Frugal Friday: Saving energy and money in every room

In my quest to save money in 2011, I thought I’d turn my focus on some ways to save energy. I thought I’d organize the tips according to room, although many of these energy saving tips can of course be used in more than one room.
Bedrooms

• Consider using LED energy saving nightlights to avoid turning on room lights when moving around in the night.
  
• Use ceiling fans, blankets and warm night clothes to keep the thermostat lower while sleeping, thus saving heating fuel.
  
• Switch any lightbulbs to CFLs.
  
• Unplug cell phone chargers when not in use.
  
• Keep any TVs and such on a power strip that can be shut off when not in use to prevent energy vampires.

Bathrooms

• Take shorter showers to save on water heating energy.
  
• Reduce or eliminate blow drying.
  
• Switch from electric to manual toothbrushes and razors, or at least unplug them when they are done charging (most only need to charge every few days).

Kitchen

• Keep the refrigerator closed as much as possible. Try to plan to get everything you need for dinner out at once, and organize the fridge so you can find things quickly.
  
• Check fridge and freezer temperatures. You might be able to set them a bit higher and still maintain safe conditions.
  
• Use smaller appliances when possible. Microwaves and toaster ovens use much less energy than stoves and ovens.
  
• Use appropriately sized pans and burners. Don’t waste energy and money boiling more water or heat more surface than you need.
  
• Bake more than one thing at a time, or back to back if the temperatures are slightly different. The oven uses most of its energy preheating.
  
• Don’t preheat the oven to roast or heat something, only if you are doing fussy baking.
  
• Run only full loads in your dishwasher.
  
• Set the dishwasher to air dry, not heat dry.

Living room

• Turn off the TV when it is not actively being watched (and in our house, actively watch it less).
  
• Turn off computers from the power strips when not being used, and unplug laptop chargers when not charging.
  
• Use appropriate window treatments to keep rooms light in the day and dark at night, and warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Laundry room

• Run only full loads of laundry.
  
• Wash everything in cold water, unless there’s an allergy issue forcing you to use hot for sheets and towels.
  
• Experiment with dryer times to hit the minimum that does the job.
  
• Sort clothes by weight so dryer times are similar for everything in a load.
  
• Hang at least a few of your heavier things to dry. You can throw them in the dryer briefly to soften them.

Do you have any great tips to add? For more great frugal advice, check out Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.

When frugality stops being flashy

Five years ago, I had just gotten engaged, quit my job, and moved halfway across the country to be near my honey. It was the first time I had really had any major life change so dramatic (but not seemingly, the last time), and I was riding quite the natural high. At the same time, I suddenly had a ton of time and not a ton of money. Although I had some money coming in, I was majorly committed to finding ways to make my savings stretch and last.

So I started doing research. I went online and read every frugal blog I could find. I read Dollar Stretcher every week. I checked out The Tightwad Gazette from the library and read it cover to cover. I baked my own bread and made my own ketchup and salad dressing. I unplugged my chargers and turned off my water heater during the day. I was on a mission and it was all so very exciting.

But here I am now, all these years later, trying to remember where I found that love. Frugal people are still awesome and I love reading inspirational writing on frugality, but when I read tips I feel like "Yeah, yeah, been there, done that." I have had to discard things that don't work for us (hubby doesn't like sandwiches on homemade bread), and have become very routine about the things that do work for us. In a lot of ways, I have already achieved the simple quiet life that was my goal: I can afford to stay home for a while, and we really only spend money on things that matter to us.

But I want that thrill back.

It's not that I'm going to fall off the wagon and stop being frugal just because it's boring. I know what my efforts have accomplished, and in all honesty most frugal things I do are just easier than their counterparts. It's just that when I was filled with glee over each new frugal discovery it was easier to keep making more discoveries, to keep learning and connecting. I wanted to tell the world about what I was doing, to teach and to help other people; now it just seems so obvious to me that I don't bother.

But when I think about some of my younger friends who are just getting married, I realize that they don't know what I know, that for them these things are still hard and different - and perhaps a little bit exciting. So perhaps the best way to regain the frugal love is to teach it, to see other people's joy as their lives get simpler and better. Because I think that would be quite the thrill for me.

For more frugal inspiration, check out Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.

