Five Frugal Things | A water bill, beef jerky, flats, a Redcard, and veggies
1. I paid my water bill online.
Normally I pay this bill via mail because there's a fee for paying online.
(Which is annoying, but that's another topic for another day.)
I sent my check off, but I got it back in the mail because...I forgot to sign the check. Ugh.
Luckily, I'd paid it so early that I still had time before a late fee kicked in! So I hopped online and paid it, using the e-check option because that was the lowest available fee.
So, I wasted a stamp but at least I didn't incur a late fee.
2. I brought back some bad beef jerky.
I buy beef jerky from Aldi regularly, and it's always been fine. But our last package was really, really dry (which, yes, I know. Beef jerky is supposed to be dry. But this was CRAZY dry.).
And also it looked and tasted kind of weird.
So I brought it back to Aldi and got a new package plus a $3.29 refund because Aldi has a double guarantee on all of their products.
3. I bought some practical shoes for my costume.
My costume really kind of called for some white boots, but when in the world am I ever going to wear white boots again?
That seemed like it would be a wasteful purchase.
So I bought some brown flats, which will hopefully just kind of disappear and not be noticeable at all. And I can most definitely get some good wear out of a pair of brown flats post-Halloween.
4. I used my Target Redcard.
5% off is 5% off, I say.
Better than that is the news that I stuck to my list, which is an accomplishment at Target.
5. I ate lots of Hungry Harvest veggies.
I think almost my entire harvest has been used up now, so yay me! No waste = saving money.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a thing I like about Hungry Harvest is that it gently forces me to eat more produce, particularly veggies.
The produce arrives automatically, so I don't have to think about buying it, and once the fruits and veggies are here, I hate to have them go to waste.
So then I eat 'em.
(If you'd like to try Hungry Harvest, get $5 off through this referral link.)
Your turn! Share your Five Frugal Things in the comments.
I have to pay a "convenience fee" if I pay my electric bill online. I get my bank to send the check for free using their billpay option. Could you do that?
1. I'm switching pest control services -- it will save me $60 a year and they strive to use much less chemicals in my house, using an exterior barrier method instead that is safer for my pets. It's even a woman-owned business. Win-win.
2. Switched from a small bottle of commercial anti-aging moisturizer to a homemade one using jojoba and essential oils. I had the essential oils already and got the jojoba oil on sale, so about $9 for a four ounce bottle homemade vs. $17 for 1.5 ounces for the store bought.
3. I will be very frugal tonight, even though it is Halloween. Living in the country, we don't get trick or treaters. No candy, no decorations, no costumes. I'm fine with that.
4. I will be using my wedding china for the Thanksgiving meal again. I don't have holiday themed dishes, just this one big set of china, much of which I finished out/added to by using Replacements. I could use everyday dishes, but I love this china and use it at every holiday I host. It was interesting to me to realize one day that the colors I had the rooms painted in my then-new house were the same colors I had chosen in my china pattern, 20 years before the house was built. Obviously, my color preferences have not changed.
5. I'm still making a weekly meal plan. I still dislike making one, but it does keep me from buying things randomly that I then have to struggle to use before they go bad.
I feel the same about meal-planning. I don't love it, but I love what it does for me!
I'll have to see if my bank charges a fee for paying the bill from their end. Thanks!
I came to the comments to make the same suggestion about the bank paying the bill!
I also came to leave the same suggestion with using your bank's online bill pay to send the check. This is what I do for my water bill because our city has the same policy as yours it seems.
We do this and do not pay for writing a check, a stamp , an envelope or a fee and most (not all) things are transferred electronically and very few accounts does our bank have to cut an actual paper check for.
Saves mucho time too!
I feel like this week was more fails than frugals. It happens but ...
Fail 1: Yet again, bought asparagus and didn't cook it before it went stringy. I saved the tips but the rest were wasted. When will I learn?
Fail 2: Mostly because I was feeling under the weather but partly because I didn't plan, we had take-out sushi for dinner. Very tasty and much appreciated but definitely not frugal.
Frugal/Fail 1: I think I've found a reliable site for supermarket sale-and-coupon matching. MSM no longer covers my supermarket and it's taken me a long time to find a replacement.
Frugal/Fail 2: Continuing to find sales for the pricy yogurt I like.
Frugal 1: Realized I could pose my health/exercise question to the trainers at the gym. Their services are part of my free gym membership.
