1. Skip the soda; bring water instead. Not only do fountain drinks up the cost of your meal by $1-2, regular sodas are loaded with evil empty carbs. Also, fast food menus are loaded with sodium. Chasing your meal with plenty of water can help your body expel some of the unneeded salt more quickly.

2. Doubt the dollar menu. The advent of $1 menu items at numerous fast food chains has kept the restaurant chains’ business brisk and their customers’ waistlines tight. With some exceptions, like a single hamburger with no mayo, the stuff they sell for a buck is usually pretty bad for you.

3. Fear the fries. A Big Mac isn’t exactly a health food, but at least there’s some protein buried under the mountain of fattening special sauce. Fries, on the other hand, have lots of fat and no redeeming nutritional value.

4. Bring your own side: As an alternative to fries, onion rings, or a loaded baked potato, keep a stash of low fat granola bars, apples, unsalted almonds, or another healthy snack item in your car and eat it with your fast food sandwich.

5. Hold the sauce: Sauces and dressings can turn fairly nutrition salads and sandwiches into fatty calorie bombs. Skip dipping sauces for foods like chicken tenders, and opt for the healthiest salad dressing options available. Better yet, take the salad home and douse it with your own dressing of choice.

By bringing water instead of buying a soda, there are plenty of ways to eat nutritionally “acceptable” meals at fast food joints for less than $5.

Meal 1 (Wendy’s): Ultimate grilled chicken sandwich ($4;, 320 cal., 7g fat, 24g protein, 36g carbs) and side garden salad with light honey dijon dressing ($1; 130 cal., 5g fat, 2g protein, 24g carbs).

Meal 2 (Subway): Six inch turkey breast sub, with oil and vinegar ($4; 254 calories, 3.5g fat, 16g protein, 39g carbs).

Meal 3 (McDonald’s): McDonald’s hamburger ($1; 260 calories, 9g fat, 13g protein, 33g carbs) and fruit and Yogurt parfait with granola ($2; 160 calories, 2g fat, 4g protein, 31g carbs).

Meal 4 (Burger King): Whopper Jr., no mayo, no cheese ($1; 290 calories, 13g fat, 17g protein, 31g carbs) and garden salad ($1; 90 calories, 5g fat, 5g protein, 7g carbs).

Do you eat on the run cheaply but nutritiously? What are your tricks?

Even if you’re not on the green-movement bandwagon, you might want to look into buying energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) just to save money on electricity. True, CFLs cost a bit more than regular bulbs, but they consume a third of the power and last up to 10 times as long; that’s good news for the Earth and your wallet.

If your hot water heater is electric, it could account for up to twenty percent of your monthly electric bill. There are, however, several things you can do to reduce the money spent on electricity for hot water. (And don’t worry; they don’t involve taking cold showers!)

First, make sure your water heater is wrapped in a good hot water jacket, which insulates the tank. They’re only $10-$20, so even if you’re renting, offer to pay for one if your landlord will slap it on the tank for you. Next, wash your clothes with cold water whenever possible. While hot water is good for really dirty loads, it can also shrink and fade clothes; usually cold water does laundry just fine.

Finally, ensure that you do laundry and dishes efficiently. Don’t run half loads in the washer or dishwasher if you can help it, and learn to air dry your clothes. Yes, it’s not as fast, but you’ll learn to love not only the electricity you save, but also the crisp and unwrinkled feel of your clothes.

Heating, cooling, and cooking make up about 50% of household energy use. To save on your electricity, go easy on the AC or use a programmable thermostat to start cooling the air a few hours before you get home from work and to go off as the air cools at night and you go to bed.

Ceiling fans and attic fans are great at circulating the air, which can make your home feel many degrees cooler.

Large appliances like your refrigerator, stove, and microwave are other big consumers of electricity. Your fridge can account for 20% of household electricity use. Replacing old appliances with newer energy efficient models may seem like a big expense, but it can pay for itself in a few years. Set your fridge and freezer to lower (warmer) settings and make sure that the doors seal properly.

Note: I’ve been hearing a lot lately about unplugging appliances and electronics while you’re gone because they actually drain power even when they’re off. I was skeptical, so I dug around a bit. I found it to be true: Anything that’s plugged in will drain some juice, even when it’s turned off. Turns out, however, that the amount of power is so low that unplugging everything when you’re not home is unlikely to save you more than a dollar on you next electric bill.

Finally, installing low-flow shower heads, toilets, and faucets can reduce your overall hot water usage. Shower heads start at less that $20.

How do you save money on electricity? Do you have any sneaky frugal tips I didn’t mention?

You may not want or need cable TV or a home phone service.

In fact, subscriptions are the first place to look when you need to trim your budget. If all you use the Internet for at home is checking movie times, sending a few emails, and using Facebook, do you really need it? Of course, if you are a student, a blogger, or otherwise work from home, you probably laugh at the thought of unplugging at home.

In that case, you can try saving on Internet service by:

Shopping around frequently. Most Internet service contracts start at a low “teaser” price and then go up after a year. It’s a hassle, but you’ll save money by switching over to a competitor every year or two.

