Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Do your bills outweigh your income? Well, before you take out costly personal loans or start paying bills with your credit card to create debt, do this: Reduce your household expenses.

Reaching this money-saving goal is a lot easier than you think. To prove this notion, have a look at these tips that you can start applying today:

1. Instead of using the hose or tap water to irrigate your plants, set up a rain barrel that will collect water.

2. Make sure your gutters are clear in the fall. If they get too clogged with leaves and other junk, they can cause leaks and damage that could cost a lot of cash to repair.

3. Stop paying someone else to cut your grass and cut it yourself.

4. Buy an energy-efficient shower head to save on water. You’ll make back those upfront costs over time by using less water.

5. Buy rechargeable batteries that will give you several cycles of use.

6. If you need basic home repairs, look for videos on YouTube that’ll teach you how to do them yourself. Many repairs are a lot simpler than they seem, allowing you to pay a fraction of the cost to get things fixed.

7. Use a service like Billshark to find extra money in your budget by trimming your expenses.

8. Don’t run your dishwasher when it’s half-empty. Wait until it’s full to turn it on.  

9. Keep your refrigerator and freezer as full as possible to increase their efficiency.

10. Check your water heater. Is it on the most energy-efficient setting? If not, change it.

11. Inspect your doors and windows. Do you see any cracks? Seal them so you can save on cooling and heating costs.

12. Buy energy-efficient light bulbs.

13. When you’re not in a room, turn the lights off. As simple as this sounds, many people have the habit of leaving lights on when they don’t need to be.

14. Wash your clothes in cold water versus hot.

15. When drying clothes, use the most energy-efficient setting.

16. If you find you don’t really need a dryer, get a drying rack for your clothes instead and use the sunlight to dry them out.

17. Check the peak energy usage times for your city. Avoid washing or drying your clothes during these times to save on electricity.

18. Use reusable hand towels you can wash versus paper towels that need to be tossed after one use.

19. Try setting your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree lower in the winter to cut your cooling and heating costs. If you can do so without feeling much of a change, aim for a two-degree change instead for even more savings.

20. Get a programmable thermostat that will adjust temperatures according to when you are home.

21. Change your air filters regularly, so your AC runs efficiently and doesn’t have to work overtime to get to the desired temperature. Buy your filters in bulk to get a lower per-unit price.