Five Frugal Things
1. I saved on Joshua's work shirts.
The coffee shop where Joshua works is phasing in a new dress code, so Joshua needed a bunch of blue chambray shirts.
Luckily, Old Navy makes shirts in slim, and they had a chambray one on sale for $20.
Plus, I had a 40% off coupon code. So, I ordered him five shirts for $60!
I remembered to go through TopCashBack (referral link), so I'll get a few dollars back on my order as well.
And since it's not a huge hurry to get these, I selected the free shipping option.
Joshua already owns one Old Navy chambray shirt (gray, so it's not the right color for work) and it fits him nicely, so hopefully the story will be the same with these.
2. I used a rebate gift card at the grocery store.
I'd been carrying around a prepaid gift card from a tire rebate for a while and never remembered to use it. But this time, I did!
So that was $50 of groceries that didn't go on my credit card bill.
(Mind you, the credit card gets paid off in full every month and we use it to earn airline miles. I am really not into paying interest!)
3. I booked a discounted hotel.
One of Mr. FG's co-workers is getting married next month, and the wedding is a little bit far away for driving back afterward.
So, I booked a room for us at the chain where my brother works. We get a pretty good friends and family discount through him, so that's the chain I always check first.
Sometimes, prices drop even further when the date gets closer, so I'll keep checking back, and if that's the case, I'll cancel this reservation and re-book.
I also chose a hotel that has free parking and an included breakfast, as those two things can bump up the total price of a stay pretty quickly.
4. I have a coupon for Joshua's new work pants.
The new dress code specifies that he has to have dark denim jeans, and just one pair of his current jeans meet that requirement.
American Eagle online is the only place we've found that sells pants that fit Joshua (I highly, highly recommend them if you have a tall, slim teen!), and fortunately, I just got a coupon in the mail from them.
So, I'll do the same TopCashBack + coupon + free shipping routine that I did for his work shirts.
5. I....
cooked at home this weekend, sent leftovers to work with Mr. FG, made a smoothie for breakfast for us, froze my starting-to-wilt bag of spinach (perfect for smoothies), put the bananas in the fridge so they won't over-ripen, and I'm going to go start a batch of homemade bread now.
Or maybe rolls.
Or some naan?
So many possibilities.
Your turn!
List your own Five Frugal Things in the comments and inspire us. 🙂
I actually spent money, but I saved while doing it. I usually don't make this many purchases at once, but life just fell out that the needs/coupons/sales all hit at once.
1. I used a member's discount coupon to get 20% off a bird feeder that I needed for replacing one that is breaking.
2. I grocery shopped and used the owner's discount to get 10% off everything plus one dollar deals at the food co-op. One dollar a pound organic oatmeal, which I eat every morning: I stocked up.
3. I looked at buying some super cute hand towels to put by the deep sink in my laundry room, but put them back -- the old hand towels that aren't good enough for the bathroom anymore work just fine there, and not many people see in our laundry room.
4. I ordered a recommended specialty dog treat/medication for our old dog from Chewy.com, and to get the free shipping, included other items, the main ones being two big bags of World's Best kitty litter at a great sale price. My order was almost fifty pounds, but shipping was still free. And my cat's litter box will have plenty of fresh litter.
5. I also ordered new curtains with a 20% off discount. When your bathroom curtains shred as you open or close them, it's time to buy new curtains. I got these for less than the cost of fabric and notions, and they are USA made.
These sounds great! I once got 6 curtains for JC Penny for 90% off ($10/each instead of $100). I was super happy about that. And the quality is good too.
Wow, I'd be dancing the happy dance if I got $100 curtains for $10! Now that's a sale!
We are big American Eagle fans here too. My 6'3" 200 lb. son wears their jeans daily as does my 5'6" 120 lb and my 5'4" 120 lb. daughters. The girls have different body shapes, but both of them and my son are able to find jeans in the right length that fit in the waist. I do hope the shredded jeans look in the girls department passes quickly though. 🙂 We do a lot of shopping at Old Navy for athletic wear and for tops, but I have to say I hate their jeans. They don't fit any of my kids right!
I broke our vacuum and shopped through Swagbucks, paired with some Kohls coupons and a got a great deal on a new one.
