What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[soccerluvof4]

Was freezing today and just got back from the south. So literally sat on my ass, binge watched a season of Bosch on our 1 month free try of Amazon Prime and spent ZERO!

[horsepoor]

I really wanted my husband to take an Uber to the airport, but got up at 4:45 and drove him there in my PJs and slippers.  *yawn*  Upside:  got to work at 6 so I get to leave early!

Enquiring minds want to know if you're at work in PJs and slippers.

LOL, I went home and got dressed, but I doubt anyone would care if I did show up in PJs.  Benefit of a small city is a <15 minute drive to the airport.

Sounds like he should have ridden his bike. What forum is this!?

/s

Just need to find a good bush to stash it in near the airport and hope it's there when he gets back. ;)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Same as usual:
-Ate breakfast, lunch & snacks at work
-Price checked various flight/frequent flyer/reward options for an upcoming trip in April. Haven't pulled the trigger
-Converted miles from recent work trip into $175 worth of Amazon gift cards. Not the most efficient use of miles from a conversion stand point, but United just doesn't have many domestic/west coast options. I really wanted to make something work this time around (especially because I have two free first class upgrades!), but just couldn't make it work.
-Made dinner out of freezer options
-Started working on a greatly reduced grocery list, as we'll be heading out of town in about 10 days, and don't need any produce lingering
-Using a comp day on Monday, when the kids are off school. A camp is about $150/day (for two) & our nanny is $25/hour. Comp days (earned when traveling for work on a weekend) is kind of frowned upon at a senior level (because, you know, senior people don't need weekends), but I'm going for it!

[I'm a red panda]

So proud of my frugal body. Needed emergency surgery, got that in before the end of the year. My out of pocket max is met for the year due to my c section! Free surgery and hospital stay.

Should have asked them to take my appendix while they were in there.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

So proud of my frugal body. Needed emergency surgery, got that in before the end of the year. My out of pocket max is met for the year due to my c section! Free surgery and hospital stay.

Should have asked them to take my appendix while they were in there.

Hahaha. Winner! Hope you feel better & are recovering. :-)

[Bracken_Joy]

-Husband is out of town. Was very tempted yesterday by wine, which would have required driving out to get some. Instead, I showered early and changed into pajamas, and made myself some seltzer water with our (ha, my MIL's actually- she loaned it to us indefinitely) soda stream. Then spent the evening texting a friend about our tactics to avoid spending money/making poor health decisions. She's partial to the 'brush your teeth early' plan to avoid night time snacking. It was a fun conversation =)

-Ate leftovers and cooked food I already had at home. Went for a long walk. No spend day for me.

So proud of my frugal body. Needed emergency surgery, got that in before the end of the year. My out of pocket max is met for the year due to my c section! Free surgery and hospital stay.

Should have asked them to take my appendix while they were in there.

Oh man I hope you're okay!!!! That's seriously rough.

[I'm a red panda]

I'm okay B_J, just what is hopefully the last pregnancy complication: chronic gallstones. They finally caught one (this was my 3rd ER visit with the exact same symptoms), so the gallbladder finally came out.

I'm home now, it was only 3 nights in the hospital.

[PMG]

I got an email from Chase about a $20 cash reward for $20 spent on ebags.com.  I picked out a lightning cable add shipping and tax it totaled $20.08. It’s on its way to my sibling I’d been planning to treat, they need a little affection right now.  They are the kind of person who can always use a new charging cable, especially a pretty pink one and it will only cost me 8 cents. 

Thought some of this crowd might also want to play the reward game. 

[Imma]

I've been pretty ill for a week so I haven't eaten much besides plain yoghurt and the occasional banana for days. Today is actually the first day I can get up again and use electricity (netflix, MMM) and because we had some work done to our bathroom we couldn't shower for a few days. Paracetamol only costs about €0,50 per box. The past couple of days stuck in bed have been really cheap. 

[Mrs Hen]

Bottled my homemade Xmas cranberry and orange gin. Will gift some and keep some.

Tomorrow I will make cranberry sauce from the gin soaked fruit.

[Hirondelle]

I've been pretty ill for a week so I haven't eaten much besides plain yoghurt and the occasional banana for days. Today is actually the first day I can get up again and use electricity (netflix, MMM) and because we had some work done to our bathroom we couldn't shower for a few days. Paracetamol only costs about €0,50 per box. The past couple of days stuck in bed have been really cheap.

