2.23.2010

making due: part deux

The year of making do is moving right along. Since we re-committed last week we have only gone out to dinner and out to lunch once. I have taken a few lunches, and we have eaten breakfast at home everyday. We realized that we were not spending a ton of money shopping, rather we were spending money eating out too much.

Then, the other day this woman took the cake so far as eating at home for less: she is a freegan. These people search for food in the trash of grocery stores. Stores throw away a lot of food, because it is damaged or past its expiration date.

For years, Linda told us that milk was always good seven days after its expiration date. Only when I told Brent this, and he laughed at me, did I realize she told us this because the milk was almost always ok. If it went bad, well then we poured it out.

I am completely enamored with what this woman is doing. She also goes around at the end of the semester and picks up all the crap the college students throw out. She made $140 selling some books she found on Amazon! Nice.

Check out the blog, http://fruganliving.com/, by clicking here.

2 comments:

Bungalow Builder said...

So one thing we've been trying to do is reduce our spending, while at the same time improving our quality of life: the time we spend with friends, the time we spend doing ACTIVITIES, instead of eating out, the time we spend with each other. Why is it, when we get together with friends, it's all about going out for dinner, or getting coffee? Why not just hang out, go for a walk, listen to some CDs, engage in interesting conversation? When I think about it, when I was in college & high school, I had the best friends, and a really high quality of life, but had very little spend. I don't mean the mortgage, the car, etc. I mean, somehow, we made a $10 allowance go a long way without having a dip in happiness. When (and why) did that change?

harkinna said...

It is hard though, right? We seem so conditioned to always eating with friends...and to some extent I get that, but sometimes, I just want to hang out...and go for a walk like you said. Our library is about 13 blocks from our house and we have really gotten into going there.