21 Ways to Save Money for a rainy day or for a better use.

No financial plan or retirement plan will succeed unless you find ways to save money and adopt thrifty way of living. If you find your expenses are dragging your savings down putting your financial plans in jeopardy, you can surely turn around by trying some of these measures.

1. Change your bank deposits  where you get better interest rates and the maintenance charges are less.  Utilize online bill pay with your bank. This serves two purposes. First, it keeps you in much closer contact with your money, as you can keep a very close eye on your balance and be in much less danger of over-drafting.
   
2. Watch TV less and save power wherever possible using less gadgets. Be diligent about turning off lights before you leave. If you spend one minute turning off lights before a two hour trip, that’s the equivalent of earning Rs.50. That’s some impressive savings, particularly if you do it before longer trips. The key is to use less energy, particularly when you’re not using the device.  Install CFL (or, even better, LED) bulbs wherever it makes sense.
   
   
3. Make use of every free customer rewards program you can with free coupons etc.
   
4. Master the thirty day rule. Whenever you’re considering making an unnecessary purchase, wait thirty days and then ask yourself if you still want that item.
   
5. Write a list before you go shopping – and stick to it. One should never go into a store without a strong idea of what one will be buying while in there.  Or else you will end up buying more than what is necessary.
   
6. Invite friends over instead of going out.Almost every activity at home is less expensive than going out.
   
   
7. Learn how to dress minimally. Instead of throwing out some damaged clothing, repair it instead. Don’t toss out a shirt because of a broken button – sew a new one on with some closely-matched thread. 
   
   
8. Don’t spend big money entertaining your children.  Cut down on your vacation spending
   Most children, especially young ones, can be entertained very cheaply.
   
9. Call your credit card company and ask for a rate reduction.  Hide your credit card to reduce spending through it.
   
10. Cut back on the convenience foods – fast foods, microwave meals, and so on. Make your own meals whenever possible.  Carry lunch packets to place of work instead of eating out.
    
    
11. Buy appliances based on reliability, not what’s cheapest at the store.
    
    
12. Swap books, music, and DVDs cheaply on the internet via services like PaperBackSwap or lending libraries.
13. Keep your car fit and maintained. Clean your car’s air filter. A clean air filter can improve your gas mileage by up to 7%. Do a “maintenance run” on all your appliances. Air up your tires. For every two PSI that all of your tires are below the recommended level, you lose 1% on your gas mileage.
14. Cancel unused club memberships. 
15. If something’s broken, give a fair shot at repairing it yourself before replacing it or calling a repairman.
16. Create a visual reminder of your debt.  Design your “debt snowball.” Everyone needs a plan to help them get out of debt, so sit down and plot out what debts you’re going to pay off and in what order. 
    
17. Consolidate your student loans. Interest rates are quite low right now, so it might be worthwhile to consolidate your student loans into one low-rate package. Look into the various student loan consolidation packages – even a 1% reduction on a Rs 100,000 loan saves you Rs. 1000 a year.
    
    
18. Get rid of unread magazine subscriptions.
    
19. Look for a cheaper place to live. When buying a car, go for late model used.
    
20. Know about all of the benefits of your job. We aren’t even aware of all of the benefits available to us. Spend  time with an HR person to find out about all the benefits of your job offers – you might be surprised at what you might find. There may be  free tickets to sporting events, free personal improvement opportunities, and an optional employee match on some retirement funds that maximized the money that you may be socking away. This not only reduces down on our own spending on things like sporting and community events and educational classes, but also improved our retirement plans.
    
21. Switch from endowment or unit insurance to term life insurance to save on premium with better benefits.
    
     
     
    I have come across an article listing about 100  such ways to save money and listed  some of them what is more applicable or relevant for us.