What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[letsdoit]

voted
got out of the 'lets buy a bigger place' convo, for now

[middo]

Two flat tyres in the last few days.  One on the motorbike and one on the car.  I fixed them both with a tyre repair kit I keep on the motorbike, so almost no cost.  I will need to buy some more rubber glue, but that is a very small cost compared to getting them done by someone else.

I have some motorbiking co-workers who have mentioned such a repair kit before. I should tell DH about it. Maybe we could use it for our car as well.

Hi Linda,

A kit like this will get you out of trouble.

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/sca-tyre-repair-kit---8-piece/130242.html?cgid=SCA010407#segment=1&page=1

Obviously it's in Australia, but will give you an idea of what you need.  They are reasonably easy to use as well, but youtube it first to make sure you want to do this.  Note: you will need some way of blowing up the tyre as well afterwards.  (i.e. a pump)

I went down this path as motorbikes do not carry a spare, so a flat is end of travel until it is fixed.  Cars carry a spare, so it is less important unless you are going to places where a failure could be catastrophic like the Australian outback.

[Imma]

My mum offered to pick me up from work, buy me dinner and drop me off if I helped her with a chore she hated. Deal! Free dinner and no bus fare.

[Linea_Norway]

Two flat tyres in the last few days.  One on the motorbike and one on the car.  I fixed them both with a tyre repair kit I keep on the motorbike, so almost no cost.  I will need to buy some more rubber glue, but that is a very small cost compared to getting them done by someone else.

I have some motorbiking co-workers who have mentioned such a repair kit before. I should tell DH about it. Maybe we could use it for our car as well.

Hi Linda,

A kit like this will get you out of trouble.

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/sca-tyre-repair-kit---8-piece/130242.html?cgid=SCA010407#segment=1&page=1

Obviously it's in Australia, but will give you an idea of what you need.  They are reasonably easy to use as well, but youtube it first to make sure you want to do this.  Note: you will need some way of blowing up the tyre as well afterwards.  (i.e. a pump)

I went down this path as motorbikes do not carry a spare, so a flat is end of travel until it is fixed.  Cars carry a spare, so it is less important unless you are going to places where a failure could be catastrophic like the Australian outback.

Thanks. My car does not carry a spare (by design). But it does carry a pump and a bottle or fluid stuff that can be attached to the pump and should blow a layer of sticky stuff on the inside of the tire. It didn't work out last time I had a flat tire. The pump itself works.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Dinner made out of various freezer leftovers. We were also out of lettuce, but cobbled together enough vegetables for an "alternative" salad
-Sold something on eBay that I'd forgotten about, earning $20
-Rather than buying my son poster board for a project, reused actual poster board (board from a poster that he was tired of in his room & had been stashed in the closet).

[Linea_Norway]

Walk to work today and will walk back in the afternoon. Showered and washed my hair at work. Shampoo and clean towel provided by employer.

[Imma]

Off from work today, so I don't have to spend money on a busticket. Had breakfast from the freezer, will have lunch from the freezer and maybe also dinner.

[Dollar Slice]

I did an extra large grocery shop and bought a ton of produce, then got some bad news and went into a depressive tailspin and didn't cook anything for five days. Tonight I made myself cook it all at 2:30 in the morning because I didn't want to waste it all by letting it go bad. Still need to eat a couple of cucumbers, but if they're still good tomorrow I'll pickle them.

[Bracken_Joy]

Intensely expensive time, but trying to mitigate costs where I can. Setting up at a new place (sold our house and moved to an apartment). Our buyer bought a bunch of our stuff, so we need to replace things like couch, entertainment center, TV, stereo, etc etc. Also some items for the particular space- we need lots of lights. Got a couple new in box items from FB marketplace. Ikea for some good light options, so on. Going to submit our TV purchase, when we make it, to the Citi Price Rewind service, to capture any black friday sales. Will wait for BF for the stereo or sound bar- currently figuring out what we want there.

All pretty annoying, but we'll still come out ahead financially on the personal property sale, AND we didn't have to move all of it then!

