To All: I'm late to the party, and this may sound really obvious, but I found the best way to not spend money was to not go into stores. It does help that I'm not a shopper by nature, and only go to the mall 2 - 3 times per year. I also have never been one to need "the latest thing", whatever it happened to be. When I was a SAHM we kept to a very strict budget and I made up a master
Walmart list (at that time ours didn't sell groceries too) and only went once a month. I would take my list and go through each item and if we didn't have enough to last a month I would buy it; if we did, I didn't buy it. I would look at our family calendar to check if there were any occasions that I needed to get a gift or card for and add any to the list. Then I would go
by myself - no kids - and get what we needed. And I didn't go again until the next month. Period. Saves money, time, sanity and all it took was a little planning, which I felt as a SAHM was my job. I even had "Domestic Engineer" listed as my occupation on our tax returns back then.
I NEVER go into convenience stores. When I buy gas, I pay at the pump. Keeps me from being tempted by gum, drinks, snacks.
I'm trying to find additional ways to save money so that I can increase our pitiful little savings account in case things continue to go south with the economy, and I'm not sure where I can cut. As far as writing everything I spend down, well, except for our routine monthly bills I haven't spent any money so far this month. We have the next step up from basic satellite programming, because we live in a rural area and it is the only entertainment we pay for. I only have a local landline (for reverse 911 and for when my son is home alone after school) and the lowest cell phone plan I can get and still have the family plan, and I get a discount on my cell phone plan through my employer. We use an aircard for internet, but that is paid by my employer so it's not an expense for us. I turn off lights constantly, keep our thermostat low in winter and high in summer, and we don't have any service contracts. We have a well so water is free and we don't have garbage service, so no costs there. I cook almost everything from scratch, so most of my groceries are just the basics. Just this morning my son asked if I would by fruit by the foot because it was "fun" and I told him to go find a stick to play with if he wanted fun, that junk is full of sugar and empty calories. I almost always only buy store brands or what's on sale, whichever is cheaper, and by sale I mean buying one of BOGOF so essentially it's half price. We use coupons but only on what we would buy anyway. We may go to the movies 2 - 3 times per year, and the rest of our entertainment does not cost money. I don't use my car unnecessarily and usually have at least 2 things to do if I drive, except going to/from work. We eat out about twice a month, and fast food is extremely rare. I drink tap water at work instead of buying a drink and never use the snack machines, and bring my lunch every day. And there's still more month left at the end of the money. I'm stumped.