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I've had to learn quite a few tricks since my divorce because one income just doesn't afford the luxuries that two incomes did. Here are a few of mine:
Take your lunch to work, and soft drinks/water too. I realized I was spending almost $10 a day in the cafeteria.
Carry very little cash on you. It seems like once you break a $20 bill, it disappears. You avoid a lot of little impulse buys if you just don't have cash.
Shop the sales when you grocery shop. You know what you end up buying every time you shop, so if it's not perishable and it's on sale or you have a coupon, stock up. You won't have to buy it again for a while. Plan your meals around what is on sale that week. Check out the generics. As we learned with the Peter Pan peanut butter/Great Value peanut butter recall, they are made in the same plant, probably with the same exact ingredients with just a different label on the jar. I have found that MOST of Kroger's brands are just as good as a brand name (except their pizza rolls, which are AWFUL). Having a coupon for something doesn't make it the best deal. You have to comparison shop.
I agree that restaurants/eating out/fast food are budget drainers.
Toss your change into a jug/jar every night. It adds up faster than you thought.
If you usually get huge tax refunds every year and then use it to pay off credit card debt, then just adjust your exemptions so that you break even at the end of the year and use that money to purchase the things you need instead of charging it. You pay too much in interest otherwise.
Never make a minimum payment on a credit card. Even if you pay only $10 extra on it, the balance goes down more quickly. Suze Orman's plan is good. Pay off one, then apply what you were paying on that one to the next one. Don't wait until the due date to pay it either. Pay it as soon in the billing cycle as you can and you usually accrue less interest.
If you find yourself throwing away a lot of food, especially perishables, like lunchmeat, because you can't use it all before it goes bad, freeze half of it when you buy it. I freeze the lunchmeat that my daughter likes in small ziplock bags, in single servings. I can pull one out of the freezer, put it on her sandwich and by lunchtime it is thawed. I used to buy a whole package of lunch meat, make her two sandwiches and throw the rest away.
Avoid pre-prepared foods whenever possible. They are much more expensive.
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