There are two things you can say about Oklahoma, and they are almost always true during the summer months: it is windy...and hot. In fact, we typically pay just as much for air conditioning in the summer as we do on heat in the winter. Recently, I noticed a big jump in the electric utility bill, and it was more than the usual jump we see when the mercury hits 90 degrees on a "cool" day.

"When was the last time the central air unit was serviced?" I asked my wife. She didn't know. After all, it's not our house. We live in my father-in-law's "retirement" house (rent free!), and we just moved into it about six months ago. This is our first summer in the house.

I opened the door to the utility closet which contains the central air unit. The last date of service written on the chart read "2003". Oh, that's not good.

We called the plumbing and cooling company that installed the unit and explained that although the AC in our home is set on 74 degrees, the unit actually runs until is hits 70 or 72. "It sounds like you need a new thermostat, and you're definitely overdue for service," he said.

It's a good rule of thumb to have your central air unit inspected and service once before the heavy "air conditioning" season, and again before the winter "heating" season. In our case, a service call is going to cost about $55, plus the cost of the thermostat. However, that's a small price to pay in comparison to the extra money we have spent on electricity. That bill went from $75 last month to $177 this month. The service call by the HVAC guys will more than pay for itself over the course of the rest of the summer, which will only get hotter.

Savvy Frugality tip: A little bit of maintenance on your home's central air systems will save you plenty of money down the road on your utility bill, and by avoiding more costly repairs in the future.

As fuel prices increase, the cost of other goods are going up too, especially food. My family's own grocery budget has doubled over the past 5 years to keep pace with increasing costs, and that is after using coupons, buying canned goods at discount and dollar stores, and taking advantage of programs like Angel Food Ministries. Now, my family has joined others in our area by saving on food costs by growing some of our own produce. I prefer to think of it as "urban gardening" or my own "recession Victory garden".

During the days of World War II, Victory Gardens were common sights. They were small plots of land, tubs of soil or sections of lawns tilled to grow fruits and vegetables so private citizens could provide some of their own food supply, so the nation's farmed goods could support the war effort. It is estimated that these urban gardens produced 40 percent of the produce consumed in the United States during the war.

These days, people are accustomed to running down to the corner market for a head of lettuce. But why not use the Victory Garden method to grow some of your own food and rely less on the produce at the market, which seems to be increasing in cost as fast as the price of fuel at the pump?

My family lives in a suburb, so our available land for planting fruits and vegetables is very small, but we cleared a 3 x 3 foot patch of lawn in our back yard and planted some fresh herbs like rosemary and Italian parsley, along with some basil. My wife also planted some arugula for salads. We have picked the greens for a few weeks now. Not only is it tastier and healthier than iceburg lettuce, but this same stuff would cost about $6 a pound at the supermarket. We are actually growing some of our own organic food, and consuming it at a significant savings.

If you live in an apartment, consider growing some herbs or tomatoes in flowerpots or window boxes. Many people who are getting started with urban gardening make the mistake of going all out and plowing a half acre of their backyard and planting every kind of vegetable known to the Western World. I have to admit, my own family made this mistake a few years ago. A number of things can go wrong if you don't know what you are doing. You could be planting vegetables out of season, your soil might be too acidic to support vegetables or you may simply produce more than you could possibly consume and your produce goes to waste unless you freeze it or can it. In my case, I went on a business trip and my family did not water the garden. My plants were brown and crispy by the time I returned home. For tips on growing in a non-farm setting, check out the helpful folks at UrbanGardeningHelp.com.

You may not be able to replace all of your produce with a small plot in your backyard or on the roof of your apartment building, but just like during WWII, every little bit helps. Besides, it's actually fun growing some of your own food!

Sometimes we pay a high price in the name of convenience, and we don't even realize it. For example, I had an electric lawn mower until very recently. I thought it was great. It mulched the grass clippings. It didn't use gasoline, which saved me some money on fuel and oil changes and I could use it during Oklahoma's "ozone alert days" (smog alerts), when we are not supposed to run gas-powered mowers, weed wackers or leaf blowers. It was convenient, and it was great.

After four years of use, my electric mower bit the dust. I purchased it practically new for only $40 from an elderly woman who just wanted to get rid of it and could no longer mow her own lawn. It would cost me more to fix it than what I paid for it, and there was no guarantee it could be fixed. I think the electric motor had simply burned out, which meant an expensive repair.

So, I set about the task of replacing my lawn mower. A new electric mower would cost me about $250. I just couldn't see paying that kind of money for a lawn mower. A gasoline-powered mower would be cheaper, but there is the cost of gas, oil changes, plus all of the air pollution it would cause. I couldn't bring myself to purchase one of those, either. So, I downgraded.