That's a creative way of seeing the positive sides of being sick! Hope you're feeling better now tho.

[Imma]

I've been pretty ill for a week so I haven't eaten much besides plain yoghurt and the occasional banana for days. Today is actually the first day I can get up again and use electricity (netflix, MMM) and because we had some work done to our bathroom we couldn't shower for a few days. Paracetamol only costs about €0,50 per box. The past couple of days stuck in bed have been really cheap.

That's a creative way of seeing the positive sides of being sick! Hope you're feeling better now tho.

Tbh, I'm still feeling pretty awful, but I'm slowly getting better. The reason I posted this is because I logged in to my online banking account and noticed I hadn't spent any money in nearly a week. That's worth a small celebration even if it's for a bad reason.

[tomita]

last year I bought too many ski coupons and they weren't used, I kept them
this year I got the marketing email from the same company and asked for replacements for the new season and they agreed :)

(after I produced proof of having unused coupons...) 

[Jenny Wren]

I hope you feel better soon, Imma, but I also enjoyed the positive spin!

We invited friends over last night after talk of scheduling a night out began to circulate. We contributed chips, salsa, and a 6 pack of Ninkasi. Our friends each brought a nibble of some sort and a six pack as well. Five hours of good times and board games for less than $10 -- much better than the $50 to $80 a standard night out would have cost us. Plus, a fellow broke student friend was able to come, when he had been planning to skip the night out to save cash. We're learning, slowly but surely!

Wife also began a batch of absinthe with some cheap vodka and less than $2 worth of spices from teh bulk bins. (Recipe from a library book!) It should be ready around the end of March. Plans were made for a Moulin Rouge themed get together at this time.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Scored a DVD set of the latest season of my mum's favourite TV show - still in original packaging - at work for free. This is in addition to a new book by her favourite author (free from work last week). I'm adding both to her Christmas present, which is actually on pre-order and not out till January, so I'm thrilled she'll have something to open on the day. She will still tell me I spent too much, even though most of it was free. :)

Cooked at home last night. This in itself is not a huge deal, we do that almost every night. But my husband only had two nights at home between international work trips and his mum was pushing him to take me out for dinner. I worked late, walked home in the rain, the last thing I wanted to do was go out for dinner (and spend money). Thank goodness he's learnt to ignore her.

Cold-washed and line-dried two loads of washing yesterday, and ran the dishwasher and opened it at the end of the rinse cycle (I do this almost every time unless I'm running out the door for work).

[Mrs Hen]

Had a lovely domestic day at home and spent nothing.

Made Cranberry sauce (added a splash of port I found in the cupboard), and stewed apples with cinnamon.  House smells really good!

2 loads of washing are on the airer.

Kept the heating at 16C and put a blanket over my legs.

Finally finished reading the whole thread the other day.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Ate leftovers for breakfast
-Ate leftovers from last night's meal out (work) for lunch today
-Volunteering at my child's school today. My company donates $10 for every hour I donate, up to 20 hours. It's a great perk. Doesn't save me any money, but helps the school, and only takes a few minutes of my time to fill out the form.

[Wings5]

I'm away on business, and I ate lunch at a very nice Asian restaurant. Their high quality plastic utensils were meant to be thrown away, but I kept them to use in my hotel for microwave and crock pot meals. Figured it saved me a buck of two.

Speaking of, I wish you could bring your own glass to a restaurant instead of using their disposable cups. Instead of $5 for a beer charge me $4, or something. I haven't really thought it out, but it'd have to be compliant with the local food inspectors and all. 

[Spiffsome]

Bought some cider extract for my next batch of brewing. It cost $15, and the fermenter itself cost $30 including all equipment. Once it's done, I will have 15 litres of cider for about $45. That's $3 / litre!

[horsepoor]

Speaking of, I wish you could bring your own glass to a restaurant instead of using their disposable cups. Instead of $5 for a beer charge me $4, or something. I haven't really thought it out, but it'd have to be compliant with the local food inspectors and all.

There are a couple pubs here where regulars can purchase a personal mug that is kept at the bar and used only for that person. 

Coffee shops and mini-marts allow refills of personal mugs, so I'm not sure whether it would be frowned on for beer.  Growler stations are a big thing here now, too, and I've kind of wondered about the sanitation aspect of bringing back one's own growler to be refilled, but I suppose since it's not consumed on the vendor's premises, any health issues are on the consumer.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Cut my husband's hair this morning.

