Pinching Pennies

Times are tough around here. Everyone is looking for ways to save money. I'm not an Oprah fan. At all. But, I did have to tune in the other day when she had "America's thriftiest family" on her show. After watching, I was inspired to try and save a few dollars on some of our monthly expenses. Now, if anyone were to go over our monthly expenditures, I know they would tell us to get rid of a lot of non-necessities. But, who am I kidding. We are not going to get rid of certain perks that we enjoy, such as our premium movie channel package or our Netflix subscription (we rarely go out, so tv is our entertainment). But, I did do a few simple things to try and reduce the money going out each month. Let's see how I did:

*Changed our Netflix subscription to a lesser plan: one-at-time rental vs. two-at-a-time. Savings = $5 per month

*Changed our newspaper subscription from daily to weekends only. Savings = $8.50 per month

*Dropped one cell phone line from our family plan; it was not being used because my son got a prepaid phone instead. Savings = $10 per month

*My youngest son's medication is now available in generic form. Savings = $10 per month

*I have vowed to stop buying magazines; magazines are a real problem for me, I just can't seem to pass them up. Savings = approx. $10 per month

*I'm still looking into this one, but, we may be able to save some money if we switch from satellite to cable. Cable offers a bundling package that would put together our tv, phone, and internet. Possible savings = approx. $30 per month

So, those few simple things will save us just over $70 per month. It may not sound like much, but, every little thing adds up. That's an extra $70 to put toward something else - gas, groceries, or to pay on other bills. Another guest on Oprah that day was Stephanie Nelson, from CouponMom.com. I'm also going to check out her site and make a real effort to spend less on groceries each month. Planning weekly menus based on what's on sale that week, always making a shopping list, and using coupons are some strategies that should help.

How about you? Are you doing anything that is helping you to trim your monthly budget? Share your tips....