Lazy Tuesday Link Love

I've been in need of a little inspiration lately, so I thought I'd share with you some of the fabulous frugal blogs that have been inspiring me lately.

Life as Mom, who hosts Frugal Friday every week, manages to keep her life organized, save money, and keep a sense of humor. This week I'm loving her post on Meal Planning Shortcuts.

Frugal Chick seems to be a girl after my own heart. With a focus on simplifying, decluttering, and frugality, her blog often speaks to truths that I've been looking for ways to say. This week I'm inspired by her check in and goals post, which has me wanting to set some goals of my own.

And the most recent addition to my must-read list is Saving and Giving, a deals blog that focuses on using your grocery surplus to help others. I am especially excited about her weekly feature A time to give and am trying to think of something to write tomorrow to contribute.

What have you been reading that keeps you inspired?

Frugality with guests?

This is kind of a strange Frugal Friday post because instead of giving frugal advice, I'm asking for it. We have family staying with us all week, and next week we're going to have a friend staying with us. Even though we have food in the fridge, we're going out every night. We're driving more than we ever do, and we're doing lots of tourist-y things, all of which cost money. I know that we have guests, and I want to just enjoy them, but in the back of my head, I'm a little worried about all the money going out - even when it's theirs and not ours. Does anyone have any good tips on being frugal when you have houseguests?

For frugal tips, check out Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.

Enjoying what you have

My apartment complex has a pool. Until fairly recently, I have looked at it longingly but used it only rarely, even when I was only working 5-7 hours a week. Why? Because I always felt like if I didn't have a long stretch of time to devote to "going to the pool," then it wasn't worth it. Then one day I realized, all I need to do is put on a bathing suit, and walk out to the pool. Even if I only have half an hour, I have time to go put my feet in the water or sit on the steps for a little while, and still change back into my regular clothes.

This made me think about all the other things that I have that I don't use regularly.

My video games, particularly Wii Fit which I used to really love
My DVR/free cinemax, with which I could record lots of movies to watch while I write or fold laundry
My books, which should be passed on to someone else if I don't want to read them again
My digital camera, with which I could create art
My fabric, yarn, etc
My kitchen and baking supplies

And I'm sure there are many more things. I tend to get overwhelmed by any relatively large project and so just leave things to do "later." But no more. I'm going to start pulling things out that I have and haven't enjoyed in a while and really make good use of them. And I'm going to go to the pool.

Why Taking Care of Yourself is Frugal

On Friday, I wrote about Frugal ways to pamper yourself, but today I'm going to get a little more philosophical. A lot of frugal folks, particularly women, don't want to spend any money or time taking care of themselves. I know this because this is a trap I fall into when I start to get stressed or anxious about money. There are a lot of good reasons, though, why taking care of yourself is a very frugal thing to do.

Taking care of yourself saves money on healthcare. There are some obvious ways in which taking care of yourself saves money on healthcare: wearing sunscreen and taking care of your teeth, for example, are no brainers. There are other ways that spending some time on yourself can help though. Getting enough sleep and exercise, drinking water, and learning to manage your stress all improve your overall health. A little time now can keep you from getting sick and being totally out of commission later.

Taking care of yourself prevents impulse spending. For a number of reasons, when you feel taken care of you are much less likely to shop. First, if all you do is scrimp and save, sooner or later you'll burn out and have an "I deserve this" moment, which can cost quite a bit depending on what it is that you want. If you work little pleasures into your daily life, this is much less likely to hit you. Second, you'll be happier and therefore less likely to go shopping as a means of therapy. Finally, you'll discover how the things that you already have can bring you joy and won't really want as many other things.

Taking care of yourself helps you enjoy life more. It's hard to remember what you're saving for after a while if it's all business. Being sure to take good care of yourself will help you maintain a positive outlook on things. This can keep you focused on your frugal choices, and help to make them permanent.

Frugal Friday: Speeding tickets and mindfulness

My number one frugal tip for this week is this: Don't get speeding tickets.

Earlier this week, I was driving along, on my way to my CSA pick up, listening to the radio and going over in my head my budget, what I was making for dinner, what I needed to review with my tutoring student that evening. All of a sudden, there was a motorcycle cop standing by the side of the road, waving me over.

Startled and confused, I pulled over my car and rolled down my window.