He's like a shaggy dog - likes it quite short in summer.

[Dollar Slice]

I threw my back out, and it was snowing pretty hard, but managed to get home on the bus and cook some scrambled eggs for dinner instead of doing taxi and food delivery. If there hadn't been a long line at the taxi stand I probably would have succumbed. But I figured as long as I was going to have to stand around waiting it might well be at the bus stop. Bonus: had a nice long conversation with a stranger who was also waiting at the bus stop. He's on the community board and knows the people who own the restaurant across the street from me.

[soccerluvof4]

Cut my phone bill in almost half while updating to all new phones. Cut my cable competely down to wifi so down to a third or less.

[Hirondelle]

I just got a 'rental check' as apparently about 75% of renters in my country pays more than legally allowed. I expected my rent could get lowered by €30-50. However, they've calculated it's gonna be €100 a month included the past two months that I already paid for!

[mustachepungoeshere]

About to finish my third library book for the week.

[horsepoor]

Canned 16 pints of green soup (and two extra servings in the fridge) this morning.

Rotated my other canned goods so the older stuff is easy to get to and will get eaten up.

Heated the house with firewood from trees we had cut down a couple years ago.

Stayed away from stores (easy when I think of all the people that are probably there)

[Kwill]

Today and yesterday I've been using up leftover Christmas cards from past years for friends and coworkers in my town. It's my first year giving cards locally since moving here, so I can safely assume I haven't given the same ones in the past. I'm passing them out in person or via work mostly, so no postage.

[Spruit]

Got a message from the postal office that they cannot return my package to Germany, because it's 10cm too long... Instead, I had to pick it up and get 20 euros refunded and sort it out myself. Not really customer friendly, but we'll drop it of at the German store ourselves when we go visit friends near the border next week. Big hassle but much cheaper in gas. It's too wasteful not to return it, but I do hope BF thinks twice before ordering anything so large from a non-NL retailer again. It got obsolete when I found something similar 100 euros cheaper second hand two days after he ordered this thing...

Also, did some mending, cooked a meal out of leftovers, did some reading, went through BFs expenses (on his request I must are), and didnt spend a dime this weekend.

[Roadrunner53]

Had purchased a Costco roasted chicken. Carved it off the bone and put all the bones and scraps along with an onion, celery and carrots in crockpot and made a home made broth. After 12 hours, cooled broth down, strained and put in Tupperware outside. The next day I scraped off the grease. Then placed broth in a two gallon ziplock bag then placed on a baking sheet. Put it on a flat surface table on my deck and let it freeze overnight. Our outdoor temps went down to 12 degrees. Next morning labeled it and froze in freezer for later use. I plan to make an Avgolemeno soup with it. So the bones were kind of like free rather than just tossing them in the trash. Save your chicken bones and freeze till you have a pot full. Then do as I have suggested above. Home made broth is the best! I do flavor mine up with Better than Broth bouillon paste. The broth, once thawed is jelly like and is good for you. You can make so many things. Add chicken and rice, tortellini or noodles, veggies, beans.

[dreams_and_discoveries]

I am regretting my recent choice, to make the most of my enforced holidays by redecorating the house myself.

Painters charge over £3k...and as it's just to freshen it up, and the same colours everywhere, I thought I'd give it a go...

The painters that did it last time didn't do a fabulous job (but to be fair they were very reasonably priced, get what you pay for) so I'm thinking I can't do any worse...

[Bracken_Joy]

Yesterday, husband and I were feeling a pizza night. We braved the chaos of Costco to dart in and buy some frozen pizza. 4 pepperoni for $12, way cheaper than you can get elsewhere. So for an impulse decision, we made it a very cheap one. Made a very cheap 'date night'- pizza, box wine, and playing Witcher 3 together.

Friend's dog yanked a spiderlette off our spider plant while playing. Saved it, stuck it in water, and I'll replant and gift for Christmas. I got the pots for free through Buy Nothing Project.

Friends took us out for breakfast yesterday, and husband and I were both so full after, we just skipped lunch.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Used a $20 off coupon to help my son buy a gift for his friend for Christmas. (The money he spent is his, but this helped him get something that the friend would really like.)
-Cancelled date night, as both kids were not feeling well. My husband tried a new recipe (absolutely amazing), we did a puzzle with the boys, shared wine, & looked at Christmas lights. It was a fabulous evening.
-Received a $100 rebate for our newly installed pool pump. Excited to check out the energy savings. The energy rebate was going away at the end of the year, and the fuel efficiency is supposed to pay for itself in 12 months.
-Continued my ongoing saga of getting our supplemental 2017 property tax bill. I can't pay it unless they submit the bill, and if they don't get it to me to get the payment in before the end of 2017, I can't write it off against my federal taxes due to 2018 changes. The difference is around $8K, so it's a pretty big deal.

