In the realm of AI applications, managing the costs associated with large language models (LLMs) can be challenging, but several strategies can help optimize spending without sacrificing performance. These strategies include optimizing prompt engineering to reduce token usage, implementing response caching to avoid redundant requests, and choosing task-specific, smaller models when appropriate. Additionally, using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) can decrease token usage by retrieving only relevant information, and employing LLM cost monitoring tools like Helicone provides insights into cost patterns, enabling better financial management. By leveraging these techniques, developers can potentially reduce LLM-related expenses significantly, sometimes by up to 90%, while maintaining or even enhancing application quality.