Author Topic: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?  (Read 8020628 times)

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12350 on: January 10, 2019, 04:04:33 PM »
Sanded down and refinished the stair handrail instead of replacing it (also spray-painted the mounting hardware instead of replacing).

Found two boards that were part of a bed frame that was left in our rental.  They have been kicking around our backyard and getting weathered.  It suddenly occurred to me that I could salvage them for shelves flanking the fireplace mantel.  Sanded, stained, and added a little more "distress" to them, and they are looking pretty good.

No driving today.

Ate homegrown eggs and green chile for breakfast and finished off some leftover cooked spaghetti squash for lunch.

OtherJen

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12351 on: January 10, 2019, 08:59:22 PM »
Tonight’s dinner was a clear-out-the-fridge meal: the last few ounces of leftover lentil soup, a small portion of leftover roasted root veggies, a leftover piece of chicken tossed with some buttered noodles. Now I really DO have to cook tomorrow.

Poundwise

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12352 on: January 10, 2019, 09:24:19 PM »
Bought a spiral cut ham at Target on sale for $1.99/lb. Use a Cartwheel for a 50% discount. I popped it in the freezer to use on Easter.

HOLY CRAP! Thanks for the heads up. We're headed there tonight!

aren't they much cheaper than that around easter time? i feel like i've seen .59 a pound for easter hams

Dunno. They were out of them anyway. BUT they had whole chickens BOGO 50% off, plus each one had a $3 off coupon plus another 5% off for using a Redcard. They were nice consolation prizes.

Could you get a rain check? Some screamin' deals!

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12353 on: January 12, 2019, 10:07:54 AM »
I am sick since yesterday morning, so I'm not going anywhere or spending anything. Not even spending  online.

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12354 on: January 12, 2019, 10:23:46 AM »
Made pancakes from excess sourdough starter.  Topped them with blueberries grown by a generous co-worker.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12355 on: January 12, 2019, 05:48:56 PM »
-My husband fixed both a pool & electrical issue. Which, unfortunately, were related. We are super lucky there wasn't a fire while we were out of town. The pool repair alone would have been several thousand dollars had we not discovered the issue, so I suppose the electrical led to that. But, yikes.
-Made a pumpkin/banana chocolate chip bread for a friend. I only had enough pumpkin for one loaf, and bananas likewise, so I combined them & it turned out great.
-Ate food from the freezer for lunch
-The kids hand made Christmas thank you cards. They turned out really well, and have an origami Christmas tree that comes out of the card when you open it.
-Used Rite Aid rewards to pick up a few things we needed

OtherJen

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12356 on: January 12, 2019, 07:23:08 PM »
Went to a free knitting circle meeting held at a local nature center. Technically, one needs to pay for a day or annual pass to get into the surrounding park, but my in-laws gave me an annual pass for Christmas so it didn't cost me anything out of pocket.

Bought all weekly groceries at Aldi instead of the more convenient but more expensive Kroger.

Raided the freezer for meat for dinner.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12357 on: January 13, 2019, 03:01:45 PM »
* Got gasoline for the car at the debit-card-only station instead of another more expensive gas station. Kept about $7 in my bank account.

* Was prepared with a stockpile of gifts for a late-notice kids’ birthday party and used a giftbag from our stash, so stayed out of the car unnecessarily and didn’t spend extra for wrapping.

DreamFIRE

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12358 on: January 13, 2019, 03:58:30 PM »

Shoveled/snowblowed 15" of snow out of my driveway over 2 days instead of paying someone else to do it.  My snowblower was undersized for the job.

Roadrunner53

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12359 on: January 13, 2019, 04:07:27 PM »
We made a spatchcock chicken and saved all the bones, skin and scraps. Added onions, parsnips, celery, Better than Boullion, water, ginger powder, a tiny bit of lemon juice, peppercorns and some apple cider vinegar (just a tad). The vinegar is supposed to help the bones break down I think. It is in the crock pot and will simmer all night long. I will cook it about 16 hours or more. Will have some delicious (almost) FREE broth tomorrow! Mmmmmm! So much better than the broth you buy in the store!

