My wife and I have differing philosophies when it comes to Christmas cards; she likes to choose beautiful cards and send them to everyone we know, whereas I look for cards in bulk and try to shave the list down each year. Because of my Christmas card habits and the fact that I am constantly turning off the tree to save electricity, I've been dubbed "The Grinch" in our household. But this year my "heart grew 3 times larger" when my wife shared her new idea to save money on sending out cards!

Amber had a great idea, to write out all of our cards before we go to Thanksgiving celebrations this week so that we can hand them out when we see our families on Thursday. Since my parent's families are large enough that they could each field their own football team, we'll save quite a bit on postage. We'll also be handing out cards to friends as we get together over the next month, rather than having the mailman deliver them.

The Post Office will still be delivering cards to people who live far away, but we'll be hand delivering close to 80% of our cards. On top of saving over $20 in postage, hand delivering the cards is another great excuse to catch up with friends and family. If you plan to save postage this year, you only have a few days left so you better get writing!

When times get tough, it's time to start bartering.

In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, bartering involves a swapping or trading of goods and services for other goods and services without the use of money. Bartering can involve two people, several people or groups of people. In developing countries, bartering is a common mode for transactions involving food, domestic work and physical labor.

In the current economic climate, we're all getting a little more creative. I'm not only referring to using eBay or swap sites like SwapThing, but the idea of offering a service that a friend, acquaintance or professional contact values in exchange for something that you need or want to accomplish. Or, in my case, bartering involves a balance I'm looking to pay down.

So I'm running a balance at my dentist's office. I don't currently have dental coverage and even if I did, there are many services that aren't covered or covered appropriately. My dentist has been great and I've paid a nominal sum on my bill each month. In talking with him, I realized he could use my writing/editing skills to help him market his services more efficiently. I came up with a proposal to rewrite the copy on his Web sites that will help me pay down my bill. It's a service he needed and the time was right. I placed a value on my writing and editing services, offered him an hourly rate and we are set to begin work soon.

Don't miss the rest of our series on Underrated In America!

If you're short on cash, bartering is a great idea. You can barter for everything from babysitting, cleaning and housekeeping services to repair work and professional services. Not everything in our economy needs to revolve around the cash economy. Think about bartering...

If you've done any online shopping for electronics or computers recently you've most certainly come across a refurb section with items at deeply discounted prices. Matthew Dillon at GottaBeMobile.com, rounded up a great collection of the different ways you can save money buying refurbished, and also compiled several great sources for finding refurbished electronics.

Types of refurbished products:

• Refurbished - The unit was determined to be defective and given a complete overhaul to fix the problem.
• Scratch-and-Dent - These products will have slight variations on the exterior appearance, but they should function fine.
• Open Box - You'll find these in the corner of a brick and mortar store often missing remotes and manuals. These are usually returns or floor models, the latter taking heaps of abuse at the hands of customers.

The most recognizable source for refurbished goods is the Apple Store, which offers amazing deals on refurbished laptops, iPods and iPhones. I've gotten many great deals on open box items at Best Buy, where returned TVs usually net at least a 15% discount. And during inventory clearance season, savvy shoppers can get an additional 40% off. One of my friends had similar success purchasing a scratch and dent TV from ABC warehouse, negotiating an extra two years of warranty for free, on top of the lowered purchase price.

Still not sure? Keep in mind that refurbished products have usually been looked at and tested more closely than the original units that ship. Just make sure that the return and warranty policy policies are favorable before you purchase. GottaBeMobile has many more tips on getting the best deal on refurbished products.

Do you buy refurbished? Have you had good luck?

Relative to the operations of my own household, rising oil prices have had little negative impact, although we have had to change the way we do some things here. We now group our motor trips better to make better use of our miles per gallon. We also think a little harder about our power usage, but that's what we Americans do, we adjust.

