Everybody shops, whether online or offline, and here are five tips that will save you money on almost every purchase. These methods will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year.

1. Make sure that it's the right product you want to buy

Once you have decided that you want to buy any product, make sure that there isn’t something better from a competitor and that it hasn’t gone out of production. At a minimum, review amazon.com, epinions.com and Google. Search on "(Product Name) review" and you will see links to several respectable sites that have tested and reviewed the product.

2. Follow the 24-hour rule

It’s been said that it is not the product manufacturers that sell the product, but rather the marketing. Before making a purchase of more than $50 or $100, follow the 24-hour rule. Using this strategy, you will wait 24 hours to see if you are still excited about the product – or if the marketing sizzle has gone away and you can either do without the product or go with an alternative.

3. Use Craigslist

For those of you who are not using this service or don’t have it in your area, you are missing out. You can find almost anything either for sale, trade or free on this site. If you don’t see it listed, you can post a wanted ad and people will contact you with different offers.

4. Look for almost-automatic discounts

Almost every website has discounts and coupon codes that are easy to find. Search on "(Product Name) coupons" and you will be presented with different coupons that you can use to make your purchase. Many times, this simple step can save you hundreds of dollars, especially when you are buying big-ticket items like computers or cameras.

5. Always save purchase and warranty documentation

Nothing is a bigger waste of money than being unable to return a product when it breaks after six months of ownership. If you make the purchase online, make sure to keep the email receipt (i.e., do not delete it). Using an email service like Gmail will offer you easy access to archived messages with a quick search to find it. If it’s offline, find a safe place to store everything in one place.

Portable storage is a growing market in the moving business. A container is dropped off where you live, you pack it, and the company drives it to your new location where you then unpack it.

There are many advantages to using portable storage for your move:

• You can pack your container at your own pace. Depending on the company you choose, you’ll have between a few days to an unlimited amount of time to pack and unpack your container.
• You also have the option of storing the container until your new home is ready. Logistics of any move, particularly a long distance one, may require some time between when you leave your old home and when you can move into your new one. Having the container temporarily placed at a friend or neighbor’s house, or the moving company’s storage location, solves this problem.
• You’ll be more careful with your belongings than anyone else would be. Since you still have the option to purchase all of the packing and moving materials you need, you can do as good a job as a full service mover.
• You don’t have to drive a truck. The container is picked up from your location and transported by the company. In most cases, your estimate will include fuel charges so you’ll know the total cost up front.
• Portable storage tends to be less expensive than traditional moving companies. You’ll trade cost for convenience, since you’ll be doing more of the work yourself, but that’s an easy decision for many people.

There are a few downsides as well:

• You’re not a mover and you still have to pack. While this is also true if you rented a truck, using the expertise, and muscle power, of a moving company makes any move much easier on you. My least stressful move involved a full-service mover that handled everything, including packing. Such service is expensive, but makes sense in certain cases.
• Leaving your possessions in a storage container outside of your home poses a risk of theft as well. With all of the stress of moving, you may be too distracted to notice that your half-packed container is a favorite target of thieves.

The circumstances of your move will dictate the best option for you. In many cases, portable storage offers the best combination of cost and convenience. It is certainly worth looking into when you are evaluating your moving options. A five-minute investment of your time can provide a quote for portable storage that can then be compared to your alternative solutions.

I love to run… Well, sort of.

You see, running itself is not all that enjoyable. Dodging cars in an urban environment might have something to do with it. It's the "runners high" that keeps me coming back for more, and the more I write about personal finance the more I realize: Successful personal finance is very similar to successful running.

Look at the similarities:

1. Running Makes You Sexy

Being smart with your money is sexy, but a maxed out credit card? Not sexy. A lean body, like a lean budget... that's sexy.

2. Running Requires Discipline

Once-a-month runners aren't runners. Once-a-month frugal spenders aren't frugal. Just like successful running, successfully managing your finances requires discipline. Just like runners will say "no" to that tasty looking piece of cake, successful management of your money means consistently saying "no" to frivolous purchases and other such money blunders.

