Money

You may already be doing the math to see how you can afford some of your most-wanted purchases around Black Friday, and rather than running up a credit card bill, consider making small changes to your day-to-day routine. Follow these tips and before you know it, you'll have a fatter wallet to make the most of the deep discounts we're sure to see on Black Friday.

How to Easily Save $100 Before Black Friday:

Skip the Starbucks
Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and the like serve up delicious drinks (mmm, Pumpkin Spice Latte!), but they don't come cheap. Consider the $5 you'd save each time you brewed your own cup of coffee. Richard Kelleher, a marketing sociologist, saves at least $20 a week by avoiding Starbucks, and making his espresso at home with a machine he bought on sale for just $25.

Cutting out a daily $5 latte, for example, could save you $90 or more. These saving habits can fatten your wallet, while actually slimming your waistline too, since cutting out calorie-rich drinks will make your daily routine healthier. Try buying this Starbucks Breakfast Blend Ground Coffee 12-oz. Bag ($8.88 with $1.97 s&h or free Site-to-Store, a low by $2) instead to get your daily Starbucks fix.Read more

Online money management is like a turbo charge for your checkbook, giving you up-to-the minute insight into your financial life. Whether finding ways to save a few bucks, socking away cash for retirement or sticking to a budget, services such as Mint, Wesabe and Quicken Online, are changing the way people manage money.

Banks have also moved money management online and remain the only way to actually transfer money among your financial accounts. Together these web, mobile and text-based money tools help you move beyond the checkbook register and into the realm of true financial freedom.

Mint
Mint is one of several new companies offering incredible tools to manage your money online -- for free. With a brief (under five minute) set up, Mint can access your various financial accounts including banks, credit cards, and investment accounts to give you an accurate picture of your financial worth. Read more