What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Hirondelle]

Yesterday the Ryanair website didn't work properly, so I postponed booking my flight. Today I tried the website again, but on a different browser, and it worked! And the best part; my flight had gotten cheaper. Only €10 instead of €25! Thanks Ryanair :D

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Son's dance outfit didn't arrive in time for the event, so he borrowed something. Returned the outfit today.
-Sold a few things on eBay, and turned that money around to buy three teddy bears for the teddy bear drive at my son's school. (They are donating them to kids in a local hospital over the holidays, and he was very excited to select the bears.)
-Made dinner at home last night (well, really it was just defrosting a dish from the freezer). My husband made the dip we serve on the side, and my older son made a salad. I was crazy jet lagged.
-Submitted my expense reports for my most recent business trip, and it's already been approved, which will save me from having to float the funds.
-Took an Uber home from the airport yesterday. I'll be reimbursed by work, and I used my Uber gift card that I'd bought, generating a super market reward.
-Earned a hotel one night gift certificate from my business travel.

[BlueMR2]

Drove over to pick up our new microwave from the warehouse a few miles away instead of buying it at the showroom at the end of the street.  Dodged a $50 shipping fee in exchange for roughly 10 miles of driving, so let's call it a $45 savings.  Plus snagged an extra $20 product discount for being a pickup customer.  We also had a coupon that we'd saved just in case we had an appliance fail (and it finally paid off).  Forgot our coupon at first, but drove the extra 2 miles back to get it, and that took another $30 off.

[Botany Bae]

- Friday night: younger son and I attended a free planetarium presentation and lecture by a physicist sponsored by our local astronomy club.

- We didn't go out last night. Instead, we enjoyed a beer at home, along with good music, a few games of darts, and a snack tray i assembled from items in the pantry.

- Picked up two movies and a few books at the library today, and returned the others before they were past due.

- Drank coffee and studied for my finals at home this afternoon instead of giving into the (very strong) temptation of heading to a coffee shop.

- I didn't cook this weekend, forcing the family to enjoy leftovers. What was left (a huge bowl of veggie risotto) is in the freezer awaiting to be reborn as a broccoli-rice casserole later in the weekend.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Found a quarter on the ground ;-)
-Took the kids to their indoor soccer session. Almost skipped, but realized I'd already paid & got off my jet lagged butt
-Took the kids to free soccer scrimmage at the stadium where the pros play. It was super cool. Unfortunately, another team took my son's soccer bag. Soccer bag has their names embroidered, and is part of the required uniform. Fingers crossed that someone returns it. Otherwise, out $65. :-(
-Drove electric car to all errands this weekend

[Linea_Norway]

I stuck to my shopping list and bought the cheapest variety of healthy bread, the cheapest mayonaise and the cheapest salad.

[Bracken_Joy]

-Didn't go anywhere this weekend. Had friends visit, and cooked for them. Side hustle perk: I both make money dog sitting, plus some of them trap me at home, so then I don't spend anything. (OTOH, this is starting to cut into my social life, so I'm going to back off of this for a while).
-Ate leftovers yesterday.
-(As always) did our own yardwork. Cleaning up leaves and the garden.

[jengod]

It's 80*F and dry here in Southern California, so I put a load of laundry on the line to dry.

Lunch is crispy turmeric chickpeas and homegrown tangerines.

[formerlydivorcedmom]

Yesterday, I rode my bike to the elementary school for a PTA volunteer activity.  It was 30 degrees.  In Southeast Texas (where 50 degrees is considered freezing).  This is a major win for me.

In the afternoon, H and I had plan to run errands.  I put dinner in the crock pot before we left so we wouldn't be tempted to stop for dinner on the way home.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Scored a loyalty bonus from my telco - a $10 retail voucher.

Reminded my husband to follow up a $1300 invoice for a freelancing gig that has gone unpaid.

Adjusted my income protection/disabillty/death cover through my super fund - the same insurance but lower fees for a white collar job.

[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!

[Rural]

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.

[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.

[marielle]

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

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Yesterday:
-Ate free breakfast, lunch & snacks at work
-Charged our electric car for free. Got the charging report for the last few weeks, and we've saved $90 in gas charges, in addition to 225 Kg of emissions.
-Used Rite Aid rewards to buy mailing envelopes for a couple of eBay sales. Total out of pocket was zero for the envelopes.
-Defrosted soup for dinner. So grateful that we have quick & easy meals at the ready for busy weeks.

[Dr.Jeckyl]

I went grocery shopping :). Sounds silly because its something we should all be doing. But I did it on my way home so I could save gas on the weekend. Also, I tend to spend less at the store than my DW. Being that food is my biggest expense beside my mortgage each month I'm really trying to do my best to get it under control. Every other bill I have is fairly low, I'm always looking for the lowest cost provider as long as they can provide me with what I consider a good quality product.

[Botany Bae]

I didn't go out tonight. This is huge! I had my last final for the quarter today. The siren call of celebrating was almost overwhelming, but I fought it off. I have three weeks off, plenty of time to celebrate later (or not).

Instead I made french bread. Then I turned the loaves of french bread into rarebit for dinner. I had a pack of all natural turkey deli meat that Safeway was giving away as a free deal last week. I'm vegetarian but fam is only vegetarian at home. They felt spoiled when their rarebit was topped with not just cheese and mushrooms, but also turkey.

It's the little things, I guess :) Dinner probably came to less than $3 for all off us, and most of that was the cheese in the sauce.

[Step37]

I packed half a leftover sandwich from yesterday’s lunch to eat for lunch at the airport before my flight today. Also brought a water bottle (as always).  I did carry-on (because I refuse to pay to check a bag unless absolutely necessary), but checked the bag at the gate for free (they were offering as flight was full and space would be tight) to avoid dragging it around for two hours on the layover. I would have been very annoyed if I’d decided to check it for convenience and then heard the free gate check offer.

[Mrs Hen]

Last few days:

Walked into town to pick up some Xmas presents.  Decided to have a treat, so walked to Starbucks for a coffee. Starbucks has closed down! So Starbucks saved me the cost of a coffee and this makes me happy.

Finished the rest of the gift shopping using an Amazon gift gard Mr Hen was given when he changed jobs.

Checked my wrapping paper stash, and confirmed I won't need to buy any for several years yet.

[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...) 

[Botany Bae]

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.