What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Linea_Norway]

This morning I bought some 4-pound  bags of sugar for $1.50 which is 37.5 cents/pound.

Right next to them was a 25-pound sack priced @ $19.95 which is  ~80 cents per pound.

This seemed odd because usually bulk pricing is lower than for  the same stuff in smaller amounts.

Our grocery stores have to post unit pricing.  Sometimes the store brand is as expensive or almost as expensive as a name brand, especially if the name brand is on sale.  It is always educational - and as you found, often the smaller packs are cheaper by unit.  Plus easier to carry.

When I look at toothpaste, I sometimes see that the biggest tubes are the cheapest per unit, and other times the extra small sizes. So at home we very between the different sizes. Next time also a different brand, because that was the cheapest last time I shopped it.

[marion10]

Went to my ceramics class- which is costing me $50 a year- including materials. Started making Christmas ornaments for a retiree lunch I’ll be going to- they haven’t been fired yet- but look pretty good.
Used coupons and CVS bucks to get  $20 worth of toiletries for 1.99.
We had been renting a router for cable internet at $13 a month. Husband bought a new one for $86 and replaced it.

[halftimer]

-Today called in a referral for my tv/internet bundle and got both of us $50 credit. That will give me about 9 months free due to our super low current fees!
-At the grocery store, I picked the checkout clerk that I know is the most efficient. She saw my chicken with $5 off sticker and asked if there were more on the shelf. I thought she might want to buy some after her shift (we've traded tips before), but actually she wanted to tell me they are 2 for 1. I quickly grabbed another and got $25+ worth of premium chicken for less than $7. Cooked up into a great dinner that night with leftovers for lunch and second dinner ready to go.
-On vacation last week I wanted to book a massage and the price list wasn't posted they just offered their 'favorites' list.  I asked for the full price list and got many pages including a few specials such as 2-for-1 pricing if you come before noon. An easy 50% savings since we are early risers.
-Before vacation changed our own tires. Usually do this, but it was the first time doing it garage-less and bringing each tire down from a 3rd floor walkup, then bringing the other ones up at the end. Still only took 30 min total and saved so much time and hassle since the tire places get a huge appointment backlog as soon as the weather turns.

[Linea_Norway]

-Before vacation changed our own tires. Usually do this, but it was the first time doing it garage-less and bringing each tire down from a 3rd floor walkup, then bringing the other ones up at the end. Still only took 30 min total and saved so much time and hassle since the tire places get a huge appointment backlog as soon as the weather turns.

It is very easy to have the tires stored at home, but preferably on ground level. Then you can change yourself, even if there is unexpected early snow. Having to drive to some other place for changing tires is a hassle, but we do it sometimes if we need new tires.

[Nola584]

Stopped procrastinating and knocked out a couple necessary evils:
- Shopped car insurance and will be saving ~$20/mo for the same coverage levels (was on a pay per mile plan since I don’t drive much, but rates have been creeping up- surprised to find traditional car insurance is now cheaper!)
- Dealt with expired promo rate with internet company- will save $25/mo over non-promo rate

All told both chores only took about 1hr- definitely worth it to save $540 over the next year!

[Rural]

Neither of us went down off the mountain today.

[Linea_Norway]

DH replaced the Xenon headlight in the subaru himself. 150$ saved.

[Poundwise]

Nagged Mr. Poundwise until he put more insulation in the roof over our living room. Now it is toasty warm, our energy bill should be lower, and the cost of the nagging was free!  (but the resentment is forever :) )

[trashtalk]

Replaced the broken "sun-visor clip" in our little Honda.

Harvested apples and pomegranates from the backyard.

Was gifted several pairs of pajamas in my daughter's size through our community Buy Nothing Group.

[Linea_Norway]

Brewing beer today.

[Imma]

Cleared out the pantry yesterday, came across some potatoes that had started to sprout so we had them for dinner.

