I do not claim to be the best when it comes to saving money, but I do have some trick up my sleeves. Here is some money saving tips that I have personally experienced and applied throughout the years:

1.) Be electric consumption conscious - This is probably one of the best money saving tips I could offer considering the rising cost of electricity. Monitoring your electricity usage could save you a lot of money. This can be achieved by turning off appliances and lights that are not in use, shifting to energy saving light bulbs, turning off your electric water dispenser and your refrigerator during the night time and buying new home appliances. Most experts will tell you that new home appliances are more energy efficient than old appliances. In our own personal experience, when we started becoming more electric consumption conscious our bill went down by almost 25 %.

2.) Save loose change - Mom has taught me several money saving tips, but I believe this is one is the most important one she has taught me. At first collecting loose change may seem insignificant. But when it starts to grow, you will realize it's value. At one time the loose change I saved amounted to more than P 10,000.00. ($200.00 U.S plus)

3.) Recycle - This is a new program that I have started to implement. More than 3 months ago I instead of throwing away plastic, glass bottles and containers I started collecting them. Now I have 4 sacks of recyclable materials waiting to be sold. I am placing this in my garage and will be selling this at the end of the year.

4.) Not buying from the convenience store - Filipinos have commercialized "convenience stores" but there are also neighborhood convenience stores which we call as "Sari-sari" stores. This is where most Filipinos go to when they run out of shampoo or cooking oil. If you badly need the stuff and you do this once in a while, that may be all right. However buying your everyday needs in the sari-sari store might prove to be more expensive. Sari-sari store are definitely more expensive than the grocery stores because they buy their stuff from the grocery stores.

5.) Eating out less - Among the money savings tips, this one is sure to save you money. Instead of eating outside why not bring lunch from home. Eating outside more will surely make a dent in your wallet. I am not saying that you can't eat outside. If you are a "leisure eater" and you are fond of trying out new restaurants, schedule your restaurant visits at least once a week or once a month.