I've let asparagus go stringy, too. If that happens n ow, I make cream of asparagus soup. Cook the heck out of the asparagus, add some potatoes and onions and then when they are soft I use my wand blender to make it creamy by pulverizing everything. Because I like lumpy stuff (even oatmeal!) I sometimes boil the potatoes separately and add those after blending. I do swirl in a tablespoon or two of cream at serving.
1. I bought a lot of chicken on mark down ( CHEAP) and put some in the slow cooker and some in the freezer.
2. My son found things around the house for his Halloween costume for school. ( construction worker).
3. I got $70 dollars of stuff from my Walgreens points before the policy changes ( boo!). I usually use my point dollars for stocking stuffers but it was use it or lose it time.
4. I made a no peek chicken and rice dinner last night that served 4 for less than five dollars for entire pan! and it was GOOD.
5. I saved 47% at the grocery store this week. ( I shoot for 30 % but lately have been hovering at 20-22 %).
I join you at boo-ing Walgreens points change. The points aren't going away. But they are doing away with the tiered system, so 1000 points equals a dollar, no matter how many points you have. And the maximum is now 5000 or $5 per transaction.
It used to go as high as 40,000 points for $50, which I also always held out for. The change is effective Sunday, 11/4.
Ditto the boo-ing. Went in today and spent my $50 worth of points I had been saving for Christmas stuff. Their own staff didn't know this change was about to happen!
Glad I read this tonight! I did not know. Seems like Walgreens could have mentioned it clearly!
Frugal-
1) Eating stuff before it spoils, and you guys reminded me that I have asparagus to use!
2) Looked at comforters, but didn't like them enough to buy, even if they're on sale. I can keep using old ugly one until I really like one that's priced right.
3) Doing yard work so as not to have to pay for it + free exercise.
4) Pharmacy promotion says I get 20% off coupon for each prescription, but they were out of the coupons, so they gave me some 25% off coupons, which I'll save to use for a big shopping trip.
5) went in to work just for a meeting and they unexpectedly fed us pizza, so, that was lunch. For dinner, I had bought a few cans of Vietti chili for 50 cents each (80% off) so heated that and poured over avocado halves. It was incredibly, painfully spicy, but I ate it anyway. The other 3 cans are now in my box to donate to food pantry.
It's super nice to donate food, but another option if you get a chili craving is to simply add more beans and simmer together to let the fresh beans absorb some of the spices and tone down the chili.
Thanks Kristen for encouraging us to pause to think about what makes us happy and, as in today, the little (and sometimes BIG) things we do that make a difference in our finances.
1. I needed a few things for a trip coming up and waited until Tuesday to go to Ross, as they have a senior discount on that day. I always check their gift food section and I found a jar of pesto that was less then I could get at the grocery store. I should have picked up a bottle of olive oil there and didn't. I checked it at the grocery store and it would have saved me $1-2, next time.
2. I went to the thrift store and picked up a few items. I checked here first before I went to Ross.
3. I found a few exquisite vintage linens at a neighbor's garage sale and plan to give them as Christmas gifts.
4.I was thinking of getting a new sweater, because my everyday one was looking so shabby. I shaved off all the fuzz with a razor and it really is looking a lot better.
5. I helped clean someone's house for them as they are moving. It was nice to be able to help someone in the stressful time of transition. We were to take the cleaning supplies with us, so it was nice to pick up a few supplies that I was low on. Five of us worked for 2 hours, saving our friend 10 hours of work, and we had fun doing it together.
I love the idea of trying to clean up a sweater before donating it! Going to do that to a few of mine! Thanks!
1. I used things we had around our house for Halloween costumes for my boys (2 and 6 months). My toddler was a soccer player, wearing a jersey uniform his grandpa purchased for him a year ago and carrying his soccer ball, and my baby was the coach, wearing a white polo with black pants and a red athletic jacket. Their treat bag was Dr. Seuss-themed and didn't fit at all, but it was something we already owned and no one seemed to care. Money spent: $0
2. Made soup to use up leftovers in our fridge
3. Purchased marked down salad mix for our company potluck-the greens include cabbage, broccoli slaw, and kale, so they aren't slimy and gross. I could have possibly made the salad cheaper from scratch, but it came with exact amounts of sunflower seeds, cranberries, and dressing. I didn't have any of those things and would have spent quite a bit purchasing more than I needed.
