The following is a list of the top 10 biggest money wasters that CNN Money put together. Make sure you aren’t wasting your family income on these money wasters.

1. ATM fees – using the closest ATM as opposed to your bank ATM can cost you up to $5 per use, as opposed to $0 for using your bank’s ATM.
2. Lottery tickets – In 2010 over $70 billion was spent on lotto tickets, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. Most of those who participated spend $10-20/week on lotto tickets… that adds up to a wasted $520/year at least.
3. Gourmet coffee – Everyone loves the delicious taste and caffeine high that Starbucks brings us, but you can save a ton by brewing your coffee at home. The average American spends $8 each time they stop at a coffee shop, as opposed to the $11 container of coffee you can get from the store that makes upwards of 200 cups of coffee.
4. Cigarettes – Not only do they kill your body, but they kill your wallet as well. People who smoke regularly spend a minimum of $280/month on these cancer sticks.
5. Infomercial impulse buys – Quick-fix products that you will never use but seem like such a good deal are on TV everywhere. Ignore the impulse to buy the things offered on TV infomericials!
6. Brand-name groceries – We hate to burst your bubble, but brand-name groceries are pretty much the same thing as the generic counterparts. A $2-3 difference can add up, especially on medicines and everyday products.
7. Eating out – Although it is a fun way of getting out of the house, eating out is one of the most expensive habits you can have. On average, people spend $28.47/meal when they eat out, not to mention an additional $40 on alcohol.
8. Unused gym memberships – Everyone needs to stay fit and healthy, whether they’re 18 or 72. However, unused gym memberships can burn a nice hole in your pocket if you aren’t careful.
9. Daily internet deals – Although Groupon and LivingSocial offer some fun experiences, many of those vouchers never get used, meaning you waste money on something you wouldn’t have gone to/used in the first place. Lifesta, a site that will buy back your unused deals, estimates 20%, or $532 million worth, of vouchers go unused every year.
10. Bundled cable or phone services – Although they spout out the amazing deals bundles offer, it’s only a deal if you use all the services.

Decided on a Budget

Sit down with your spouse and decide on a reasonable grocery fund for a specific time scale. For instance, say the two of you decide on grocery shopping every two weeks spending $200. Cost may vary depending on the size of your family, but you should try to stay in a budget that is $500 or less per month (yes it is do-able).

Coupon Cut

Whether searching online for the latest coupons on www.grocerycoupons.com, or checking the Sunday paper – coupons can save more money than you think. According to grocerycoupon.com, families can save up to $60 a week using useful coupons! The key to saving is to only use coupons that are relevant to your family’s needs. Many times families waste their money buying items they do not necessarily need simply because they found a coupon for it such as: “Buy two bars of soap and get one free.” Another precaution is to look out for is the dreadful spending coupons like “Save one dollar on three boxes of cereal.” When first reading the coupon the dollar may seem like a good save, but now the initial box of cereal you had planned to buy turned into three unnecessary boxes that will end up going stale (unless you are a family that eats a lot of cereal of course).

Plan Ahead

In addition to making a list, you should be sure to use a current grocery store ad in planning your meals. Try your best to never pay full price for your grocery items. Most stores will rotate their sales on a regular basis. Keep track of the store where you shop most often. If you notice that they have a sale on an item you buy regularly, then buy enough to last until the sale comes back. For example, say a grocery store tends to run their spaghetti sauce for $0.99 every 4-6 weeks. Buy enough to last for at least a month. Don’t forget to compare ads! If there is an item at another store at a better price, have your spouse stop off on his or her way home to pick up that item.

Limit Purchasing Processed Foods

Try your best to buy very few processed foods; “raw foods” (flour and milk vs. pancake mix for example) cost far less and go much further than processed foods. For example, making a pot of soup from scratch in the Crock Pot rather than buying a small can of soup can cost the same price and yield far more portions, not to mention it is much healthier (canned foods tend to be high in sodium). Even snack foods can be limited. A big bag of  popcorn kernels and a bottle of oil will cost far less than a bag of chips or packs of microwave popcorn. Like mentioned before, it will yield far more portions too.

Freeze, Freeze, Freeze

Get yourself a good ol’ freezer (if you don’t already have one)! Watch for sales on meat. For instance, many grocery stores conduct a meat sale about once a month, whether the meat is chicken, beef, or pork. Buy enough to last until the next sale comes again. Throw it all in the freezer and thaw when ready to prepare. Freezing meat is 100% safe and immediately preserves the freshness of the meat upon frozen. Say the expiration of the meat was a week away upon purchase and then you decide to use it three weeks later; the meat is still in perfect condition. By freezing meat immediately it after its purchase, you are halting the meat from aging; therefore, the expiration date then becomes irrelevant. So stock up and save.

