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Here are 5 tips on how to save money. If you follow all 5 tips, and only save half as much as our estimates, you could save almost $1000 per year. If you really work at it, you could easily save as much as $2000 or $3000 per year with these tips. 

 1) Ask your credit card company to reduce your interest rate. Look at the back of the card and call the customer service number that’s printed there. Call the number, and navigate the menu of options until you are speaking to a live customer service representative. Tell them you would like to have your interest rate reduced. If they say they can’t do it, ask to speak to their supervisor.

Savings: A 2.5 percent rate decrease on a $7,500 balance will save you more than $180 per year.

2) Buy and install a programmable thermostat and program it. With a programable thermostat, you can set it to automatically turn your heat (and your air conditioning if you have it) down at times when you don’t need it. For instance, my thermostat turns the heat down at night, up for a couple of hours in the morning, down again during the work day, and up again in the evening when we’re home. And it has a separate program for weekends, so we can keep the house warmer during the day on Saturday and Sunday when we’re likely to be home. You can always override the program if necessary: for example, if you’re at home during the weekday.

Savings: Energy Star estimates that the average household can save $150 per year by replacing a conventional thermostat with one that’s  programmable.

3) Buy holiday related goods after the holiday and put it away for next year. This works well for Christmas goods like wrapping paper and ribbon, but it also works for other holidays like Easter, Mother’s Day, and Halloween. Just go to the store a couple of days after the holiday. Most stores will have their holiday merchandise reduced by as much as 50%. Buy your greeting cards and any other holiday related merchandise, like decorations and wrapping paper.

Savings: If you currently spend $100 per year on greeting cards, decorations, and other holiday related items, you could easily save $50 per year.

4) Buy generic brands and store brands of items you use regularly, especially for items where there is no real difference between the generic and the brand name. A good place to start with this tip is buying generic brands of medications. Start buying generic brands of both prescription and over the counter medications. Then try it with staple foods like milk and butter. Then try other grocery items, like cereal and canned goods. If you find that you don’t like the generic brand as much as the name brand for a particular item, switch back to the name brand. Then try the generic brand of another item. In many cases, you won’t even notice a difference between the generic or store brand and the name brand.

Savings: How much you save by buying generic depends on your shopping habits and on how many generic brands you substitute for name brands. For a rough estimate, we looked at the latest USDA Food Plan website, which estimates that an average family of four can save about $180 a month by moving from the "moderate cost" food plan to the "low cost" food plan. If you saved even half that much by switching some of your purchases to generics, you’d save more than $1000 per year.

5) Make your own lunch at home instead of going to the company cafeteria or to a restaurant for lunch. Plan your grocery shopping so that you have healthy, portable lunch items that you will enjoy and that won’t take a lot of time to prepare. Make your own sandwich, bring a piece of fruit or a small bag of salad, or even a frozen entree if you have access to a freezer and a microwave at the office.

Savings: If you save an average of $3 per lunch, and only do that 4 days a week you could save $600 a year. That’s a conservative estimate; if you work at it, you could probably save much more than that.

There you have it. Follow these tips on how to save money for a month or two and post a comment to let other readers know how much you estimate you’ve saved.

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