"The reason I pulled you over, ma'am, is because you were speeding."

All I could think to respond was "I was? I am so sorry!" and I really was.

The officer politely nodded, checked my license, said "You were going 38 in a 30, ma'am, and this is a high complaint area," and handed me a $150 ticket. In about 30 seconds, all my careful planning and frugal budgeting went out the window.

So why did it happen? I wasn't in a hurry, I wasn't feeling especially rebellious, I don't particularly like driving fast (and I mean, 38 mph, whoa baby).

It happened because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

Obviously, paying attention when you're driving is crucial, and it could have been a whole lot worse than just a speeding ticket. But giving complete attention to the task at hand is important - and frugal - in almost everything. I can't tell you how many times I've added something incorrect to a recipe and made good food inedible, or picked up something at the grocery store that wasn't part of the sale, or thrown away a form I needed to submit a rebate. When we don't give our tasks the attention they deserve, we make mistakes, and mistakes can cost money.

So my goal for this week is to stop trying to do everything at once and to just do one thing at a time, with the proper attention and mindfulness. And to just slow down - both in my car and in my head.

See more Frugal Friday posts at Life as Mom.

Because I wanted to live deliberately

I turned my ketchup bottles upside down because I wanted to live deliberately. Hmm, somehow it doesn't have the same ring to it as what Thoreau said.

There are two kinds of frugality and finance blogs out there that I know of. One of them goes into details about things like how to make your own laundry detergent, substitute cheaper ingredients into recipes, and hang your laundry. The other type likes to insult writers of the first type. Lives for it in fact. Gets most of its juice from saying just how wrong those frugal writers are.

"Why are you spending time counting the number of grinds on the pepper shaker? Tearing paper towels in half? It's a waste of your time and brainpower! Do you know how much more money you could make/save by [insert topic of blog here]?? How can you guys be so stupid as to think it matters whether you get the last ketchup out of the bottle???????"

The thing is, they don't get it. They're totally missing the point.

People don't cut their toothpaste tubes open to save the 5 cents on toothpaste. We don't spin our laundry an extra time before putting it into the dryer because we think this will make us millionaires. Frugal folks are, for the most part, just trying to see what we can get away with, how to get by with the least possible stuff. For some of us, it's simply an exercise in austerity, for some it's an issue of stewardship and ecology, for some it's part of a larger budget plan.

But the point of frugal blogs is to remind us that the individual frugal choices matter. Doing more with less makes us aware of what we have, makes us focus on all of our decisions more. It's about being connected to the food we eat and the products we buy. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.

Thoreau would be so proud.

Ways to Save Money this summer

So, once again it's summer and I find myself with plenty of free time and less than plenty of money. Oh, I have some savings, but I have no full time job nor am likely to especially soon. More time, less money, means it's a great time to start refocusing on ways to save.

• Turn off the lights. Maybe turn off the computer too. It's amazing how much energy we waste during the course of a day.
  
  
• When I'm home by myself or when we're both going out, turn the air way up (or off altogether). I really don't like the way air conditioning feels, and I'm willing to be a little warmer. I can wear shorts or drink ice water. Also, I need to check the thermometer on my porch and open the windows when it's cooler out than in, and batten down the hatches when it's hotter.
  
  
• Hang my laundry. I've never done this before, but I'd imagine it'll dry very quickly in the 100 degree weather.
  
  
• Cook from scratch. During the crazy last month of the school year, we ate out a lot. A lot. I plan to change that this summer. I would like to go even further, though, and try making yogurt,cheese, pasta, and more of our bread.
  
  
• Use up the stockpile. I'm moving in the relatively near future so it's time to stop buying so much and start using it up. If I wasn't moving, I'd be reluctant to use up (or I might have to rebuy everything at full price), but I'd still try to use down a little to get through the income gap.
  
  
• Find fun, free things to do. Since we live near a college, there are lots of free lectures and forums, and I am relatively sure there are some free outdoor concerts and movies too.

Anyone have any more great suggestions on things I can do this summer?

When the spender becomes the saver

So my very spendy husband said to me the other night (when I was nearly asleep in my chair), "Why are we spending $60 a month on phone and DSL? We only get the phone line so we can have the DSL, and we could get shiny, speedy cable Internet for way less than $60."

