Good topic!

For one year I stayed at home, during my pregnancy of my son and for the first six months of his life.  This was a t-o-u-g-h year financially for us and so I also had to learn to stretch the dollar.  I stopped my monthly garbage pickup (we lived in a more rural area) and truly recycled all that I could.  By doing this I lowered my actual trash to (1) bag per week and then dropped it off a dropoff site where I paid by the bag - $1.50.  This was compared to my $30/week bill. 

I also had to stretch my grocery bill.  I used local farmers markets for my fresh fruits and veggies and stretched the meat in many ways like PC said she did.  I had my grocery bill down to $240/month.  Of course this means you eat steak one night and chicken nuggets the next - there are variances. 

I combined my errands into one weekly trip so as to conserve fuel.  And mind you this was way before the exuberant prices we have now. 

I have replaced all of my lightbulbs in the house with the fluorescent energy-efficient bulbs.  By programming our thermostat we lower and raise the temps during different times of the day to conserve our electricity.

We stopped using credit cards completely, and have since continued to live that way.  We live with the cash we have.  Ok, I'll think of more specific things, but this is a good topic as I'd love to hear about other techniques people use. 

Thanks for the topic- keep it coming ladies!  I need all the help I can get!!!   

It's been hardest going to cash from freely spending on credit cards, so that alone was what I worked on FOREVER it seems.  We too went to longer lasting lightbulbs, and getting kroger brand food, etc.  I also learned that you don't need a ton of cleaning supplies to get the job done, so we're down to toilet cleaner, clorox wipes and windex.

I also started applying for scholarships EVERYWHERE.  In my town you can get scholarshps to our theater for kids, I got a scholarship to the "Y" (I paid  $5 for a PT session to get me started on the new equipment-normally $50), and whenever I can find things like that, or Tuesday Matinees, you know.

The biggest change I have made is planning my meals and shopping on the same day.  I am so busy and have my hands in so many things, that I'd just get sidertracked and forget to do that, so I take the same evening (Friday after the kids go to bed) and plan out the meals for the week, make my list and stick to it.  I only go to the store once a week (although I'm gonna look into shopping once every 2 weeks), and I buy my meat at Sam's and freeze the extra.

I've also been getting better about shifting accountability to my kids.  They're young (7 and 4), but not too young to be able to handle some rules.  I used to feel super guilty when we'd run out of snacks (I think mommies do that- feeding them can be such an emotional thing, don't ya think?).  Now I get their snacks (Lately I'll get fruit, cut it up instead of getting pre-package, albeit convenient, it's expensive) and put them in little baggies so it's pre-divided.  Then when they run out cause they eat when they're bored, or waste it cause they didn't like it, that's all they get for the week.  They know now that when it's gone it's gone, and that has really cut out alot of wasteful tendencies here too.

What a great topic, PC!  I need all the help I can get too!  Even though my husband and I make very good money, it always seems like we can't get ahead.  Once we get one big bill paid off, another one pops up.  That's the way life goes, I guess.  We learned the nasty credit card lesson years ago, so at least we're not in that hole.  But then you have the water heater breaking, the furnace needing repaired, the dishwasher dying (I'm still washing by hand), the leaky roof, unexpected car repairs, etc., etc.  You guys know the drill.

I have 3 kids (15, 13 & 9) -- 2 of whom eat like there is no tomorrow.  My 9-year-old must be going through a growth spurt because she can eat 24/7.  However, this alleged "growth spurt" has been going on for about 4 months now!     And she's skinny as a rail. 

Anyway, I did find that going to the farmers market is extremely helpful to our grocery budget.  I cannot believe how much cheaper it is to buy fresh produce and meats there as opposed to the grocery store.  When it comes to "generic" items, I do like my grocery store's brand of trash bags better than Hefty or Glad, so I'm saving a few pennies there.  I'm also a coupon 'ho -- gotta love those coupons!  We also eat out at a bare minimum.  For the 5 of us to eat at a neighborhood Italian place (we're talking pizza and subs), it would cost between $30 and $40.  Now we only eat out once or twice a month as a treat.  The grocery store is SO much cheaper than eating out.

Please ladies--let's keep these great budget stretchers coming! 

Great tips so far!  I do the same thing with my grocery shopping. Sometimes my local supermarket has a buy one get one free week on chicken breasts and boy oh boy do I stock up then. 

I have become a big fan of consignment shopping, espescially for toys for my baby.  I used to buy all kinds of crap at Target and then he would play with it for five minutes and be done.  Now I only buy toys at the consignment shop and I sell off the toys he's not interested in anymore.  I feel kind of guilty about not saving them for future kids but we have a small apartment with no storage so I don't know where we would keep them. 

there was a time, when I first moved from my parents, that I was able to whittle my monthly grocery bill down to about $80/month.
Basically, I still do the same thing but allow myself a few indulgences.
In those days I bought the following: store brand pasta, diced tomatoes (cheaper than spaghetti sauce), ramen noodles and cottage cheese for protein. No joke I lived like this for over a year!
I actually looked good, I was about a size 4! 

Yesterday I went to the grocery store. I used a coupon for my local grocery store, it was $5 off any $15 meat purchase. I bought chicken, boneless pork chops, AND the london broil was buy one get one. So I ended up getting something like $30 of meat for $15. That will last us about a month most likely.
I bought a bag of gala apples, which was .79 per pound. I think the bag was 3 or so pounds. We eat mostly produce and not packaged foods so I buy in bulk. I am a fan of the zone diet, if that give you any insight.
I also buy inexpensive greens like romaine, kale, and spinach. Organic brands are more expensive.
I make a list every week using the sale cirrcular and go from there. There are 3 chain grocery stores in my area so I use all 3 depending upon what each has on special each week.
my biggest piece of advice is clip coupons, and use them in conjunction with store specials to get the most bang for your buck.
Oh and dried/canned beans....great protein very low cost.

We dropped our cable to just basic analog ($15/month), and cancelled most of our magazine subscriptions.

Also, you have to pay for yard waste and recycling pick-up here, so we get the bags from my in-laws, and take our yard waste and recycling to their house (they don't have to pay in their subdivision).

And, from time to time, I sell odds and ends on eBay. Just things we don't use anymore, etc. It adds up and also gets rid of unwanted clutter!

Also, we don't do yard service. You can definitely tell in the backyard, but the front looks fine because we have zoysia (sp?) grass. If you live in the right zone, you can buy zoysia plugs for your yard, and they'll take over in a year or two and you can skip lawn service on it because it chokes out almost all weeds. Don't plant it anywhere you want to regularly landscape though because you can't get rid of it once it's planted and it's too hard to dig through. A weird and extreme suggestion, but saves us about $600 per season on lawn service.

Great topic!!

ooh that reminds me - we got rid of our trash pickup because it was over $30/month, and now we just take it to the dump ourselves.

As far as TV goes, we were going to get rid of satellite b/c it was like $50/month - but when we called and told them this, they suddenly came up with a great "package" for us - 20 or so channels for $20/month - which is a good deal here. (we live so far outside D.C. that we can't even get local basic channels for free)

So if you want to reduce the TV bill - just call them and tell them you are leaving them - they have all kinds of interesting incentives to keep you a customer, but you won't be offered it until you threaten to leave. ha ha