Thrifty and Nifty??

It has been a funtabulous Summer. But because we had so much fun going to Hawaii, California, Girl's Camp, etc. etc. Matt and I have decided we need to scale back the spending. This has not been easy. For one, we love to eat out, and two I love to buy whatever I want when I want to buy it! We decided to try a one income budget for the month of August and I'd say we are doing pretty good.

One sad bit of news is that we decided to cut out 'unnecessary' spending. Therefore, Netflix has been chopped. I am so sad. I'm pretty sure in the last 3 years I have used each and every benefit to the max. I always watched the movie right when I got it and sent it back the same day. I also have watched many, many, many shows and movies on instant play (remember back to last Summer when all I was doing is going to one class a week!!). Since they are jacking up their prices we've decided to just get rid of it altogether. I think I will be Ok with this decision because of Redbox and the city library.

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Our library is a little gem that I finally decided to check out a couple of weeks ago. I've been reading a ton lately and I have a list of about 20 books to buy. Well I can't buy them because of our scaling back so I was frantically trying to figure out what to do.....then a light bulb came on...check the library. Matt and I loved the Greenwich library when we lived there (best library in the WORLD). So Matt and I drove over to our city's library and it turns out the library is a 700 square foot room. Matt was disgusted (we were pretty privileged in Greenwich). I decided to give it a try since I really wanted my book. Sure enough they had my book and every other book on my list! SCORE. They also have every new release on DVD and you can check out 50 items at a time! So there you go....I will just reserve any movie I want to see and then go pick it up when it comes in....no need for Netflix. It will still be a sad day when I cancel it (I promised Matt that I would do it by the end of this month...I just hate good-byes).

Another way we are saving money is by canceling Matt's parking pass. He found a parking lot downtown that is free. The reason it is free is because it is 10 additional blocks from his office and is an outside lot. Poor Matt walks 10 blocks in 110 degree weather only to get inside his baking hot car. This was all his idea so I gotta give him props. We are saving a good chunk of money!

I could go on and on about the ways we are saving money; turning off the ac 7 hours a day, freezing meals, not eating out :(, doing our own yard work, etc.

Also my friend Alexa has introduced me to DIY blogs and now I'm addicted. I spent 3 hours today at thrift and craft stores. I'm currently looking for the perfect dresser to re-do and I won't pay more than $25 for it. I'm hitting up goodwill tomorrow! Watch out!!

I hope I can start to contribute and bring in some money! Now that we've been to Hawaii I have the travel bug (let's be honest, I've always had the travel bug!!) I need to start saving for our 2012 trip. I'm thinking a cruise to the Caribbean...........