Also, I've been cobbling together weird meals to minimize eating out. We haven't had a chance to grocery shop yet, but I've had odds and ends- part of a pack of spag and some marinara sauce I combined with some extra beef we saved from burgers. Box chicken broth and ramen noodles and eggs to make an egg drop soup with noodles. Etc.

[MountainGal]

@Dollar Slice , sorry to hear about your difficult time.

@Bracken_Joy , that egg drop soup sounds delicious!


I've also been concentrating on using up frozen food in order to make room for the half pig we bought which will be ready soon.  Last night I pulled a smoked sausage, container of chopped zucchini from this summer, and a pork loin from the extra freezer.  Last weekend, I used up last year's pumpkin in brownies and 2 cups shredded zucchini went into bread.  Today and tomorrow's lunch will be leftover white lasagna (chicken and spinach) from September.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Meals at home, no eating out
-Charged electric car for free at work
-Turned on our heat for the first time in 9ish months today. It got down to 63 in the house, and that's where I drew the line. I'd been holding out & bundling up at 65, but 63 was just too much.

[Arbitrage]

Accepted the lunch invite to a pricey restaurant for a co-worker's going-away party (he's just transferring to a different division), but declined on the meal.  I can eat the food I bring - no, not at the restaurant - rather than drop 10-15x my normal meal cost on lunch.  It's a little weird to just sit around and chat with water while everyone else eats, but I've done it before, and it's worth the savings. 

Unfortunately, I have a frugal fail today as well - drove to work for the first time in 4.5 months.  Have a dentist appointment in the middle of the day that's too far to bike to reasonably. 

[Hirondelle]

Resisted buying coffee when walking to work this morning.

You've mentioned this before I think? Don't you have nice coffee at home to take with you, or don't you have time to make fresh coffee in morning?

Yes, normally I do make my own but this morning I went to work earlier than normal so didn't have a lot of time and got tempted. This happens occasionally :). I'm also out of nice coffee actually so that doesn't help either (haven't been making any on most days tbh).

Update: I got some delicious Vietnamese coffee again <3

Pretty much completely kicked my occasional habit. Tomorrow I have to take a reaaaally early train though (on Saturday!) so I might let myself get tempted by a station cappuccino when waiting for my transfer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Even though I didn't technically do it, I'll take credit for it. My husband used a $100 Amazon credit we had from filling out a survey & bought all of the parts needed to repair our garage door. Then, repaired it himself. I did keep my husband & kids fed & made lunch for everyone while they were out working.

Another day with no meals out, not even an Acai bowl from Costco, which is my kids current favorite. We came home & made pumpkin bread instead. Yum. . .

[Loretta]

I saved roughly $1500 by not freaking out when my dryer broke last Sunday.  Instead I ordered a replacement part from Ebay and the angels sang last night when I screwed it in.  I live in a small condo that has the stackable washer/dryer set in a small closet, so when one needs replacement it’s going to be pricey.  I know some Mustachians like to air dry all their clothes and while I can air dry most of my work clothes, my underwear and socks need to be softened and tumbled in a clothes dryer. 

[Sugaree]

I went to a grocery store I don't usually go to.  Bought only the loss leaders including bone-in chicken beats for $.99/lb.  I deboned and cut up 15 lbs (makes prep easier on weeknights) AND made 2+ gallons of stock AND picked enough meat off the bones to make a pot of chicken noodle soup with some left over for BBQ chicken sandwiches tomorrow.  All for less that I normally pay for 10 lbs of b/s  breasts.

[chasesfish]

Needed to replace a tail light on the jeep.  $7 at Autozone with a $5 mail in rebate.  Cheaper than a ticket

[littlelykke]

Where I live you get a financial compensation for your commute. How much you receive depends on the distance between your home and your workplace. And the amount of days, that you have to come to your workplace. I found out, that I got paid only about half of what I should get. So I filled in the paperwork to get that fixed. Should bring an additional 50 euros each month. Yay!

Also didn't buy new doors for the bedrooms, but took the old ones out, sanded them down, repaired holes with some wood filler. Will paint them tomorrow and should be as good as new again. And I searched online for the best deal for hardware for the doors. Our current hardware is just really meh. Old, cheap, very 'flimsy'. By repainting and changing the hardware, we should get fabulous looking doors, for 30 euros per door, instead of buying pretty new ones for 200 a door.

