What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Linea_Norway]

I wanted to read a book that was recommended on this forum. I was on Amazon to order it and then thought: doesn't my library have it? Yes, they have it. I just need to pick it up this afternoon.

I still don't really like the standard library concept of having to return a book in 3 weeks. I do have an app where I can prolong the time online, as long as no one else has reserved the same book. But it still gives an element of stress when reading, that I wouldn't have with a book that I own.

[Roadrunner53]

I wanted to read a book that was recommended on this forum. I was on Amazon to order it and then thought: doesn't my library have it? Yes, they have it. I just need to pick it up this afternoon.

I still don't really like the standard library concept of having to return a book in 3 weeks. I do have an app where I can prolong the time online, as long as no one else has reserved the same book. But it still gives an element of stress when reading, that I wouldn't have with a book that I own.

You can buy some pretty cheap used books on a website called addall.com

[OtherJen]

I'm on a clear out the freezer/pantry kick. Tonight's dinner (chicken vegetable chowder) used up: a couple of chicken breasts bought on a deep sale and frozen, some dry white beans that have been in my cupboard since last winter, the last of a slightly wilted bunch of celery that would otherwise have been tossed, a half onion, several scallions before they wilted, the last of the potatoes, the last carton of chicken broth, and the last of a bulk pack of canned tomatoes from Costco. We'll get at least three more soup meals from this batch.

Now I can go to the produce market with a clear conscience.

[Sugaree]

I don't know if this really counts, but I sat down and did the math and realized that it is actually not any cheaper to make flavored coffee creamer, powdered or liquid, than it is to buy the store brand.  I was going to whip up a batch of powdered creamer to keep at work (to drink with the awesome, but expensive, coffee my team lead brings in....sorry guys, when it's my turn to bring coffee you're all getting the Aldi brand).  But dry milk alone is about twice the price of creamer per ounce.  I guess you could argue that dry milk is actually dairy while powdered creamer tends to be non-dairy, but I'm okay with that.  Now, that yummy vanilla liquid creamer that my husband brought home the other day was fantastic.  I might have to figure out how to make something like that even if it just means throwing some vanilla essence (I think that's what mom and dad brought back from Mexico the last time they were there) in some half and half. 

[Tyson]

I wanted to read a book that was recommended on this forum. I was on Amazon to order it and then thought: doesn't my library have it? Yes, they have it. I just need to pick it up this afternoon.

I still don't really like the standard library concept of having to return a book in 3 weeks. I do have an app where I can prolong the time online, as long as no one else has reserved the same book. But it still gives an element of stress when reading, that I wouldn't have with a book that I own.

I use to feel the same, that the library was more stressful than buying a book.  But I sort of forced myself to use the library whenever possible.  What I've found is that over time my reading has just become more focused.  Instead of having 2 or 3 books I'm casually reading at the same time, or worse, a stack of unread books that I'm planning to "get to", I now check out a book, focus on reading it, and then return the book.  And repeat. 

My library is cool in that they let you create a saved list of titles you'd like to read, then you can just reference whatever is next on the list. 

Of course, for every rule there are exceptions!  Right now I'm reading Infinite Jest, and it's 1100 pages.  And it's pretty dense writing, so no way I could finish it in the time allotted by the library.  So that book I bought.  It's the first book I've bought in over a year.  The nice thing is that my newly acquired habit of reading one book to the end and not getting distracted has kicked in and I've not been distracted by other books in the 3 months it's taken me so far to get through most of the book.

[OmahaSteph]

Have been using the second-hand bread machine several times per week. It’s more than paid for itself.

Hubby lost his job about a month ago, so there have been no cycle-commuting or Uber costs. He loves to cook, so he’s been making amazing meals for us using what we have. We’ve been making grocery lists, meal plans, and sticking to them. Much less eating out. Bonus: Fuel perks for me.

My 12-year-old keep growing like a weed and needed ANOTHER pair of boots for Scout camping. Instead of paying $70+ at a retail place, I found a hardly used pair of name-brand boots for $30 on Poshmark. They fit perfectly. Bonus: Discovered his old boots fit me.

Also used Poshmark to score my son a name-brand, NWT dress shirt and tie combo for his upcoming band concert.

