Five Frugal Things | working the student deals
1. I activated my monthly Safeway student discount
This discount shows up as a "coupon" that you have to clip in the app each month. And yesterday, before I stopped in for a rotisserie chicken, I remembered to clip it!
Every 5% helps, you know? 😉 As long as I'm suffering through discussion posts and research paper-writing, I might as well make the most of the benefits.
2. I used a free symphony ticket
Another student discount! I pay something like $35 a year to join the student membership, and then my symphony tickets are free.
I do pay $15 to park in the parking garage (I am allergic to street parking. Ha.), but it's still a very cheap outing this way.
Also, I wore my classic clearance Target dress from several years ago. This one has seen a lotta symphonies.
This is not the same as my summer Target clearance dress, which is also black. A person needs a lot of black dresses, you know???
3. I did not renew my Civic's remote service
My car came with a free three-month subscription to the app, which lets you do things like remote start.
But honestly, I didn't find this to be particularly useful, even in the coldest days of winter. The seat warmers get me toasty in a jiffy, after all.
So, I decided to just let it go.
4. I got a discounted gift card
My Citi card was having a sale on gift cards, so I used my points to buy a $50 card that's good at Panera. It costs me nothing out of pocket, and it makes for a good meal in a pinch for Zoe and me. 🙂
Of course, I use my credit card only for purchases I could pay for in cash, and I pay the card off every month (on autopay so that I can never be late by accident!)
So, my credit card rewards really are entirely free.
5. I got a refund from Hungry Harvest
For some odd reason, my Hungry Harvest box arrived with just a few items in it. I have never had this happen before, and what was inside was not even close to what the box label said.
I sent them a quick message along with a photo, and they sent me a prompt refund.
Hungry Harvest is also great about giving refunds if you get an unsatisfactory item, like something that's moldy. 10/10 customer service!
I'm on vacation for which, after the initial outlay, I'm paying very little. It's not hard, there isn't much to buy. Does it count if flooding leads to a massive hotel upgrade?
Definite frugal win in my book! Though not for the hotel...😬 Enjoy your vacation!
I hope you still manage to have a good vacation despite the flooding.
It has been pretty awesome, thanks, despite the heat.
It's been a while since I roughed it to this extent - there's elec, WiFi, running water (one temp), and actual rooms. OTOH it's 100F, there's no screens (beds are screened instead), no ac (car as well as rooming), and not much artificial light (attracts lots of bugs).
Still worth it and tomorrow there's the massively upgraded hotel.
Same ol' frugality for me. Other than having pizza for Pi Day, preparing our meals at home. Bringing lunches to work. Buying marked down meats. Using the local library. Promptly submitting for rebates so I don't miss the cut-off dates.
Now off to work in my green attire.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone!
I really struggled with whether to pay for the remote service on my car when the free trial ended. Ultimately I decided to continue it primarily for defrosting in the New England winters and for the notifications when I forget to lock it, etc. i do think it should be free with the car, though.
Oooh, that's a nice pair of leeks! (Not a euphemism.) What a yummy surprise, even if the box's listed contents were absent.
--Our house's previous owner had a habit of gluing pipes together; we replace them as we find them. Thus, when we went to clean the P trap for our slow-draining tub, we were annoyed but not surprised to find it stuck fast. It took our local plumber 10 minutes, tops, to saw out the glued pipe and install a new P trap that we could remove and clean, ourselves--well worth $34 in my book!
--A doozy of a cold gave me proper time to enjoy the "new" 24" flat screen, dumb tv in the bedroom. $15 from Habitat Restore, it's perfect for enjoying cozy movies with the cats while drifting in and out of sleep.
--My husband's new job doesn't have a hot water spout on the water cooler for his tea. I dug out his metal thermos ($4 from Goodwill ages ago), deep-cleaned it, and fill it with hot water in the morning.
--I did a major reorder of business supplies from Vistaprint. I cut costs by waiting for a sale, hitting the free shipping threshold, and using our credit card's offer for 10% cash back on Vistaprint purchases.
--Related to the above, I try to have designated shopping/purchasing days for both household and business expenses. Not only do larger money bites hurt more and deter frivolous spending, but it allows me to double-check for cash back offers, sales, promotional codes, and whatever other ways I can find to shave off a few dollars.
--I was all set to make mashed potatoes to go with our steaks last night for dinner, but then I surveyed the refrigerator and realized I had some leftover starches to be used. So I assigned leftover macaroni and cheese, one baked potato, and some rice according to preference. Last time my dad was here, he watched me do something like this and said somewhat incredulously, "Do you ever waste ANYTHING?" Nope.
