The Financial Crisis Support Group

Try unplugging all your appliances and tv out of the sockets. It still uses energy even if it's turned off. I saw this on Oprah. This lady saved a 100 in a month.

Find out where a discount grocer is in your area or within reasonable driving distance! This has saved me a BUNDLE without having to cut back on the meals we enjoy.

Also My Husband gives me a certain amt of CASH out of his paycheck to run the household. No checks or credit cards except for when we are on trips or the occasional online purchase.

Hey! Thanks for the idee about freecycle! I'm going to check it out right now.

A little while back, we changed all the lightbulb in our house to the compact florescents. Also, I started doing laundry in cold water only. The sad news is, since the elcectric rats went up. I only seen 1 month of savings here. But, I did not see an increase either. That is good too!

One thing I do when I go food shopping is I always check the marked down spots in each department. I save a ton of money on produce that's been marked down and it's still fairly fresh. The same for breads and canned goods. I also only use the coupons for stuff I actually use and I always ask at check-out if they take competitor coupons which they usually do.

Aslo, check out the thrift stores. I have one where all proceeds go to the local Humane Society, and I have bought brand new appliances, some clothing, lawn furniture, pet carriers, etc for 10c on the dollar. (I have also bought original art for less than $10--and some really good stuff!) :)

Also unplugging appliances, lights, etc.. (Saw Oprah).

Craigslist.org - and locate your state/city. This is a great site for buying/selling and free stuff.

Just finished replacing windows in house, so that should help with costs this winter.

Turning off lights in rooms. Always done that though.

Wood stove - for those that have it. These are great to save money on heating the house. We use it 98% of the time. Would be a great investment for those that can do it.
We get FREE wood, from local areas. Friends of friends, or checking out craigslist for "free wood".

Try trading/bartering with others. We were just talking about that today. I need "massage" to help with my fibromylagia pain. I am going to talk to her to at least trade one of them a month, with either work for her (design to sell her organic stuff), or hubby work on their car(s).

great post.

I guess the main thing for us has been, everything you spend $ on, ask yourself, on an on-going basis: is there a cheaper way to do it?

we rotate phone services and insurance companies every so often and find we can usually get a better deal simply by looking.

I started turning off my large MAC computer every night (even though it usually "rested") and switched out those lightbulbs and saved about $50 a month.

turn the heat down a couple of degrees and wear a sweater and after a while you get used to it.

only run the dishwasher or laundry machines when completely at full capacity.

hang some things to dry instead of using the dryer.

use basic cleaning components like baking soda, vinegar and oils to clean with.

buy clothing at Goodwill or on ebay (when no one else is interested)

don't try to keep up with the joneses. it's a never ending race. I give up!

Hi, we have freecycle here too, and it is great. The problem here is that there are soooo many people on the list, that it is absolutely impossible to get anything, usually stuff is taken the minute it is posted so you really need to be watching it. I posted a wanted ad for something and got no responses at all. However, we have been working on cleaning and simplifying our house, and I have given away quite a few things - that works great as it is nice to know the items are going where they are needed.

A suggestion - If you have Farmer's markets in your area those are wonderful (at least the one here is), it's usually much less expensive and tastes better than items in the store. We supplement our Farmer's Market items with a few things from costco, and it helps us save a bit though I still feel like our food budget is too high.

I do favours for people like babysitting, cleaning or let them borrow my car when I can, Ihave £4 a month to spare for clothes, presents and luxury items but I've found helping people reaps lots of rewards! This week alone I have been given 4 steaks, a car load of wood for my fire, 6 pairs of jeans, a bottle of wine, a pack of tobacco and some cigarrettes. I dont do it for the reward but if i help people out I sometimes get something back which is a great bonus and a help! Especially for luxury items.
I also have 4 chickens and a veg patch. With 3 kids and a husband doing 2 jobs and me in uni full time I think anyone can find a spare bit of time to help people and maybe get a treat back!!!
Also this week I got a set of bookshelves out of someone else's rubbish! Be resourceful its fun!
Take care everyone x x x

A good site in the uk is www.gumtree.co.uk which is very much like freecycle. I've changed all my lightbulbs for energy saving ones, turn off ( not standby) all electrical equipment when not in use, asked my bank to put a limit on my debit card ( I can only spend $10 a day on it), use loyalty/reward cards when ever I can, coupons and using the bus a lot (I sold my car as I couldn't afford to keep it.).