[HappierAtHome]

Trying to focus again on the small things, after a few extraordinarily difficult months:
Brought breakfast and lunch to work; drank free coffee instead of buying a 'real' coffee ($3.80) from the nearby cafe.
Combining public transport and walking for my commute. Parking starts at $5 near my work, and obviously there'd be fuel use and wear and tear too.
Recommitting to some environmental choices that also happen to save money.
No spend day today. I need more of these :-)

[horsepoor]

I got started on building my garden tool "kiosk".  It's not quite a shed, just a shallow covered spot to stow tools and a wheelbarrow.  Using as much scrap lumber as possible.  At first I was going to buy some sort of Rubbermaid mini-shed, but couldn't find exactly the right thing.  This will be custom for my needs and set me back <$200 vs. probably $400-500 for a pre-made shed that would be uglier and not customized.

[Linea_Norway]

Also didn't buy new doors for the bedrooms, but took the old ones out, sanded them down, repaired holes with some wood filler. Will paint them tomorrow and should be as good as new again. And I searched online for the best deal for hardware for the doors. Our current hardware is just really meh. Old, cheap, very 'flimsy'. By repainting and changing the hardware, we should get fabulous looking doors, for 30 euros per door, instead of buying pretty new ones for 200 a door.

Been there, done that. In our old house we have painted and repaired many of the old doors, including installing new door handles on them. Lots of work, but as done in your own free time, very low cost for a nice result.

[littlelykke]

Also didn't buy new doors for the bedrooms, but took the old ones out, sanded them down, repaired holes with some wood filler. Will paint them tomorrow and should be as good as new again. And I searched online for the best deal for hardware for the doors. Our current hardware is just really meh. Old, cheap, very 'flimsy'. By repainting and changing the hardware, we should get fabulous looking doors, for 30 euros per door, instead of buying pretty new ones for 200 a door.

Been there, done that. In our old house we have painted and repaired many of the old doors, including installing new door handles on them. Lots of work, but as done in your own free time, very low cost for a nice result.

Yes, we did that in our last house as well. But the doors there were of a much better quality, than the ones we have now. So we were severely tempted to buy new ones, but decided against it in the end. Total costs of replacing all the doors would be well over 1400 euros. Now we only have to buy 1 new door, because we moved the old door between living room & hall way, and now the old one doesn't fit anymore. By repainting, we save ourselves 1000 euros.

[MountainGal]

~Bought the max of 5 allowed .99 8 oz kroger cheese last week.  While there I cherry picked 4 free items, and bought a few other necessities.  Saved 48% off my total order.

~Checked with DH to ensure he has enough white undershirts to go two weeks without doing a washer load of them.  He does.  Woot!  That will save 2/loads a month x 12 = 24 loads a year.

~Speaking of DH, he got lucky and filled his deer tag last week.  Had leftover venison for lunch today.

~Heading on a business trip soon.  Will pack the usual snack items from home for the road and hotel room.

~Been drinking leftover various alcohols from our Halloween party instead of buying my usual poison of choice.

~Eating down our food on hand will hopefully lead to a reduced grocery total this month.

~Didn't go anywhere over the weekend saving on fuel costs.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Following along with @MountainGal - I made myself a cocktail using the remnants from our liquor cabinet + a lime from our tree last night, vs opening a new bottle of wine. We're going out of town later this week, and only drink alcohol on weekends, so didn't want to waste the wine.

[letsdoit]

saved $2500 or so in taxes by scrambling to max out 401ks at the end of year

[Arbitrage]

Open Enrollment:

Switched from PPO to HDHP (wasn't available before).  Was able to tweak the coverage options thanks to plan changes.  Saves a bit over $2000 pre-tax.

Max out HSA.  Will get $1500 in free seed money, and save an additional $2200 in taxes next year.

Max out Dependent Care FSA, same as every year.  Save $2000 in taxes.

Cancel dental insurance (now covered by DW).  Saves about $450 pre-tax.

[Trifle]

My 6 year old laptop's battery is dying.  Thought hard about whether to replace it with a new laptop, but decided to order a replacement battery instead, and try to keep it going for another year or two.

