Last year was a rough year financially for a lot of people, so will they spend money differently in 2009? A lot of shoppers at the West Seattle Target told KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy, they will.

Max and Scott Deering say they're watching every penny in 2009.

"You're going to have to cut corners and discuss what you're going to spend your money on and how you're going to spend it, and of course, savings is everything. You have to keep plugging away at savings, that's first," said Scott.

The West Seattle couple isn't alone.

On this New Year's Day, plenty of people were shopping at the Target on Barton, but admit their spending habits will be different than last year.

"I'll probably spend less money and try to be more thoughtful in my spending," said Sheryl O'Neil.

Target's manager says the end of 2008 was better for this store than anticipated. Still, she expects the changing spending habits of her customers will affect the bottom line on some items in the New Year.

"We do expect deeper discounts on apparel and accessories, the expenditures that were extra items and not need to have, those ones might see a little bit of dip there," said Target manager Amanda Martinez.

And a lot of those extra-type items are now seriously discounted.

Martinez believes shoppers will still spend money at Target.

"We do expect a lot of the items they get from Target are going to continue to be things they need, a lot of commodities, and household products should still do well," said Martinez.

Denise Friend is still spending and doing something financial experts say will get most people on-track money-wise.

"I've always paid cash. I have no debt, and that's really why, because I only pay what I can afford to pay," said Friend.

Jeff Lehman is a Seattle-based financial author who says, in addition to paying cash, people should work on paying down their credit card debt this year.

"I think we learned in 2008 that cash is king, and it will continue to be king in 2009, but with a slightly different twist. If we start pulling cash out of wallets to pay for things, we'll be more conscious of what we're spending, and we'll just end up spending a lot less," said Lehman, author of "The Frugal Millionaires."

Visit Jeff Lehman's Web site: http://www.thefrugalmillionaires.com/