Author Topic: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?  (Read 8020652 times)

Moonwaves

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1300 on: August 25, 2014, 10:27:40 AM »
Remembered when packing my lunch today to also pack a snack. Didn't have a lot of time so just threw a large handful of almonds into a smal Tupperware container. Not used to eating quite so many nuts (really wished I'd added some raisins) but I spread them out over the day and haven't been near the vending machine or the little bistro corner downstairs all day. Fresh apples are starting to make an appearance at the market again and I'm delighted - apples are just about my favourite fruit. Get very excited about strawberries and raspberries and plums when they're in season but apples are the only ones that I really miss for the few months of the year they're just not around and I never did get around to drying many last year. Will definitely make up for that this year.

P.S. Speaking of apples: A former colleague of mine once told me with a completely straight face that he can't eat apples because his wife is a doctor. It took several seconds for the penny to drop but still makes me laugh today when I think of it.

Dicey

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1301 on: August 25, 2014, 12:24:51 PM »
Loved the apple joke, moonwaves! I'll drop it on my cousin's husband (she's a doctor) next time I talk to him.

C. K.

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1302 on: August 25, 2014, 01:48:15 PM »
I drove past the gauntlet of restaurants yet again to eat lunch at home.

Lol! We walked to the bank to deposit a check for stuff we had sold on consignment, then picked up 2 take & bake pizzas. We walked home, baked them and called it good. What?? $22.00 for four adults? Are you kidding me? Yeah, this is what qualifies as dinner out for my family. Since most meals are cooked from scratch and eaten at home, this was a big treat. Oh yeah, it was the walking part that saved money. That and the fact that we deposited way more in the bank than we spent. Love this thread...

That is one of the biggest perks of a frugal lifestyle - enjoying the luxury of everyday things. I recently attended a vow renewal which meant hotel and travel expenses. I love my relatives; this was more like a family reunion; the trip was worth it to me.

I hadn't spent that much in one weekend in ages. It felt a extravagant, but I enjoyed most of the experience. The hotel felt more luxurious than I remember. The room service was awesome.(Yes, I let them serve me rather than go out for groceries.) When the meal was an hour late, I didn't care; I was just so happy. They apologized profusely and gave me extra cheesecake.

To top it all off, there was on the TV a marathon of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, a Discovery Channel show that I hadn't seen in a while.  Plus, I make a study of hotels to discover how they create such an inviting environment. I want to walk into my house every day and feel as excited as walking into a well-appointed hotel.

It was a perfect weekend.

DrJohn

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1303 on: August 25, 2014, 02:17:02 PM »
Rode the chauffeur driven Mercedes-Benz (Travego) to and from work in air conditioned comfort.  Door to door service.  Too far, too hot and too dangerous around here to bike.

Very nice...

OSUBearCub

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1304 on: August 26, 2014, 09:50:06 AM »
I cooked a huge pot of lentil soup (vegan for Meatless Monday) and brought a bowl to work for lunch today.  Bonus - I resisted the urge to toss in some smokey, delicious bacon.  Mmmmmmm, bacon.

2ndTimer

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1305 on: August 26, 2014, 10:51:18 AM »
Gave a neighbor one of the free heads of lettuce that I scored yesterday.  We routinely share anything we can't use up.  Later I will walk to the grocery store to buy some cilantro to make salsa out of all the tomatoes people have given us lately.  Salsa freezes beautifully and tastes wonderful in Feb when I haven't seen a real tomato in months.

Catbert

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1306 on: August 26, 2014, 12:11:57 PM »
Sunday visited the Farmer's market right before closing and bought 15 lbs of organic, heirloom tomatoes for $12.  Came home and canned most for the winter. (Tomato, cheese pie with the rest.)

Bought 5 lbs of ripe bell peppers (mixed colors) for $0.49 a lb.  Roasted and canned them. 

mrdebtbeard

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1307 on: August 26, 2014, 12:17:27 PM »
Walked to home depot instead of driving and shopped the scratch and dent for new light bulbs. A buck for 4 CFLs instead of 4 dollars. Oh and got free boxes for moving from walmart last night at midnight during their restocking.

DrJohn

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1308 on: August 26, 2014, 12:23:55 PM »
Sunday visited the Farmer's market right before closing and bought 15 lbs of organic, heirloom tomatoes for $12.  Came home and canned most for the winter. (Tomato, cheese pie with the rest.)

