My wife and I made a cost-saving decision years ago to give up pets. We have had no pets at all now for about seven years, not even fish. It's amazing how much money that saves. I have nothing against pets per se but the pet industry is a racket. Also my wife has allergies and the no-pet thing helps there too (wish her oldest daughter with the two cats that she's allergic to would get a clue).

We moved to our island townhouse about 5 1/2 years ago thinking we'd be spending more on living expenses and regime fees in return for a better lifestyle. In fact, it balanced out: we save tremendous amounts on gas now - a tank lasts me about two weeks. Everything we need and most of my gigs are close by so that's a lot better than going through a tank every 4-5 days as I used to.

One grocery store tip: sign up their VIP card or whatever preferred-customer card they have. Of course these save you money anyway but I found that if I stop going to a particular store that I have a VIP card for they will usually send me a $50 gift certificate to win my business back. So I go to one grocery store for a few months exclusively, then I switch to another. I've gotten at least two $50 grocery certificates this way.

Saving money?

I thought of an old saying, I had to look up in a dictionary for the right word in English:

"Shrouds have no pockets"

It's amazing how many pet owners are clueless or in denial on this. They always have allergy symptoms and won't admit it's from their animals.