This guest post is from Benjamin Feldman (@BWFeldman), writer and content strategist at ReadyForZero.com, a company helping people get out of debt.

At the beginning of this year, I had several thousand dollars in credit card debt and I was ready to pay it off. But I knew that I needed to cut down on my spending in order to have enough money left over to start paying down my credit card balance.

So I did some research and started finding ways to cut expenses. One of the things I realized is that your fixed expenses – the ones that seem to be locked in – like your auto insurance and rent, often have some flexibility after all.

Below are some tips I’ve found for reducing those fixed expenses:

1. Renegotiate Your Cell Phone Plan

When it comes right down to it, we pay a lot for our cell phones – not always for the phones themselves, but for the monthly calling plan (and data plan, in most cases) that comes with them. These companies count on the fact that we sign up for a plan when we’re excited about our new phone and then simply pay the bill every month – which means a steady cash flow for them.

But what if you need to get out of debt or simply want to save more of your take-home pay each month? If that’s the case, you should try to get that cell phone bill lowered. First, look at your most recent statement and see what you’re actually paying for. It’s possible your bill includes things you signed up for but are no longer using, like an extended data plan, unlimited text messaging, or an additional phone line.

Decide what level of service you actually need, and then research how much that would cost if you purchased it from another provider. When you find the best rate, call up that company and ask if they can guarantee that rate while waiving your cancellation penalty fees from your current provider. If they can, then you’re in business. But first call your current provider and see if they can match the offer – in many cases, they will because they don’t want to lose you as a customer.

2. Cut Your Cable Bill… Or Drop It Entirely

Another monthly expense that we all seem to have is the good old (actually not so good and not so old) cable bill. But you’re stuck with that one, right? Wrong. You can use similar tactics described above to lower the cost of your cable bill. Even if there are no competitors in your area, you can still use leverage you have as a loyal customer to reduce your rate. That’s because there are now so many alternative ways to get TV shows and other entertainment online.

Call up your cable company and tell them you are thinking about switching to Netflix or Hulu instead of being a cable subscriber. See if you can get a discount for 6-12 months or if they can take certain charges off your monthly bill – especially if you have ‘extra’s that you don’t need, like a second cable box or premium channels that you rarely watch. And if you need more details on alternatives to cable, check out this post on the ReadyForZero blog.

3. Save Money on Your Auto and Renters/Home Insurance

We’ve all seen the ads on TV telling us to look for better rates on auto insurance. It turns out, that’s not a bad idea. Keep in mind, that you can often save more with the company you’re currently with (due to their loyal customer program). However, that doesn’t mean you should assume that you already have the best deal.

Find your statement and see how much you’re paying right now. Also, make sure you understand what type of coverage you’re paying for. Then start calling around and find out which company may have a lower rate – for the same coverage. If you can get a lower rate quoted to you, take that back to your current insurance provider and ask if they can match it. Also, make sure you ask them about all the possible discounts that might apply to you, such as the one for buying your auto and home (or renter’s) insurance from the same company, the good driver discount, the family discount, etc.

4. Get a Good Workout for Less

You probably want to be healthy and get your recommended amount of exercise; but who says you have to pay an arm and a leg for an expensive gym membership? Especially when free and low-cost memberships exist, it’s worth downsizing or eliminating your gym membership. If your workouts consist mostly of running on a treadmill or doing sit-ups and push-ups, you can probably do without a gym membership. On the other hand, if you need to use certain exercise machines only available in a gym, look around for discount coupons available at stores like Costco or online that can cut your monthly gym costs in half.

5. Try to Lower Your Rent

This one will be tough for some people – especially if you live in an apartment that is managed by a corporate leasing office. However, if you have a landlord that you personally know, you might be surprised that you can find ways to get a discount on your rent. You might ask if you can help maintain the plants and landscaping around your apartment or help with do-it-yourself projects like repainting worn exterior walls in exchange for a reduced rental rate. I’ve seen instances when this kind of agreement worked quite well.

Even if you have a mortgage, there are ways to lower your monthly housing costs. For one thing, if you have a guest bedroom that is not being used, you could consider finding a renter. With any luck you might find a respectful and quiet person whose monthly rent payment will help cover a significant portion of your mortgage. You can also research whether refinancing would help to lower your payment, but make sure that doesn’t force you to pay more interest in the long run.

