We cooked all meals at home. These included corn chowder, veggie stir fry, veggie fried rice, beans and rice, chili and cornbread, and homemade pesto pizza. We used a lot of frozen veggies from our CSA subscription, so they were still locally sourced, which is a nice green bonus.
We made a meal to take to a family with a new baby, helping out their finances a bit. This was chili and cornbread, and we included some homemade applesauce and muffins for breakfast. This is their fourth child, so the meal was a total blessing and I think they really enjoyed it.
The temperature outside was really cold (below zero with the wind chill), so we pulled out the down comforter rather than cranking up the heat. We also ran the gas logs a bit to take the chill off, which was cheaper than running the HVAC more.
I carpooled to work each day. My teammate will drive this week.
Because we had a snow day, I was able to stay home and allow Benny to get some extra hours in at the store. This was nice since he took some extra time off over the holidays, but time off for him now means time without pay.
Showers only happened every other day last week. This saved us on water, water heating, toiletries, and, most importantly, it saved a bit of time and our skin. Our skin really dries out in the winter, and our dermatologist recommends showering less frequently in the winter to preserve the skin's natural oils.
We combined errands and went out very little during the day. Our Walmart trip was funded with gift cards, so no money out of pocket was spent.
We took advantage of Harris Teeter's Super Doubles (good through 1/13), and saved a bundle on groceries. We are now well stocked on hot tea for the year, as well as potatoes and laundry detergent. We also got some great deals on birthday snacks for Wubby's birthday bash.
We placed our annual bulk spice order, including pumpkin seeds, flax, and dehydrated onions. We'll use these throughout the year. Since we did this order this month, we're trying to keep other grocery costs low so that this total can come out of the grocery budget.
Our citrus marmalade was finally made and canned, which freed up some freezer space and we were glad to have it made. We made some yummy muffins out of it from Muffins A to Z. Marmalade is awesome, because it uses the part of the fruit that most people generally throw away. This year's batch was pretty cheap because we used sugar we'd bought for practically free during holiday sales. We have enough peels in the freezer to make another batch, which I might do on a snow day. It always makes nice holiday gifts, and it's nice to do it well ahead of the holiday rush.
Our basement apartment is finally ready to list! We wrote up the ad yesterday and should have it posted today. Having this rented will be a welcome cushion back in our budget.
Closets began getting cleaned out again, in search for more things to list on eBay and Craigslist. The funds from these sales will help to pay for our CSA subscription this year.
We started tidying up our basement craft area and storage area in preparation for little man's birthday bash later this month. This meant that things got more organized, we cleaned up the chairs, and began a plan for painting the shelving and trim. This didn't really save us any money, but it did mean that we got the spaces better organized and found some things (supplies, tools, etc.) that we might have otherwise purchased had we not found them.
What about you? What did you do to live and save green last week? I'd love to hear from you!