I baked at home and made some meals that will stretch out for several meals. My husband also did a lot of car maintenance this weekend to get our cars in prime condition - a very frugal thing although it cost about $100 for the oil and filters.
You must not do laundry as often as I do and I live alone LOL. I pretty much do a small load at least every other day so would only need 2 shirts. Jeans I wear several days before washing but no spills. I was not frugal at all this weekend but we had a blast at Disney World. It was crowded but if you go with that expectation, you are not disappointed. GD loved the Winnie the pooh ride. I had a really inexpensive April so can spend more this month. I'm making sloppy joes and homemade potato salad for dinner- using what is on hand except for some inexpensive buns. One of these days I am going to bake my own.
Ha, well, Joshua does his own laundry. So it's less a matter of how often I do laundry and more a matter of how often he does!
He's not the most organized person in the world (he'd tell you that too!) and he tends to do laundry when it's necessary and not a moment sooner. Also, since he's more of a once a week kind of laundry-doer, so five shirts make sense for him. And for $60, it wasn't a huge spend...that's only $12 a shirt.
Sounds like such a frugal and wonderful week for the FG family. I got two huge bags of hand-me-down clothes for Baby FAF and will publish a post about all of my frugal wins and fails on Wednesday. I don't like the words "frugal fails," but they do happen more often than I'd like. -_-
Is there anyway you could share the American Eagle code if it's a universal code? My 16 year old son wears a 28/34, and it's super hard to find him pants and shorts. As far as frugal things that I did this past week:
* My 9 year old won a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for selling a lot of cookies. She invited two of her friends plus I took my 13 & 16 year old sons (who still LOVE this place). I took a ton of snacks and drinks so that we didn't have to spend money on those. I also took lunchables and stuff to make sandwiches. You can bring it all into the waterpark also so I didn't have to buy lunch of dinner for us. A HUGE savings. 🙂
*My daughter and I had to get to her cheer competition early so we stopped for a quick lunch before. We shared a meal so that was only $6.00.
I know I have a lot more but can't think of them right now. We had a very busy weekend!
Sadly, it's not a universal code. It's one of those eleventy-billion-digit-long codes that's associated with my AE rewards account.
Ok, thanks though! I have an account with them too, but almost never get coupons. 🙁
If you do Ebates, it looks like they have bumped up to 15% cash back at American Eagle (+ other specials like $10 off $50 and B1G1 50% off for jeans). Not sure how long that will last, but it's there right now!
Thanks! I will check it out.
Great job using those coupon codes and discounts! It sucks to buy new stuff, especially at full price. Why not get a little discount? 🙂
This week:
1. I baked a few loaves of your bread, as a matter of fact! I added raisins to the cinnamon-raisin bread and it tastes divine. It's definitely sinful. 🙂
2. We ate leftovers for dinner last night instead of eating out.
3. I made a new batch of homemade laundry soap. Unfortunately our DIY dishwasher soap didn't work out--it left residue on our glassware. We had to go back to storebought for this one. Womp womp.
4. I seeded a bed in the back yard and planted hundreds of seeds I'd gotten for free. Hopefully these will attract even more pollinators to our garden.
5. I mended a few pieces of clothing.
I've heard that about DIY dish detergent as well, so I'm sticking to my store-bought powder!
1. I inventoried the freezer and made up a list of all the meals I could make with the contents.
2. Husband changed the oil on my car.
3. Getting ready to pay a whopper of a car insurance bill (teenage boys), but paying in full (no installments) saves $245.
4. Went to a winery with friends, but when we got bad service, came home and sat on our porch. Great view and cheaper!
5. Turn air up as I leave for the day.
That's what we do too...painful at the time, but better than paying more in the long run.
When our oldest son got his license 2 years ago, I almost fainted as our car insurance doubled. I have one that will be 16 next January. And I'm freaking out that it will now triple once he gets a license. Please tell me I'm wrong. LOL (I have 3 boys).
This is the time of year when areas have community garage sales. I avoid unnecessary items but it is the time to stock up.
1. I found some vintage quart canning jars and three(two blue!) large canning jars. One of the blue also had the zinc lid and that one was .25!
