10 Tough Ways to Boost Your Bottom Line

2. Save 50%+ of your income. Saving 10% of your income is the common recommendation, but you can do a lot better than that. Shoot for saving 50% or more of you take home pay. With a bit of effort, anyone can save 10% of their income, but it takes discipline and effort to live on only 50% of your income. By doing so, you will ensure you don't have any financial problems and that you can retire years, if not decades, earlier than your coworkers.

3. Eliminate your gadgets. Think about this for a second: 30 years ago you didn't have Apple (AAPL Quote) iPods, cellphones, computers, DVD players and a lot of the other gadgets that are deemed "essential" today. Throw in the big, flat screen TV and get rid of them all.

You can get your news from a newspaper at your local library, where you can also check email or use the computer. Not only will you save hundreds a month on subscription costs, you'll save thousands of dollars a year on hardware costs. While there is no doubt that many of today's gadgets are convenient, it is readily possible to live without them if you are committed.

4. Eliminate your car. The truth is that you don't really need your car. Yes, it's a lot more convenient than not having one, but it's possible to get by without one. You will have to adjust your schedule around others that do have cars and learn to love public transportation.

On the occasions when you do need a car, renting is one still possible. Not only do you eliminate car payments, gas costs, repair bills and insurance costs, the extra movement will slim you down while it fattens your wallet.