Over the past few months, I've been thinking of trying to start a small herb garden on my windowsill.  Nothing major, just a few small pots.  I've never had much success with growing things.  (Go ahead.  Ask me about the Soybean Fiasco.)  In fact, one year, a flower in the container garden on our balcony bloomed while DangerBear was away on business, so I took a picture to prove that it actually happened:

Today's little tip involves laundry.  Actually, I guess there are two little tips.  The first is that I don't generally have things professionally dry-cleaned.  I use Dryel for everything but the most delicate of items.  That saves us a fair amount of money, since DangerBear's suits and a couple of my skirts and blouses require dry cleaning.  And no, I didn't realize those skirts and blouses needed to be dry-cleaned.  I got them on clearance and didn't even think to look at the tags.

Anyway, the second little tip involves the Dryel cleaning cloths.  A box of six cloths costs about $10, although I use a coupon and get them for $7.  You use one cloth for each load of up to four items.  However, I usually have only two or three items to clean at any given time, so I simply cut the cloths in half.  I save the remaining half in a ziploc bag (which I reuse, of course).  Voila!  The cost goes from $1.17 per load to fifty-eight cents per load.  I also do this with dryer sheets:

Admittedly, cutting my dryer sheets in half doesn't save me nearly as much as cutting the Dryel sheets in half, but it's something!  Plus, it scored me a couple of points with my mother-in-law.  =)

I love office supplies: Post-It notes, gel pens, clipboards, paper clips, you name it.  DangerBear shares my enthusiasm, and of course Chickpea inherited it.  It is not unusual for us to spend an hour or two browsing around Staples, just looking at things.

Fortunately, we have many opportunities to use all that stuff.  Between DangerBear's business and homeschooling, we can always use more office supplies.

We like to stock up at the back to school sales.  Starting in mid-summer, stores will advertise dirt-cheap filler paper, scissors for $1, and all kinds of fantastic deals.  I know it's only February, but I'm looking forward to when those sales start in July!  =)

In a similar vein, we always check the clearance sections as well.  We've found Post-It notes for $1.50 (normally $8) and cute folders for ten cents, among other things.

Yes, I know, eating out is a treat.  If you really wanted to save money, you just wouldn't eat out.  But DangerBear, Chickpea, and I love to go out to eat.  Perhaps it's because of my cooking...

Even just for the three of us, though, eating out can be expensive.  It was not unusual for us to blow nearly $50 eating at Red Lobster!  Each of us got an entree, Chickpea got the kid's crab legs (!), plus an appetizer.  If they'd brought us the bill before the food, we'd have lost our appetites.  (Maybe that's a good way to save money?)

The past couple of times we've eaten there, though, we tried something a little different.  DangerBear and I each got an entree (just not the super-expensive ones), and Chickpea shared off our plates.  No appetizer, because who needs it after salads and bread?  That got us down to about $30, including tip.  Next time, we might all share one larger entree and just get an extra salad.  (The only thing I would recommend here is to tell your server up front that you're only hungry enough for one entree, but you'll be tipping as if everyone got their own.  No point being cheap.)  We figure that would give us a very nice meal for less than half what we used to spend.  And you know what?  We enjoy it just as much!