Editor Cara Newman is following the advice and tips of various articles posted on Young Money to show how well they really work. These first posts follow the techniques presented in Save $1000 by Black Friday. Follow along to see how much she saves, and what impact it has on her life.

For me, my trip to an Asian market last Saturday was the money saving event of the week. Markets are a great way to get good, fresh food, for cheap, in fact, almost everything is cheaper at a market.

Markets aren’t just about the money—they are also about the interaction with people, the crowds, and the almost face-to-face examination of your food. Live crabs, fish, chickens, these markets often show you your food alive first. Looking into the eyes of a soon-to-be meal can be a good way to stop eating meat.

And these markets are typically cheaper. A few months ago I would spend $200 every time I went to the supermarket (every other week or so) but lately, buying the same things, my bill has gone up to $300. At the Asian market I got enough food for four weeks for $250. Discount places like Sam’s Club and Costco are also great places to buy in bulk and save big. I estimate I saved $70 by shopping at the Asian market versus the grocery store.

I love doing new things. I love change. When things start staying the same, I begin to feel trapped. Which is why I love being an editor, new stories every day, new writers, and new ideas, but, regardless of how much I wanted a change, I am determined to make this work. So, once again, I ate all of my meals at home this week—saving $42 on lunches. Only bringing my lunch or eating at home has produced the greatest savings for me so far.

The low point of the week was probably my doctor’s visit. I save up all of my “ailments” and try to combine them into one visit to save on co-pays. This time I saved $25.00 on an extra co-pay by combining two visits in one.

Finally, after finding so much change doing laundry last week I decided to start going through my husband’s pockets each night and stealing his change. I don’t know how but he always has a ton of spare change. I collected $7.29 from the both of us. And I used $1.75 of it on parking meters, leaving me with $5.54 to add to the growing pickle jar.

Not bad for one week. And the impact to my life? Besides getting bored of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (did I mention I don’t cook?) there has been no real impact. I haven’t felt a significant strain. There has been no major denial. I do not feel like I am missing out on anything.

Savings This Week: $167.54

Savings Total: $403.28

If you’re a regular reader of the Young Money Blog, you’ve probably noticed a few changes around here.  If so, that’s because we’ve had a little facelift.  We’ve got a new name, a new team, and a whole lot of new things to say.  So without further ado, let me introduce you to Young Money Talks, the new blog from Young Money Magazine. 

While YoungMoney.com will continue to bring you the latest articles and tips on financial success, lifestyle, and more, Young Money Talks is a place where you can voice your opinions on a host of issues.  Everyday you’ll find new content on YMT.  Check out our Money 101 segments each Monday, our Cheapskate Report on Tuesdays, find out about the hottest topics around the blogosphere each Wednesday, learn how to trick out Your Digs each Thursday, and scope out our “So Money” Person of the Week on Fridays. 

And there’s whole lot more to look forward to.  Got a question?  All you have to do is ask us.  Of course, you can always send us an email, but why not open it up to the community by posting a comment.   YMT is a place where you can voice your opinions, so speak up.  After all, we wouldn’t be Young Money Talks if we didn’t have anything to say.

Young Money founder Todd Romer recently spoke to Real Estate Radio USA about the financial habits of Generation Y and its interest in real estate investing. Romer also talks about Young Money’s upcoming plans for expansion. You can hear the interview by visiting RealEstateRadioUSA.com’s website and listening to episode 162.

Young Money is featured in the article “15 Web Sites for Managing (and Saving) Money” on PCMag.com in the Generation X & Y section.

Here’s the full list:

1. Mint.com
2. ClearCheckbook.com
3. Wesabe
4. Generation X Finance
5. Young Money Magazine
6. Buxfer
7. Morningstar.com
8. Duedee
9. The Motley Fool
10. Walletpop
11. Get Rich Slowly
12. The Simple Dollar
13. Billeo
14. FiscalZen
15. MightyBargainHunter

I woke up in a great mood this morning. The sky looks a little bluer and the palm trees seem a little taller on this beautiful Florida day. The reason for my sunny disposition can be attributed directly to my rediscovering the joy of entrepreneurship due to recent changes here at Young Money.

