1. No more Starbucks
2. We can only eat out once on the weekends, instead of 3-4 like we usually like doing
3. No more movie rentals
Number three kinda just got resolved because I discovered (thanks to Josh and Lisa, the ones who were so nice to let us stay with them) that the library on post has a plethora of movies that I can check out for FREE! Granted, they aren't first run, but they have a lot of movies that are still on the new release walls at Blockbuster!
We have also decided on some other things to help keep our spending down.
1. Keep our heat set at 68 degrees (this was suggested by our electric man!) Sometimes it gets a little chilly, but that is when I go put on my big robe and slippers!
2. Turn the water heater down.
3. Cut back on how much laundry I do a week. I could get used to that one, haha. But really we are just waiting until we get full loads of wash before doing it.
4. Keep our fans on. This one was from my dad. There is a switch on the light part of your fan where you can have the fan spin clockwise or counter clockwise. In the summer you want the air blowing down on you, but in the winter you want to switch it to the other direction so that it blows the hot air down. For our fans, that means they need to spin clockwise.
5. Unplug everything that we don't use on a day to day basis. This includes our toaster and coffee pot. I just plug them in when I need to use them.
6. Buy our meat, cheese, toilet paper (sorry to group the toilet paper with the foods, haha) and a few other bulk items from Sams club. We were very careful before we made this decision. But after comparing, Sams meat was way less than the grocery store! I paid $2.88 lb for hamburger meat and $1.79 lb for chicken breasts. It was a big chunk of money to pay at one time, but I have enough meat for the rest of the month!!!
7. Keep all lights off except for in the rooms we are in, and then we only use lamps which we have switched all the bulbs out for high efficiency ones.
We will see how this works when we get our bills next month. Hopefully it will make a difference. Do you guys have any money saving ideas? I am up for ANYTHING!
I also have decided to cut back, way back on the amount of time I spend on the computer. I have become addicted and have found that I can't get everything done in the day that I would like to, all because I can't pull myself away from the computer. Therefore I have limited myself to 1 hour on the computer a day!!! Unless I am doing etsy or ebay, but other than that, I get one hour!!! It is like torture right now,but I will get used to it. PLUS, I have a feeling in a few days here I will not be able to get on the computer very much anyways. But do not worry, I will still be keeping up with my blog.
Now for the baby update. I went to the doctor yesterday. She said I was 60% effaced and that it didn't look like anything would happen in the next few days, but that babies have been known to prove her wrong quite often. That is fine though. I still have a small list of things to get done and since this past weekend was so crazy with the weather, it would be nice to have at least one more weekend with my Sethy before the madness begins!!! Plus, my parents really won't be able to come until after Friday. My mom has a tooth to get fixed and my dad has a timber sale. So little baby, it would be nice if you could float around in there for about 3 or 4 more days at least (haha). However, if he did decide to come before the weekend, I would be ecstatic!!!
Okay and lastly, I took these pics of our office a few weeks ago but forgot to post them. I figured I should go ahead and do it now. This is the room that was FILLED with boxes. I mean filled so much that I could only take about 3 steps in the door and that was all the floor space we had. This is where I will set up my sewing machine when I get it and this is also where I sit in the floor and do all my crafting. It is nice to have a room just for school and crafts :) The room is nothing spectacular, it is just the accomplishment of getting the entire room finished!!!
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6 comments:
That's great on your money saving ideas. Buying bulk is great, I wish we had a Sam's within a 3 hour distance of us, lol. I heard if you do your laundry at night it's suppose to help, I'm not sure how that helps.
look at this site:
http://www.faypwc.com/consumer_elec.htm
that's the utility company we had in NC, there's some tips there.
I need to get off the computer too!! it's so addicting though, ALLLL the things you can do on here.
We're about to move to a house on post where we'll have to pay if our electricity goes over the average. (I'm betting we'll go over. We've GOT to adjust some!) Keeping the thermostat at 68 was one of the tips on our sheet about it, too. I'm scared. I keep mine around 77 now! I am just so cold natured! I'm dreading that part of it.
We can easily do a couple full loads of laundry per day, so there's no cutting back there.
I haven't found Sam's meats to be any cheaper than the commissary, but maybe we should start checking more often. I find that just walking through the door at Sam's means we'll walk out with big boxes of stuff I never knew we needed.
Computer - you may be surprised... Typing while nursing is easy, and then, oh no, if you stand up, you'll wake the baby... Yeah, i get stuck spending lots of time online with a newborn. With a toddler though, it's a different story.
I have found that the new super walmart here in the area is way cheaper then even on post - thats where I do almost all of my shopping for food and stuff. I myself have had to learn to turn the heat back but can't do it pass 70 but it goes up at night.
lol I have that rod that you have for the curtains.
If you have the room outside, hang your laundry outside to dry instead of using the dryer. You'll also be amazed how many outfits a baby will go through in a day. :-)
I can't go below 70 either (have it set at 72 and I'm still chilly). I keep it around 74 or 75 in the summer, but with the ceiling fans we have now I'll prolly keep it a bit higher and just have them on.
LOL Yes, I agree. Babies will come when they are ready. I walked around at 70% effaced and 5 cms for almost a week before they induced me (I actually went on lots of walks, shopping, and anything I could think of to get her to come). Who knows how much longer if they hadn't. Want me to make the Eggplant Parm for you? :-D We can see how that works out.
That is great about ya'll saving money! I found the cheapest groceries were, and still are, at super walmart. Storage was always our problem for buying to many things in bulk :) The office looks good. It is hard to believe it was filled with boxes!
It is good that you are already substantially effaced! It is always hard to tell, though, when the little ones will actually decide to come out...hopefully soon!
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