Every January it's the same thing: pledge to save more money, then watch as the following bills rise:
auto insurance - depreciating asset, 1% increase
home insurance - soon-to-depreciate asset, 7% increase
real estate taxes - you know my County isn't going to depreciate this asset - 5% increase
natural gas - 3.2% increase
postal rates (okay, maybe not every year, but they're going up in May)
clothing (replacing clothes that no longer fit me: 200% increase)
cell phone
food (grocery costs down, restaurant costs up -- sign of two-income families)

Here's what's gone down:
childcare tuition (had to switch to another childcare institution) - 20%
electricity - 20%
water - 20%
long distance (international calls) - 80%

Transportation went way up but we bought new vehicles. One gets three times the mileage of our family car, another twice the mileage. More maintenance, insurance, and gear. I'd thought I would be using the FlexCar more often but I haven't used it since November now that my spouse works at home most of the time and I'm working downtown or at home contracts. Maybe I should stop my FlexCar membership and save $100/month.

My work rate went up slightly (have to pay my own taxes).

I announce I want to cut my spending by 10% and things don't work out that way. To make substantial cuts I'd have to do something like refinance my mortgage (no thanks -- one of my goals is to pay under $100,000 in interest over the term of our loan) or take my kid out of childcare. Not when I'm earning 4x the tuition cost, I won't. I wish I knew how to make substantial cuts. Doing artsy projects with garbage or eating processed food because it's on sale at Big Lots or Costco doesn't seem to have that big bang-for-the -buck.

What realistic, low-effort things can I do to make that 10% reduction stick? My kid's going to kindergarten in September, so that's a 20% reduction in childcare for the year.