I hope these tips will help you lower your fixed expenses and get you on your way toward achieving your financial goals. If you want more tips on how to save money and streamline your budget, check out our Budgeting Tips resource center. Or, if you’re trying to get out of debt by the end of this year, take a look at our Student Loan Debt and Credit Card Debt resource centers. No matter what, stay motivated and keep moving forward!

Photo: Shutterstock

Do you love saving money?

Do you ever use apps to help you cut costs and stay on budget?

In our continuing quest to promote financial literacy and help consumers live credit smart, we asked some of our favorite personal finance writers to share a favorite app that helps them stay on budget and save money.

Check out these great apps:

The Ballpark Calculator

I really like the Ballpark calculator at choosetosave.org because it gives you a quick, easy estimate of how much you need to save in order to retire comfortably.

Knowing *what* you’re saving for always makes saving easier for people.

Jean Chatzky is the financial editor for NBC’s TODAY show, is an award-winning personal finance journalist, AARP’s personal finance ambassador, and the host of “Money Matters with Jean Chatzky” on RLTV. You can reach her on Twitter @JeanChatzky and find more tips like this in her book: Money Rules The Simple Path to Lifelong Security.

 Mint.com

I’m a big fan of Mint, which tracks all of our financial accounts and alerts us when we’re paying fees or reaching a spending limit that we’ve set on our accounts. Mint makes it easy to review our transactions so I can see exactly where our money is going and make adjustments as necessary.

Liz Weston, writes for MSN, and author of “There Are No Dumb Questions About Money.”

I love Mint.com. It’s just so helpful to be able to look at the state of all of your accounts in one place, and the site makes it easy to set budgets and savings goals. Plus, as a visual person, I find their graphs super helpful — it seems kind of silly, but it’s so much easier to have the different sections of my budget visualized instead of looking at them as a series of little numbers in a spreadsheet.

Meg Favreau is the Senior Editor at Wisebread.com and tweets @wisebreadmeg. She’s also a comedian, food enthusiast, and author of the book Little Old Lady Recipes.

I like Mint.com’s app — it securely pulls your bank account and credit card information into one place so you can quickly see how much you’ve spent and what kinds of things you’re spending too much on. It also helps you set spending caps and then will email when you’re about to go over these.

Catey Hill is the author of “Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More.” She regularly writes about personal finance for the Pay Day blog on Forbes.com and for SmartMoney.com.

ShopSavvy Shopping App

ShopSavvy is a must-have shopping app for Android users. The app lets you scan barcodes and compare prices across some 20,000 retailers, either the brick and mortar ones or those online. Beats going to each store individually to do canvassing.

Plus, you’ve got reviews to make sure you’re purchasing products that others have already tried and tested; it’s got wish lists for those nudge/wink/hint times of the year, and price alerts for the busy folks who still want to save on deals. The best part? The app is free!

Kathryn Finney is the founder of TheBudgetFashionista.com and named “One of the Top Ten Women in Money by AOL.

Google Calendar

I like Google Calendar a lot because I can set up email and text alerts for when bills are due or when a particular promotion is ending. This helps keep my bill payments up-to-date as well as lets me know when it’s time to renegotiate items like cable TV fees.

Glen Craig is the founder of FreeFromBroke.com.

Budgetable App

I have so many that I use and love, but my favorite would have to be Budgetable. It not only show you a full snapshot of your finances, but also includes a deals map so you can save even more dough.

Kelly Whalen is the blogger behind TheCentsiblelife.com, and has been featured in Money Magazine, USA Today, Consumerist, and MSN Money Blog.

My Money Center

My favorite tool for saving money and managing my finances is LearnVest’s My Money Center –and it’s free! Through My Money Center, you can connect all of your accounts, from credit cards and debit cards to savings accounts, loans and investment accounts.

Alexa von Tobel is the founder and CEO of LearnVest.com

And check out the new LearnVest app:

RetailMeNot

Right now, my favorite tool for saving money is the RetailMeNot mobile app that shows coupons and deals both online or in store. It’s especially great to have when I’m on the road traveling. I can find discounts on everything from hotels to rental cars to Starbucks (and who doesn’t want to save at Starbucks?).

Carrie Smith is the blogger and founder of CarefulCents.com

RedLaser & Other Barcode Scanning Apps

The app I use the most on my iPhone is called RedLaser. It provides product search results sorted by the lowest price for almost any item that has a bar code.

It helps me save money at the grocery store, and also when I am shopping at department stores. It provides the best price on items from both brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers.

Andrew Schrage is the Editor-in-Chief of MoneyCrashers.com, which has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, Forbes, and more.

