How Do We Afford Our Rock and Roll Lifestyle?

A so-so week for saving money. We purchased A LOT of books because I had in my head that I need to own everything I'm reading for my children's lit class. Untrue. That's what the excellent public library (which my tax dollars support) and the excellent university library (which my tuition dollars support) are for. So no more book buying.

Sniff.

We also went out to the movies last night. Tickets were a fairly reasonable $7 apiece, but still not exactly thrifty. Nor was my insistence of buying a $2 pack of Twizzlers. However, we did have a nice date night out that was overall quite affordable. We had dinner at home. Our babysitter was free (exchange of favors with a neighbor). We had planned to get a couple of drinks beforehand. Instead of going to a bar, we packed a picnic basket with a cheapy bottle of wine, a couple of glasses, and some strawberries. Lovely, and much more fun than a bar. I foresaw that I would be wanting ice cream post-movie, so I prepared ahead of time and picked up some Ben and Jerry's which we shared once we got home. Good times for less than $25. Not bad for a date night in which we actually LEAVE THE HOUSE.

Another big money saving coup this week was on baby clothes. Today Eva and I hit the mall and the clearance racks and purchased her entire wardrobe for next spring and summer for about $50. This will work out great... as long as she doesn't get mammothly huge over the next year. If that happens, I'll be listing a lot of 18mo and 24mo sized clothes on eBay. Watch for it!

I really wish I'd had this clothing idea (note: not my idea, read it in the Tightwad Gazette) last winter because I also picked up two outfits for the upcoming cooler weather. Despite bargain hunting those 4 items of clothing cost $24. Ugh. We'll be hitting up yard sales and thrift stores for future winter wardrobe items.

Other money savers this week:

• I worked hard to craft the upcoming week's menu around food we've already got in the pantry
• I will be coloring my own hair this evening. I never should have started coloring my hair in the first place because then I wouldn't be in such a struggle to relocate my natural color, but you can't undo the past, so an $8 box of hair dye it is
• sub note: $8 is not the cheapest dye available, but last time I used a "permanent" color that cost $4, and it didn't last. So I've upgraded.
• I had Husband call a few places to check on the cost of femoral head osectomy, since our little pooch Toby needs both legs done so he can walk without pain again. He confirmed that our vet did indeed quote us the best possible price.
• sub note 1: if you comment to tell me that the thriftiest option would be to put Toby down, I will cry, so don't do it
• sub note 2: you will note that I linked to Wikipedia. As a librarian, I don't recommend ever using Wikipedia as a source. Do as I say, not as I do.
• I put my price book to work and bought the cheapest groceries possible.
• We packed our lunches daily, and I stayed away from the vending machines.

So why are we doing all this and has deprivation come into the picture yet? Join me next week for all this and more...