Bought 5 lbs of ripe bell peppers (mixed colors) for $0.49 a lb.  Roasted and canned them.

I totally love in season tomatoes.  Grew a lot last year, dried them slowly in the oven with a sprinkling of salt and sugar and vac-packed them before freezing.  The best!

Joggernot

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1309 on: August 26, 2014, 12:30:10 PM »
Did the haircut thing for both DW and me using our craigslist Flowbee.  That way I get a little tapering to look better when the DW wants to show me off.  :)

Worked on wood carving items to give as gifts for Christmas.  Two done and six to go.

tmac

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1310 on: August 26, 2014, 06:21:28 PM »
Back to school shopping for my two school-aged kids. We just moved to a colder climate, so we needed a lot of warm clothes. Started at the Goodwill and got 10 long-sleeve shirts and sweaters for $20. We struck out on pants so had to hit the Target, but kept it pretty minimal. We have some time before it gets really cold, so I'll stalk the Goodwill for winter boots over the next couple of months.

G-dog

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1311 on: August 26, 2014, 06:56:50 PM »
Sunday visited the Farmer's market right before closing and bought 15 lbs of organic, heirloom tomatoes for $12.  Came home and canned most for the winter. (Tomato, cheese pie with the rest.)

Bought 5 lbs of ripe bell peppers (mixed colors) for $0.49 a lb.  Roasted and canned them.

I totally love in season tomatoes.  Grew a lot last year, dried them slowly in the oven with a sprinkling of salt and sugar and vac-packed them before freezing.  The best!

Tell me more about this drying princess. I've used the oven before - no seasoning, but they taste baked, and often stick to the pan. Tried using silpat and olive oil to avoid the sticking oroblem, but I don't season them.  I also don't seed them, should I?

G-dog

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1312 on: August 26, 2014, 06:59:14 PM »
Invested my HSA, except for the $1K minimum cash I need to keep.  The website is f'ing confusing, so didn't get automatic investing set up, but I will soon. Since I invested all I could, I don 't have anything in the account to invest right now...

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1313 on: August 26, 2014, 08:36:05 PM »
Cut 5 heads of hair today -- WAHL clippers from amazon keep on clipping! Made stir fry for dinner even though I was exhausted from son getting wisdom teeth out (it didn't go well and he's in quite a bit of pain tonight) Used a/c today to help me cope with stress. I think it was worth it because I was able to get things done and make dinner due to not melting! I'm almost certain I would have broken down and bought dinner had I been in that state!

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1314 on: August 26, 2014, 09:21:07 PM »
I cooked a huge pot of lentil soup (vegan for Meatless Monday) and brought a bowl to work for lunch today.  Bonus - I resisted the urge to toss in some smokey, delicious bacon.  Mmmmmmm, bacon.

I would love vegan food if it had more bacon in it.

Moonwaves

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1315 on: August 27, 2014, 03:25:52 AM »
I totally love in season tomatoes.  Grew a lot last year, dried them slowly in the oven with a sprinkling of salt and sugar and vac-packed them before freezing.  The best!

Tell me more about this drying princess. I've used the oven before - no seasoning, but they taste baked, and often stick to the pan. Tried using silpat and olive oil to avoid the sticking oroblem, but I don't season them.  I also don't seed them, should I?
Tell me more about this drying princess. I've used the oven before - no seasoning, but they taste baked, and often stick to the pan. Tried using silpat and olive oil to avoid the sticking oroblem, but I don't season them.  I also don't seed them, should I?
I use the recipe in the River Cottage Preserves Handbook, which involves drying them (I use my dehydrator rather than the oven, if you use the oven, I think you're supposed to use a wooden spoon to prop the door open so that the moisture can escape) and then marinading them in balsamic vinegar for an hour or so before packing them into jars and covering with oil. They have to be used fairly quickly if you do them in oil though. I think this year I'll try freezing some. DrJohn, do you think freezing them without vac-packing would work?

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1316 on: August 27, 2014, 06:28:06 AM »
I've frozen dried cherry tomatoes, both vacuum packed dry, and in little plastic containers packed in oil and it works a treat.

2ndTimer

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1317 on: August 27, 2014, 08:34:48 AM »
Currently drinking a smoothie made with strawberries and peaches the produce guy was throwing out and I volunteered to adopt.  Pretty soon going to freeze the crockpot full of vegie chile made with tomatoes and peppers from the same source.