I really like the bar code scanning apps out there, where you scan the bar code of a product and it tells you if you can buy it for less somewhere else.

I’ve found a lot of things cheaper on Amazon and those apps (there are a million of them, I think I use Red Laser the most) are great for helping you save a few bucks, especially if you’re not in a rush to get it. Sometimes I don’t even end up buying the item!

Jim Wang is the blogger behind Baraineering.com.

I’m a big fan of those barcode scanning apps. While you’re shopping, you can just take an image of the barcode and it will allow you to compare prices at other stores in town, as well as online. It’s a great way to comparison shop and get the best value for your money.

Miranda Marquit is the founder of PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

 ImpulseSave & LevelUp

Obviously, we’re huge fans of ImpulseSave. Our app allows you to turn those impulse buys into ImpulseSaves right in the moment  – transferring that money you would have spent into a separate savings account under a goal that you really care about.

If you can buy on Impulse just about anywhere – why shouldn’t you be able to save on impulse too? Another staff favorite is LevelUp, which allows you to make payments with your phone while also getting loyalty discounts from local merchants. It’s beautifully simple to setup and use, and loyalty rewards are automatically applied to your transaction (no more carrying around those “free sandwich” cards).

Phil Fremont-Smith is the co-founder and CEO of ImpulseSave.com

 Hotel Tonight

My favorite new app is Hotel Tonight. Check it out the day that you need a hotel, and it will let you know if your city has any inventory on sale! The app is adding cities constantly and it’s a fun way to catch a last minute hotel sale. You can get rooms for up to 70 percent off.

Natalie P. McNeal, creator, TheFrugalista.com, author, The Frugalista Files: How One Woman Got Out of Debt Without Giving Up the Fabulous Life

 Craigslist App

I really like the Craigslist app. When I find something that’s been lying around my house for too long without getting used, I take out the app, snap a pic, and list my item for sale. The app is also good for quickly finding a used version of something I may need.

Philip Taylor is the blogger and founder behind PTmoney.com, and has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, U.S. News and World Report, and MSN.

 Peapod Grocery Shopping App

My Peapod grocery shopping app– it makes it so easy for me to shop for my groceries online (for delivery) that I can easily plan my meals, see what’s on sale, and make my shopping list. I can do it all while I’m waiting in line or watching TV.

Kimberly Palmer is the Sr. Editor at U.S. News & World Report and author of GenerationEarn.com

 Pencil and Paper

Whether you scratch a budget out on a ledger with a pencil like we did in our early years of marriage or whether you use a high-tech budgeting software that syncs with your phone and computer, I believe a written budget is imperative for true financial success. Without it, all your money will just pass through your fingers like sand with little to show for it.

Contrary to what many people think, following a budget gives you freedom. You can guiltlessly spend the money you’ve allotted in your eating out budget without having to worry about how you’re going to afford to pay your electric bill since you already have money set aside for that and all of your other necessities.

Crystal Paine is founder of MoneySavingMom.com and author of The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

I don’t own a smartphone (that saves me money) so I don’t use any apps.  My favorite tool is a pencil and a piece of paper, which I use to make a menu plan and a grocery list.  The menu plan helps prevent me from eating out and the grocery list helps me buy only the things I need.

Kristen is the founder of TheFrugalGirl.com, where she shares practical tips for simple, frugal living. She tweets at @thefrugalgirl can also be found at facebook.com/thefrugalgirl.

ReadyForZero

When I decided to get out of debt earlier this year, I knew I would use ReadyForZero, a free online tool that helps you organize and pay off your debts as fast as possible. But I didn’t realize just how useful it would be! The most important feature is that it lets you make a plan that works with your individual budget, and it can be adjusted at any time. Then it tells you which account has the highest interest rate, and helps you target that one with timely e-mail reminders and a bright blue progress bar to keep you focused on your goal.

Ben Feldman is the writer and content strategist for ReadyforZero.com

ING App

My favorite app is ING’s, only because of the awesome check deposit tool. You take pictures of the front and back of a check, and can deposit it easily. The app has dramatically reduced the number of trips I make to the bank! Other banks have similar apps, I just happen to use ING so it’s the only one I have personal experience with.

Cathy is the founder of ChiefFamilyOfficer.com and wrote a great post on creating a price book to help you save money.