Although the price has immediately decreased, economists and political advisors are cautioning any rejoice of an economic turn-around, due to the inevitable concerns of retaliation by terrorists.

Because of these concerns, the volatility of oil prices has increased dramatically since the terrorist leader was killed. Oil prices are estimated to rise and drop, becoming extremely unpredictable for the American economy and hindering its recovery.

Oil in New York yesterday decreased 2.7% – the most in two weeks – before rebounding 0.8%. Implied volatility for at-the- money options expiring in June, a measure of expected price swings in futures, and a gauge of options prices was 28% today, up from 26.2% a week before Osama’s death.

“The manufacturing sector in the U.S. has been the one area that has been fast recovering, so any signs that it might not be recovering as quickly as expected is going to dampen the outlook for growth,” said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne who forecast in an April 20 report that oil will average $113 in the third quarter. “There was some sort of terror premium factored into the oil price but, given the threat of reprisal, that hasn’t changed much.”

The rise in oil prices has affected almost every American home with gas prices reaching an average of $3.96 per gallon. The immediate decrease in oil prices is yet to have a determined effect on gas prices due to the previously mentioned concerns of reprisal.

• Share everything: any debt, retirement savings, student loans, family insurance, car loans, credit card and any other family finances should be revealed and discussed.
• Discuss debt: talk about how much family income you will have in total after combining individual debts and income and how it will affect the family finances. Come up with a plan to pay everything off, which could include personal family finance plans, and make your payments on time.
• Pre-nups: Even if you’re against prenuptial agreements, it might be a good idea to write down all the financial agreements you’ve made and sign it. In case someone sinks a large sum of money into your first house – for instance, her parents – she can get that money back if you part ways (which won’t happen, of course).

When it comes to family finance, clarity is key and being open with one another will help avoid roadblocks, and create a healthy relationship between you and your spouse.

However, as the saying goes, it’s better to be safe rather than sorry. Having a plan for how to spend your tax refunds – smartly – can not only put you in a financially healthy place, but can also allow you to be freed up for future spending.

The following are 5 smart ways to spend your tax returns this year.

Pay off high interest debt.

This kind of debt will come and bite you in the butt if you aren’t careful. Whether it’s 20% interest on a credit card or 9% interest on a car loan, chances are that even if you’ve put your family investments in equities or other conventional asset classes, you wouldn’t get a higher return than the reduction in high interest debt. Plus, debt write-downs are guaranteed and involve no uncertainty or volatility.

Build an emergency fund.

This was tied with paying off debt as being a hugely important item to pay off. Putting every penny into an emergency fund will be able to increase your family savings and amount you will be able to live off when you reach retirement. An emergency is also logical in today’s career market. Having a fun with locked funds that can pay for necessities like groceries if something should happen to your job is extremely smart.

Invest.

If recent times have taught us nothing else, it’s to invest early because you never know what the economy will bring us. These investments will help allow you to be more self-reliant as the year’s progress, and can offer you security in your later years.  You don’t necessarily need to invest your entire tax return, but investing a bit every year will allow you to greatly reduce your financial burdens.

Save for college.

Even if you don’t have kids yet, or their just crawling around in diapers, with college costs rising by 2-3 times the rate of inflation annually, a college education might be impossible to afford when they reach college age. Many banks offer college-specific savings accounts with small fees and high interest rates.

Enjoy an experience, not an item.

Many people like to use their tax returns on something nice for themselves. There is nothing wrong with that! However, instead of buying a larger TV or the new iPhone4, try spending it on an experience with your family. Living Social, an online coupon system, offers discounted weekend getaways every week!

Understanding you won’t be able to reach the goals of every financial dream can be a real buzz kill. Knowing how to prioritize your savings and investments into something that makes sense for your entire family is a skill not all families possess.

Let us help put you on the right track…

1. Focus on the goals that matter
2. Be prepared for conflicts
3. Put time on your side (if your younger, older, have money in stocks, 401(k) plans, etc.)
4. Choose carefully from your list of goals – choose ones that will make you feel financially secure, happy or fulfilled
5. Include your spouse in the goal-setting process
6. Start now
7. Try to defer or reduce large family expenses you might have – keep your savings goals in mind with all your spending
8. Don’t sweat the small stuff
9. Be prepared for change

The stock market is finally showing hope instead of despair, making investing your family savings more appealing than it has in years. If you are looking for a financial advisor, follow these tips to make the process easier.

Avoid Using Friends

When it comes to advice, it’s hard to take your friend’s recommendations outright. Their recommendations might not fit your ideals or goals. If you have a friend who works in family investing and they offer up their services, proceed with caution; if things don’t work out, you might have to fire them, which won’t be easy. The same holds true for family.

