The debate is still ongoing. Are we in a recession or not? Regardless of the answer to this question, saving money never hurts. Here are some tips for you to consider:

1. Reduce your grocery shopping frequency. By limiting the amount of time spent in stores you reduce the chances of giving in to impuls buying. By going once a week rather than every other day, you are likely to reduce the number of products that you buy that are not on your list and you don’t really need.
2. Coupons are not just for groceries: look for other coupons than the ones for the grocery store. You can find good deals on movies, restaurants, clothing etc.
3. Shop healthy food stores. Go to the bulk sections and get your regular items at significant discounts.
4. Buy pet medicine, supplies and food online: You can save yourself a lot of money by researching your needs with the online stores.
5. Conserve power: Did you know that at least 10% of the power that is used by electrical equipment, is used while it is off. So, unplug your equipment when you are not going to use it.
6. Check your incoming bills: Annually check if your contract on your cell phone, cable, internet is still favourable. Try and combine contracts. You may be able to get an extra break by using one supplier.
7. Make sure you are not overpaying your taxes. If you are receiving money back from Uncle Sam every year, you are giving the government a free loan. Take a look at saving by reducing your number of exempts. Put the extra money you get on your pay check in a savings account.
8. Do away with your long distance phone service. If you are not making a lot of phone calls outside of your immediate living area, you may want to consider using a calling card or the internet for your long distance phone needs.
9. Pay attention to the price of items. This especially holds true for the more expensive investments like a car or a vacation. Shop around to find out where items are cheapest.
10. Carpool or use public transportation. This becomes more and more relevant each day, with the gas pricing going up as rapidly as they have lately.