Money, Money, Money

In attempts to save money Greg and I have been really tightening our budget. Here are a few things we've implemented:
1: Eating out only once a week
2: Plugging in tv, game systems, etc. into a power strip that we turn off while out of the house.
3: No heat until November 1st
4: Bye bye tv $20 a month, hello Netflix $8.99 a month

Eating out only once a week was tough at first, but now we set aside Sunday as our day. We normally meet friends after church, but if that doesn't happen then we grab takeout during the week or save the day for a week where we may "need" to eat out. Spent $70 between the two of us on eating out all month. The power strip started out as a struggle. Greg got annoyed when he would sit down on the couch and grab the remote and realize it wouldn't do him any good unless he got up to turn the power strip on. I was a little disappointed in our savings on our utility bill from using the power strip. It only saved us a little over $4. Not using heat has been tough the past couple of weeks. Greg and I have been in sweats, sweatshirts, slippers, while wrapped in a blanket when we hang out in the the evenings. Our power bill is below $45 a month though so I think it made a difference. We turned the heat on first thing this morning though, and it feels sooooo good! Last week we made the tough decision to cancel our tv package all together. We were only getting 13 channels or so (the basic of the basic) but felt as though we don't even need the 13 channels. After a day of no tv we broke down and got Netflix! It's actually been nice. We are more conscious about the shows/movies we watch and I am more likely to leave the tv off and spend time on more productive things. Only downside is that we can't watch the news anymore, we think we'll need to invest in the Sunday Oregonian. Upside, coupons!