Counting Our Pennies

As most newly wed couples do, Mark and I have debated whether or not we 

will move into a house after our apartment lease runs up for awhile now. Well, throw a puppy into

the mix and a backyard has never sounded more appealing. With that being said, Mark

and I have decided to start saving our pennies and reassess when we get closer to our lease ending.

Here are a few of the easy ways we are cutting back:

{Eating Out}

If you know me, you know I love eating out. I'm not a shopper, so pretty much all of my paycheck goes to food. Individually, each meal doesn't really account for much. I mean what's a #5 at Chick Fil A amongst friends? But when I stop and think about how many $10, $20 or even $30 meals I have during the week, I know I could put plenty more aside each paycheck by cutting back on eating out. 

Last weekend I went to the store and bought four meals for dinner and enough "lunch time" food so that I won't have to eat out during the week. Luckily, with a puppy, I am forced to come home during lunch regardless, so that keeps me accountable and much more likely to eat at home. Overall, I spent $75 at the store this week and have not eaten out once.

{Entertainment}

Movie tickets cost $10 a piece these days. Tickets to a sports game can cost up to $100 a ticket. If you include food and drinks at the game, it is easy to spend $300 for the experience. While being newly wed and childless, I love going to movies and sports games and concerts. However, if I really want to get into a house anytime soon, it is important to cut back on the going out. Nolan will help out with that as I like staying home a lot more now. :) Besides... limiting entertainment only makes it that much more exciting when you do get to go to a game!

{The little things}

Some of these things may seem silly, but if you think about it, they all really add up in the long run. I remember growing up, my mom would always cut our dryer sheets in half. At the time I thought it didn't do much, but that's $4 dollars worth of dryer sheets for free. ;) Also, I am much more careful to turn out lights we aren't using to cut back on electricity. And, believe it or not, Walmart is acceptable over Target for some things. (Although, let's be honest, I'm always going to be a Target girl at heart.)

I wouldn't feel okay pressing publish on this without including a picture of Nolan.