Until a stimulus kicks in, or the economy turns around on its own, we are left struggling to pay our bills, put food on the table, survive from day to day, while looking for ways to save money until the recession passes.

Listed below are a number of small ways to save. Utilizing more than one method, will increase your overall savings. Whether in a recession or not, these are all great ways to save money on a day to day basis.

For Your Vehicle and Driving

1) With gas prices at an all time high, drive only when necessary. Take time to plan your trips. Combine trips to the grocery store, with dropping the kids off at school, or with another set appointment.

2) Keep your tires properly inflated. Most tire stores will check your tires for free if that’s where you purchased your tires from.

3) If you always get your tank filled, start filling your tank when it reaches half. Although this won’t save you money, you can spread the cost to fill your tank over several days or weeks.

4) Remove any “car carriers” you may have on the top of your car.. Keep your vehicle as aerodynamic as possible. Car carrier can reduce your miles per gallon.

5) Keep your car tuned up. An improperly running car may cause an excessive use of gas.

6). Carpool If possible carpool with others thus sharing the expense. Or, if you are running errands, ask friends and/or family if they need you to pick up something for them, or vice versa.

7) Use public transportation Instead of driving, take the bus or train. Use this time to listen to music, read, write, journal, etc.

Walk Walking is one of the best exercises. Instead of driving to the corner store, put on your sneakers and enjoy the fresh air.

At Home or Work

1) Buy generic brands. The taste difference for most generics is minimal.

2) Buy in bulk. If the packages contain too many, share the cost for friends or family

3) Stretch hamburger recipes with grated potatoes. By adding grated potatoes to hamburgers or hamburger dishes, less meat can me used, thus saving money on groceries.

4) Click and use coupons. Coupons can often be doubled, saving you even more. Check the local newspaper for the “double up” coupons.

5) Search online for low cost recipes. Many websites have classifications of low cost recipes. Soups are often low cost to make. Add a salad and some bread for a great and filling meal

6) Order off the $1.00 menu at fast food restaurants. With most fast food being high in fat and calories, you’ll not only save money, but may save a few extra calories as well.

7) Buy take and bake pizzas. Papa Murphy’s offers a wide selection of choices. Check for others in your area. Remember to check their weekly specials. By calling in your order, you will also save time. Refrigerate the pizza until you are ready to bake it.

8.) When eating out, consider sharing a meal. Some restaurants may add a “plate charge” for a shared meal, however this will be much less than the cost of two separate meals. Desserts can usually be shared at no additional expense.

10) Change out your light bulbs. Use the compact fluorescent light bulbs in as many fixtures as possible. Start by replacing the light bulbs in the fixtures which are used most often. There are also compact fluorescent light bulbs available for appliances such as refrigerators and vent hoods. I bought mine at WalMart.

11) Do comparison shopping via the telephone. Most businesses will tell you what a product costs over the telephone. Comparison shopping is also easy to do online. Look for sites that offer free or low cost shipping.

12) Recycle By recycling paper products, cans, and bottles, you may be able to reduce the size of your curbside garbage container. Also, ask your garbage company if you can save by only having your garbage picked up every other week (instead of weekly). Most garbage companies also have a “vacation” plan if you are going to be gone for any length of time.

13) Stop or reduce newspaper deliveries. If you only read the Sunday paper, stop subscribing to the daily ones.

14) Visit the library Instead of buying new books, get a library card and check out books from your local library for free.

15) Keep your receipts. If you buy an item and find it doesn’t serve it’s purpose, return it. Often impulse buying can cost us hundreds of dollars, only to have items hanging in the closet with price tags still on them. Do not remove price tags until you are certain the item will be used.

16) Be a smart shopper. When shopping, ask yourself, “Do I really, really, really love this?”, “Does it fit?”, “Do I have a spot in my house for it?”, “Do I really, really need this?”. Often you’ll realize you have one at home just like it, or you don’t have a spot for “it”.

