more time, less money, less waste

Well, I am now officially unemployed (although I have not been working for over a month), and will receive my last paycheck next week. For the past month that I have been home I have been working over our budget and trying to figure out how we can get our costs of living down. It's amazing how much Bill and I have taken for granted, and how wasteful we have been merely due to not giving enough time to combing over our finances. For example, I never really look over our utility bills, I just see how much we owe and write a check. But after spending a little bit of time researching, I was able to see that we were spending too much money on our cell phones, and get that cost reduced.
Having the luxury of more time has also inspired me to implement some of the more environmentally friendly changes that I have been wanting to make for quite some time, but haven't seen as practical time wise. Mostly, we are going to try to live a less disposable life. I have decided not to purchase anymore paper towels or napkins. I have time now to sew the cloth napkins I have been wanting to make for a while, and will cut up some old towels that we have laying around to use for the potty accidents the small dog still has sometimes. I am also resolving to learn how to make the perfect sandwich bread. All previous attempts at bread have produced lackluster results, but I am tired of paying an arm and a leg at the market to get the tasty healthy bread we like, and hate the accumulation of plastic bread bags in our closet.
These measures, and others like them, will hopefully help me to trim down our grocery budget, which is our largest flexible cost. The other costs that I am trying desperately to cut are our gas and electric bills, which have both been out of control lately. I have been keeping the thermostat set at 62 for the most part, which leaves it quite chilly in here. I've never kept it that cold before, and I am glad that winter is almost over. However, I am finding that the space heater we purchased in hopes to cut the gas bill is driving up our electric bill quite a bit. That and the fact that I live with a man whom I affectionately refer to as the King of Lights, because he is incapable of passing a light without turning it on.
All in all, this journey of frugality and environmental stewardship is ever changing, but it certainly has been fun to learn new ways of thinking and looking at the world, and I love challenging myself to do things differently.