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" Holding on to your hard-earned money is a lot tougher these days. Just when it looks like the economy is recovering, it takes another hit. And all you can think about is how to shore up your cash. Here&amp;#039;s the answer: Make these simple changes and you&amp;#039;ll see a big boost in your bank account. Basic Ways to Save  Switch to free checking. &amp;quot;Up to a third of banks still offer it,&amp;quot; says Manisha Thakor, coauthor of On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl&amp;#039;s Guide to Personal Finance. Try credit unions or community banks, which typically don&amp;#039;t charge the $10 to $15 fees that the giant banks do, adds Liz Weston, author of Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life. Annual Savings: $120+ Raise your car insurance deductible. Upping it to $1,000 can decrease your costs for comprehensive and collision coverage by 10% or more\u2014a sizable savings, since the average insurance premium is nearly $1,500, says Dayana Yochim, consumer finance expert at The Motley Fool and the author of The Motley Fool&amp;#039;s Guide to Couples &amp;amp;amp; Cash. Annual Savings: $150 Cancel the cable or downgrade to basic. If you have high-speed Internet you can watch a limited number of the latest episodes of many TV shows free online at Hulu.com, according to J.D. Roth, founder of GetRichSlowly.com. To see every episode of more shows, join Hulu Plus. It&amp;#039;s just $7.99 a month and you can stream it to TV using PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Annual Savings: $600 Print less. Ink cartridges for your printer can be expensive, costing anywhere from $10 to $40. So skip the hard copy whenever you can. If you do need one, set your printer to &amp;quot;draft&amp;quot; mode (which uses less ink), print only what you need (not the pictures or ads) and always print on both sides of the paper. Money-saving bonus: You&amp;#039;ll cut your paper costs too. Annual Savings: $120 Photo: Getty Images 4 Ways to Slash Your Utility Bills  Cut the landline. More than 1 in 4 U.S. homes use only cell phones\u2014and save at least $20 to $25 per month. Before you make the switch, contact your local police or fire department to register your cell phone with your town&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Reverse 911&amp;quot; system, a service that calls to alert residents in case of an impending emergency. Annual Savings: $240 Scan your phone bills. The FCC estimates that each year as many as 20 million U.S. households are the victims of cramming\u2014unauthorized charges for things like ringtones, voice mail and other services. These bogus fees, often labeled &amp;quot;service fees,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;minimum monthly usage fee,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;service charge&amp;quot; and the like, are usually between $1.99 and $2.99 (even as high as $19.99!). &amp;quot;If you notice strange fees like these, call your phone company and dispute them,&amp;quot; says Weston. &amp;quot;Often that&amp;#039;s all it takes to get a refund.&amp;quot; Annual Savings: $24+ Turn off the computer. Standby mode uses up about $4 a month in electricity, says Crista Chadwick, an energy advisor at Seattle City Light. So plug your computer and printer into a power strip and flip off the switch when you&amp;#039;re not using them. Annual Savings: $48 Go low-flow. Install inexpensive ($10\u2013$20) low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators. You&amp;#039;ll conserve water and reduce hot water costs by as much as 50%, according to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA. And don&amp;#039;t worry\u2014low-flow doesn&amp;#039;t mean the water trickles out. You&amp;#039;ll still get good pressure.Annual Savings: $220 Photo: Getty Images Closet Savings  Take it to the tailor. Before you buy any new clothes, go through your closet first to see what would look just as good with a little nip and tuck, suggests Yochim. &amp;quot;Adding a few darts to a blouse or changing the hem on a skirt could give it a brand-new look, all for just $10 or $20\u2014a lot less than you&amp;#039;d spend at the mall.&amp;quot; Annual Savings: $50+ Wash it yourself. According to Kash Shaikh, spokesman for Procter &amp;amp;amp; Gamble Global Fabric Care, 65% of dry-cleaned clothes are machine-washable. Unless the label says &amp;quot;Dry Clean Only,&amp;quot; follow the care directions listed. Washing two items saves you at least $10 a month. Annual Savings: $120 Get the look for less. If you have a party or wedding coming up, don&amp;#039;t spend $150 on a fancy dress that you&amp;#039;ll wear just once. Rent a designer one for the night for about $50 (plus $12.95 shipping) at RentTheRunway.com. Annual Savings: $87 Photo: Getty Images On the Road to Cash  Stop idling. It wastes gas: For every 2 minutes your car idles, you burn as much fuel as driving 1 mile, according to Rob Schlichting, spokesperson for the California Energy Commission. With gas prices at about $4 a gallon nationwide, 10 minutes of idling costs you $1 a day. If you&amp;#039;ll be waiting longer than 30 seconds, turn off the engine. Annual Savings: $365 Follow the 4/40 rule. What&amp;#039;s more cost-effective: air conditioning or open windows? Rule of thumb to conserve 2 gallons of gas a month: If you&amp;#039;re driving under 40 mph, open all four windows and turn off the a/c. Over 40 mph, close the windows and run the a/c. Annual Savings: $96 Slow down. Every 5 mph you drive over 60 is like paying an extra 29\u00A2 per gallon. Stick to the speed limit and you&amp;#039;ll shave off 12% at the pump. Annual Savings: $345 Don&amp;#039;t drive aggressively. Accelerating forcefully, making abrupt lane changes and braking sharply all reduce gas mileage, says Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor at Edmunds.com, a leading auto information website. Take it easy behind the wheel and you&amp;#039;ll boost mpg by 30%. That&amp;#039;s about $1.20 less per gallon\u2014a big savings on the $3,100 the average family annually spends for gas, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Annual Savings: $916 Photo: Veer Mary Hunt is a contributing editor at Woman&amp;#039;s Day and founder of the financial website DebtProofLiving.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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