OmahaSteph

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12360 on: January 15, 2019, 08:47:37 AM »
1. Finished the nightmare, two-week process of switching over DH and I from AT&T to Consumer Cellular.
2. Ate leftovers for dinner.
3. Made stock out of leftover frozen chicken carcasses and veggies.
4. Switch prescriptions to Walmart after checking GoodRx for the lowest nearby prices.
5. Sold two items on eBay.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12361 on: January 15, 2019, 05:02:49 PM »
* Curb shopping: Someone discarded a plastic laundry cart with three plastic laundry baskets. The cart and one of the baskets were trashed but the other two were pristine and I grabbed them for use at our house.

* Buy used and save the difference: Picked up some more size #1 diapers at Goodwill for baby due May

* Buy used and save the difference: Picked up a Spider-Man “Thermos Funtainer” at Goodwill. We have a stash of the pieces that are usually missing from these so this is a good deal on a reusable water bottle my kids like to use.

Threshkin

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12362 on: January 16, 2019, 03:01:26 PM »
* Curb shopping: Someone discarded a plastic laundry cart with three plastic laundry baskets. The cart and one of the baskets were trashed but the other two were pristine and I grabbed them for use at our house.

* Buy used and save the difference: Picked up some more size #1 diapers at Goodwill for baby due May

* Buy used and save the difference: Picked up a Spider-Man “Thermos Funtainer” at Goodwill. We have a stash of the pieces that are usually missing from these so this is a good deal on a reusable water bottle my kids like to use.

Used diapers?  Now that is hard core!

35andFI

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12363 on: January 16, 2019, 03:07:56 PM »
Yesterday: after car was pronounced DOA by the mechanic, hiked 7 miles to work instead of renting a car.

Nice! Sorry to hear about the car.

You don't have a bicycle?

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12364 on: January 17, 2019, 12:36:18 PM »
Quote
Used diapers?  Now that is hard core!

I realize now I could have phrased that better LOL.

* We’ve had an amazing week of rain so turned off the irrigation sprinklers for the maximum nine days.

* Pretty much stuck inside so got out the vacuum and cleaned the dusty grunk on the air conditioning vent, the fridge coils and inside the dryer behind the front panel. I can call that last one a $90 savings bc that’s what Sears used to charge for cleaning out the inside of your dryer. (All the old lint that accumulates inside the machine can be tinder for an electrical fire as my parents once learned.)


jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12365 on: January 17, 2019, 12:47:26 PM »
Quote
Used diapers?  Now that is hard core!

I realize now I could have phrased that better LOL.

* We’ve had an amazing week of rain so turned off the irrigation sprinklers for the maximum nine days.

* Pretty much stuck inside so got out the vacuum and cleaned the dusty grunk on the air conditioning vent, the fridge coils and inside the dryer behind the front panel. I can call that last one a $90 savings bc that’s what Sears used to charge for cleaning out the inside of your dryer. (All the old lint that accumulates inside the machine can be tinder for an electrical fire as my parents once learned.)


horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12366 on: January 17, 2019, 01:51:27 PM »
Refinishing some of our wooden furniture that is looking a bit worse for wear

Rural

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12367 on: January 17, 2019, 04:24:52 PM »
Went to the dental school in Grad School City to avoid having to get a full-price crown and learned I don't need a crown at all, just a filling.


Also took the bus to the dental school to avoid having to pay parking and saved at least $4 despite the round-trip bus fare.

Dollar Slice

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12368 on: January 17, 2019, 08:03:48 PM »
Remembered to cancel a credit card I've had for a jillion years before the annual fee kicked in. It used to be worth it for the rewards, but they torpedoed the value of the rewards last year so I wanted to get rid of it.

Also, I've been sick for the last 9 days, so I have spent no money except at the grocery store since last Thursday.

Greyweld

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12369 on: January 17, 2019, 08:07:16 PM »
cut our own drywall with the saw and saved $150 the plumber charges for a "drywall cutting fee."

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12370 on: January 17, 2019, 10:22:27 PM »
* Replaced our broken front doorknob ALL BY MYSELF. I know this seems like small potatoes but I’ve never done a doorknob before and it was stuck shut in a very awkward way. Saved a handyman fee.

* Roasted green coffee beans purchased in bulk for $5/lb.

* Rolled my own old-fashioned oats from bulk-purchased groats.