--Spring means eggs, yay! We're getting just two or three a day from our few hens, but my friend with many chickens is starting to send eggs for me on the bus with her kids. I know her eggs haven't been washed, and they're usually very clean even unwashed, so hers are the ones I preserve in lime for the inevitable times in the winter when I run out of stores eggs and need to make a birthday dessert or something.
--My tomato seedlings are starting to come up (inside), the garlic is up, and there are some lettuce and arugula sprouts in the garden. I hope they won't all get killed off by the hard freezes the last couple of nights, but even if they do, there are more that haven't sprouted yet.
--It's been such a warm winter that we're going to make it through woodstove season with just one cord of wood. Usually we have to get another cord sometime in January.
--We slaughtered two sheep yesterday that will go into our freezer. We were thiiiiis close to bringing them to the butcher. Without a walk-in refrigerator of our own, we're reliant on cold weather to hang them outside for aging the meat, and we just haven't had a lot of cold weather for that. But these last couple of days have been cold enough, so out we went in the cold wind yesterday morning to kill some sheep. Sheep aren't very cost-effective to bring to a butcher, because there's just a lot less meat on them to make up for the time and gas to get them to the butcher, the kill fee, and so on, so this will save a few hundred dollars. By waiting until now, we got these sheared before slaughter. My husband sold their fleeces, so we got the benefit of both the meat to eat and the wool to sell.
Ooh! We are currently incubating eggs and heading into being a chicken family. Our new house came with a chicken coop and my dad is lending us the incubator and tub and all the stuff we need to hatch chicks. (He gave us the eggs, too.) I've never heard of preserving eggs in lime before!
I have a post about it here: https://going-country.blogspot.com/2023/07/tips-lime-preserving-eggs.html
1. We took the kids to a free roller skating party at the YMCA. My daughter and I also met her friend for a play date this weekend. We went to a city-owned ice arena for ice skating, which is much cheaper ($13 for 3.5 hrs of skating and skates for 2 of us!). It was so fun!
2. My mom gave us fruit, bread, vegetables, corn tortillas, and canned tomatoes. Some of the bananas I froze and the rest I used to make banana popsicles for my daughter. The tomatoes I dehydrated to become sundried tomatoes. I juiced the over-ripe clementines and lemons.
3. While I was using the dehydrator, I also dehydrated some over-ripe grapes we had in the refrigerator.
4. I picked up a nerf dart vest off Buy Nothing for my kids.
5. Signed my daughter and I up for our 3rd session of judo at our rec center. It's $100 per person for 3 classes a week for 3 months, which is incredibly cheap for martial arts.
1. I used up my Kohl's cash before it expired and went through my email and followed the steps to redeem my $5 birthday Kohl's cash. (It doesn't automatically add to your account - you have to add it like a coupon code.) I have a cardigan, shirt, and hair ties coming my way for less than $3.
2. I paid cash when I renewed my driver's license to avoid a credit card fee.
3. Gave haircuts at home to my husband and son.
4. Strawberries have been on sale a lot lately, so I froze some for smoothies. Also, we ended up with about 2 gallons of pineapple juice from some buckets of pineapple spears at work and I took it home to drink and freeze into cubes for smoothies. Can't throw that out!
5. I followed all the steps to get my $20 gift card from donating blood. I opted for Starbucks since I enjoy it from time to time, but never feel great about paying for it. I added it to my existing Starbucks card so it's ready to go.
My frugal things:
1. I picked up some Gluten free / almost expired groceries from Buy Nothing.
2. We went out Saturday night and left the Pay App Lot since it would only show a 12-hour park option for $28. We found free street parking right next to the lot.
3. We used up some old carrots in Sunday's dinner.
4. I did not "stock-up" at the grocery store -- this is a goal of mine this year.
5. I did not drink any coffee out. I usually don't, but I need to fill out my frugal list.
Hondas gave excellent heaters and defrosters! I believe your seat warmer assessment- my 2020 CRV doesn’t have one.
We signed up for a free trial of Peacock TV so that we could watch a show about my husband’s high school- then we promptly cancelled after watching it. Too easy to forget and get charged for a monthly subscription.
My husband’s Sirius satellite radio
promotion subscription of $5 a month expired, and there was NO WAY that I was ok with the full cost rate of $19.99 a month - so I called and politely asked for a discount. We now have a rate of $4
per month for 6 month. I wrote on the calendar when it expires so I’ll call when the renewal date approaches.
We are really taking advantage of the free programming available at our local library. Last week we went to a talk by a retired college professor on artificial intelligence.