[Hula Hoop]

Got cauliflower and potatoes on sale at the cheap supermarket yesterday and today I made cauliflower, ginger soup which we ate for lunch and will be good for a few work lunches this week.

[Imma]

Got cauliflower and potatoes on sale at the cheap supermarket yesterday and today I made cauliflower, ginger soup which we ate for lunch and will be good for a few work lunches this week.

Cauliflower ginger soup sounds great, need to write that down for maybe next week. Cauliflower is cheap now and it's really versatile.

We also went to the cheap supermarket today and bought food for the whole week. Spent about €30 for the whole week and have everything we need for fresh, quick, healthy homecooked meals. The last couple of weeks I was too busy for meal planning but having a plan really saves a lot of money (and energy, and stress, and time). Tomorrow we'll eat mashed potatoes mixed with raw endive, which is probably the most Dutch meal on the planet.

[Hula Hoop]

Got cauliflower and potatoes on sale at the cheap supermarket yesterday and today I made cauliflower, ginger soup which we ate for lunch and will be good for a few work lunches this week.

Cauliflower ginger soup sounds great, need to write that down for maybe next week. Cauliflower is cheap now and it's really versatile.

It's from Madhur Jaffrey's easy Indian cooking recipe book.  Yum.

And here's to eating the local foods (in your case Dutch).  At the moment we're gorging ourselves on fall foods that our local to our part of Italy - artichokes, new olive oil, cauliflour, broccoli, cabbage, pears, apples, mandarins etc.  Good and cheap.

[alewpanda]

- DH can earn points for Delta air fare with his work flights.  I will be flying back to family by myself this christmas due to a job change on his part (RIP free air fare points...lol).  We used up the last of them on my flights.  By flying into my sisters town and riding with her to and from family (1 hour away) I am only needing to pay the 11.00 service charge!   If I had flown into the smaller town instead, we would have paid an additional 119.00.  I'll contribute to gas, so its a win win for both of us.

[OtherJen]

Got cauliflower and potatoes on sale at the cheap supermarket yesterday and today I made cauliflower, ginger soup which we ate for lunch and will be good for a few work lunches this week.

Cauliflower ginger soup sounds great, need to write that down for maybe next week. Cauliflower is cheap now and it's really versatile.

We also went to the cheap supermarket today and bought food for the whole week. Spent about €30 for the whole week and have everything we need for fresh, quick, healthy homecooked meals. The last couple of weeks I was too busy for meal planning but having a plan really saves a lot of money (and energy, and stress, and time). Tomorrow we'll eat mashed potatoes mixed with raw endive, which is probably the most Dutch meal on the planet.

I never thought to mix mashed potatoes with endive! I like them with sautéed cabbage.

[nburns]

Used my free bonus of 50,000 miles from my capital one venture card along with other accrued miles to pay  for 2 round trip flights to Iceland for the GF and myself.

[Linea_Norway]

Filled up the car with diesel for a very low price.

[raincoast]

Fixed my bike myself! The front derailleur had suddenly stopped shifting properly - it would mostly go straight from 1 to 3 without catching on 2, and when it did catch on 2 it made a horrible grinding noise. I thought I might have to take it in (I'm still a beginner at bike repair), but I took a look at it and found that a piece of the derailleur cable cover (a metal piece that sits on the cable) had popped out of the little socket where it enters the bike frame, which probably messed up the tension. I popped it back in and everything shifts now.

[okisok]

Ordered Christmas gifts in a batch with an item I needed to hit the website's free shipping threshold. The site was offering 50% off. I went through TopCashBack.com and used my 2% rewards credit card. I ended up saving 55% off the listed price, not including the shipping that was avoided. And I've knocked a few gifts off my list!

