I’m always looking for ways to make more money and to spend less money…without lowering my quality of life/standard of living.  So I thought I’d give you guys a sample of the ways I like to save money.  There are some things I don’t mind paying full-price for (like Cirque du Soleil tickets) but those are few and far between.  Therefore, I’ve found ways to do most of the things I like to do for cheaper.

Movie tickets - I am able to get discount movie tickets from my workplace.  Instead of paying $9 to see a movie, I pay $7.50.  Since matinee prices have increased to $7.50, there’s really no way to see first-run movies for cheaper.  I also recently discovered that if you go to the first showing of the day, the price is $5 instead of the usual $7.50.

Cell phone - Once again, it pays to see what discounts your employer offers.  Because of where I work, I get 5% off my bill.  It’s not much but why spend more money than I have to?

Dining out - Check out the Entertainment Book.  They’re sold in most cities (they have local editions) and it pays for itself quickly.  Nothing like two-for-one coupons for your favorite restaurants.

Clothing - Got a favorite store?  Get on their mailing list or sign up for their credit card (only if you’ll pay it in full each month) and they’ll send you coupons and advance notices of sales.

Car insurance - Take a defensive driving course (online for about $45) and your car insurance rate will go down.

Groceries and household items - Wholesale clubs like BJ’s and Costco can be worth your while if you have the space to store items and know what they would cost you otherwise.  Once again, through my job, I got a BJ’s membership for $25.  Both of our cars use premium gas and BJ’s has it for at least 10 cents/gallon less than the cheapie stations.  We also buy non-perishables (cleaning supplies, paper products, etc.) there in bulk.

Shoes - I hardly ever buy shoes for full-price.  Macy’s sales rack and DSW are great.  In addition, I like zappos.com and Amazon’s new site endless.com.

Books - You can get brand new books, CDs, etc. on half.com for a fraction of the price.

Magazines - Google ‘free magazine subscriptions’ and you’d be surprised what you can find.  I have about 12 magazine subscriptions and I don’t pay for any of them.  If you have leftover frequent flier miles that aren’t enough for a ticket and would otherwise go unused, consider redeeming them for magazine subscriptions.  I know that Continental, Northwest and American have this option and other airlines may as well.

Travel (my favorite) - Frequent flier miles and hotel points have saved me MUCH money over the years.  Hubby and I paid a total of $220 for two roundtrip tickets to Mexico and six nights at top-notch Hilton resort for our honeymoon.  I don’t know how much the plane tickets would have cost us but the hotel room was regular $295/night.  If you don’t travel enough to earn lots of miles/points, don’t worry.  We both have Delta Skymiles Amex that allows us to earn miles for all our purchases.  A survey program that I love (e-rewards.com) will give you rewards of Hilton Hhonor points.  Also, keep an open mind.  When we went to Hawaii (on two free first-class tickets), the Hilton we liked would have cost us $2000 for the week.  A little too rich for my blood.  So I went on vrbo.com and found a condo a block from the beach for ~$1000.  Sure it wasn’t as nice as the Hilton but since we spent most of our time out and about, I was more than happy to use that $1000 for spending money.  There are times when we don’t mind splurging and there are times when we don’t mind “roughing it”.

What are some of the ways you save money?