Basically, up to this point, rising fuel costs have increased the expense of our household operations here by perhaps ten to fifteen percent. We've absorbed that increase quite nicely by planning our driving more carefully, by making sure lights are turned off in unused rooms and by cutting out a few foodstuffs which we probably shouldn't be eating anyway. I'd like to think that rising energy costs are leading us to give greater consideration to our spending and energy usage. In some ways perhaps increased energy costs have done us a favor, yes? Personally, I estimate that my household could withstand an increase in the price of gasoline up to $6 a gallon before going into serious stress. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it could.

It's a collection of little things which make up the body of our readjustment. I pick up items or do errands on my way to work, whereas in times past we would probably have made an extra trip into town. We more closely estimate usage of certain grocery items such as bread, toilet paper and milk so purchases will last through until the next weekly grocery shopping trip. We think about what things we're going into the refrigerator for before going in there to get them and we try to keep things in there somewhat organized so we can find what we need and get out. My wife is the light switch police and she reminds my daughter and me to turn off the light as we're leaving rooms. She does it almost intuitively even before we exit. Doors get closed tightly the first time. Telephone calls have been shortened. We spend more time together in the same room. Leftovers get fed to the dog less often.

Online banking saves us trips to the bank. Paying our auto insurance quarterly rather than monthly saves us about $125 every six months. Coffee is made at home and carried out in thermal cups. We use our debit cards religiously, saving us money on the reordering of checks. It's a matter of giving logistical scrutiny to the things we had previously been taking for granted. The real upside is that fiscal, social and consumer responsibility come with their own silently compounding benefits and we're building the savings accounts to prove it.

This comes under the heading of 'no-brainer'. For long trips, I always rent a car rather than drive my own. I enjoy driving a late-model car with better appointments than my beater, but what I most enjoy is saving money.

How much, you may wonder, do I save? On a hypothetical week long trip from my home in Central Ohio to Daytona Beach, Fl and back, I calculate I'd save almost $500. How?

At the moment, a mid-May, Saturday to Saturday rental of a compact such as Nissan Versa from Enterprise would run me $202.81, tax included. I never buy their insurance coverage, as rentals are covered by my personal auto insurance, and the $500 deductable won't break me. I've been renting cars for years, and had I paid for this coverage each time, I'd have given away thousands of dollars.

Currently, the IRS deduction for mileage is $.485, and this number not picked out of the air. The largest part of it is based on the average depreciation and maintenance cost of an auto. Commute Solutions has a worksheet to calculate the true cost of driving, which uses the figures of $.286 per mile for depreciation and $.059 for maintenance.

If my trip is 1,988 miles ( there and back and 10% for around-town driving), and figuring the cost of gas is a wash between the rental and my usual ride, the depreciation and maintenance I save on my own car comes to $685.66. Even after paying for the rental, I end up saving $483.05.

Peak travel periods can skew this, as car rental places raise rates. Nonetheless, it's not hard to save some serious cash by driving a rental. Enough to pay for a really cool rental, if that's your style.

Americans are eating out more than ever, and it doesn't just show in their waistlines. It shows in their pocketbooks. While everyone's complaining about the price of gas, the increased cost of staples like milk and eggs, and the rising interest rate on that credit card balance they've been carrying... they still seem to be dining out in record numbers.

Have you ever sat down and calculated the cost of eating out versus eating at home? I think we all realize there's a big difference, but I wonder how many people appreciate exactly how much.

As I was making myself a pot of chili today, I was reflecting on the cost and was inspired by how much money I was saving by cooking at home. If I went to my favorite chili place for lunch, I'd spend about $8 on chili and toppings (not including a drink) for that one meal.

You mean well. You want to start saving; paying off debts; or just get by without running out of money three days before pay day. But you just have so many needs! And your spare cash just seems to disappear. What to do?

Let's take a closer look at your spending habits -- a really close look. Pull out a shopping list from a recent grocery store run; and then pull out your receipt. Let's get out our checklist and evaluate the things that could be better left on the shelves, in the bins, at the coffeeshop ...