I remembered that my grandparents used to use an old, reel-style lawn power on their yard. You may have seen these before. It operates on man power. You push the mower and the wheels cause the blades to spin around and cut the grass. The faster you push, the faster the blades spin. I remember my grandparent's power as being a wood and rusted steel beast, almost impossible to push and not being very effective at cutting grass. Still, I decided to check and see how far this style of mower has come over the years.

These reel-style mowers are still being made, alright. I found a 20-inch wide model at Home Depot. I pushed it around the store showroom floor a bit and was surprised how lightweight and easy to push it was. Not only that, you can adjust the cutting height, just like a gas or electric-powered mower. It was about $120. I bought it on the spot.

There was minor assembly required and it took me about 10 minutes to mount the handle on the mower. I was ready to take it for a spin. I started pushing it around the backyard, and it immediately started chopping the grass in neatly-manicured rows. It was only slightly more difficult to push than my electric mower, and I didn't have to constantly stop and move an extension cord around like I did with the electric model. It used to take me at least half an hour to cut the grass in my back yard. With my new "old timer" lawn mower, it took me ten minutes.

My new mower may seem a bit old fashioned to some, but it works great, uses no electricity or gasoline, causes no pollution (so it's a "green" mower), and actually cuts the grass faster and better than my old electric mower. The only maintenance involved is keeping the blades sharp and lubricating the moving parts with WD-40 once in awhile. This mower should last me for many, many years. I will definitely get my money out of this mower.

This is just once instance in which a "downgrade" is actually and "upgrade". No, my mower doesn't bag the grass clippings, mulch the grass or have fancy attachments, but it works better than other mowers I have used. We have become accustomed to believing that "new and improved" is actually just that...that things which were good enough for our parents or grandparents have suddenly become obsolete and worthless. Perhaps you can think of other items designed for convenience which are not necessarily better...just more costly.

At least one business sector is booming during this current economic downturn: pawn shops. According to a report on The Today Show, more and more people are turning to pawn shops as a source of quick cash to make it from payday to payday.

Unfortunately, pawn shops always have the upper hand during pawn transactions. They know that the people seeking a loan or looking to sell their goods are desperate for cash. At best, you'll get about 25 cents on the dollar for items you are trying to pawn.

If you're simply looking for a loan, and not necessarily wanting to sell an item, pawn shops are certainly a better option than payday or check loans, which can charge interest rates of more than 400 percent. Still, there are better options than pawn shops if you are looking to make some quick cash by selling your stuff.

1. Craig's List. Craig's List tops my list for one good reason: it's free. It doesn't charge you to list your items. I recently sold a painting on Craig's List to someone in another state. We handled the transaction by email, and I was paid promptly. I and the buyer were both satisfied, there was no auction involved and I got the price I wanted for my painting. Simple.

2. eBay. You can make more money through an auction on eBay. Or less. It depends upon the market for the item you are selling on eBay. Of course, you can always sell an item without an auction with the "Buy it Now" feature on eBay. Also, you will be charged a listing fee.

3. Garage sales. I have made decent cash at garage sales before, and I have had garage sales which have completely tanked. According to the Today Show report, you can expect to get about 10 cents on the dollar for the items you sell at a garage sale, which is even worse than what you would get at a pawn shop.

I am a big believer in downsizing, but typically you are better off doing so when the economy is OK, not when it is sputtering and the marketplace is flooded with people trying to sell their used items, which usually turns it into a buyers market. You're more apt to make more money on the items you are selling when people have the money to buy the things you are trying to sell.

This scenario may seem familiar to you. Your child or spouse says they need a few dollars for a trip to the corner fast-food place, Starbucks, a quick trip to the convenience store, etc. "It's only $10," they say. However, when it comes to finance, little things can mean a lot.

Everyone knows they should have an emergency fund. Perhaps you are saving for a large-ticket item like an appliance, or you are saving for a down payment for a new home. Ten dollars certainly doesn't seem like it will get you anywhere. But, over time, those small expenditures add up.

If it seems like there is always "too much month at the end of the money", don't comb your check book for the large expenses. Chances are, the large expenses coming out of your bank account are regular household bills such as rent, car payments and utilities. Instead, you could literally be nickel and diming yourself to the poorhouse.

Ten dollars a day, every day, over the course of a year, adds up to $3,650 over the course of a year, or about $304 per month. If that same amount of money were invested in a high-interest savings account at say, 4 percent per year, you would have about $25,000 in your account after five years. That ten dollars certainly seems like it adds up now, doesn't it?

Not everybody basically throws away $10 a day on something insignificant like lattes or Big Macs. Some people spend more, but others may spend half of that. The point is, those small expenses, the ones you may not even take notice of, can really chip away at your finances. Think about the short-term gratification you are getting from spending "only" ten dollars, and then think of what you could do with $25,000 five year from now. You might think twice before making that late afternoon run to McDonald's.