I've honestly been deciding about a piggy bank myself (doing everything else on the list).

Are banks willing to accept that many pennies? I literally have sacks of them.

I second #5. I started making my own coffee and lunch, and trips to the ATM are down from weekly to closer to monthly.
Scary part is that my grocery bill didn't even go up that much, since less food gets thrown away now.

@EWGF: Only if you roll them, most of the time. Or you can use a CoinStar machine, if you're willing to pay them a cut. A big cut, IMO. Better to use TV time to roll them.

haha i have done the cable one before, this last time with WOW i was able to get upgraded to digital and they knocked $5 off the OLD bill... so i was paying about $30 less than the normal price

Commerce Bank's penny arcade is open to all. You do not need to have an account.

Some banks will take & count pennies for you for free. Some won't even do it anymore and some will only do it if you have an account.

I put all my change in a 5 gallon water jug and carry it into the bank when it's full.

They always seem like I ruined their day but thats there problem.

@Underpants Gnome: And another great Idea to take advantage of that cash and seeing it is pay yourself into your savings account what you would normally spend on Lunch, coffee, or eating out everytime you make your own coffee, or bring your lunch to work.

I disagree with only using cash. I prefer to do mainly debit because if there is Cash in my wallet, it's too tempting to spend.

@Womblebug: Some CoinStar machines will give out "Gift Cards" (for lack of a better term) to Amazon and other online retailers with no cut.

At least I think they still do this.

@dragonfire81:
I think what they mean there is to not use credit. A debit card is basically cash, since it comes right out of your bank account.

@radleyas: A debit card is better than a credit card for this purpose, but no, I'm really talking about using cold hard physical cash.

@Ben Popken:

Bah, I'll pass then! I hate carrying cash. I like using a debit card, as it's basically cash, and allows me to keep better track of my purchases.

So, I'm looking at this list and thinking "Almost none of this applies to me".

See, I already have $0 balances on all my credit cards and I already pay cash for everything.

I already make coffee at home and bring my own breakfast to work--I've started making rather than buying lunches more frequently and I've recently started cooking more at home for dinner--although I have to tell you, with as high as food prices are getting in the grocery store, eating out isn't as expensive as it seems.

I don't know if this applies to everyone, obviously food prices vary from state to state, but here in Ky we grow tobacco, and horses and that's about it. Consequently our food prices are ridiculous. Farmer's Markets are astronomical. After the last few grocery trips I've come to the conclusion that eating out is almost dead even with cooking at home--no kidding.

@EWGF: tom green tried to pay for stuff with buckets of pennies; didn't go over too well!

@Ben Popken: You're crazy. A debit card I can keep up with--actual physical cash disappears so fast it's not funny.

I totally disagree on the Debit Card thing.

A debit card takes the worst of cash and credit cards and subtracts the best.

So you lose the "I see it physically vanishing from my wallet, and I might therefore spend less" or "I don't have the cash with me so I will defer the purchase" that are the "advantages" of cash (and I say advantages in quotes because they're really drawbacks that one might see as advantages if one can't control their urge to spend).

At the same time a Debit card doesn't have the major benefits of a Credit Card - it doesn't give you cashback (I get 5% for groceries... which is REAL MONEY) ... in fact I can pay for one full month's worth of groceries and gas with one year's worth of Cashback rewards... yes you cash-spending folks read that again... by paying for EVERYTHING with my Amex Blue the result is that the REST OF YOU (in the end consumers are the ones who pay for all those perks) are buying my groceries, gas (and some of the Christmas presents) in December. You also don't improve your credit history, you dont' get to manage your cash-flow with an interest-free float, and in most cases you miss out on iron-clad liability protection (even where liability protection exists on your debit card you WILL initially deal with the money being siphoned from your account with all the possible consequences that can have), many warranty extensions etc.

Bottom line: For most people, it is definitelly financially UNWISE to use a Debit card

Its tough getting the balance transfer thing going. I had accrued my debt when I had good credit, so now if I want a balance transfer I can only get a small credit limit, which then would add yet another monthly payment. ARggg if ONLY I could just get one big fat credit card to transfer EVERYTHING to... I have managed to become responsible in my spending and paying bills but now its just tedious!

Also, the CASH thing... I use MINT and the whole cash thing does not get tracked as easily.

With the savings rate being negative, I think people need 10 ways to MAKE REAL MONEY. Saving money is an illusion.