Yelp

My husband and I consider eating out a special treat both financially and nutritionally.  When we indulge, we love to get special deals by using Yelp.  It is a great way to see what others think of the restaurant and occasionally to enjoy free wine or two-for-one dining.
Maxine Sweet is vice president of Experian North America’s Public Education organization and leads Experian’s consumer education, community involvement and corporate responsibility teams.

BigCrumbs.com & Ebates.com

So what types of applications or tools do I use to help save me money?  I thoroughly appreciate any great comparison shopping tool or review site.  These tools and sites allow me to get a better grasp for a product and service before I commit to a purchase.  I also like using cash back sites such as BigCrumbs.com and Ebates.com. These cash back shopping sites can help you save money even as you spend.  I manage to earn enough cash back from these sites to help defray the costs of my holiday shopping every Christmas season.

Silicon Valley Blogger (SVB) runs The Digerati Life, a personal finance site that offers tips and resources on saving money, stock investing, credit management and general money management. You can check out her twitter page at @TheDigeratiLife and Facebook.

Excel Spreadsheet

I’m a tinkerer by nature, so my favorite tool for saving money is actually my trusty old spreadsheet. Whether it’s my budget, investment performance or net worth, I can tailor the information to my liking without worrying about security, updatability or cost.

David Ning is the founder of MoneyNing.com.

Ah, there are so many! I get that question often. So often, that I put together a list of all of the money saving products I use. Some favorites include the American Express Blue Preferred card, which gives 6% cash back on groceries and a low-flow showerhead.

G.E. Miller is the founder and blogger behind 20somethingfinance.com.

Do you use any apps that help you stay on budget? Comment below and let us know.

Photo: Shutterstock

Are you looking for even more ways to keep more money in the bank?

Experian knows the importance of this for every person’s financial health.

So, as part of our overall commitment to financial literacy and in conjunction with our just released annual State of Credit report, we contacted some of our favorite personal finance writers and asked them to share one of their favorite ways to save money.

Check out these frugal-living tips:

Create a “wait and see” list.  If you spot something you think you want to buy, write it down (in a physical notebook you carry with you, or as a note in your smartphone) or take a picture of it and store the picture in an app like Evernote. Then give yourself a “cooling off” period. Three days is good; three weeks may be better. Chances are pretty good that your passion for it will have cooled, and you’ll realize you can put the money to better use elsewhere.

Liz Weston, writes for MSN, and author of “There Are No Dumb Questions About Money.”

One of my favorite tips is to run your financial life like you run your social life. Set-up calendar alerts for everything you need to do to keep your finances running smoothly, from paying your bills and your rent to checking your credit report once every four months. When it comes to bills, set a calendar alert for three days before the bills are the due, so you never make a late payment. And in January, set a calendar alert that reminds you to start preparing your taxes, so you’re not overly stressed when April comes around.

Alexa von Tobel is the founder and CEO of LearnVest.com

My favorite frugal tip is this: Keep track of your money before you spend it. I hesitate to use the word “budget” because it’s one of those words that makes people shut down, like “diet” or “colonoscopy.” In the popular imagination, “budget” connotes deprivation, sacrifice, pain.

In fact, a budget is just a tool to make your money go where it will do the most good. That can mean rent, mortgage and retirement – but it might also mean “nice vacation paid for in cash.” You’re not hoarding every dime in case something awful happens, but rather directing your money so that something good will happen.

Some people call it a “spending plan” or a “spending intention statement.” Call it whatever you like. Just make the darned thing. I recommend Mint.com because I’ve heard so many positive reviews from users. (Color me old-school: I don’t use any apps or budgeting tools myself.)

Donna Freedman writes the Frugal Cool blog for MSN Money and is a staff writer at Get Rich Slowly. Her website is DonnaFreedman.com.

The best way to save more money in your everyday life is to ask yourself one question each time you reach for your wallet to make a purchase: “Do I really need this?” If you can learn to differentiate between a “want” and a “need,” you should be able to cut a massive amount of spending. Do you need to buy a coffee and a candy bar from the convenience store? Do you have to to upgrade your cell phone and digital camera? Do you really need new clothes, and do you have to eat out at restaurants each week? Chances are, you can get by without spending money on these things. By getting into the habit of questioning the necessity of each purchase, you can certainly reduce your spending and build your savings.

Andrew Schrage is the Editor-in-Chief of MoneyCrashers.com, which has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, Forbes, and more.

If you can’t see it and can’t touch it, you won’t spend it.

(This is why 401(k) plans work. The money is swiped out of your account before you ever see it, so you won’t spend it.)