I bought a veggie choooer at the thrift store. I’ve been wanting one for the longest time, but challenged myself to find it second hand. It was 1/6 the price of a new one, plus I’m focusing on buying whst I need second hand
Good job with Sirius! Never pay full price for them. We just renewed the second time for 3 yrs/$99. That's only $33 per yr and includes fees and the app so we can use in all our vehicles and at home. Being polite definitely helps. (This is a nonrefundable rate.)
@Kim, what in the world is a “veggie choooer”???
I think she means Veggie Chopper. I love mine! When I broke mine (from pressing too hard on it), I was also lucky enough to find one at a thrift store.
Not Kim, but my guess is "chopper." I'm a challenged typist, and "o" and "p" are side-by-side.
Lol, a typo. Veggie chopper !
This week I am going to be frugal by eating foods I already have - the freezer needs a good clean out. Instead of take-out, I will pack a lunch from home to take to a park for an outing, I will go to a library book club meeting (free), do some minor home fix-its with supplies I already own, and just in general spend less, if anything. The temptation is there, but I really need a week of no-spend. I might have grocery fillers to buy on Friday, but that will be a very small list.
I'm with you on garage parking - I am not a fan of street parking in downtown settings.
- I hemmed my son-in-law's suit pants where he had pulled the loose thread and undid the entire hem. I had to watch a few videos to remember how to do a blind stitch.
- I baked 4 loaves of bread and shared with our kids. Frugal fail - I forgot to add the oil to one batch before kneading so that batch went into the trash.
- We ate leftover pizza from our daughter's birthday dinner for two meals.
- I mailed in the form to get a copy of my brother's death certificate instead of driving to the other side of the county to the health department. I needed it to start my petition to the court to administer his estate.
- I planned our weekly menu around the grocery store sale ad. I deviated from my plan to try out a pork blade steak because it was on sale for $3.
The FG has a bit of a sideline of bread dough rescue, although might not have time for that anymore.
https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/a-failed-bread-dough-rescue-with-williamb/
WilliamB,
I remember that bread rescue post! It was a delight to re-read, too. 🙂
Not a ton here--we had a pretty exhausting week.
1. I've been doing a really good job of packing my lunch. Not perfect; sometimes I buy a little snack at work, but much less expensive than buying my lunch.
2. Frugal weekend fun: We visited family and went to an event at our synagogue (an afternoon service, snacks, board games and puzzles for the kids.) It was really nice. Mr. B also took our girl to an event at a local observatory. It costs less than going to the movies but is way, way more fun.
3. We were right at the end of our laundry detergent so I eked out one more small load by rinsing out the bottle.
4. Mr. B and I will be celebrating our anniversary soon. We agreed that we don't want to buy each other gifts this year, since we're moving and we have some expensive months coming up. Dinner out is enough of a treat!
5. Aaaaaaaand this has nothing to do with my choices, but our free babysitters (a.k.a my parents) have returned from snowbird-ing. Huzzah!
Meira, whenever I read 'Mr B' my mind thinks 'Mr Beebe' from A Room With a View! Haha!
Haha! I named him Mr. B because it makes me smile to refer to him that way, plus referring to him as "Hubby" or DH is not my thing. Similarly I hated referring to him as "my boyfriend" when he was.
to each their own. i hate referring to my hubby as babe. hearing babe always makes me think of the babe pig movie. i sometimes call him boo boo. like yogi bear's friend boo boo.
I can't stand the word 'hubby'!
happy anniversary!!!
Thank you! Our actual anniversary falls during Passover this year so I thought it prudent to celebrate in advance.
Scoured my pantry and freezer to see what I can cook up for my biweekly card game—I am hostess this week and will provide lunch for 4 of us.I found some cubed chicken breast from a costco chicken, some pie crusts, and a bag of mixed veggies,So— CHICKEN POT PIE IT IS.
I have an abundance of salad greens so a large salad will go with.
Chips at winco were just $2.00 for. large bag and a jar of salsa from pantry.
I always put out grapes, $1.46 a pound at winco and make a coffee cake from Krusteaz mix..it only requires 1 egg and 1/4 cup oil to mix up.The Trader Joe mixes require tons of eggs and butter..so not very economical and everyone loves the Krusteaz.
Entertaining ourselves from 11-4 is a fun and frugal way to enjoy friendship and food at home! no driving..we all live on the same block.We discuss EVERYTHING politics,sex,religion,movie stars, books we are reading,parks we are enjoying, and everything else, lol!!
Tomorrow's frugality: A long walk at the Riparian Park next to our local library, so I get some exercise, and a library date with my dear husband all for free!!