3. Running Has Big Payoffs

The benefits of running are many. At the end of a good run you may be exhausted, but you feel great. Numerous studies have shown that exercise is as good for beating depression as any pill.

The payoffs of managing your finances smartly are equally as rewarding. Do you want to build up a nest-egg to retire early? Awesome. Start now. Are you looking to save up enough to start your own business? Great, go for it. How about buying a nice home with 20% down when all your friends are still renting? Now we’re talking!

4. Running Can Be Boring and Tedious

Sometimes running is boring… especially treadmill running (which IMHO, is not "real" running by the way). While sometimes tedious, longer are important to a running regimen.

Managing a budget, checking in on your investments, analyzing your credit card statement each month... it can all get a bit tedious, but it’s all critical to gaining an understanding of where your money goes each month. Luckily, services like Geezeo, Mint and Wesabe make managing the details of your finances easier than ever.

5. Running Requires Sacrifice

It's raining... but you still go for a run. You're tired, and yet still get up early to work out. Sacrifice. Sacrifice separates the dedicated from the wannabes. Are you willing to sacrifice now to achieve your goals in the future?

Not Just Running

Many of the examples above can apply to nearly any type of exercise. If you commit to being financially savvy, don't be surprised if your waistline starts shrinking along with your spending!

Can you think of any other parallels between exercise and finance? Please share in the comments below!

One of the subjects I touched on in my post about spousal influence on personal finance was the fact that family members often have conflicting financial philosophies.

The reasons why spouses may have different financial philosophies are widespread, but a major factor is the upbringing of each person. We all tend to see the way our parents do things as “normal” since we don’t have many other data points. Conflicts arise when each spouse follows a similar financial philosophy as their parents, which may be at odds with one another.

Consider the example of one spouse who lives well within his or her means and another who spends all (or more) than he or she earns. While living within your means is certainly advisable, it’s hard to say which spouse is “right” and whose habits are “normal.” Each spouse probably thinks the other’s habits are rather strange.

The potential for conflict exists not only between savers and spenders but also spouses who earn much different amounts, cases where one spouse is salaried and the other works hourly, or where one wants to retire early and the other plans to work until the day he or she dies. Even something as subtle as a preference for living cash-based or cashless could lead to trouble. Cashing a paycheck may seem smart to the cash-based spouse and foolish to the cashless one.

Conflicting financial philosophies can cause trouble but also presents a growth opportunity. Considering each other’s philosophies, and the origins of each, may help you to find some common ground. If most of what we learned about money came from our parents, it’s unlikely that they were entirely correct. That means that borrowing from other philosophies could improve our overall finances.

Communication is key to many aspects of a successful marriage, and family finances are no exception. If you are able to have open, honest discussions that go both ways, each spouse stands to gain. Talking about your savings, investment, spending, and retirement philosophies will help you to better understand your spouse, as well as yourself.

Benjamin Franklin popularized the proverbial wisdom of “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” in his periodical Poor Richard’s Almanack. The actual origins date back even earlier, at the very latest to John Clarke's Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina. Origins aside, the truth in the saying endures to this day.

It’s not surprising that wealth and sleep go hand in hand. Try searching on "sleep and wealth" and you’ll see references to two distinct topics.

First is the notion that stress and money troubles are keeping people up at night. If that is the case, then it stands to reason that those who are financially secure should be able to get more rest.

Second, you’ll find that one of the secrets of building wealth is to do so while you’re asleep. Of course, this notion is to generate income not from your labor but from your money itself, i.e., having your money work for you.

The generally accepted connection between sleep and wealth is that productivity soars when we are well rested. Such a correlation may seem rational to most people, but others dissent. To the minority, less sleep means more time to work, which should raise earnings, production, etc. A study published in 2004 provides some insight into whether more sleep increases productivity. The German study provided evidence that creativity and problem solving are directly related to getting enough sleep.

Getting 8 hours of sleep isn’t going to increase your bank account in the short term, but it probably will make a long-term difference. The well-documented health benefits of sufficient sleep should be enough to motivate you to get your rest. If financial benefits come along as well, then your investment in sleep may be one of the best ones you ever make.