Tips on Saving Money

Lower the thermostat

Lowering your thermostat by about 10% for eight hours a day can shave 10% off your heating bill. If piling on extra layers of clothing doesn't appeal to you, close off most of the house and use portable electric space heaters in the rooms you are using. Turn down the thermostat at night and sleep better in a cool room. Best of all, install a programmable thermostat and let it automatically adjust your home's temperature according to your lifestyle.

Telephone/cell phone.

First, shop around for the best deal. Second, stay away from all the bells and whistles and just stick with the basic plan. Some people have opted to disconnect their land-line phone and use only a cell phone for all their calls. Since wireless carriers offer free long-distance, call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, voicemail and more, it can do the same job as a regular phone but for less since taxes and fees that can be fully 1/3 of your land-line phone bill are significantly less. And if you are tech savvy, perhaps one of the new VOIP services is right for you.

Cable networking.

If you have more than one computer in the home and are hooked up to cable modem or DSL, consider a wireless network to link all of your computers to the Internet instead of having multiple cable or DSL instlalations. This could save a bundle.

Shop at dollar stores

Shopping at dollar stores is downright fun. There are so many bargains, it's hard to NOT overspend. Laundry soap, cleaning supplies, school supplies, food products, everything for a fraction of the cost. And don't be surprised if you spot a local celebrity at one of these stores. The prices are so great even the rich shop here. (How do you think they became rich? By bargain hunting, naturally!)

Check the garbage.

A woman asked her teenage daughter to clean out her room. The daughter did just that filling two huge trash bags of thing she no longer wanted. Out of curiosity, the mother peeked into the bags and was shocked to find two perfectly good sweaters, half a dozen Barbie Dolls in perfectly good condition, old record albums, books, a lot of perfectly good items. The daughter did not realize that just because the items were no longer of interest to her, they might be to someone else. After talking to her daughter, the mother turned around and listed many of the items on Ebay and netted over $200 in profit. There just might be gold in all you unwanted "stuff."

Shop online for bargains.

The Internet has become a bargain hunters paradise. Not only do you save money on the items themselves, but you'll save wear and tear on yourself and your car, not to mention gas, by shopping online. Sites like PriceGrabber and NextTag.com help you find online bargain for almost anything you're looking for. That is not to say you shouldn't do some of your own bargain shopping. For example, if shipping charges are going to bring the price of an item above what you could purchase it for locally, but all means buy local. And remember, if you have to exchange something, you normally pay the shippping charges to return an item. So purchase only those items online that you are pretty certain you won't have to return, and look for FREE shipping offers whenever possible. Also, compare online prices with prices at a local store. Sometimes a local establishment will match an online price for the exact same item.