Dicey

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12371 on: January 18, 2019, 12:45:11 AM »
I have a helluva cold. I haven't left the house or bought anything today. I mustered enough energy to make dinner. I found a recipe for Turkey Tetrazzini and I had all of the ingredients on hand, so I made that. I figured the baking would kill any germs and had bonus kid make a salad. I really don't want the rest of my household to get sick, too.

Threshkin

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12372 on: January 18, 2019, 10:48:14 AM »
* Replaced our broken front doorknob ALL BY MYSELF. I know this seems like small potatoes but I’ve never done a doorknob before and it was stuck shut in a very awkward way. Saved a handyman fee.

* Roasted green coffee beans purchased in bulk for $5/lb.

* Rolled my own old-fashioned oats from bulk-purchased groats.

How do you roll your own oats?  Does is require special equipment?

10dollarsatatime

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12373 on: January 18, 2019, 10:50:20 AM »
Found an All-American 921 pressure canner at the thrift store yesterday!  Paid $30.  Retails around $300. :)  I have a 910, so the 921 will allow me to do batches more than twice as big!  That's half the time with the stove on in the summer, when it's already stupid hot in the house.

10dollarsatatime

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12374 on: January 18, 2019, 10:51:27 AM »
Found an All-American 921 pressure canner at the thrift store yesterday!  Paid $30.  Retails around $300. :)  I have a 910, so the 921 will allow me to do batches more than twice as big!  That's half the time with the stove on in the summer, when it's already stupid hot in the house.

35andFI

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12375 on: January 18, 2019, 08:04:53 PM »
Moved out of my parents house and rented a room in a shared house closer to work.

44 mile each way driving commute is now a 2.5 mile bike commute each way!

OtherJen

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12376 on: January 18, 2019, 08:23:06 PM »
Cooked Thai food at home instead of buying take out.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12377 on: January 18, 2019, 09:17:11 PM »
* Replaced our broken front doorknob ALL BY MYSELF. I know this seems like small potatoes but I’ve never done a doorknob before and it was stuck shut in a very awkward way. Saved a handyman fee.

* Roasted green coffee beans purchased in bulk for $5/lb.

* Rolled my own old-fashioned oats from bulk-purchased groats.

How do you roll your own oats?  Does is require special equipment?

Yes to special equipment (if you can do it manually I haven’t figured it out).

A couple of years ago I bought this German-made grain-flaker attachment for our KitchenAid mixer. (There are also stand-alone grain flakers and grain mills but the attachment made sense for us.)

I like slow-cooked groats for breakfast but many recipes (including oatmeal cookies) call for rolled oats. I felt stupid buying and storing two forms of the same seed so I bought the flaker. I assume you could also do “rolled barley” or “rolled wheat” but I haven’t tried.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BGW3GQZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xrQqCbN7C2NAB

middo

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12378 on: January 19, 2019, 12:07:59 AM »
I'm catching a budget airline today, so to save some money, I made myself a sandwich for dinner.  Except I left it in my sons fridge.

Looks like I'll arrive hungry.

Roadrunner53

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12379 on: January 19, 2019, 10:42:21 AM »
Yesterday I realized that my eggs were getting ready to expire. I was going to make boiled eggs but decided to do something different. I found this method on line to make poached eggs to eat the next day. They say some restaurants use this technique.

Bring a pot of water with a glug of white vinegar to a boil

Crack one egg at a time into a cup.

Swirl water a little and gently drop in one egg. Time for 3 1/2 minutes.

With a very large slotted spoon, remove egg and gently drop into ice water.

Continue with rest of eggs you intend to cook. Move each cooked, cooled egg into another storage container filled with ice cold water. Once all eggs are cooked, cooled and moved to the storage container, put eggs/water in fridge overnight.

When ready to cook, bring a pot of water to a gentle boil, no vinegar this time, and add eggs. I just added two eggs while the bread was in the toaster. Time eggs for one minute. With slotted spoon, remove and put on buttered toast. You should have nice runny poached eggs. Mine came out perfect.

I did poach each egg one by one the day before so as to make sure each egg cooked exactly 3 1/2 minutes then chilled in ice water.

Not sure if anyone is interested in this but it was a fun experiment that came out with a good ending!

