Cut more than $1000 dollars from your budget? Try these tips!

When it comes to cutting costs, consumers always look at the big stuff. Postponing that vacation. Keeping your car a few more years. Nixing the addition on the house.

But it's often the little things that can make an even bigger difference. For instance, Joseph Montanaro, a certified financial planner for USAA Financial Planning Services, says he saved $130 a month just by kicking his daily Dr Pepper habit. That's a savings of $1,560 over a year.

We calculated the savings you might see from making various adjustments over a period of one year, from carpooling to work, to drinking a cheaper cup of coffee, to taking a quicker shower. If you do all the things we suggest here, you could save at least $5,000 over a year's time. That's real money.

So, what lifestyle change can save you the most cash? Read on.

How much can you save over one year if you...

Find Out at Yahoo Finance

Saving at the Supermarket: 15 Great Grocery Shopping Tips

A shopping list is a useful way to remind yourself what you do and do not need to purchase. But most frugality experts emphasize shopping with a list because it prevents impulse purchases. Impulse purchases wreck grocery budgets. In Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Paco Underhill writes:

Supermarkets are places of high impulse buying for both sexes — fully 60 to 70 percent of purchases there were unplanned, grocery industry studies have shown us.

More than half of all grocery purchases are unplanned! No wonder creating and sticking to a list can bring down grocery costs.

But that’s not the only way to save money at the supermarket. Over the past two years, I’ve published a lot of tips for saving money on your grocery bill. Some of these have been obvious — others less so. All of them can help you save at the supermarket. Here are some of the best:

More from Get Rich Slowly

Also: 20 Of The healthiest Foods Under $1

Coffee drinkers may live longer than non-drinkers

Middle-aged adults who enjoy a few cups of coffee every day apparently have a lower risk of dying from heart disease than people who don't drink coffee, researchers reported Monday.

The findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, come from two studies that followed nearly 128,000 U.S. health professionals for more than two decades.

The researchers found that men and women who regularly drank a few cups of coffee each day were slightly less likely to die during the study period -- mainly due to a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

More at Revolution Health

What's the big deal about agave?

As Prevention’s nutrition director, Grocery Guru columnist, and the R.D. behind the Flat Belly Diet, I receive a lot of info from food companies about new products hitting store shelves, and I’ve noticed a few trends, particularly in the past six months.

More and more companies are ditching artificial or highly processed ingredients (yay!) and embracing natural ones; and one of the most interesting swaps has been agave in place of sugar. This plant-based sweetener is now an additive in everything from granola to ketchup.

It’s sweeter than sugar, so less is needed in its place (use 1/3 cup of agave syrup for every 1 cup of sugar in recipes). One tsp of syrup contains about 20 calories and can be used in a variety of ways, including in hot or cold beverages (it dissolves in both perfectly), baking, marinades and sauces, and in cold desserts (like sorbet or pudding).

More at Shine

Cut your grocery bill in half - No, REALLY!

Nearly $5 for a box of cereal is outrageous - and it's probably only going to get worse. But there's a crop of new online resources that can help take the sticker shock out of food shopping.

The average U.S. household spent $3,240 on groceries last year, according to the American Express Everyday Spending index, and prices have risen substantially since then.

Of course, clipping coupons can help, but it's time consuming and tedious. The good news is that now there are Web sites that can help make saving much easier.

More from CNN

Drinking four cups of tea a day cuts heart attack risk

Drinking four cups of tea a day cuts the risk of a heart attack, according to a review of studies by the British Nutrition Found-ation.

The review suggests that tea can also improve your mood, strengthen bones, boost hydration and increase alertness, reports the Daily Express.

For her study, Carrie Ruxton, a dietician and member of the independent Tea Advisory Panel, reviewed existing scientific literature on black tea, the type found in most teabags in Britain. The advantageous properties include reducing the risk of a heart attack.

More at Yahoo News

Ever Wonder About The History Of The Food You Eat? Check Out The Food Timeline

Ever wonder what foods the Vikings ate when they set off to explore the new world? How Thomas Jefferson made his ice cream? What the pioneers cooked along the Oregon Trail? Who invented the potato chip...and why?

Welcome to the Food Timeline! Food history presents a fascinating buffet of popular lore and contradictory facts. Some people will tell you it's impossible to express this topic in exact timeline format. They are correct. Most foods we eat are not invented; they evolve.

This list is amazing, and almost everything in it is likable to a large article. You know you want to know how long people have been eating Ice cream, or when Dr. Pepper, Crisco or Gummi Bears were invented (Hint: It's likely much earier than you think!)

The Food Timeline

Get Ready To Save Some Serious Money - It's The Hillybilly Housewife's Guide to feeding 4 to 6 People for $45 a Week

One trip for 4 to a decent restaurant for 4 people can cost you Forty-Five dollars or more so how can you feed the whole bunch for a week on the same amount. The simple answer is you plan ahead, use simple ingredients, and cook from scratch. Actually, due to the cost increases in groceries lately, if you have to buy everything on the list it will likely now cost you more, but chances are you already have some of these items, so it may even cost you less.

Check this out, even if you don't follow the whole plan your likely to find lots of good ideals here.

The plan from the powerful wisdom of The Hillbilly Housewife

Link to the sites' front page.

BIG DINNER!

