Here is an article from Yahoo that I almost dismissed since most of these article have the same ho-hum stuff that we are already doing.  But I highlighted a couple that popped out.  Anyone know about these suggestions?

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106839/Save-50-a-Day-How-Three-Super-Savers-Do-It

Save $50 a Day: How Three Super Savers Do It
Tuesday, March 31, 2009provided byKiplinger'sPersonalFinance

Meet the Harrisons

They've put saving first and mended spendthrift ways. Their ideas add up to: Annual Savings of $5,200.

When her daughter McKenzie was born three years ago, Michele Harrison decided to reform her spendthrift ways and pay down about $6,000 in credit-card and auto-loan debt. "Saving was a new concept," says Harrison, 42, a single parent. "It was always: Spend everything once you have it. Every payday was a windfall."

Harrison, who lives in Maricopa, Ariz., where she is a data-center coordinator for Wells Fargo Bank, started saving by studying her budget. She found that dining out every day was gobbling up her income. Brown-bagging her lunch and eating dinner in saves her about $1,820 a year. And capping her grocery budget saves another $125 a month, on average.

Harrison's Costco membership got her a cheaper auto-insurance policy (with free roadside assistance). That cut her annual car expenses by about $300. Plus, she makes fewer driving trips, saving hundreds of dollars on gas. Harrison also dropped her $28-a-month land line and her $65-a-month cell phone, and she now uses her work cell phone exclusively. And she scaled back satellite-TV service. (Ruth here:  I've never heard of this)

Now Harrison has a tough time parting with her hard-earned dollars. "I want to be debt-free," she says. "That's a legacy I want to pass on to my daughter." -- Stacy Rapacon

Meet the Silberts

They set out to save on everything from diapers to taxes. Their ideas add up to: Annual Savings of $10,000.

Lawyers Mike and Vjera Silbert of Philadelphia welcomed their third daughter in August. And although bringing a baby into the world can put stress on anyone's finances, the super-saving Silberts have managed just fine.

Since introducing Lola to big sisters Anya, 7, and Maya, 4, the Silberts have trimmed their budget, starting with food. The family eats out less often and cut $30 from its weekly grocery bill by using coupons and buying store-brand products, says Vjera, 36.

The Silberts save on formula, diapers and wipes by buying in bulk on Diapers.com. And they will save an impressive $2,300 in taxes this year by using a flexible spending account through Vjera's employer, Wolf Block LLP, to pay for child-care expenses.

But their biggest savings yet, says Mike, 39, was refinancing their 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Slashing the interest rate from 6.125% to 4.75% put about $500 per month into the family budget. The Silberts also invested in a programmable thermostat to lower the heat while the family's out or asleep, cutting their heating bill by about $150 a year. -- Stacy Rapacon

(this is Ruth:  We are getting ready to do this.  We are taking our house off the market because we can save so much by refinancing and staying here a little while longer).

Meet Ms. Dunshee

She created a budget that cut expenses by 10 to 20 percent. Her ideas add up to: Annual Savings of $2,660.

Stephanie Dunshee was always careful with money. But the 46-year-old pharmaceutical executive really began to focus on saving when layoffs became more common in her field. "I started cutting back about two years ago to see if I could live well on less," she says. "I could."

Dunshee drew up a budget of everything she buys, then tried to cut each expense by 10% to 20%. That exercise, she says, "really causes you to get creative." (I wonder what we could cut by 10% - we are already down to pretty much bare bones, but this made me wonder if we could do it as a challenge)

Dunshee saved $460 per year by dropping her land line and using only her cell phone. She and her extended family saved $700 by consolidating their cell-phone bills with a family plan.

(Ruth here again.  Does anyone here do this?  Our internet is necessary for what we both do and we have DSL which requires a land line.  I keep thinking I need to check out our different options to decrease this cost).

Coupons from grocery circulars and Web sites, such as Smart Source and Red Plum, cut Dunshee"s expenses by about $100 each month. She takes advantage of double- and triple-coupon offers, and tracks down coupon codes for online retailers. Using a credit card with rewards points saved her $200 on Christmas gifts. A programmable thermostat saved another $100. (Ruth again:  I JUST saw this advertised on TV last night.  I wonder what the savings is and how it works)

The strategies have paid off in more than just savings. Dunshee took a severance package from her employer in October and is considering a career change. "My overall goal is to work at a job I really enjoy, even though it pays far less," she says. "Given my frugality and that I've saved and invested well, the recession isn't causing me the same kind of anxiety others are feeling." -- Kimberly Lankford
Copyrighted, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

Ruth, DISH network and DirectTV are two satellite television providers. But switching to one of them would end up costing us money because we only pay about $9/month for a dozen or so channels of cable TV.  You have to ask for that option, though, the cable company won't tell you about it!

We've had a programmable thermostat for years and years--we called it my birthday present one year.  I love it!  It saves a LOT of money--you can set it to turn the thermostat down when the house will be empty or people in bed and then it can warm things up in the morning or when the family is due home again.  And, of course, you can override the settings at any time.