[Imma]

I am not exactly saving money today, as I'm going to the shop to buy a KitchenAid! But I've wanted one for maybe 10 years and have actively tracked prices and prices of used ones for years. That leads me to buying a new one today for the lowest price I've ever seen one at a shop that I know had good customer service. I'm saving more than €100 compared to the normal price and I know I will use it a lot. I used to bake my own bread but it became physically too hard to knead the dough all the time. Now I can do that again. I'm also an enthusiastic amateur baker. 

Not saying this is in any way a mustachian purchase, but buying this big ticket item for the best possible price, after researching all possible options, has saved me a lot compared to sticker price and tracking price levels over a longer period left me able to identify a really good deal, not just a "25% off after we increased the price by 30% last week" type of deal that you see a lot.

[1967mama]

*Breakfast for dinner when I didn’t get a meat thawed and cooked into a meal. We had waffles, sausages and scrambled eggs

*Didn't order a new waffle maker when the first waffle stuck to it. Instead will do a light coating of oil when I start it up from now on

*Washing laundry in cold water

*Drove 5 minutes for much cheaper gas

*Got drug store supplies on sale

[Yohev]

Short-story: I will be involved in testing a new brand of snake "repellent" (both liquid and granular) in the next few days. Does anyone have information or previous, similar experimentation that could help in my creating a series of worthwhile tests? How about just some suggestions, general advice, or scenarios?

Also, you should know that I am not being paid by the company for positive results. Either way will be valuable to me, if nothing else just to say it was done.

Thanks

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Added a lot of veggies to a chicken curry to help it stretch further. I'm feeding two teen boys (in addition to two adults) & they have been particularly ravenous lately
-Joined a gym (not free), but the kids are too old for traditional camps & I don't want them sitting at home on breaks using electronics. There are also a lot of great classes for me. Used an offer for no sign up fees, and we've been 4x in 4 days since joining. Will continue to monitor usage to ensure we are getting value. Either way, it would take six months of gym costs to equal one camp, so looking like a promising tradeoff.
-I typically drink nice wine (a real anti MMM behavior)on weekends, but the cost is getting to be too much. Instead, I now have one Truly or similar (hard seltzer) & then one glass of wine. I typically have this during cocktail hour with my husband, while we're faking a date night & cooking dinner together. Much cheaper. Not as cheap as giving it up altogether, but an easy cost savings.
-Bought Delta gift cards on Costco.com for an upcoming trip. Saved $180 by pre-purchasing the gift cards.

[Linea_Norway]

I walked to work and will walk back again in the afternoon.

[MountainGal]

~Saved 22% at the grocery store shopping the sales and using e-coupons
~Saved IDK how much by utilizing the grocery pick up option vs going inside and the possibility of buying extra items
~Used a $2 lotion coupon at Wally World
~Received a $10 refund from a cooking class I didn't attend
~Received a $20 bonus at work
~Saved .03 per gallon at the gas pump using my grocery value card
~Earned 50 fuel points for next time by taking an online survey
~Stayed within the Christmas budget
~Bundled my in town errands in one swoop last night before the storm hit
~Used a gift card at Starbucks, and used up the small amounts on several gift cards at Starbucks this morning as another way to simplify clutter
~Packed food we had on hand rather than make a special grocery stop for a recent weekend trip
~Procured a few leftover bottles of adult beverages for the above trip from a party my sister had this summer
~Been using leftover Cranberry Juice Light from our Halloween party in my cocktails
~Making sure I use every bit of toothpaste, soap, etc. before opening a new one
~Bought 1/4 cow which will save on beef costs in the long run and the product is delicious.
~My tablet is finally paid off so the Verizon bill is $10 less.  I might call and cancel the service for it as I never use it which will result in another $10 less monthly.

[Arbitrage]

- Rode my bike to/from work, as usual, even though we're finally into our rainy season.
- Took kids to see Frozen 2.  Obviously, that didn't save money, but I managed to find a showtime where tickets were $9.00 each after service fee instead of all of the other showings which were $15-$18/ticket. 
- Brought snacks for the kids to the theater.  Ate a late lunch at home afterwards.

