How to Frugalize Your Life for Any Economy Cycle: Ways to Add Money to Your Income

The best way to save money in these tough economic times is to start cutting costs at home. Every dollar you save is a dollar you are adding to your income. You don't need to go to extremes in order to save money. You just need to re-evaluate your lifestyle.

Grocery Shopping

Don't underestimate the power of clipping coupons and using them at the checkout counter. The money saved does add up! You also get to try new brands for the same or less price as your usual brands. Don't be afraid to try store brands either - saving fifty cents per item is a total savings of $10 on a 20 item purchase. That's good for lunch during the week, gas money or having extra pocket money.

Convenience Items

Get rid of all of the convenience items you find throughout your kitchen. You'll be amazed at the money you will save. Stop using a lot of paper towels - go to the store and buy a pack of good quality rags to use when cleaning up spills in your kitchen. When you're done, immediately throw it down in a hamper or straight into your washing machine to prevent overuse and the spread of germs. Buy enough rags for a full week's use. Stop using paper napkins - go out and buy good quality cloth napkins enough for a week's worth of meals. If you're worried about stains spray them with a stain-prevention product when you throw them down in your hamper. Or use them only for your household members and not for guests. Eliminating the use of these paper products will save you a ton of money.

Don't buy small snack size products, go out and buy the full size product and divide it yourself. You are just paying for someone to divide it for you. Buy your favorite bag of chips or cereal and divide it into sandwich bags for your bagged lunch. Make your own pudding and divide into Tupperware. Make your own broth by buying bullion cubes and stop paying for someone else to add water. The same goes for cleaning products - search online for homemade solutions using common household products you already have. Buy in bulk at warehouse clubs and freeze portions you are not able to use before the expiration date. You can also save by buying your spices in bulk at these clubs.

Utility Bills

Be mindful of the amount of water you are using on a daily basis. Don't let the water run when you are doing dishes. Don't defrost food by running it under the faucet. Install a shut-off showerhead that you can turn off when you are lathering up. Do full loads of laundry.

Save on your electric bill by buying a large toaster oven. This reduces the amount of energy consumed when turning on your stove oven. Unless you plan to fill every rack with food do not bother turning on your huge stove oven because you are just throwing your money away. If you purchase a convection toaster oven you can also cook your food a faster. Another way to save money on electricity is to allow your leftovers to cool for at least a half hour before placing it in your refrigerator. If you place food in the refrigerator when it's still hot you are just making it work harder and increasing your electric bill. Do you own a laptop? Unplug it once it's fully recharged. If you leave it plugged in 24 hours a day you are still drawing electricity.

Eliminate your cable bill by using free websites such as www.hulu.com and www.surfthechannel.com to view your favorite episodes. Take advantage of the fact that many local channels are now coming in free through the digital transition. Go out and buy a digital antenna and a converter box to receive the channels on your television. Cutting out your cable bill can save $65 or $780 a year. Can you think of things you could do with $780 a year?

Gas Bill

Don't waste money driving around looking for the best gas price. Go online and search for the gas stations in your area and call ahead before making your driving trip. Ask the attendant what the gas price is for the day and they will happily provide it to you. If you are a member of a warehouse club you will surely find the cheapest gas there. A membership fee can pay for itself even if only used for the discount gas prices.

Dining Out

If you have the need to dine out, save money by visiting www.restaurant.com to purchase discount gift certificates to your local restaurants. You can purchase $25 gift certificates for $10 and $10 gift certificates for $3. If you sign up for their e-mail newsletter you can informed of upcoming sales where $25 gift certificates are as little as $3.

You can also look in your phone book to find coupons for your favorite restaurants.

Entertainment

Join www.entertainmentbook.com for a monthly fee of $4.95 and have access to coupons for dining, amusement, retail, movie tickets and more. You can print off coupons every month for your favorite places instead of just having one coupon from their hard copy book.

Want to save a lot of money of movies? Join www.netflix.com to get an unlimited membership plan that also allows you to watch thousands of movies online for free. If you don't like watching t.v. on your laptop, then plug it into your t.v. and stream the movie.

Music

If you are fed up with paying 99 cents or more for mp3 downloads, visit www.gomusic.ru to get songs for 15 cents each. The website requires you to pre-pay at least $10 into your account in order to download music. At these prices you are getting 6 more songs than you do when paying 99 cents for one at other websites.