10 Ways to Reduce Your Household Expenses

1. Make every effort to use the toilet when away from home. This will substantially reduce the toilet paper you must buy for your own bathrooms, and may make a nice dent in your water bill. There will also be a reduction in the amount of toilet cleaner you use.

2. Save your used coffee grounds. Dry and repackage in an empty coffee can. Use when unexpected company drops in. If you use about twice as much as normal the resulting beverage will be approximately as dark looking as coffee made from fresh grounds. This will reduce your coffee use, and also the number of unexpected guests who drop in, giving you more free time. Try the same with tea bags, or alternatively just eliminate the coffee and tea and drink hot water. This saves money and eliminates drop-in guests.

3. Slice things thin. For example, you can start with bagels. They are usually too big anyway. Instead of serving halves, serve thirds. Once your family gets used to this you can move on to other items. Slice potatoes thinner. For a family of four you can make a pile of three potatoes look as large as a pile of four potatoes. Buy unsliced bread and slice it thinner than standard slices. Slice a strip off each serving of steak or pot roast and collect these strips in your freezer until you have enough to make slumgullion. Once you start on this course of action you may find that it can carry over into other areas. Slice dryer sheets in half. Slice an end off each bath towel to make a kitchen towel. Slice those unnecessary edges off your sheets and make handkerchiefs. Slice everyone's hair shorter and you will use less shampoo. Save a slice off the top of each can of pet food, slice the.... Well, you get the idea.

4. When you enter the grocery store parking lot, park as close to the street as possible to save gas. This has a double benefit if you are overweight. You will have farther to walk to get to the door, thus increasing the number of calories you burn. As you lose weight you will need less food to sustain that weight, thus generating extra savings. However, this can be counter-productive if you are not overweight. You may just increase your metabolism, requiring that you buy more food.