Sent the kids down the street with a wagon to gather the piles of leaves on the sidewalk. (Our trees don’t drop many leaves.) Used them to cover over a large garden bed, and worked more into the soil in two of the raised garden beds. Free compost!

Using ingredients I bought last year, mixed up a new large batch of instant oatmeal mix. Kids can scoop what they want, add water, and microwave.

Work provided lunch and afternoon snacks yesterday.

[Sugaree]

Does your library have eBooks?  I can check out up to 5 books at a time and they will automatically return after two weeks.  The cool part is though that I've found that on my old non-Fire Kindle, that if I download the books and then cut the wifi off then the books will stay available until the next time the Kindle connects to the wifi.  I assume it would work the same way on a Fire, but I tend to use it for more general purposes and for the Prime reading, which doesn't have a time limit. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Leftovers all week for meals, no eating out. I did have a semi savings/semi spending one. I don't have to be on call over part of the holidays, & didn't know that when I booked our flights to Portland 10 months or so ago. We'd like the extra 2.5 days to spend, and changing the flights was $500. That said, I made our return flight home a little bit later, and ended up getting a credit as well as some miles back, which reduced the cost quite a bit (more like $150 vs $500).

I also helped my dad book four flights using his vast amount of frequent flier miles. And, he had no idea that he had some credits to use up, so I used those for his flights as well. Not savings for me, but definitely for my parents.

[Roadrunner53]

@Roadrunner53 - sure. It was my first time making this recipe, but I liked them. https://www.budgetbytes.com/make-ahead-bean-and-cheese-burritos/

Thanks, what a great recipe! Lots of step by step instructions! Shopping for the ingredients today!

Made the burrito's today! made a double batch. Froze 14 and will have 4 for supper tonight. The only thing that was difficult was rolling up the burrito's! After we were all done I went to youtube and found a nice demo on rolling them up! OMG! I should have looked there first! NEXT TIME will review the youtube vid to see how to roll them up! Looking forward to eating them tonight. I put a measuring cup into each ingredient and measuring spoon into the taco sauce so it was a no brainer to fill them, no guess work! I am planning to cook them in my air fryer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Roadrunner53 - I worked in a Mexican restaurant as a teen, and had it mastered. But, we use smaller shells, which makes the rolling quite challenging! And, YouTube is often the answer :-)

[horsepoor]

Used a $10 off coupon at the feed store.
Trimmed one  of the horse's feet myself, as always.  Admired how they look better than those done by professionals.
Planned my driving for the day to minimize time and mileage.
Ate leftovers for lunch.
DH has been opining that he wants pizza.  Was thinking of going to our favorite pizza joint this weekend.  Instead bought toppings and will be starting some no-knead pizza dough shortly.  Probably spending $12, including the fancy-pants sopresseta vs. gas + $30ish, and we get to top our pizzas however we like.
Reviewed my earning's statement, first one since I bumped my TSP contributions back up.  Decided it's doable to leave it there at least through end of the year and/or end of market slump, whichever comes later.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Line-dried three loads of washing today and it's only 4pm.

Summer has finally arrived in Sydney.

[10dollarsatatime]

I made a full gallon of yogurt!  Winco is the only store that carries my favorite stuff (Zoi is the best!).  I go every six weeks or so and stock up.  I was on the last bit of the last container, didn't want to go all the way to Winco, so I picked up some milk while I was out, and made yogurt in my instant pot.  So easy and really good!  Also cheaper.

Right now I'm straining it two cups at time in a tiny sieve with a coffee filter.  I'm thinking about making whey cheese with all of the whey I'm straining out of it.

[Bracken_Joy]

Welcome back @horsepoor ! Haven't seen you in a while =)

Our savings:
-We're moving ourselves. With how much Husband has been working, I was increasingly concerned I'd have to hire movers. Luckily, inspection etc all happened very quickly, so we can squeeze it in this weekend. Means I'm moving a couple weeks earlier than I thought, but saving at least $1k to do it!
-Had used our own inspection from 2 yrs ago to guide some repairs before sale. As a result, all we have to do from inspection was pay $99 for HVAC cleaning/servicing.
-Got meat from our hunting party. Didn't get anything ourselves this year, but the party always shares. ~$150 worth of tags, gas, etc, for a good $350+ meat, if you assume 1:1 displacement of beef.
-Waited to start our parking cost at the apartment building until we moved up full time, so that'll start monday. Saved us a couple weeks of paying it. (Got the apartment early, but had 4 weeks free on it, and were able to defer the possession by 10 days. Means we're only overlapping paying with the house before closing by like 6 days!)