In May, Young Money Media was purchased by a startup business based in Maryland. The sale meant that I went from working at a mid-sized, non-profit organization with about 500 employees to doing the same job for a private company with a much smaller staff. Some people would look upon this ownership change as a humbling step down but instead it turns out the experience has re-energized my career.

For years, I interviewed and wrote about the best student entrepreneurs in the country. I admired these young business owners for their passion and willingness to take risks. But yet I could never truly relate to them because I had never been an entrepreneur myself. Joining a startup gave me the chance to help re-launch Young Money as if it was a hot new brand in the college marketplace. Lifting the restrictions imposed by our former parent company also makes it possible for us to go after new sponsor and partnership opportunities that were never an option before.

I may not actually own Young Money but I am now more personally invested in the future success of the company than ever before. If the business prospers, then I will profit equally along with the rest of our team. If our venture fails, then we will all be looking for new jobs soon. Knowing how much is on the line gives me a rush of excitement and a strong sense of urgency. This fresh start made me recall what I felt like right after graduating college when my spirits were sky high and the possibilities seemed endless.

Of course, being part of a startup does mean that you also wind up having a large workload. Does that challenge discourage me at all? No way! That’s because our new owners are just as passionate as I am about Young Money’s core mission of changing the way young adults earn, manage, invest and spend money.

I really believe we are building something special here and I’m eager to see how quickly we can grow in the near future. I also think that I’ll be able to understand entrepreneurship from a completely different perspective as a result of this experience. I’ve finally joined the entrepreneurs’ club and it feels pretty good to me.

I just wanted to let my regular readers know that I’ll be taking a break from the blog for a week because I’m getting married this Saturday, March 3rd. But don’t worry, dear friends. I’ll be running a pre-scheduled “Best of Young Money” financial tip each day during my absence along with quotes from well-known personalities that have previously appeared in Young Money. Maybe when I get back from honeymooning I’ll write about the challenges of sticking to a wedding budget. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the tips featured next week.

I recently came across a list of the top ranked financial websites for 18- to 34-year-olds for the year 2007. Hitwise, an Internet data tracker, listed Forbes.com as the top ranked destination followed by discount online brokerage ShareBuilder and Fidelity Investments’ 401k.com.

It would seem obvious that there are vast differences between the money management needs and interests of an 18-year-old versus a 34-year-old but I won’t argue that Forbes, which is associated with the similarly-named personal finance magazine, provides excellent editorial content and interactive tools. However, the website mostly targets high income earners so I can’t imagine too many college-age users falling in that category.

I understand why young investors would be drawn to ShareBuilder since account holders may purchase partial shares of stock, thus allowing new investors to try their hands at investing. As a Young Money advertiser ShareBuilder also markets special offers for young adults. However, the website is solely dedicated to investing which leaves out a lot of other important financial topics. The same criticism can be said for 401k.com.

So what are the best financial websites for 18- to 24-year-olds? Well, there really aren’t much to choose from. There’s Young Money which focuses mainly on careers, entrepreneurship, investing and credit and debt. I think we do a nice job with limited resources but our website could use more frequent content updates and better interactive financial tools for users.

There are other good financial websites geared for young adults such as the Wall Street Survivor stock market game (enter the promo YOUNG and get a 5,000 point bonus for signing up), and FastWeb.com, a scholarship search engine. Brass is another website worth checking out. But those sites are limited in the topics they cover. Unfortunately, most of the youth-oriented financial websites I found are actually targeted at young teens.

It’s hard for me to believe that there aren’t more quality sites targeting the college-age market. Are there some good financial websites I don’t know about? If so, please share the ones you recommend with our readers.

