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In the last 30 years, there has been a tremendous “Wealthening” of America. Perhaps the greatest evidence of that is the huge growth in the service sector. Today, we pay other people to do many things that we used to just do ourselves just 3 decades ago.

If you want to start living cheap, it is time to reverse the trend and start doing these things for yourself!

With the more accurate gauge of unemployment hovering at about 17% and with some estimates indicating that 30% of households have experienced some form of job loss, there are more reasons now to be cautious with your financial planning. While the majority of Americans have managed to endure the Great Recession and emerge financially intact, millions of families have been less fortunate. For whatever reason, many people didn’t plan for the worst case scenario. It’s all water under the bridge now, but there are things people can do to mitigate the unbearable burden of prolonged unemployment. For one thing - we should plan for it. It might never happen but if it does, make sure you retain the ability to hunker down, weather the storm and take care of your family. Here are 15 key points in 3 areas to help you plan for the worst.

Rule #1 of Living Cheap is Never Pay Retail. If you are shopping on the Internet, there are almost always discounts to be had if you know where to look. These 5 websites are the best places to get coupons for Internet purchases. Before you buy anything online, you should visit them, grab a coupon code and cut down the price by ten or twenty percent.

"I don't get how one can ever save the money you recommend on LiveCheap. My husband and I are professionals and do very well income-wise. We make a little over $250,000 a year, have no kids, but we have very little savings. We want a home but it would take us years to get a 20% down payment for a house in suburban D.C. We both save about 10% of our income in 401ks but we barely have $10,000 in a savings account. Yes, we have newer cars and the payments are high, take good vacations, and we pay over $2,700 a month in rent, but shouldn't we be able to afford all that and still bank a lot of money? What are we doing wrong? Help" - Vanessa

There’s nothing wrong with picking up a tip here or there on how to buy cheap groceries.  It’s all good and every little bit helps. But it's summer time and we'd like to extend you an invitation to attend our buy cheap grocery training camp. If you make it through this rigorous training session, you should end up with an extra hundred or two in your pocket a month - every month. Many of you have already completed a good part of this course and you’re buffed up and good to go. But even some of our veteran cheapsters might learn a thing or two to hone up on their grocery saving skills. Here's 7 lessons to get cheap groceries: