Things You Don’t Need to Pay For in 2012

To save money, skip the disposable bottles and buy a reusable Brita water bottle for $9.99, which reportedly will purify any tap water you add to it. The filter needs to be changed about every two months, at $7.99. Your cost for the first two months are about $18, and then just a new filter every two months for as much water as you'd like to drink.

Morning coffee shop visits, just one cup every day can add up. A medium from my Tim Horton's costs $1.59, do the math. Think about brewing your own. Ground coffee costs about $10, and that brews about 270 6-oz. cups.

Energy-efficient light bulbs could save you money on your electric bill. Replacing just one traditional incandescent bulb with one that qualifies for the government's Energy Star program will save about $40 over the lifetime of the bulb, multiply that by all the bulbs i your house. Energy Star light bulbs are reported to last at least six times longer than traditional bulbs, another big savings.

Generally, anything you get in-print you can get online, usually sooner...definitely cheaper.

Is your landline phone a necessity? You could make calls on your cellphone, or use a free calling service. Skype provides free calls to other Skype users and free video calling as well. Google Voice, lets you call free to the U.S. and Canada. There are many other services as well that allow you to make calls through your computer.