There was an interesting article on the "Articles" section of this site, about examining your trash if you want to save money. When you see what you throw out, you can see all of the money you've spent and/or wasted. The article covered all sorts of categories, but the one that hit home for me was food. We throw away an inordinate amount of food, and it's just an absolute waste! Here are the drivers:

#1) We don't plan our meals well, so we buy veggies that we don't use, meat goes bad before we use it or freeze it, we don't use up all of the fresh fruit, etc.
#2) We cook more than we need and aren't good about using up leftovers. For example, I'll make a package of chicken, which may include 5-6 breasts, even if we only eat 4. I should make the 4, and save or freeze the other 2 for later use. Sheer laziness.
#3) Things expire before we realize it, and they need to be tossed. Happens all the time with yogurt, cheese, bread, etc.
#4) We'll buy something and use part of it, but then not actively plan to use the rest of it and it goes bad.

So my plan is to start with a clean slate tomorrow. I'm going to completely clean out the fridge and pantry of any expired items. Then I'm going to keep track of what I'm tossing. I'm hoping that it works like writing down everything you spend - if you're tracking it, you're less likely to waste it.

In other news, figured out the problem with the HELOC. I inadvertently applied my last payment to ineterest rather than principle. I'll fix this in March. It's now showing that I don't owe a payment until April, so what I would normally pay in March I'll put toward principle, which will get me back where I should be.

I got to the post office today to mail a book and a cd, and made it to the bank to deposit a few checks. I need to finish my mid-month finances and update my sidebar, which will be later tonight or tomorrow.