[radram]

-Used a $20 off coupon to help my son buy a gift for his friend for Christmas. (The money he spent is his, but this helped him get something that the friend would really like.)
-Cancelled date night, as both kids were not feeling well. My husband tried a new recipe (absolutely amazing), we did a puzzle with the boys, shared wine, & looked at Christmas lights. It was a fabulous evening.
-Received a $100 rebate for our newly installed pool pump. Excited to check out the energy savings. The energy rebate was going away at the end of the year, and the fuel efficiency is supposed to pay for itself in 12 months.
-Continued my ongoing saga of getting our supplemental 2017 property tax bill. I can't pay it unless they submit the bill, and if they don't get it to me to get the payment in before the end of 2017, I can't write it off against my federal taxes due to 2018 changes. The difference is around $8K, so it's a pretty big deal.

Based on other threads ( like this one: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/republican-tax-plan-2017), prepaying 2018's bill in 2017 will no longer be allowed if the current tax bill gets passed. Look at this thread from newest to oldest to get the latest information.


You might want to get a second opinion before sending in  the check. Please share your results with others back here.

[horsepoor]

I noticed that my Chase Freedom card is doing 5% cash back on phone bills next quarter, so I cancelled my cell phone auto pay and wrote myself a note to pay with the chase card on the first.

Staying home and cleaning the house today.  I always end up thinking up new uses for things I find, or realizing I have consumables I forgot about (e.g. 5 bars of soap to use before I buy bodywash again).

This afternoon I'm going to build a little vestibule to go around the dog door to decrease drafts.  Shouldn't be a problem to find enough scraps in the garage to build it for free, and cover it with an old blanket.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Staying home and cleaning the house today.  I always end up thinking up new uses for things I find, or realizing I have consumables I forgot about (e.g. 5 bars of soap to use before I buy bodywash again).

I have quite a few bars of soap that I won't shower with because they dry out my skin, so I'm using them in place of liquid hand soap.

I don't own a soap dish but I put a cute little ceramic dish on the bathroom sink and put the liquid hand soap away.

I only bring the liquid stuff out for guests, I won't have to replace it for months at this rate.

[lexde]

Today I *spent* money, but saved more. I convinced my office to do a secret Santa instead of gifts for everyone, and we put a $25 limit on it. More fun, and way less expensive than getting everyone a gift/gift card (they are all super spendypants)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[1967mama]

Saw an ad for a frothy chai latte online right before going out to kids sports for two hours. Quickly made one at home instead of hitting up sbux while out.

Made tacos for dinner before I went out so the family would eat and not order in.

Wearing old clothes I already have even though I reeeeally want new clothes.

[MrsTuxedocat]

- Used scene card to watch Star Wars for free
- Used a cereal coupon for a free popcorn at the movies

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Picked up son's $65 backpack (another soccer person picked it up/took it home). it was about a 20 minute drive each way, but used the electric car. SOOO happy they called us & let us know that they had accidentally picked it up. We searched everywhere for it!
-Bought a $20 Uber gift card for $9.50. Will use it for our trip to the airport on Saturday.
-Earned a $40 Visa promotional offer by charging a work hotel stay on my credit card
-Made all meals at home today, as usual
-Cleaned the house myself. This is a relatively recent addition, but it's not that bad, and a great hourly rate for my time!

[Jenny Wren]

Frugal weekend:
- Shoveled snow myself yesterday and today. Fought the urge to pay someone or purchase a snowblower by reminding myself that after next winter we will be living on the sound and away from most heavy snows!

- Replenished younger son's dwindling pant supply at the thrift store for less than $4

- Picked up a movie and returned movies and books on time to the library to avoid fees.

- Date night at home! Made a snack tray, had a couple of beers, and played many games of darts :)

- Bought movie tickets for Christmas Day (Star Wars). This was already planned with my mother. But, I got an 18% discount by first getting a gift card for the theater through cardpool (Thanks to BrackenJoy for mentioning this site somewhere upthread)! Combined with extended matinee hours due to the holiday, my mom's senior discount, and one kid's kid discount, 5 tickets only cost $37.74. Really not bad, considering this is the fancy theater with the private recliners and reserved seating.

