What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Eucalyptus]

Put an old phone with a dodgy screen up on ebay. I should get at least $50 for it.

As its cool weather today I have all my windows and doors open, cooling down the thermal mass of my house and the floor as much as possible before it gets hot again. This will reduce the amount i need to use the airconditioner as much as possible.

Continued working in the garden on removing a Bougenvillia. I think I've managed to cut off all the branches from the stump now, the top which is over our powerline is dyeing. Once I get this all out, I can start the spot as a veggie patch, the spot gets the most sun. This will help me save $$$ for years to come.

Discovered behind the other four units that the tree there, which is covered in rampant Ivy at its base, is in fact a Mulberry, and is producing tons of fruit! This will probably save me at least $15 a year in nice fruit at this time of year. I'll get to work on removing the Ivy from it soon so that it can continue to prosper.

[horsepoor]

I just finished making 3 quarts of Kim Chi and one quart each of green fermented Tabasco and green fermented habanero hot sauce.  I already made a pint each of red cayenne hot sauce and chocolate habanero hot sauce, so shouldn't need to buy any this year (we are hot sauce junkies). 

[Imma]

- We're going away for a few days next week and I'm trying to empty the fridge so we can unplug it while we're gone. I made a cheese sauce and threw in a few scraps of cheese I had lying around. Tomorrow I will make egg salad to use up all the eggs and smoothies to use up yoghurt, bananas and berries.
- Went somewhere where we got free cans of soda. Didn't drink them there but took them home.
- Girl at the grocery store made a mistake while ringing up my purchases. Went to the customer service desk and got €3,50 back.
- All health care products were buy 1, get 1 free. Plasters and vitamin D were on my shopping list and I only buy them once a year anyway. I won't have to buy them for a long time now.

[Mrs Hen]

Resisted the Fish and Chip run at work, and enjoyed the dinner I'd brought in with me.

No Spend Day.

[soccerluvof4]

Was gonna toss some leftover Pork Chops and Brown Rice and instead turned it into pork fried rice. Turned out delicious. Pleasant surprise as the family loved it better than the dinner the night I made the Pork chops!

[Goldielocks]

Went to a bake sale / lunch event and managed not to buy anything, just did my volunteer shift.   The baking did look good, though!

[mustachepungoeshere]

This weekend: cut my hair, Netflix and running for free entertainment, cleaned jars for re-use, dug out some saved gift bags for Christmas, and started writing Christmas cards using the boxes I bought on sale in January.

I don't think I will buy any cards after this Christmas. I'm not feeling it as much this year-  writing them out of obligation (and sunk cost) rather than anything - so I'll play it by ear after this.

[Imma]

Got up early (on a Sunday!) and baked a banana-berry bread and made egg salad for breakfast, all from ingredients I want to use up before we are away for a week.
Found a fried rice-ish dish in the freezer which we are going to eat tonight.

[Kwill]

Went home after church to eat leftovers instead of going to brunch. Usually that's a treat I allow for, but today it would have been rushed in any case.

[Linda_Norway]

Filled up the diesel tank of the big car. We are going on a long drive next weekend en the fuel will probably become more expensive later in the week. We haven't made this trip since September, while in other years we go there once a month. I guess that saved something...

[Hirondelle]

- Got the group tickets for the train again to get from hometown to current city for 1/3th of the price.

- Went to a conference and subsequently to Belgium to visit a friend. As uni reimburses my travel costs, I hope they'll reimburse the trip to Brussels as I didn't have a 'normal' return trip home (the bus to Brussels was cheaper than the train home would've been anyways..).

[Hula Hoop]

Took the kids to a free museum as entertainment.  Ate lunch at home and packed snacks/water.  Am now making bean soup in the pressure cooker to eat this week for lunch.

[Trifele]

-- Made pumpkin soup for dinner with three pumpkins a friend gave us
-- Did the weekly grocery shopping and stuck exactly to the list, no extras or impulse buys

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Used Uber credits (purchase yielded grocery store reward) to take transportation to airport for work trip. Will get reimbursed.
-Made lunch, snacks & water for the boys to take to a soccer tournament. Got up at the crack of dawn to get this sorted before my flight.
-Spending $0 on myself, as I'm out of the country on a work trip.

