Cupcake Update and a Question

Remember Cupcake? Well.... My fiance and I are fostering her short-term starting on Saturday! I am really looking forward to taking care of her this weekend, and I am hopeful that she is now one step closer to finding a great family to love her.

I also hope that she likes Happy Ta*ls Mini Hot Dogs because she has a pack with her name on them waiting for her!

Now for the Question: Even if you have not made extreme changes in your life because of the financial situation in our country (if you live in the US), what are some things that you have done to cut back? And, what are some things that you like to do for free/inexpensive entertainment?

What we have done to cut back: Turned off the A/C in the end of August and have not turned on the heat, turn off lights we are not using, un-plug appliances when they are not in use, and the big one...we don't have cable or internet right now. We use internet at (law) school, work, or cafes. We can pick up a few channels of TV, but we aren't really big "TV people," anyways. I think we are probably saving about $100.00 a month, possibly more.

That savings helps in several ways: We can work the same amount and have more money left over, which translates into less stress. And we have more time and energy (that we aren't using stressing over finances) to spend doing volunteer work or doing other fun things.

For free or inexpensive entertainment we plan to go to the park and play soccer and tennis this weekend. We may also (weather permitting) go on a great Fall bike ride, and have been going out to eat less. We also try to go to Costco on Sundays for sample day. That might sound cheap, but we really are buying things anyways while we are there, it's just always more fun on sample day :)