New ideas

Simply plan and spend instead of being impulsive. Besides you may consider the following: Traveling less unless it is much needed. Restaurant is an absolute no no - or may be only once in a week. Read more using free online resources, or subscribe to free news feeds instead of paying for magazines. Make a monthly/weekly kitchen planner. Shop for groceries in bulk - this really saves a lot. Try re-cycling your staff instead of buying brand new item always. Set a maximum limit to the amount of money you can spend per day. If you cross the limit, then try to balance the extra amount in the next day. Look for discounts offered by retail stores if you at all need to make a purchase. Overall, it needs a day-to-day monitoring to keep things going under a tight budget.

I have been eating out less and cooking a lot more. I have bought some "own brand" supermarket products and most of them have been really good to my surprise. I have also stopped buying things we do not need. I only buy something now if we are running out. I sold my car a month ago, so we are making do with one now and it is saving us a lot of money. The petrol for it and the insurance was quite high so now we only have one car to worry about. I would say only buy things that are really essential to us. No luxuries for a few months. We will all learn something from these hard times.

I have one tip. When heating your house in the winter time, close the doors or close off with a blanket all the rooms you are not using. This will cut your heating bill noticibly. Since your heater isn't trying to run overtime to heat those extra rooms, it will come on less and save you money.

THERES INFLATION AND ECONONOMIC CRISES.I DO CUT CUT DOWN ON MY CELL PHONE BILL by callimg less and using the text facility more.and i dont use my vehicle much.whenever possible,i use the local means of transport.

Oh there are any number of ways that you can reduce your outgoings Anne but it does take some inner strength, at least initially that is. For a start try to buy in bulk and only once a fortnight, as the more times you go to the supermarket or shops, the more money that you will spend. Why? Because you see something that might be cheap and so you get it eventhough you can manage quite well without it. Work out what meals you want to have for the coming fortnight and then write out your shopping list before you leave home. You only buy what is on the shopping list or if you buy something that is not on the list, it can only be to replace something that you do not buy. Set yourself a limit, i.e. you will only spend say $200 (or whatever) and that is for all the food and drinks that you will use in the fortnight. If you run out of anything, then you just do without it until the next shopping trip. When it comes to grocery shopping, make sure that you have had a meal before you go because you are less likely to impulse buy if you have a full stomach. Check to see if the supermarket marks down goods at a certain time on a certain day and try to plan you shoppping for that time. Example is that one supermarket in the town where we do most of our bulk shopping actually marks things down around 7.00 pm eevry night. We only shop once every couple of months but certainly make sure we are at that particular supermarket around 7.00 pm to get what bargains we can. The only exceptions to money spent from the allocated budget would be essential medical supplies. Also if someone in the family has a special dietary requirement for health reasons, then you might need to buy those items before the fortnight is up. Write down in a notebook everything that you spend and it should be EVERYTHING as thay way you can track if there is anything that you can stop buying and therefore save a bit of extra money. Make sure that you and your husband each have a few dollars each week that is yours to spend as you wish. Neither you nor your husband is "accountable" to the other for how that money is actually spend. It does not need to be a lot of money but just enough say a cup of coffee each day. At the same time if you forgo buying that coffee each day, within a couple of months you will have the money for a splurge. Whilst you do need to budget and save as much money as you possibly can, there still have to be some fun in life which is why you need that little bit of pocket money each. Only buy new clothes if and when they are absolutely needed. When that happens, check out the local Thrift Shop to see what they have available, before going and spending a lot of money. If you are good at sewing, then they might have some cheap clothes in good condition that you are able to alter without too much trouble. Also check if there is any particular day of the week when they have specials, i.e. $1-00 rack of items. One shop near us has a markdown day on a Tuesday, so that is the ideal way to shop at the Thrift Shop. Christmas is nearly here now so it is too late for this year but you can start planning ahead for 2009, which is both birthdays and Christmas. It all depends on your talents and who you buy for of course but if you are at all craft minded or can sew, then think about making some of the presents. Alternatively you can do some cooking, i.e biscuits/cookies or candies etc .. whatever you can do well is perfectly acceptable. These sorts of things are much better than a bought gift as the present will have been made with love and at the same time, you are saving money. Last but not least Anne is possibly the hardest one of all. First you do your shopping say today, then again in 14 days but the next time it is 15 days between trips to the shop. Each time you go shopping you put it back for one day until you are shopping only once a month. You have a freezer I have noted from some of your previous discussions, so it can be utilised very well to save you money. WE have found there is very little that cannot be frozen and used as fresh once it is defrosted. Good luck with the budget and hope there are some ideas here which are of use to you Anne.

Well, I make Christmas presents every year, almost all my gifts are hand made or from at least kits. I think that is one way that people can save. And to pick up gifts all year long at sales and such to give as gifts. Even saw one person suggest getting spa type gifts after Christmas to give during the year or for next year.

