Kerry Taylor is good with money.

Fresh out of university, she managed to pay off her $17,000 student loan in just six months by continuing to live the impoverished life of a student.

She pays off debt fast, negotiates credit card rates and bank service charges, drives the speed limit and doesn't idle her car's engine – all in the name of saving money.

The thrift-conscious Taylor, whose blog squawkfox.com is all about being frugal, has just written a book, 397 Ways to Save Money (HarperCollins Canada).

Taylor says there's nothing magical about the number 397, she just wrote the book until "I felt I was done" and then the publisher counted up the items.

"I wanted these to be quality tips," Taylor says in an interview, "nothing like cutting off the end of a tube of toothpaste to save a fraction of a cent."

Saving doesn't mean you have to live like a pauper, she says. "I choose to spend my money on things that really matter to me. No one would look at me and say I was a miser. I choose quality over quantity."

Taylor's book spells out how to save money – and even shows what you'll have left in your pocket.

The Toronto Star picked out 15 nuggets that really shine as money-saving techniques.

1. Control cellphone costs. Children with cellphones prefer to text message, so save yourself a lot of grief by paying $15 a month for unlimited text messaging.

2. Student discounts. Get your student in the house the Student Price Card from the website spclive.com or in participating stores such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Footlocker and Campus Crew for $8.50 plus tax and they will get 10 to 15 per cent off every purchase in the dozens of participating stores.

3. Shop for a no-fee credit card. Taylor ditched her "gold" travel credit card with an annual payment of $120 for a no-fee President's Choice Financial MasterCard that gives her back 1 per cent of her spending in free groceries. Compare credit cards on the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website, fcac-acfc.gc.ca.

4. Avoid ATM fees. At charges of $1.50 or more per transaction, taking money from a machine that is not your bank's can be costly. Use the machines sparingly.

5. No sofa beds. Sofa beds cost hundreds more than regular couches, are heavy and hard and force guests to sleep in your living room or den. Instead get an inexpensive inflatable "bed in a box" that can be stored out of sight.

6. Buy a sofa with removable slipcovers. When they get threadbare they can be repaired or replaced easily. Reupholstering an average sofa costs $1,000 to $1,500. Slip covers, such as Ikea's Stockholm line, cost around $500 to $700 each. Older Ikea sofa covers can be found on bemz.com for as little as $100.

7. Consider cloth diapers. Even with the added expense of rubber pants and laundering, cloth diapers come out about $1,000 cheaper over the 30 months most kids are in diapers.

8. Go for the points. Use the Aeroplan and Air Miles cards and sign up for other loyalty programs that offer benefits where you shop a lot. For example, if you can wait for a Shoppers Drug Mart promotion offering 20 times the regular points on its Optimum card, on a purchase of $200 you'll get redemption points worth $75 on your next purchase – a saving of 37.5 per cent.

9. Use free – and legal – software from sites such as download.com. Open Office, from openoffice.org, will suit any students in your home with its free suite of programs including word processor, spreadsheet and presentation programs that mimic Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The student version of Microsoft Office with those programs can cost $150.

10. Use powder instead of liquid detergent. Powdered soaps cost 20 to 30 cents per load, while liquid soaps cost 30 to 40 cents per load. Using store brands or generic brands can save $41 a year over name-brand soaps.

11. Be fuel-efficient. Take out the junk in your trunk and remove the roof rack, as excess weight and drag affect a car's efficiency. Slow down; don't idle; don't warm up your car for long periods; and consider a more fuel-efficient vehicle.

12. Use a manual lawn mower. At a cost of $100 to $150, a push mower is much cheaper than a gas-powered machine, which can cost $500, and the push mower doesn't require any costly fuel. It is also quiet, good for the environment, better for your grass (the reel slices, rather than chops each blade) and will give you some needed exercise.

13. Holidays don't have to mean hotels. Look for alternatives such as an apartment or house swap through HomeForExchange.com. Or rent a timeshare from its owner through vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owner).

14. Save your pet insurance money. Insurance plans range in cost from $10 to $50 per month, depending on level of coverage, but putting the same money in a high-interest saving account can give a better return. A 10-year span of costs for vet bills covered by insurance at a $40 monthly rate might be $4,000, which, after deductibles, could result in an average payout of $350 a year to you. If you instead put aside $40 a month for 10 years in a bank account that paid annual interest of 3 per cent, while spending $350 a year from those savings on vet bills, you'd still have about $1,500 left over at the end.

15. Free entertainment. The library doesn't just have free books but also CDs, movie DVDs and magazines. Borrowing just one movie a month saves about $60 a year in rentals. There are also computer games available free on the Internet.