What's YOUR secret to saving money in every day little ways?

As a SAHM to 5 kids I have been saving money in little ways for 15 years. Its hasn't always been fun but it's been a challenge and I haven't had to tweek much with costs rising. Here are my thoughts and tips:

*I only take 1 trip a week out for any errands and weekly shopping...Its Thursday here since that is pay day :) I make a circle to complete my trip. Example: I start at the library (closest to my house), next the post office, then walmart (farthest away) then the dollar store, and last the grocery store (also closest to my house). My kids know that Milk and any extras like that have to wait the week because I refuse to go shopping again.

*I do a monthly shopping trip for groceries. I make sure I keep a running grocery list all month so I don't foget anything I need and anyone can add to the list...doesn't mean they will get it though LOL! We make a monthly menu and then I transfer what I will need for each meal onto the grocery list.

*I check the weekly store fliers...just because I can get a product for a dollar from the Dollar store doesn't mean that is always the cheapest. Pay close attention to the size of the product alot of times people will say that shampoo is on sale at such and such a store for 96 cents but the bottle I get at the dollar store ends up being larger.

*I do not buy processed foods amazing how much weight we have lost since I have started scratch baking/cooking and how much we save on our grocery bill! I feed our family of 7 on $450 a month and that is without using coupons and bag returns. I do use my own fabric bags for groceries and get a 5 cent credit per bag. Doesn't seem like a lot but ever little bit helps and its better for the environment

**tip for leftovers: I freeze our leftovers in single portion meals and then we can have "TV dinners" once a week. We call it restaurant night since you can "order" your meal and that keeps leftovers fun! I also make 1 meal a night my kids don't get special meals we all eat the same thing.

*I NEVER pay full price for clothing! We always shop sales and clearance racks and thats it. I got my daughter a beautiful dress for homecoming from JC Penny's. I bought it last night (homecoming was tonight) marked down from $109 to $35. In a week or 2 I will go back and buy her a dress for prom and it will probably cost me $7-$20.

I'm sure I will think of more but thats all I can think of now. I look forward to see others answers too!

Proud momma to 5

We are a family of 6 so our food bill can run kind of high. I found that if I made a menu of meals for the week or 2 then I knew exactly what I would need. I also check the grocery ads each week for any sales they might be having and I get whatever is on sale at each of the stores. I can usually save $75-150 that way. I'm not a huge coupon clipper and I wish I could prepare the meals ahead. That would be such a huge help but I've never really tried it. We also buy bulk at Sam's Club for our household items and some other stuff that is cheaper there.

Our cell phone service is very reasonable. We cut the movie channels out of the cable because we rarely watched them. We also switched to digital home phone service because it is generally cheaper than a regular home phone. We only have 1 vehicle, which makes it hard sometimes, but we somehow manage to work it out. To save gas, I also try to get all of our running around done in one trip (we live about 10 minutes from town). I am also on an energy saving plan that our electric company offers here and that saves us a bunch of money. We live in a very hot state and it is not possible to live without air conditioning.

A lot of people might think our life is dull because we don't do a lot of stuff or get to go on a lot of vacations, but we enjoy our life and our children. Sometimes it would be nice to have the extra money to get up and take a trip, but oh well. When we decide to go some place we plan it and save. :) We also do NOT have credit cards. If we don't have the money for it, we don't get it.

First Ill start by saying I may be only 18 but i am in charge of the food around my house.Make all the dinners and buy all the groceries (granted my mom pays for them) but I know how much food costs and its not getting any cheaper. So here is a list of things I liek to do to save money.

We have this great little store over here called Aldis, canned veggies are only 40 cents and cereal is only $1.79 per box(mind you there is no name brands but fruity os are just as good as fruit loops) we only go there about once a month

we also like to shop at Walmart(we have a super center) but we found that our grocery store has similar prices and better quality of food

i also look at the ad for the grocery store and make a meal plan, as well as consider every day items we eat

another thing is i clip coupons like there is no tomorrow and save them all and then each time i make my grocery list i go through my coupons to see what i can use

and finally i only go grocery shopping every two weeks it seems with the meals planned for 2 weeks and buying once for 2 weeks we save about 100 dollars i still havnt figured out why that is but ill take it

I search the grocery ads to see what we need that week, like hyvee (grocery store in iowa, kansas and nebraksa) has alot of sales, i only go and find good deals, like ill go to 3 diffrent stores and spend 75 bucks every 2 weeks for household items and groceries, i live really close to these stores though. i always look for coupons, of stuff that im actually going to use. I cut up my debit card and only keep $10 on me at all times. i walk around the grocery store a little before i go up to the register, to see if i have any second thoughts about the items im getting.Also, i get gas at Hyvee, cos if u buy sommink u get a gas discount there, friday i got gas for $2.44 a gallon. filled my tank on $25 bucks! I pay grocerys in gas, and budget out what we will eat for the week in my head, i buy the managers specials. Honestly, im really tight with our money, becuase we dont have much and bills sky high, and with recession and all everythng from our rent to daycare has gone up. I only buy items on sale, and really dont care about the brand name, i have a savings which i put $5 in every 2 weeks ( lame but money is so tight in our house its not even funny) i keep all our change, and take it to the bank when it gets rlly tough.

I take advantage of most things i possibly can, i just got a second job to keep cash in our house.

Especially now that the economic upheaval is in full steam, we always try to save money over our expenses. As a rule of thumb, our family save 10% of our salaries, but due to the heavy pinch in our budget (prices are skyrocketing but our paycheck is the same!) we could now only save 5%. But at least we are still saving a part of our income. But this really sucks because our entertainment budget has really gone down. But we are coping and counting our blessings.

Good luck.

My daughter loves to do art work and lot of it. But construction paper can be pretty expensive. So whenever we get boxes we flatten them out and use the inside for her to draw, paint, color or use chalk on. Then when she is done (unless it is a favorite) it goes into the recycle bin.

I spend everyone elses money, and keep mine it always work. But if that doesn't work start charging for rides, when people send you in the store for something keep the change.