Hi everyone- we're back from an amazing trip to Savannah, Georgia to celebrate St. Patrick's day. This was our fourth consecutive year going and we had a total blast...but I'm a little hungover. Not from too much green beer, but from spending so much green!

One of the reasons (aside from saving for retirement) that I am so frugal in every day life is so we can travel and spend our hard earned money on the things we really want. I love laundry detergent as much as the next guy, but that $12 I could spend on a bottle of Tide could better be spent at a bistro in Savannah, or socked away in my nest egg.

Coming back to our trip, we really had a good time. We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with two seperate groups of friends, one set Wednesday & Thursday, and the next Thursday- Sunday, and spent the weekend eating, drinking, and taking in the sights and sounds of the oldest city in Georgia.

I did some pre-trip saving by booking a room at the Mansion on Forsyth park very early on at an awesome rate of $119 a night (plus taxes and $20 a day for parking - still a great price considering you really can't touch a room in the historic district for under $300 a night this time of year), and scouring Resturant.com and Groupon for deals in the weeks before the trip. Nothing on Groupon was useful for me, but I was able to score a giftcard on Restaurants.com for a wonderful restaurant, 17Hundred90. Four of us dined very well (think Osso Buco, Filet Mingon, and wine) for a total of $94 including gratuity. The gift certificate was $50 off of a $100 purchase, and I paid $4 for it. Not only did it save us some cash, it also gave us an opportunity to experience the wonderful food, service, and history of this place. If you're ever in Savannah, please go. It's not to be missed.

Other than that, we didn't really hold back at all. We frequented tons of restaurants, bars, and did some shopping. It was a blast and we enjoyed every moment, but now it's time to get back on track and replenish the bank account.

We're on the wagon. :)

I've decided that the first step in cutting costs is the most obvious- food. Likely most people's biggest expense. I took a quick inventory of what we had already in the fridge, freezer, and pantry and decided that we could definitely make it a week on $20 total ($10 each).

I stopped by Publix on my way home today to pick up a few things: chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, and bread.


My total was $15.28 (leaving $4.72 for the week).

Tonight I made a Chicken Pasta dish using the new Philly Cooking Cream. It was super simple and really good! Just brown some chicken (I used about a third of the bag above), add some steamed broccoli (that I got on sale last week) and a container of the Cooking Creme, also on sale from last week). I boiled a box of rotini and this made enough for two dinners and two lunches tomorrow.



I'm working on a plan for the rest of the week. I have quite a hodge-podge of stuff on hand, including a pork roast in the freezer (I'm thinking BBQ in the crock pot), and four boxes of Minute Rice from a recent sale, so this should be interesting! I'll be posting what I make every day. Hopefully some of you will join me in living off of your stockpile and saving some cash too!