1) Similar to yours, Kristen, I pay for DS19's Spotify subscription (for now, he will be on his own post-college) & I noticed they had a college student discount! We jumped through the hoops, and we should now be paying $5.99/month instead of $11.99/month. Yay!
2) DS19 is home for spring break & requested steak & crostini for a dinner. The steak was not frugal, but the crostini was quite frugal. I had baguette & goat cheese in the freezer. You mix the goat cheese with lemon (off of our tree), garlic (in the fridge), and thyme (from the garden). It was a nice "use it up" appetizer option.
3) I finished our taxes, and got the payments all set up. While not owing is even better, I'm thrilled to have this off of my plate & done for the year. I also completed DS20's taxes (he got a refund) & verified that DS19 didn't have to file this year. Hurrah. The tax file is now in the filing cabinet, where it will stay until we can shred it in ten years or whatever. Oh, and I verified that I had two TurboTax cash back credit card offers. One was for $5 off a purchase, but the other was for 30% cash back. We've been audited numerous times, so I always by the audit defense, and we have to pay to file in California as well, so the 30% cash back was by far the better deal. Paid with that card.
4) Booked two nights for family weekend at the local Hyatt in Boulder. Used 12,000 Hyatt points/night, which is ... quite a bit more reasonable than the $1,200/night the hotel wants!
5) We've been closely monitoring & adjusting our power usage, to make better choices around peak times. We've begun setting our dishwasher to a delayed start, and keeping a close eye on laundry usage & car charging.
when your son is posted college I recommend buying a Spotify 12 month gift card for $99. They sell them on Amazon. If he has any problems getting an email confirmation call Amazon customer service with your order #. I also recommend doing this with Kindle Unlimited. And Netflix etc. Amazon has 450+ gift cards
I turned in a small amount of change to the bank. They added it to my checking account. Never underestimate the power of nickels and pennies.
I was going to buy a season pass this week for next year for cross country for free the next couple of weeks Then I went to a coop cross country place. They have a program where I can teach littles once a week for 8 weeks, I get a free ski pass. That is totally up my ally and saves $500.
I am getting really tired of selling things on Facebook marketplace with all the haggling. I realize now, the best practice is just not buy anything unless it is absolutely necessary. Life is too short to be tied to "things."
Typo: so I can ski for free this spring.
This list is from a few weeks.
1. Working many hours, so there was very little chance to go anywhere to spend money.
2. When I did get to the store, it was so late that there were quite a few reduced items out--bread, meat, prepared foods, etc.
3. I was blessed with some free home-cooked food from my mom because she knew my busy schedule.
4. I found cheap tinfoil at the dollar store. I tried a reward/craft activity with my class--tinfoil sculptures. I had wanted to try this activity for a few years, and we had a lot of fun. Not bad to reward a whole class for only $5!
5. I found a toonie (Canadian $2 coin) on the road.
6. I mended some items to extend their useful life.
7. I returned my bottles and containers to get the deposit refund. It was also nice to get them out of the house.
8. I'm mostly staying home during Spring Break. I'll take a day trip to the nearest city where I will spend money shopping. However, I haven't traveled there since Christmas, so I feel it is worth it.
I haven't posted in a while because I'm mostly a lurker, but this morning I'm babysitting my grandson at my daughter's work conference and he's napping in my arms. So here goes:
1. Got free coffee and breakfast from my daughter's work conference.
2. Just found out she'll bring me lunch as well!
3. Brought my water bottle on this trip.
4. Helped my daughter reuse an old nursing pillow cover that was slightly worn rather than buying a new one.
5. Will pack snacks leftover from work conference for our "dinner" on drive home.
How lovely to have your grandson napping in your arms! It seems to me that you, your daughter, and your grandson are all lucky in this arrangement!
FFT, This and That Edition (revised/updated from yesterday's FFT at the NCA):
(1) The preliminary cleanout at NDN1's house continues. I emptied her refrigerator last week so that we could unplug it and cut down further on her National Grid bill. (I'd already turned the furnace down from her preferred 74 to 62, now that she's no longer living there.) And, believe me, the stuff at the back of the fridge would have made strong men faint. Fortunately, I'm a strong woman.
(2) NDN1's CF is coming over this afternoon to help with more cleanout and the search for more valuables--which keep turning up in the oddest places. (Remember that this house could probably qualify for an episode of Hoarders.) CF has been regularly running the loose coins we're finding through her credit union (which saves us a service charge) and then banking the money in NDN1's account.
