Lately with "frugal' on my mindset and trying to change more way to may my living expenses even lower, it rubbed off to my husband from my behavior! What a bonus.

Recent updates:
1. Painted guest bedroom with left over paints from a year ago that I found. Did not have go out to buy paint and it kept me busy from going out to spend something or spend doing something.

2. Goodwill shopping and clearance. I got an amazing deal on a shirt that I adore at Sears. I did not see a clearance sticker on the tag which had 28 dollars as the price tag. These clearance are supposed to be 75 percent off additional to the already clearance marked price. I liked the shirt so much when I tried it on and was really going back and forth on the price as I almost was willing to pay for it. Had the shirt checked out at the register, the price ranged up to be $3.45!!!!! Oh boy I was trying so hard not to look like a fool by jumping up and down in excitement. A brand new shirt that was dressy enough for business apparel at work and/or with nice pants or good jeans on a Saturday night out and cheaper than the used clothes at Goodwill! (I still like Goodwill regardless)

3. Major one still in process: Using public transportation to commute to work. Those who are familiar with my area of living and how far from the city will know this is something major and a big sacrifice on time and vulnerability. We each now pay about $500 each on commute to work commute alone each month with the gas prices going up.

My husband will take the bus from the summit of the mountain to a major city down the side of his hill. He will need a bike from the last bus drop to make it to work. Since there are only two bikes per bus policy we decided to invest in a motor to add on his bike to use on those occasion where he can not put the bike on the bus. He did not want to add the motor on his beloved mountain bike that was his baby for many years and was planning to get a third bike with motor (2nd bike is our tandem bike). Without me saying anything, he came to me and said he would put motor on his beloved bike out to be frugal and since now married, he does not use the mountain bike as much now that we use the tandem bike. He will mourn a little but it time to grow and adjust to new way of living. So we bought a new motor on sale for 200 dollars including the CA high sales taxes and shipping price and he will install it himself on the bike. (He is an auto mechanic after all). One hour and half one way for him. Driving takes 45 min normally. His bus monthly bus pass will cost $50 dollars and plus little gas for the motor on the bike. Maybe some occasionally drives to work as a treat.

Me - It is one hour drive to my work in the city that is down the opposite side of the hill of hubby. There are no bus routes or public transportation from my house up in the summit down to the hill on my side. It is famous for the very curvy winding road and quite dangerous. It takes me almost 30 minutes to get down the hill. Then I take the freeway to work which take another 30 minutes with the rush hour. 17 miles down the hill and then 15 miles to work.

I am not sure if it is really worth it but I am going to try it out to see if I can make significant savings on my gas and see if that is worth the extra daily time or not. I will drive down to the bottom of the hill (no choice here), then park my vehicle and take the bus to a train station that is near my work and walk to work from there. I am hoping this makes a good dent. It will unfortunately make my commute longer to 1 hour and 45 minutes.

We have a S.T.A.R program at work where we can buy our public transportation with pretax dollars from out paycheck (similar like a 401k method) and have the security of knowing we are always guaranteed a ride home if something happens or a ride to the doctor if needed for free) I can even use my commuter checks on my husband's pass.

I will be starting my commute via a bus in two weeks and boy am I nervous!