4. Organized my freezer to use up what we already have-looking forward to a light grocery bill this week 🙂
5. As with most days, over half my outfit is thrifted and at least one item is from the GW Outlet.
We used Plastic grocery sacks for trick or treat bags when I was a kid so I would think anything a bit of an improvement lol. Super cute sounding costume ideas too!
Love these! Ack, don't you just hate those online payment fees? So irritating.
This week:
1. Today I'm returning a defective item I bought on Amazon. It's nice to get money back!
2. I "decorated" the porch for Halloween by thoughtfully not sweeping cobwebs off our stoop for a few months. 😉 Hahaha, laziness pays off for an added layer of 'spooky,' eh?
3. I sold a piece of furniture for $40 cash. I was then able to use the cash to buy a new planner, for no impact on the ol' budget. 🙂
4. I'm dressing up as a Crazy Cat Lady for Halloween. I made this costume last year and I intend to wear it every year. How's that for return on investment?
5. We picked up a few Papa Murphy's pizzas yesterday. We're hosting for Halloween and this is a great way to do it with less fuss. Upside: we bought the pizzas on Tuesday, when Papa Murphy's has a nice sale on large pizzas.
1. My hot water heater had to be replaced and, since I didn't discover the problem until it was leaking and flooding my garage, I wasn't in a position to comparison shop, I just needed the problem fixed ASAP. According to the internet, I paid more than the average rate for my area (frugal fail!), but I paid for it out of my emergency fund so no financing/interest fees for me (win!). I went so many years just putting that kind of stuff on credit cards. It still feels magical to just be able to pay for stuff now that I intentionally save for emergencies.
2. I brought loaded baked potato soup for our potluck at work because I already had most of the ingredients on hand.
3. I ordered some Christmas presents at 20% off. Yes, there will probably be better deals closer to Christmas, but the company I ordered from has issues maintaining stock and I wanted to be sure I got what I wanted.
4. A book I wanted to read was not available at my library so I filled out the request form asking them to get it. They are getting it, so when it comes in, I will be the first to check it out.
That is EXACTLY what an emergency fund is for. Yay you!!
Omggg I hate how they charge a fee to process payments online. It's almost 2019 people! We can do this without pen and paper!!
I haven't tried Hungry Harvest myself but does Imperfect Produce service your area? I have an shipment coming in a few days and I'm so excited to try.
I think Imperfect Produce JUST expanded to my area, actually.
And yes. I don't understand how it's free to send a check and paperwork that they have to process, but an electronic payment incurs a fee. How does that even make sense?? You'd think they'd want to encourage people to not burden them with checks and paperwork.
And alot of companies will charge you for paper billing so you will go paper less. So why can't we go paper less when we pay?? Just makes one wonder
1. My smoke /CO alarm died and instead of just rushing to Home Depot and grabbing the first one I saw, I did a little research and got a good one for a good price.
2. My grandmother's stove broke and needed a new high heat female spade connector. You have no idea how hard these are to find! In the end I had to buy a pack of 20 online but once I get out to her house to put it in, I'll have saved her a service call.
3. Took a bunch of overtime and thus this week's paycheck will be very nice indeed.
4. Got a bonus from work in the form of a gift card. It's one of those prepaid credit cards you can only use at certain places but they sell gift cards so I'll be using it to make my Netflix and Hulu accounts paid up for a while.
5. I mentioned this yesterday but I used a coupon to buy my wife a new skirt and she looks fantastic in it! The unfrugal part is now I'm thinking she needs some boots to go with it ...
5. It's so nice that you notice that she could benefit from some boots! My husband has lots of good qualities but this isn't one of them.
Well, my wife doesn't particularly like spending money on her appearance. She'll drop money on yarn or books but clothes and makeup, not so much. Again, I have a selfish side in this because I like to show her off a bit. Plus I know she feels good when she looks good.
That's awesome.
Woo I LOVE beef jerky, especially when it's a bit spicy! I'm sorry the beef jerky you bought wasn't good. ALDI seems to have great return policy though!
One frugal thing I do is that I haven't eaten out for more than a month. It also helps that I'm on maternity leave. But I don't crave anything other than home-cooked meals 😀
I only have one. We are doing year-end paperwork (already, oy). It shows in black and white that it wasn't altogether bad that our day care provider closed in February. It felt like a disaster at the time, and the adjustment to mom-kids-freelance 24-7 was rough, rough, rough. But, while it's not fantastic, it is working well enough, and the real advantage is revealed in the household cash flow.
Oh yes, I bet that the no-daycare savings add up in a hurry. Have you been able to maintain your previous level of freelance income even without the daycare?
