Since I'm doing my best to cut out expenses I took a look at what I have to pay for every month. The best thing I did was to cut back to basic cable. I no longer get any cable stations at all like MTV, TNT, Life, or anything like that. It's just CBS, NBC, ABC, and the other regular stations.

My cable bill used to be over $80 a month and now it's a little over $23 a month. It's a big help. Yeah, there isn't much to watch especially on the weekends. Every station just has sports on but I'd rather save the $60 a month than to watch television.

One day I hope I can afford Family Cable again but until that happens I'll keep what I have.

With the price of Gas I have cut all unnecessary trips.  I think twice before I go anywhere.  I have also made cutbacks at Starbucks, one of my worst hangups.   These two items alone is saving me money every month.

My budget is nasty. I refuse to miss any payments and I'm determined to get out of debt. But I'm not on a high income and I have a daughter. My only options were to cut absolutely everything I could think of. It's working. But here's what I did to keep us above water.

- I don't even have cable.

- I can't afford to buy coffee when I'm out. So I don't.

- I only use my cell to text people. No calls. I can't afford them. I email instead

- I switched to wood heating. We wear an extra sweater if we're cold and we huddle on the sofa beneath a rug.

- I grow a lot of my own vegetables and herbs. I cook at home and we eat well. We're both very healthy and neither of us is overweight. (Must be good for us!)

- I use rainwater from my rainwater tanks (collected from the roof) for the gardens and washing the car and dog

- I switch off any appliance and light that's not being used.

- I take my lunch to work in a brown bag. My daughter takes sandwiches and fruit to day-care or kinder when she's there.

- I make sure every trip in the car does more than one thing at a time. If I'm on the way home from work, I'll pick up my daughter, grab some groceries, pay the bills, go to the bank/post office - whatever - then go home.

- My daughter and I ride bikes on weekends. We just like to ride around the place and see new things. It keeps us fit, we talk and chat and have fun, it takes up some quality time together and costs nothing.

These things might sound simple, but we're happy - and we're paying off our debt while saving money

Reading what everyone cuts out has given me so good ideas. I don't drive so I never spend money on gas but I have decided that I don't need to have two cups of coffee a day. And since I make my own coffee I can easily cut down on the coffee expense. I'm going to look around my apartment and try to figure out if I really need everything I think I need.

Thanks for you comments and ideas.

Wow Raven, good for you! You've given me some good ideas. I wonder if I can rig up some way to collect rain water.

I plan on doing the small garden thing this year.
I cut off my phone service and just use my cell now.
I transferred to a job closer to home. I can walk or ride my bike when it warms up.
I've been thinking about cutting off my satellite dish. I got rid of my movie channels months ago.
I don't wash my car at the car wash as much as I use to.
I combine several errands into one trip if I use the car.
I don't buy soda from vending machines as much as I use to.

I'm always looking for more ways to cut down on unnecessary expenses.

Raven and piasabird have some great tips there!

I still buy DVDs and am able to write off a portion of them against my taxable income, but I almost newer buy new now.

I get them previously viewed, sometimes at just a little more than what a rental would cost, and I re-watch them.

There are a couple of books that I'd like to buy, but I'll check in a used book store.

We buy large quantities of things that are non-perishable like rice and pasta when it means saving some money.