[marielle]

Didn't go grocery shopping today. I still have a lot of food in the fridge and it's probably a good idea to downsize the pantry and freezera bit. I just found out I need tires for my car so I'm going to try to make it a lean couple of months budget-wise.

[ChipmunkSavings]

I went to the Apple store. I have an old Macbook from 2009 that was no longer working (did not support current iOs). Was looking to update current replacement laptop (hand-me-down Asus) with a newer version. Turns out they can do a full factory setting reset on the computer and put it as good as new. The 8-years-old computer is now as fast as any other on the market, and I was surprised that they did it for free!

[tomita]

sold unused mini fridge,
repair linen shirt,
no shopping today, needed bread but we made do with  potatoes or oatmeal

[Imma]

Due to all kinds of circumstances, both me and my s/o needed on-the-go food for lunch today. We didn't have anything homemade in the freezer or fridge. I went to the grocery store to get something readymade so at least we didn't have to buy lunch somewhere. Pasta salads were on discount and I found some that were marked 35% off as well. Pre-packed pasta salads sell for 3,50 each. The deal for this week was 2 for €4, which is itself a massive discount. And it seems the cash registries are programmed so they take the 35% off the original price, so in the end we paid about €1 each for our lunch salads.

[Hirondelle]

^ That's probably even cheaper than making them yourself!

I forgot to bring my lunch to the animal facility at work. However, they apparently always have free soup for lunch there, so I just had two mugs of soup instead! Gotta spend more hours there around lunch time :p

[mustachepungoeshere]

I went to the Apple store. I have an old Macbook from 2009 that was no longer working (did not support current iOs). Was looking to update current replacement laptop (hand-me-down Asus) with a newer version. Turns out they can do a full factory setting reset on the computer and put it as good as new. The 8-years-old computer is now as fast as any other on the market, and I was surprised that they did it for free!

Excellent!

[mustachepungoeshere]

Today for work I'm wearing a lightweight black knit top a friend gave me (BNWT).

It's really pretty, and perfect for a cool, drizzly December day (what the fuck, Sydney?).

I wasn't familiar with the brand but I just looked it up - dresses are $239.

Got my power bill - down on last quarter, and also this time last year.

[gypsy79]

Canceled HBO and my second DVR today.

For a few years, we really found entertainment value in HBO, but in the past few months, we haven't watched it enough to justify keeping it. The second DVR was in the workout room and kept me motivated for a long time, but now I tend to listen to podcasts in there, so no point in paying for the extra equipment or service.

I would like to cancel our cable TV altogether, but DH isn't on board. We don't watch a lot of TV, but he loves the NHL and is not impressed with the options for streaming. Baby steps.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Registered for a double points promotion for the hotel I'm staying at (work trip)
-Found a credit card reward for Panera, which is where my son had his end of the soccer season party, after their finals. Also, packed a huge lunch for everyone, so the total spend at Panera was really small, as the kids just had a snack vs a full lunch. Saved about $30 that way. Will probably save about $1 on the credit card reward.
-Declined the offer to shop with my coworkers while we're in Tokyo. I don't need anything, and would rather save my $$.

[Lichen]

Ug, must preface by saying we were awful Saturday night. Blew almost every cent in our entertainment budget on one pub night with friends. But, this lead to some good Sunday morning conversations:

1) We need to rethink how we enjoy our Saturdays. Both wife and I work from home. I have the benefit of getting out of the house for school, though. Wife gets cabin fever and then we splurge (too much) come our night out. This isn't a summer problem, since long days and warm nights lead to hiking, camping, and backyard entertaining. We need solutions for winter, though! So, we sat down and made up some plans for entertaining at home as well as some winter outside fun -- all inexpensive or free.

2) Wife is going to get back into brewing (an old hobby that fell by the wayside, but she still has the equipment). We are much more likely to invite friends over for a cheap night in when there is a new home brew to tap!

3) We decided that we just have to buckle down and accept we have only $30 left of our December entertainment budget to last till January first. No filching from the savings account to pad it out!

On to today's frugals:

- Lentil stew in the slow cooker and homemade rolls on the side. Most of the veg in the stew was from our summer garden and preserved for winter meals.

-Thawing out some rice and premaking a tray of vegetarian enchiladas for tomorrow's dinner. It's the start of finals for me, so I want food ready to eat when I get home in the afternoon so we aren't tempted by outside options.