It was a very, very reasonable day care situation, but it is definitely noticeable. On the work, surprisingly, yes. July and August with all five kids home were lower, but that stands to reason. June, however, was my best month in more than six years freelancing.
Hungry Havest isn't available in my area but I'm on the waiting list. Today is 50 cent corn dog day at Sonic!
Happy Halloween all!!!
1 I got a daily free bagel at Panera this month and was able to pick up several. Such a lovely, lovely treat for free!
2. A local family owned pumpkin patch close to us opened this year. I was unaware they were there until I had purchased small pie pumpkins for 1.00. This week they advertised all pumpkins for 1.00. My husband was running to the post office so I asked him to stop. He came home with a HUGE white pumpkin and three cool novelty ones for 4.00. We have a train open house this month so the huge pumpkin will be quite the hit. And I will buy from them next year since they're a local family owned business.
3. I sent ornaments I made with my sister to sell at a craft show she's doing. My total outlay for materials was under 1.50 plus what was in my craft bin. I made 22 ornaments so if they sell, it will be a nice profit. And I only have to sell one to actually make money!
4. I had to do some work to align new prescriptions. One had to be ordered online but a 3 month supply reduced the cost by over 24.00. Another the cost went down by over 9.00 monthly because the dosage went up????? I'm not asking why!
5. Finally, since today is Halloween, my husband and I will eat dinner at Chipotle for 4.00 an entree. We can either wear a 'costume' or show a text to get the deal. I look forward to this every year!
1. I really wanted some chocolate but didn't want to pay full price. Found a big bag of Halloween candy already in the discount bin because it had been cut when the case was opened.
2. Pulled out about 8 Pyrex dishes of miscellaneous leftovers from the fridge last night and finished all but two. Another will be part of dinner tonight.
3. Remembered to send in a form to our supplemental vision insurance and received a check for $310.
4. Also sticking with a meal plan - fewer trips to the store, less mental bandwidth needed during the week to come up with meals, and fewer chances to be in the store to buy more chocolate(see #1).
5. I take a prescription that does not have a generic or anything similar in a generic. I did a quick online search, printed out a coupon, and will now be saving the full $30 monthly cost for a year. My pharmacy was out of it on Monday and when I went to pick it up the clerk had it in her hand before I even got to the door and said, "Are you ready to get this for free?" Why, yes, I am!
Love reading your 5 Frugal Things blog, but I struggle with being frugal. I'm definitely going to try to be more observant every day and see what I can change.
1. I did make some birdhouse with my mom & aunt for Christmas gifts. All of the supplies were found & freebies, etc.
2. A friend gave me some 2x4s to make some other projects with and I already had all the paint & ribbon.
3. My neighbor is giving me a pile of brick to use for my gardening projects.
4. Another neighbor put a perfectly good magazine rack/table out at the curb the other day. I snagged it and am going to refinish it.
5. I've GOT to figure out meal planning and stick with it. We seem to waste a lot of fresh veggies. I end up running to the grocery several times a week. Not frugal at all!
#5 is my struggle too -- I have been doing better but not perfect. Hang in there!
1. I consigned some clothes and they offered me $80 and took it all.
2. My daughter turned 11 today and she got her first cell phone. We use Cricket as our provider and they had a deal for $99 nice phone, activation fee, screen saver and case plus first months fee. Since we already had 2 other lines and this would be our third I asked them if they had any deals for monthly charges and they did. They upgraded all of our plans to unlimited wifi, text and phone for a total of $90/mos all fee and taxes included. I feel like I won the lottery.
3. Took back some things at Walmart that I had ordered online and got that money deposited in my checking account.
4. Continue to work on pay off mg CC. Hopefully by the end of the year.
5. I pay all my bills online through my credit union. No fees at all.
1. Eating in and making cheap yummy food. Using up what I have and not wasting much at all.
Some odd dinners, frankly (um, succotash from vintage canned butter beans and weirdly
refrozen corn, anyone?) but tasty.
2. Used ECBs at CVS and Walmart gift card to cover almost all of my Halloween stuff for school. Will be reimbursed for 14.00 spent at the dollar tree. And I didn't over buy.
3. Husband unclogged the shower with our handy little snake for free - thank you!
4. Okay this is really part of #1 but made a wonderful chicken and dumpling soup (from my free cooking light magazine) using just what I had in the house.
