How To Survive The Recession

* Save Gas By Combining Trips - Stop making multiple trips a day or even a week. If possible, go to the grocery store, post office, doctor appointments, etc. on all the same day. You waste so much gas (and time) going home, then going back out again. Plan your schedule to take advantage of combined trips.

* Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated - Not only will this save a bit more gas, but properly inflated tires ensure traction on the road. Improperly inflated tires are a safety risk (too much air or not enough). If your tires are damaged, then your rims are damaged, and there goes the money you were trying to save in this bad economy.

* Change Auto Insurance - If your car insurance premiums are ridiculously high, change insurance providers. I guarantee someone has a cheaper rate for your vehicle. Some companies like Progressive, give you a discount for paying all six months ahead of time. Save money by paying your whole insurance bill upfront.

* Raise Your Deductibles On Your Automobile Insurance - If your car insurance is rising to higher costs, think about raising your deductibles as this will lower your insurance premiums. Actually, raising your deductibles for any insurance plan is an option for you (health, homeowners, etc.). Your auto and homeowners insurance rates may be cheaper if you buy them from the same company, but that is not always the case.

* Buy "Green" Products - I can list a number of eco friendly products that can save you money over traditional items. I won't go in detail on them, but this category covers a lot of products like low-flow shower heads, toilet tank water-savers, LED lighting, CFL bulbs, weatherization sealers, solar chargers and rechargeable batteries. There are plenty of lenses that cover these Earth-friendly products in detail. Here is a site to check out cheap eco products.

* Reduce Your Heat - Buying a programmable thermostat would save you a chunk of change a month by automatically lowering your heat at night while you sleep and while you are at work. If that is not an option just lowering your thermostat by a couple of degrees would help save on your utility bill.

* Eliminate Your Landline Phone - This may be an option for you if you do not have a DSL Internet connection and want to rely on your cell phone. You could also utilize an Internet phone service such as Skype or magicJack. Their annual service costs about as much as a one month landline phone bill.

* Use Cold Water For Laundry - Cold water prevents the unnecessary use of your hot water heater, which naturally requires gas/electricity to operate. Most loads of laundry can be cleaned just as effectively using cold water. There are even special laundry detergents for this purpose.

* Entertain At Home - Instead of leaving the house to pay cash for entertainment like bowling, miniature golf or billiards, stay at home and have a Nintendo Wii party (Bomberman and Mario Kart are really fun multi-player games). Don't forget to download classic old-school games as well. Don't have a Wii? Fire up any video game console you have and play some family fun games. Alternatively, you can play board games. But don't keep playing the same games; keep it exciting by playing new games as well. Looking for cheap video games? Read the next tip.

* Buy Cheap Video Games - Brand new video games can range from $40-$60. Ideally you would want to wait a few months for the prices to fall. Visit this lens for the latest deals on video games: Cheap Video Game Deals. Game deals for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 are updated daily on that lens (you may want to bookmark it).

* Avoid The Movie Theatre - Movie theatres are an expensive trip (and you still have to deal with those sticky floors). You spend $5 - $12 per movie ticket plus food (it's a good idea to eat before you go to watch a movie). Save some dough by renting movies you haven't seen yet. Whether you rent from your local video store or use a service like Netflix (watch and return these movies as quickly as possible to get the full value of this service), renting is significantly cheaper than going to the theatre.

* Slower Your Internet Speed - If possible, slow down the speed of your Internet connection. You could save $10 or more a month on this simple fix. Sure videos and pictures may take longer to download, but if you use a fast browser like Google Chrome, you may see only a tiny difference with your Internet experience.

* Buy Generic Medications - This one is a biggie. Generic meds have the SAME active ingredients as the name brand drugs. Yet generic medications are much cheaper. You can find generic equivalents of popular medicines like Tylenol, NyQuil and Claritin.

* Stop Smoking - Cigarettes are expensive, smelly and dangerous! They cause obvious long-term health issues, which will only increase your expenses down the road. Smoking also forces you to pay higher health insurance premiums. Quit smoking to save a fortune!