I think it's perhaps time for us to revisit our auto insurance policy and see if we can get lower rates--even from the same company.

Any paid TV is not necessary for us.  We get 7 channels for free right now.  It is the internet and phone that we need to pay for.  But there has to be a way to do both of those for cheaper than we are currently paying.

I just saw that our electric company has a sign-up for the programmable thermostats - as in it seems they may be free if you sign up for one.  I'll have to look into that one for sure!

Yep, we ditched the land line about 9 months ago.  I love not paying that bill every month.

Isn't it cheaper to keep the landline and ditch the cell phone?  I guess I see a cell phone as a luxury and not a necessity.

And, there still is free TV with an antenna.  You don't need a digital converter box, though in my experience it helps to boost the signal.  We haven't had cable or satellite TV for 18 years.  We still get the 3 major networks and PBS.

Not sure if this is what you mean, but I got a "receive only" line, or something similar, to run my DSL.  I'm sure there was an initial installation charge of some amount, but other than that I just pay the regular $20/month for Internet, and just use my cell for calls.  Actually I wish I could switch to a cheaper cell plan as I never use anywhere close to all my minutes, but am already on the cheapest one available through my provider (Cingular).

we have no TV signals in our town So, we have Dish Network but ONLY get the "local" channels and it is about $6/month. We did have to buy our equipment...I know we COULD live without TV, but we don't want to (DH likes Jeopardy, the morning news, and a few other things).

I'm sure we could cut back on other things *sigh* but we haven't. DH currently has good job security...so I guess we can go on supporting the economy in our little way.

JOY

Joy, we don't have TV signals from our town, either.  The stations we pick up are from towns 30miles, 45 miles, and 75 miles away.  These are the local channels.

We have cable (we did have satellite) because there just isn't anything worth watching (in my opinion) on network TV.  We watch Nat Geo, Animal Planet, History Channel, Biography etc.

We haven't had a landline in well over a year. We have DSL through AT & T. They installed something called a "dry loop" which costs around $20 per month. We've never had any trouble with it.  

We got rid of our landline around 3 years ago.  It has saved us $.  We just had to update people on how to actually reach us, because we moved our landline # to one of our cell phones, which ds16 usually has, so he was getting all the calls that used to come to the home.

Programmable thermostat worked well for us when it was just DH and I and we both worked outside the home. We had it set to start the warm up/cool down at a time that we'd be getting home.  Now, I'm home all day so I'm the thermostat.  LOL!

I think for most folks going off landline would be fine and I know they've improved 911 service using a cell, but it's still not good enough for me.  My DS has a health condition that could require us to need 911 more often than others might and I'm just not ready to cut that cord yet.  When I worked I didn't have a private cell phone, only the one provided by my employer. But that was a long time ago.

I did find a receive only deal through Windstream.  They don't like to tell people about it, but when I asked, they sold it to me.  We can receive calls on the landline and we can make 800 calls and 911 calls, but it costs us .10 per minute to call out and we can not make any long distance calls.  With taxes etc, it ends up being 41.00 per month.

I have not found coupons to be helpful other than some in the store paper.  Most of the time if I buy store brand or something on sale the price is always better than with a coupon.

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Ruth, DISH network and DirectTV are two satellite television providers. But switching to one of them would end up costing us money because we only pay about $9/month for a dozen or so channels of cable TV.  You have to ask for that option, though, the cable company won't tell you about it!

Nor will all cable companies offer it.  Ours didn't (Charter).  AND--they charge horrendous taxes on internet, whereas QWEST's DSL has no tax--not one penny.  Our DISH TV is $16, which includes tax.  When it goes up in December we'll either renegotiate or drop it.

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Isn't it cheaper to keep the landline and ditch the cell phone?  I guess I see a cell phone as a luxury and not a necessity.

For us, it's a safety issue.  With Madeleine gone six days a week at ballet, I need to be in contact with her.  Because the other kids (the adult ones) have health issues, they need a phone with them.  Each one pays about $40 a month for the phone (that includes taxes).  A landline would be worthless in a crisis away from home.  Veronica definitely would pay more to have a phone in DC.  It's been a Godsend for David with this injury.  Because he falls, I want him to have a phone with him.

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And, there still is free TV with an antenna.  You don't need a digital converter box, though in my experience it helps to boost the signal.  We haven't had cable or satellite TV for 18 years.  We still get the 3 major networks and PBS.

The only way you don't need a digital converter box is if you have a newer TV with a built-in digital tuner.  The old TVs are not capable of receiving digital signals, and our TVs are from the 1990s, so they do need a box.  We have one and so does Vinnie.

As for a programmable thermostat, that's my job.   In the morning I put it at 60-61º and at night it's at 58º.  I can't justify buying a $100 thermostat and having to pay to have it installed when I can turn it down.  That was my job as a child and I've been doing it for decades.