@lyfehacka:

I dunno. Both debit cards I have are visa extra rewards cards. Every purchase I make earns me money. You don't have to have a credit card to get one of the rewards programs.

I've been doing the piggy bank for years, only in my case the bank is a giant green Crayola crayon. Every night I dump my change into the giant crayon. When it gets so full that the center of gravity shifts and the crayon tips over, I take it to the bank and cash out. That process takes 6 to 9 months, with $180 to about $215 that goes for something unbudgeted and totally fun.

Regarding:

7. Lower your cable bill by threatening to cancel

Just plain cancel the cable already. Everything you want to watch you can wait for a year and then check it out from a library.

For some reason I can't break myself from the habit of deliberately having too much taxes taken out. I know there's the whole argument why are you giving the government a loan, but I'd rather get money back than owe it.
Plus I had a nice surprise this year that allowed me get my car tuned up. It felt like Christmas came early!

Switched grocery stores to Trader Joe's, and started packing all breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. This has enabled me to budget one networking lunch a week and one dinner out a week, and I'm still WAY ahead. Kind of scary, but mostly cool.

I've used this exact same system for years and with great results. My current fund is an XBox 360 fund and every time I save $$$ doing something around the house I'm allowed to put 50% of the savings into my fund.

So far this year alone I was able to reduce my monthly cable/internet bill by $30 plus I researched and repaired a plumbing problem that I would have spent $200-$250 to have someone come out to fix. I'm nearly there. :)

I do all the things listed above, but I have to say with the high cost of living in the NY area I am still screwed if things really go south. The mortgage is high, taxes are high, the heating bills are high. I can scrimp and save $100-$200/month by not spending on extras, and I could maybe squeeze a little more in an emergency, but the sad fact is that's not going to get me the $5-6000 in living expenses we have every month, half of which is our completely nonnegotiable (fixed, low-rate) mortgage and taxes. And yes, I do save - but again, with high cost of living saving enough for more than a couple of months has been a huge challenge. Not to mention saving for retirement while trying to save for emergencies. I totally agree with those economists (don't remember who they were) who said that it's not the latte factor, it's the cost of living, lower wages and no safety net with two people in the household already working. Not complaining, life is good - I'm just saying that no amount of virtuous living on our parts is going to keep us safe for more than a couple of months right now. We need steady (and steadily high, not retail wages) income, and if that goes away so does our living situation.

@novelgirl: Me too. I think it's a matter of psychology. For me, if I get the money back all in a chunk, it goes right into savings. But if I'm getting dribbles of it every month, I mentally adjust my income upwards and therefore I want to ALSO adjust my spending upwards, no matter how disciplined I try to be.

This year we're going to try adjusting to the right withholding and having that amount shifted towards the 401(k), so I won't see it anyway. But I'll miss the chunk.

But if letting the IRS borrow your money psychs you out into saving, whereas keeping your withholding correct increases your spending, go with the brain trick and let the US borrow your money!

I'm doing number 8 now, including that I am budgeting the minimum I must pay to pay off my debt within the 1 year at 0% period.

I should be clearing $5000 in credit card debt by next March.

@Eyebrows McGee: One way to address that is to have the difference direct deposited into a separate savings account. Hopefully the growing balance will be a different psychological incentive.

I used to make all my purchases exclusively on credit cards to accrue rewards points as I always pay my balance off in full every month. Using my credit card statements, I was able to track my expenses for 12 months to get an idea of what I typically spend in a month. Beginning in January, I moved fully over to an envelope system where every 4 weeks I withdraw my entire budget from the bank in cash and divide it into different envelopes based on my historical budget. I am hoping to move this year, so I instituted a self-imposed 15% budget cut based on my past spending habits. Given the rising cost of food, I will probably have to increase my grocery budget soon, but I have not gone over my total budget yet and I have actually ended up saving an additional $150 without feeling like my quality of life has suffered in any way.

One thing I also do is any time I use my credit card (to buy something online or if I need to buy something but don't have enough cash on me), I take out the money I spent from the appropriate envelope and put it into a separate envelope. Next time I go to the bank, the money in that envelope counts towards the next budget (that way I cheat on the budget when I use my credit card).

Also, threatening to cancel your cable doesn't always work (though I now pay $30 less a month after calling), but the worst thing that can happen is that they'll refuse to give you a discount; they certainly won't cancel your account unless you violently demand it. I will be canceling my cable shortly however, totally agree with one of the commenters above.