OSUBearCub

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1318 on: August 27, 2014, 11:16:14 AM »
I cooked a huge pot of lentil soup (vegan for Meatless Monday) and brought a bowl to work for lunch today.  Bonus - I resisted the urge to toss in some smokey, delicious bacon.  Mmmmmmm, bacon.

I would love vegan food if it had more bacon in it.

Ha!  Someone mentioned a Baconfest in another post and I had to stop myself from checking for flights on Kayak!

I'm hoping to extend the completely meatless days to Monday and Tuesday.  Because I'm a single guy and have no idea how to cut a recipe down, I'm hoping the left-overs of these meatless meals will reduce my meat consumption by a decent percentage for the rest of the week.

Write Thyme

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1319 on: August 27, 2014, 12:18:04 PM »
I brought my own coffee, lunch, and snacks to work.
I brought a stainless steel water bottle to drink the free filtered water.

What I need to do this weekend is harvest all the free blackberries in my yard.

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1320 on: August 27, 2014, 01:49:35 PM »
Did grocery shopping at Winco since I had to drive to the area anyways to drop daughter off at the airport. Drank water from water bottle we brought with us. 

boogiewoogie

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1321 on: August 27, 2014, 02:11:05 PM »
I got a sizeable raise at work and didn't spent any money to celebrate. The increased income will be solely be used to increase the stash...

Joggernot

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1322 on: August 27, 2014, 02:47:30 PM »
Found Walmart coupons for $5 off 5-quarts of synthetic oil.  When I got there, it was also on Rollback for $21.95, so got enough oil for three oil changes for $50.85.  Now to find the filters on sale somewhere...

flashpacker

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1323 on: August 27, 2014, 03:59:25 PM »
I spent 5-10 seconds typing my receipt numbers into Wal-mart savings catcher and saved $3.00.  Full disclosure that I've inputted 3 other receipts and gotten nothing or only a few cents back.  Not bad for how little time it takes though.

G-dog

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1324 on: August 27, 2014, 04:03:29 PM »
I totally love in season tomatoes.  Grew a lot last year, dried them slowly in the oven with a sprinkling of salt and sugar and vac-packed them before freezing.  The best!

Tell me more about this drying princess. I've used the oven before - no seasoning, but they taste baked, and often stick to the pan. Tried using silpat and olive oil to avoid the sticking oroblem, but I don't season them.  I also don't seed them, should I?
Tell me more about this drying princess. I've used the oven before - no seasoning, but they taste baked, and often stick to the pan. Tried using silpat and olive oil to avoid the sticking oroblem, but I don't season them.  I also don't seed them, should I?
I use the recipe in the River Cottage Preserves Handbook, which involves drying them (I use my dehydrator rather than the oven, if you use the oven, I think you're supposed to use a wooden spoon to prop the door open so that the moisture can escape) and then marinading them in balsamic vinegar for an hour or so before packing them into jars and covering with oil. They have to be used fairly quickly if you do them in oil though. I think this year I'll try freezing some. DrJohn, do you think freezing them without vac-packing would work?

I put a pair of big tongs over the oven door - spoons etc. tend to fall out!  I am thinking of buying a dehydrator..... I've looked on Craigslist but no luck.

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1325 on: August 28, 2014, 05:42:10 PM »
Son had to get stitches this afternoon which was super stressful for him and for me. I so badly wanted to swing through a McDonald's drive thru for dinner for the kids but instead I proceeded with the dinner I had planned: salmon, Greek salad and fried rice. It was a lot of work (mentally) for me to prepare all that food but I felt a deep sense of satisfaction when I was done!

more4less

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1326 on: August 28, 2014, 06:29:54 PM »
A week ago I settled for used 328i coupe instead of new 4 series - 30 grand of instant savings! :D

Less

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1327 on: August 28, 2014, 06:53:34 PM »
A week ago I settled for used 328i coupe instead of new 4 series - 30 grand of instant savings! :D

Shot more4less,

Be sure to bank it/invest it and start earning interest on that sucker!

labrat

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1328 on: August 28, 2014, 07:55:46 PM »
I cut our cloth diaper liners in half and will now spend 2.5c/liner instead of 5c.  It was already a small price to pay for avoiding the mess, and paying less will be even better :)

I also checked on my 1st Ting bill estimate.  So far I'm not even filling half of the S buckets and my bill will probably be $15 -- down from $55/mo.  Awesomesauce!