2. I'm trying to attract birds to the yard and had picked up two 1.00 hummingbird feeders at the Dollar Store. I'll make the syrup but needed some way to hang them. A garage sale in the same community provided a shepherd's hook with double hooks.
3. I also bought a couple of new hand towels, aluminum cookie sheets, baskets for the porch and a snowblower. It kept the snowblower my niece bought company in the back of the van. 4. To thank me for transporting her snowblower, my niece bought my lunch-with a coupon, of course! Near the restaurant, I also found a recliner that my sister purchased to replace one that was over 30 years old and a couch with a chaise that my cousin's daughter was thrilled to buy for her house.
5. AND at one sale, I found a fifty dollar bill on the lawn. After making sure, no one including the owner of the house had lost it, I left my number in case someone came looking for it. No one did so I think I actually came out ahead with my annual community garage sale day!
Woo Hoo!
1. My daughter had her dance recital this weekend & we ordered the $2 bouquet (school fundraiser) vs. $5 bouquet from grocery store.
2. We used free Redbox code for entertainment.
3. I've been working harder on making sure lights are off in house & using more natural light.
4. I've signed up for free magazines & with that comes recipes, coupons, and art material.
5. I signed up for auto pay on a bill I was late on sometimes & received an interest discount.
1. Cleaned out several closets, moving winter clothes to the walk in closet downstairs. Donated 4 pairs of shoes and 10 garments to my church's thrift store.
2. Found items for a gift for my 9 y/o grandson - 2 new packs of markers and 6 books. He will be taking a 2000 mile car trip soon, so I will give these to him for the road.
3. Hemmed jeans for my short legged husband.
4. Made vegetable curry and baked potato soup with potatoes that were "maturing".
5. Used e-rewards for a gift certificate to send a flowering plant to my mother for mother's day.
You have the opposite problem that I do with Joshua! I'm always struggling to find jeans that are long enough for him while also being narrow enough.
It's hard to buy clothes when you fall outside of the "average" sizes!
I have a similar problem. My 19 year old son is 6'1" and has a 28 inch waist. I remember a few times when he was younger we bought skinny jeans, which ended up looking like normal jeans on his long, skinny legs!
Oh yeah, story of our lives over here. Thank heavens for skinny jeans!
I do really like that he can use the shirts even when he's not at the Cafe. When this job passes.... those will still be stylish shirts for his wardrobe! Often where I work, we have to have certain shirts embroidered. Makes using them after that job ends sort of hard 🙁
Just wondering where in Wyoming WyomingGal is from! Cheyenne here. 🙂 (Don't often find other readers who comment from this area!)
Beautiful Cody!
1.) I have a beard trimmer that died. My options were to try and repair it or replace it with a "Buy it for Life" corded model. I tried option A first as I already owned it. $1 for a single NiCd AA is a lot better than paying for a new trimmer.
2.) Had a nasty fall that required a trip to the ER. Luckily I'm fine (just two stitches) and my daughter whom I was holding was fine (just a couple bruises) but my poor jeans got another hole in the fall. I put another patch on them and they are back in service.
3.) Wife and I are doing another "Empty the freezer" project as we cannot fit anything more into our chest freezer. So we'll be doing that this week/month.
4.) Still cloth diapering and my kid is starting to show interest in the potty. It's early (18 months) but I'll accept any first step.
5.) I realized recently that I'm still working on a box of laundry detergent I bought from Sears over two years ago! It was a huge box (275 loads) and we have a lot of laundry, but it's still going.
1.Cooked & ate at home using up leftovers for lunchs
2. Keep a regular inventory of what's in the fridge & use up produce accordingly
3. Borrowed books from library
4. Decluttered wardrobe & sent unused items to charity shop..will not be buying any new summer clothes as have plenty will use up all I have
5. Line dried all washing as weather so good here.
6. Made smoothies using up all fruit such as bananas & avocados
7. Shopped at Aldi using a list..
1. Bought a crib for the new baby off of Craigslist. We had been given many Target gift cards for our first child and didn't use them all, so made a point to save them for the big things I don't want to buy second hand: a crib mattress and another car seat.
2. We also cloth diaper, my daughter was needing a larger size, so I found a free pattern online and have been sewing fitted diapers from receiving blankets and microfiber wash clothes. I estimate that each diaper costs about a dollor!! If they will work for the second child the price will be negligible! Plus they are so cute.
