Is your budget stretched really thin right now? If so, these ten ideas will each save you at least $100 in 2014… and some could save you significantly more than that! Pick a few to try and get ready to see some extra wiggle room in your wallet this month!

1. Use Your Freezer

I don’t know about you, but there are some days at our home when life is a blur, and all of a sudden, it’s 5 p.m. and dinner isn’t even a figment of my imagination. Before I started regularly cooking ahead and freezing meals, I’d be tempted to call my husband and ask him to bring something home for dinner.

Freezer cooking has solved the 5 p.m. “What’s-For-Dinner” panic. If I forget to pull something out earlier in the day, I’ll just pick a meal from my freezer stash that defrosts quickly — such as meatballs. I pair this with some frozen veggies, rice, and maybe a fruit salad. No one even has to know I forgot about dinner until 30 minutes before it was supposed to happen!

I’ve found that doing mini half-hour or one-hour freezer cooking sessions works really well for this season of our life. And while I might not be making 20 or 30 meals at a time, by consistently cooking ahead once or twice a week, we always have some meals in the freezer for those busy days when I don’t have time or energy for cooking.

For example, instead of having to make meatloaf three times in six weeks, I just triple the recipe and make meatloaf once and stick the extra two dinners’ worth of meatloaf in the freezer. If I’m going to be making one meatloaf, I might as well double or triple the recipe, saving me the effort and mess later on in the month. After all, it really doesn’t take but a few more minutes to make two extra batches of meatloaf — and the clean up time is pretty much the same!

2. Rent Movies for Free

One of the ways my husband and I have saved a lot of money is by having at-home movie nights instead of going to see a movie at the theater. On the rare occasions when we do go see a movie, I always choke at the prices they charge. $8+ per ticket? That adds up quickly!

Instead of paying for the high movie theater ticket prices, we get movies from the library for free, rent movies from Redbox using free rental codes (Coupon Dad keeps a running list of current free Redbox rental codes), and we use a few of the Amazon gift cards I earn through Swagbucks each month to pay for some Instant Video library purchases from Amazon.

There are also other options like NetFlix, Hulu, and watching shows online, but the library, Redbox, and Amazon Instant Video are our top three favorites.

3. Sign Up for Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards you with Swagbucks currency for searching. You can use it just like Google (though I still like Google better) for all of your searches, and you will randomly be awarded Swagbucks for using the site. I typically earn  around five to 10 Swagbucks once or twice each day. I then redeem my  Swagbucks for a variety of different free items, such as Amazon gift cards, Starbucks gift cards, and much more.

I’ve earned many gift cards plus some electronics from them since I’ve been using them for the last few years. In fact, we were able to lavishly bless our families with Christmas gifts this year thanks, in large part, to the gift cards I’d accumulated through Swagbucks.

And I’m not alone. I know dozens of friends who’ve also had great success with Swagbucks — earning at least a gift card or two every month and sometimes much more than that.

4. Ask for a Discount

A very simple way to cut your bill is to get comfortable and experienced with asking for a discount. My philosophy is that you never want to short-change someone, but it never hurts to politely ask. The worst they can say is “no.”

If you’re going to use a lot of something in the kitchen over the next four months and you can freeze or store it for an extended time period, see what kind of discount you can get at the grocery if you buy enough to last three to six months.

Many stores are happy to give you a discount on groceries that are close to the expiration date. All you have to do is ask. One of my friends discovered that her local grocery store will give her one or two dollars off each gallon of milk if it’s within three-to-five days of its expiration date. So when she shops, she looks at all the expiration dates, finds some milk that’s going to expire within a few, and asks them to mark it down.

If you have a membership to a local gym or other club and it’s something that you regularly use, ask them if they have any discount opportunities. If you volunteer once a month or help with a certain project, you might be able to get a sizable discount. On a side note, if you’re not regularly using your gym membership, cancel it, okay? There’s no use in paying for something you don’t use!

5. Price-match at Wal-mart

If you’re short on time and energy, but you want to cut your grocery bill, take advantage of price-matching at Wal–mart.

It’s simple and easy to do–and can save you a lot of time and money. According to Wal–mart’s price-matching policy, you don’t even need to bring in the competitor’s ad. However, I usually do, just in case there’s any question about the advertised deal.

Instead of running around to three different stores to get the best deals at each of those stores, just circle the best deals in the sale ads at each of those stores and take the ads to Wal-mart.   In addition to simplifying things, it also saves you gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, and time. .

6. Order Prescription Glasses Online

This tip won’t work for everyone because some of you are blessed to not have to wear glasses and some of you won’t need to buy glasses this year. But for those of you who need to buy glasses or who end up needing to buy glasses, this tip will definitely save you $100+ in 2014.

While there are a number of different online sites from which you can purchase prescription glasses, two that used personally are Zenni Optical and Coastal Contacts.

Zenni Optical is my go-to site for ordering glasses online. In fact, we’ve purchased three pairs of glasses from them so far. Not only have we always been pleased with our orders, but on our second order, because of a shipping delay they sent out another free order — which meant we got two extra pairs of glasses for free! That level of customer service really left an impression on me.