(3) Here on the home front, I made banana bread Sunday, substituting maple syrup for brown sugar (since my brown sugar had turned into a brick). The result was excellent, and I may do it this way from now on--especially since I'm using up a quart of NY State syrup I got Reduced for Quick Sale at Price Chopper a while back (the lid was damaged). I recall Kristen's "how to un-brick a brick of brown sugar" instructions from a while back, but I think I honestly prefer the maple version.
(4) While I had my flours and other dry ingredients out, I also made up a batch of whole wheat pancake mix. Another use for the maple syrup.
(5) And, along with everyone else, I'm grimly watching the price of gas rise--even though we're not suffering in Central NY as much as some of you in major US metropolitan areas and other parts of the world. My parents--who were children of the Great Depression and young marrieds during WWII--made "Is this trip necessary?" part of our household vocabulary, and I'm bringing the phrase out of storage now.
The symphony membership is so nice!
*I redeemed a free fountain drink from Maverick. I took my own insulated cup to fill.
*I'm continuing to use up random items from my freezer. This week I turned a cup of shredded pork roast into barbecue pork sandwiches, made a mini lemon pie for Pi Day using up a jar of graham cracker crumbs and some frozen lemon juice, and served half a pound of ground beef with some frozen leftover pasta sauce.
*A neighbor left 4 wide-mouth quart jars on my step. I use these for storing pasta and beans in my pantry.
*I bake all of our bread, cakes, cookies, etc, and use a lot of flour. My favorite flour is from a small regional mill about 100 miles from my house. We are seldom in that area but last Friday we were and stopped by the mill. I was able to buy my favorite flour for half the price as in the store. (This brand comes in cotton bags that make fantastic dish towels, so that's a bonus.)
We had our first camping getaway of the year. We stayed relatively close to home, so only used one tank of gas. We camped one night in a National Park campground for $10, and two nights for free on public land. Free museum admission and free hiking, plus we lucked out with perfect weather.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s a lot of families made their children's clothes from old flour sacks. So the mills started package the flour in cloth bags that had attractive print designs on the material, so that the children would not be ashamed of what they wore. I think that is a very sweet story from our American history, showing the goodness of the people helping others.
What is the name of the flour mill? I'd love to see if they can ship.
Thanks!
I need to go to a symphony soon! There are also free concerts here.
Frugals:
1. I wanted to watch the film White Oleander and the whole thing is on youtube. I also wanted to read the book again, so I reserved it from the library. I also reserved another book I want to read.
2. I found a new show I want to watch but it's not on a streaming service I currently use. I found another series on the service I currently have, and am planning to cancel soon, so I watched that show instead.
3. I packed a lunch for work.
4. I line dried some clothes.
5. I went into a large supermarket when I was out over the weekend and found a lot of things which I need on sale.
I love how versatile the black dress is and how often you use it!
My Frugal 5s
1- For Food:
- Got 4% merchant credit off my credit card when I brought $200 worth of groceries. Will get a few dollars back.
- Brought home some food like bagels and cherry tomatoes from the food pantry that could not be handed out.
- Also brought home some brownies for my girls as an after school snack.
- Used up food at home to make pull pork, chili, fried rice, and pasta.
2 - For Reading:
- Reading the book "The Body Teaches the Soul" for free off my husband's kindle unlimited trial subscription.
- Read "The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever" through Libby on my Kindle.
- Also put on hold tons of books and DVDs through the interlibrary loan. Will pick those up through the bookmobile when they come through our area.
- Will exchange books at home with books at school from other parents through their Family Bingo Night event.
3 - For Hobbies:
- Using up what I got for free from the library and with craft supplies that already had at home. Planning on making a couple air dry ornaments for the girls, felt ornaments for the Christmas tree, and finish a wreath making project.
- Using up what I brought. Going through a sewing guide I brought. Will start on a couple small cross stitching projects that we got for free a few years back as a summer reading prize from the library. After that, will start an embroidery kit that I brought online at a 10% discount that had great reviews.
4 - For Clothing:
- Mended holes in my girls' clothing.
- Substituted my youngest holey socks with extras that we had.
- Practicing hand sewing techniques to help mend clothes better.
5 - Others:
- Staying close to home and not going out much in this cold weather.
- Still driving our old vehicles.
- Catching up with family and friends through text messages and video chats.
- Girls are exert energy by walking on the tread mill and playing outside in the snow.
Allergic to street parking! That cracked me up.
I agree with the heated seats being enough; although, on days when the windshield is icy (like today-coating 1/2 inch thick of ice covered with 3 inches of snow) we do use the auto start. It still needed scraping but it was much easier.
Have you tried using Spothero to get cheaper parking when you go to the symphony?