[Gerard]

I walked one subway stop to avoid the $5 airport surcharge. Turned out to be a neat walk, through a part of Vancouver I'd never really seen.

[Step37]

I walked one subway stop to avoid the $5 airport surcharge. Turned out to be a neat walk, through a part of Vancouver I'd never really seen.

I’m going to try that next time I visit Vancouver!

[raincoast]

I walked one subway stop to avoid the $5 airport surcharge. Turned out to be a neat walk, through a part of Vancouver I'd never really seen.

I’m going to try that next time I visit Vancouver!

The $5 surcharge only applies when leaving the airport, not when traveling to the airport. If you start anywhere on Sea Island, it applies, but I believe that if you take the train from the airport to Templeton (the easternmost stop on Sea Island), the fare is free since it's airport parking. From Templeton you should be able to walk to Bridgeport (the nearest stop not subject to the airport surcharge).

[Imma]

Found half a bag of wholemeal flour in a cupboard and baked bread with it. Also baked a Christmas fruitcake. The warmth of the oven warmed up the house so I didn't have to turn on the heating.

[skywatcher]

I have been consistently having issues with call quality on my lower end android phone. It's so bad no one can hear me well and I was going to plop down a few hundred dollars tomorrow on a new one.

Cleaned my mic area and it is much better! Phone is still shitty and slow but it can keep working for awhile!

[trashtalk]

It rained again and the soil is absolutely drenched so I was able to reset our irrigation rain delay to the maximum 9 days.

[okisok]

Well, I saved money by forgetting the item I had put in my shopping cart to pull the trigger on. Now it's sold out. Save $150! Or $250 if you count the non-black Friday price :)

[Salim]

DH and I ate Thanksgiving leftovers for both lunch and supper. We will also eat Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch and supper tomorrow and the next day. Yum!

[Trifle]

By the end of this holiday I'll not have gone anywhere for 5 days. 

[LaineyAZ]

Feeling proud of myself!

I grew a pumpkin in the garden this year, sowing 3 seeds taken from a pumpkin someone else bought for Halloween in 2018.  From the seeds I got 100% germination but only one good sized fruit from the 3 vines, a beauty about 15" diameter.

I carved it Wednesday to put out last night for Halloween, then roasted the seeds.  Today I am roasting the flesh and will freeze the pureed pumpkin in 2-cup allotments so I can do pumpkin pie, breads, muffins, and soups.  2 cups seems to be the standard need for most recipes so that is a convenient portion and I think I will get maybe 10 cups of puree for the freezer when done. 

Cost:  $0
…..   

Chiming in late, but it reminded me of an idea I had from seeing all of those leftover pumpkins at the stores after Halloween.  What if a charity group organized an effort to buy these and turn them into soup for food banks or homeless shelters? 
I know many people get the volunteer urge during the holidays, and it seems like that would be a fun project if a local commercial kitchen would donate the space and a few restaurant cooks could lead the effort.  It could be a "first weekend after Halloween" once/year activity.  Otherwise so many of these pumpkins end up in the landfill.

[maisymouser]

At the risk of sounding like an insane person, here is one teensy weensy thing we do in the pursuit of saving on our heat bill. Whenever we bathe/shower, we hold onto the hot/warm water in the tub until it has completely cooled, which warms the house some fraction of an amount that I haven't calculated but which may or may not be significant depending on our square footage, etc. Takes literally zero effort and is just a habit for us.

Are we crazy or do other people do this?

[Rural]

At the risk of sounding like an insane person, here is one teensy weensy thing we do in the pursuit of saving on our heat bill. Whenever we bathe/shower, we hold onto the hot/warm water in the tub until it has completely cooled, which warms the house some fraction of an amount that I haven't calculated but which may or may not be significant depending on our square footage, etc. Takes literally zero effort and is just a habit for us.

Are we crazy or do other people do this?