5. Used an "empty" tube of Neutrogena for almost 2 weeks past "empty" by cutting it open. Have placed scissors by the bathroom sink for just this purpose.
6. And all the usual -- old clothes, shoes, breakfasts in, lunches to work, library books, streaming tv, free magazine subscriptions, etc.
Frugal fails: It was lovely coworker's birthday, so did buy her favorite bundt cake and got a small gift card. Everyone enjoyed and I think she felt very appreciated.
Finally, emptying out the freezer has revealed the muck of ages hidden under the discount frozen pizzas and veggie corn dogs -- all the stuff we didn't really like. Sigh. Will try to use what I can . . .
1. Didn't spend any money on Halloween costumes for myself, my husband, or my son- used costumes we already had
2. My mom brought dinner over for us tonight and let us keep the leftovers
3. Made a baby registry on Amazon and got 20% off the remaining item that were left
4. Ate all our meals at home this week
5. Listed some items on ebay and Let Go
1) I picked up a pair of used, but like-new running shoes in my size from the "free table" at my work. I was dreading having to buy a pair/look for sales, so this was perfect, and will keep going at least another couple years.
2) I used 5 Macy's rebate visa cards to buy amazon gift cards, totalling $60.00. They are so much easier for me to use than to try to use the visa rebate cards at stores where I can rarely get the exact amount and have to mess with 2 forms of payment. Now I have some stocking stuffers, or I can use them myself for gifts.
3) I entered a new diet bet. I suppose this isn't frugal right now, but I almost always take the weight off, so next month, I should be 5 pounds lighter and about $15 richer! Bonus points for less groceries to buy this month.
4) There was a free lunch at work. Always great when I don't have to pack one.
5) I signed up for bi-annual health screens for hubby and I, which our work reimburses. Kinda a no-brainer, but it's amazing how long I put this off because I never can seem to "find" the time to schedule it.
6) I finally did a follow up call that I have been putting off about a free hotel stay that I was supposed to get on one of my credit cards, but it had never showed up. The representative was very helpful, and I was able to get the code for the free night! Something else that had been on my "to do" list forever.
1. We made most of our Wizard of Oz trunk or treat costumes and decorations ourselves....which was both fun and very cute!
2. Had a no spend week while I was prepping for Halloween, so that gave me a nice excuse to avoid the stores.
3. Returned library books on the day they were due to avoid fines and picked up books on hold to enjoy this week
4. Ate all our meals at home and did some fall cleaning
5. Have been sending ideas to family members about things my son would like for his bday, which means I have less to buy ( which helps me a lot because I have been trying to buy nothing new this year and my son has not been liking the idea of only getting used toys as gifts...)
1. I have been working diligently on using all of everything I cook. I have been succeeding.
2. Managed to buy about 14 days worth of meat at half price.
3. Sticking to my healthy breakfast plan.
4. Working hard on my Christmas gifts.
5. Reminding myself that eating at home is better for me and cheaper too.
Pretty frugal week so far.
The school district left food at work not realizing there were so few kids so there were plenty of apples, peaches and milk for staff.
We need to build a small awning to put a boat under and they are tearing down a building by hubs work so he got most of the wood to build it for free.
Another worker was able to pull the furnace out (from 2015) so yay it did not go to the landfill.
There were some really nice glass storage containers there too that I will run thru the dishwasher & see if anyone wants them.
Stuffed the feral cat house with free straw, I gave the rest to my neighbor who builds insulated cat houses.
We went out to eat with Grandpa and neither him or I was starving so we split a sandwich.
Someone threw away some folding lawn chairs that are nicer than mine...so free chairs for next spring.
Sorry about the bad jerky. Stale and brick-like food is not pleasant. Here's my list of frugal things this week:
1) got lots of meat on clearance ($2.99 for a lb of 93% lean beef or $2.99 for a lb of chorizo) I was not gonna pass these up...
2) We don't participate in Halloween anymore since the kids are older and we worked that night. Saved plenty of $ on candy.
3) I got an email on a special for handbags. I put one in my cart but in the end, I didn't buy it. DH said I had a ton of purses. Not sure why he said that. I have 3 and I'm using one right now. Sheesh.
4) DH wanted to take a weekend to someplace out of state. The rest of us decided that flying to a place where all he wanted to do was walk around wasn't worth it. Why spend money on something that nobody wants to do?
5) I get free magazines every month. A ton of them. After reading them, I bring them to the gym and put them in the racks so everyone else can enjoy them.