1. Chiropractor sent my bill. It said payment due March 12. But I received it in the mail on March 16. There was also someone else's bill inside the envelope along with mine. I phoned the clinic and got the late fee waived. I also mailed the other person's billing statement to them with a note of explanation. Even though the young gal who handled my call said to just throw it away. I don't think they know what they are doing.
2. Most of the pieces of wood from my downed tree have been taken away. My friend from church came by and offered to do the remaining work trying to save the rest of the tree for much less than my usual yard man charges. So I called the latter up and politely told him I hired someone else, and he need not return for rest of this project. (Church friend thinks I got ripped off, and that the yard man overcharged me for sawing up the downed tree trunk and limbs.)
3. Combined rest of frozen food leftover stuffed peppers and sauce with pasta to make a filling and flavorful dinner.
4. Ate sausage kolaches once again given to me by coworker. Free breakfast!
5. Found a deal for a nice refurbished laptop computer for $85, + free shipping. Ordered one. TV news said electronic items (like everything else) are going way up in price.
1. Your post reminded me that I got a refund on a bag of potatoes from a recent Amazon Fresh order. A couple of the potatoes were rotten and I know I wouldn’t have picked up that bag on my own. I got a prompt refund for the potatoes.
2. Our puppy was neutered last week. I brought our fabric Elizabethan collar that we bought for our older dog (much softer on their body when they bump into anything but still deters from licking) so we were able to take that charge off the final bill.
3. I’ve been staying home to supervise our recovering puppy so I’m saving gas money and a planned date night turned into a stay at home cooking date night.
4. I’ve been craving salad the last couple of weeks and I have been having a fun time making salad dressing to go with them. I make lots of things from scratch but there is a little thrill I get when I make something deceptively easy like salad dressing or spice blends.
5. I couldn’t find my second loaf pan so my husband reduced the size of a small casserole dish by adding some crumpled foil. I was making a shaped loaf (babka) so this solution was a great one!
Spent the day with my two favorite cousins. It was 77f, the lawnmower blew a fuse and they came for a fix and visit. I made them French dip sandwiches and veggies and hummus. Originally they said they only had an hour, ended up being 6 hours and so much fun!
While I had strapping men for help, I installed a new gate at the big barn and they helped me unhook the fertilizer spreader off my littler tractor.
Spread the ditch flower seeds, planted more veggie seeds in the greenhouse.
Dried most our laundry on the clothes lines.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to my Irish friends and happy birthday to my bil...your cookies are cooling right now (I will deliver to his jobsite with a thermos of coffee. A time honored tradition!)
I'm going to try & participate....
1. I got rid of 2 flimsy file cabinets and got one tall sturdy one for free instead. Will have much more storage in this filing cabinet.
2. Saw an old gift card in the cupboard the other day and used it on dinner one day last week when I needed a break from cooking. Spent nothing out of pocket; still have a small balance.
3. I was gifted a cantaloupe from the food bank who operates out of my work building
4. Our daughter figure out how to cancel a Peacock subscription we no longer wanted.
5. I did a search for online coupons when ordering flea/tick medicine for our dog. I saved 25% off my order, plus from ordering before, I didn't realize I had a bit of rewards that I applied towards my order plus I ordered a second dose to get free shipping. With all these discounts, I saved $45.77 on my order!!!
6. we sold a few of our chickens to someone who needed some that would lay eggs right now. $50 in our pocket.
I canceled my remote start service too for Toyota, and then I found out on Reddit that there's a hack to start remotely just using your key fob. A combination of buttons pushed.
1. I returned an empty 5 gallon water bottle which gave me half off the purchase of a new one for camp.
2. I've been cooking all of my meals at camp with the admittedly too large amount of pantry goods I brought from home. While it was difficult to make room for in my SUV for the trip down, my grocery bill has been averaging 20-30 a week and most of that is ice cubes
3. I redeemed a free cup of coffee T-Mobile reward when I didn't want to make coffee in my outdoor kitchen in horizontal rain.
4. I hand washed laundry in a Scrubba bag and line dried it instead of paying at a Laundromat
5. The blacksmith booth gave me a bottle of the smokey salt they make and sell after I performed The Hammer and the Anvil for them at their booth by request. It will be a Christmas stocking stuffer for my husband
1. I finished some nearly freezer-burned fruit by putting it in my morning oatmeal.
2. I batched errands on the other side of town (25 min drive). I was able to use some merchandise return credits (from returning unneeded baby clothes that we received without a gift receipt) and some gift cards to buy formula, although the situation was not perfectly optimized. I won’t go into details but I ended up not being able to spend about $12 of the credits when ideally I would have cleared them out completely. Oh well!
