Long time, no see. Of course, I’d love to have dinner with you and catch up, but to be honest, I'm not feeling inspired to go out to eat tonight. Why don’t you come over to my place instead?

Once you’ve decided to cook more of your meals at home, or at least determined to start thinking about it, you realize that the project is far from a no-brainer. It’s tempting to discount the role that mental energy, creativity and familiarity with the kitchen play in cooking, framing it instead as a simple question of time. However, an hour or two per week, scheduled at your convenience, can make a world of difference when you ask that age-old question that never stays answered very long: What’s for dinner?

I read 59 books in 2011, mostly on my commute. I didn’t buy any of them at a bookstore. I also didn’t borrow any of them from the local library, which I could have—and probably should have—done in some cases (and is obviously a very thing you can do). Below, I list the many ways I acquired new reading material in 2011.

February is the best month for not spending money.