3. I've found great baby clothes and maternity clothesat garage sales and Salvation Army. This has saved us so much money!
4. Walmart is just three blocks away, way too close. Now that the weather is nice we are back to our rule of only walking there. Keeps me on my small list, saves gas, and provides a little exercise.
5. Made yogurt, baked bread, baked my own pregnancy cookies, cooked instead of going out and packed my husband's lunches.
1. Took my car with the engine light on to the auto part store for free diagnosis. Bought and put in fuel injection cleaner.
2. Gave 5 bags of little girl clothes to a teen mom.
3. Paid 25 cents for 13 minutes of parking, paid with a rebate card. Only bought what I needed.
4. Went and printed an application at work, for a program. Ok with the boss.
5. Reused bags for girls for camp bags, and water bottles, and a pretty little box for pencils. No cost.
1. Sold radio from old car for $50.
2. Noticing the better gas mileage on the "new to us" (4 yr old Honda CRV) car
3. Paid for the car with savings -- no interest! -- and had enough for undercoating (the other owners did their winter driving in Arizona) and a 30 month warranty, with some money left in -the saving-for-the-next-car account
4. A couple of bags of clothes went out to charity.
5. Bought a lovely embrodiered skirt that was long and waist elastic stretched. Now it's shorter with new elastic, and I made a scarf and bag from the trimmed-off piece.
Please remember to save your receipts for Joshua's clothes for tax time. Required clothing (even if you can use them for other things) is a deductible expense!
Yeah, usually not if it's suitable for street wear. Certainly worth checking into, but not guaranteed.
Winco had some name-brand cereals on sale for $1.18/box. I bought some for me and some for a food drive.
I had a working lunch today and they ordered in box lunches from Jimmy Johns. I ate half the sandwich and chips for lunch and ate the other half of the meal (plus the cookie!) for dinner. I think we are having the same thing tomorrow so that's two lunches and two dinners provided for.
My wallet is pretty torn up so I switched to one a friend gave me instead of shopping for a new one (which I was really really tempted to do!)
I organized my pantry and did a freezer inventory so that I know what I have to work with when meal planning.
Between my hubby and I, we've lucked into some great frugal deals lately.
1) We need the exterior of our house painted this spring/summer, so hubby got several bids and compared them. The one he picked included some repair work offered by a more expensive company for less $, and we get 5% off using an Angie's List coupon. Every bit helps. Looking forward to a nice, fresh look for our home.
2) Hubs does some consulting work for a local non-profit furniture bank....they were selling excess, brand new, never used/still in the plastic, brand name king size mattresses for - wait for it - $50.00. This organization provides used/refurbished furniture for people who need some assistance, but most of the apartments they help with are too small for a king sized bed. Our mattress was a really old hand-me-down from my mom, but we couldn't swing the cost of a new one....total win-win. They were in our area, too, and offered free delivery! Hubs gave them an extra $25, though, as a donation.
3) We dropped off an old CRT tv and CRT computer monitor at a local electronic recycling event last weekend. Usually, you must pay by the pound to get these things recycled, and the tv weighed a ton! This cost only $10, part of which goes to charity. So worth it, AND we now have more space in our basement. WooHoo!!
4) We ate leftovers for Sunday dinner, saving us from eating out.
5) I made a big salad to bring to lunch at work today, using up some veggie odds and ends (including two tomatoes that were starting to soften a bit), and leftover packets of poppyseed dressing that came with a kale salad mix I like.
Oh, and I signed up for future notification if/when the produce box organization you posted about recently (I'm totally blanking on the name at the moment) starts delivering in my area. All in all, a good week!
Hungry Harvest! Yes.
1. Eating our way through the groceries and fresh produce, saving money and avoiding waste.
2. I finished (and gifted) a knitting project.
3. Unpacked the li'l boy's winter clothes, most hand-me-down and bought on end of (last) season sales. Very little still needed.
4. Shopping the flyers for good deals on items already on my list.
5. Driving very slowly to work and home. Want to make my last few drops of petrol last until payday...
1. Used a gift card to pay for dinner on our date night over the weekend
2. Planned my errands to fill up on gas at costco
3. Made burrito bowls with leftovers for cinco de mayo
4. Maximized our family YMCA membership - Signed my youngest up for the free (with membership) splash and play class. Used the included child care to finish some open consulting project.