Me: "Ummmmmm but DSL used to be cheeper?"

Him: "See, the cable company website has this $30 a month for 6 months offer. We'll be moving in about 7 months, so we can just cancel when it goes up."

Me: "Ummmmmmmmm"

Him: "We'll call tomorrow and switch. Then we'll be saving $30 every month."

Me: "Ooookaaaaaay...."

Him: "And we can get free Cinemax from Dish Network because we have paperless billing, so I called and signed us up for that, and then set the DVR to record a bunch of movies, so we can watch them when we have friends over or are looking for something to do."

Me: "Sounds .... good....?"

Him: "Ooooooh. . . IPod Touch....."

Me: "No."

Woo hoo, maybe it wasn't all a dream.

I'm so boring (and so are my tips)

Every time I set out with an earnest "This time I'm really going to start blogging again," it turns out to be a bust. I feel overwhelmed, uninspired and just overall not much like writing. I can't build enthusiasm without momentum, or momentum without enthusiasm.

Earlier this week, I read Mighty Bargain Hunter's take on Why frugality tips suck and I really think it hit the nail on the head as to my problem. Any list of tips seems to me to be pedestrian and boring, overdone and repetitive. "Turn off your lights! Use less laundry detergent! Pay off debt!" Anyone who reads frugality blogs already knows what I'm telling you.

But I guess I always knew that. The blogs I like to read either have frequent deals updates or recipes (which I would not be all that good at), or tell a story, let me feel like I'm really getting to know the person on the other end of the blog. So, I know, in my heart of hearts, what it is I need to write. I need to write about my own journey. Sure, there will be frugal living suggestions throughout that, but mostly what I need is honesty.

So, this time, I'm really going to. . .

Oh bother. Oh well, if you're still listening, let me know that you'll make the journey with me.

Thoughts on media fasts, simplicity, and the frugality of sleep

Let me begin by saying that school is starting again. I am in the process of radically turning over my persona, my daily schedule, and my budget, and so I am a bit - how can we say it? Off? (The turning over in my mind conjured up images of turning over the soil on a farm, and I hope it turns up the same kind of richness and freshness.)

I've spent the past week putting together my classroom, in itself a haven of minimalism and simplicity. I have my desks arranged simply, have 2 posters on my wall and a few quotes ("To be great is to be misunderstood" and "We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race") and a shelf full of books, and I am finished. I spent more of my time visiting with my colleagues, each in a tizzy over "getting their rooms ready," and chatting about life, love, and learning, trying to listen more than I spoke. It's been a quiet time for me, and a pleasant one, and a good transition with the coming onslought of teenagers which I have begun to look forward to.

And yet, and yet. When I come home from school, I am tired. I am drained. I am not used to being away for 8 hours, to waking up before 7 in the morning. I am not eating like I was at home, and I feel lost with my laundry undone and my dinner not started. So I come home, I do my chores, start my dinner, and I sit. I sit and stare at a wall, read a book, or work on some knitting, but I sit in the quiet. I want the quiet.

And so, there have been 3 days this week that I have not turned on my computer at all. That thought used to give me anxiety - I'd be so behind, I'd have to catch up, I'd miss something - but really in truth it's given me peace. When I had time last night, I turned my computer on, checked my RSS feeds and email, and was ready to turn it back off again. It's almost like breaking an addiction. When I've been away from it for a while, I craved it not more but less. It was a relief, since I'll have less time now, but a surprise. I just found an extra hour a day to read or exercise or swim. And I just found myself some peace.

And this week, what I'm most inclined to do with that extra hour is to sleep. In the afternoon with the sun streaming in, at 8 o'clock at night, whenever that hour turns up, I just want to stretch out and take a nap. I don't want to spend or go out or do anything that costs me money. And I couldn't be happier doing it.

Frugal Principles: Do without

It's time for another Frugal Friday, and the last in my prolonged series on how to save with frugal principles. In the most famous adage of frugal principles, Use it up, use less, make do, and do without, "do without" is definitely the hardest for most people - although, of course, it is the most frugal of all the frugal principles. I think the reason for this is very simple: while the other three steps all have to do with creativity, with finding more efficient ways to still get everything that you want, doing without implies deprivation. You don't get to have what you want. You have to give up the things that you want:

Give up cable.
Give up lattes.
Give up going out.

