Some people think of low-quality products and piles of coupons when they are asked to consider saving money. For some, a major obstacle to saving money is that they have never seriously tried it, and assume that their life can only be enjoyable if they spend heavily on groceries, electronics, gifts, and other items.

Groceries are a major expense which can be substantially reduced without using coupons. Most products produced by generic, store, or less-expensive brands are just as good as others. Many people agree that a few generic items such as root beer and Cheerios-like cereals usually aren't as good-tasting, but these are exceptions. If you don't believe this, try buying most of your groceries from these brands just once before making assumptions. Although it is generally less expensive over time to buy larger containers of an item, some grocery stores actually charge more per ounce/unit/etc. for larger containers, so you should be careful of this. Another way to save money on some of your groceries, along with some electronics and other items, is to visit discount stores such as Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. Contrary to some peoples' belief, the items in these stores aren't all expired and are often produced by well-known brands. Recently a morning news program found that the same groceries purchased at discount stores cost about half as much as they did at a regular grocery store. Even amongst different regular grocery stores, it is common to see a $0.30 price difference on a number of items, so it is a good idea to try shopping at different stores and comparing them. It is also worth trying less expensive types of food. While others may have told you (perhaps based on experiences from long ago) that microwaveable dinners or certain types of canned foods aren't good, you may find them enjoyable.

There are a number of ways to save money on non-grocery items as well, including buying products made by less-known brand names and using internet auction websites. Many electronics, books, and cameras are much less expensive at auction websites despite the shipping costs. Although some smaller brand names are of low quality, we have found some to be as good or better than major brands. Electro Brand products are usually of very good quality, for example, and we found that a GPX alarm clock functioned reliably much longer than a more expensive Emerson. Some types of electronics can be also be bought at low prices from discount stores such as Big Lots, and even Rite Aid. An equivalent calculator is likely to cost $7 at a grocery store or $2-3 at a discount store, and large padded envelopes usually cost $0.30-$0.45 more at department and office supply stores. The saying "you get what you pay for" is still true in some ways, but much less than it was in the past.

Efforts to save money needn't end with shopping. Various small changes in behavior can add up to significant savings throughout the year, such as turning off electronics when leaving the room for more than a few minutes (lights, television, radio, etc.), subscribing to magazines or newspapers instead of buying them individually, and walking to nearby destinations. However, be careful not to lose money by trying to save it - if you try to dry your clothing in cold weather without using an electric dryer and it mildews, it will just cost you more money washing it again, and if you don't spend money to properly maintain your car or home, more expensive problems could occur.

Saving money isn't effective if you only take token measures to accomplish it, rather than taking it seriously. Even if you have enough income to afford more expensive products and stores, wouldn't it be better to have some extra money to buy items you can't normally afford, donate to charity, or save for later?