Five Frugal Things | Including $200 for watching TV!
1. I took advantage of Sixth Continent's 30% back deal.
On Monday, Sixth Continent had a several-hour offer that gave 30% credit back on any gift card purchase.
I'd gotten the email about it, but forgotten until a reader messaged me on Instagram to remind me. Phew!
I ordered a Gift of Choice $100 gift card, which I plan to redeem for Aldi gift cards.
Because I am always, always spending money at Aldi.
I have no idea if Sixth Continent will do this again, but if they do, I'll try to let you guys know!
(At Sixth Continent, you buy gift cards and earn a percentage of credit back when you buy. It's not oodles of money, but it's similar to what you'd get from using a cashback credit card or a site like TopCashback.)
2. I picked consolidated shipping at Target.com
We found a clearanced swimsuit top for Zoe in-store, but alas, there were no XS bottoms to be found.
(I don't know if Target doesn't stock many XS, or if they just get bought up quickly, but my goodness, it's so hard to find an XS swimsuit piece at mine!)
So we ordered a few online for her to try, and Target offered a $1 discount on my order if I chose for them to ship the bottoms in a consolidated fashion.
The odd thing is, the four swimsuit bottoms have arrived in three different packages, which makes no sense to me. How is that consolidated shipping??
But at least I got my free delivery and my $1 discount. And of course, I used my Target debit card for an additional 5% discount.
3. I watched 3 nature documentaries for $200.
I qualified for a survey program that involved watching three one-hour nature documentaries on PBS for three nights in a row and then filling out a survey at the end.
I figured $200 for three hours of watching plus a 15-minute survey was a pretty respectable hourly rate ($61.54, if you're wondering.)
4. I used my RoFo card to save on gas.
Royal Farms, an east coast gas station chain, offers a branded debit card, called a RoFo card.
(I personally think it should be called a RoFa card because that makes much more sense as a nickname for Royal Farms, but no one asked ME before they named it.)
Anyway, this card gives you a discount on gas every time you fill up and you also earn points redeemable for free products in their store.
I really, really like that the money comes right out of my checking account (no extra bill to keep track of!)
5. Hmm.
I can't think of anything interesting for number five. I cooked dinner at home every night this week (boring, but frugal!)
I brewed coffee at home (Also not interesting. But quite frugal.)
I read a book in a doctor's office waiting room instead of turning on my cellular data and using my phone.
Sometimes frugality is just kind run-of-the-mill!
Your turn. Share your own Five Frugal Things in the comments!
Have the same issue with swimsuit bottoms and not just at Target! We have a little better luck at the American Eagle/Aerie outlet store (I think because they are geared to teen sizing), but we still need to remember to order early. Mostly I would like for black bottoms that are not so cheeky to be readily available when needed! When I find the right size, half the time they are thongs which I'm not buying for my teenagers. 🙁
It does seem like there are a LOT of very cheeky suits out there right now. Hopefully that trend will be a little short-lived. Ha.
And I have to add to this: when did it get so hard to find bathing suit offering decent coverage for little girls? It's bikinis everywhere, with the odd one piece here and there. Why??
Lands End.
YES! They offer swimsuits for all sizes and all levels of desired exposure, and their stuff is usually well made. Although I am not a fan of paper catalogs I do get theirs as the deals on the postcard inserts are often better than what is offered directly on their website. If you time it right you can get their items for 40% or more off.
One huge benefit of Lands End when my girls were younger and fit in kids sizes is that their suits come in slim. A lot of the suits in stores were just too wide for my kids' builds, and slim sizes were lifesavers!
Hi Kristen,
My #1 frugal thing this week was to try your ice cream cake recipe for my twins' birthday. It turned out great and everyone loved it! The top layer of rice crispies was pretty thick and it melted more slowly than the ice cream, so I will have to make it thinner next time. But it worked out nicely and I decorated the cake with strawberries and cream.
We also had a dinner at home for their birthday and will host a frugal party in a park, as my sons' gift was on the more expensive side this year.
Also, the one nice thing with the ice cream cake was that I was able to make it in advance. In recent years I've bought cakes when I don't have time to bake mid-week, so this was a nice bonus.
Yes! I love that as well. Make-ahead is my favorite!
1.) I've been on a real leftovers kick lately and making sure that we eat just about everything and not toss it out. I was getting bad about this so we're working hard to rectify that.
