Purchasing groceries is one big area where you can save loads of money each month. The next big area where you can save extra money deals with household expenses. Everyone has these and everyone can use all or just a few tips to save money each month.

If you can, change out all your light bulbs (or all the light bulbs that you can) with new energy efficient light bulbs. These light bulbs can cut your electricity bill by ten to twenty percent each month just by changing the light bulbs out. These bulbs are meant to use less electricity than older light bulbs.

When possible, don’t run the heater or air conditioner. This only works if you can go a few days in a row without having them on at all.  This will save you money plus if you can open the windows and be comfortable, you’ll also be getting fresh air in the house. Another tip
is to turn down the heater in winter and turn up the air conditioner in summer.

During winter, you can easily get away with setting the thermostat between sixty-eight and seventy degrees. During the summer, set the air conditioner to between seventy-five and seventy-eight degrees. The temperature you choose is determined by what you can comfortably handle. Don’t forget that you can put on clothing in winter and shed clothing in the summer.

While still on the subject of heating and cooling, purchasing extra ceiling fans or table fans for the house will help with cooling the house in the summer and purchasing safe space heaters for winter will help keep heating costs down. Putting an extra blanket on everyone’s bed in winter is helpful and sleeping without comforters can help during the summer.

Next, take a look at your appliances. Look at your big items that you use often, sat the washer and dryer for instance. Are these two items using more energy than saving? Sometimes the older models run longer when they don’t need to.

You will save money in the long run if you purchase an energy efficient washer and dryer. Also, if you have a large family, purchase the larger
washer and dryer that will hold more so you are actually washing less.  If you are washing less, you’re saving electricity. The same goes with
the refrigerator and dishwasher. New appliances save more energy.

With dishwashers, it costs less to use energy at night, so set your dishwasher to run overnight if you can. A dishwasher with a timer is
essential for this. If you can get away with washing or drying overnight, you’ll use less energy as well. Check that your refrigerator
is sealed properly so you aren’t losing energy by the doors being opened just an eighth of an inch.

When you are drying your clothes, some dryers have a damp clothing setting. Be sure that is on and when the clothes are damp, the dryer
will beep. Stop and take the time to pull the clothes out and pull out all shirts to be hung up. If you hang up your jeans, pull them out too.

Go ahead and hang the clothes up, but hang them on the shower curtain rod in the bathroom or if you have a drying rack, place them on there. Then put the clothes back in the dryer and finish drying them.  They will take less time to dry now that there aren’t as many clothes in the dryer. It’ll just take an hour or so for the other clothes to dry on the hangers and they are already hanging to be put up later.

Simple tips around the house include turning off lights that you don’t need, open blinds or curtains to bring in natural light instead
of using lamps, try and condense your cooking to one pot to save on electricity when using the stove and conserve water while brushing your teeth or washing your hands.

Set timers on the televisions for when you might fall asleep watching them. Small things like turning off a computer each night can save a few dollars each month. Open the curtains and blinds when you can to offer natural light into the house. The lamps won’t need to be turned on and you’re saving electricity.

It’s good idea in each change of season to go around the house and check out your windows. Make sure there aren’t any gaps where heat can go out or cold air can come in. You can purchase a small tube of caulking to plug up the holes or place towels around windows to help keep cold air out. Also double check the amount of installation in your attic so cool air or heat isn’t escaping that way.

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First introduced in 1971, the Crock-Pot revolutionized the way we cook meals. The word Crock-Pot is actually trademarked by Rival Industries, but is used in every day conversations instead of the term slow cooker. Many recipes for the crock-pot require little preparation. The slow cooker can then safely be left to run unattended, making it a convenient cooking method.

Crock-pot meals can not only save you time in the kitchen, but they can also save you money as well. The reasons are as follows:

1. It keeps you out of the fast food line. If you had not loading up the crock-pot with the ingredients this morning you’d likely be in the drive through line at the local fast food restaurant this afternoon after work, grabbing a meal for your family. The average fast food meal for a family of four rings up over $20.

2. Stretches your dollar. Most crock-pot recipes and meals can truly stretch your food dollar. Because you can put a whole chicken in the crock-pot to cook then cut it up for several meals, you can stretch your budget with the use your leftovers.

