The average consumer spends $500 every year just on back-to-school supplies. This doesn’t even cover clothing. If you have three kids, you could easily spend $2,000 every August on back-to-school shopping. But, for every shopping nightmare, there’s a way to save money. In fact, I’ll give you 10 tips for how to save money this school season.

The good news is that gas prices have fallen a little bit. The bad news is that they won’t fall enough to alleviate the pain at the pump. The stock market soars one day, and plummets the next day. The housing market continues to feed at the bottom of the market trough, and more people are losing their jobs. Is it time to panic? Simply put: No.

Three years ago, homeowners were earning thousands of dollars from selling their homes.  Home buyers qualified for mortgages that normally wouldn't. It was easy to get a mortgage because homes were flying off the market.  Lenders saw dollar signs, so they threw lending principles out the window. Today's housing market is a different story.  The economy has slowed down and the free market is correcting the housing sector's inflated success.  Qualifying for a mortgage is harder than it was three years ago, but it's not impossible.

We’re all feeling the squeeze from rising gas prices, and there is no relief in sight. Economists are predicting that if oil reaches $200 per barrel, gas will reach $6.64 per gallon in the United States. Rising gas prices affect so many other industries. Airlines will be scraping to make ends meet, independent truckers will go out of business, and grocery stores will be forced to increase their prices on food.