Thursday, December 6, 2007

How to Cut Corners

Sam and I are aspiring writers/film people, or possibly circus performers if the aformentioned doesn't work out, but as we have yet to get our big break (it should be arriving in the mail any day now) there are a few things we've been trying out to save that extra 8 G's, I mean 8 cents every month. A few you may find ridiculous, but I call them wacky newlywed fun!
1) Living on the top floor of an apartment building = free heat. You know how they always used to say, heat rises. Well, our apartment stays a balmy 65-70 degrees (depending on how cold it is outside) without the heat on! Sometimes we'll turn the heat off and see how far we can get with the heat rising through the floorboards of the apartment below. Anywhere from a few days to a week or so. Once my teeth start chattering, I'll cave and switch the sucker back on. It's like a great energy saving science project.

2) Bottle o water in the toilet. Speaking of energy saving, we don't actually have to pay for water right now, but I heard putting a bottle of water and/or sand in your toilet tank can help cut down on your monthly water bill costs, since the full bottle takes up space where new water would go. We've been doing it, just to try to cut down on our carbon footprint a wee bit more. Try it and tell me how much your water bill goes down. Seriously. I have to know.

3) Invent new food combinations. Since Sam won't eat my Fritos (see Chili blog for more information) and I don't want them to go to waste, I've been putting them on all sorts of things and getting shockingly delicious results! My new mantra is Fritos go with everything! I put them with cashews for a kind of funky redneck trail mix effect, and don't throw up, but I put them on my french silk ice cream last night, and for anyone who's ever enjoyed the salty sweet goodness of chocolate covered potato chips (it's considered a delicacy in some regions) or french fries in your wendy's frosty, I'm telling you, this was just as good. Please don't judge me.

4) Get rid of all that stuff you have to drag around. Since Sam and I are trying to move to a much bigger city where there will probably live in a really nice box on the street or an apartment that closely approximates the size of a box, we've been trying to get rid of our extra stuff. If I can't remember the last time I wore something, it goes in the giveaway pile. We've given probably six trash bags full of stuff to Goodwill, but we've also had good results with a couple of second hand stores in town that will give you money in exchange for your stuff, if it qualifies. And next up we're putting some other things, most of which have never been opened, up for sale on the ole ebay. We'll let you know how much Sam's figurines, err, action figure collectibles go for. Sam's trying to get rid of some of our new potterybarn springwood entertaining pieces, but I have thrown my body in front of the mingling plates once and I will do it again! If the mingling plates and the chip and dip serving set go, by god, I'm going down with them. He'll thank me when we throw the best party the cardboard box neighborhood has ever seen!

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Jack and I have also found creative ways to save money since we have none. One great tip is if friends have asked you to go out to eat, you want to go, but you can't afford it...eat before you go. Then maybe you and Sam can split soup, before you know it everyone is offering you their leftovers, a "bite" here and there....you're full! Some call it mooching, I call it being smart.
My second tip is to go to Publix, Kroger, or Cosco on sample day, especially Senior Citizen Day. I went to Kroger last week with my grandmother, Jeannie, Cooper and Stephanie. Senior Citizens have it made...free coffe, juice, coffee cake, cookies. I tried three different muffins.
By the way, I hear strippers make good money.