When I ultimately decided to get a cell phone that would fit in my pocket, I wasn't about to pay a lot for it. Instead I bought a prepaid phone from Verizon. I spend $15 a month to put minutes on the phone and there are no other charges. All the cell phone companies have prepaid phones, but they don't advertise them because they'd rather stick people with higher-priced long-term contracts.

- Be a discriminating grocery shopper. When we were growing up, my frugal mother, who was raising a brood of five kids, would never buy butter because margarine was so much cheaper. Her aversion to butter was infuriating. Have you ever tried eating cookies made of margarine? But I've adopted my mom's determination to stretch her grocery money with my own food quirks. (I keep butter in my refrigerator, but I always get it at Costco, where it's cheaper.) I save money at grocery stores because I know how much everything that I routinely buy costs and I aim for discounts. I won't, for instance, spend more than $2.39 a pound for hamburger and I buy my half-gallons of skim milk in pairs because I save more than $3 doing so. I buy prime rib only twice a year because grocery stores predictably slash the price the week before Christmas and Easter. I wait until Cheerios and Rice Krispies are on sale, which doesn't require much of a wait, before I stock up.

Nothing makes me happier than when I see that I've saved 35 percent or even 45 percent on my grocery bill, which routinely happens, even without coupons.

- Research big purchases. I believe people should devote even more energy to saving on their monster purchases, whether it's a car or a home. When we first moved to San Diego, we rented a cute house in a neighborhood I adore, but the home prices, even in 1991, were high and the neighborhood schools, in my mind, were mediocre. What I set out to find was a neighborhood of older homes with charm that were reasonably priced and also offered great schools.

After driving around neighborhoods and spending time looking at individual school test scores at the county office of education, we found the right spot. Sixteen years later, we are still living in a house - now 62 years old - that's a five-minute walk from a quaint downtown. Our mortgage was lower than it would have been if we had bought in a pricier neighborhood, and my kids, who attended a public grade school and middle school here, received a phenomenal education that prepared them exceedingly well for high school and beyond.

What I routinely do to trim my spending won't be for everybody. But I hope that I've encouraged you to think of your own ways to stretch your money and - with any luck - live below your means. If you do, you'll have a better chance of accumulating enough money for your retirement, your children's education, getting out of debt and all the other important things in life.