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1329 on: August 28, 2014, 09:27:33 PM »
Held off on calling the vet yesterday when the stable manager texted me a photo of my horse's bloody legs while I was out of town for work.  Turned out to not be as bad as it initially looked when I was able to inspect the photo more closely, and I've been able to do all the doctoring myself.

Managed to throw a chicken in the crockpot during an unexpected mid-day hour at home between meetings even though it was a busy enough day that it would have been easy to justify fast food.  Bonus is that it provided me a lunch to take to work tomorrow too.

sheepstache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1330 on: August 28, 2014, 09:50:53 PM »
Needed cash from an out-of-state bank account.  Learned steps to get ATM fee reimbursements and implemented.

Have been wanting to do some drinking but kept putting off because I didn't want to buy a six-back.  Friend scored me a bottle of champagne today.

Squirrel away

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1331 on: August 29, 2014, 12:13:07 AM »
- We are in the process of changing to a new bank account so I was worried that any new purchases would cause a problem so we haven't bought anything for a few days. I need to buy bread, washing powder etc... today but I have only £10 in cash so hope to have change leftover.

- Not so small but I have drawn up a new grocery/household budget and I have slashed it by half! It might be hard but I am just going to do it until the end of 2014 and then see how it went.:)

DSA

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1332 on: August 29, 2014, 06:52:02 AM »
One of my regular go-to breakfasts for years has been shredded wheat with milk and Craisins. It's been pretty good, but I've been displeased at the calorie count (130 calories per serving) and the sugar content (26g of sugar). It's not terribly expensive ($7 for a 48-oz bag at Sam's Club) but it is still a nonzero cost.

My supplies of Craisins ran out last week and today I just had the shredded wheat and milk with a couple shakes of cinnamon (not cinnamon sugar). It's great stuff and I really appreciate the less-sweet flavor.

This means I don't need to buy Craisins again -- I think a good thing to do with recurring purchases like groceries is to force yourself out of the habit of restocking just because it's what you've always bought.

RichLife

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1333 on: August 29, 2014, 06:59:45 AM »
Bought yoghurt in a big pack rather than individually portioned containers as I don't need to go into work the coming week and thus don't need the convenience. Costs less and has less packaging. Future plan is to get a reusable container which I can take with me so I can keep doing this.

Pooperman

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1334 on: August 29, 2014, 08:34:04 AM »
Cut my Cell bill (Verizon, 2 iPhone family plan) down to 1GB/month which will save us ~$15 overall (bill reduction + fees + taxes). If the data diet works, SO and I may be able to cut it down to 500MB/month which is another ~$15 savings. I would hop on another plan, but we've both got the 4s, which is in limbo until February for unlocking. Contract would be over in a year.

2ndTimer

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1335 on: August 29, 2014, 08:59:42 AM »
Will shortly leave the computer and make fancy omelets for our starting vacation breakfast.  A robust breakfast will prevent our needing to eat out 2 hours after we leave home.  We do plan to stop at our favorite filipino bakery for a banana fritter but this way we can split one.  We will, of course, take a thermos of coffee to drink with it.

You can expect a full description of our hike to the Burgess Shale in the Badassity section.

fartface

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1336 on: August 29, 2014, 12:08:31 PM »
"Saving 'til it hurts"

Increased my 403b contribution from $800/month to $1450/month.

Joggernot

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1337 on: August 29, 2014, 12:15:50 PM »
"Saving 'til it hurts"

Increased my 403b contribution from $800/month to $1450/month.
Now that is badass!

zinethstache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1338 on: August 29, 2014, 02:02:02 PM »
FINALLY switched to a 1.5% back on all purchases CC. We no longer need the miles for flying so this will be a better fit for us. Got the $100 bonus right away and setup the auto pay to our account.

G-dog

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1339 on: August 29, 2014, 02:22:43 PM »
"Saving 'til it hurts"

Increased my 403b contribution from $800/month to $1450/month.

Sweet! Good for you and congratulations.  I suspect that this actually "hurts so good!"

Angie55

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1340 on: August 29, 2014, 02:45:52 PM »
Finally ordered a new replacement HDTV antenna hopefully in time for football season. Used Amex Offer for $20 Statement Credit if you spend $20 on Amazon.

