It's been a good couple of weeks for little money-saving and money-making maneuvers:

- Recently we got a notice our laptop's warranty was expiring soon, so we brought it in to the store for our last free tuneup to fix a couple minor problems. Probably saved a couple hundred dollars.

- The scanner seemed to be giving the Target cashier a little trouble yesterday, so I checked the receipt as we were leaving, to discover we'd been charged a third time for a $10 item we'd only bought two of! Walked back and got it corrected. Saved $12.

- Put two electronics items we don't use very much on eBay. One was a gift and one we bought a long time ago. Made about $250 total; money should be coming shortly. We also have a third item we may just list on our condo's bulletin board. It's a TiVo box we bought used for $40 before we decided to go with Comcast DVR; we hope to sell it for a tiny profit.

- Brought our change jar in and had it deposited straight into checking. $28.

- Saw a handful of change, all silver, in the street and stopped to pick it up. People were staring like it was soo gauche. The more fools they! About $.60.

- Realized last night we only use about a tenth of the minutes we pay for each month, because we've gotten so good about not using the phone during peak times. Just switched to the next plan down. Savings: $10/month.

- Called two credit cards that I'd overpaid off with a balance transfer a few months ago. They kept dragging their feet on sending me the balance, probably because they thought it was an insignificant amount. Called again and harassed them both until they sent me checks. Total: about $23.

Had two scratched DVDs in a row from Netflix, so got NT to call and request a discount with his nice British accent. They're giving us half off our next month's bill! Savings of about $5.

And some freebies: Signed up for a free seminar by a traveling faculty member from my alma mater, and for a free first-aid kit from an offer in the mail. Most "freebies" you have to pay shipping for, so I never take advantage of them, but not this one.

I think the slight scare of AS's paycheck going down by about $220 a month motivated us more to look around for ways to save. Now we feel comfortable that we can weather the rest of the year, put a little away for savings, and pay for our upcoming Halloween party no problem!