Reviewing your week is a good exercise to increase your awareness of frugality. Here's an example of my week's frugal and not-so-frugal activities.
Frugal things I did
- Used homemade chicken stock to prepare dinner
- Used spices purchased from the bent and dent store
- Made a full-sized ham into three dinners
- Froze all the leftover ham for later use
- Used a Redbox code and reserved a title online, which eliminated the need to drive around and waste gas
- Bought last year's model of running shoe. This is a huge savings and applies to almost everything -- cars, clothing, scrapbook paper, etc.
Non-frugal things where I could have saved money
- Ate lunch out twice with my husband. Lunch dates are less expensive than dinner dates, but we did not use coupons or drink water. Little things add up.
- Threw out leftovers. I think my family members all need training -- when weekend lunch time arrives, look for leftovers. Alternatively or additionally, I could choose to cook smaller portions or freeze any leftover meals.
- Left my coupon binder in the other car. Lack of planning caused this.
By reflecting on the things I did and didn't do, I can see that more advanced meal planning could be a benefit to my pocketbook. All of the non-frugal things I did revolved around food.
What was your most frugal activity of the week? This article is part of the Frugal Tuesday Tip. Visit my personal website to read more frugal tips every Tuesday.
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