What are you doing to save money?

I don't know about anyone else, but here in the west we've been hit pretty hard in our finances. On top of the pricey gas ($4.09/gallon for regular), we've also had short hay crops because of drought so the hay prices have soared ($14 a bale for grass, low price), along with grain and everything else. This leads to higher vet call fees ($50/call now) and shoeings ($85 for 4 shoes).

So, since everything is ridiculous, what is everyone doing to help keep costs down for their best friends? I know I would do anything to keep them healthy and happy, which means less for the hubby!

1. I've cut shows down drastically to save costs on gas. We have lots of trails, and I really enjoy the relaxing trail rides, and so does my ex-barrel racer!

2. Cut down on eating out. We maybe eat out once a month now, but we've saved a lot of money by cooking our own meals

3. No more frivolous shopping. Instead of "oh, I NEED that!!!", it's "no, I can live without that new bit for now". Also, I've pulled out clothes I haven't worn and started wearing them!

4. We don't just "drive". If we have to go somewhere, we take the little car (unless its a 4-H meeting, then we have to have the truck). We've saved well over $200 a month doing this.

5. Stock up on hay. With drought, hay is short and hard to come by anyway, so I've saved all winter to stock up on all the hay I'll need until this time next year. Saves us from paying over $20/bale in the middle of winter.

Anyway, more ideas?

Normally by this time of year we would have gone horse camping or at least trailered the horses someplace to ride. We have taken them to the vet once and that's it. My big truck hasn't even been started since then. We plan on staying home to ride a lot more this summer.

Not because of the economic drought, but we give our own shots and trim ourselves (barefoot). Either one saves you a bundle.

My daughters decided to not play softball this year. (yeah! AND it was their idea) That will cut down on gas not having to drive to practice and games.

We decided to be totally dedicated to horses this summer. Not that we aren't already, we will be doing more riding instead of going places like amusement parks.

We decided to only do 1 major camping trip this yr. And do more camping on our land.

We drive the little honda more instead of the big truck.

The hay should ( knock on wood) be fine around here we have had lots of rain. But we will stock up before winter.

My hubby works at a feed mill and he keeps saying how high the grain prices are getting. We are lucky that we have an "in".

We have also been eating at home more.

I've made a couple of easy changes:

Pulled my old man's (26 yo) shoes. He has really good feet, and he doesn't work much, anyway. (Savings of $75 every 6 weeks)

Sold my S-10 truck that couldn't pull my trailer anyway (it got a whopping 15 mpg) and bought a Honda Civic (25+mpg, smaller monthly payment, less insurance costs, ETC.!) (Est savings: $2500+ per year!)

Switched from shavings (the nice big fluffy kind) to sawdust (Savings of $170 per load)

Focused more on local shows instead of the regional thing - smaller stall fees, less gas hauling, no hotels, usually smaller entry fees (estimated savings in the thousands)

We have cut way back on going out, too. And when we do go out, we order something realistic...a smaller plate at a smaller price that still fills us up!

This is a good thread!