In most household, half of the family’s income goes to paying the house bills. This includes electricity, water, phone and other services like cable TV and Internet. It’s time to cut down on your home expenses and save a little money off your salary.

Here are quick tips:

• Look for a company that offers cable TV, Internet and land phone service. This way you would only have to pay for a single bill and it would relatively cost you less.
• CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs can save you big on electricity. They use 75% les energy than the usual incandescent bulbs.
• You can cut down on your phone bills if you considering using VOIP phone service.
• Pull out power plugs when an appliance is not in use. Most appliances on standby mode would still eat up electricity even when you turn them off.

If you are serious about saving for yourself and your family, it would be a wise move to open a savings account with your trusted local bank. If you have your savings money on hand, you would easily be tempted to use it and buy the things that you want. But if you have it deposited in your bank, you would have to think twice before withdrawing your savings. Have a separate savings account apart from your checking account. You can ask your banker to set up automatic transfer of a certain amount from your checking account to your savings account. You can even ask your employer to automatically deduct your savings from your salary and transfer it directly to your savings account.

The first thing that you need to do in creating a savings plan is to set real goals. Short-term goals would include buying yourself a new laptop or a high-end PDA phone. Long-term goal would be something you want for you and your family on your retirement. Jot down your goals on paper and focus on them. Next, you need to create a timeframe for your goals. This would let you realize if your goals are attainable or not. Do the math and calculate how much you need to save per week to be able to reach your goal within a certain timeframe. You need to keep a record of your expenses and from this list, you can see what things you can cut down on to be able to save you a few hundred dollars per month.