I have cut back on most things, but suddenly I begin to ask myself if this is adding to a vicious circle. If people don't buy things, then those people who have jobs will lose them as their companies go broke, meaning that more money is being held out of the economy. I am not saying that people should start spending a lot of money, but does anybody really have the answer to it? I certainly don't because it is on such a massive scale. Business needs customers to give some of those customers jobs. Has money really disappeared? Someone has it surely? :-) Derek

haha.. Saving on transport is the best way, especially saving on cabs or even buses when it's just a short journey away.. hehe ^_^ For me, if i'm going to somewhere which is just about 10mins ride away, i will prefer to walk even though it takes me 40 mins to reach.. lol I see it as a way to keep myself healthy and save on my fares too.. Just 2 trips a day for mon to fri, i will be able to save myself $10.. lol =D

One thing I started doing is making my own laundry soap. This recipe lasts me a few months. When you consider that you could spend like $50 in laundry soap in the same time frame you would use this laundry soap mixture, you could possibly save some big money there. It only costs a dollar or so, once you do the cost break down for each receipe make up. Like anything, there's a cost to get started, but afterward, it's pennies to make the stuff.

One thing i have always done is save reciepts. At the end of the month i go through all of them to see how much i money i spent and what im spending it on. This way i can see where i need to cut myself back. At one time i spent as much eating out as i did on grocerys. Seeing is believing. Wasnt till i added that up that i even realized i was doing that.

i try to run all my errands at one time. keep all the lights turned off in the house except for the room i'min. pot on more clothes so i can keep the heat turned down.

I've done things to save money but I did it more because I didn't want to WASTE money. I've started hanging my laundry outside to dry (at least on good days when it's not raining or too cold). That saves a TON of money since clothes dryers use sooooo much energy! If you must use a dryer, you can get a filter that goes over the end of the vent to let that warm air circulate in your house instead of going outside, when it's cold outside. That extra heat helps save on energy costs. In the summer, I have fans running in whatever room I'm in. We have central air conditioning and use it, but with the fans, we don't have to set the thermostat so low. We usually keep it around 77 or 78 degrees. That saves a lot of money, too. If I feel too warm, I take a cool bath or shower. We have three TVs in our house and I unplug whichever ones are not being used. Keeping them plugged into an electrical outlet uses money even when they're turned off! Air conditioners (window units), radios, cell phone chargers, they all use electricity when they're plugged in. Unplugging whatever you're not using will make a noticeable difference in your electric bill! I make my own compost. I used to buy bags of compost or garden soil. Now, I make my own, which costs nothing. It also helps to keep the trash to a minimum. We burn magazines, junk mail, newspapers, etc. in our fire pit. If we had a fireplace, I'd be burning it in there, instead. I bought a "paper log maker" that makes tight 'logs' out of newspapers to burn in a fireplace. I give them to my son, who has a fireplace. Before going grocery shopping, if there is a particular item that I want to buy, and it's a name brand because there is no store brand, I go to that brand's website. They often have coupons online that you can print out and take to the store with you. I've saved many, many dollars that way! If I feel like cooking something like soup, I'll cook 2 gallons of it and freeze about half. I put it in containers that will hold at least 2 meals' worth so all we have to do is pull it out, thaw it and stick it in the microwave. It's a LOT cheaper than buying canned soup! Hmmm, I think that's about it. If I can remember any more ways I save money, I'll post it here.

Going back to the barter system is my contribution to this discussion. I want something and you have what I want so what will you trade for it? That's the barter system for those of you not familiar with it. Blessings

Some great ideas in this discussion...um I don't know if this will help, but even though times are ahead of us, no doubt many girls and (some) guys will still be heading to the department stores to buy the latest collections of clothing. So, for me, I say save and invest in the classics - a pair of great shoes, the trenchcoat (for winter and those odd rainy summer days), etc.... You can wear them throughout the whole year, save money because you are not continually creating an entire new wardrobe every six months and still have style. ;)

I don't know if you drive, but if you do my advice is, if at all possible, trade in those car keys a few days a week, and hop the city bus. It's cheaper than paying for gas, plus you save the planet. A win-win situation for all concerned.

Hi ya Anne18 Apart from getting energy saving lightbulbs, not leaving anything electrical on standby and using the dryer less I can't really think of anything else!

Sorry I'm just as stumped as you are I would love to hear some new ideas also I think we've almost seen and read everything but who knows maybe someone will have new discussion it might even be me, lol at least I'm hoping il think of something interesting but most of my topics are usually about things Iv always wanted to know or somthing I need help with, but yea it be nice to finly see a new and refreshing topic oh well its just another day in mylot land.

clip and using coupons is another way of saving. Or buying in bulk might help a little. I save little pieces of soap and put them in a container add a little water to make them soft and I use that for washing my hands. I keep it in the bathroom I just scoop a little out and rub my hands with it and wash as usual.

i am is a student . can you tell me some questions please. may i can make friend with you .i am come from china. where are you and what is you job . i am hope you response.

I don't know whether or not you have children or if you ever use a babysitter. If you do, one idea is to form a babysitting co-op with the other mothers in your neighborhood. What that means is that maybe three or four moms would get together and trade off babysitting days to help each other out. For instance, one mom would babysit all of the kids on Mondays, another mom on Tuesdays, etc. This way all the moms are getting free babysitting and gaining some extra time to do the things they need to do. Let's say for example that you had two or three days a week where you had free babysitting available then you could even get a part-time job if you chose to in order to earn a few extra dollars each week. Another idea is to establish a kids clothing trade-off. Again, you would form a group of moms who would pass hand-me-downs amongst each other for their kids. This works especially well when the kids are younger. Also, many churches take clothing donations and will then have a clothing swap or some other such event where people can get clothing for free.