Giving Back

Tonight is one of those very rare evenings that comes along. Tonight, I am at home with only 1 child and my husband is out for the evening. I love my family, but sometimes I just need a little alone time. So, on this evening, my daughter and I watched a movie (one we own), we ate some left over chicken pot pie (homemade) and than I put her to bed. Now, I sit here blogging with a glass of red wine and the most recent episode of The Office playing in the background.

As we all know, Haiti was victim to a terrible natural disaster a couple weeks ago. The images have been horrific. It seems like there is nothing that any of us can do to make things better. I know that I write this blog about the up side of frugality. Events like the one in Haiti makes me forever grateful that my husband and I can pinch pennies. Why? Because we were able to give a donation to the American Red Cross without wondering if we could afford it, or fear that it may take from obligations that we have.

I guess I do not discuss that we give to charities and organizations that we believe in. We always give to the American Red Cross after natural disasters. Katrina, the tsunami, and now the earthquake in Haiti. We give to the politicians we believe in (I will not say which side of the aisle we are on, I do not debate politics with people I do not know). We also give to social organizations that we support. Out of respect to my vegetarian daughter, I just donated to PETA. While I do not support all of their methods, I believe in their message. My 11 year old daughter believes so strongly in it that I felt it was my duty to give at least a little bit to them, if only for her. In other words, when practicing frugality, we do not forget to give back. I wish it could be more, maybe someday.

Frugal Acts - 1/9/10-1/22/10

So, I have been pretty busy the last 9 days. I meant to blog every night, but found myself doing something else before turning for the night. I do have a list of things we have done over the last 2 weeks to save money.

1. Used coupons! Several of them in fact.

2. Used cold water for every load of laundry.

3. Paid off all credit cards in full this month, avoiding finance charges.

4. Paid extra on our Home Equity Loan.

5. Used the library

6. Allowed magazines subscriptions to lapse

7. Kept to my grocery budget

8. Used peapod.com, read my blog about that for explanation

9. Ate leftovers for dinner 2 nights.

10. Doubled recipes for dinner and froze half for future meals.

Well, that is about it for frugal acts. I am proud of my progress, but find I can improve a little bit.