Show Me the Savings! How to Save With Little to No Effort

Today we'll talk a little bit about some super easy ways to either put money back into your pocket or have it never leave there to begin with. 

Each of these items are something we do in our household now or have in the past. None of them are very painful and some you won't even notice you're doing...

• Use Coupons - yes a topic near & dear to my heart. Even if you just use a 2 for 1 coupon at the dry cleaners one time, you'll have that extra $2.50 or so still in your pocket..

• Eat at Home. I know, who wants to cook. BUT, if you add up how much it costs to "just grab a burger" or "pick up that pizza", you'll be shocked. Save the dining out for a single night a week or special occasions. It'll be worth it healthwise & pocketwise.

• When you do dine out, skip the drinks. Water is FREE at restaurants & healthy...

• Do away with the soda habits. I know I'm banging on that "HEALTHY" drum again, but good old H20 is a much, much better choice in all ways.

• Keep the Change! This is one we've done for years. We're saving up to go to Scotland for a special wedding anniversary. We've been putting our pennies, nickels and dimes in a 5 gallon water jug. It's so heavy right now I can't move it! Every time it gets full-ish, we cash it in and put that money into a special savings account. By the time that anniversary rolls around, it'll be completely paid for - in change!

• Open an online savings account - stick just $20 in it every week and you'll have $1040 (+INTEREST) in it at the end of just one year. That's a thousand bucks that you won't know you're saving. If you have it done as an automatic deposit, you'll never miss that twenty dollar bill you don't see.

• Get rid of the cable bill. We get over 25 channels on FREE broadcast TV and subscribe to Netflix over the internet (using our Xbox as a receiver). Our total cost? $9.99 per month. We never run out of things to watch.

• Negotiate for a better price with your phone carrier. I call mine regularly to see what kinds of specials they have and ask them to lower my bill. I've been a customer for decades and I remind them of that when I call. They can usually find something to help save me some money.

• Watch for Free Admission days to parks, museums and many other attractions. Especially as it gets near their busy seasons, they will have special days.

What can you think of to add to this list? I'd love to hear from you.