Pinching Pennies

I feel that Mike and I have been incredibly blessed financially. We've both been able to get grants and such to have schooling paid for. In fact Mike is in a program here at medical school that is actually paying him to go to school. That's not why he's in the program, but definitely a bonus. :)
We always have enough to pay for what we need and still manage those little splurges (like frozen custard...). But as of late I've really wanted to practice more provident living. We don't pay for any sort of cable or satellite service. We have an old TV that we pull out every so often if we want to watch a VHS, but usually we just use my laptop and watch either DVD's or something free on hulu.com or the like. We have the cheapest internet service we could find, and it's actually just fine. We usually let videos load completely before we try to watch them and we usually make popcorn or clean up while it's loading.
We try to utilize our public library, but I need to plan further in advance. I usually go wanting something right then, but they don't have it at our library. If I plan, I could do an inter-library loan. So that's on the to-do list. :)
I've been sewing, well not a lot, but more than usual, and I love it. I really enjoy sewing and it works for me. I love getting fabrics at jo-anns in the remnant bin and making it into something. In fact I made a shirt the other day. :) I've been buying everything on clearance. In fact there was a pencil skirt at Kohl's the other day that I LOVED, but they didn't have it in my size; it was a size too big. I had Kohls cash, so it was basically free. So I decided to buy it and alter it. I did and I think it turned out wonderful. It fits me better than most store made stuff does and I feel cute in it. :) Plus, since it was a bigger size it's longer than most skirts would be, so it's comfortably modest (you know, long enough that I'm not having to tug on it every time I sit down...). I also found a dress at Goodwill a while back. It was a color that I loved, but it was a 1X. It was only $3 so I got it, figuring I could do something with it. I finally took it in and you would not believe how many comments I got on it when I wore this past Sunday. It's nice to feel cute and even better to know I didn't spend a ton on it! :) So I've got several items of clothing that I haven't worn for years that I'm planning on refurbishing. :)
Next is something I want to do, but haven't really started yet. I want to de-clutter. I'm a terrible saver. I save nearly everything sentimental and it just takes up space, rarely to be looked at again. One of my friends said "stuff begets stuff". If you've got a lot of stuff you're likely to bring more stuff into the home and then it's just a big mess. So before this semester gets too involved I'm going to de-clutter. I know I should have done spring cleaning, but I was a bit busy then. End of summer cleaning is good, right? :)
This leads me to my next point. I've decided to go greener and cheaper by making my own laundry detergent. A bit granola-ish I know, but I tend to lean that direction anyways. :) So if anyone would like to join me in this endeavor, let me know. I'm thinking of making our own household cleaning supplies too.... Anyways.
These are just a few of the ways we're trying to save money. I love hearing how others are saving money. Leave a comment and let me know how you do it. :)