I've been paying for cable for the past 6+ months and haven't even plugged in the cable box.... Apparently it was easier to just throw away a few hundred dollars to Comcast. Removing this and switching to lower internet to get my bill from 85 -> $35. Its been on my to do list ever since they raised our rates months ago.

CentimentalFreedom

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1341 on: August 30, 2014, 04:23:18 AM »
making blankets for each family member for xmas. Totally Centimental! Keeps them warm at a low cost and presents are taken care of.

Squirrel away

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1342 on: August 30, 2014, 04:31:26 AM »
- Eating at home all day. Homemade bean soup for lunch and lentil burgers, veggie hot dogs, potato wedges and salad for dinner.

- Using stuff at home as a "spa day", face mask, a hair treatment (free sample) covered with a free shower cap I got from a hotel an few years ago.:) I'm doing my nails too.

UnleashHell

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1343 on: August 30, 2014, 01:41:06 PM »
I've plunged feet first into this by spending $400 in the last 24 hours!!!!

did the weekly shop. Except made it a two week shop and picked up some staples that will last way longer (enough coffee filters for a year!!).
that was 300 - for a family of four... I'm budgeting $200  a week to start with so its looking good so far. (do need a bit more protein - forgot the chicken but as we don't need it for a week my wife can get it - her work is across the street).

Best bit was that the 300 also included 30 on CFL bulbs and 30 on wine!! Gotta have the wine budget....(its not actually part of our food budget but I'm not telling the wife that - we'll bury it and use the money for something useful).

the other hundred... Got a Diamondback mountain bike from craigslist last night. running well but i'll have to dig into my distant past and see if I can remember how to service one of these things - and if I still have all my tools!

oh and as the wife is working tonight I've let the kids know that as a treat they can have ramen!! they are very happy with that as a treat!! 30c a pack ....

labrat

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1344 on: August 30, 2014, 01:52:04 PM »
"Saving 'til it hurts"

Increased my 403b contribution from $800/month to $1450/month.
Now that is badass!

+1!!

Latwell

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1345 on: August 30, 2014, 03:17:35 PM »
Just turned 26, which resulted in me getting kicked off my parents insurance (was nice while it lasted).

My employer then immediately put me on theirs. I don't have to pay any portion of the premium which is amazing (they then just don't offer vision or dental).

Went to the pharmacy to refill my baby avoidance pills with my new insurance. Use to pay $5/mo. Now I pay zero. Not that it was breaking my bank before, but still saves me some money :).

G-dog

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1346 on: August 30, 2014, 03:38:37 PM »
Finally registered for online access to the 403b from my first job (circa 1985). Went on today, trying to figure out what adjustments I could do and found my equities were all in an account with a 0.46% ER!  Found another option with 0.05% ER and submitted the order to move the funds!

35% of the account is in bonds - looks like I can't touch this. Likely need to call for more info. If need be, I can roll this account into an IRA. But I need more info first.

Oh! And I set up auto-invest for my HSA (I think.... )

thedayisbrave

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1347 on: August 30, 2014, 04:02:54 PM »
Declined to go on a short out-of-town trip with a friend.  Not much to see where she was going anyway, but she wanted to get outta dodge for a while.  I knew if I went, we'd likely hit up a coffee shop + get dinner somewhere.  Not breaking the bank, but considering I'm already over budget food-wise for the month, not the best idea.  Decided instead to use money that's been on my Starbucks card since last month to get a pumpkin spice latte (I know, I know), curl up with some brand spankin' new books from the library, and stay in town and eat leftovers from last night.  Spent a total of $0.63 today! :)

Pooperman

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1348 on: August 30, 2014, 04:19:40 PM »
Bought a 16 piece dinnerware set (porcelain) for $18. The plastic dinnerware set was a health hazard given propensity for microwaving oatmeal/leftovers. The original price on the set was $50. Khol's cash for $30, $10 discount, ebates will drop it from $18 to $16... And paid on a rewards card.

Astatine

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #1349 on: August 30, 2014, 05:22:06 PM »
Hubby just made a popcorn snack with cheap popping corn on the stove. Yum!

I've got black-eyed beans cooking on the stove so I can make a stew later today. The stew will be enough for 2x dinners and about 6 lunches for the freezer (to take to work).