The Frugal Family: Trimming Dollars at Home

As this recession drags on, it's more important than ever to get the most out of every dollar. Here are five things you can do today that will start saving money right away.

1. Buy regular instead of premium. With gasoline prices headed beyond $3.50 a gallon, there's no reason to pay a penny more than you have to. If your car takes regular gasoline, there is no increased performance or any other advantage to filling your tank with premium gasoline. So say no less an authority than the Car Talk guys.

According to Click and Clack, these days only cars with high-compression engines need premium gasoline, and most of the time even them run fine on regular gas.

2. Keep your tires properly inflated. While you're considering your car, check the air pressure in your tires. Under-inflated tires cause cars to operate less efficiency, and shorten the life of the tires. According to the U.S. Department of Energy. keeping tires inflated to the proper pressure can increase fuel efficiency by 3.3%, or about 12 cents on every gallon of $3.50 gasoline. Think of it as a tax on your unability to use an air gauge.

3. Unplug and turn it off. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, appliances and gadgets consume about 20% of household energy. Phone chargers and power cords with transformers continue to draw power even when a device isn't attached to it. Chargers should be unplugged when not in use.

Although many computers and devices have a power-down or "sleep" mode, they still consume electricity. DOE also suggests that monitors should be turned off if not being used for 20 minutes, and the computer and monitor turned off if they aren't being used for more than 2 hours.

4. Cut the landline. With cell phones becoming so ubiquitous, landlines are increasingly redundant and obsolete. According to a recent Harris poll, about 20% of adults have no landline but rely entirely on cell phone.

For the first time in my life I don't have a home phone. We discontinued it after realizing that the only people who call are the random sales calls that ignore the Do Not Call list, and my mother-in-law. Now there are no more annoying mealtime interruptions, and the sales calls stopped too.

5. Cut the cable. Like many people, I'm finding that a larger portion of my media diet is being streamed by computer and portable devices, and less from the television. News programs are available in their entirety by podcast. A growing number of television shows and theatrical films are available via Netflix and Hulu. Why am I spending $150 a month for 900 channels of sports, cooking shows and foreign-language programming that I never watch?