This weekend I have saved money in two areas food and gas!
We knew when we purchased the Tahoe that it was not fuel efficient, but we also knew it was what we wanted to fit all the needs we had. With the significant increase in prices, some folks are talking about how they are reducing trips and changing habits to save on their fuel bill. I can honestly say that although we are seeing a bigger saving, we have not changed how we drive. First of all, we live at least 5 minutes from the closest gas station and Dollar General. At least 10 minutes from the closest store or restaurant, so not driving is just not an option. What we do is to combine trips whenever possible for example, Matt had to attend a parent meeting uptown for Lily yesterday, so I asked him to stop by the store to grab some drinks that were on sale. We also combined a trip to Costco with filling up our tank to save money as well. The other thing is that we try to use the Equinox as much as possible. I have not left the house this weekend, so the Tahoe has been sitting in the driveway with me while the Equinox is running all the errands. By doing this we are able to fill the Equinox about the same number of times as the Tahoe for $20 or more less. Every little bit helps and adds up.
Food is our 3rd largest expense. Our goal this year is to use up as much of the food in our freezers prior to the summer so that we can restock it. We currently have a stand up freezer and a chest freezer in our building. Both were completely full at the end of 2021. This week we have been able to use and move 50% of the items in the chest freezer. Our goal is to purchase a whole cow this summer and we will need every bit of room in this freezer in order to do so. My plan is once we get the freezer emptied to turn it off and defrost and clean it, then I will begin the hunt for a cow to fill it back up! Another area of savings is that we have not eaten out this week. We did enjoy Chick A Filet on Friday but we used money that was earned by selling a car box. This was a win win situation for us! We have several other items listed to sale on Facebook market place as well so hopefully we can continue to clean out and repurpose the funds. We also have been working really hard in order to use up and not waste left-overs. I decided on Saturday to use the left-over turkey we had from last week to make a Turkey Dorito casserole. I used this recipe subbing turkey for the chicken. It was a hit. I also make a turkey noddle casserole that we will eat on Wednesday for dinner. We added a box of stuffing, sauteed zucchini from the freezer, air fried some corn and that was our dinner. Matt and I made bagels on Friday night which turned out awesome! Again it is all the small things that count!