You actually save more money overall if you're able to put any extra $$$ (that you can afford) into your mortgage payment every month. Back when I was in PA, my payment was $1650. I would put a flat $2k in every month, and in 9 years living there, I took an additional 5-6 years off the top. That means I would be paying WAY LESS in taxes overall. Even with a low APR, you're paying out the ass on a home. We had purchased our house for $205k. For a 30 year mortgage at $1650/month which was also at around 3.5% APR at the time... After 30 years, I would have paid $594k for my place.
But 9 years of paying an additional $350/month was a total of $37,800 (that's assuming I always paid the 2k. There were quite a few months that I was tight, so I couldn't afford it).
However, 5 years of payments at $1650 is actually $99,000. So an extra $38k total, saved me $61k.
So that's a great way to be cheap at the expense of spending a little more up front.
Another way to save, is to find local deals with various restaurants. There was a Hoagie shop around where I used to work. For $4.50/day, they would have a STUFFED 6" hoagie, a bag of chips and a can of soda. Every day the "special" hoagie would change, so every day I would get something different.
