fan Club, you get a coupon for a free blizzard with the purchase of one. You also get other coupons and freebies via email. I just can't pass up free ice cream treats!

http://www.blizzardfanclub.com/

**Email tip - have a "junk" email address that you use for things such as this. I have a yahoo account that I use anytime I have to sign up online for something. That way my regular email account doesn't get all goobered up with garbage.

While I don’t always think that buying generic is the best idea, there are some staples which I pretty much always buy generic.

All over-the-counter medicines (and I guess this would apply to prescription meds as well) are goverened by the Food and Drug Administration. Any products with the same active ingredient must all meet the same effectiveness standards. This means that your Target version of Tylenol will do exactly the same thing as the real deal. The Target vitamins are the same as the expensive vitamins. And have you compared the price difference between Tylenol its non-name-brand counterpart? The difference is DOLLARS per bottle! Crazy.

Now there is one side note I must make. I do buy name brand for my kids. We’ve tried generic for their meds but they taste HORRIBLE. I ended up throwing it out and buying good ole Tylenol. Pills – generic good. Something you have to taste – generic bad.

Here are few things that I have tried generic (or store brand) and will never do again. Yes, they were cheaper but it ended up costing me more in the end or didn’t even come close to doing what it is supposed to.

Dryer Sheets
The store brand sheets don’t appear to do anything. One load I removed from the dryer nearly knocked me to the floor with the voltage coming off the towels.

Laundry Detergent
The store brand wasn’t that much cheaper than my Cheer. And it made my clothes smell funky.

Bread
The store brands I’ve tried go stale within just a few days and had to be thrown away. My Sara Lee stays fresh and we always get the whole loaf eaten before it goes stale.

Macaroni and Cheese/Spaghettios/Spaghetti Sauce/Other Quick Foods
All bad and not for human consumption, according to my family.

The jury is still out on shampoo and conditioner. I used to be an Aveda girl. LOVE THE SMELL! I’ve wisened up and dropped Aveda and went down to more reasonable brands such as Pantene and Garnier. I now have a Target version of Pantene. Smells good. The only difference I can see is that it’s much runnier and doesn’t leave my hair feeling quite as smooth. But it seems to be doing the job.

Garage sales are very popular in my small community, as they probably are in most communities. I have even participated in my fair share of sales. After the hours of hard work getting ready for it and only netting a few hundred bucks, I decided there had to be a better way to get rid of my stuff.

If you are in need of immediate cash, I suppose a garage sale meets your needs. But by donating your items, you will come out so much further ahead in the end. Each item donated to entities such as Goodwill or Salvation Army can be written off for tax purposes. And besides the tax benefits, you are also helping the organization by providing them with items to sell in their stores! How can you argue with that?

In the past years, we've donated items valued anywhere from $500 - $3,000...all amounts written off when we did our taxes. Now tell me, have you ever made $3,000 on a garage sale? I love doing this for the tax purposes of course, but it's also a way for me to clear out the extra stuff cluttering up our home.

Click HERE for the link to the Salvation Army's site for determing values on the items you donate. Keep in mind

There are tons of commercials on television offering free credit reports. You will find, though, that they require some type of commitment in order to get that free report. No more of that! Here is a link to a free credit report that truly is free. Sure, there are options to add-on things, but it's not required. I have used this service and these reports are very detailed.

There are three different services to choose from on the link below. Some of them only allow you one free report per year, which should be sufficient.

If you have not reviewed your credit report, I urge you to do so as soon as possible. Verify all of the outstanding balances are correct, make sure there are no old open accounts on your record, etc. With a couple of clicks and entering a few details, you could have your credit report in just a few minutes!

I have chosen to start this blog as a way to organize my financial goals and thoughts, and maybe help some of you along the way. I'm not an expert, I'm not rich, and I don't have a degree in anything financial. At least I assume a journalism degree doesn't qualify, does it?

So read along if you'd like. If you find this kind of thing boring, feel free to bail. But I hope you will find some information helpful and maybe I'll even give you something to think about on your venture to your financial freedom.

By the way, I'm a stickler for the rules. I don't do anything with our money that borders on shady.