5. Shopped used - bought books at the library book sale to tuck away as gifts for my daughter (she's working on finding all of the babysitters club and babysitters little sister books) and then found a bike for my 4 yo at the thrift store - the perfect size with training wheels for $10!
Last week was mostly Frugal Fails for me (which you know if you read the NonConsumerAdvocate) so I'm pleased to report at least one Frugal Win: Bean and Broccoli Soup.
- Soup was made from tired old washed-out looking broccoli and pricy-but-amazingly-good heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo[1]. I may also add celery and canned corn. All of which I had on hand.
- Beans were cooked in stock made from pork bones ("free" with the half Happy pig I bought a few years ago, and I think they gave me extras), spiked with salty tasty ham drippings.
- Beans were cooked in a pressure cooker, thus reducing the gas needed.
- Broccoli was cooked in the hot liquid I drained from the beans; which used no extra energy at all.
[1] Spending $7/lb on the superb Rancho Gordo beans is good example of the reason why I employ all these little economies.
LOVE Rancho Gordo. I am totally spoiled now and can't go back to grocery store beans! (Of course I would if I had to. 🙂 )
Good job with Old Navy! I pretty much never order from either them or Land's End unless I have codes galore or free shipping...
Seems like we are spending a lot lately, but at least I'm not buying just to be buying! We enjoy a bottle of wine (or two) when we go to our property in the country so recently I bought a case of "2 buck chuck" to keep in our mini fridge up there. After a day of work its great to enjoy a glass of wine with our sandwich. Took the band tux to the cleaners instead of paying for the booster club "special" - $6 versus $20. Made a pot of pintos in the crock pot with the leftover ham bone from Easter. We even ended up with leftover beans which will go into Cowboy Beans for dinner tonight. Ate a frozen pizza for $5 versus buying one for $16 for lunch yesterday - split it with my son for lunch.
Hmmmm....most of my frugality seems to be food related!
@Gina wrote: Hmmmm….most of my frugality seems to be food related!
This makes sense. Decisions about food are some of the most frequent we make. There are many opportunities for frugality or extravagence. While we can save a lot of money with the big decisions - car, home improvement, etc - these happen only occasionally in our lives.
Further, how often do we want to day "I didn't buy [thing]", even though that's another frequent occasion for frugality. If it even occurs to me. For example, I don't like shopping for clothes so it doesn't occur to me to announce that I didn't buy any clothes this week or indulge in retail therapy.
So true about food-related matters being a frequent area to make frugal choices (or not). Grocery shopping, eating out vs eating at home, using up leftovers and ingredients on hand - decisions to be made daily.
Getting our house painted - a "must do", as areas of the current (cheap, applied by contractor) paint is flaking and chipping off in large chunks - only rolls around every so many years. Still nice to get whatever discount is available, but not a decision to be made daily, weekly, monthly.
1. I ate at home yesterday-scrounged up dinner from the empty depths of my fridge 🙂
2. Brought food from home today, including coffee. I'll drink free water at work.
3. Found a nickel and dime on the ground this week. I'm saving my found change for GW Outlet purchases
4. Meal planning for this upcoming week and re-vamping my system to (hopefully) lower my grocery costs.
5. Found a huge bottle of Mrs. Meyer's all-purpose cleaner at the store. That stuff is fantastic at cleaning my black oven door/stove/microwave without leaving streaks. It's the best I've found so far, so I was happy to find it in bulk and with a cashback offer!
1. About 8 days straight of doing laundry for a relative currently living with us for awhile. A smoker (not now) whose clothes reek. Hot water, cold water, vinegar in rinse, tried it all. Best removal for odor was hanging it on the line. Thankful for 4 really windy, bright days to do so.
2. Stayed home on Cinco de Mayo. Ate leftovers. But made the enchiladas on Sat. with chopped frozen chicken from the freezer. And the chipotle lime rice recipe I found (here?). Delicious and will make it again.
