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[Idiom]

I'm rather short on cash. I have no more renters and haven't for some time now. I've had to pick up a second job so I have no spare time. On my list of things to cut are:
-TV (Never watch it anymore anyway)
-Internet (Honestly, how often do you see me around here nowadays?)
-Phone (I can get a cheaper wireless deal from a small local company than from the supreme overlord of the land Comcast. Coverage is only my town, but I never really leave it anyway. Free long distance too!)
-Computer (I'm falling back to my little laptop. I can walk over to a free wifi cafe down the street. It can play Dwarf Fortress with a nano fortress and 50 pop cap. Not bad.)
-Any food that's not on sale or unessential (My diet is seriously improving)

Anyone have some penny pinching tips? I don't like top ramen much.

[Jack_Bread]

1) Put two fingers together.
2) Find a penny.
3) Pinch the penny.
4) Wait for reaction.
Had to do it.
I have no idea about saving money, though. You should get rid of you cable if you don't watch it, though.

[Rilder]

Keep a coffee cans and just fill them with extra change.

Surprising how much you rack up if you do that.

[Heron TSG]

If you play an instrument, practice it on the sidewalk with your case open. Free money!

[JoshuaFH]

Try to quit smoking or drinking if you partake in those things. It's astounding how much money those two things take out of any budget.

Consider learning how to cook at home, and not eat at restaurants.

Don't get a girlfriend, for those are money sinks like no other.

Shop around, etc etc.

Also:

If you play an instrument, practice it on the sidewalk with your case open. Panhandling!

Fixed.

[Muz]

Eat less. Food is expensive. I could save $150 a month by skipping lunch and eating at home.

And a good quilt could save you on heating bills. If the temperature is > 33 degrees Celsius, it can even save you on air conditioning bills... it's always warm under a thick blanket, and warm is better than hot.

[Chutney]

If you play an instrument, practice it on the sidewalk with your case open. Busking!

Fixed.

Fixed for real. btw if you plan on doing this, I'd check your local busking laws.

One thing that I do sometimes, is buy a roll of hemp rope for about 6 dollars, make a couple dozen bracelets/necklaces (they take about 15 minutes each and one roll makes A LOT of bracelets) and sell them for 2-5$(2 for a bracelet, 5 for a necklace) each around campus and sometimes I go into town. They sell quite well, considering how much I'm ripping people off.

Also, as far as actually pinching pennies:
-you could try moving into cheaper housing.
-Never eat out. Pick up all the spare change you see lying around on the side walk.
-Spend most of your time outside (so all of your lights, fans, airconditioners, etc are off. Ideally the only thing you want on in your house is a refridgerator, and maybe a clock if you can't find a good battery powered one.).
-Buy only stuff that is on sale. Try to go shopping on Sunday and buy for the entire week. If you run out before next Sunday, try to avoid going back (unless you literally run out of ALL of your food). This is how my below poverty-line family has shopped for years, and it's saved us a lot of money. It did suck when I was little though, and ate all the cookies by Wednesday...

That's all the tips I can think of for now. Good luck!

[Neonivek]

What you need to do is find out where all your money is actually going. So I suggest writing down what you spend in a month.

A lot of people tried saving money by cutting out things that wasn't all that expencive in the first place and made themselves miserable in the first place.

Also try to make sure you don't cut enough out that you do stress yourself too much. A mistake some people who are in dire straits make is they sometimes save so much that they forget to enjoy themselves.

Buy only stuff that is on sale

Countertip: Don't be fooled by things that are on sale. They arn't always a good deal, in fact they are often rip offs in disguise

If you play an instrument, practice it on the sidewalk with your case open. Panhandling

Very illegal. Though if you can get a License and are good it can be a GREAT source of money. As a suggestion don't let your Guitar case ever have that much money in it. The point is to make yourself seem as poor as possible (but make sure there IS money inside it)

[Leafsnail]

Mine is "Don't buy crap I don't need".  It's worked for me so far.

[Idiom]

Well, most of it goes to:
Taxes
Car payments
House payments
Utilities
Food
etc

It's just me living here, and I HAD a job capable of bringing home the bacon before the economy's avalanche finally drug me down.

And a good quilt could save you on heating bills.

I've pulled some ancient quilts out of the attic. They do work pretty well. Why didn't I think of that before?

[Duke 2.0]

Mine is "Don't buy crap I don't need".  It's worked for me so far.

This is an interesting train of thought.

[Yanlin]

www.consumerist.com

Done.

[Jude]

Dumpster dive, buy cheap/bulk food, and cook for yourself. And go to lots of church potlucks. And never go out.

It's working for me, except that never going out is really boring. Man do I need a job.

[ChairmanPoo]

If you are at university try buying former year's textbooks instead of buying the new ones. You will save quite a bit of cash on that.

Alternatively, dont buy any books: go to the library and photocopy the relevant parts, if needed.

if you have reliable internet access, you could try downloading them from internet. The only catch is that finding new textbooks takes a bit of effort. However, finding older editions is usually easier. Depending on their age and your field older editions might be a godsend or totally useless.

[Muz]

Mine is "Don't buy crap I don't need".  It's worked for me so far.

But buying crap I don't need is the whole point of having money! But then again, if you don't have money, it should be really obvious that you shouldn't buy things you don't need