[jengod]

Picked up a cargobike-load of wood chips from a new neighbor who had a huge load delivered and can't use them all herself.

Now off to check the leavings at the pumpkin patch, wish me spoiled hay! {Update: Two straw bales hauled home so far, plus a couple huge blue pumpkins and some decorative devil's claw guys.}

[horsepoor]

Welcome back @horsepoor ! Haven't seen you in a while =)

Thank you, have been very busy with work and horse things.  It's nice  to be remembered here. :)

So far today:
Just transplanted about 20 perennials in the front yard.

Slowly repairing gopher damage and digging out grass that has encroached from it's designated area, rather than hiring the work out.

Spent some time online this morning looking at mini-sheds to hold garden tools.  Concluded that I could build something much cheaper and it will be customized exactly for my space and needs, with the bonus of putting a dent in the pile of scrap wood.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-I fast in the morning (& skip breakfast) & planned ahead today enough to notice that I would go an extra 3 hours without food unless I packed a lunch for soccer. Reduced risk of splurge eating out, and packed a sandwich, peach & pretzel chips & avoided eating out.
-Husband & I agreed today to sell our car! That will net us about $60k in immediate cost, plus savings on insurance & car tabs. (Facepunch worthy, as we have an extra & nice car to start with). But, progress!
-I made pizza for the fam before I left for an event, ensuring they wouldn't eat out
-I didn't want to go anywhere tonight, but bid on a pedicure/social event at the school auction 9 months ago. I could use a pedicure, and I've already paid, so went & had a free pedicure + dinner/drinks. It was nice, even though I don't really know anyone & socially dislike situations like that.

[Freedomin5]

Bought fruit online and had it delivered to our house. Got free delivery and 15% discount (versus paying full price by walking to the store)

Made homemade pizza for dinner. Made three extra pizzas to freeze.

[mustachepungoeshere]

I left a review on a clothing website for a couple of plain v-neck t-shirts I bought in April - the necklines stretched out in no time.

The company asked me to bring them back to the shop, and replaced them on the spot.

[Sugaree]

DH fixed the bathtub faucet that was leaking an almost constant trickle of hot water (I'm counting this as a win for me because it took a bit of nagging reminding him to get it done.

[marcela]

- Took home chicken breast from a work event and will be incorporating it into our meals for the rest of the week. My husband added it to his ramen last night, I'm having some with a baked potato for lunch today and it'll be cubed into pasta tomorrow.
- I also took the rest of the leftovers (7 trays worth of pork, salad, beans, dessert, mac and cheese!) to my husband's practice and let the techs have at it. I bought tupperware so they could take stuff home and to friends. Spent money for me, but savings for a lot of others.
- We are hosting christmas at our house for the first time and wanted to do matching pjs. Buying them would have cost us $62! Went to the store and bought fabric, notions and a sewing pattern for around $30 and the pattern I can use to make other stuff moving foward. Extra Bonus we will have pjs that are exactly how we want them.

[jengod]

Saved $40 by buying Container Store “stainless steel wall pockets” used at the thrift store instead of new.

[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.

[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.

[Sugaree]

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.

It's a lifesaver.  I've had 7 or 8 flats since March and DH has been able to save all my tires.

[littlelykke]

I really felt like taking the train to work today, but I didn't cave in & went biking instead. Saved myself €7,50 :)

Oh, and I didn't buy a magazine when I was grocery shopping. And I bought all the things that we needed at a discount price. Saved another 14 euro's on those things as well.

[MountainGal]

~Used the rest of a Starbucks gift card this morning.

~Bought a pair of much needed winter boots yesterday at 50% off.

~Continuing to eat freezer leftovers which saves on the grocery bill.

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

[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.

[marcela]

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!

Will Citi Price Rewind match Black Friday? I couldn't remember and have been holding off on buying some things.

[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. . .

[MoolahLula]

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.