What are some ways that you've cut back your budget?

What my boyfriend and I did to save money was to cut back on our eating out and date nights.. we still have dates, but we just stay at his home or our home and watch DVDs or play game consoles.. it's still fun and there are no costs involve for us. Lol.

we would love to do that but my hubby just lost his job, so our debt will have to stay there for a bit. i christmas shop all year round (especially after christmas!) you can get great gifts! if i see something that is good for one person, i buy it - why wait? i also make a lot of gifts (and cards and tags) and sell some. use your local library! not only can you get books there, but movies, cds, dvds and more! shop in thrift stores! its amazing what you can find there from brand new things (tag in tact) and antiques! plan a menu for two weeks and only shop for those groceries needed. always shop with a grocery list and stick to it.

You can wash your laundry in all cold water to save money. Also my husband is a big fan of only using one or two lightbulbs in ceiling fan lights or rooms that have a bunch of flourescent lights. We have a mirror in our bathroom that has about 8 lightbulbs now we are down to only 2 that are turned on.

Well first of all I only buy things I need not what I want. I cancelled my newspaper since I can get all the news from the computer. I cut down on putting the air on during the summer and I will do the same for the heat in the winter. I have all new light bulbs throughout my house which is suppose to save on energy. I brought the new top loader washing machine to save on water. When food shopping I'm using more coupons then ever. Plus I make a menu for each day of the week for two weeks. Buying only what I need. I also shop on a full stomach. Shopping while hungry is bad at least for me it is. I'm trying to find a less espensive cable company because 65.00 a month is to much to be paying for TV to me. The other thing is I use my dishwasher ever other day.

hi dorannmwin,i try to save mony through different ways,like cutting the times to go shopping clothes and shoes,buying food and necessity in local market instead of supermarket,avoding eating food at restaurant but haveing dinner at home,not spending holiday on travel but staying at home.

Well, the important ways that I did to cut back my budget is I manage my budget wisely such as eating into non-expensive restaurant or bring a pack lunch when I go to work and stop buying things which is not important for your daily needs.

I've been running around making sure every light or electrical thing is shut off that's not being used. I run the washer, dryer and dishwasher at different times. I cut all the extra cable channels that I could that aren't in the basic plan. If I can get a ride somewhere with someone else, I do (we don't have public transportation available to us here) I've turned the temp to the hot water heater down. I buy bigger packages of cereal, family packs of meat, and split that kind of stuff up into portions when I get home. The cereal I put two cups into zip lock bags, the cereal isn't dumped into a bowl and wasted and it doesn't get stale from someone leaving the box open. The meat, I portion out for how ever much I'm going to use per meal and freeze the rest. I've gotten a big turkey and cooked it and made a lot of different meals out of it and do the same with a ham, I get it when it's on sale. I've been checking into coupons and trying to get through the weekly fliers that come in the mail and match up the sales with the coupons and see what stores have double coupons.

We do cut a lot of eating out also. Try not to go far with the car to save some gas. not to go to movie too often..and yes try to get my hand on any coupun I can get. Really pay attention to groceries weekly flyer, it really help cutting the groceries bill.

When my son and I watch tv at night, we don't turn on any lights. We just have the tv on. I also have cut out my gym membership. I don't drive home for lunch (6 miles), but bring an apple and a sandwich to work and eat at my desk. Otherwise, I either went home or went to Wal Mart and usually ended up spending money. I have asked the credit card companies to put me on a payment plan and have quit using the credit cards. Good luck!

well i m too young and as yet only get pocket money, but i m a good girl (mostly) and am always thinking of ways to save money, so i could spend it on some things that i cant afford usually. i try to save on fuel. i would walk to places that are close to my home, etc. drive at a consistent speed, that saves fuel too. try to let go of the lever a little before u know you have to turn. similar things. i also save on eating out. i also think about ways to get some extra income. this should work. and if u want to buy something new, like clothes, accessories, gadgets, etc, always plan for them, as in saving money out of your usual expenses, rather than going right out and buying them. and also truthfully think about whether u really, truly need whatever the thing is...

Being aware of your income to outgo ratio is the first thing on my list. I am a bit analytical, I have a list of expenses and a list of income. Once it is all in front of you, you can see what you spend where and why. I don't know too much about your situation, but if you are willing to spend a little to save a lot, you could try reducing your heat cost, by changing the thermostat like you mentioned, but also running a bead of silicone on the outside and inside of all your windows. Insulating your electrical outlet on the outside wall of your house(I lived in a house, where you could feel a draft through the outlet.) Getting your heat system checked out, upgrading your furnace/hotwater tank, installing solar panels...the last few cost a fair amount but end up paying for themselves in saved utilities. You could save your rain water for lawn care, If you live in city, you could take better use of public transit. I have a friend, he is a free lance photographer, he worked in Calgary a few years back, and one year he decided to park his vehicle and take only buses and cabs, it saved him 3700Z$ between maintenance and insurance etc.

