No Spenduary - Weeks 4 and 5

I did not buy a new computer, or a new phone, despite the ongoing technology issues.  I am going to tough it out.  Days will go by when I don't post, and I apologize, but I'm not giving in.  I am going to the public library - NOT the one I work in - when I am off work and using their computers.  The laptop is working much of the time, but the poor thing is close to 10 years old.  My tablet is new, and I am using that for much of my posting & communicating with friends.

Its been a really warm winter here in the Mid-Atlantic.  As a result, we've not been using as much energy to heat the house.  I've been diligent about opening the curtains once the sun is up to catch as much solar warming as I can, and then closing the curtains as soon as the sun sets in order to hold onto as much of that heat as I can.  I'm not certain if it's working or not, but we did manage to cut our energy bill in half for the same time period last year.  I'm going to credit the new thermostats on the baseboard heaters, the warm winter, the ceiling fans set on reverse, and the passive solar heating.  I don't care how you add it up, when you manage to cut your electric bill by 50%, I think it's worth being excited about!

I haven't been journeying out much in the car, except to go to work, so I haven't spent a lot of money on gasoline.  I've been running errands on my way home from work, so I'm not spending extra gas money to go run errands. 

Hey, every little bit adds up, right?

I did stop by and pick up a produce bundle ($25) from our local farm store.  Most of our meals for this past week came out of that bundle.   I supplemented that with more from the freezer.  I've moved everything from the older, upright freezer back into the now defrosted deep freezer.  We're cleaning out that freezer, and have plans to sell that.  We honestly don't need two freezers now that we aren't feeding as many hungry kids on a regular basis.

I've been posting what we had for dinner on here, but I didn't do that for the past couple of weeks.  As a result, I've forgotten much of what we've had.  I know we had a couple of salads, a couple of stir fries, a pot of beans, had a leftover night or two, some pasta with a lot of veggies cut in, a baked potato bar, tacos (made with leftover bean soup that I mashed and fried).  I'm going to do a better job of keeping track for the next week! 

I did use my Christmas gift card from Starbucks and picked up a Very Berry Refresher.  This one wasn't clear water, but it was made with apple juice instead of water.   What the heck?  I'm beginning to wish that we had another coffee shop option in this town.  Ever since the Bagel Bakery burned down a few years back, Starbucks is all that's left.  I wonder if Panera has a similar option?