Savings are essential to the safeguard of any household. What seems to be a happy, carefree lifestyle today can change in an instance with the lost of a job or the birth of a child. With a few, simple changes, a family or individual can significantly increase their savings.

Take a close look at your bills

Take a moment to read through the itemized section of your bills, especially for phone and cable services. When viewing your itemized phone bill, look for services that you are not using or you can live without using. You could be paying up to 30% more than you have to for your home phone services. To save even more, with the popularity of cellular phones and broadband internet, you may find that there is not much use for a land line.

Similarly, you may be wasting as much money on your cable services. In this case, it may be a good idea to call the cable company and ask about less expensive plans. You'll be surprised to find that the premium plan that you have signed up for includes 250 channels that you are not interested in tuning in to. Downgrading your plan will save you money as well as allow you to continue to watch all of your favorite programs.

Bring your lunch to work

Eating lunch on a daily basis at your favorite take-out spot can really add up. Let's figure that the average cost of lunch is $6 per day. 5 days a week for 52 weeks is 260 days. This means the cost to purchase lunch for 260 days or one work year at $6 per day is $1,560/year or $130/month. This extra cash can be applied to other household bills or to pay down your credit card debt.

Give Thrift Shops a try

Shopping at a thrift shop may not be as bad as it seems. Thrift shops such as Good Will and the Salvation Army offer thousands of items at discounted rates. Get started by making a list of needed items that you would be comfortable with buying secondhand, and then go hunting. You will be surprise at the amount of money you will save.

Unplug your electronics

Unplugging your television, DVD player, stereo, microwave etc. while out can save you a few dollars on your electric bill each month. If you don't want to risk damaging your electronics by plugging and unplugging them, a power strip with an on/off switch will also do the trick.