Negotiate, negotiate. The telesales reps hawking Internet service work on commission and have lots of pricing flexibility. Work them as hard as you can for a better deal, then a better one.

Share (but don’t steal) a neighbor’s wireless. I know there are a lot of cheapos out there mooching off of other people’s wireless Internet service. Maybe someday we’ll have public wireless, but we don’t yet, and somebody else paid for that bandwidth you’re using. A more ethical alternative is to find a neighbor or two that you can go in with on wireless Internet together. (Obviously this works best if you live in an apartment). Split the bill three ways and you can knock down even a pricey $60 monthly Internet service subscription to $20.

Eating out is an expensive alternative getting food at the grocery store (even if you don’t cook). A single person eating fast food twice daily, five days a week, might spend $60. Add one $25 sit down dinner and you’ve spent $85 in a week. Hit up the store, and the same money could feed you for two weeks or more. Buying for two or more? The savings get bigger. So, how do you stop eating out?

Start small. As with any lifestyle change, the key to lasting success is to take baby steps. If you’re on a steady diet of Big Mac lunches and pizza dinners, try starting by trying to pack your lunch four days out of five. (If you hit all five, great, but allow yourself some wiggle room). The next week, cook dinner for yourself once (or at least avoid ordering or going out). Each subsequent week, do a little more. Pretty soon, you’ll find that eating out is the exception rather than the rule.

Avoid social pressures to eat out. If you spend a lot of money going out to sit-down restaurants, your habit may be more social than gastronomical in nature. Are you eating out with friends or your significant other? If a group of friends is the culprit, suggest dinner parties as an alternative. Or, grab a quick bite at home and meet the group after their meal.

When you do eat out, choose wisely. At sit-down restaurants, alcoholic drinks can cost more than the food, so order them sparingly. Then, choose foods that you can take home with you as a second meal like sandwiches or salads. (The portions are always too big, anyway.

Pack your lunch, but don’t ditch your break. Just because you bring your lunch to work doesn’t mean you should eat at your desk. When I used to eat lunches out almost daily—I savored the 10 minute drive to my favorite sandwich shop as a much-needed chance to get out and see the sun. Eat with coworkers in a common space, go outside, or even take it in your car and eat somewhere quiet if you have to! If you do eat at your desk, take at least 10-15 minutes to walk outside and get some fresh air.

Shop more frequently. One of the problems I run into when trying to eat in more often is that grocery shopping for one is a challenge. I can hardly consume things—even staples like milk and bread—before they go bad. The key is to buy smaller quantities and go shopping more often. Yes, you’ll pay more per gallon for a pint of milk than for a gallon, but if you only drink it once or twice a week, you’ll just waste money on larger sizes.

Love your freezer. Finally, learn to freeze foods. Meats, bread, even milk and some fruits and veggies can be frozen just fine. Doing so will allow you to eat healthier and for a lot less!

Do you struggle with avoiding dining out? What are your strategies for eating in more often?

1. Prepare for safety. First and foremost, your bike commute has to be safe. As much as I don’t want to be at work with helmet hair all day, you can bet I’ll be wearing one. Make sure your bike is tuned up and, if you’ll be riding after dark, you have a headlight and taillight. Reflectors just won’t cut it.

2. Prepare for break downs. If you commute by bike regularly, sooner or later you will get a flat…or worse. A tire patch kit, a portable tire pump, and a small toolkit kit are good things to have with you. The alternative? Carry your cell phone and call a buddy if you get stranded.

Photo by Airchinapilot.

3. Prepare to be sweaty. Let’s face it: You won’t roll into work from a bike commute as squeaky clean as if you had been sitting in your car blasting full A/C. Some offices have showers, but many more do not. Bring a change of clothes, some unscented baby wipes, and some extra deodorant, and your coworkers will be none the wiser.

4. Prepare your route. On a bike commute, the shortest route isn’t always best. That means your course to work by bicycle may be different than by car. It’s better to have a slightly longer route featuring calmer traffic and flatter terrain. I use a couple of great online mapping tools to plan my routes. MapMyRun lets you easily map out your bike route using Google Maps, and even provides terrain data. Bikely is similar but doesn’t have terrain data yet. Bikely, however, features a searchable database of commuting and scenic routes already created by other cyclists.

5. Prepare to store your bike. Always know where you will keep your bike. If it’s outside, invest in a heavy-duty lock. You may even ask your manager and/or office manger for permission to carry your bike into your cube or office.

6. Prepare to save money, get in shape, and reduce C02. The great thing about making the transition to a bike commute—even if it’s just one day a week—is that the benefits are three-fold. You’re getting exercise, saving money on gas, and not polluting. For every 10 miles you commute by bike, you could save up to $2 in gas and burn as many as 1,000 calories. Find out how much you can save on gas with this savings calculator from a fantastic blog dedicated to the subject: Commute by Bike.

Do you commute by bike? How has it worked for you? Any tips you would recommend to others considering it?