- Decided not to get a parking pass at the school next quarter. Going to use the bus pass that student's receive for free. It's silly I haven't. The bus stop is literally 8 houses down from my house and the bus comes by every 15 minutes - half the time I am driving behind it to the campus! I have 4 remaining quarters, so this will save me $140.

-Eldest son made some repairs to our artificial holiday tree. We got it at a garage sale when the same son was 2 years old, he is now 17. With the new repairs, it still looks very nice!

-Staying home, studying, and decorating the tree this evening. Probably some holiday music on the free Spotify and cocoa from a bulk-purchased mix, as well!

[Linda_Norway]

Despite the road being snowy and the lack of daylight, I walked to work. Took the way through the forest and used a headlight. Showered and washed my hair at work, using the shampoo and towel provided by my employer. Brought my own sandwiches to work as almost always this year. Ate a banana provided by my employer.

[Linda_Norway]

Despite the road being snowy and the lack of daylight, I walked to work. Took the way through the forest and used a headlight. Showered and washed my hair at work, using the shampoo and towel provided by my employer. Brought my own sandwiches to work as almost always this year. Ate a banana provided by my empoloyer.

[2Birds1Stone]

I got a flat on my MTB, and instead of replacing the tube and chucking the old one, I patched it and put it back on the bike. #score

[marielle]

My boyfriend has to book a flight for work overseas, so we are using my new Chase card. Now I can meet my minimum spend no problem and get $150+ cash back since you essentially get 4.5% back to use for travel.

[horsepoor]

Finally sold a saddle I purchased with intent to flip this spring.  Profit was more modest than I'd hoped - just over $100 after eBay fees, but at least it's a profit (and I got some use out of it in the meantime).

I'll pack it up and get an official weight at the post office, then purchase postage from home to get the discount.

Going back to Fred Meyer today to get refunded for the $2 coupon the checker and I both failed to see stuck to a package.

Drinking tea instead of wine on weeknights

Lowering the thermostat another 2 degrees (down to 60 in evenings and 56 the rest of the time)

ETA:  this weekend picked a cabbage, parsley, small heads of broccoli and a huge armful of collards before temps started dropping too much.
Got tipped off that feed store coupons ($10 off) regularly come with emails from the local stadium/event center, and finally got and used one this weekend.  Will test re-printing and using it again.

[Mele]

Skimmed cream from raw milk that I treated. I can't do anything with it this week (too busy) but I'm going to pop it in the freezer and make some butter.  Youtube + heavy cream+ Christmas vacation down time = homemade butter.  Hopefully.

Ate leftovers, made a delicious salad out of odds and ends, including a strawberry sauce I pulled from frozen garden strawberries.

Salad for the adventuresome:  mixed greens topped with ground beef, bacon, sauteed strawberry mush, green onions, a little peanut butter, and a dash of balsamic.  Super yummy!

[Mrs Hen]

The last few days haven't been particularly spendy or savey - just average.

Mr Hen and I will be spending Xmas with friends this year, and we've been asked to supply the fizz.  I spent 5 minutes googling discount vouchers for a wine selling chain here in the UK, and found one that gives £20 off orders of £60.  That's ON TOP of the 25% discount for ordering 6 bottles or more.

Result:  £160 worth of fizz (12 bottles) for £98.  Happy dance!!!
Then went and made breakfast and lunch for work tomorrow.

And I've now passed a month of no smoking - VERY proud of that.

[jengod]

And I've now passed a month of no smoking - VERY proud of that.

Terrific! Well-done, you.


* Line-dried a couple of loads of clothing.
* Vacuumed out the car at home instead of using the vacuum at the service station (we didn't own a real vacuum until this summer so this is a new habit).
* Made coffee at home.
* Took the kids to a doctor's appointment via cargo bike rather than driving.

[Bracken_Joy]

The last few days haven't been particularly spendy or savey - just average.

Mr Hen and I will be spending Xmas with friends this year, and we've been asked to supply the fizz.  I spent 5 minutes googling discount vouchers for a wine selling chain here in the UK, and found one that gives £20 off orders of £60.  That's ON TOP of the 25% discount for ordering 6 bottles or more.

