The recession taught consumers to be cautious and frugal with their money. Fortunately for businesses, the economy is turning around and consumers are beginning to open their pocket books. According to new data from the National Retail Federation, Americans are becoming more generous with their spending habits, even with small luxury items.

Learning how to manage money is a common problem for many people. Unfortunately, this often leads to money management problems in businesses.

Who doesn’t like a good discount? For this reason, Anita Campbell, the founder of Small Business Trends, recently wrote about 5 ways businesses could save money with discounts. They apply to both online and offline businesses and are sometimes found in surprising places.

As awareness for open source software increases, people are realizing its wide array of uses. Small businesses are even seeing that it can be used as a valid replacement for some software that they currently pay for. Two very prominent perks of open source software for small businesses are that it is less expensive and easier to maintain.

How do you know if you are charging too much or too little for your products or services? Since determining the right price is a difficult task for businesses, SBN offers some tips that might make the process easier.

When businesses try to cut costs, they sometimes think their only option is to cut budgets. However, there are many expenses that businesses can cut right in their own office. Business consulting expert Ken Gaebler of Gaebler Ventures even said that office expenses can amount up to as much as 5 percent of total revenues for small businesses.