Here's a picture I caught in my backyard yesterday. The robins have been just everywhere this year, and this nest is less than 10 feet from my house. The adult is cautious because he has seen me, and is waiting to see if I'll try to harm them or the babies any. The young ones got to partake of the huge bug about 10 seconds after this picture was snapped. It took roughly about 40 shots, most of them blurry to get this one. You can click the pic for a nice 600 by 800 download size.

Wal-Mart puts the squeeze on food costs

With gas, grain, and dairy prices exploding, you'd think the biggest seller of corn flakes and Cocoa Puffs would be getting hit by rising food costs. But Wal-Mart has temporarily rolled back prices on hundreds of food items by as much as 30% this year. How? By pressuring vendors to take costs out of the supply chain.

"When our grocery suppliers bring price increases, we don't just accept them," says Pamela Kohn, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for perishables. To be sure, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) isn't the only retailer working to cut fat from the food chain, but as the largest grocer - Wal-Mart's food and consumables revenue is nearly $100 billion - it has a disproportionate amount of leverage. Here's how the retailer is throwing its weight around.

More from Fortune

Mediterranean diet may also help stop diabetes

A Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables -- already known to protect against heart disease -- also appears to help ward off diabetes, Spanish researchers said on Friday.

The study published in the British Medical Journal showed that people who stuck closely to the diet were 83 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who did not.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 percent of all cases and is closely linked to obesity and heart disease. The condition accounts for an estimated 6 percent of all global deaths.

More good health news at Reuters

Ten Simple Meals in Ten Minutes or Less

It’s all well and good to save money on meal prep, but for those working outside the home or juggling various other projects, saving time can be just as critical. Here are ten simple meal ideas you can prepare in ten minutes or less.

Why can't everything in life be so easy?

Good Eats from Wise Bread

Supercook - When your broke and your hungry just cook what you've already got.

Supercook is a new recipe search engine that finds recipes you can make with the ingredients you have at home. To begin, simply start adding ingredients you have. The more ingredients you add, the better the results will be.

This site is not only frugal and smart, but it's a load of fun. You can really max out those food dollars, while discovering loads of new things to fix. Try it out, put in about 4 or 5 things you already have and sit back and enjoy the results. Amazing!

Supercook.com

Strawberries - One of the best foods in the world

The fragrantly sweet juiciness and deep red color of strawberries can brighten up both the taste and aesthetics of any meal; it is no wonder they are the most popular berry fruit in the world. Although strawberries have become increasingly available year-round, they are at the peak of their season from April through July when they are the most delicious and most abundant.

But Just wait till you get a load of all their health benefits.
More from the World's Healthiest Foods.

Cutting Costs with Online Coupon Sites

Coupons are making a comeback. In the face of rising food prices and a slowing economy, consumers are clipping coupons once again. Only, they don't need scissors and a local newspaper so much as a computer, printer, and maybe a mobile phone.

The number of page views on Web sites that feature money-off coupons for all manner of consumer products surged 38%, to 281 million, in March from a year earlier, compared with 5% for the Internet as a whole, according to comScore (NasdaqGM:SCOR - News). Those visitors spent a total of 145 million minutes on the sites, a 37% increase. While the number of new users to coupon sites isn't growing faster than the larger Internet audience, existing coupon site users are certainly becoming more active. "User engagement by deal-seekers appears to be ramping up," says comScore analyst Andrew Lipsman. "As a general rule, something like online coupon site activity would increase as a result of macroeconomic trends."
More from Yahoo

Save big on groceries at Amazon.com. Groceries?

Who knew they sell groceries and house care products? Anyway, these are some serious deals, offering up to 50 percent off when you use coupon codes and buy larger amounts. Great for stocking up the pantry.
Food Bargains at Amazon

You'll Enjoy it so much, then comes the guilt

This is just wild. Just wait till you see some of the high calorie, high strangeness food creations they'll be cooking up at your State and local fairs this year. It only gets strangers as the years go by. Remember to enjoy in moderation (Yeah, Right!)
The Big (As in Waistline) 10.

What Will You Do With Your Economic Stimulus Check?

The government wants you to spend it, but if you buy stuff made overseas it could hurt the economy. Some smart people have some better ideals though. It could really pay to check these out.
From The Consumerist
Also - Wal-Mart cashes stimulus checks for free, K-Mart and Kroger's gives you an extra 10 percent.

Chocolate may reduce pregnancy complication risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Indulging in chocolate during pregnancy could help ward off a serious complication known as preeclampsia, new research suggests.

Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is rich in a chemical called theobromine, which stimulates the heart, relaxes smooth muscle and dilates blood vessels, and has been used to treat chest pain, high blood pressure, and hardening of the arteries, Dr. Elizabeth W. Triche of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and colleagues write.
More from Yahoo News

Nutritional changes to WIC program will allow low-income mothers to buy fruits and vegetables

As food prices spiral higher, the quality of a diet can really suffer. Starchy, sugary, fatty foods are filling and relatively inexpensive compared with fruits, vegetables and lean meats. The effects of a tight budget on food choices are particularly concerning for people who may find healthful foods difficult to afford: low-income mothers and their children.

Soon, they will be getting some overdue help.

For the first time in its 35-year history, the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program -- which provides food vouchers to millions of households nationwide -- will, starting October 2009, allow participants to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and soy-based products.
More from the LA Times