Some of you may be seeking employment right now so I wanted to share my recent experiences in the job hunting arena. My job at Young Money magazine is secure now but I had started looking for other opportunities late last year because of workplace uncertainty and the threat of possible layoffs. From mid-October until the end of March, I sent off about 30 resumes to job postings for which I was qualified and contacted everybody I knew to ask them if they had any employment leads.

I wanted to remain in Orlando so I realized that would severely limit my job options. However, I figured with my job experience and academic background that it would only be a matter of time before I got a few job interviews. Boy was I wrong. I didn’t get a single call from an employer in 5 1/2 months except for a financial services company who invited me to a group interview. I went to the interview out of curiosity but quickly decided that I wasn’t interested in changing careers. I had underestimated how bad the job market is right now.

Fortunately for me, I actually practice what I preach regarding money management so I didn’t panic when I was eventually laid off in mid-February. My wife and I had saved enough funds to continue paying our bills even if my former employer had not offered to pay me any severance. I also have a wife who works full-time so that helped relieve the financial pressure until the new owner of Young Money called offering me my old job back.

There’s one part of my story that I left out and it concerns a call I received from a career placement service. I must confess that I thought a placement service was the same as a job agency– a service that offers free help to job seekers. In turns out that a placement service actually charges you a fee to have a consultant organize your job search and to let you search their job bank. My first reaction was to ask, “You expect unemployed people who are probably strapped for money to pay you a fee in order to help them find a job?”

The director at the career placement service said that employers no longer need to pay agencies or headhunters because they are getting hundreds of applicants for each classified ad they post. He also told me to call him when I got tired of having my job applications rejected. I’m not an expert on job hunting but his sales pitch sounded crazy to me. Why should I pay a dime for his services when there are hundreds of free job websites, message boards, business networking meetings, etc. that I could use to help my job search? Am I the only one who thinks this way?

I have no plans to hire a career placement service even if I find myself unemployed again. I don’t even know what they charge. But I’m open to hear other people’s opinions on this issue. Maybe somebody can convince me that these services are worth the expense.

This marks my second week telecommuting from home now that I no longer work at the magazine’s office. I’m a social person by nature who enjoys bouncing ideas off co-workers so working alone will definitely take some getting used to. It’s not that I can’t do everything I need to here in my home office. I just have to guard against distracted by temptations like the TV, Web surfing, and the strong urge to go outside and enjoy the beautiful Florida weather.

Don’t think that I’m complaining. After all, I like having the freedom to run an errand or visit the gym break anytime I please. Not driving to work also means I can save money on gas and by eating lunch at home everyday. But I do miss the office chatter, the water cooler talk and lunching with friends. I know a guy who works from home so maybe I’ll ask him for telecommuting tips. Dilbert tried telecommuting once then he grew a 5 o’clock shadow, gained weight and experienced a hair disaster all in one day. Could that happen to me? Give me a few more weeks and we’ll see what happens.

It’s been six weeks since my last blog post but the reason is not because I’ve been busy. On the contrary, our office got shut down while our parent company negotiated terms for the sale of the print magazine and website back to its original founder. The staff was sent home and we weren’t allowed to explain our sudden disappearance to our readers so I apologize for that. I also apologize for the long delay in publishing our Feb/Mar issue which is finally being printed tomorrow. That issue is now scheduled to start arriving on college campuses by late April.

The good news is that we are now ready to move forward with our main mission of educating young adults about personal finance. The sale of magazine has been finalized and it is now owned and operated by Young Money Media, LLC, and yours truly will continue to serve as the managing editor. I’d like to thank our former owner, InCharge Education Foundation, for their support over the past six great years. I’m excited about the future as we plan to continue growing the publication and helping our readers improve their finances by covering issues such as credit and debt, money management, investing, careers, car buying, travel, technology and entrepreneurship.

I’ll be telling you more about upcoming changes at Young Money over the next few months that we hope will benefit our audience. We think that the magazine is only going to get bigger and better so I hope you’ll come along for the ride.