Take Time When Choosing

You should expect the interview process for a financial advisor to be a long one. This is an important decision and rushing into it won’t make you feel any more at ease. Going on a recommendation can be misguiding – someone who is a good match for someone else may not be a good match for you, but it’s a good place to start. Family investing is a big risk and can produce great rewards, so sit down with a few advisors before choosing which is right for you.

Some criteria to look for, according to Douglas Black of SpringReef Partners, will set you in the right direction in making your decision:

• At least seven years minimum experience
• High quality compliance and regulatory record
• Client-aligned personal values
• Employment stability
• Transparency regarding potential conflicts, pricing and risk
• Focus on and experience with similar clients

No Right Choice

Even the best advisors get things wrong from time to time, but the difference can be whether they can rebound with you or leave you out to dry. Family investing can be more about the relationship with your advisor than the return on investment, although the latter is not something to dismiss.

How To Tell If You’re Doing Well

A good way to measure performance is comparing what is promised versus what is returned. Investing your family income for a profit down the road is a long process, and giving a few advisors some cash to invest and seeing how they do after a short period of time won’t give you a very good outlook on that relationship. Having a good, working relationship with your advisor, especially in hard times, will make family investing less stressful and increase the amount of trust you can build with the advisor your choose.

Winning the Family Investing Game

There will always be rough patches with investing, but if your advisor stays honest about his return, your ideals are aligned with their way of business and in the long run, you maintain a healthy portfolio, consider yourself a winner in family investing.

Knowing your monthly family expenses is easy: the cell phone bill, electricity, family insurance bills, etc. Those are generally a set price you can write into every family budget without much thought. But what about your entertainment costs? Some costs that vary month to month can include:

• Taxes
• Daycare
• Movie nights
• Eating out
• Babysitters
• Parking/transportation fees
• Travel

When you add up all your changing family expenses it can add up to quite a bit chunk of your family budget. Here are some great tips on how to manage and track your family expenses:

• First, start a daily journal where you can put all your expenses of the day. Make sure everyone in the family does this, and that they include the item, price, and day they purchased the item.
• Next, when sitting down with your family to create the family budget, make sure to go over all the spending so that everyone’s habits are accounted for.
• Finally, decide which of the expenses should be cut, which can stay, and who needs to add or cut down on their portion of the spending.

These tips, from U.S. News and World Report, offer you the opportunity to save upwards of $500 without even leaving your home.  Some are simple, while others take a bit more thought, but if you’re looking for a way to increase your family savings, cutting back on your family car insurance (without risking coverage) might be the best fit for you.

1. Drop the coverage you don’t need – what is necessary to be covered on your car 6 months ago might not be required today. Maintaining a 6 month check-up of your car insurance can help purge unnecessary costs and lower your overall premium.
2. Search for discounts – Along with checking for coverages you can drop, also check for discounts. Just because you searched 6 months ago and got the discounted rates then doesn’t mean you’re getting the best rates now.
3. Improve your credit score – I know, I know, easier said than done. However, if you do realize your credit score has gone up, take advantage of it! Look into your family car insurance rates and ask for a better deal based on your current score.
4. Pay premiums with a credit card – If you have a credit card that offers cash back on your purchases than paying your family car insurance by credit card is the way to go. You can generally receive anywhere from 1-5% cash back, meaning you’re basically paying only 95% of your car insurance bill!
5. Keep your kids grades up – Ever heard of good grade discounts? If you have a teenager or college student on your family car insurance make sure you are cashing in those good grades for some good cash discounts!
6. Take a driving course – If you participate in a defensive driving course that is approved by your insurance carrier it can actually decrease your overall premium, or at least give you a small discount.
7. See if your job can save you money – When you are given your rate quote the insurance companies actually put a risk assessment into your amount. This risk assessment is generally based on your job. Specific careers have higher or lower rates, so make sure your job isn’t affecting your high family car insurance rates!

The long-term benefits of energy-conservative landscaping can end up saving your family 25% (heating) to 50% (cooling) off your energy bill. With the planting season in full bloom (no pun intended!) now is the perfect time to create an affordable green home haven.

How exactly does planting a few trees help your energy bill? Here are six factors that can be effected by your green living and have your family savings growing as effectively as your green shrubs.

• Before you begin your plan at all, it is smart to come up with a detailed sketch measuring height of your home, doors, compass directions, windows, etc. Figure out how the sun and wind effects your home and sketch the wind patterns to more accurately determine the best kind of planting around your home.
• Trees and bushes planted strategically around windows and doors can decrease the amount of lost air infiltration, especially in the winter months.
• In summer, trees and shrubs can reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the outside surfaces of a home, and thus reduce heat conduction into the house. In the winter, blocking cold winter winds will reduce conductive heat loss.
• Large expanses of east- or west-facing windows will admit undesirable solar radiation in the summer, while large south-facing windows can help heat a home in winter. Planting vegetation around your home can regulate solar radiation during different seasons of the year.