Loretta

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12380 on: January 19, 2019, 02:36:06 PM »
Let’s see, I’ve stayed home all day as I’m still recovering from surgery and getting my sea legs back under me.  No internet purchases have been made today. No food has been ordered.  Last night I hung up some wet clean laundry in the bedroom to add some moisture to the dry winter air, while I had parts of my humidifier soaking away in a de-calcifying effort. 

I’m doing the Frugal Woods challenge and I’ve been spending the afternoon looking at old transactions.  I spent so much on crap food this year, it’s a great thing I had this surgery!  Also, I’ve been going over what I paid for gas and cat food the past year and trying to find ways to get those costs down. 

OtherJen

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12381 on: January 19, 2019, 04:02:02 PM »
Shoveled my own damn snow instead of paying a neighborhood kid to do it.

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12382 on: January 19, 2019, 09:00:15 PM »
Homemade pizza for dinner with homegrown pesto, garlic and tomato sauce.

Found some old fabric and made it into a curtain for the laundry room and hung it with some curtain rings that have been in storage since we moved.

Dicey

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12383 on: January 19, 2019, 10:19:14 PM »
Ugh, this cold is hanging on like a barnacle and I'm out of cold meds, so I slogged to Target for more. I wrote out a list of five items and that's all I bought. I gently but firmly refused their kind offer of something called a Red Card, and got the hell back home safely. One of the five items was a grocery item. I must say, I am shocked at their grocery prices, as I have noted somewhere else on the forum. Crazy! I am so spoiled by the plethora of less expensive places I have access to and am not too proud to avail myself of.

Trifle

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12384 on: January 20, 2019, 01:59:16 AM »
Cooked up a delicious bean and ham stew in the crockpot for dinner.  The hambone came from our Christmas ham, and the dry beans were ones I grew myself several years ago.  So cheap and so wonderful. 

That ham provided us with something like 5 family meals.  And now after our stew the bone will go to our chickens, who will love picking off the last tiny bits of fat and meat.   

2Birds1Stone

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12385 on: January 20, 2019, 03:34:00 AM »
A lot of times when we are busy and hungry on the weekends we will go for a "cheap" meal out which still costs $25-40 for two people. Yesterday we opted for a $4.99 BJ's rotisserie chicken. Not only did it make for a great dinner, but we have enough leftovers for 1-2 lunches each.

LWYRUP

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12386 on: January 20, 2019, 06:58:31 AM »

Had a friend over and we made tofu spring rolls and tofu pad thai.  Way cheaper than going out.  Way cheaper than babysitters. 

We made a huge pile of leftovers.  My friend left with three spring rolls and a dinner sized serving of pad thai for tomorrow.  I snapped up three tupperware bowls for lunch Tuesday, Wednesday, Thusday.  My wife did the same. 

Could have saved easily $150 compared to babysitter, eating out, stuffing our faces, little to no leftovers. 

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12387 on: January 20, 2019, 03:15:35 PM »

Had a friend over and we made tofu spring rolls and tofu pad thai.  Way cheaper than going out.  Way cheaper than babysitters. 

We made a huge pile of leftovers.  My friend left with three spring rolls and a dinner sized serving of pad thai for tomorrow.  I snapped up three tupperware bowls for lunch Tuesday, Wednesday, Thusday.  My wife did the same. 

Could have saved easily $150 compared to babysitter, eating out, stuffing our faces, little to no leftovers.

Nicely done!

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12388 on: January 21, 2019, 01:03:14 AM »
DH will travel to Sweden for work, by car. He will shop groceries there. Especially meat is cheap.

While he is away, I want to to some bulk cooking.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12389 on: January 21, 2019, 03:17:41 PM »
* USE IT UP: Some blackberries were drying out in the fridge so turned them into a cobbler and finished that off today

* MAKE DO: Canceled an order for a specific $8 mounting bracket because I found one on a top shelf while digging around for another piece of hardware

* INSOURCING: Installed two rails of hooks for our reusable bags; the hooks were bought on clearance when Orchard Supply Hardware was going out of business.

