Today's market is rough, so all of us are looking for ways to cut costs. Here are just a few that you can try for yourself:

1. Shared plans with cell phones.

If you have a cell phone that offers shared plans (two or more phones sharing the same minutes for a small extra fee) and have a family member that you can trust, ask them if they would like to split the bill with you. My normal cell phone bill was $45, but only $15 for an extra phone and number that a family member has. We split the bill and now each of us only pay $30/month. Not bad for free long distance!

2. Watching for "free admission" days

Many places offer "free admission" days or weekends for children or entire families. Even discount days or weekends can help your budget. Watch for these so you can take your family on a special outing.

3. Only eat out on "Kids Eat Free" nights

Several restaurant chains and local places have specific days of the week where children eat free. If you only eat out on these specific days you will see a significant drop in your monthly expenses. (Children can eat more than you think sometimes!)

4. Prepair Home Cooked Meals

Even if you are too busy, just cooking quick and simple meals a 3 or 4 times a week can keep you in left overs for days. One of the simplest are roasts that you can just throw in the oven and forget about for a few hours. If it's a large enough roast a family of 4 can make meals out of it for days (just don't forget to throw in several potatoes with it!).

5. Buy the "cheap" brands

Most the time the cheap brand is just as good as the name brand, minus the fancy lable of course. If you are buying the cheap brand for an ingredient in a home cooked meal, I doubt you or your family can tell the difference.

6. Reusing SOS pads

A very small cost, but a way to cut it all the same. Instead of just using that SOS pad once and throwing it away, use it several times. Be sure to put it back in the box with the rest of the unused pads so that it keeps.

7. Limit shopping to once a week

We all know the importance of shopping lists, so be sure that you have everything on your list. This includes all ingredients that you need for meals in that week. Limiting your shopping trips will help not only on the costs for gas, but also on impulse buying costs.

There are many, many more ways to cut your costs, but I hope that these few simple ones will have a possitive impact on your budget!