Result:  £160 worth of fizz (12 bottles) for £98.  Happy dance!!!
Then went and made breakfast and lunch for work tomorrow.

And I've now passed a month of no smoking - VERY proud of that.

Ha, I was super confused about the fizz- that's what my husband and I call sparkling water/club soda ("fizzy"). And I was like... why would it cost so much!? Then I realized you probably mean a sparkling wine, like champagne or prosecco?

Also, SUPER congrats on 1 month of not smoking! This will pay off in SO many more ways than just money. Wow! What an incredible gift to your future health and financial health.

----
Over here, just floating on. Boarding some dogs, cooking at home, spending obscene amounts on doctors and on husband's professional certs. Not really any savings over regular ones. (I guess *not* buying extra xmas decor counts, and trying to shop some sales for gifts?)

[Erma]

Yesterday during my lunch walk I got cold and decided to visit the library for some warmth and the gave away free hot chocolate.

[Linda_Norway]

Walked to work today, for the second time this week. Saving diesel and the environment.

[Mele]

When I went to make dinner last night, I returned from the basement pantry with canned jars of broth, tomatoes, and peaches.  Frozen peppers from the garden.  It felt good to have so much food from my own backyard.

Used up last of some so-so coffee that my husband had brought home as leftovers from work.  I've been drinking it a week, which probably saved $3-4 of fancy coffee bean budget. 

[Stachetastic]

I've got a meatloaf in the oven made with free sausage that was given to us a couple months ago, and ground beef bought on sale. I forgot husband had plans with a friend tonight, so we will have plenty of leftovers through the weekend.

[Eucalyptus]

Carefully looked at the temperature forecasts for the coming hours and week, and thus left windows open today (I'll go home and close at 3pm) in order to cool down my house thermal mass before the next high 30C days.

Put some spinach and bok choy in the freezer so that it won't go off. I can chuck it in my beans and rice next week.

Found someone's pencil on my walk to work in the grass. Half of it used up, eraser almost entirely used, sharpened with a knife. Probably an older trady's pencil. Picked it up so that it doesn't just rot and put it in the stationary cupboard at work.

[Dollar Slice]

I invited friends to go a concert on Saturday... but it turned out it was unexpectedly sold out. One of us bought a ticket a while ago, but two hadn't. I remembered there was a radio station doing a ticket giveaway, so I checked their Facebook page to see when it was... I missed it by three hours. But they had posted a contest to their Facebook page, too! I wrote in: won a ticket. I messaged my two friends and told them to enter to see if we could get one more ticket so we could all go together. And my friend won too! Best contest ever.

[Sun Hat]

My savings are really just cancelling plans to spend, but I'm proud of myself anyways.

1) I had planned on taking 2 university courses for interest this winter, but have withdrawn and will just read about the topic with library books instead.

2) I balked at the cost of buying a set of rims for my winter car tires, especially since my only regular car use is the short distance to the gym. So, I've ordered knobby tires for my bike instead and will endeavor to bike (on side streets and cleared paths) this winter. At best, it's money saving and extra exercise, and at worst it's the cost of knobby bike tires on top of the car rims that I would have been stuck getting in the first place, which is a gamble that I'm willing to make.

[jordanread]

My savings are really just cancelling plans to spend, but I'm proud of myself anyways.

1) I had planned on taking 2 university courses for interest this winter, but have withdrawn and will just read about the topic with library books instead.

2) I balked at the cost of buying a set of rims for my winter car tires, especially since my only regular car use is the short distance to the gym. So, I've ordered knobby tires for my bike instead and will endeavor to bike (on side streets and cleared paths) this winter. At best, it's money saving and extra exercise, and at worst it's the cost of knobby bike tires on top of the car rims that I would have been stuck getting in the first place, which is a gamble that I'm willing to make.

Don't forget the internet. It's got a lot of stuff there. And for biking, jump in the challenge (see sig)!

[Mele]

Made rice pudding to use up surplus milk before it could go sour.  Added raisins I dedydrated from our garden.

In general, avoiding, as usual, any Christmas insanity.  We make a clear list and pretty much stick to it; ordering online helps a ton. 

Oh, and for a snack at work, lately I've been taking dried cherry tomatoes.  Saves me $.30 every thing I don't pack a granola bar. 

