2/23/10: Living Frugally

I've decided that in order to keep motivated and amp up my efforts, I'm going to try and keep track of frugal choices I've made for the day. In a perfect world, I would post my amazing frugality everyday. But the reality is, some days there just isn't much frugal-ness going on, and the some days I won't get around to posting. But I'm really going to try! I love reading about how everyone lives frugally on a daily basis. I get so many ideas, and I realize that in some ways I am making frugal choices and didn't know it, while other times I see that I can do so much more!

Yesterday I went with a friend to the commissary an hour away. It takes about 7 gallons of gas to drive there, and at the current price of $2.45 a gallon, it's a total of $17.15 to drive there. That sounds like a small fortune just to drive to a grocery store, but I easily made up for it in savings. Also, my friend and I switch out weeks, so every other week she drives. I spent a total of $105 (including a $2 bagger tip), and my total savings was $65! I am very happy with that, since I didn't go grocery shopping last pay period and we were low and just about everything. In reality, I saved much more then that, because the commissary is an average of 30% cheaper then Walmart.

On the way to the commissary we stopped by McD's where I ordered a biscuit from the Dollar Menu. I spent $1.09 but saved another $1 by bringing my own soda from home.

Our next stop was Old Navy to see what deals we could find. Sadly, there weren't many. I did buy a pair of pants for $10 and 2 pair of flip flops. Total spent: $16

On the way back to our town we picked up lunch at Chik-fil-A. I know! Eating at 2 fast food places in one day is neither frugal nor healthy. But we had a great time, and we don't have a Chik-fil-A in our town so it was a real treat. Total spent: $6

Then we stopped by the local grocery store for a few things. I got a couple grocery items, and used several Marcal Tissue Paper coupons. Total spent: $12, Savings $6

For dinner, David grilled some steaks for him and shrimp for me. I made hush puppies from scratch and a side of green beans. Total cost of the meal was about $7 compared to $30+ at a restaurant.