It’s a new year and time to start thinking of ways to save and earn more! I put together a quick list of some of my ideas on how to get started this year and throughout the year my plan is to help you cut your expenses for groceries, entertainment, + more!

So lets start with your grocery and household goods expenses:

-Coupons!!!

They are the most important addition to helping you save money. By using coupons along with sales advertisements you will save at least 25% more than what you have in the past! If you follow along I promise you will be able to improve that percentage to over 50%!

Here’s how:-

First read “Steps to Saving Money With Coupons!” This teaches you where to find coupons, how to use the weekly coupon match ups, and how to organize all of this in an easy way!

Keep in mind some of the top places to find coupons: Coupons.com, SmartSource.com & RedPlum! You will want to start also getting the Sunday edition of your local paper – for Saint Louis “The Saint Louis Post Dispatch.” Don’t forget to check the Coupon Database for coupons to use on your favorite items!

Check in each week and review the weekly match ups for: Walgreens, CVS, Target, Walmart, Shop ‘n Save, Schnucks & Dierbergs

Entertainment/Restaurants

The biggest addition to savings is Daily Deal websites. These sites give you at least 1/2 off of retail, restaurants, entertainment and more!!

A few of my favorites include:

-Real Deal STL
-Groupon:
-Eversave
-Living Social

Another new site is Moolala! This site allows you to make purchases 1/2 off and refer your friends. For every purchase they make you earn 2% of the sale so the more you refer the more you earn!!

*Don’t forget the 2011 Entertainment Book, right now you can get it as low as $9.79!

Earn Money and get things For FREE:

-If you are on the Internet frequently one of my favorite ways to earn money for free is Swagbucks! You just sign up and use Swagbucks as your browser which gives you free money that you can turn into gift cards! For example you can get gift cards to Starbucks and Amazon.com! Plus you get 30 Free Swagbucks when you join!

-If you have kids in diapers be sure to sign up for Pampers Gifts to Grow and Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards Program so you can earn points towards freebies. Since you are buying them you might as well be rewarded!

Cash-Back Websites - if you are going to shop on line then you might as well earn online!

-Want to make some money for your time? Petersons Marketing Research and Delve Market Research PAY YOU to review products! You do have to go to their offices but can get up to $200 for your time!

Don’t forget to check out Freecycle.org and Freepeats! This is an easy way to get things that you need for free!

Money Management:

If you need help with managing your money check out Mint.com! It’s Free Money Management Software! This is a fantastic tool to help you set and met your budget every month!

Last but not least Follow Along with me on STL Mommy! You can follow along on Facebook, Twitter or Subscribe to the once daily e-mail subscription!

Here’s to 2011!