Thrifty Thursday

I've had this idea for a blog post series for awhile. I wanted to add my 2 cents to the frugal-simplify movement in my own voice. I believe in living simply, living within our means and living consciously.
Here at our house (as you may have read) I work 2 days a week, down from 5. I made this choice when I had no choice but to stop working at a job that was hurting my body and soul. I have never been more content. It comes with a price, that money is tight and we have to be careful where our money is spent. My husband is happy where he is and has no desire to move on and who am I to question being happy about work! So, we live simply, consciously and within our means.
My mentors have been Danielle Wagasky over at Blissful and Domestic blog and Tonya at Plain and Joyful Living.
Things I think we do well at our house to live out our beliefs:
1. We live within our means. Most months we end in the black. No debt on the credit card.
2. If we can't afford it we do without it until we can. For example, our extra bathroom has a leaky tap and instead of rushing out and buying a new tap on the credit card we closed the bathroom until further notice. We have another bathroom and we've been just fine.
3. Grocery shopping-I shop once every 2 weeks when we get paid and don't go back to the grocery store until we get paid again. Big savings there! Because I would rather spend our grocery budget on whole foods and organic, we don't buy much prepared, pre-packaged food. It's healthier for everyone and cheaper.
4. We don't eat out much. It's expensive and it's unhealthy most of the time. I write this with a sheepish grin on my face as tonight my husband and I went on a date to Harveys for hamburgers and poutine. Full disclosure at it's best! But....the last time we ate out was months ago and we chose this option for financial reasons and because we both love Harveys poutine.
So, there you have an introduction to this idea of mine. Have you ever read the book Living More With Less by Doris Longacre Janzen? It was written in the '70's by a Mennonite author of several cookbooks based in homecooking and sharing recipes. In Living More with Less Doris gathered suggestions from around the globe on how to live simply and frugally and published it. I would love to see this blog series of mine culminate in comments from you readers in the vein of this book. Comments on tips and tricks of how you live more with less. We all know we should track our spending and stop eating out but what about the little ideas that aren't so difficult and overwhelming and can easily be implemented one at a time??