A great idea while you're getting your site off the ground is to use Nearly Free Speech [1] as your host. While it's not the best deal for a busy site, a low-traffic site costs $1/GB transfer, with no bottom limit. I'd also suggest using something like OddCMS [2] that serves static content, so you don't have to spend money on a database.
Obviously, using these instead of Slicehost and MySQL (or similar technologies) will restrict what you can do with your server, but when you're really shooting for low price, they can't be beat. I've paid two cents (yes, cents) for the last two weeks of hosting my software company's website [3] (~500 views/day).
yes. Shared hosting instead of a VPS will save you quite a lot of money, if you can do what you need to do on shared hosting. Heck, I'm one of the cheapest VPS providers around and even I can't compete with a shared hosting setup.
Obviously, using these instead of Slicehost and MySQL (or similar technologies) will restrict what you can do with your server, but when you're really shooting for low price, they can't be beat. I've paid two cents (yes, cents) for the last two weeks of hosting my software company's website [3] (~500 views/day).
[1]http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/
[2]http://www.oddcms.org
[3]http://www.tranquilapps.com/