1. Make my own bread in breadmaker. You can buy flour for pennies around Thanksgiving and Christmas. With the everlasting yeast recipe, I can make bread really cheaply. If you don't want to make your own bread, buy at the Thrift store where it is 1/3 the price.

2. Make my own yogurt. You just need to buy a 1lb. container for a starter. You only need a couple of tablespoons per batch. And then just keep saving a little to start the next batch.

3. Cook from scratch. It is much cheaper than convenience foods unless the packaged food is cheaper with a coupon.

4. Buy the majority of my meats at reduced price. I use less meat dishes alot also.
For ex: I only use 1/2 lb. of ground meat in helper and skiller dishes instead of the called for one lb.

5. We try to have at least 2-3 meatless meals a week. For Ex: Meatless spaghetti,
bean burritos, Chicken Caesar salad, mac and cheese, etc.

5. I use dry milk for all cooking and baking.

6. I use small appliances to cook. It saves a lot of money on the electric bills when you don't use the large oven and the stovetop. It is much cheaper to use crockpot, toaster oven, microwave, electric frypan, Geo. Foreman grill, electric steamer, Nesco oven etc. I use these appliances outdoors on the patio table when the a/c is on so as to not heat up the house. We also grill outdoors alot. Propane is cheap.

7. I always make sure the dishwasher is full before I run it. The same with the washing machine. I air dry the dishes and I try to hang as many loads of wash as possible instead of putting them in the dryer. If I do use the dryer, I dry on air only.
I use 1/3 the amount of called for detergent in the washing machine and 1/3 of a dryer sheet. I have made my own laundry detergent but right now I have so much free that I probably won't run out for another year. I also have about 3 years worth fo free dishwasher detergent.

8. I have cut my paper towel use down to about one roll every 6-8 weeks. We use a towel to dry hands. And I use rags to clean up messes. I drain bacon on paper bags. I use newspaper to clean windows.

9. We have switched as many table lamps as possible over to flourescent light bulbs. This is so less costly and they last for a few years.

10. When I do wash dishes in the sink, I draw the rinse water first and then fill up the other sink with wash water. That way I don't waste water while the water is warming up. I use the rinse water to water plants in my pots outdoors.

11. I take Navy showers when I can. It saves a lot of water.

12. I only buy snacks and soda with a coupon. I refuse to spend a lot of money on junk food that really has no nutritional value.

13. I keep the a/c on 78. That is cool enough and makes it bearable. It saves a lot more money than keeping it on 72. In the winter, we keep the heat on 72. I can't go any lower because DH is always cold.

14. I only run the pool when we are in it and then on a timer for 6 hours a day. We use no chlorine for the pool. We have a salt system. It was expensive but will eventually pay for itself. We have to add 2-40 lb. bags of salt a year(about $6, worth). The salt is so much better for your skin and hair.

15. The drip systems are on a timer to water the plants and trees every other day.

16. I try to run my errands in a circle thereby saving on gasoline. I fill up when it get down to 1/2 because the price seems to rise daily and this helps. I also make sure that our tires are properly inflated and that I don't carry around junk in the car that just adds weight to the car.

17. I did cost comparisons when I moved here and got the cheapest homeowners and car insurance policies for the coverage I wanted. I review these every year and look for cheaper rates just before renewals. I upped the deductibles to a $1000. which saves oodles of money. Insurance companies are cancelling people who put in small claims. So $1000. is a figure that I don't mind paying out of pocket if necessary.

18. I have basic telephone service with no extras like call waiting. I don't need all the extra costly services. I use my cell phone for long distance and always stay within the minutes of my plan.

19. We have cable plus and the movie tier for cable service. We had HBO for 3 weeks but the Cable Co. misquoted us the rates so we made them put us back. We only watched The Sopranos on HBO and I can buy it at the end of the season for $64. It would have cost us almost 3 times that for the year of HBO. I am also looking into DirectTV costs remembering that my Internet service will go up $15. a month if I cancel the Cable Co. I am considering getting rid of AOL. I liked it for the boards but very rarely use them anymore.

20. I never pay for magazines. I get them all free.