My best advice on saving gold is to toss it on a mule account if you don't use your mule account much. ;) I use mine essentially as my bank (first) and as a way to play with male items (second). Out of sight - out of mind!

As for earning gold... Starting a hangout thread where you can get people chatting/starting a topic in a forum that might get a lot of replies is a good one. You earn gold passively by people replying in your thread (not much, but it does add up after awhile) and you earn gold by responding to everyone in the thread.

I don't play games except once in a blue moon (especially if I only need a few gold to get me an item I'd like to have) - but I do know it's a fast way to earn gold. ;)

Looking out for contests is a great way to earn gold/items. Not necessarily staff-run either. There are loads of user contests and page prizes out there. It just involves people making an effort. Even if this effort is as simple as exploring the other forums and chatting in the threads until the page prize rolls around.