My kids (12 and 15) are going to do the 'surgery' for me on the laptop.  They have already replaced a broken laptop screen, a faulty laptop fan, and a dead iPhone 5 battery.  They are saving our family money and learning some great skills.   

[Bracken_Joy]

Closing date on our house is the 30th, but we'll be completely out this weekend. Apparently, the buyer's financing already went through and the lender is fine with closing early. We'll probably a week or more early. Means we'll get more prorated taxes etc from the sale. Also, the apartment we moved to had a month free, so we actually won't have *any* overlapping housing costs. Pretty cool! It pays not to dawdle =)

We also managed to do this move, from a 3br+office/2 bath house with one uhaul rental (paid for a 17', upgraded for free to a 20'), and a few runs in our pickup. So with the rental and gas, we probably paid ~$250 for this move? Instead of hiring someone, which would have likely been north of $1k. Although probably tack on like $100 in expensive convenience food/fast food/dining out that wouldn't have happened if we weren't in process moving for so many trips/days.

Buyer bought a ton of our personal property, which included the incredibly nice amp+speaker set up we had. We had gotten it free (!!) in exchange for helping a relative move out of a bad situation so they could take a job in a new state. Long story, but we got for free a system that was probably ~$2500 new, and is currently valued at about $800-1k. So where was the savings? I was able to talk my audiophile husband into getting a soundbar as a replacement instead of another expensive system. Admittedly, we got an expensive sound bar, but best buy already has it's BF sales up and we put it in Citi Price Rewind, and ~$250 is still a LOT less than over a grand! We've had it about a week now, and he finally yesterday said, "you know what, I've gotten used to this. I'm totally fine with the soundbar." Woo!

During a run back to Hometown and the house yesterday, I was able to coordinate a lady coming and buying an old vacuum (we had 2) for $75. Made the day a bit tight schedule wise, but it all worked out! I've been astounded how much easier and more active FB marketplace is for selling items. I'll never go back to CL again. Way more activity and I haven't had a single person flake yet (knock on wood).

[radram]

Closing date on our house is the 30th, but we'll be completely out this weekend. Apparently, the buyer's financing already went through and the lender is fine with closing early. We'll probably a week or more early. Means we'll get more prorated taxes etc from the sale. Also, the apartment we moved to had a month free, so we actually won't have *any* overlapping housing costs. Pretty cool! It pays not to dawdle =)

We also managed to do this move, from a 3br+office/2 bath house with one uhaul rental (paid for a 17', upgraded for free to a 20'), and a few runs in our pickup. So with the rental and gas, we probably paid ~$250 for this move? Instead of hiring someone, which would have likely been north of $1k. Although probably tack on like $100 in expensive convenience food/fast food/dining out that wouldn't have happened if we weren't in process moving for so many trips/days.

Buyer bought a ton of our personal property, which included the incredibly nice amp+speaker set up we had. We had gotten it free (!!) in exchange for helping a relative move out of a bad situation so they could take a job in a new state. Long story, but we got for free a system that was probably ~$2500 new, and is currently valued at about $800-1k. So where was the savings? I was able to talk my audiophile husband into getting a soundbar as a replacement instead of another expensive system. Admittedly, we got an expensive sound bar, but best buy already has it's BF sales up and we put it in Citi Price Rewind, and ~$250 is still a LOT less than over a grand! We've had it about a week now, and he finally yesterday said, "you know what, I've gotten used to this. I'm totally fine with the soundbar." Woo!

During a run back to Hometown and the house yesterday, I was able to coordinate a lady coming and buying an old vacuum (we had 2) for $75. Made the day a bit tight schedule wise, but it all worked out! I've been astounded how much easier and more active FB marketplace is for selling items. I'll never go back to CL again. Way more activity and I haven't had a single person flake yet (knock on wood).

Congrats on your downsize. Your moving cost savings could have easily been north of $2,000. I don't think there are very many moving companies that would even answer the phone for $1,000.