Jean Chatzky is the financial editor for NBC’s TODAY show, is an award-winning personal finance journalist, AARP’s personal finance ambassador, and the host of “Money Matters with Jean Chatzky” on RLTV.  You can reach her on Twitter @JeanChatzky and find more tips like this in her book: Money Rules The Simple Path to Lifelong Security.

I consider myself a frugal guy (some might even call me cheap). But ironically, I’m not super disciplined when it comes to money.  Srict budgeting never really worked for me. Too me, budgets feel like diets and are just really hard to stick to – and they often end in more frustration than results.  My philosophy is that being successfully frugal shouldn’t require me to completely change my behavior.  Instead, I find ways to create new, financially healthier habits that fit naturally into my life the way I actually live it already.

One trick I like to use is “minus one”. Every time I get in a checkout line, I stop, look at what I’m about to purchase, and remove one item. If you’re already a disciplined shopper and only buy things on your list, you probably don’t need this. But for the 99.9% of us who tend to leave stores with more than we came for, it’s an easy way to break the cycle of mindless impulse buying.

Phil Fremont-Smith is the co-founder and CEO of ImpulseSave.com

I’m a sucker for a coupon code! It doesn’t matter if you are shopping online for a new shirt or to purchase Internet domain names, there’s probably a coupon code for you to get it for less. CouponCodes4You and RetailMeNot are good sites to check out.  Or, if you are buying something online, Google the name of the item and “coupon code” and see if a coupon code pops up!

Natalie P. McNeal, creator, TheFrugalista.com, author, The Frugalista Files: How One Woman Got Out of Debt Without Giving Up the Fabulous Life

Focus on cutting expenses that you aren’t using, and finding discounts for what you do use. Many times there are monthly expenses in our budgets for things we just aren’t utilizing: memberships, monthly service fees, etc. Cut them out before you waste more money. If, however, an expense is justified, ask yourself if there is a way to reduce the expense through a discount, coupon, or simply by asking for a lower price.

Philip Taylor is the blogger and founder behind PTmoney.com, and has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, U.S. News and World Report, and MSN.

Don’t give up. Saving, living frugally, and improving your relationship with money are all great goals — but they’re also big goals. And anytime you attack a big goal and have a setback, it can be easy to get frustrated, think you just can’t do it, and give up. But financial success isn’t achieved by just playing the short game — it’s a long-term plan.

Moreover, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of different ways to approach living frugally; just because a technique worked for other people, it doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. So whenever you have a setback, a lapse, or a failure — learn from it, research other options, retool, and try again. If you don’t give up, eventually, you’ll get to where you want to be.

Meg Favreau is the Senior Editor at Wisebread.com and tweets @wisebreadmeg. She’s also a comedian, food enthusiast, and author of the book Little Old Lady Recipes.

Learn how to cook.  If you actually enjoy and look forward to the process–and the results–than it’s so much easier to avoid the temptation of take-out or expensive dinners out.

It’s also pretty easy to teach yourself, thanks to the Food Network, Allrecipes.com, and other food websites and blogs.

Kimberly Palmer is the Sr. Editor at U.S. News & World Report and author of GenerationEarn.com

Cut back on eating out! Food cooked at home is so much cheaper and healthier.  If you’re just getting started, keep things simple and start small. 

Try packing your lunch a few days a week, or making dinner a couple of nights per week.  Over time, your skills will improve and you’ll be able to do more and more of your own cooking.

Kristen is the founder of TheFrugalGirl.com, where she shares practical tips for simple, frugal living.  She tweets at @thefrugalgirl can also be found at facebook.com/thefrugalgirl.

I personally always bring my lunch to work.

I not only save a lot of money, I am not tempted to make unhealthy choices.  Good for my waistline and my savings account.

Maxine Sweet is vice president of Experian North America’s Public Education organization and leads Experian’s consumer education, community involvement and corporate responsibility teams. Maxine is responsible for helping consumers understand credit reporting and use credit wisely.

My favorite frugal tip is to calculate how much of your time something will cost before you buy it. I created a really simple calculator on Bargaineering.com that can take your annual salary, a price (whatever you’re buying), and calculates how many hours you’ll need to work to help pay for it. I’ve found that thinking about purchases in terms of how many hours you need to work to pay for it is far more enlightening than looking at that dollar value.

Jim Wang is the blogger behind Baraineering.com.

I think prioritizing your spending is one of the most important things you can do to save money in the long run. Look at your spending. Really think about what you are buying, and why you are buying it.