3. Continuing to cook from the freezer and pantry and working to avoid food waste. I recently made banana bread and added elderberries I picked last summer. I couldn't taste them but they looked pretty, and maybe they added some extra health benefits.
4. I received a free protein pancake/waffle mix via a rebate from Aisle.
5. I received multiple cans of past-BB date diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and tomato sauce from two different people. About half of them have already been used in a soup I regularly make. Some of the cans had a BB date in late 2023, so I was happy to get them eaten.
6. Frugal happiness: an orchid that I bought several months ago sent out two additional spikes (I think that is the term?) after it finished blooming, and those two limbs are now opening up to bloom. I’ve never had this happen before and it’s wonderful to have more flowers for free.
Kristin- I'm glad you got a refund on the Harvest box. You look lovely in your clearance dress for the concert!
Here are my 5 frugals:
1) Took a trip to a major city and got a huge 585 sq ft room for $88.
2) I got a raise at work.
3) I will start putting seeds in the outdoor pots and put plastic on top to quickly make them sprout. I hope for a good year.
4) Getting free bagels from the local bakery since they send online coupons.
5) Got great prices on clearance beef and sausage (local and grass fed).
1. A friend was given a Fisker weed tool for Christmas, which she will never use, so she gave it to me. It will definitely help in my yard.
2. Helped the same friend with some home organization and she fed me breakfast and lunch plus gave me a ride to and from the mechanic.
3.Sold something on Facebook marketplace place for my friend and she split the profits with me, despite my insisting it was too much.
4. Also listed several more things of mine on Marketplace and sold one of them.
4.Once again, I got CVS cash which I used to get two more cards for free.
1. I loaned my Instant Pot to my neighbor so she could cook a corned beef brisket for Saint Patrick's Day. We do a lot of back and forth sharing; it's beneficial to both of us.
2. I used up items in the fridge to make an omelet for breakfast.
3. I organized a cluttered desk and found several tubes of super glue, glue sticks, lens wipes, post-it notes, a mini magnifying glass, a container of straight pins, and notepads. And a quarter. Also lots of stuff to throw away.
4. Saved brown paper from a package to reuse.
5. Watching the snow melt on my car. I'm not using it again till it's gone!
A lot of mine revolve around food...
We were supposed to meet friends for pizza Friday (happy hour 25% off pizza, plus using gift cards we buy at Costco around the holidays, $100 worth for $74.99), but, we had a freak snowstorm (first snow of the year!) and our friends were stuck in their neighborhood by downed trees. So, we punted and went to a local place where we both got chicken sandwiches. I ate only half, so had the other half and remaining fries Saturday for lunch. For work dinners Sat/Sun, I took leftover chicken pot pie (from Thursday) and leftover Mongolian grill from the freezer. That MG meal last week (for $20), gave me 5 meals! This is a place you compile your own bowl of ingredients and seasonings and they grill it. I probably should have put more veggies in, but I really know how to pack on the noodles in a way that doesn't cost for an oversized bowl. That, plus the scoop of rice they add, gave me enough food to eat there, plus have 4 more meals. Old me would have eaten half there and had leftovers but I am trying to work on portion control and listen more carefully to my body. 🙂
Last night we ate leftovers (the last of Mongolian for me, and meatloaf for him), tonight I pulled ham and potato soup out for me for work.
I grouped errands, borrowed books from the library, clipped coupons from the grocery, bought minimal groceries, bought gas at Costco, where even there, I try not to look at the price. I negotiated a payment plan for my elderly uncle's recent hospital bills and am using his monthly Humana card to pay for it, so it doesn't come out of his small bank account.
I am also working on planning several trips, the first of which is helping my daughter's family move to another state. My other daughter will make the drive with them in the suburban with the 2 youngest kids (and the caravan which includes older grandson and his girlfriend, oldest granddaughter and 2nd grandson, son-in-law in the moving truck, and his sister and niece who volunteered to drive the last car). In the mean time, I am working on flights, (have to fly into Vegas and drive), and accommodations for my younger daughter and I. I will likely use a free night award at a Marriott property for arrival night, then move to a VRBO for the remainder. That cuts down on hotel/condo fees, and, the condo has a splash pad and slides at the pool which my younger 2 grands will love, and will be a nice break amidst the moving chaos. I'm booking my car through Costco (often cheaper, plus free second driver), and using points for at least 1 flight.