[Bracken_Joy]

Closing date on our house is the 30th, but we'll be completely out this weekend. Apparently, the buyer's financing already went through and the lender is fine with closing early. We'll probably a week or more early. Means we'll get more prorated taxes etc from the sale. Also, the apartment we moved to had a month free, so we actually won't have *any* overlapping housing costs. Pretty cool! It pays not to dawdle =)

We also managed to do this move, from a 3br+office/2 bath house with one uhaul rental (paid for a 17', upgraded for free to a 20'), and a few runs in our pickup. So with the rental and gas, we probably paid ~$250 for this move? Instead of hiring someone, which would have likely been north of $1k. Although probably tack on like $100 in expensive convenience food/fast food/dining out that wouldn't have happened if we weren't in process moving for so many trips/days.

Buyer bought a ton of our personal property, which included the incredibly nice amp+speaker set up we had. We had gotten it free (!!) in exchange for helping a relative move out of a bad situation so they could take a job in a new state. Long story, but we got for free a system that was probably ~$2500 new, and is currently valued at about $800-1k. So where was the savings? I was able to talk my audiophile husband into getting a soundbar as a replacement instead of another expensive system. Admittedly, we got an expensive sound bar, but best buy already has it's BF sales up and we put it in Citi Price Rewind, and ~$250 is still a LOT less than over a grand! We've had it about a week now, and he finally yesterday said, "you know what, I've gotten used to this. I'm totally fine with the soundbar." Woo!

During a run back to Hometown and the house yesterday, I was able to coordinate a lady coming and buying an old vacuum (we had 2) for $75. Made the day a bit tight schedule wise, but it all worked out! I've been astounded how much easier and more active FB marketplace is for selling items. I'll never go back to CL again. Way more activity and I haven't had a single person flake yet (knock on wood).

Congrats on your downsize. Your moving cost savings could have easily been north of $2,000. I don't think there are very many moving companies that would even answer the phone for $1,000.

Wow, glad to know we saved ever more than I realized! Crazy how expensive that can get. While I don't like moving, I think while husband and I remain spry and able bodied, we'll never hire it out!

[Dicey]

* went through a cookbook on loan from the library and copied out a few recipes by hand rather than making copies
* line dried one laundry load
* told my daughter that I am not buying any new Halloween costumes, she can chose one from the outfits we still have from the last years

I'm just catching up, so apologies @OK if this has been suggested downthread. Take a picture with your phone! It's fast and super convenient. I do this frequently, especially when I find something interesting in a Doctor's office magazine.

[Linea_Norway]

I let DH inject me with the second portion of my tic vaccine. The first injection was done at the doctor's office to check for allergy. Now I know I am not allergic to it.
DH checked on the internet how to inject in the upper arm. He did it perfectly and painlessly. Last time when the doctor's assistant did it, it hurt in my arm for hours. Now it didn't hurt at all. 7$ and time and hassle saved.

[pressure9pa]

Also didn't buy new doors for the bedrooms, but took the old ones out, sanded them down, repaired holes with some wood filler. Will paint them tomorrow and should be as good as new again. And I searched online for the best deal for hardware for the doors. Our current hardware is just really meh. Old, cheap, very 'flimsy'. By repainting and changing the hardware, we should get fabulous looking doors, for 30 euros per door, instead of buying pretty new ones for 200 a door.

Been there, done that. In our old house we have painted and repaired many of the old doors, including installing new door handles on them. Lots of work, but as done in your own free time, very low cost for a nice result.

This can be a very effective trick for cabinets as well.  "Old" cabinets frequently just need the doors sanded & painted, and new handles to appear brand new.

[Poundwise]

Brought my eggplant and bell pepper plants inside for the winter. Since they're supposed to be perennial in other climes, maybe I can get a jumpstart next year if they stay alive!

[JLee]

I fluid film undercoated my truck to hopefully stave off the rust from road salt -- if I can keep it from rusting, I'll be in good shape for a long time.

[Freedomin5]

Rather than paying $0.80 for the round trip bus fare to and from the grocery store, I ordered groceries online. The delivery fee was $1.00, and the store offered a $2.00 coupon off the online order. So I saved money by ordering things online and didn’t have to lug groceries home in the rain.

