Saving Moolah

We've got big goals for the coming year, including buying our first home, saving for a trip to Paris, and maybe, just maybe, starting a family. This takes moolah, which means Sam and I are in the business of saving.

We're doing a lot to try and cut our spending. Our efforts include:

1. Packing lunches - Sam and I used to be very bad about going out to lunch. I mean, BAD! I think I ate out at least 3-4 times a week and Sam ate lunch out at 5 times a week. Talk about undisciplined. I did the math; 52 weeks of 8 lunches per week at $8 per lunch (I wish it was always this much, but I won't kid you, there were some $15-$20 lunches at times) and I realized we were spending close to $4000 a year in lunches. We have seen the err in our ways. Now that we're saving for a house, we're packing lunches. I bought Sam a $5 lunch box from Marshalls and I have my lunchbox that I bought when I started my job a few years ago and that was that. I make homemade peanut butter and hummus, chop veggies and fruits, and make enough dinner to have a few days of leftovers. 
2. Go for 2! - We're making a concerted effort to spend $0 two days a week (with exception to metro costs, which can't be helped.)  Goodbye, 3 pm tea for me and 10 am latte for Sam.  Goodbye afternoon cookie. That's what snacks in our lunch boxes are for and my stash of loose-leaf tea in my cube.
3. Sell stuff - With home-buying in the future, we've decided we're going to have our first apartment sale. I've started making a list of items we don't use.  I don't think that this endeavor will bring in a lot of dinero, but I'm a big fan of decluttering as a way of simplifying what goes on around us and therefore making a more stress-free home.
4. Cut the crap. . . I mean cable - We pulled the plug on our cable.  It was costing us around $160 a month for our internet and HD, DVR-able cable with the ESPN Gameplan.  Since we've cut our cable, our bill has dropped by $110 a month!  Extreme? Yes. Worth it? Definitely! With the spring weather around the corner, we don't want to be cooped up with expensive cable anyways. We want to be out, taking in the sunshine. We still get get Netflix at $8 per month through our Wii, so all is not lost.  Also, Glee and Parenthood stream through the interwebs, so I don't miss a beat. 

Things I'd like to do to continue cutting costs:

1. Cut coupons - One Sunday Post paper has a lot of potential for savings. We will need to be careful to only cut the coupons we need. Saving a $1 on the huge bag of potato chips that we wouldn't have purchased otherwise does not make a good deal. I haven't started clipping coupons yet, but if we do it smart, it can generate a lot of green in our pockets.
2. Stop impulse buying/Don't buy clothing items full price - I haven't shopped a lot in a while. Thank you holiday season for making the end of winter my season to reign it in.  I need to continually remind myself what is necessary and what is wanted. Yes, those $100 boots would be lovely, but so would a week's worth of groceries. Some new clothes and shoes will need to be purchased, of course, but we can wait for a trip to the outlets or a sale to fill that need.

Having read through these items again, I feel like our efforts to save are pretty smart. Does it seem like we have sucked the joy out of living though? No worries. We haven't gone off the saving deep end, friends. Baseball season is upon us, which means plenty of games with the Braves playing the Nats. We're still planning trips to see friends and family throughout the year, too. Also, we are treating ourselves to tickets to the Savor Craft Beer event here in DC as birthday presents to each other.  We still live the life we love, we just prioritize better.