The second trip will use a companion fare to visit parents with my sister, so we will split, plus again a car rental through Costco. That involves flying into Boston and a 3 hr drive north. We will repeat that for our nephew's wedding in October, but stay just outside of Boston. Unfortunately, it's leaf peeper season, so finding reasonable cost accommodations for a long weekend will be a challenge. I understand it's also some kind of college (homecoming?) weekend in Amhurst. Still in the planning stages. Finally, we are taking a European (Italian/French Riviera) cruise in September. I worked with an online company and ended up getting the cruise for about $2k less than the original price, with significantly upgraded room type, plus wifi/drink package for free. We never would have purchased a drink package, but wanted wifi. We won't purchase shore excursions in general. Instead, I'm getting books from the library and doing online research to learn about the best things to see in the port cities. We will do our own train trip to Cinque Terre and to Pisa rather than paying for tour groups. I am comparing costs for a tour to Tivoli from Rome before the cruise vs doing it on our own. I guess If I am spending money, my goal is to always save/get the best deals while doing so!
1. For our last week at the Airbnb, I inventoried our food provisions and wrote up a plan to use up everything here or on the road home. Kristen's Cilantro Lime Sauce recipe came just in time as I had all the ingredients to use up!
2. Stayed in a hotel for an extra night to avoid arriving in Minnesota during a blizzard. Not frugal but more frugal than injury, death or a damaged car.
3. Stayed at hotels with reasonable pet fees. One of the hotels gave us a cute gift bag of dog biscuits.
4. Enjoyed the hot cocoa machine at one hotel.
5. We needed almost everything for the fridge, freezer and pantry when we got home, so I brought my entire master grocery list to the store with me.
Hi Kristen, I was wondering if you would considerer sharing a step by step post or a series on how you made all the financial plans once you decided to divorce. I think it'll be a life changing post for women/ moms who must leave after a long term DV/ DA marriage especially as a SAHM/ homeschooling mom who lived most of their lives in Stockholm Syndrome. I just met a mom with 3 little kids, and her husband just left them for another woman- totally out of the blue, and she has no clue what to do for money!!! Please consider it. Thank you.
Beautiful dress!
1. I'm using all sorts of upcycled things for seed starting.
2. Made your chocolate pudding recipe to use milk.
3. Had a meatless meals of beans, noodles and your French bread recipe.
4. Found a dime
5. Got a free chair!
Longer version and pictures here: https://practicalwalk.com/2026/03/16/frugal-five-a-bluebonnet/
I have to speak re: your no out of pocket cost for the gift cards. There are fees when you pay via CC. So while *technically* no out of pocket, you've paid a higher price for every purchase via your CC. I hate fees, I hate "rewards" unless earned via a good old punch card from a local small business where we always pay cash. One treats us well and we always tip extra when we get $ when we use the punch card.
Thanks for that tip last week about how to get to the free Turbo tax option. I've shared it with several people.
– We paid off our vehicle years early. We threw any extra money we had at it and added extra principal to our payments. It was financed for 5 years and we saved thousands in interest.
– I saved a potentially embarrassing and expensive service call by figuring out what was wrong with the ice maker on our fridge. It would not dispense ice and was showing a code. I know from experience that ice makers can freeze up if ice is not dispensed for a long time. So I dumped the old ice and let it make new ice. But it still wouldn't dispense and showed the same code. Before I got the book for the fridge to troubleshoot this code, I stuck my hand down the ice dispenser shoot and found two sticks of wrapped butter in there! Not sure if they fell in or were mistakenly put there, (uh hmm - had a talk with hubby) but once removed, ice dispenses fine. Whew!
– accepted a new Doctors without Borders reusable shopping bag from my sister and put it in my car.
– I rang up and bagged all my own groceries at Walmart, using my reusable shopping bags. I brought home just 3 plastic Walmart bags, a significant reduction from the 15 or more bags I usually bring home when the cashiers bag. Cashiers seem reluctant to bag in customer bags so I decided to use self check and use my own bags.
– I froze some leftover veggies for soup and a few very ripe bananas for smoothies or banana bread.
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No artichokes??? They are mostly for dipping in garlic butter or curry mayo--so-o-o good, probably because you mostly taste the dip.
Glad they are good about refunding. What an odd combo in the box. Looks like someone filling it got distracted.
My dad's favorite joke about potato leek soup was "first you take a leek". He thought that was hilarious.
Our frugal things are getting our CSA and trying to use it up (Cabbage, so much cabbage! and Carrots the diameter of baseball bats that taste great). Cooking from scratch, making coffee with my trusty Aeropress instead of trying out the new Blue Bottle coffee shop ($10 for a coffee--before tip, OY).