Gretch Runs

Good morning everyone! Today's post is going to be a bit different- I'm going to recap a week in my life and share exactly what I spent and what I did.  This is one of my favorite columns to read on Refinery 29 - it's fascinating to see how other people live and how people choose to spend money. This week was December 16 - 22.  It was interesting because I was heading on vacation and also enjoying my last week of work for the year.  Here's how the week went! Monday 5:30 - Wake up, get ready for work and take out Selma. It snowed a bit overnight! 6:30 - Get to work. Dan usually drives me to work, which is super convenient. This morning I almost got hit by 2 different drivers who weren't paying attention - just a reminder to always be alert when walking downtown!! At work, I make some coffee, fill my water bottle, and eat my breakfast (biscotti and a pear) 11:30 - Lunch! It's been a slow day at work so I feel even more hungry than usual.  Today I have ...

Hi everyone!  It's now halfway through the month (yes..already!), and my Frugal February is going great so far.  I'll be sharing more about it at the end of the month and a real break down of what I did, but today I wanted to share some ideas on fun things you can do for free. I always seem to fall back on going out for drinks or to dinner if I want to hang out with someone, but there are so many activities you can do for free!  Today I'm sharing a few of those ideas, and I would love to hear all of your ideas as well! Watch old movies - Since I got Netflix, I pretty much stopped watching DVDs that I own.  Since I paused my subscription this month, it's a great time to watch those old movies that I used to love!  Some of my oldie-but-goodies are The Aviator, Love Actually, Titanic, and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Use up old Groupons or coupons - How many times have you bought a Groupon or gotten a coupon for something free, but never use it? ...

Hi everyone and Happy February!  Today is the monthly What's New With You linkup, and today I'm going to be talking about a big goal I have for the month. You all might know by now, but I am a very goal-oriented person.  Give me a challenge or rules to follow for a set period of time and I am GOOD.  In that spirit, I decided to make a challenge for myself (inspired by Ciara ) and have a no-spend month in February!  I'm calling this Frugal February (cute, right?), and have decided on some rules that I'm going to follow for the month. Luckily, I'm not doing this alone!  I'll have Ciara doing this with me, and also got Annette , Jessie , Steff , Jess , and Maddie to join in as well.  It's so much easier to have a support system when you're working on a challenge, so we already have a group Instagram chat going, and will be supporting eachother on our own No (or Low)-Spend Month! Here are the rules that I'm going to be following, along with some id...

Who doesn't like to save money?  It seems like it's everyone's New Year's Resolution every year to start saving more money.  It seems easy enough, but without making big lifestyle changes it can seem impossible and very intimidating! For the past few years, I've started to make small adjustments in my life that don't seem to make a difference at first, but overtime can really save money.  I hope some of these tips will help all of you, and I hope you'll share more tips with me! Buy in Bulk A few months ago, I started to buy all of my nonperishable items in bulk and realized how much money I was saving.  I got a Sam's Club membership on Groupon, and every time we went I would calculate what the unit price was on common items we bought, and compare it to what we spent at regular stores.  Some items are WAY cheaper at a club (juice, tortilla wraps, canned foods, chips, and garbage bags are some of the biggest savings I've found).  Luckily at our ...

Hi everyone!  Today we're going to be getting a bit personal and talking about a touchy subject- money!  I recently discovered the Money Diaries series on Refinery 29, and thought it was such an interesting concept.  Seeing how people from around the country spend their money in a week is kind of fascinating to me! While I'm not affiliated with R29, I thought it would be fun to take that idea and share a week in my life and how I spend money.  Since this was a rest week after my half marathon, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to recap my week in money rather than workouts. Just to preface this post- if you're offended by money talk or don't want to hear about this subject, I would suggest skipping this post.  I'll be sharing some real life numbers, even talking about my income!  In keeping with the theme of the real Money Diaries, here is a snapshot of me: Occupation: Product Manager Industry: Banking Location: Pittsburgh, PA Age: 26 ...

Hi everyone!  If you remember last month, one of my goals was to cut down my grocery bill.  I ended up crushing my goal of spending less than $200 (shopping for two people), and cut my bill by over half! Today I wanted to share some tips and tricks that helped me save so much money, along with some easy recipes that I used and some resources.  I hope you find this helpful, and be sure to share your tips in the comments! TIP : Check weekly specials Every week, I get emails and snail mail with all of the specials at local grocery stores.  For some reason, I always ignored these in the past.  Huge mistake!  Now, I use these ads as a basis for my meal planning.  As soon as they come in, I'll go through and see what the local deals are for the week.  Then, I'll figure out what I can make using what I have on hand and what's on sale.  Not only does this help me try out new products, but it also saves me a ton of money! WEBSI...