3. Cuts your grocery budget. You can save money at the butcher since the slow cooking process is especially useful to tenderize cheaper cuts of meat.

4. Saves on your energy bill. Instead of running a larger appliance like the stove you are running one small energy conservative appliance, the crock-pot, saving on your energy costs.

The convenience of the slow cooker not only saves you time, but will also save you money. Don’t you think it’s time to take it out of your closet (or wherever you have it packed away collecting dust) and make a Crock-Pot meal today?

About the Author:
Cara Mirabella is a WAHM with one toddler from New Jersey. She owns and manages TheHouseholdHelper.com - a site dedicated to saving your time, money and sanity when managing your household. She has written several articles, reports and e-books including Recipes For Every Occasion: 470 Crock Pot Recipes.

Below is a video of four people calling their credit card companies to ask for lower interest rates. Of the four, three were successful. So, it is possible to get your interest rates lowered, just by calling.

Is saving a few hundred dollars a year in interest charges worth a few minutes on the phone? Take a listen and decide for yourself…

The truth is that it IS possible to get out of debt on your own. Even those who think there is no room in their budget to pay down debt are often surprised. It takes willpower and determination, but you CAN get out of debt on your own.

So… how do you get out of debt on your own? Here are some tips:

1. Stop adding new debt. Put the credit cards away, and avoid taking out new loans or refinancing old ones to borrow more money.

2. Create a spending plan. You need to know where your money is going each month, and where you can cut back to free up more money to pay off your debts. If you’re not sure where your money is going, write down all of your expenses for a month and then make your spending plan.

3. Cut any unnecessary items out of your budget. Set this money aside to pay down your debts.

4. Determine which debt needs to be paid off first. Generally you
should pay off your highest interest rate debts first, but some people are more motivated if they pay off the smallest balances first.

5. Pay the minimum payment each month on all of your debts except the one that you have given top priority. Put all of your extra money towards that debt until it is paid off. If you get a tax refund or a bonus at work, consider putting that towards your debt as well.

6. When you get one debt paid off, start putting your extra money toward the next one. Repeat until all of your debts are paid in full.

Paying off debt on your own is often easier than you think. By taking a realistic look at your finances, you can often find ways to come up with the money to pay debts off without the help of anyone else.

There are five key elements that comprise your credit score: payment history, outstanding debts, credit history age, inquiries, and account types.  Each of these items is weighted differently when calculating your FICO score.  Payment history is 35% of the score, outstanding debt is 30%, credit history age is 15%, and both inquiries and account types are 10% of your total FICO score.

So… what do each of these elements include and more importantly, what’s considered good and what’s bad for each component?

Payment History
Your payment history includes the details of how you’ve been paying your bills - i.e., whether you’ve been paying them on time, or even at all.  Each of your creditors reports your payments as on time or late.  Late payments are reported as being 30-, 60-, 90-, and 120-days late.  After six months of non-payment, many creditors charge-off your account, deeming it as uncollectible.  The more recent the late payments are, the worse the effect it is on your credit score.  Timely monthly payments boost your score in this area.

Outstanding Debts
This portion of your FICO score takes into
account the total amount you owe on all your credit accounts.  This
includes credit cards, student loans, auto loans, mortgages, lines of
credit, etc.  Not only does the FICO score consider the total amount
you owe, it also considers the total credit you have available.  This
ratio is known as your credit utilization.  The higher your credit
utilization – meaning the closer your balances are to the limit – the
lower your credit score.  You should keep credit account balances at or
below 30% of the limit.

Credit History Age
The length of time that you have had credit is
a determining factor of your FICO score.  A longer credit history is
better than a shorter one.  This is because there is more data to
create a pattern of good or bad payments.  This is why you shouldn’t
close old accounts, especially if they are accounts in good standing.

Inquiries
Each time a business uses your FICO score to make a
credit-based decision about you, an inquiry is made to a credit
bureau.  This inquiry then appears on your credit report.  Multiple
inquiries within a relatively short period of time have a negative
effect on your FICO score, especially if these are credit card
inquiries.  Few to no inquiries is better.  The good news is that only
inquiries from the past two years are factored into your FICO score.
Also, it’s important to note that when you check your own credit, this
is not considered an inquiry, and does not hurt your credit score.