Then decide how important it is in your life. If you realized how much you spend on things that aren’t important to you, you’d cut some purchases from your life. Prioritize your spending, and focus your efforts on what’s most important to you, and stop spending on the unimportant things. You’ll save a lot more.

Miranda Marquit is the founder of PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

Check your free credit reports every year from annualcreditreport.com.  You can get one from each of the three consumer reporting companies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.  Why do you need to do this?  To make sure the information on your reports is accurate.  What’s on your report translates to your credit score.  Your credit score is used to calculate loan rates such as your mortgage or a car loan.  By keeping your report accurate you can potentially save thousands over time.  Seeing your report can also help you see where your money is going.

Glen Craig is the founder of FreeFromBroke.com.

I came up with this tip initially for budget shoppers that frequent my site, but I’m sure you’d see how it can be useful in buying stuff in general.

Before buying anything, always consider the item’s Cost Per Wear, or the CPW. Just divide the cost of the item by the number of times you will wear it in a given period. So a $100 shirt worn 20 times has a cost per wear of $5. The goal is to shoot for a CPW of less than $3.

The CPW is important because there’s a tendency for some bargain hunters to focus only on the price of an item, which often leads to purchases based upon price (i.e. wow, this is so cheap!) versus usefulness (wow, I wear this everyday). In the long run, having something you don’t need negate any savings you may have initially made during the purchase.

Kathryn Finney is the founder of TheBudgetFashionista.com and named “One of the Top Ten Women in Money by AOL.

Every time I go to the bank I ask the tellers how many $2 bills they have, and then I “buy” them all up and save them at home.  Sometimes they only have two or three, and others thirty, but no matter how many they have I snatch them up and add it to my “side savings” shoebox where I know I’ll never touch them. Because, let’s face it, they’re so COOL!  How often do you see $2 bills?  It’s forced savings at its best, and you rarely ever miss the money. I literally just started doing this tip myself 2 weeks ago and have already amassed over $100.

J. Money tries to make money interesting over at BudgetsAreSexy.com. You can also find him on Twitter @BudgetsAreSexy and/or at your local bar.

My favorite frugal tip is to keep a price book [to track the lowest price of an item], which is the only way to know if you’re getting a good deal and whether it’s time to stock up. It’s a fundamental, basic step to take when looking to live frugally – especially if you want to maintain a certain standard of living! I’ve written multiple times about price books, but here is my best blog post.

Cathy is the founder of ChiefFamilyOfficer.com and wrote a great post on creating a price book to help you save money.

My best and most used tip is to perform an expense audit every quarter. This means going through all your bills and spending and finding anything you are spending money on that isn’t giving you the value you’d like.

That doesn’t mean your daily latte if it’s what keeps you pumped and happy for work. It may mean cutting the cable, slashing your cell bill, or even re-evaluating your need for a car.

Kelly Whalen is the blogger behind TheCentsiblelife.com, and has been featured in Money Magazine, USA Today, Consumerist, and MSN Money Blog.

My favorite frugal tip of the moment is to make sure you comparison shop, especially when it comes to big ticket items.  I think that comparing prices when it comes to smaller items may not be worth doing if the savings are minimal.  After all, I subscribe to the “time is money” principle.

However, with costlier items such as car or appliance purchases and particularly with labor/service type contracts, you may find that the variances in pricing and cost can be much larger.  If you do your homework, you may be able to save quite a bit.  A common savings tactic that a lot of savvy savers do is to check on items at a store and compare their prices to their online prices.  You can also search for online coupons before ordering anything through a website.  Lastly, look for reward sites that allow you to earn something back when you spend.

Silicon Valley Blogger (SVB) runs The Digerati Life, a personal finance site that offers tips and resources on saving money, stock investing, credit management and general money management. You can check out her twitter page at @TheDigeratiLife and Facebook.

Instead of spending hundreds of dollars at the optometrist, order eyeglasses through ZenniOptical.com. You can get prescription eye glasses for as low as $12 to $20, including shipping. It’s easy to do and I’ve been very happy with the two pair of glasses I’ve ordered from them. In fact, once it took them longer than it should have for my order to arrive so I contacted their customer service and they sent another pair of glasses free of charge!

Crystal Paine is founder of MoneySavingMom.com and author of The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

The 48-hour rule — it’s simple but it works. For a purchase over $100, try to wait 48 hours before buying it.

This is your “cooling off period,” where you think about whether you can truly afford the item and whether you really need it.

