2012 Money Saving Challenge - Week 1 in review

As I mentioned on a previous blog post, I've joined the 2012 Money Saving Challenge hosted by Precious at Frugal Makes Cents.  It's been a week, and here are the things I've done in the past 7 days to help save money:

• I made homemade turkey stock from a free turkey carcass courtesy of my in-laws.  I had never made stock before because it seemed like a daunting task.  It turned out to be really easy to do, and it tastes great to boot!  I'll post a how-to in the future for anyone else who's never done it before.
• I avoided using my vehicle 2 days this week in an effort to save on gas.
• I picked up some hand-me-down clothes from a friend for my daughters.  The girls were so excited!
• We ate leftovers for dinner one night and packed other leftovers in my husband's lunch.
• I downloaded some free e-books onto my Nook.
• I was tempted one day to hit a drive-thru for lunch, but stayed strong and ate at home instead.
• I consolidated my errands on outings to help conserve gas.
• I held off running an "almost full" dishwasher until it was completely full.
• After I was done using the oven on a cold day, I opened the oven door while it was cooling down in order to help heat the kitchen.
• I matched coupons and sales at Wegmans, Tops, and Target.

Some of these things may only save me pennies at a time, but eventually those pennies add up.  I was able to put aside some of my grocery savings this week. Hopefully I can see my savings grow by the end of the year!

Are you taking steps to save money this year?  Do you have any great frugal tips?  I'd love to read about them in the comments. :-)