Account Types
When you have several different types of credit
accounts – loans and revolving credit – it is better than having a
single type of credit account.

=> Learn how to boost your credit score in five easy steps.

Many people never start paying themselves first, because they are too concerned that they won’t have enough to pay the bills if they put any money in savings.

Well, this is one of those things that you just have to do, even if you don’t think you can afford to.

So how do you pay yourself first when you are worried that you won’t be able to pay the bills? Here’s how…

1. Setup a savings account that you have easy access to. This can be a savings account with your current bank, or an online savings account (you will probably earn more interest with an online bank).

2. Transfer 5 or 10 percent of your income every time you get paid to your new savings account.

3. Eventually, you will get used to saving this money and you won’t even miss it in your checking account. But until then, if you find that you’re short on funds and can’t pay your bills, transfer some of that money back from the savings account to your checking account to pay your bills.

This strategy may be hard at first, especially if you find you have to raid your savings every month to cover bills. But eventually, you’ll find that you are able to save money without dipping into your savings account each month. When that happens, you will already be in the habit of saving, so it will be no big deal to pay yourself first.

Whatever the reason, I like to take some time to brainstorm about ways I can increase my income. And when things are really slow, I pull that list out and try to do something every day to get my income back up to where I want it to be.

So… here’s a few things I do to boost my income when I’m in a slump:

• the most obvious is to complete any client work I have in progress (usually because I’m waiting on info from the client, so time to nag… I mean contact the client for that info!)
• contact potential clients to see if I can answer any questions or objections they may have
• contact old clients I haven’t heard from in a while… time for an annual review?
• write an article or two and post to article directories
• add new products or services to the product funnel
• post to blog (stock up on posts for a while so you don’t get behind when business picks up)
• create a Squidoo lens or Hub page
• hold a teleclass
• hire someone to help out with the menial tasks so you can focus on billable hours or income generating projects
• create a system in your business to make you more efficient
• optimize your blog/website for keywords to increase traffic
• answer questions at Yahoo! Answers or on related forums

These are just a few ideas (in no specific order). What do you do when you’re in an income slump to increase your business?

On my most recent visit, I noticed a section called ‘Cooking on a Budget’. Since inflation and rising food prices are at the top of many people’s minds these days, this was a great find!

In ‘Cooking on a Budget’ you’ll find articles on smarter meal planning, budget friendly recipes (the lemon garlic tilapia looks awesome!), tips on how to buy in bulk and how to freeze food, and videos on how to prepare “cheaper than takeout” meals for your family.

I’ve gotten many great recipes from this site over the years. I can’t wait to try some of the budget friendly recipes. I hope you enjoy this site as much as I do!

Joan Sotkin of Prosperity Place takes this a step further, and says visualizing with feelings is a more powerful way to change your money thoughts and will help you achieve your goals faster.

For more about visualizing your goals, check out Prosperity Quick Tip: Visualizing with Feelings.

Here are some more articles on how to save money with meal planning:

Quick Ways To Save and Be Frugal With Meals - Make a list. Always keep a list on hand for what you need and what’s on sale. This will also help with your meal planning. Plan your meals around sales. If pork is on sale that week add it to your menu for the week. …

7 ways to save money at the grocery store - Fresh, frozen or dried, fruit makes a satisfying, sweet end to any meal. It will add vitamins, minerals and fiber that aren’t found in cakes or candy. Working some small changes into your grocery shopping habits will not only save money …

That’s our list and we’re sticking to it - Being further away has also forced us to plan our meals a little better as well. Again, before we just ran to the grocery store before dinner to get whatever was needed for our meal, now we can’t. My wife has been pretty much planing …

Healthy Eating on a Budget - Menu Plan. Having a menu plan for the week allows you to save money, time and brain power. 2. Coupons. Clip, clip, clip from your local paper. Print, print, print from money saving websites like Freebies 4 Mom, Money Saving Mom, …

Recommended Resources:

Dine Without Whine - A meal planning service for busy families. If you understand the benefits of meal planning, but need help implementing it, this is a great service to have. Get menu plans, grocery lists, recipes and more to help you save money and time!

Meal Planning on a Budget - Tips on how to get started with meal planning and how to slash your grocery budget with meal planning.