Turn down your heat or air conditioning. Turn down the hot water heater. Only full loads in your washer, dryer and dishwasher. Turn off lights. Buy those fluorescent bulbs. Take showers, not baths (less hot water). Take public transportation, drive less and plan out your trips. Think about a nice used and fuel efficient car. Be sure your tires are filled and your air cleaner is clean. When shopping, concentrate on things on sale, buy them in bulk if on sale. Any time you want to buy anything ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” If the answer is no or you’re not sure, don’t buy it. Good luck!

Check out thrift stores and flee markets, some times you can find brand new things at 1/4 the price. Remove any wants and focus only on needs. Make a deal with yourself to save a certain amount of money every week or month. Buy in bulk when possible and freeze. Look for free options for entertainment, such as playing games at home. walking in the park, free art shows, free dance classes. No paper towels or napkins, use cloth ones and wash them. No paper plates or plastic of any sort. Save all grocery bags and re-use for garbage. Save shoe boxes for storage. Drink more water, less soda and stuff like that. Buy things fresh when possible.

Start putting aside some money everyday forcefully. Keep 3 envelopes. All for some positive purposes - say for holidays, for making bigger house or for bigger car. Don’t break that habit. When money crosses some limit - put it in a bank. That is saving. This only comes by habit. form it….

Keep a journal of everything you spend.
If you put change in the coke machine- write it down.

Mark each expense according to category (gas, food, rent, clothes, shelter, utilities, entertainment, stupidity).

Yes…stupidity is a category. “We all have things we spend our money on that are just flat out stupid. When you start tracking your stupid stuff and see how it adds up at the end of the month, you will be less likely to spend your money in stupid ways next month.” You’re Broke Because you Want to Be. How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead by Larry Winget.

Lots of tips at the websites below.

You have to start thinking S-M-A-R-T. What kind of cutbacks can you make? For example: I drink bottled water. Now at $1 a bottle on something that covers 70% of our planet is not smart. So I bought one of those water filters that screw into your faucet. I have bottles that I refil over and over again. I take them to work. Do you have a lot of small appliances around that house that are always on? I cut my electronic bill almost in half by unplugging all the clock radios and night lights. I also bought some of those florescent bulbs that look a lot like a regular bulb. These things use 80% less electricity than regular bulbs. You would be surprised, but these small things add up. I know I was spending money on the water filter and energy efficient bulbs but these things will pay for themselves in a month providing they pertain to you. If you really need the money right away start cutting back on your food costs. Romain noodles cost a dime and they taste just as good as campbells chicken noodle that costs $130 a can. Ok no chicken in romain noodles, but you are probably just missing about 4 tiny pieces of chicken. .Before you know it you will be ahead. And remember you have to start thinking S-M-A-R-T!

Because we are semi retired, we have begun to look for ways to save $$ like a lot of other people our age.

We signed up with our power and light company for their electricity sharing program which gives us back about $150.00 a year–that’s 4 tires, or 5 tanks of gas.

We put a timer on our hot water heater so that we have very hot water twice a day–and then the heater turns off. NO sense heating and reheating the same water 24 hours a day when it only gets used when we shower and run our dishwasher.

We discovered that it costs approximately $7.00 a month to run our paddle fans 24/7, so now we only turn them on in the rooms that we are going to be spending time in.

We plan our trips and shopping so that we can do as much as possible in one day. We only take one car out in a day, when possible. Both of our vehicles are fuel efficient. We keep them in good repair because we don’t want any nasty surprises and we plan to keep them for quite awhile.

NO FAST FOOD! We only go out to eat on special occasions.

Plan your meals before you shop and ONLY buy what it is on the list. Make as many meals in advance as you can and freeze them.

Most people don’t know it, but all kinds of companies have overruns of their products. Go to a Dollar Store and look at their off brands and look at the ingredients of the name brands and you will see that they are the same, but you can really save by buying the non brand item. For instance: dish washing detergent and dishwasher detergent. Dryer sheets.
Softeners. Cleansers. Light bulbs. Glass cleaner. Bleach.
There are a lot of items including food items that you can buy at a dollar store that will work very well as they are not inferior, they are just not branded items.

Cereal, spray starch, kitty litter, pet food, greeting cards, personal products, candles, cosmetics, health care items, paper goods, the list is endless, as we have discovered. Even oil for our cars.

Don’t drink bottled water. It costs more than gas by the gallon now.

Use cloth diapers instead of disposable. Use fabric towels instead of paper.

Make sure that the filter on your AC is changed every month.

Be sure that you have no dripping faucets, shower heads or running toilets. Only water your lawn three times a week during growing time. Make sure that your sprinklers are calibrated and that you water between the hours of 7:00 and 9:00 AM for the best affect.

Use blinds or other heat reflecting materials on you windows.

Invest in a convection toaster oven for small baking jobs. Why heat your large oven for a few baked potatoes, biscuits, cornbread, a meatloaf, brownies, cookies, or other small batches of things when a small oven will do the job?

Wear mostly clothing that doesn’t require dry cleaning. Use powdered milk for cooking, make meals from scratch instead of prepared foods–no preservatives and a healthier choice. Purchase generic brands of OTC items in your pharmacy. Buy children’s cloths at gently used stores–they don’t wear them long enough to wear them out when they are young, anyway.

If possible, ride a bicycle to do short errands. Go to public parks to play with your children instead of amusement parks.

Of course, couponing is good, but you have to be very diligent with it because it is a discipline. Look into the water saver type shower heads and water saver toilet flushing devices. Time yourself for your showers. Ten minutes is ample time to shampoo and shower. If you have enough yard to do it, hang your washed clothes on a clothes line. You will love the difference–and it will definitely save on your electric bill.

No one thing will make the difference, but if you institute change across the board, you will begin to see savings. And though they may seem small at first, it mounts up over time.

You can get free stuff and discount tips and information on MogulList.com the have links to everything!

I just called T-mobile and reduced my monthly minutes’ plan. Last month, I cancelled my text messaging plan with them as well.