Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Save Money Today

1. Instead of going out or hitting the nearest fast food drive-thru, take leftovers from last night's dinner to work for lunch today. You can easily save $5. By doing this just one time a week, you could save $260 by the end of a year.
   
   
2. Instead of buying a gift and birthday card for someone today, make a homemade card and a batch of his or her favorite cookies to show how much you care. Even if you only saved $10 per occasion by doing this, that $10 for one special occasion per month would add up to a $120 savings by the end of the year.
   
   
3. Rather than renting a movie from the video store tonight, take the family to the library for browsing through books or reading the latest magazines. Assuming an inexpensive movie costs around $2.00 to rent, you could save $104 by the end of the year by doing this just once a week.
   
   
4. Don't buy canned drinks from the vending machine at work. Instead take a six-pack of soda from home that you bought on sale. With at least a 25¢ per can savings, you can save at least 50¢ if you drink two a day. That's a savings of $2.50 a week or $130 a year.
   
   
5. Hang a load of laundry to dry either on a clothesline or on hangers across your shower curtain rod instead of using your clothes dryer. You can save an estimated 50¢ per load. If you choose to air dry just three loads of laundry per week, you could sock away $78 by the end of one year.
   
   
6. Instead of buying snacks from the snack machine at work or school, stock up on snacks when on sale or at the bakery thrift store or bring homemade snacks. Snacks from vending machines can cost 50¢, 75¢ or even more. Using the conservative estimate of a 40¢ savings per snack, you could pad your bank account with an extra $104 a year by adopting this simple habit.
   
   
7. Rather than running through a drive-thru or stopping at a convenience store when you get hungry and thirsty, take a small cooler with snacks and something to drink along with you when you go out to run errands. Doing this can easily save you $2.00. By doing this two times a week you could save a whopping $208 by the end of a year.
   
   
8. Don't buy a newspaper; borrow a friend's discarded copy or stop by the library on your way home. This will save you 50¢ a day, or $52 a year if you do it just two times a week.
   
   
9. Save money and get some exercise by walking, riding your bike or rollerblading for short trips. Assuming you'd save 32¢ per mile on gas and wear-and-tear on your car, you could save about $2.00 a week by doing this for three short trips a week (two miles or less). By the end of a year, this would add up to a $104 savings.
   
   
10. When you cook dinner tonight, omit meat from your meal. Cook a meatless pasta dish or a vegetable soup and bread. Using a conservative estimate of a $3.00 savings, you could save $156 by the end of a year by just one time a week.