They are thoroughly unremarkable, but it's a quick way to eat something nutritious, use up a surplus of dried tomatoes (had a big bumper crop this year) and I never overeat.  They are fuel, nothing more.  Nobody in the world ever over-indulged while snacking on dried tomatoes, I don't suppose!

[pancakes]

My FIL gave us an old but reasonably fancy coffee machine that they don’t use anymore. When we turned it on it didn’t work and he suggested maybe the pump had died and that was probably that... but I decided to have a go descaling it using vinegar and we have water coming out of it again! Not dead, just very rarely cleaned by the previous owner it seems.

Now if I can work out how to make a decent coffee with it, I can cut the cost of my coffee habit back (nope, not giving it up).

[11ducks]

DS has outgrown his school uniform/s - I went looking  for the receipt (we cut the tags off, but need to know the sizes to sell the outgrown uniforms second hand). In his cupboard I found the receipt in the bag, along with an unopened uniform that I had totally forgotten about. I took it with us, with the receipt, to shop for his new uniform, and they were kind enough to exchange it (10 months later), saving me  $50 on uniform costs! After I sell his outgrown worn ones I'll make even more back.

Today we had a work Christmas lunch. I didn't pack a lunch, and snacked on available fruit instead of eating the snacks I'd bought. We had a lovely big Christmas lunch and there were heaps of leftovers, I ended up taking home 4 big roasted chicken breasts and a plate of sushi.  Ate the sushi for dinner (a little crunchy but good)- and will have the chicken over salad for dinner tomorrow, and shredded chicken wraps/pizzas later in the week!

[Trifele]

We had a dinner reservation last night to celebrate an important occasion, and I canceled it.  Instead, we did some pressing outdoor work in the orchard (cold weather coming), and then made dinner at home with the kids using things in the freezer.  It was great! One of those really great meals with funny stories and real conversation.

[Mrs Hen]

The last few days haven't been particularly spendy or savey - just average.

Mr Hen and I will be spending Xmas with friends this year, and we've been asked to supply the fizz.  I spent 5 minutes googling discount vouchers for a wine selling chain here in the UK, and found one that gives £20 off orders of £60.  That's ON TOP of the 25% discount for ordering 6 bottles or more.

Result:  £160 worth of fizz (12 bottles) for £98.  Happy dance!!!
Then went and made breakfast and lunch for work tomorrow.

And I've now passed a month of no smoking - VERY proud of that.

Ha, I was super confused about the fizz- that's what my husband and I call sparkling water/club soda ("fizzy"). And I was like... why would it cost so much!? Then I realized you probably mean a sparkling wine, like champagne or prosecco?

Also, SUPER congrats on 1 month of not smoking! This will pay off in SO many more ways than just money. Wow! What an incredible gift to your future health and financial health.

----
Over here, just floating on. Boarding some dogs, cooking at home, spending obscene amounts on doctors and on husband's professional certs. Not really any savings over regular ones. (I guess *not* buying extra xmas decor counts, and trying to shop some sales for gifts?)

Ah yes. 2 countries divided by a common language!

Fizz is prosecco/champagne, and just to be clear there will be 7 adults in the house for Xmas!

Took food to work today.  Have not turned up the heating - put on a warmer jumper, and I've got a blanket over my knees right now.

[Hirondelle]

Not specifically today, but I just realized I spent only €11 on groceries this week. €11?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN. The week before that was a similar amount, so it's not like I'm living of what I stocked up earlier. And honestly, with the current foods I've got at home I could easily go on for another 3-4 days.

[Kitsunegari]

Not specifically today, but I just realized I spent only €11 on groceries this week. €11?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN. The week before that was a similar amount, so it's not like I'm living of what I stocked up earlier. And honestly, with the current foods I've got at home I could easily go on for another 3-4 days.

That's pretty impressive!

[Kitsunegari]

I convinced my husband that I don't want a present for Christmas. Which is completely false, btw.

[Teachstache]

Family entertainment tonight was watching the movie Elf at my school where I teach. Spouse and I avoided the free cookies and hot chocolate. Better for our waistlines and health. Kid got to be doted upon by co-workers and students. He also ran himself silly down the hallways and stairwells. Fun holiday movie and work social. Cost was just the electricity it cost to charge our Nissan Leaf to get the 2 miles to my workplace.