With the holiday season quickly approaching, I thought I would do one of my classic X Spots, and show you some great ways to stick to your budget.

So let’s dance together through this list and have a great time doing it! Maybe I’ll be your savior and save you a few shekels. Or dare I pun and say your SAVE-ior. Ohhh how inappropriate.

1. Do you like eating fast food? Really? Well you should stop liking it. It’s called natural adaptation. Develop a distaste for fast food and start kicking through the cookbook. It’s not as hard as it looks, if I can do it, you can do it too.
   
   
2. Never EVER go grocery shopping while you’re hungry! Make sure you eat heartily before you storm the aisles. Otherwise you’ll buy way more than you should, and then eat most of it as soon as you get home. Or you’ll buy junky stuff. Also, don’t watch Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs without eating first. It’s cruel and unusual punishment.
   
   
3. Determine your wants and needs VERY thoroughly. You don’t need a $200 shirt, especially when you can get something just as good for like $10. Also, you don’t need a TV that will take up an entire wall in your house. I actually gave away my old CRT TV and have just been using my laptop to watch movies.
   
   
4. Learn how to MacGyver your way through life. Don’t make a fuss, just do it. You can save a lot of money by MacGyvering. For example, learn to build a boat using only a toothpick and a paperclip. Being innovative is key to saving money.
   
   
5. Never, under any circumstances, watch commercials on TV. They will just make you more aware of products you can buy. Especially infomercials that suck you right in. Invest in a PVR and fast forward through ads.
   
   
6. Do extensive research before all purchases, especially impulse purchases.
   
   
7. If you come under your budget, save the excess. Don’t say, “Oh look, we saved all of our money on this, now let’s eat steak dinners for the rest of the month and hire a maid!” Bad news bears.
   
   
8. Use cash. Use real cash from a real wallet to pay for your real daily expenses.
   
   
9. Save money on gym memberships by exercising in the wilderness. Did you ever see Rocky sitting in the gym during a montage? I think not. He punched wild meat and ran up stairs.
   
   
10. This is my favorite tip that I ever give, but borrow from the library! Not only is it free, but you have a time limit to read your books which will sometimes light a fire under you to get them read.

Congratulations, you’ve just graduated from another X Spot lesson. You’re going places! Go share your knowledge of saving with your friends!

Discuss below some other great ways YOU save money so I can feature them in the blog!

I am going to go make a phone call and pace around while I pick up random objects. Don’t pretend that you don’t do that too when you’re on the phone!

Have an awesome Tuesday!

Oh and on a side note. If you are preparing for Halloween, the movie Drag Me To Hell came out today, you should rent it. It was one of my favorite horror movies of recent times.