3. Used the leftovers from #2 last night. Rice not as good the 2nd night, but still filling.
4. Running as many errands as possible while out in one day.
5. While not frugal, I did pay $20 each for three comforters/quilts that wouldn't fit in my washer, and couldn't do at a laundry mat (no time), 2 of which did smell of smoke but don't now. Well worth the $.
6. Gathering stuff decluttering to give to hospital thrift shop when new store is up and running.
1) This early-April-ish weather has me craving warm food. Luckily I had all the ingredients on hand to make Blue Apron's warm kale and cauliflower salad for lunch. I've never bought Blue Apron, but I like their recipes, and this one hit the spot for a couple of bucks worth of ingredients.
2) Our spending last week was a little higher than I like, so I am purging this week. Anything that isn't absolutely necessary is not getting spent. Even if I am just putting off bills that will be paid next week, it will make me feel better.
3) I ran a few zero dollar errands last night while my husband bathed the kids. The new church shoes I bought for our son from DSW.com last week were a little too small. Instead of paying $8 to ship them back for the right size, I took them by the store. Then I returned books to two university libraries while I was out in that part of town.
4) Took a free bike ride around my beautiful city for exercise this morning. Dear million dollar homeowners, thank you for all the money and energy you pour into your gorgeous homes and yards. It sure is fun to enjoy them for free.
5) I'm volunteering tomorrow morning at our son's school to count raffle tickets. Our son goes to a wonderful city school in the middle of a wealthy neighborhood (we live on the outskirts where the houses are reasonably priced). We won't give money because we consider the school well-funded. We're also not the PTA type. But every once in a while we like to do something that makes us not entirely free riders. 🙂
1. Made myself on the house coffee, instead of buying a soda.
2. Not frugal, I ordered a pizza with some friends, but then they gave me their leftover pizza and along with my leftover pizza, we'll have supper! 🙂
3. We're in the middle of moving. We're out of our house and in a temporary place until the big move, but we did not spend any money on packing materials. We packed our stuff up in tubs we already had and cardboard boxes. We used clothes and towels around breakable items.
4. Since we're here temporarily, it's easy to just depend on meals out or prepackaged things from the store. So I made sure to go buy a 5 kg sack of rice and some other basic ingredients to make most of our own meals.
5. I just finished reading Little Women to my kids. It was given to us and provided some free entertainment and nice mama/kids time.
Just wondering if you have considered getting a Thermomix since you do use dough to make bread and rolls for the family? Are they popular in the US?
I am a few days late on this but I wanted to give it a shot. Not sure this week was the most "super frugal" week for us, but here goes:
1. After adopting a dog (and paying the adoption feed and buying all of the necessary items...not frugal), I saw that many of the items we purchased on Amazon were falling apart within a day or two. I called Amazon and will be returning ALL of the items for a full refund. Thank you Amazon.
2. We are using a new mechanic that is closer to our new house and found out that the old (chain brand) mechanic was most likely ripping us off with the amount of work they said was "required" for inspections. Never again will we go there. I also will be emailing them to tell them that they lost a customer that they've had for 13 years.
3. My son's allergies have been acting up and after a visit to the dr. and a prescription of eye drops (his poor eyes have been red and swollen for almost two weeks) I call the pharmacy to ask the cost of said prescription. $120!!!! (for eye drops??) I called the dr. back and asked for something different. New prescription? $16...thank goodness I called and asked. I will always call and ask for the cost from now on.
4. I participated in a yard sale and made over $200. I sold about 3/4 of the stuff that I had set out, so double win for me. Less to store and extra money in the bank.
5. We had a party at work for our graduating students (I work at a university) and we had tacos. Though I had to provide a side dish of beans, I did get free lunch yesterday and some leftover cornbread this morning for breakfast.
My five frugal things this week include;
1. Bringing leftovers to work for lunch (pretty much always do this).
2. Used a voucher to purchase two knits for winter that were on special.
3. Bought a foundation while it was half price (not an expensive brand anyway).
4. Did our grocery shop online, choosing items from the half price section and menu planning around this.
5. Washed and parceled up some expensive woolen baby garments to gift a friend who is expecting her first child, they are like new because I've looked after them so carefully. She was thrilled as she is mindful of spending too.
Love reading about frugal habits, thanks to everyone for sharing. 🙂