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Five Frugal Things | a Starbucks Groupon!

1. I got a $10 Starbucks voucher for $5

I haven’t bought a Groupon in eons, but they sent me an email with a user-specific offer for a 50% off Starbucks voucher.

(If it wasn’t user-specific, I’d have shared it with all of you!)

free birthday Starbucks drink

So, I immediately bought one and added it to my app. Here’s to a cheap treat one day in the future.

2. I ate the crumbs at the bottom of a shredded wheat bag

I often eat plain shredded wheat + fruit + milk for breakfast in the summer, and there are always a LOT of shredded wheat bits at the bottom of the cereal bag.

I’ve thrown them out in the past, but now when I get to the end of a box, I just pour the bits into a bowl, top them with fruit, and eat them.

A bowl of shredded wheat topped with strawberries.

The experience reminds me a little of eating those huge shredded wheat biscuits from my childhood; do you remember those? They came in paper packages inside of the cereal box, and we crushed them into the cereal bowl before adding milk.

Anyway, it’s like that except slightly worse. Ha.

Is this something anyone else in my family would ever consider doing? Oh, heck no.

But since I am the resident frugal weirdo, I don’t think any of them batted an eye at my cereal bowl. I have done worse in the name of preventing food waste!

3. I mended a reusable bag

This is one of those handy ones that folds in on itself, and it’s always in my purse.

A bag folded up into a strawberry shape.

I fixed the handles in the past, which you can read about in this other Five Frugal Things post.

reusable shopping bag repair

It sprang a hole at the bottom:

Coral bag with a hole in the seam.

(Can a bag spring a hole? Or can something only spring a leak? Hmm.)

Anyway, I sewed up the hole and while I had the machine out, I reinforced the bottom and side seams, which had other spots that were fraying.

A mended reusable shopping bag.

And now it’s back in my purse.

4. I made croutons from some super dry bread

Last time Mr. FG and I volunteered with the food pantry, they had some extremely dry garlic ciabatta sticks left at the end of the day.

They threw them in a bag for us to take home with us, and while one of them was too dry to rescue (seriously, it was like a rock. I couldn’t even have turned it into bread crumbs!), I did manage to cut the other ones into cubes.

I tossed them with melted butter and baked them to make croutons to go on top of a salad.

garlic ciabatta croutons

5. I did another $10 Venmo offer

Remember how I used Venmo to pay at CVS last week, since they’d sent me a $10 off of $20 offer?

Well, I’m happy to say that after a few days, the $10 did indeed get deposited into my Venmo account. Yay! So, then I was emboldened to redeem a second offer, which was $10 off a $10 purchase at Panda Express.

Panda Express beef stir fry.

I’m sure that once Venmo is a commonly accepted form of payment at stores, these offers will cease to be, well, offered.

When online shopping first started, companies routinely offered things for free or almost free to help encourage people to try online shopping. And I think these offers with Venmo are the same type of thing.

Might as well take advantage of the offers while they’re here!

Your turn! Share your frugal five in the comments.

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Becca

Sunday 10th of October 2021

Made a homemade birthday cake for my kids’ party instead of buying one at the store.

Picked up an extra shift at work for time and a half plus triple bonus.

Used up some blueberries and lemons about to go bad in muffins for kids snacks and breakfasts.

Picked up some clearance stew meat for the freezer when it’s colder and we can have beef stew.

Did a health assessment for our health insurance and got a bunch of points that can be redeemed for gift cards. Plus a free glucose and cholesterol panel.

lisa

Thursday 7th of October 2021

That strawberry bag is too cute! My Fab Five are: 1) I went to the bagel store and got 3 free bagels with a coupon. 2) Hubby cut branches on several bushes and a tree. We will need a pro to cut a larger, overgrown tree, however. It's way too big to handle ourselves. 3) I need covers for our window wells and custom ones cost $250 each. Our local hardware store can make them for $50 each. 4) My youngest son gave me some hoodies that he didn't want anymore. I wear them, even though they're a men's L and I take a ps. 5) I've been able to earn gift cards and have Christmas presents and stocking stuffers for free (hair wax, gift card, video game).

lmd

Wednesday 6th of October 2021

I have used the bits left in the bottom of cereal bags when I make home made granola or energy bars. I just throw in whatever I have, along with the oats & other ingredients.

Shelagh

Wednesday 6th of October 2021

Muffets! I loved those shredded wheat hockey pucks in waxed paper wrappers :)

isa

Wednesday 6th of October 2021

* Got 1 pair of pants, 10 shirt and a purse for 40$ at the thrift store * Still eating from the pantry/freezers/garden. Only spent 35$ for groceries this week (for 4) * Binge watching ''maid'' on Netflix. This and reading books from the public library is my form of entertainment at the moment. (cheap!)

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