Reply #2: Growing some of our own food is the biggest change I've made in the last two years (with

[beac]

much help from DU's Gardening forum, of course!)

When buying things online, I always Google to see if there's a coupon or promo code out there for the site and/or the item. More often than not, there is.

I'm really trying to use only natural and organic household products and toiletries, so I will wait for a sale and but several months worth at a time. I've also found that vinegar and baking soda can handle just about any cleaning job, and at a much lower cost to my wallet AND the environment.

I hear you on the heating oil! It's been BRUTAL this winter. Definitely a budget-buster. We live in a rental, thus we have no option to change heating methods, so we just keep the thermostat WAY low and bundle up. We also got a programmable thermostat and set it to go even lower overnight and then to warm up to a tolerable level by morning. It's nice when we go out of town b/c we can set it to stay at don't-freeze-the-pipes level while we're gone and then to start warming back up a few hours before we get home.

I saw a good post on online "coupon cutting" last month at Young House Love: http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/02/snip-snip/