All the mommy blogs and single girl blogs are covered up with money saving tips and ways to economize. Most men's blogs do not mention money saving tips. I think men are not viewed as "economizers" in general. Just look at all the jokes about motorcycles, boats, power tools and golf what-not that seem to infect women's conversations about a man's spending habits. (I offer Jeff Foxworthy's "Married Money" skit as an example.)

I'm here to change that a little. Men can save a lot of money, by being a lot more independent in thought and deed. Here are some of the ways that I save money, and I mean save a lot:

I abandoned the concept of expensive cars in 2005 when I bought a Toyota Matrix. A lot of folks grinned and shook their heads. After all, it's a dinky little car that has a five speed manual transmission. It also gets somewhere around 34 mpg driving back and forth to work. The only girl in the world I am trying to impress is my wife, and she is very happy with the Matrix: low gas consumption, much lower insurance, and at a cost of $14900 with my trade-in, no car payments. So, if you want to save a ton of money, quit caring what the Jone's think and buy a car that fits your real needs, not that visceral need to show up at a concert with a hot car and a slinky blonde date - that's so Madison Avenue passé. I figure I am saving something on the order of $7K a year on car payments, given the cost of a well equipped Suburban, not counting operating costs, which are roughly four times the cost of the Matrix.

I try all sorts of different ways to cut my lunch bill. At $10 per day, that's $50 per week or $2600 per year (give or take a couple of hundred). My number one way to save money at lunch is Walmart. They sell a great big salad, which lasts me for two days for $4. I add some frozen pre-cooked chicken (also from Walmart) which adds about 50 cents to the cost. I also add some Greek olives (another 35 cents). So for two days, I eat for about $3. I try to bring my lunch from home, using left overs or cold cuts two days per week. It's hard to estimate the savings because of the original cost of the food, but generally, I figure the lunch cost at $3 when I take my lunch. I've shopped around at various quick restaurants in my area, and I've found a Chinese take out stand that sells some wonderful dishs, with massive portions, for $5.00. Generally, this food is enough to last me two meals. So generally, I am eating for about $15 to $20 per week, instead of $50. That's a savings of about $1500per year, that goes toward family luxurys, like private school for my daughter and private college for me son.

Daytime snacking is another area I save a lot of money. Don't hit the snack or soda machine everyday. The costs add up and before you know it, you're hitting the machine at 10 AM and 3 PM everyday for a caffeine fix. At $2.00 per visit, that's $4.00 per day, or $20 per week, or about $1000 per year on junk at the candy machine. I hit the grocery store (Walmart in my case) for my weekly fix of beef jerky and peanuts. A jar of peanuts costs about $3 and last for two weeks. A large package of beef jerky is $7 and lasts about two weeks. For drinks, I use the individual packages of Crystal Light, decaffeinated tea or water at a cost of about 10 cents per drink. Net savings: $20/week of junk food versus $10 every two weeks. I like the sound of $250 per year on snacks versus $1000 per year on junk. Plus I've cut my calorie intake a bunch. Another area I save a lot of money is coffee. I like to stop in the morning, two or three times per week to get a dark roast coffee. At Starbucks, that cup of dark roast is $2. At 7-Eleven, the cost is 85 cents. I can't tell the difference in flavor, plus I like the folks I meet at 7-Eleven better.

Instead of an expensive gym, I try to walk for 40 minutes at lunch. I have some nice areas very close to work for walking.  It also cuts down on my appetite, as I try to walk first and eat second. It's not cool or trendy, but it's good for me. I figure this saves me about $500 per year in gym fees, plus cuts two Dr. visits per year just by reducing stress and working my heart and lungs. Total savings: $750/year. Bonus points: I don't feel guilty about the gym I'm paying for but not using.

One more way that I try to save money is mowing my own lawn. You can do the $60 per week mowing thing in the summer months, but I can cut and trim my lawn in about 90 minutes with clean up. If I count my blog income as my marginal cost for labor, you'll have to believe me, I am better off cutting the grass than writing in this blog. I know that's hard to believe, given all the hype about blog income. I calculate about $500 per year in savings by doing my own lawn work.

I am very careful about the cost of my hobbies. While I love to go fishing and hunting, I don't owe lots of money on boats, trucks or trailers. My daugher has a horse, and we find it a lot cheaper to pay a generous $1 per mile transporation fee than to maintain a trailer and truck for traveling to horse shows. At eight shows per year, I spend about $800 on transportation, versus whatever the cost of a trailer and truck would cost me. This one is a no brainer. By gladly paying a generous hauling fee, we don't ever have to look very far for a ride to the show.

Why do I care about saving money? I'll have to go into that in a different post. But mostly, I think the bill is about to come due on all the money this country and it's citizens owe. I think hard times are coming like a freight train, and a lot of $200K earners living a $400K life are about to experience some very hard lessons. My advice is cut your debt and save some money. You may need it.