Thrifty Thursday-The End of My 4th Week at Home Edition

     My last day in the office was Friday March 20th. That makes today, Day 28 of being at home full time other than the occasional shop, and the few shifts I've had in the call center. As there are enough people who have work that can be set aside, or decreased during the crisis, I may not need to take another shift at all. It's just as well, because I am on line for 10 hours minimally each day, plus responding outside of that time as needed. This means we continue to be able to save in all three categories, time, resources, and money. I fear I'm not really making the most of the time element, but if getting a nap in, allowing myself to wallow a bit is not frowned upon, then so be it. I never promised anyone a novel. Oh wait. I think I did. Here's my time, resources, and money savings for the last week.

Time

• We had a family web-ex call on Sunday with my extended family and Zoom with DH's. The snow made going over and sitting with my Mother-in-law not workable, but I saw her Tuesday with her grocery drop-off. DD2 also had a call with her, alone, and not through the chaos of the whole family on zoom.
• I finally got the pantry sorted, and duplicate or extras tucked away to replace.
• DD1 came over on Sunday-sitting very wide apart, outside only, and soaked up the sun. Later, DD2 and I had a fire outside. It started getting noticeably colder, but with blankets and the heat from the fire, it was relaxing. 

Resources

• I felt a little down without any celebration for Easter, or church services but took advantage of YouTube, a free service. It sounds weird, but I'm making sure to not click through ads, but rather watch them, as I know those are what pays the bill. In fact, on Friday, many of the British YouTuber's I watch were donating any ad revenue to support NHS workers. That's a cause I can sit through an ad for. 
• I've used some partial items again from the freezer for meals-a single piece of cod, 1/3 of a bag of mushroom ravioli, the last 1/3 of the meatballs. This ensures we don't throw food, but also gives us a bit more variety.
• The only Easter Candy I bought was DH and DD2's Starburst Jellybeans. We still had the Reese's Eggs I bought last week, so that will suffice. If it isn't going to get eaten, why buy it? 

Money

• DD2's housing and meal plan credit is roughly 40% of the semester, which is about the amount of schooling on campus she will miss. It will really help in the fall. When we are in a position to donate more, other than through tuition, we will add her college to our list. They are doing what they can to support students financially as best they can, while also keeping student resources as accessible as possible.
• With no Easter Service, we didn't put money towards the Easter garden. A small savings, but we can put that money towards another need. I did notice there were some plants and flowers in the back ground.
• I received my reimbursement for my business trip parking and two meals. I also received the credit for a disputed charge the hotel added for a bar/restaurant purchase on the day I checked out, which clearly was a mistake. These were owed to me, but it is easy to let things like reimbursement be forgotten or not follow-up on a billing error. 
• DH noticed that Showtime had been added to our bill for Direct TV. He insisted he cancelled it after a trial period, and held firm to get our account credited for all charges, fees, and taxes associated. 

     So far, we are on top of and ahead of bills, tucking away a little each month. I don't want to think too far ahead as the experts disagree on how long the stay at home should last, how long social distancing and closed business will last. I can't see our attitude towards spending will change much in the near future, other than when we can and will patronize local business and restaurants again. We'll likely belt tighten for the next year or two, even more than we had been planning to try and beef up cash savings. We of course know our retirement has taken a hit. We should soon receive the statements. I use a small Roth account that we have through our bank-the others are elsewhere, to gauge the volatility. We don't contribute to it anymore, so it is a good litmus test. From where it started in January, it dropped 33%, then gained back up 10%, then 20%, then lost again, and is now sitting about 20% less than January 1. Every sneeze on Capitol Hill makes it move apparently. I only take a look if I am online for other banking needs. 

Besides going no where, did you have any thrifty wins? Are you spending a lot more on household and grocery items like I am?