* Exercise - You don't need to pay a membership fee to join a health club; you can workout at home. A healthy body saves you money on unnecessary medications and hospitalization costs. Get active with something as simple as walking. Being healthy will save you from expensive complications later in life.

* Drink Water - Avoid buying unhealthy, expensive sodas (even if they are on sale). Avoid bottled water as well since it is not cheap and you are not quite sure what you are getting anyway. Your best plan is to buy a water filtration device that can attach to your tap water faucet (like a PUR Water Faucet Mount). A gallon of filtered home water is much cheaper than any bottled water. Healthy water also cleanses your immune system removing impurities within your body. If you require flavor, add some flavored drink mix to your water.

* Buy Products Online - Internet shopping gives you easy and fast access to comparison shop and saves you time and gas from running to each retail store. Amazon is one of the best retailers because of their product assortment and their low prices. I have even seen Amazon price match some Sunday ads and as an Internet retailer, they have that quick ability to give you the lowest price with FREE shipping.

* Use Coupons - Food prices are on a steady rise. Sure you have been using those coupons that come in the Sunday papers, but what about the Internet coupons? Sign-up on websites like Coupons.com and SmartSource.com. They will email you electronic coupons once a week that are totally legal to use in stores. I also find the savings on these Internet coupons to be slightly higher than traditional paper coupons. Shortcuts.com allows you to add coupon savings directly to your grocery loyalty card (e.g. Kroger card) so you don't even waste paper or ink to print coupons (more money savings). Also be sure to take advantage of any "double coupon" events, but be wary of retailers that jack-up their prices to offset the additional savings you would have earned.

* Utilize Free Computer Programs - Regardless of what Microsoft wants you to believe, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on computer software. There are many free, quality and safe programs available to you. Instead of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you can use OpenOffice.org or Google Docs for no cost. Need really secure FREE anti-virus and firewall software? Check out AVG Anti-Virus and ZoneAlarm Firewall. These programs and more can be found on CNET's Download page. You will find a lot of free software that can replace expensive computer programs like Photoshop (GIMP) on CNET.

* Avoid Vending Machines - You will be wasting a lot of money on these convenient, but pricey food options. You can expect to pay twice the cost of an item in vending machines compared to the retail store product. Clearly, you should be taking your lunch with you to work. Candy bars aren't cheap these days, but they will always be less expensive in a discount store as opposed to the vending option.

* Purchase Generic Foods - Be careful of certain generic foods. You may want to avoid generic meats and cheese. Generic food is cheaper for a different reason than generic drugs. Some generic foods are watered-down and don't always contain the same ingredients as their name brand counterparts. But there are good food values in your local grocer. Generic cereals (e.g. Malt-O-Meal) taste just like the national brands. Sure you don't get the cheaply-made toy, but you can get twice as much cereal for the price as the name brand cereals. Generic toaster pastries, oatmeal, bread and some generic cookies and crackers are other money savers.

* Hit The Dollar Menu When Eating Out - Obviously, you would like to avoid this situation as much as possible, because you can eat for less with a home cooked meal. But if you must go out to a restaurant, order only from the dollar menu. Most fast food chains have these type of menus because of the economy, so take advantage of them.

* Buy Food In Bulk - Food costs have risen due to the poor economy. The way to lower food costs back down to previous levels is to buy in bulk. You will save a freezer load of money (see what I did there) when purchasing in larger quantities. So how do you store more food than you handle in a two-week period? Purchase a food vacuum sealer to seal out the air in your food, so you can store it a lot longer without it going bad.

* Shop Garage Sales - You never know what you will find at garage sales. And you will probably buy it cheap too (or free). You can find treasures out there; you just have to hunt them down. I once needed a new laser computer mouse. I didn't want to pay $20 for a new one at Wal-Mart. A couple of weeks later I found a new, never-been-opened Microsoft laser mouse at a garage sale for $5 (and no tax)! Obviously, luck is involved when hunting for certain items.

* Don't Have A Baby - This one sounds cruel, but it is the biggest money saver tip in this lens. The truth is it costs thousands of dollars per year to raise a child. I know babies are ultra cute, but the feeding, clothing, daycare, health costs and more really put a dent into any savings you have in your bank account.