- Didn't do anything today that cost money. Instead, stayed home, made a batch of homemade kahlua for our New Year's fondue party (annual tradition), roasted chickpeas for lunch salads, started more sprouts, made breakfast burritos for the week, and worked on a personal project.

[Spruit]

Fixed bikes fender with the almighty duct tape and biking to work today, eventhough it looks trashy. I'll have to find a more permanent solution later.

[Linea_Norway]

This weekend DH gave me a haircut. I said max 5 cm off and this time it is the perfect length. Last time, if was a bit too short.

[horsepoor]

* Convinced my husband who forgot to mail his mom's birthday present (birthday is today) not to stick it in the mail. Even paying for priority mail, it would get there at the same time we will.

Pretend this is intentional:  "We really wanted to give this to you in person!"

[PMG]

Hand sewed together two small odd sized flat sheets so we can now use them as a bottom sheet on the mattress. Surprisingly the seam hasn't bothered us at all.

[mustachepungoeshere]

* Found out Friday evening that my husband's new work's Christmas party included a white elephant exchange of nice gifts around $25. Husband wanted to go out right away and get something at Target, but I told him to wait. I found some gift cards while we were moving and checked the balances. One was for Bed, Bath and Beyond for $18. Went out there armed with my 20% off coupon and found a nice set of whiskey glasses with ice molds for ice balls marked down from $29.99 to $15! With the coupon, the price came out to $12 so we still have some money left on the coupon. Also grabbed a nice bottle of wine we had at home for a host gift and wrapped everything up in stuff we bought in post Christmas sales last year.

Awesome!

[radram]

-Used a $20 off coupon to help my son buy a gift for his friend for Christmas. (The money he spent is his, but this helped him get something that the friend would really like.)
-Cancelled date night, as both kids were not feeling well. My husband tried a new recipe (absolutely amazing), we did a puzzle with the boys, shared wine, & looked at Christmas lights. It was a fabulous evening.
-Received a $100 rebate for our newly installed pool pump. Excited to check out the energy savings. The energy rebate was going away at the end of the year, and the fuel efficiency is supposed to pay for itself in 12 months.
-Continued my ongoing saga of getting our supplemental 2017 property tax bill. I can't pay it unless they submit the bill, and if they don't get it to me to get the payment in before the end of 2017, I can't write it off against my federal taxes due to 2018 changes. The difference is around $8K, so it's a pretty big deal.

Based on other threads ( like this one: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/republican-tax-plan-2017), prepaying 2018's bill in 2017 will no longer be allowed if the current tax bill gets passed. Look at this thread from newest to oldest to get the latest information.


You might want to get a second opinion before sending in  the check. Please share your results with others back here.

It looks like the other site seems to be in agreement that PROPERTY tax prepayments will still be allowed.

State tax prepayments are not allowed.

[Jenny Wren]

No spend day!

A bout of insomnia last night. So I:
-Started dinner in the crockpot first thing this morning knowing I would be way too tired to cook this evening.
-Decided to stay in my PJs all day so I wouldn't feel the urge to leave the house.

Oh, I also started a journal in the forum! Yay, accountability and laser-like focus on our goals! :)

[oysters]

Ordered a new high quality adjustable Safety Razor from Amazon. My previous one broke when I dropped it in the shower about a year ago but it was a cheap model. This one should last me the rest of my life. I already have a few hundred blades (years worth...). This thing will pay itself back over and over again.

Sold a coffee grinder on gumtree (Aus craigslist) for $15.

Ate at home. Felt like eating out.

Prepared my budget and the Goodbudget ready for Thursday when my next pay comes in. Aiming to use Goodbudget for 12 months this time...last time I used it for about 6 months. But I need the discipline again. Cut some things down in my budget to be more brutal, like my eating out and food budgets, but I'm certain I'm ready for this.

[Road2Freedom]

Reduced our cell phone bill by $50/mo.  Our Sprint contract ended Dec 9 and the comparable plan was $50/mo less and had better options.  Best part is it didn't require signing a new contract.

[marielle]

I keep wanting to post here but everyday it would just be "Didn't buy anything". The last thing I bought was gas a week ago. Other than two auto-pay transactions for my donations and cell phone.