Sunday, February 17, 2008

Trim the fat week 2

I didn't do as well this week, mostly eating out got us. Last Saturday night, Mark went to a seminar so Logan and I decided to get Chinese Food at the mall. We did share a dish, so it was less than $5 but we could have eaten at home. On the plus side, we went to the bookstore after eating and I didn't get anything! I wrote a few titles down and requested them from the library. This is huge for me! I'm such a book addict, although over the last year I've bought a lot less books and checked a lot more out from the library. We also went to our annual combat robot competition this weeekend (I'll post about this later, once the videos are up), so we ended up eating out a lot. I did bring food for breakfast and lunch, so we only ate out dinner. We stayed in a hotel Friday night so we were gone for 2 full days worth of meals. Overall, it could have been a lot worse.

I also didn't do as good with not going to the grocery store as much. I wanted to make green enchiladas this last week and I had to go to 3 stores to get all the ingredients. I also ended up changing my weekly menu a lot due to being out of things needed for my original menu. I'll try again this week. I'm going to make the weekly menu today trying to incorporate things we already have. I'll go to the grocery store later today or tomorrow to get the things we don't have and try to have that be it for the week.

The place I've been doing the best is spending less time on the computer. A lot more is getting done around here and we've been busy with other activities like working sheep or robot competitions. Next week will be harder since we have no plans as of yet.

6 comments:

Wendy said...

I made the mistake on Saturday of going to the used bookstore while my daughter was in dance class, instead of just going to 7-11 for water and Gatorade, like I was supposed to ;). I ended up buying three used books and one new book. Oh, well. Here's hoping for success next time :).

On a similar note, I thought I would share this website with you - from one bibliophile to another :). Check out PaperBackSwap.com. It's a website in which you "trade" your paperbacks with others. You receive points for each book you send to another member, and then you can redeem those points for books from other members. I'm not so good with the library, as I often see books I want to read ... just not right now.

Danni said...

Isn't it interesting what a time sink the computer can be? I've noticed this, too...that on days when the Internet is down, I get SO much more done! I guess I'm not very disciplined (or I love my laptop TOO much) because I have a really hard time trying to convince myself to have a computer-free day!

Chile said...

Valentine's week in the middle of a 'trim the fat' challenge? Nothing like setting us up for a real challenge, eh?! I get frustrated with needing to go to multiple stores for ingredients, too. Sometimes you can substitute, sometimes you just can't. Here's looking towards a better week in the grocery stores!

Congrats on the books, though. Even though I get most of mine used, the library is still a better option. (And no, self, I don't mean the library booksale!)

Kathryn and Ari said...

I admire your restraint at the book store! One of the best things I could do would be to block my access to Amazon. Talk about a guilty pleasure!

Christy said...

I've actually never been to a used bookstore! I'll need to see if one is around here since I have a bunch of books I'd love to sell, mostly hardbacks. But I will check out Paperbackswap.com. And yes, Amazon is very dangerous! Thank goodness for the wishlist, I can put books I want on that and then I get them as presents from relatives. Saves me from buying them! Although I do have an order saved on Amazon right now to place in March (is this cheating?). Maybe I can find the books I want at a used bookstore and save some money.

linda m said...

I'm a real believer in second hand book stores, or buying them at Sam's Club. I save all the books I read and then either give them to my niece or sell them at a second hand book store. Of course then I always take the money from the sale and buy more. Guess that's the price I pay for being an avid reader.