Catey Hill is the author of “Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More.“  She regularly writes about personal finance for the Pay Day blog on Forbes.com and for SmartMoney.com.

My favorite frugal tip is to find a saving buddy to keep you accountable.

Not only can the pair of you help keep each other in check, you can discuss other tips and best of all, it makes the whole journey more fun since you can celebrate the milestones together!

David Ning is the founder of MoneyNing.com.

Ride your bike to work as much as humanly possible. Doing so is the ultimate frugal and impact reduction move. I once calculated that reducing my commute from 25 miles to a bike ride provided enough savings to completely fund my retirement. Plus, it keeps you in shape.

G.E. Miller is the founder and blogger behind 20somethingfinance.com.

My favorite frugal tip is to never pay retail price for anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s food, travel or clothes, these days there are unlimited ways to save money. From bartering for a discount to using coupons and earning cash back on every purchase, there’s always a way to get something for less. I think the last time I paid full price for anything was 5 years ago.

Carrie Smith is the blogger and founder of CarefulCents.com

And if you’re not very frugal, some words from Ben Stein …

I am the least frugal, most spendthrift man on this earth. I have no frugal tips except: 1.) I never rent movies in hotel rooms. 2.) I never use the hotel phones when I can use my cell. 3.) I have never had lobster ever in my life and don’t want it. I am pretty good at making a living and I am halfway decent at investing. But I have never been a frugal man and probably will never be. My extravagance is a disgrace to humanity. On the other hand, my parents were frugal and left my sister and me a meaningful estate. What happened? The IRS took most of it. So, why bother?

Ben Stein is a New York Times bestselling author, economist, actor, and just finished writing “How to Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio,” which will be published by Wiley in October.

Do you have any frugal tips to share? Or do you already follow some of this advice?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Theyyyy’re baaack! They once graced American televisions singing witty lyrics about their personal credit woes while waiting tables in pirate costumes, living out of the in-laws’ basement and getting snubbed by women because of their lackluster car.

Now, after a two-year hiatus, The Original Band is back by popular demand. Freecreditscore.comTM today unveils a new creative campaign featuring the likable trio in new roles: beneficiaries of success due to credit education.

The Original Band’s first run generated a huge groundswell of fan support, and the story continues that like many artists, they needed to recharge their creative batteries. Now flush with success, they decided it was time to listen to their fans and get back to doing what they do best: rockin’ the microphone.

“Our company has consistently received requests to bring back The Original Band,” said Ken Chaplin, senior vice president of marketing for freecreditscore.com. “There is an incredible fan base, and it’s apparent that they struck a chord with America. We’ve seen it play out in pop culture as online spoofs, as well as on popular television shows such as Saturday Night Live and Glee.”

Music has always been important to the brand’s success. Members of The American Secrets, voted the winning band in the 2010 freecreditscore.com Band Search, have been its most recent musical ambassadors.

The power of freecreditscore.com’s commercials has continued to capture the attention of consumers while educating them about credit. Consumers love the infectious music and memorable lyrics, and the three new commercials scheduled for the coming months promise to deliver catchy tunes and a great musical experience.

“This is a great example of a client that listened to what customers were saying; there’s still a lot of love out there for these guys,” said Steve Sage, creative director for The Martin Agency. “It’s an iconic campaign and we look forward to this next chapter with our old friends. If you look closely, there are several reminders of the past to be found in these commercials. Stay tuned.”

In addition to the commercials, fans can follow the band on our social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as on the fan-inspired http://www.freecreditscoreband.com Website, where information, behind-the-scenes videos and images will be housed.

Check them out:

We recently announced the availability of PowerCurve, our new decision management software portfolio, which helps organisations manage and grow their portfolios by improving the way they use information to make customer decisions.

PowerCurve builds on more than 30 years of experience that Experian has providing organizations across the globe with expert decisioning tools. It is equipped with some of the most advanced decision analytics capabilities in the market today.

Advanced strategy and customer management
As a flexible decision management technology platform, PowerCurve offers a unified set of software products that make the process of creating, implementing and improving customer decisions simpler, more efficient and more user-friendly. The first two PowerCurve software products — PowerCurve Strategy Management and PowerCurve Customer Management — are available today.

PowerCurve Strategy Management enables organisations to quickly and easily develop and deliver customer acquisition, portfolio and debt management decisions. It gives business users the ability to easily design, test, execute, and continuously improve decision strategies. The software uses advanced analytics to help users transform data into knowledge of the potential revenue and risk associated with each and every customer interaction.

