A Frugal Frame Of Mind

We're coming up on 2 weeks of living in Ohio.  Whew - where has the time gone?

While there are still many (many) boxes to go through, still more stuff to get rid of, jobs to find, and a regular routine to settle into, I feel like we're doing ok so far.

Anyone who has moved can attest to how expensive it is.  Needless to say, moving from California to Ohio forced us to tighten our belts a little bit (ok, a lot).

When we arrived, we wanted to truly make an effort to break out of the "eating out" routine that we'd gotten so used to in California.  To think of the hundreds of dollars that we've spent over just the last 6 months eating in restaurants or ordering takeout - well, it's enough to scare me straight!

Upon our arrival, we make an unofficial deal to eat out less, cook at home more, and try to be smarter about our finances.  2 weeks in, I think we're doing alright.

Since we've arrived, we've eaten out for dinner exactly once (with my dad), and have only ordered in pizza (to share with my parents).  Other than that, (and the occasional run to Bruegger's for a bagel sandwich at lunchtime) we've been great about cooking at home, eating leftovers, and only buying what we need at the store.

Granted, part of the whole "only buy what we need" is because we don't have any pantry space - literally, the few things we have (peanut butter crackers, a box of brown rice, olive oil, etc.) is currently sharing a shelf in our laundry closet with detergent and paper towel.  So, seeing as we're not blessed with abundant cupboard space, we're making due.

In the long run, I know that we'll find places that we enjoy ordering takeout from, and I know that we'll start to eat in restaurants again, but for now, as we continue to guard our money (what little we have), I'm proud of us for embracing our inner Julia Child and cooking up a storm in our tiny kitchen!