[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]
This year is a particularly tough one in perspective of the massive job losses and a shrinking U.S. economy. We are feeling the pinch since we got laid off. An immense aid for our survival has been the presence of an emergency fund. In fact we feel that it is one of the most important practical personal finance ideas that we implemented till date. So if you have not started saving for an emergency fund, we urge you to get started on one at the earliest.There are three main areas: rent, transportation and food, where we feel that there is still some room to further trim our expenses. We are planning to relocate to a cheaper area (perhaps another state) to cut down on our annual rental costs. If you have skills for home maintenance then you can live rent free too :).
By planning and organizing our tasks (outside our home) we are trying to save as much money as possible on gas. When we work we usually try to live close to our workplace to cut down on the commute which saves us both time and gas money.
We have drastically cut down on eating out. Now we consciously spend time and energy on trimming our grocery bills and cooking delicious meals from the scratch. Consequently we are eating healthier meals, loosing weight and have less frozen foods in our refrigerator. We shop for most our non food related needs at garage and yard sales and hit a dollar store for trivial daily use items.
Having done all that, we still found some cool ideas to save money at MSN. Liz Weston has put together some great tips for saving $10k in 2009. Check it out.
What has been your best method in saving money this year? Kindly leave a comment. Thanks in advance :).
Image Source(s): iStockPhoto
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