[Dicey]

I let DH inject me with the second portion of my tic vaccine. The first injection was done at the doctor's office to check for allergy. Now I know I am not allergic to it.
DH checked on the internet how to inject in the upper arm. He did it perfectly and painlessly. Last time when the doctor's assistant did it, it hurt in my arm for hours. Now it didn't hurt at all. 7$ and time and hassle saved.

Winner of the Badass of the Week Award!

[Roadrunner53]

Made some bone broth from a chicken backbone and bones from the cooked chicken added onion, carrots, celery, garlic, better than bouillon and some spices. Oh, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Pressure cooked in Instant pot for 2 hours. Broth tastes delicious! Much better than store bought!

[Imma]

We had a busy week. We stayed in all day, wore PJ pants, sat under a blanket to watch Netflix (shared account, costs €6/month, we don't have TV) and were too lazy to shop or cook so we ate all the leftovers in the fridge.

[jengod]

* Drying some chicken bones in the oven to smash for use as a calcium additive to the garden

* Rode the cargo bike to get groceries rather than driving a car

[Linea_Norway]

Cancelled a hobby magazine that I tried out, but that wasn't as interesting as expected.

[WorkingToUnwind]

Because we're traveling this year, we're not hosting Thanksgiving. I'm sad about this, but it's nice to visit with family in other parts of the country and enjoy being hosted. We'll save quite a bit, too! Between the turkey, frying oil, disposable plates/cutlery (we don't have enough plates or silverware to serve the 20ish people each year), booze, and misc food dishes, we spent a couple hundred on the festivities. Luckily we'd do potluck style, which brings the headache and costs down a bit.

[JLee]

Yesterday/today I found an acceptable used vehicle at $12,9xx for a friend who was looking at ~$40k new! He's working out the details to buy it right now : )

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We were on vacation (generally not frugal), but had lots of frugal wins along the way. We were staying in a hotel, but requested a microwave, and brought our panini maker from home.

-Used status at hotel for free continental breakfast for 2 every day
-Filled in with bagels & bananas (bought at Costco after we landed) for the other travelers
-Bought frozen burgers, sandwich fixing, fruit, & chips at Costco
-Had all but one lunch in our room, between trips to the beach/pool
-Went out for dinner, and tried to choose happy hour option restaurants
-Packed wine from home

We enjoyed our dinners out, and the break in the room was a great opportunity for the kids to chill between outings.

[Hirondelle]

Yesterday/today I found an acceptable used vehicle at $12,9xx for a friend who was looking at ~$40k new! He's working out the details to buy it right now : )

That's awesome! Huge savings!

Similar situation of saving your friend money; a friend texted me yesterday she was disappointed as she'd wanted to book a flight and now prices had gone up by $200 so it was $600 for a one-way flight or a 55h trip for $500. I asked if she'd been looking at round trip flights and/or alternative airports yet and she had. Apparently she hadn't done that all too extensively though cause I found her a round trip flight with a return date 2 months later for only $400 and a 14h itinary from an airport close to her! $200 saved and a lot less hassle. 

[jengod]

My 8yo son is very nearsighted. He has glasses at school, home and grandma’s house but often forgets to bring a pair on “outings” including movies and museums. I used a BLACKFRIDAY code at Zennis.com to save 20 percent off on another pair to keep in my purse so the kid doesn’t miss out on too much of life even if he’s not being responsible LOL. hashtagmomlife

[Linea_Norway]

Walked to and from work.

Yesterday I ordered a new phone within my budget, instead of falling for a more expensive one.

[horsepoor]

Bought a drill set at Lowe's last month for $179.  Just after I threw out the receipt, one of the batteries died.  Yesterday I took it back to return it, but forgot to bring the charger.  Verified that I would be able to return it without the receipt, then went and purchased the nearly identical set on a Black Friday deal for $149, with an additional $10 off coupon.  Will return the original set next week when I'm near the store again, instead of making a special trip.

Brought my horse jumps home for the winter so they will stay dry and out of the weather, and theoretically last longer.

Got 2 pickup loads of manure from the stable to fill my raised beds to grow lots of veggies next year.

[Imma]

I got a free sample packet of a new flavour of ramen. I never eat that normally, but it was free so I had it for dinner with some leftover broccoli.

[Cannot Wait!]

Started a Mustachian salad?!?!?!?!  😵