I do all my grocery shopping online as this helps avoid the temptation of special offers in the supermarket! It also helps you see exactly how much you are spending. I try to buy the cheapest, value brands where possible and for most products they are fine and actually very good value. I use stores with loyalty cards when I can as the rewards come in very handy at the end of the month. I have really cut back on clothes shopping and look in charity shops a lot more - I got a brand new pair of jeans for £3 a short while ago, they would have cost about £25 in a regular store! The internet is great for saving money, finding free samples, getting vouchers from sites like mylot. It is also a great way to compare prices of things you need to buy. Cooking at home is way cheaper than going out. Taking a packed lunch to work saves a lot of money. Don't throw food out as soon as it reaches its use-by date, most things are fine for about a week after, or try freezing them. If you see staples such as bread reduced in the supermarket buy it and freeze it to use later. Pay a little off all your bills when you can, it is easier than a big bulk payment and it is surprising how much difference a few pence here and there can make.

Firstly, I think you should cut the usage on credit cards. Secondly, budget on the things you spend. Thirdly, you should only buy items you required and never buy more or extras. Fourthly, plan ahead of time what is important and what isn't. Fifth, try not to waste things. It's just some of the ideas i thought of. Most important is controlling your spending. If you can control it, then it's quite easy to be able to save up money and clear up your debts

I'm a commuter and one way to save money is to slow down. I don't track it as close as a co-worker who drives a Prius. He has a read-out that shows his MPG as he drives and says that by driving 55 to 60 in the slow lane, he gets way better than the average miles per gallon out of his car. I have found that if I drive slower, I can get another 40 miles or so out of a tank of gas, which would (for me) be about 22mpg instead of 20mpg. I also carry my lunch to work and keep food on the shelf at work so I'm not tempted to go out and buy anything. I have a rice cooker, so we eat a lot of rice. A piece of chicken, vegetables and rice or potato makes a nice inexpensive dinner.

now my wife and I also find the way to cut back our budget and repay our house load, one of the way we used is reducing the frequecy to shopping at supermaket, don't use branded items, cut back expensive shopping, eg LCD TV, new laptop and new smart phone,,etc. maybe this vary from different family.

One of the things I do to cut back on costs is to keep myself from using my credit card to buy stuff. I used to have a credit card in my wallet, but now I keep it inside my closet so I won't give in to impulse buying. I'm also controlling my Christmas shopping. Instead of giving a gift to each relative, I plan to make something - like a small cake - for each family, something they could share with each other.

I have been holding on tight to stick to the budget. No more eating out in fastfoods. rather I get some ingredients and cook some fastfood like food at home. I have not done any shopping for clothes except when there's a special event. Then I keep sure that I put off lights and gadgets when they're not in use because the people at home tend to forget to switch off unnecessary lights, etc. Week end get aways are limited too.

Dear dorannmwin, We can cut back expensive shopping for clothes and accessories, cut back executive class while traveling, avoiding branded items, unnecessary things and we can spend more for our kids than for ours.... So, that they might be happy without any any knowledge of the situations.... This is my 2 cents... Cheers.. Have a nice day always....

we have similarly done what u are doing now to loosen the budget. we are now minimizing eating out and maximize discipline in buying on impulse. we limit our trips to the mall as it is when we buy something which we don't really need but really managed to buy. as for me, we have cut down our no. of dishes each meal. we are now down to 2 or one dish (aside from rice) per meal from the usual 3 dishes in the past. we are taking the public conveyance (jeepneys for us), instead of using the car daily and taxicabs. the children bring lunch from home and save money in buying from the school canteen. my daughter and i minimize our trip to the beauty saloon and clean/color our fingernails ourselves while i dye my hair myself. we also switch off the refrigerator other nights in a week and do the same with the electric water pump. we make sure that any faulty faucet connection is fixed as it would be a waste of water/electricity if water continually drips from it. there are a lot of little things that we can do at home which will save us money and still i am looking into at lot of things to save more. God bless!

Hi friends. At my house we are trying to lower our electric and phone bills. In the beginning it was quick fixes like not leaving appliances on when you leave a room (TV, radio etc). Now as we get better and better at saving on electricity it's harder to find new ways. The phone bill is cut by using the internet instead, as the internet bill has a fixed amount. We have even "taught" our parents to communicate with us through Messenger, and we seldom use the phone these days.