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So you think youve cut your spending? Here are some ideas you probably havent thought of.

These are extreme times. Do they call for extreme measures?

There's no question that widespread layoffs, shrinking retirement accounts and rising prices have families buckling down financially. But are they thinking of everything they can? Should they be cutting back in ways that might never have occurred to them?

Even if families have enough savings to live on for the next few months, or even years, the future seems scarier now than it once did," says Carl Johnson, a Peterborough, N.H., financial adviser.

So what's a family to do? Here are four unorthodox strategies for saving money. People have already managed to save by following at least one of these strategies.

Enroll Your Kids in a Virtual School
One way to cut your family's education costs is to enroll the children in virtual public schools.

Though not available in all states, a number of companies have started virtual schools that conduct elementary- and high-school classes online. Students take the classes at home, usually tuition free. Funding for the programs typically comes from the state.

K12 Inc., based in Herndon, Va., operates virtual public schools in 21 states. Its Web site, www.k12.com, shows where. K12 gives each of its high-school students his or her own computer -- in a family with more than one grade-school student enrolled, the kids may have to share -- and subsidizes the Internet connections. Its curriculum includes Advanced Placement classes.

Mary Ann Ridenour's daughter, Anna Marie, 15, and son, Aaron, 17, have been attending Ohio Connections Academy, run by Baltimore-based Connections Academy, since 2003. The children previously attended private school, and Ms. Ridenour estimates she is saving $7,000 to $10,000 a year per child by switching to the virtual school. The local public schools, she says, weren't challenging enough. The family also saves on clothing, doctors' bills and food, she says. Her stay-at-home kids feel no peer pressure to buy the latest in clothes and gear, rarely get sick and eat lunch at home.

Susan Fancher, vice president of marketing for Connections Academy, says virtual school works for many students, but it's not right for all. Students work with teachers online, but many also have learning coaches -- usually a parent who serves as a face-to-face resource and helps the student stay on track. "This often means families make sacrifices for students so they can be there every day," she says. The company's Web site, www.connectionsacademy.com, lists the states where its classes are available.

Go Back to Bartering
Barter is back, thanks to Web sites that make it easier to match up people wanting to exchange specific goods and services. For families, barter Web sites offer an innovative way to get a new video game, plumbing repairs or even a vacation rental without cash.

"Its back to the cave, where the earliest form of commerce was barter," says Michael Satz, chief executive of the recently launched barter Web site BarterQuest.com. Each trading partner determines what is a fair exchange, he says. Barter especially makes sense for parents, because their children constantly require new things, and for students who are always short of cash, says Mr. Satz.

BarterBee.com allows consumers to trade CDs, DVDs and games. Craigslist.com has a barter section, too. Bill Brady, who is semiretired in Boca Raton, Fla., is using Craigslist to barter an informal time share for his West Palm Beach, Fla., one-bedroom penthouse.

Bartering does have its challenges. It's not always simple to find an interested partner for the other half of your trade, even on the Web, and a certain amount of trust is required from each party. Bartered goods and most services are considered taxable revenue, too, and must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service in the year in which they are obtained, says George Papadopoulos, a Novi, Mich., financial adviser and certified public accountant.

You can improve your chances if you focus on an equitable trade, are upfront and detailed with barter terms and are willing to get creative, experts say.

Tiffany Gentry, an out-of-work executive assistant in New York, is looking on Craigslist.com for someone who can train her in office-productivity software programs like QuickBooks and Photoshop. In return, she is willing to give English lessons or assistance in organizing and cleaning. "It's a great to time to increase my skills," she says, "and I didn't want to spend money on a class."

Cut Out the Extras for a Month
If you're willing to make some sacrifices, declare a "want-free" month, says Ramsey Bova, a Lexington, Ky., financial adviser. Want-free months refer to a one-month period in which a family only spends money on necessities such as bills, food and shelter.

"The purpose is to witness how much money we are wasting on items that provide no real benefit," says Ms. Bova. Although the challenge might feel extreme at times, it could be critical for families who don't have adequate emergency funds stashed away. (Ms. Bova recommends about 12 months of emergency savings during tough economic times.)

The challenge might be harder for a larger family, but planning can make it doable. Ms. Bova's clients Angela and Rick Conner, who have three children under the age of 3, saved a few hundred dollars during their want-free month by cutting out fast-food stops while running errands, and avoiding restaurants in general.

"It was nice to know there is more we can do to stretch the budget if we need to," says Ms. Conner, who adds that the experience has helped change the family's spending habits permanently. The family no longer buys reserves of groceries, for instance, unless there is a sale item or they have coupons.

Jeb Collier, a New Bern, N.C.-based financial adviser, says a "want-free" month will only work if families do it right. "If they only go half-way, the exercise is moot," says Mr. Collier. A half-hearted attempt, he says, could be thinking that a "necessity" is whatever falls within current spending habits. He says the biggest challenge is being honest about what is a "necessity." Participants also might come out of the exercise like someone coming off a diet, and binge to make up for what they missed, he says.

Stop Supporting Adult Kids
"One of the hardest expenses to cut out is assistance to adult children," says Morris Armstrong, a Danbury, Conn., financial adviser. If a son or daughter is counting on parents to help pay rent, health-care bills, or get an education, suddenly stopping that support could throw the child's life into financial chaos. Some advisers have seen parents helping more in recent years as adult children carry large loan payments and face possible layoffs.

But while it's a difficult move, ending assistance to adult children may be necessary for parents who only have a few more working years of their own in which to rack up savings for retirement, or who have seen their savings dwindle due to the market turmoil.

Cutting financial ties may help parents feel a greater sense of security in their later years. It may also allow them to help their children again when times improve.

It's best to break the news in person, says Atlanta psychologist Mary Gresham. "It's a bad move if you do it suddenly without notice and you are breaking a promise you made to your child," she says. Dr. Gresham says the ramifications depend on how the situation is handled. In the worst case, she says, "the relationship is broken."