2.) Used gas rewards from a grocery store card. I had accumulated 80 cents off per gallon and in filling up my car and the gas cans for the mower, I ended up with getting the max of 20 gallons. So .8 x 20 = $16 savings!
3.) After saving for months, I now have $40 in Microsoft Rewards points. I'm not sure if I'll cash it in for Amazon or Target but I have nothing really on my radar that I want so we'll see.
4.) Working a little bit of overtime tonight and traveling for work so I'll be able to expense that.
5.) Fail (?) I bought bread lately. I've been too tired, stressed and have had several migraines lately so I've been buying bread. I just haven't felt up to making it. So buying bread isn't the most expensive thing in the world but I needed a little sanity. Maybe I'll make some this weekend. I also don't have much freezer space at the moment so I can't exactly just make a ton of it and store it.
1. While it would be convienient to go out to eat after picking my husband up from the airport, instead I'm making some burritos to save money.
2. I've been earning more swagbucks than normal. I just ordered another $3 giftcard for Amazon. I also ordered a book from My Reader Rewards with my points there. I'll probably use it as a birthday gift for my daughter.
3. We're looking into our home owner's insurance to see if they'll pay for our roof to be repaired after the hail storm we had.
4. We've been away from our house for a few days, so before leaving we set our hotwater heater to "vacation" mode.
5. We've been enjoying going to parks lately for free fun. I walk and the kids play on the playground or ride their Goodwill $10 scooters. All we pay is gas if it's not the park right beside us.
1. Put my daughter's Bio textbooks online--it wasn't one of the books the bookstore would buy back--and sold it in just a few hours.
2. We also sold the big, glass-top desk that's been in our spare room for an embarrassingly long time.
3. Daughter brought home a bottle of caramel flavored coffee creamer from one of her college friends who is moving back home for the summer. Yummy!
4. I turned another pair of too short sweatpants into workout shorts.
5. I made brownies with ingredients from another of my daughter's friends who is heading home.
Wow on the survey pay! You need to tell us where you find these opportunities. I do online surveys and occasionally earn a $25 gift card but it takes forever.
I think this was a one-off opportunity...one of my readers let me know about it. But if I hear of such an opportunity again, I will be sure to let you guys know!
1. We sold our home last week in order to move into a better school district for my son's kindergarten year. We bought a cheaper home than our current home sold for, therefore we will be mortgage free in about 1 year!
2. We knew we would be buying and selling homes this year, so we opted for legal insurance through my husband's employer during the enrollment period. We will pay $250 to the lawyer for the sale and purchase of a home!
3. Our couch and loveseat set has seen better days and is 9 years old. Our friends were selling their really nice, year old sectional and ottoman which we bought for a great price.
4. Paid a $500 medical copay, for my daughter's hospital admission, on our credit card that gives 2% cash back. Normally I would use our FSA to pay for this, but it is already used up for the year.
5. Listed my couch and loveseat seat for sale for $300 and so far someone is coming tonight to purchase it!
1. My dog needed a chix & rice diet for a couple of weeks. As soon as I had time I simmered a chix instead of using canned. It was less expensive, less material into the garbage, and I now have chix stock.
2. Bought some frozen prepared foods on sale + coupon. Then inventoried the deep freezer to make sure I knew what I had.
3. Made getting a new backyard fence a little cheaper by buying the fencing myself, so I could use my store discount.
4. Continued to brown bag my lunch and most of my snacks.
5. Not letting up on Renewal by Anderson about the problems with the window install job. The biggest issue is the lead paint that the installers let fall on my yard instead of putting down a tarp like reasonable people would have. The current negotiation involves Anderson wanting to give me $ (which they want to frame as a "goodwill gesture" rather than actual compensation; I imagine there's some arcane legal issue underlying that) instead of overseeing landscapers removing the dirt as they agreed to, but not paying me extra for the overseeing work. This is the latest in a string of issues with the job.
WilliamB, keep at it and I wish you the best success!
Kristen, that survey deal is great! The best I've done is once being paid $50 to do an online panel for a nearby hospital's proposed advertising, which took a little under an hour. I stumbled onto that opportunity at Swagbucks by taking a survey which led to the surveyor contacting me about the online opportunity.
My frugals:
1. I've wanted a "Le Fancy" cast iron Dutch oven for a long, long time, but I just couldn't justify the price, even though I sure could have used one, many times. So I ordered an enameled cast iron Dutch oven from Milo, a company I recently heard of. I will have to let you know if it lives up the reviewers' and company's glowing description, but I figured at $95, it was worth a shot. That's not minor money, but it beats $300. I had looked for someone getting rid of a nice one for almost five years, so I decided buying used wasn't going to happen.
2. I've saved up more Swagbucks, and even after buying a birthday gift using some of them, I still will have $58 in my Amazon account. I'm ready to "buy" a new kitchen scale and a couple of smaller items.
3. I put "Dinner Illustrated" and another book, that I had almost considered buying, on hold at the library. Kristen, I think all copies of D.I. were already checked out because of you! 🙂
4. Since I'm letting my hair do its curly thing these days, as in the Curly Girl method, I am supposed to be sleeping on a satin, or even silk, pillowcase, neither of which I had, but I remembered I had a wide silk scarf from years ago. I wrap it around my pillow at night over my regular pillowcase, and it works very well, for no extra money.
5. We have big goldfish in a cattle trough outside, with plants and fountain to make it prettier than just a cattle trough with fish in it. Every weekend I flush the tank for a while to clean and freshen the water, by running clean water in and letting a special pipe my husband rigged up empty the old water out at the same time. I'm catching the old water to water flowers and other plants with -- it has good stuff in it.
1. I am still getting used to smaller serves now that there are just two to feed. I am improving.
2. Planned leftovers worked very well after a busy day this week.
3. Had a two for one pizza voucher. Unfortunately the pizzas were awful.
4. Due to less people in the house our hot water bill for the quarter was just over $11. IN my part of Australia the ambient water temperature is about 23 eentigrade. I wish the air conditioning bill was lower as I swear that is the bulk of our electrical spend. Autumn is here and it is finally cooler at night.
5. Lots of family time has provided the very best entertainment. Toddlers are so much fun and are easier to entertain compared to other ages.
Your water bill is $11 for a 3 month period? That's amazing. I swear, my bill (in the U.S) is hundreds of dollars every three months. 🙁
I’d ask for a refund if the pizzas were awful . I just returned a huge bag of frozen broccoli to Costco because no matter how I cooked it, it was rubbery and gross.
It always takes me what feels like an obscenely long time to think of 5 frugal things...
1) We were under budget on groceries in April, mostly due to my sprained ankle preventing me from doing any full grocery shopping trips (I've been using kroger's pick up service for the past two weeks so I don't have to walk through the store.
2) I bought $50 in Fandango gift cards for $40 at Kroger, which we will end up using this summer, probably on the new Spiderman movie.
3) Made the monthly meal plan for May based on what we have at home. Hopefully May will be underbudget for groceries, since we have some birthday expenses this month.
4) I'm getting multiple quotes for some home improvements we need completed this summer, which has been frustrating, but I hope will result in reasonable prices.
5) I remembered my rewards card at the movie theater and got free popcorn when we saw the Avengers movie.
From reading other comments, I remembered 2 more things!
6) I had a 30 cent/gal discount on gas that I used to fill up an almost entirely empty gas tank
7) I cashed out my Ibotta rewards ($40!) that had accumulated slowly since last year.
1. I called about a bill I received and I knew I had paid in the office. Today I got an email that the account was checked and my balance is $0. This happens to us a lot.
2. I went to customer appreciation day at a local store for 0.50 lunch ( hot dog, drink and chips).Even though the big kids got 2 each, it was still $3 for 4 of us to eat.
3. Bought great produce deals at the local store too.
4. Packed snacks and lunch in the cooler for our son's baseball tournament.
5. Used a coupon on a clearance pair of dress shoes for my son. (Great deal since he won't wear them often.)
1. I put my starter plants out to get some sun today and noticed that they are all growing really well! This year I took some seeds from a butternut squash and a yellow pepper that we ate and planted them to see if they'd come up... They are!
2. I'm currently in the waiting room at Urgent Care to get tested for strep throat. My daughter got diagnosed a couple of hours ago and I'm not wasting any time because I have tickets to see John Crist tomorrow and don't want to miss it!! If I get in now and get the meds going, I'll be ok in time for the show.
3. Got$1 milkshakes for everybody after picking up my daughter's meds.
4. Planning to use something from home for dinner since we didn't make it to Aldi this morning as planned. Not ordering takeout.
5. Air dried my hair this morning. Boring, but oh well.
Let’s see if I can find five things:
1- skipped the grocery store and did a pantry challenge (eat food I have.)