We do the same in winter. It helps with the too-low humidity as much as or more than the heat, but every little bit helps.

[Trifle]

I made 4 quarts of great vegetable stock from veggie scraps that I save up in a bag in the freezer. 

[MonkeyJenga]

* Switched to Hulu's Black Friday deal
* Initiated an HSA rollover to a no-fee option

[Chaplin]

At the risk of sounding like an insane person, here is one teensy weensy thing we do in the pursuit of saving on our heat bill. Whenever we bathe/shower, we hold onto the hot/warm water in the tub until it has completely cooled, which warms the house some fraction of an amount that I haven't calculated but which may or may not be significant depending on our square footage, etc. Takes literally zero effort and is just a habit for us.

Are we crazy or do other people do this?

I do that too if it’s especially cold out. You’ve already put the energy into the water, why just let it go down the drain? The only problem I find is that it leaves the tub with more soap residue. I do the same with hot water from boiling eggs or anything else. It probably makes no measurable difference but I do it anyway.

I like the idea of those pipes that do a heat exchange between the water leaving your house and the water flowing into your hot water heater. It probably only make sense for a new build or major reno though.

[Chaplin]

Tweaked the programmable thermostats some more to optimize comfort while reducing cost. Plus, if I change them gradually the family doesn’t notice and just adapts. Warm blankets on each couch helps too.

Pulled a huge amount of invasive ivy out of the trees around our house. Keeping the trees healthy should reduce the chance of power outages, damage to cars or the house, and replacement costs to preserve a row of cedars that create a privacy screen.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Went to a yoga class included with my gym membership, vs a pricey studio
-Skipped a hot tea at Starbucks while out
-Made lunch from random fridge ingredients for the kids, when we got home from the gym

[Imma]

Just made pizza dough and will make pizza from all my fridge scraps tonight. I have some wrinkled veggies, old cheese and I think even an egg.

[Loretta]

Yesterday I found some stuff I had squirreled away in a drawer in a cabinet under the entertainment center TV area which included a draft dodger/draft snake.  I don’t think they do a huge amount to keep out the drafts around my 50 year old windows but it does give me a subliminal psychological warmth to know I’m trying! 

I checked the Wegmans app before going there and was able to take advantage of a digital coupon on hand soap. 

[okisok]

Thawed some chicken thighs that had been frozen since July. My cupboards are getting low, but I wanted to avoid the stores for another day. Allrecipes.com has an ingredient search engine that creates recipes from ingredients you have. I found one for chicken breasts that I could tweak to fit things I had. I was out of butter, so I used a dab of cream cheese in the rice saucepan. It's enough for a couple of meals, and the oven warmed up the house. It smells like garlic and baking chicken, which is lovely on a cold winter evening.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Working on using up all of the food in our fridge & working on a menu to utilize everything in our pantry. I need a good pantry challenge!

[Frugal Lizard]

I made three delicious meals at home today.  Breakfast was gluten free waffles with sour cherries that I thawed the day before and maple syrup that I made in March.  Lunch was split pea soup from the freezer.  Dinner was garlic mashed potatoes (garlic and potatoes from my garden), roasted carrots and parsnips that I salvaged from the fridge ( in my past life I would have tossed them as they were soft) mushrooms, caramelized shallots, a small steak shared five ways, and a squash that I grew but have no idea what kind it is because someone gave me some seeds.  It was delicious so I have to collect some seeds for next year before I cook the next one.  (the plants were prolific and I have a case of them in the cold cellar.  And I made a soda from the cherry juice and soda stream bubbly water.

[Tabitha]

The power has been out for 6 hours. (Downed power line due to ice storm.)  We were tempted to go out for dinner, but instead hauled out the butane stove and used a boiling pot of water to heat up some cans for dinner. A hot meal was welcome as the furnace is out.

I’ve been working on eating down the freezer/pantry. That’s still a goal but it’s good to remember to keep a couple of meals on hand in canned form.