1. I mended a dress
I got a thrifted dress that had a tiny hole on the side.
So I just stitched that up by hand, and all is well.
Under the arm is a nice, inconspicuous place to do a repair; it’s way lower stakes than, say, the middle of the bodice.
It’s too cold for the dress right now, but I will for sure wear it to a symphony once the weather is warmer!
2. I got 20% off Target groceries
Zoe came with me to Target to pick up a few groceries, and she noticed she had a 20% off grocery items offer in her Target Circle app for me to use. Sweet!
Of course, I also used my Target Red Card debit card for another 5% off. 🙂
3. I got Chiquita a cat tree at Aldi
It was $35, which seemed like a pretty good deal, given that it includes scratching posts, and this scratching post alone is almost $30 even on Amazon.
It is true: I have not taken down my little Christmas tree yet.
I also like to buy cardboard scratching pads when Aldi carries them; they’re intermittently available in the Special Buy aisle.
4. I got my entire fourth-semester tuition paid for
I applied for so many before nursing school started, and a lot of the ones I won were good for all four semesters. Which means that I got a lot of return for my time; I’m still seeing the fruit of my 2023 efforts.
I am so grateful to Lisey for setting an apply-for-scholarships example for me! 🙂
I am also grateful that writing comes easily to me; I churned out essays with no difficulty, and that made the scholarship application process much less laborious.
I am also grateful that in those essays, I was able to write about some hard things that happened to me and turn them into something good (money for a nursing education, which I will use to hopefully go out and do good in the world).
VERY satisfying. 🙂
5. I got a $0.99/month Kindle Unlimited membership
Lisey wanted two Kindle books (we share an account), so I signed up for a temporary cheap membership. I think I have the $0.99 price for three months.
As it happens, I also wanted to read Tia Levings’ book, “A Well-Trained Wife” (Tia was in the documentary Shiny Happy People), so I snagged that.
Which means each book has cost us $0.33 apiece for the moment. Sweet!
Julia
Thursday 9th of January 2025
I 1. Sold a free to me juicer for $30 (I found it on one of my walks) 2. Also used several rewards and $back on a Target order 3. Am eating up some instant oatmeal that has been hanging around a bit too long. I added some applesauce to the oatmeal. It also needs eaten up. Yum! 4. Decided not to brave the cold this morning to attend a lecture and instead chose to watch it live on Facebook. Saved on gas and time. 5. Feeding leftover to the chickens. Less food waste and happy chickens!
Lori
Thursday 9th of January 2025
I got A Well Trained Wife on your recommendation on Amazon Unlimited. It was an eye opener for me. So sad in a lot of ways, but so glad she managed to leave. Heartbreaking.
Andrea G / Midwest Andrea
Wednesday 8th of January 2025
A day late, but maybe worth commenting anyways! We've been cozied up this weekend and well into this week from the winter weather. Husband has a cold, so we did pick up some spicy Thai food to clear up his sinuses a bit. Otherwise, just spending money on essentials and future travel! 1. Target charged me for a promo giftcard, which was supposed to be complimentary with $40 purchase of "health & beauty". I chatted with customer service and got it sorted! 2. Used that giftcard towards a gift for my SIL, a book on pregnancy myths (just found out she is expecting!). 3. Booked an AirBnB for a trip to Traverse City, MI for Memorial weekend with my bestie. With some hunting around, we found a great place with a private dock for about $600 less total than the other 2-bedroom options. 4. Gave my husband another haircut. I think I'm getting better at it? 5. I have a work trip to NYC coming up; my professional development fund will cover the flight, lodging, transport, and food for two nights, and one of the days is a conference. However, I have some downtime the first day, so I used a discount app to purchase a box seat Broadway ticket for only $92!! Seeing a show on Broadway is on my bucket list so I'm stoked. Plus, it's The Great Gatsby, which is one of my all-time favorite books.
Isa
Wednesday 8th of January 2025
That book in on my ''to-be-read'' list (A well trained wife). Let us know if you enjoy it!
* Hubby and I are attempting a low-buy/conscious buy 2025 (a.k.a. not paying for unnecessary stuff). So far so good.
* I have not bought any new clothing items, jewelry or shoes for myself since October 1st (my personal one year no-buy challenge)
* Received a prepaid 50$ Mastercard for my birthday. Will use it to treat myself. Like today, I'm going for sushi at a friend's request, but since I cannot eat much in one sitting (gastric surgery) it will keep the cost low (10$ or so)
* Working 2 extra days in the next 2 weeks
* Been on a puzzles kick lately. Getting them really cheap at the thrift store (1-2 $), or gifted from my Buy Nothing group, or as exchanges on my Facebook puzzle group. On this group people sell their puzzles for quite a lot (IMO). I will NOT pay 15$-20$ for a used puzzle, sorry (not sorry). Or for a new one.
Frugal fail: I received an email yesterday from CRA (IRS for you guys in the USA) about having not submitted documents in time to justify a large health related expense in 2023, and they are now asking me to pay back 2600$..... Ouch! I had NOT seen the initial email/letter sent in august (!?!) so this amount now includes interest...... I did submit the required justifications yesterday, hopefully this will reverse the charge. (I would still pay the interest, I'm ok with this. Better 100$ than 2600$!). I am always so on top of anything financial, this is a shame I didn't get the initial request in August.
ErikaJS
Wednesday 8th of January 2025
@Isa, You might want to check if there’s a Little Free Puzzle Library in your neighborhood. You can look up local maps of the LFLs in google. We have two of the puzzle variety and 20+ of the regular Little Free Library kind :)
DebbieR
Tuesday 7th of January 2025
1. Car insurance was up for renewal and since adding my 16 year old son last summer, it has doubled for us. However, I called to add the "Good Student" discount (couldn't add last summer as we were halfway through the year) and that took off almost $600! 2. Redeemed some points on my pet store rewards account for a $10 off coupon to be used in the next couple months. Will use to buy dog food when it goes on sale. The points were set to expire at the end of December and I was thankful to catch them a day before they did! 3. Making a concerted effort to eat up the fridge, pantry and freezer this month and not to buy any more SNACKS until we have eaten what we already have! 4. Did not buy any more chocolates or candy in after-Christmas sales but stuck to small gift bags for teacher gifts and small toys/stuffed animals for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for this year. All were 70% off. 5. Played the Starbucks for Life game throughout December using the free entry method and won 270 stars, which is enough for one free drink (actually, two, when added to my current stars total)! 6. Bought some bras on sale from ThirdLove but didn't love 2 of them, so will return. However, when I received my order, it came with a $15 off coupon and I was able to use it on another bra on sale plus convert reward points to another $10 off making the bra only $4! Even with paying for shipping it was only $10. The bra was originally $79! 7. Husband got a free trial of Amazon Prime throughout December so we used it to watch shows and then my son got a month-long free trial as well so we made sure to cancel my husband's trial once it was up and switch the account to my son's on the TV. I can watch a few more weeks of Pop Culture Jeopardy! for free.