PowerCurve Customer Management allows businesses to improve the profitability of customer relationships by optimising cross-sell and up-sell offers, improving loyalty and managing risk. The software creates a comprehensive view of each customer relationship across an organisation’s business and product lines, to more accurately quantify each customer’s potential lifetime value, and drive actions to develop and nurture it.

Clients can choose to install the software within their own IT environments, integrating the capabilities they need in order to manage costs and leverage their existing software investments. Alternatively, PowerCurve can support delivery of Experian’s analytics and decisions in a secure, hosted environment within the Experian firewall at one of its state-of-the-art data centers around the world.

Download our free whitepaper to learn more about PowerCurve.

We also sit down with Keir Breitenfeld, senior director, fraud and identity solutions, to discuss fraud detection, and we go one-on-one with Amy Hysell from Arizona Federal Credit Union to look at how a troubled portfolio can be turned around using Experian tools.

We’ve all seen news clip of a tornado that twisted down a street, destroyed one house, missed the next two then demolished another block or two of people’s lives.

Credit card fraud is equally indiscriminate.

Why? Because you’ll never know when someone will hack into your debit card account, rip off a new credit card solicitation from your mailbox, or steal your identity to wreak havoc on your financial life while your neighbors and friends go untouched.

The Good News? Help Is On The Way
Fortunately, as reported this week at VISION 2012 here in Phoenix, lenders are turning to a new weapon: Experian’s Precise ID for Customer Management.

This cutting-edge credit card fraud detection and prevention platform:

Offers cutting-edge resources that enable you to outpace criminals by detecting, avoiding, managing and actually preventing current-account fraud activity –– within the first seven days of account origination.

Employs accurate and broad-reaching data assets, targeted analytics, knowledge-based authentication, and flexible, efficient and predictive decisioning policies.

Aims to re-check accounts after they have been opened, which can identify suspicious activity allows for a significant lift in fraud captures.

Helps you meet mandated government and industry regulations such as the USA PATRIOT Act, the FACTA Red Flags Rule and e-signature requirements.

Globally Accepted. Locally Deployed. Five Choices.
Organizations around the world have selected the integrated Experian Precise IDfor Customer Management fraud platform from Experian to manage their application fraud, authentication and high-risk accounts.

In fact, Experian Precise ID for Customer Management is available for Compliance, for Identity Screening, for Account Opening, for Customer Management and for Knowledge ID.

Have a comment about how credit card fraud hit your home or want to know more about Experian ID? We invite you to share your thoughts below.

As more Americans emerge from the economic depths of the recession, they’re reminded by one significant fact: not all consumers reduced their debt burdens during 2011.

Super-prime VantageScore® consumers — those with scores of 901 to 990 — actually increased debt by $100 billion from Q4 of 2010, notably in new mortgage, bankcard and auto debt.

Mortgage lending activity quickens
At the close of 2011, automotive loans and bankcard originations showed the biggest upticks. While new mortgage lending remained weak, the origination volumes of $407 billion in Q4 represent both an increase from the previous three quarters in the year and a heavy weighting toward refinance activity.

In fact:

• More than 75 percent of dollars originated for single-family home purchases in Q4 of 2011 were refinance volumes.

• As interest rates remain low during the first half of 2012, additional refinancing activity is expected, providing a silver lining to the persistently slow activity in this sector.

• The latest wave of refinance activity indicates that many homeowners are still striving to stay in their homes and smooth out their cash flow through refinancing.

Housing will continue to struggle through 2012
Mortgage-lending volumes remain at extremely low levels, despite record low interest rates. A new round of declining home prices in key markets in Q4 2011 compounded housing sector troubles. The national home price index fell by 4 percent from a year ago, with many major markets seeing further price declines in excess of 10 percent from a year earlier.

Through all of this, mortgage delinquency exposure remains high, but 30-plus DPD balances have decreased for 10 consecutive quarters, falling to $565 billion in Q4 of 2011. Regionally, mortgage delinquencies represent 6 percent to 8 percent of all mortgage debt, except in California and Florida, which were especially hard hit by the credit crunch and recession and continue to see such delinquencies representing at least 10 percent of mortgage loan outstanding balances.

Further economic gains anticipated
Until housing rebounds, the nation’s unemployment rate is expected to stay relatively flat from its March 2012 level of 8.2 percent. The increase in gross domestic product will continue to contribute to increased private-sector hiring, which will slowly have a notable effect on the overall number.

Check out the video to see his recommendations: