Put 2 litre plastic bottles (full of water) in your toilet cisterns.

Get an extension lead and plug all your T.V, DVD player, Austar etc in....turn it off at the socket overnight so things are not on standby.

Get rid of Austar.....

Make sure the freezer is full(it uses less electricity)....I bulk mine out with reduced bread when it's a bit empty.

Meal plan.

Make traybakes/fairy cakes instead of buying muesli bars for the kids.

Invest in heavy blackout curtains/pelmets for heat control without electricity.

Use 'Homebrand' washing powder to prewash.

Keep chickens!

Carpool.

Always take water bottles out on trips and refill from drinking public bubblers.

Always eat a meal before going out or take a packed lunch.

Take advantage of your local library for DVD's as well as books.

Pick up your local Councils booklets for free or cheap activities.

Find out your friends/friends husbands/neighbours skills (eg electrician, builder, gardener) and abuse them....I mean skill swap ......ie I will fit your outside light if your hubby renders my new wall.

If you are 'crafty' with a good idea........make something and sell it at a local market.

Get an offset mortgage account.

Always haggle/ask for a discount....where appropriate.

Find a Doctors that bulk bills.

Rent out a room.

Get one of your kids a job at a Supermarket.....you get a discount card (5% )

Sell the kids?

Use eftpos over cash as much as possible. The less cash you are withdrawing via atm, the longer it tends to stay in there.

Keep a daily eye over you bank account.

Change your driving style if you tend to speed off quickly, usually sit in fourth gear when you could be in fifth or leave the engine on when waiting for someone whilst parked. This, along with driving as little as possible will save you money.

Maybe trade your car in for a smaller one. I thinka good way to get going with savings is to get a chuink of money to start with. It's a good motivator. You might get a few grand from downgrading your car or selling other stuff.

Make your own beer and grow your own weed.

Cheaper still would be to drink someone elses beer and smoke someone elses weed.

Or learn how to cook 99.6% pure crystal meth, get setup with a fantastic lab, organise a rock solid distribution network with guys who'll never see your face or know your name and watch the money roll in.

The setup costs are a bit expensive but the rewards are obvious. And noone has to die.

You've been watching Breaking Bad haven't you?

Yes, I'd do it myself but I've got too much going on with this desk job I have.

I'd do it too if I could get hold of some decent methylamine. I cant't be arsed smurfing for cold medicine.

OK, most households have three main expenditure elements:

• Rent/Mortgage - paying someone for the pleasure of having a roof over your head.
• Food -Stuffing stuff in your mouth.
• Utilities - Electricity, Gas, Water, Telecoms, etc.

You want to cut your spend, you attack these, roughly in order.

• Rent - not much you can do once locked in, so its a case of hard dealing up front. Not being a hassle as a tenant has a currency.
• Mortgage - the bank will happily run you into the ground to line their pockets, so worth making sure you pay the lowest interest rate at all time (real, not claimed) and get the principle paid off as soon as possible. Even better to not have a big principle in the first place. Treat bankers as second hand car salesmen.
• Veggies - grow your own, buy long lasting stuff in bulk.
• Meat - buy in bulk, and buy direct (cut out coles). Individual servings in little freezer bags helps ration the amount you use for any one meal.
• Alcohol - little and infrequent.
• Electricity - identify the big users in your house and see if you can cut them down. Then look to the 24/7 items. You may well find that remote control RF switches and 'per use' extension blocks means you'll turn off things more readily. Air con cost is a function of wall/window insulation and shading - better shading can be cheap, as can killing gaps.
• Gas - in the south, be careful of what you heat, when and how much. Often can cut 30-50% of usage. In the north its most likely to be for heating water, get the temp down as low as is safe (eg 60C).
• Water - rainwater collection for the loos makes most of the bill go away in my experience.
• Telecoms - hard bargain and kill Telstra. If you can lose the hardline, do so and go Voip.

There are some really great tips here... thanks everyone... keep them coming.

This was a particular favourite. Frankly though, you'd have to be crackers to suggest anyone would thinly slice ham to cut costs.

I came across a crop once whilst out riding off the beaten track in south lakes.I was in heavy bush then when I came into a clearing there was a skeleton hung from a tree.The horse startled and so did I as I thought it was human but it turned out to be a roo hanging by the neck.Still a bit creepy though and I got the hint.

You can exercise the dogs as well as saving money though make sure your line is high/don't have a bouncy dog or you will have no ham left

These lists remind me of the 'Top Tips' from Viz magazine.

And likewise, 'Pelmet' always makes me snigger.

>>Make sure the freezer is full(it uses less electricity)....I bulk mine out with reduced bread when it's a bit empty.<<

I'm not sure about that one: it would be interesting to carry out a controlled test.

Yes, there would be a greater thermal mass, but that in itself requires being cooled down when first put in. The outside of the fridge would be at the same temperature, courtesy of the 'stat, so I would think the radiated and convective heat loss would be the same.

I would wager a small bet that any difference would be the other way around and it would cost a fraction more, but if any physicist can explain .............

Letting milk go off is much cheaper than buying yoghurt. Another handy tip!