Weekly Savings List

Some of the ways I saved this week:

1. I did not eat out on my trip to see my son. I took food with me to cook and eat while I was down there. I did not eat out on the way down or back either. I had a loaf of bread, peanut butter (free) and some jelly (free).



2. I did not get pizza for lunch like I was craving and instead ate the lunch I brought for myself. The lunch was part of my batch cooking. The pizza is brought to several of the downtown offices by a delivery man and for a flat $5 you can get pizza. I resisited!



3. I turned my space heater back on while I was gone this weekend to guard against cold weather should it occur while I was out of town. I turned it back down this morning. I may turn it off again as soon as I find out just how cold it is going to get this week. I left the furnace at 60 for the rest of the house. I find that 60 degrees in the rest of the house is quite comfy for snuggly sleeping and if I want to watch tv, I cuddle under a throw.



4. This is not a new way of saving, but one I do always. I do not have a clock in my bedroom. I use my cell phone as an alarm clock, and have not had a bedroom clock for about two years now. I also find that I can sleep better, or at least get back to sleep better when I am not "clock-watching" in the middle of the night.



5. This is another way of saving that I do always: I do not leave anything "extra" plugged in. The tv, vcr, and dvd player are all on on extension cord. I plug it in if I want to watch tv, which is not very often. I think it has probably been at least a month since I plugged the tv in. My computer at home is not plugged in, and only gets turned on if I want to use it. I don't think it has been on for at least 6 months. I do not have internet at home, therefore, I do not really even use that computer. All appliances are unplugged until needed, except the fridge, deep freezer, stove and washer and dryer. The dryer is actually gas, and the washer plug is too hard to get to for plugging and unplugging.



6. I have a decorative tree that my sister used in her wedding that has a string of lights on it. They are clear lights and I put them on a timer to come on before I get home from work, and to stay on until morning (for use as a nightlight). I use this instead of turning lights on in the downstairs rooms, which consists of my bedroom, living room, and dining room. With strategic placement, it lights all three rooms enough to ensure I can see where I am going. I could read by these lights only if I wanted eyestrain though.



7. I did not intend to, but I carpooled this week for Thursday and Friday. I have a full size van that I use for my trips to see my son and a minivan that I use for local driving. They are both broke down right now. Just my luck. I will hopefully be able to find someone to work on the full size van this weekend so I can go down next weekend.

8. I only ate out of my stockpile and bi-monthly cooking meals.

I do plan to go get some groceries this weekend, depending on if I can get my van fixed at a relatively inexpensive price. I need some produce, but will wait to see what happens with my van.

So what did you do to save money this week? Let me know if you have any ideas to save money that I may not know about!