Tried #9 with my Citibank card, and they refused to lower the rate. I made good on the threat and transferred all my balances to a different card. Now the Citibank one sits unused in my filing cabinet.

With 0% balance transfers, make sure to note that there's usually a $50 fee per transfer or for each check you write off your new credit card. This will probably still end up saving you money ($50 once vs. recurring high interest for a year),
but most balance transfers aren't free!

#8 is simply horrible advice. All cards with "0% balance transfers" come with a 3% transfer fee these days, which can amount to hundreds of dollars. Further, it's not exactly a good savings tool for people with bad spending habits to open up ANOTHER line of credit.

My wife and I are about to try the process of using credit cards exclusively for functional purchases (we have a pair of low-limit cards, just a few hundred each) things like groceries and lunch. This will enforce a budget limit on a monthly basis that we then pay off entirely each month. It will build revolving credit and possibly side benefits (rewards), as well as helping to repair (mostly my) credit. Large purchases, or out of scope stuff will be done via cash, (though by cash I usually mean debit).

It seemed like a strange way to go to me at first but I have warmed to the idea.

@novelgirl: Same here. If I have the money as part of my paycheck, I'm going to spend it. Tax refunds go into savings or towards bigger things (such as a down payment on a car).

One way I save money is by maxing up my FSA contribution at work (to a reasonable amount that I expect to use, of course, since everything I don't spendt is forfeited)... but I don't file for the reimbursements until the end of the year. This year I expect to get back over $5k in my de-facto FSA 'savings' account. It's kinda like having too much taxes taken out, except it's pre-tax $.

Sure, it's not earning paltry interest, but I'm also not spending it either.

See, cash ENCOURAGES spending for me. Its money I have on hand. A couple of bucks for coffee w/friends, beers, etc? Sure, why not. But I won't pull out CC for it. So if I have cash, its a 5 dollar cap, and if not, I just hang out.

@teapartys_over: I absolutely agree with this comment. That's not to say that budgeting and saving aren't worth doing -- but the fact is, the price of necessities like groceries, power, natural gas, and water is shooting up fast enough to wipe out anything I can save by cutting back on non-necessities. Building up a safety net of savings is a slow process, and if something happens before it's built up, you're done for. Ramit Sethi, one of my favorite money bloggers, says the answer to this is "Figure out how to make more money" but right now, I'm not sure how possible that is for me (I'm in grad school).

@youbastid: Usually if they're running a promotion the balance transfer fee is capped at some amount, like $50, though. If you have a large balance this can still save you a lot of money. I have a balance I've been diligently working on paying down, and one of these transfers has saved me hundreds of dollars in interest fees (which I can then put towards paying down the principle.)

I agree this is stupid if you're just shuffling it around to avoid paying, though. And it's doubly stupid if you then charge up a balance on the original card again.

@dragonfire81: I am a huge fan of a credit card with a good rebate. I use Amex Blue for everything. I am not a fan of debit cards because of the risk. Someone fraudulently uses my Amex, no big deal, I call and am never out money. Someone fraudulently uses your debit card? You are out every penny until the bank fixes it. Even if this is as quick as 48 hours, if you have automatic billing, your payments could bounce.

I know every hates credit cards because of the temptation but if you can learn discipline, it is not only safer but with a good cash back program, it can be pretty good money maker in itself.

Does anyone know of a Southern California bank with nice, free penny counters like Commerce?

@radleyas: The "using cash" advice needs to be paired up with the "make a budget advice" and add 'use an envelope system'. If you cash is already divided out and you can see it, then the system works much better. Just having cash in your wallet is an easy way to get into trouble, unless you know that it is for just one purpose (dinning out, groceries, home improvement)

@anatak:

Ahh. My husband and I use the reverse budget system. Works well for us. We didn't know the system even had a name until recently.

@snowmentality: Try undertool.com. It's a website where people can post tasks they want to get done, like getting a fence fixed or a wall painted and then the contractors bid on it. The cheapest one gets the job. So you can make more money whenever your time permits it. And if you want to get rid of some chores like ironing without paying the drycleaners all the time it is a way to save money.

I'm already doing all these things except for the budget. I don't have cable or a credit card, I pay cash almost all the time, I cook most of what I eat myself, and I don't drink coffee. I give myself a (low) set amount of "mad money" each week, in cash, to spend on going out and any little whims, and I'm pretty good about sticking to it.

I think the next step is to pay more attention to my grocery bills.