What daily expenses can you cut?

In the last Frugal Living post, I talked about tracking your expenses and cutting 75% from your weekly expenditures. I know that saying, "do it" without giving you a clue as to how to go about it can leave you wandering around in the dark, so this time, I'm going to tackle how to cut some of those small expenses.

Frugal living doesn't mean that you have to go without things, but it does mean that you have to become creative and actively find ways to obtain the things you want without spending money, or at least as much money as you have been.

Here are some examples to get you going, but remember that this frugal living adventure is yours, so these are only examples:

• Instead of buying a cup of coffee on your way to work, make it at home and take it in a insulated cup. Instead of buying coffee from a vending machine later in the day, take some of the same coffee in a thermos.

• Instead of going out for lunch, bring your own. If your coworkers think you're nuts, tell them you're on a special diet.

• Instead of buying the newspaper on your way home each evening, get a subscription and have it delivered for less.

• Instead of shopping for office wear at the mall, check out some thrift stores. You might be surprised at what you find there. Go with an open mind and open eyes.

• Instead of paying extra for someone to watch the kids when you have to work late, see if you can find someone to swap babysitting with. You can watch their kids and they can watch yours.

• Instead of picking up fast food on your way home, or ordering pizza when you get home because you're too tired or stressed to cook, buy some convenience foods at the grocery store when you shop and save them for times like this. Frozen pizza and other dinners may be more expensive that cooking from scratch, but they're usually cheaper than eating out.

Only some of these may apply to you or maybe none of them do. The idea is to think hard about how you can substitute or get the item differently to save money. If you embrace living frugally, you will be able to come up with ideas that fit your situation.