It has been a long time (over 11 years) since I decided to quit working out of the home, stay home and raise my children and start living frugally. Over the years I have learned quite a few ways to cut back and I'd like to share some of them with you. I have many ways of saving a penny here and there, but these are my most used and best tips.

SAVE MONEY ON CLOTHES When it comes to clothes, I shop at thrift stores and yard sales. You can find the best deals at yard sales but sometimes it can be hard to find the size your looking for. Sometimes they'll tell you to fill a bag for $1.00. If this doesn't happen clothes are usually very cheap anyway. A lot of times I find children's and adult clothing for 25 cents each.

The thrift stores are a bit more. There are a variety of prices but all are usually at least 30% less than retail if not more. I like to go to thrift stores on their sale days such as 50% off day to save even more. There are still times when I buy clothes brand new (usually clearance sales), but most of the time I shop the thrift stores. Not only do I save money but I find a bigger variety.

SAVE MONEY ON FOOD For food, I try to buy only sale items and shop at the Canned Food Warehouse. The Canned Food Warehouse is a store in our area that sells food for much less than retail stores. I'm pretty sure most major cities have stores like these.

Each week when I receive the grocery ads, I go through them to see if there are any good buys -- and I mean GOOD buys -- not just .10 cents off. If I see tuna 4/$1, I go buy as many as the budget will allow and stock up on it even if I already have some. This method not only saves us money but it ensures we always have food on hand.

To shop like this, you need a place to store the food. I quickly found out my kitchen cupboards and refrigerator freezer weren't big enough to store this amount of food so we put a pantry in our garage along with a huge freezer.

Keep in mind that you can also stock up like this with toilet paper, shampoo, soap, detergent, etc.

Another way to save money on food is to be sure to use all your leftovers. This has always been a challenge for me but I do try to do my best. I have improved using leftovers over the years by planning. For example, if I make a large pot roast, I plan on making roast and vegetables the first night, hot roast beef sandwiches the second night and BBQ beef the third. If I plan, it gets used. If I don't plan, only sometimes it gets used.

SAVE MONEY ON MOVIES One thing we like to do is watch movies. We used to go rent movies at least once a week spending at least $10.00, usually more. On top of this, we would occasionally go to the movies each trip running our family of four almost $40 for the movie and snacks! That's at least $80 a month we were spending just to watch movies!

Since we enjoy watching movies and didn't want to give it up but did want to save a little, we decided to get digital cable for $69 a month. That's $37 more than what we were paying for our basic cable so we are saving at least $43 a month not to mention the hassle and gas money of going to rent and return movies.

I know a lot of you are thinking that $69 a month for a movie habit is still expensive, but we all need to remember that we don't want to take away quality when trying to cut back. If there's something you enjoy, you shouldn't take it away from yourself just to save money, but by all means, if there's a way to save without sacrificing, do it!

MAKE YOUR OWN HOUSEHOLD SPRAY CLEANER Make your own household cleaner. I have found ammonia to be a great general household cleaner and it is so cheap! It cuts through grease and makes everything shine. I buy the 64 oz. size ammonia for about .89 cents at the grocery store. To make the cleaner I put about 1/4 cup into a cleaned out spray bottle that I've saved from some other cleaner, add a drop or two of dish soap, about 20 drops of essential or aroma oil for a nice scent and fill the bottle the rest of the way with water.

If you buy pre-made cleaners from the store, this alone will save you quite a bit! The pre-made cleaners are usually around $3.00 for just one spray bottle. Consider how many spray bottles full an .89 cent 64 oz. container of ammonia will make when using only 1/4 cup full in each bottle! That's a BIG savings!

SAVE MONEY ON THE CHRISTMAS TREE This year I finally bought an imitation Christmas tree for 33% off a few days before Christmas. It was a small one and only cost about $13 with the 33% off. We used to buy live Christmas trees each year for over $20 which we'll save each year now. We'll miss the wonderful pine aroma, but we'll be saving over $20 at Christmas time (when we need it most) and we'll have a tree right in our garage rather than having to pick one up in a crowded parking lot.

SAVE MONEY DECORATING YOUR HOME When decorating you can save money and enjoy a wider variety of unique items if you shop the thrift stores and yard sales. Decor items from retail stores can cost an arm and a leg. Decor items such as silk floral arrangements, curtains, pictures, picture frames, throw rugs, throws, pretty sheets, material and more and be found at the thrift stores for a fraction of retail prices. Whenever I go to a thrift store I look for items that match my decor and if they are inexpensive enough, I'll buy them. Keep in mind that you can always fix things up with a little paint, ribbons or glue.

FINDING MOTIVATION If you have a hard time finding the motivation to start saving money, consider challenging yourself to tuck away what you save. This can be very motivating to watch your money grow. Set up a special savings account to make weekly deposits of what you have saved from your money saving efforts. If in one week you bought yourself an outfit at a thrift store for $10 that would cost $30 at a retail store, put the $20 you saved into your savings account. You may need to keep record in a notebook of what you saved before making your deposit so you won't forget. With that thought, just keeping record of what you save can be motivation enough to start saving money. If you look at it like a job, maybe you'll be more likely to put effort into it.

To sum it up, pay attention to weekly advertisements from retail or grocery stores and take advantage of the good sales, shop thrift stores, yard sales and clearance sales and look for ways to reduce what you do for entertainment all without taking away from the quality of your life. For me, shopping this way has added to the quality of my life because it's challenging and I find it exciting when I find a great bargain not to mention having extra dollars to help make our life a little more comfortable.

©, 2000, Monica Resinger

Monica Resinger is editor of Creative Home, Creative Gardening and Creative Home Money ezines. Join one or all of these fun and informative ezines and get answers to your homemaking, gardening or money questions! Our readers are sure to have an answer for you. One informative article is also included in each issue. For more information, go to: http://www.geocities.com/plantldy.geo or send a blank e-mail to the appropriate address to join: CreativeHome-subscribe@egroups.com CreativeGardening-subscribe@egroups.com CreativeHomeMoney-subscribe@egroups.com