Most of the glasses from Zenni Optical are under $20 total for the frames and lenses. They even have some glasses that are as low as $6.95! Shipping is just $4.95. If you need to upgrade your lenses, it will be extra. But I promise it will still be much, much less than buying prescription eyewear in the store.

Coastal Contacts is also worth checking out. If you’ve never ordered from Coastal Contacts, you can get a free pair of glasses when you use coupon code FIRSTPAIRFREE at checkout.

This coupon code covers standard lenses. Upgrades or coatings are available for an additional cost. Shipping will range between $10 and $20. What I like best about Coastal Contacts is that if you receive the glasses and they don’t fit, return shipping is free.

7. Cancel Your Gym Membership

To pick up where I left off on #4 above… How many of you have a gym membership that you aren’t using regularly? If you’re not using it, that’s just money going down the drain every single month!

And even if you are using it occasionally, it could be really pricey for each visit. For instance, if you’re paying $40 per month for your membership and you only go once a week, that’s $10 per visit! What if you cancelled your gym membership and committed to try alternative options?

We have gotten great deals on workout equipment through Craigslist. If you wait until midyear — when everyone has long since forgotten their New Year’s resolutions — you may be able to get a fantastic deal on an almost-new treadmill or elliptical that someone just wants to get out of their house.

YouTube is a treasure trove of free workout videos. I personally haven’t used a whole lot of them, but one I am very familiar with is Clare from Peak313.com. She has all sorts of fantastic workout videos, workout routines, and great fitness ideas on her blog — all for FREE!

You can find dozens — or even hundreds — of workout videos at your local library. I love Jillian Michael’s DVDs — especially her 30-Day Shred. If you are wanting something a little more low impact, try Leslie Sansone.

And the old standby: getting outside and exercising — whether running, jumping rope, chasing your kiddos around playing tag, or taking your baby out in the stroller for a brisk walk — is one of the best ways to exercise. Not only do you not have to mess with purchasing exercise equipment or DVDs, but you get fresh air and sunshine at the same time!

8.  Use a Coupon Database

Coupons are a great way to save a lot of money on your grocery bill, but they can be hard to keep up with. Clipping, sorting, and organizing coupons takes time — time that you might not feel you have right now.

Well, don’t despair! I have a very simple tip for you that will allow you to use coupons even if you don’t want to mess with buying the newspaper, clipping the coupons, and keeping them all organized.

Enter, the coupon database. This is a database of all printable and other coupons currently available. You can search for any brand name or item name. For instance, you can search for bread and it will pull up all bread coupons available. Or, you can search for a specific brand name, such as “Nature’s Own bread” and will only pull up the coupons available for Nature’s Own bread (if there are any available).

The thing I love best is that you can search by coupon type. If you don’t get the newspaper or any magazines, you can search only the printable coupons instead of having to wade through all coupons currently available.

Plan your menu and grocery list and then, before heading to the store, search the coupon database for items you’re already planning to buy. In less than 10 minutes, you can print coupons for what you were already going to buy and easily save at least five dollars for 10 minutes of effort (or less!).

9.  Always Use a Coupon Code

Up until a few years ago, I never even thought to look for a coupon code when I ordered something online. Now, my husband and I both have a policy to never purchase anything without first finding a coupon code to use.

I’ve tried a lot of different coupon code websites and I’ve also tried Googling for coupon codes, but in my opinion, nothing compares to RetailMeNot.com. They are the best coupon code website in existence so far. All you have to do is go to their homepage, search for the store you’re planning to shop from, and ta-da! you have a long list of coupon codes that have been rated by their large community of users.

More often than not, I’m able to find at least one coupon code from the long list that works for me. And, for one or two minutes of effort, that coupon code will usually save me at least 10 percent off my order — sometimes even as much as 25 percent!

Tip: Sites like Kohls.com allow you to stack two coupon codes — one to get free shipping and one to get a percentage off your total. It’s always worth it to try to see if a site will let you use more than one coupon.

10. Shop Online Through a Cashback Site

Cashback sites work with online stores to offer you a percentage — usually somewhere between three and six percent of your total purchase — back as a rebate. While that might not seem like much, it can really add up over time.

My theory: if you’re already going to make the online purchase, you might as well get a little money back, too, right? After all, it’s essentially “free” money!

Here are two cashback sites I recommend:

• Ebates — One of the oldest cashback sites, Ebates’ website is very easy to  navigate.. You only have to earn $5.01 in rebates in order to get a check or Paypal payment. You get a $5 bonus upon sign-up, so with just one purchase, you can reach payout. However, payments are only sent every three months, so you have to wait awhile to get your rebate. Sign up.
• Mr. Rebates–A smaller cashback site, Mr. Rebates still offers a pretty good payout: you get a $5 bonus when you sign up and you can choose to request a check or Paypal payment as soon as you’ve received $10 in rebates.  Sign up.

When you are ready to make an online purchase, check both of these sites to see which one is currently giving the highest percentage of cashback and then shop through that one. To ensure your cashback is credited to your account, search for the store on the cashback site you’re using and then click through the store link. This should guarantee that you are credited for your purchases.

Crystal Paine is a wife, mom of three, founder of MoneySavingMom.com, and author of the New York Times bestseller, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode.

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