And this is of course very hard for a lot of people. They'd rather a list of 100 ways to "make do" or to get more for their money, then a single suggestion that they do without something they want - even if that one suggestion would save them more money than the rest combined. None of us want to feel deprived, to feel like we can't have what we want. So one of two things happens: we either ignore the doing without part of the equation completely, or we go whole hog - and generally burn out.

The key as always seems to be to find a happy medium, to reframe the question. What are the things in my life that I'd just as soon do without? What do I own or regularly pay for that brings me no joy? What can I cut out without hurting, or while even making myself happier in the end?

But I know, the frugal among you will say "Well, there's nothing. There's nothing more. My life is already pared down and I need to cut back more." So you need to reframe the question again: How can I turn the space in my life into more joy? Can I do without cable if I let myself rent a movie once in a while? Can I do without going out to dinner if I have friends over for coffee more often? What is it that brings you joy about the latte? The caffeine, the foam, or the trip to the coffee shop/break from work? How can you replace whatever you like about it with something else?

So, what are you willing to do without?

Festival of Frugality wrap up

This week's Festival of Frugality is up over at Frugal Homemaker Plus and includes my article on Lazy Green Living.

Lots of great information this week, so be sure to head over there and check it out. My favorite articles include:

The finer things in life
37 hacks to save on electricity
Counting my pennies' 30 day plan

Enjoy!

20 reasons frugal living makes me happy

1. Having more money in savings quells my anxiety about financial emergencies.
2. Having less stuff makes my house easier to clean.
3. Cooking from scratch gives me yummier food.
4. Finding ways to re-use or repurpose things is a fun and creative challenge.
5. Spending less time shopping means I have more time to eat, sleep, and read.
6. Being counter-culture is soooo cool.
7. Frugal living is green living, which eases my conscience and makes me feel good.
8. Coupon shopping gives me tons of free shampoo, toothpaste, and Cheerios which I can donate to the foodbank - and philanthropy makes most people feel good.
9. Saving gas means I have to fill up less often and I don't smell like gasoline.
10. When I slow down, turn off my computer and TV, and stay home for a day, I enjoy things like a cup of coffee on my porch more.
11. Eating out less often makes it feel more special when we do.
12. Less laundry. 'Nuff said.
13. Drinking water with meals and cutting out fast food and junk makes me thinner and healthier.
14. Shelling peas feels more productive and worthwhile than opening a can.
15. Stretching things means I have to run errands less often, and I avoid the driving, the shopping, and the waiting in line (which drives me stir crazy).
16. I like wearing t-shirts I've had since college. Or high school. But those just to sleep in, I swear.
17. Cloth napkins make my table look prettier.
18. Free samples in the mail are like presents when it isn't even your birthday.
19. I have more money in my budget for the occasional splurge, and I can enjoy it more because I know I can afford it.
20. I get to be part of the amazing frugal blogging community.

Please share your reasons!! For more frugal inspiration, check out Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

Peasful morning

I spent a peaceful morning shucking peas:






And listening to The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Lifeon Simple Living Radio


(Can you forgive me my punning?)

4 Lazy ways to be more green (and frugal!)

There is really nothing I enjoy more than being lazy. Sitting with a cup of coffee and a book or taking a nap in the middle of the day are my kind of entertainment. Sometimes, though, I get overwhelmed by all the things I know I should be doing in my journey to make my life more green, and to save a bit of money (so I can work less of course, what other goal would a lazy person have?). The good news is that there are lots of green changes you can make in your life that don't take any effort: in fact, many of them actually require less effort than what you are already doing.

1. Do less laundry. Unless you are exercising or have a job where you have to work in dirt all day long, do you really need to wash your clothes every time you wear them? Instead, assess your clothes and hang them back up if they are still clean. Then, when they are dirty, wait until you have a huge old pile of laundry and do a gigantic load of laundry in cold water, no sorting required. Easy peasy!

2. Cook less. Especially in the summer, it's a good idea not to cook every single night. Turning on your stove uses energy, and heats up both you and the kitchen. Plus, it's a pain. So every so often (or more), have a salad night, a cold sandwich night, or even eat cereal for dinner like you did in college. And once a week have a free-for-all leftover night to make sure none of the good food you paid for ends up in a landfill.