* INSOURCING: Finished installing the cup hooks under the cabinet, used up some nail-in cable clips and some saved wine corks to problem-solve.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12390 on: January 21, 2019, 05:57:09 PM »
-Filed my expense reports, so I'll be getting reimbursed for work travel quickly. I can use a corporate card, but booking specific purchases on my own credit card yields rewards.
-Chased down a flight credit with an airline
-Made lunch out of things lingering around the fridge
-My husband washed our cars, which were filthy after driving through the snow/graveled roads
-Making a big dinner, and leaving a plan for leftovers next week when my husband is again alone with the kids while I travel

Zamboni

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12391 on: January 21, 2019, 08:05:09 PM »
We have tickets to a show and decided at the last minute to take our son. When we looked online, we learned that student rush tickets are very cheap at the door on the day of the show. Since there are plenty of seats left, that is how we will get our extra ticket. :-)

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12392 on: January 22, 2019, 01:41:20 AM »
I walked to work today and will work back in the afternoon.

We ate cabbage yesterday, which is cheap. DH thought we ate it because it was cheap, but I just picked it for reasons of varying our diet.

Unique User

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12393 on: January 22, 2019, 05:48:14 AM »
DH brings home the shampoo bottles and soaps he uses in hotels, he uses so little shampoo that the bottles are usually mostly full.  This weekend I rounded them all up and using a funnel I emptied them all into a larger bottle, it filled up one huge bottle.   

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12394 on: January 22, 2019, 08:54:54 AM »
Since I'm still furloughed, I'm headed up to the stable to clean stalls all morning since the usual cleaner is out sick.  We didn't discuss payment, but hopefully I'll get a few bucks knocked off next month's board. 

Our master suite has this odd dressing area that my husband uses - in classic 70's style, it has these weird little "windows" next to the open doorway, and light bounces off the closet mirror through those windows, right into my face.  So I'm using some remnants of the tongue and groove pine from the barn door I just built to fill in the windows and block the light.

Just refinished our Lane cedar chest, and it is in need of new hardware.  I found some knobs laying around that will work, and at least for now, I'm going to just spray paint the old drawer pulls with a nickel finish since the drawer is bored at an unusual spacing.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12395 on: January 22, 2019, 12:58:30 PM »
Didn't leave the house yesterday.  But - made a really nice super with what we had.

Arbitrage

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12396 on: January 22, 2019, 02:09:20 PM »
Yesterday, kept the kids busy all day and had a fun 'family day' at a minimum of cost. 

- Morning at the climbing gym (we have a membership for one kid that gives one free pass per month to take the other kid).  The annual pass cost us $100 at a special rate, vs. the normal price of $32/session/kid.  So far, we've gotten a total of ten visits in three months, so I can't complain too much. 

- Home for homemade lunch after DW had to stop by work (which is adjacent to the climbing gym) - grilled cheese sandwiches and some odds and ends/snacks purchased at Aldi. 

- Afternoon hike in a nearby nature preserve that we'd never been to.  I had decided to stop whining about the lack of outdoor opportunities nearby (buried in the concrete jungle of LA County) and seek out what we do have.  Managed to get us outdoors in the hills, where we didn't see another person for 2+ hours.  Kids were loving it; it reinforced how much fun they can have outdoors with the simplest of things (dirt, rocks, sticks, climbing hills). 

- Made dinner at home in the Instant Pot.  Yummy greek chicken/rice/veggie dish.

- Watched half a movie on Blu-Ray at home with the kids. 

Spent a bit in gas to make this day happen, perhaps 1.5 gallons, but all in all was a success, and seemed to get into DW's head how nice it might be to be retired with the kids still young; truly convincing her to FIRE is an ongoing process, so this is a personal win. 

SimpleCycle

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12397 on: January 22, 2019, 04:01:21 PM »
I cleaned out the freezer a bit and made pineapple cherry muffins with some pineapple I found in there.  Pulled out some peaches and will make a peach crisp when they are defrosted.

Discovered we are out of brown rice so had to switch up dinner.  Making minestrone soup instead with stuff we have.

OtherJen

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12398 on: January 22, 2019, 04:08:24 PM »
Did the weekly grocery shop entirely at Aldi and the wholesale produce market. Molasses was the only thing I couldn't find at either store.

Gerard

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #12399 on: January 22, 2019, 08:31:38 PM »
Stayed home! Made kakavia and mayo from stuff in the fridge/freezer.