17) Close the doors/vents. If you have rooms in your home that are not being used, close the heating vents, and close the door. It doesn’t make sense to heat a room that is not being used.

18) Install ceiling fans. Remember, heat rises. Use ceiling fans to push the heat back down.

19) Make and pack your lunch for work. Bringing your own lunch to work, can save thousands of dollars over the course of a year.

20) Decrease your purchases of daily lattes/mochas/specialty coffees. Paying $3-$4 for a cup of coffee adds up fast. One cup, every day of the month is will cost over $90 a month/$1000+ a year. Over a five year period, you can easily spend $5000. For more information on “the latte factor”, here’s a great article titled: Where Have All The Dollars Gone, which includes tips on how to chart your expenses, and curb spending.

21) Stop buying bottled water. Buying bottled water at $1.00 a piece can add up just like purchasing specialty coffee drinks. Filter your own and store in reusable water bottles. For more information on the actual cost of bottled water, read this eye opening article, titled Are You Paying Too Much For Water?, which details how the cost of bottled water can surpass the price of a gallon of gas.

Save on energy costs – 30 ways.. Click on the link and learn an additional 30 ways to save on your energy costs.

Save Money – 16 Ways. More great ways to save money.

Another 16 great ways to save money. Here’s another list to save you a few coins.

Uses for Baking Soda. This great article plus the links included, will show your hundreds of uses for baking soda, a very cheap alternative to cleaning chemicals.

22 Cheap Holiday Gift Ideas. Save money on gifts by checking out this list of 22 ideas. It may spur your creativity for more great ideas.

Disclaimer: Some of the above links may include duplicate information, however, that does not reduce the effectiveness of the money saving tips.

Photo Credit annia316 ?’s photos

The payday loans have extremely high interest rates, but for those who need money now, the interest rate becomes irreverent.

Typically, a borrower may pay $15.00, or more, for every $100.00 borrowed. Normally, a payday loan has to be paid back within two weeks. When calculated, the annual percentage rate (APR) could be as high as 400%, or more. Compare that to a high interest credit card’s interest rate of 30% +/- APR.

Payday loans can be acquired by anyone who has a checking account, and a source of income (wages, retirement, social security, etc…). The payday advance company uses either post dated checks (checks which are dated “in the future”), and/or, the banking information as collateral.

To quote the Center For Responsible Lending (CRL), a non profit, non partisan company, established to be a resource for predatory lending opponents,

According to CRL’s research, borrowers who receive five or more loans a year account for 90 percent of the lenders’ business.

What happens in a lot of instances, is that the borrower cannot pay off the loan in the allotted amount of time. Additional fees are added to the original loan, and things begin to “snowball”, propelling the borrower into possible financial ruin.

If you find yourself facing a financial crisis, before heading down to your local payday loan store, read the facts on the CRL website.

Take time to read their article (under “Payday Lending”), titled “Financial Quicksand – Payday lending sinks borrowers in debt with $4.2 Billion in predatory fees every year”.

Be an informed consumer.

Unfortunately, when faced with a financial crisis, individuals will turn to whatever source is readily available, to gain access to cash.

Although payday loans, or advances, is not a wise choice, often, it’s the easiest, and………….one of the most expensive methods of borrowing.

If someone figured out how to bottle happiness, they could be a kazillionaire.
If you listen to anyone who has been poor, who has attained wealth, they don’t necessarily say they are happier.

Happiness is something we choose, internally.

Granted, not having money can create stress.

Not having money can create undue hardships.

Being poor, can hamper you from doing the things you want.

No cash in the wallet, and you don’t get to buy those pretty things you have been eying.

But, I have also seen people, without money, who don’t appear stressed, who work with what they have in a creative way, and set their sites on doing things that don’t cost money. But, they appear happy.

What’s their secret? First, I think it’s their faith. Faith in a higher power. And secondly, I think they choose to be happy. They are happy with what they have been blessed with. Granted, they may not be driving a Mercedes or living in a mansion, but their old rundown car, gets them to where they need to go, and their home is filled with love.