3. Pay your bills automatically. Sure this takes some effort upfront, but it will be one less thing for you to do and to worry about every month from now on. Go online and set your bills up to autopay. This will save paper, save gas for shipping, and save you time and the money for a stamp. While you're at it, make sure your paycheck is direct deposited and your bank statements are paperless.

4. Stay home. Probably the greatest lazy green tip of all. If the mere thought of figuring out bike routes or public transit makes you tired, just think about whether you need to go out and spend your money at all. Stay in, play a board game, eat from your pantry and just chill out on your couch for a while.

Why I love CSA

I recently signed up for a share in a CSA, which stands for Community supported Agriculture. For a seasonal subscription fee, I get a basket every week of fresh, naturally grown vegetables from a local farm. The contents of the basket change week to week based on what's coming up at the time.

At about $25 a week, it may not at first seem like the most frugal choice for me. I don't typically spend that much on fresh produce; it's nearly half of my weekly grocery budget. I probably won't save any money on food by having it However, there are a lot of reasons why I consider this to be a good choice for me, and why it may even save money in the long term.

1. Community. When I picked up my share yesterday, the owner of the CSA offered me homemade lemonade from a pitcher on her kitchen table and then walked me back to show me her garden. I played with her dog and met her kids while she clipped me herbs right off the plant and asked what kind of peppers I liked. I feel much better about buying produce from someone whose dog I've played with than from a huge corporation.

2. Better food. The produce I get is organically grown and locally produced. I know this because I've seen it. It's also in my hand within 4 days of when it comes off the plant. This is the absolute best way to maximize the nutritional content of my vegetables (thus making me healthier, one say it saves money) and also the taste - oh my the taste. Tomato basil salad is practically a spiritual experience.

3. Variety and abundance. A share is really too much for my husband and me, so we are always able to share (hmm, pun unintended) with our friends. In the past, when we had farm subscriptions, we've had more dinner parties and meal swaps because we had stuff we just needed to use up. We're also much more likely to eat more vegetables because we have them, and to eat things we might not normally buy. In this way, we eat less processed food and meat which saves us money in the long term and short term.

4. Environmentalism. Supporting CSA, and buying local food in general, is one of the best ways to reduce your eco-footprint. Transportation of food uses an awful lot of fossil fuel and puts a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. By buying local, you avoid that. I also am using my dollar to support farming practices in my local community that I believe in, thus encouraging them to increase. Plus, I am extremely fortunate in that my CSA offers lower cost shares and donates to local food charities, thus encouraging food justice which is so important to me.

If you are interested in joining a CSA, check out Local Harvest, which is how I found mine.

My spending weakness

I am always fond of the confessional style of personal finance blogposts, so I thought I would spill the beans on my own weakness. My biggest spending weakness, my gazingus pin as the authors of Your Money or Your Life would call it, is eating out.

I like restaurants. A lot. We eat out at least once a week, sometimes two or three times. We don't go to super-expensive restaurants, we go to small local places, but we can still easily spend $10 each on dinner, plus tax, plus tip.

Now, I know compared to a lot of other people my age, I don't really eat out that much. A lot of my friends, many of whom are single and a surprisng number of who are in grad school, eat out most nights. They dont', however, consider themselves frugal, and they aren't (necessarily) trying to pay off significant amounts of student debt.

Sometimes it seems silly to me to save 50 cents a week on electricity by shutting off a power supply or unplugging my phone charger, and then to go out and spend $25 for dinner for 2 in a restaurant, when I could make dinner at home for $5. At the same time, I really do like restaurants, and I really don't necessarily like having my phone charger plugged in. Part of frugality means that you save money in areas that aren't important to you so that you can spend it on things that are important to you.

But, while eating out once a week, in a sit down restaurant, is a treat and really does make me happy, two or three times a week doesn't really make me any more happy than once. A lot of the time I eat out because it's easier, because I'm feeling uncreative, because I'm sick of the food I have in the house. I get that the solution to that is to include more different meals, to experiment, to play, to have fun in the kitchen, but none of that is as easy as it sounds. I read through cookbooks and cooking blogs and touch everything in the grocery store, and I still feel uninspired.

So, if you kicked the eating out habit, how did you do it? Or if you have another spending weakness that you beat, how did you do it?