Boring thoughts on saving money...
May. 16th, 2008 12:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lisamoeEverything is getting crazy expensive, perhaps you've noticed.
Anyway, I got about 30 mpg on my last tank of gas, but I ended up idling it more than usual waiting around various places, so I'm hoping it will be a little better if I don't do that. $35 filled it up today and will hopefully get me through a week. I've been trying hard to curtail unnecessary driving, like on the weekend, the kids and I just stayed in and watched TV and worked on the yard and played games and stuff. And when we do go out, we consolidate trips and try to shop and eat closer to home. I feel ok about our gas usage.
Staying in has been good in another way, because it makes us eat at home which is cheaper and healthier, plus we're not out blowing money on pointless random stuff. This week I spent about $200 on groceries, but that included a lot of meat that I froze plus bulk items from Sam's. In these crappy economic times, I feel good having a freezer and cabinets full of enough food that all we have to do to eat for a couple of months is buy perishables like fruit and milk. And even the fruit, I've been freezing when I find a sale. Not that I'm expecting to not be able to buy groceries, but it still feels good.
In other good news, this summer we'll only have one class a week (for Jesse) in Broken Arrow, as opposed to the three we're driving to now, and other than that the kids are mostly just going to swimming lessons and camp that are at the park a mile from our house. And Jesse says that he's amenable to taking acting at Clark Theatre in the fall instead of at Theatre Arts, which will be both closer and cheaper. Dingo's gymnastics and soccer are both at the nearby park, and their Kung Fu and guitar lessons will be in mid-town, which is not so bad to get to. I think the next school year is going to be a lot better for us both time and money-wise. Maybe I'll even be able to take a class myself! I've been looking at a workshop on making dichroic glass jewelry for three years now, but the kids have always had conflicting classes up til now.
Other savings are that Jesse is old enough to babysit with Dingo for short periods now and enjoys doing it. He went and took the all day Red Cross babysitting class and also got fully certified at the Red Cross in First Aid and CPR, so I feel ok about leaving him with Dingo for a couple of hours. Plus we've been hitting the library instead of the bookstore, I changed my Dish Network to save a little money, I cancelled a computer service that I wasn't using, we're using ceiling fans more and A/C less, plus Dingo clips all the coupons in the Sunday paper for me. We're all pitching in. :-)
Anyway, I got about 30 mpg on my last tank of gas, but I ended up idling it more than usual waiting around various places, so I'm hoping it will be a little better if I don't do that. $35 filled it up today and will hopefully get me through a week. I've been trying hard to curtail unnecessary driving, like on the weekend, the kids and I just stayed in and watched TV and worked on the yard and played games and stuff. And when we do go out, we consolidate trips and try to shop and eat closer to home. I feel ok about our gas usage.
Staying in has been good in another way, because it makes us eat at home which is cheaper and healthier, plus we're not out blowing money on pointless random stuff. This week I spent about $200 on groceries, but that included a lot of meat that I froze plus bulk items from Sam's. In these crappy economic times, I feel good having a freezer and cabinets full of enough food that all we have to do to eat for a couple of months is buy perishables like fruit and milk. And even the fruit, I've been freezing when I find a sale. Not that I'm expecting to not be able to buy groceries, but it still feels good.
In other good news, this summer we'll only have one class a week (for Jesse) in Broken Arrow, as opposed to the three we're driving to now, and other than that the kids are mostly just going to swimming lessons and camp that are at the park a mile from our house. And Jesse says that he's amenable to taking acting at Clark Theatre in the fall instead of at Theatre Arts, which will be both closer and cheaper. Dingo's gymnastics and soccer are both at the nearby park, and their Kung Fu and guitar lessons will be in mid-town, which is not so bad to get to. I think the next school year is going to be a lot better for us both time and money-wise. Maybe I'll even be able to take a class myself! I've been looking at a workshop on making dichroic glass jewelry for three years now, but the kids have always had conflicting classes up til now.
Other savings are that Jesse is old enough to babysit with Dingo for short periods now and enjoys doing it. He went and took the all day Red Cross babysitting class and also got fully certified at the Red Cross in First Aid and CPR, so I feel ok about leaving him with Dingo for a couple of hours. Plus we've been hitting the library instead of the bookstore, I changed my Dish Network to save a little money, I cancelled a computer service that I wasn't using, we're using ceiling fans more and A/C less, plus Dingo clips all the coupons in the Sunday paper for me. We're all pitching in. :-)