I once heard a story of a poor man, who idolized a business man who had tons of money. The poor man said, “If I had his money, I would throw mine away” “Oh, how happy I would be.”

A few months later, the poor man had the opportunity to visit the rich man at his home. The poor man was in awe of the beautiful home, and brand new vehicles parked in the driveway.

The rich man greeted him at the door. Behind the rich man, stood a woman, and a small child in a wheel chair. The rich man introduced the poor man to his wife, and daughter, who was a quadriplegic. (she had suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident). The rich man commented that it saddened him, that there was nothing else he could do for his daughter.

The poor man realized, that all the money in the world, would not help to make the rich man’s daughter walk again.

On his way home, the poor man realized that even though he didn’t have a lot of money, his life was rich. He felt blessed, and never idolized another rich person again.

Listen to those self made millionaires, and what they say.  Money gives them security. They don’t necessarily say they are happier.

Today, I witnessed another way to protect your identity.

I went to the post office to mail some letters. When I drove up to the “drive up” mail boxes, I noticed that one was literally overflowing with mail. Fortunately, there were three boxes, so I deposited my mail in one of the other boxes.

Unscrupulous individuals could easily steal mail out of overflowing mail boxes. After all, they don’t think twice before stealing mail out of mailboxes on the side of the road. With stolen mail, you could very easily, not only have your identity stolen, but also have your checking account wiped out.

I don’t know much about check washing, but I do know it happens a lot. I don’t know how someone can steal your identity, but I know it’s becoming a huge issue.

The next time you are at the post office, and some, or all of the drive up mail boxes are full. Take the time to go inside of the post office, to deposit your mail.

A few minutes spent depositing your mail in a safe place, could save you from months (or years) of fighting to get your identity back.

Years ago, we expanded our business, and began wood recycling. Friends mentioned that we may be illegible for Federal grant money, since wood recycling was a “green” type business. Thus, I began my research, to find Federal grant money, to subsidize the wood recycling part of our business.

I spent hours researching online. Many of the sites would offer Federal grant sources, for a fee. Granted (no pun intended ), these individuals had spent many hours compiling this information, but I knew, there had to be a Federal site that would offer available grant information, for free. And……….there is. (Keep in mind, with the Federal, State and city governments, this data is free public information…you just have to know where to look)

The name of the site is Grants.gov. Here’s a free link to it: Grants.gov

On the “Grants.gov” site, the information is ever changing. Sure, you can bookmark the site and check it often, but, by registering, you can get emails (on almost a daily basis), of all Federal grant opportunities. To register, you first need a DUNS number (from Dun and Bradstreet), and you must also be registered with the CCR (Central Contractor Registry). By clicking on the following link, you will be taken to: Grants.gov-Get Registered.

Once you are on this page, you can follow the links to Dun and Bradstreet, the CCR (Central Contractor Registry), and acquire information of how to gain access to email alerts. This process will take a little time to complete, but if you’re interested in finding potential Federal grant money for your business, your efforts could “pay off”.

When the emails listing the available grants begin arriving in your inbox, Grants.gov, provides a link to each grant opportunity.

If you find a grant that is suitable for your business, and are not comfortable with the application process, you might consider hiring a “grant writer” to complete the application.

After researching hundreds of Federal grant opportunities, what I observed was that most Federal grant money is only available to individual states and cities. There are grants available to individual businesses, however, you must meet the criteria. My research for Federal grant money, also lead me to a State program, that offered a tax incentive program for wood recycling businesses.

If you are anxious to see what grants are currently available, there is a link on the Grants.gov homepage on which you can click. This will take you to a list of the current grants. Keep in mind, grants are only available for a predetermined period of time. When applying for a Federal grant, time is of the essence.

Our wood recycling business “took off” pretty fast, so I gave up on my search for Federal grant money.

Even though we have since closed our wood recycling and composting operations, I continue to get updates from Grants.gov. One never knows when another opportunity will “knock”.

To read a tutorial on using a tub grinder for wood recycling, click here.