NoSpenduary - Week One

The goal at the end of this three month period is to have a nice chunk of change saved up in order to renovate the hallway bathroom.  So, here's what I did to save money this week:

• Lowered the thermostats throughout the house to 65*.  We have baseboard heat throughout the house, so we lowered the thermostats as much as possible.   
•  I took lunch to work every day.  Usually, my lunch was leftovers from one of the other meals.
• Breakfast every day was oatmeal.  I picked up a Dairy Free version of Egg Nog just after Christmas.  I made overnight oats with my Dairy Free Egg Nog, Craisins, and Pecans.  Not too shabby for a quick overnight meal!
• I turned out lights throughout the house in the rooms we weren't using.
• Husband's birthday was this past week.  We made his favorite cake for him - German Chocolate - from scratch.  I also made a kick-ass stir fry for him.  We took him out to the movies for his celebration.  (I used a gift card to the movies that was given to us for Christmas for admission.)

Dinners This Week 

1. Bean Soup. With the leftover ham bone from Christmas, I made a huge pot of bean soup with the little white beans.  (Dried).  I had leftover roasted veggies from Christmas that I added to the pot.  (Carrots, leftover baked potatoes, onions, etc.)
2. Baked Beans. I took the leftover bean soup, poured it into a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish, poured a drizzle of molasses over top, and baked it at 350* for 30 minutes.   
3.  Sloppy Joe Potatoes.  When we went to my Mom's house to celebrate Christmas two weeks ago, I made Sloppy Joes for dinner.  I made two batches - one vegetarian and one with 2 pounds of ground turkey.  I froze the leftovers.  I pulled them out, and we had that served over baked potatoes for dinner.
4. Baked Chicken Fajitas.  Believe it or not, I found the recipe on Facebook, via a Tasty feed.  (Let's see if the link works! Chicken Fajitas) It was quick and easy!  We had leftovers, which I took for lunch both days. (For lunch, I wrapped the leftovers in corn tortillas.)
5. Salmon.  I found a bigly fillet of salmon on sale this week.  We cooked it up for dinner one night.  I served it with a huge salad and the leftover sweet potato and pomegranate salad, and baked cabbage steaks.  I saved back a portion of the salmon for dinner the next night.
6. Salmon Pasta Salad.  Made with the leftover salmon.
7. Kick Ass Stir Fry.  I made this with the last of the leftover ham from Christmas, a couple of scrambled eggs, and all of the raw veggies that were still left from the Christmas veggie tray.  (Celery, Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, and an onion.)  I used brown rice instead of white rice as our base.

Are you cutting back on spending this month?  What are you doing to save?