The economic crisis in America has everyone becoming a little more money conscious and responsible about their dough, but a girl’s gotta live a little! One thing we can afford these days is learning simple ways to stretch our cash and how to keep our pockets heavy.  Take some of these tips to heart and you’ll be taking the money to the bank.

Think about the little things:

1. Your phone: Ditch the landline and make your cell phone your only phone. This will put $300.00 back in your pocket every year.

2. Your credit card: Cut up the credit card and use cash. Using cash you can’t spend more than you have.

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3. Your text messages: Buy your text plan in bulk. This will come out to you paying a penny each instead of 5 to 15 cents.

4. Your car: Lower the rate on your loan by refinancing. This will put $30.00 back in your pocket each month.

5. Your gas: Find the cheapest gas prices in your city at gasprice.com

6. Your coffee: A cup of coffee can cost anywhere between 3-5 dollars where it only cost $12.00 a month on making your own.

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7. Your lunch: Pack it! Compare how much you spend a week on groceries to how much you spend each day on lunch out.

8. Your cutbacks: You can cut back on price by not cutting back on the fun and amount of activities. Google is awesome! Do a Google search on dollar movies and kids eat free nights at restaurants.

9. Your time to quit: You have a bad habit that costs a pretty penny? Now is the time to quit!

10. Your time to sell: A yard sale is a great way to get rid of your extra junk and to put some money back in your pocket.

11. Your library: You might be surprised to find that your local libraries DVD collection is stocked and up-to-date and totally free! 

12. Your appliances: You might not realize it but it could cost you up to $100.00 per year to have your appliances in standby mode.

13. Your Saturdays: Bring the party to you. Invite some friends over with a bottle of wine and game night. Theme parties can always do the trick to make the club come to you!

Welcome back! They say bad things come in threes, but in this case, three GREAT things make for one happy environment. One lucky winner will get a chance to snag three environmentally-friendly, reusable ECObags, perfect for gym clothes, groceries, or just being cute!

Their “Totes With Quotes” line features bags with fun saying like “Talk Green to Me,” “Yes We Can Will,” and “Make Love, Not Carbon.” And, if you can part with one or two, the bags also make the perfect gift for your socially-conscious friends.

All we want to know is what your favorite Hello Beautiful story is and why  – check out the site, leave a comment in our comment section on the right, and cross your fingers! And stay posted – I’ll be back with more goodies before you know it.

Happy winning,
~Gift Gal~

To read the full contest rules, click here.