Saving your money! Tips and Tricks for saving in America

Tips and tricks to save 

• Open a savings account with high interest. I highly suggest ING direct. I had only a few hundred bucks in the account and earned more interest from it than any bank savings account. Start with a small number and start putting that amount in your savings account every month. $20 should be good to start.
• Buy generic. Worried that you're not getting the same as the name brand? Just stop and compare the ingredients. From medicine to food, we've compared ingredients and found the same in everything. Sometimes the generic foods have healthier ingredients, too!
  
  
• Eat in. Eat in your home. Cook your own fresh food and it's better for your health and your pocket. This doesn't mean you never go out. In moderation. We take stock every week and make sure we only go out once or twice a week.
• Change your oil every 3,000 miles. Did you know that most car problems can be prevented from this simple $20 service? Here's a nice list of why it's important to change your oil.
  
  
• Consolidate your expenses. For families, this is a challenge but ultimately has wonderful rewards. We went to one car. In California that's fairly difficult, but we manage well. We switch off taking public transportation, biking and walking (in the summer).
• Reduce your bills. We keep our heater set at 68 degrees in the winter. It moderates itself and we don't have to constantly heat the house, it cuts on the cost of heat immensely.
  
  We have pay-as-you-go cell phones. We don't use cell phones, but like to have them for emergencies. Pay-as-you-go averages us $100/year versus a cell plan that's minimum $40/month.
• No more credit cards, please! If you have lots of credit cards and credit card debit, pay yourself first. Pay off your cards before you start saving and then cancel your cards. This will teach you to stay within your limits. You should only purchase what you can afford. Credit cards and credit card companies don't want to help you buy things, they want to make money off your debit.
  
  
• Don't eat at fancy restaurants. Unless you're a chef or a food connoisseur, a $5 burrito or sandwich tastes just as good as an overpriced pasta and meat dish. You're really paying for atmosphere.
  
  
• Entertain yourself cheaply. We have lots of parties at our home. Potluck and games. Everyone brings more than enough food and we either play a board or card game, or just sit around and talk. Join meetup and find local groups to hang out, walk, knit or bike with.
  
• Say no to cable. Aside from making your sedentary, cable is an expensive addition to your expenses. It doesn't do much for your mental or physical health and is another way for you to be prone to buying things you don't need. TV ads are very powerful and the less you see them, the more you can save yourself from buying unnecessary thing.
• Rent. Give up on the myth of home ownership. When you purchase a home, it owns you. The "American Dream" is a horrible un-ending nightmare that will leave you broke or bankrupt. You have freedom with renting, you can move, you don't have to pay home owner's insurance and you don't have to do your own repairs.
  
  Here's a full list on why renting is better.
• Educate yourself. Educate yourself on the follies of consumerism and living in this consumer culture.
  
  Our tendency of to identify strongly with products or services, especially those with commercial brand names and obvious status-enhancing appeal, e.g. a luxury automobile, designer clothing, or expensive jewelry is the result of millions of advertising dollars.
  
  Luxuries and unnecessary consumer products are social signals allowing people to identify like-minded individuals through the display of similar products. Realize that relationships with a product or brand name cannot substitute healthy human relationships. Consumerism is a general process of social control and cultural hegemony in today's society.
  
  It is in the interest of product advertisers and marketers that the consumer's needs and desires never be completely or permanently fulfilled. It is smarter for the marketer to sell the consumer a flashy object or trinker that will wear out and break quickly. It is even better for the product to be part of a continuously changing fashion market, where items in a nearly-new and good condition must be replaced to stay current with the latest trend. In this way steady profits are assured, but consumers are not comfortable or satisfied for very long with what they have.
  
  

What to do with your money? 

Now that you're a saving king or queen!

1. Travel. This is my primary use of money that I save. Every penny I save to me is one step closer to exploring this wonderful world. I meet people, learn and experience things that no fancy shirt or overpriced meal can ever give me.
   
   
2. Retire early. I'm not joking! If you make enough money and cut your expenses wisely, you can retire before you're old and gray.
3. Experience peace of mind. If you have a sizable savings, you don't have to worry about emergencies, unplanned car expenses and how you're going to put a down payment on a house. You are free!