Turn off the lights!

Gas in Lebanon, Oregon, at the time I am writing this, is $4.25 a gallon. As high as gas is, I think groceries have risen even higher. We sat down and came up with a list of things we could do to cut our expenses.

Here is what we came up with:

(1) My husband found a buddy at work that lives in our area and they are carpooling three days a week.

(2) My husband asked his boss if he could work four 11-hour days rather than five 9 hour days to save driving another day. His boss agreed to try it.

(3) I have been checking out a local farm and produce stand for fresh fruits and veggies.

(4) I am using coupons for household and cleaning supplies and looking for sales to match up with the coupons.

(5) I have always planned menus and made a grocery list, but now I am taking a calculator with me grocery shopping and setting a limit for what I spend.

(6) My parents always taught me to turn out the lights when I leave a room. My husband has a nasty habit of leaving on the lights. He has left them on ALL night before! He is working on creating a habit of turning them off.

(7) Instead of just turning off my computer at night, I am turning off the computer, the printer, both monitors, the battery backup, the mouse charger and whatever else is plugged in down there.

I would love to see your comments on what you are doing differently to cut expenses.