* Cut Your Own Hair - How much do you spend a year to have someone cut your hair? I just use a trimmer set and buzz it off myself. You may need a friend to help cut your hair (maybe it is their expertise). The fee for a hair cut plus a tip adds up over a year.

* Use A Rewards Credit Card - If you spend more than you can afford, you probably shouldn't have a credit card (the interest will drain your checking account). But if you can comfortably pay your entire credit card balance each month, you should be using a no annual fee card that also pays you with rewards (cash, miles or points). Why not earn a little extra cash for the things you buy anyway? I know, I sound like a commercial, but there are companies that offer worthwhile rewards (based on credit).

* Borrow Mags/Books/Movies From The Library - Your local library is an excellent resource to you because you can cancel your subscriptions to magazines that you may be receiving. I know I have magazines that only read through once and then they are recycled. Perhaps you only like reading through a book once. So why buy it, when you can borrow it? As mentioned before, renting DVDs is cheaper than going to the theatre, but you may be able to borrow a movie you want to see for no cost by going to your library. All of this can be done for FREE at your local library!

* Get Free Stuff - Be wary of unknown companies willing to give you free stuff. They may want your email to Spam you til 2025 or there may be some other commitment involved. Lensmaster koorb has a constantly updated lens on Free Samples. There are plenty of links to free product on that lens that are from trustworthy sources and requires no offers to complete, so check it out.

Here Are Some Tips For Bringing In Some Extra Cash

* Earn Blog Income - If you have a really good following on your blog, you should be able to monetize it. Adding affiliate links or Google Ads can help bring in a small income while you do your blogging anyway. If you don't have a blog, you probably should have one as it is also an excellent source of traffic to whatever websites you wish to point to on the web. There are free blogging services out there, but be sure to check their terms of use as some won't allow additional ads to be posted on your blog since they will be be displaying their own ads to cover their costs.

* Earn Money On Squidoo Lenses - If you are a regular on Squidoo, you already know the potential income you can earn from your lenses. Check out Janet21's highly-ranked Are you a Stay at Home Mom (or Dad) Interested in Earning a Monthly Income?. For those not familiar with Squidoo you can earn money off any sales from the Amazon, eBay, CafePress, etc. modules you add to your lenses. Squidoo also splits half the ad revenue to lensmasters. Each person's share is based on the average Lensrank of their lenses. You can also add in your own affiliate links to generate more income. Become a lensmaster today!

* Sell Your Media On SecondSpin.com - Have a bunch of CDs, DVDs and video games that you never use anymore? Are they in good condition? Go to SecondSpin.com to get your media valued to see how much they will pay you to sell your stuff. This is a quick way to get cash.

* Start A Website - You may think creating your own website is too difficult to accomplish, but there are easy ways of building a site that you can use to sell product. Many web hosts offer website templates or HTML/WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web editors. Bravenet and GoDaddy offer cheap domain names (less than $10) and hosting. GoGaddy is cheaper overall. If you purchase your web hosting first, you can buy your domain name for only $2. Be sure to Google "GoDaddy Promo Codes" for the latest deals (perhaps you can get 20% off your hosting). If you are interested in starting your own website, read Create Your Own Website: The Beginner's A-Z Guide. There are plenty of resources within this article.

* Sell Your Stuff On Bonanzle - I know back in the day it was cool to say, "sell your junk on eBay," but as you may of heard, eBay doesn't like small sellers. eBay has risen fees to discourage small-time sellers and promotes Power Sellers and Sponsored Links. While Bonanzle won't generate the traffic eBay does, it is an alternative online marketplace. Bonanzle is not an auction site, but is a marketplace of individual stores (Bonanzle calls them booths) with fixed prices. There are no insertion fees and only small flat-rate final value fees (no confusing multi-tiered percentages). You also pay Google Checkout or PayPal fees if you use those services. You can check out my Bonanzle booth as an example of what to expect when you open a booth. You can list treasures, junk, collectibles, etc. for as long as you like (list an item until it sells). Earn money getting rid of stuff you no longer need without all the excessive fees of eBay.

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