2- hemmed my pants
3- made coffee and meals at home
4- used savings points to get cheaper gas
5 - bought pants at target instead of
From Lululemon (where the pants didn’t fit right anyway).
1). We entertained house guests this weekend and I took the time to meal plan instead of resorting to going out to eat with four adults and two kids. While we still spent a good amount of $ feeding everyone, it was only half of what we would have spent.
2). Got new sneakers on sale for my little guy plus another 5% cash back from Ebates
3) I also got Dinner Illustrated out of the library!
4). Making my husband’s birthday cake this weekend instead of buying it from our local bakery, although it would be so much easier to do so
5) I’ve been wanting to try a French Press coffee maker for some time. I was digging through kitchen cabinets at work and found a Bodum with the tags still on. Apparently it belonged to a woman who hasn’t worked here for two years. Anyone mind if I take this? Nope. Now I have a new French Press.
Woohoo! I am single-handedly increasing library circulation of Dinner Illustrated across the nation.
I bet the cake you make will be way more delicious than what you would have bought. So...bonus!
* Grocery store had to give me a free food item that was priced lower than they asked me for (6$)
* Cutted my own hair. Cutting my daughter and hubby's hair too
* Using the library like crazy to borrow books (free) and children's Dvds (0.50$)
* Looking into switching DD from the after school child care (about 1500$/year) to the basic service (225$/year)
* Been shopping at Value Village lately for clothes, shoes, bags, etc. I make sure to bring donations at every visit to get the 20% off coupon.
1. Called a roofer whose mother was best buddies with an older lady in my exercise class. He is wonderful. My roof and gutters will be replaced. Will have 50 year shingles for 200.00 more total. Also gutters that are covered.400.00 more...no longer calling to guy to blow the leaves out. 2. Another lady in yoga class has husband who used to build houses . Only worker they still are in contact with is an electrician handyman who they say is wonderful. 3. Now drawing pictures of porch I want build about 3 yrs from now. 4. Roofer recommended a female cab driver who drove his mother to and from kroger if we need her. 5. Recommended man who bulldozed brush and tree trims at his mother's old house. I got a lot of networking done in one day
The shipping thing is funny!
Let's see what I can remember from this week:
1) We've been using our Y membership more frequently for swimming, swim lessons, and child care/workouts. This has been a great mental boost in a stressful season & it's good to use what you pay for!
2) Another cheap way to de-stress {at home} is using some essential oils with Epsom salt in a hot bath. Definitely did this yesterday!
3) I've been making all our breakfasts from scratch. I {almost} always make all our lunches & dinners from scratch, but breakfast I've hit the easy button for awhile with cereal. I've been cooking a lot of oatmeal & fruit, breakfast egg wraps, and yogurt parfaits. Anything else I should try?
4) We needed some new stationary card & Mother's Day cards. Love the Dollar Tree prices--8 cards in a set for $1, or 50 cent special occasion cards.
5) A boring one, but we just use what we have. Like we have the same towels from forever, cookware, bedding, decor, etc. And it's not like I wouldn't love to update & refresh, but we are paying off debt, bills, and raising kids & it's not our season to do so. It's ok to just have what you need.
Rachel, I love that attitude of yours that's shining through in #5! Good for you and your family - and a round of applause for your obvious ability to focus on your goals!
1. I made an extra dinner, which stopped me from thinking about getting something out. I think meal prepping is going to become a big thing once I start my placement.
2. I brought my keep cup with tea/coffee, and my lunch with me to my classes so I didn't buy any coffee out. Or lunch! Which is excellent. (Four or five dollar coffees really add up)
3. I've been placed at a preschool near my house for my practical part of my course, I can walk there or take a very short bus ride.
4. I walked to the grocery store instead of driving, even though there was a slight drizzle. A little rain never hurt me before.
5. I have reserved more books at the library and I even downloaded a free copy of Little Women. I saw that there is a movie that is coming out later this year and had an urge to reread it.
Also, I have been making use of the free lockers and showers provided by my college to go running in the morning before my classes.
1) Consolidated and batched my errands
2) Used a Redbox code for family movie night
3) Postponed buying new spring/summer clothes since the weather has been so chilly
4) Cooked at home despite a hectic week full of unexpected medical issues
5) Purchased Snapware glass food storage set on sale at Costco. We already have a set and love it. Having another set would cut down on plastic food storage containers and bags. I’ve patiently been waiting for it to go on sale and have room in our budget.