Author Topic: What small things did you do TODAY to save money? (Read 7443688 times)

RetiredAt63 · « **Reply #13900 on:** June 06, 2020, 07:54:54 AM »

Quote from: Linea_Norway on June 06, 2020, 05:03:45 AM

I'm not sure it counts as saving money, because maybe everone here does it this way. But we are moving houses ourselves, without hiring a moving company to do it for us.

When we were young and strong, Ex and I moved ourselves.

Now I hire movers but still do all my own packing and unpacking. The people in the next unit had movers who did all their unpacking. The moving company has crews that are specialists for packing/unpacking, so I suppose lots of people hire out the whole move.

MaybeBabyMustache · « **Reply #13901 on:** June 06, 2020, 09:53:57 AM »

-Sold more items on eBay. Junk out, cash in
-Inventoried everything in our fridge & freezer, so we can use it up & have a small shopping list before we head out of town
-Received a settlement for a class action lawsuit I filed months & months ago
-Called our wifi provider to save $4/month & get faster speed

Loretta · « **Reply #13902 on:** June 06, 2020, 10:22:55 AM »

I did preventative maintenance on my expensive vacuum cleaner this morning.

Yesterday I did a better than usual job of eating leftovers.

I'm attempting to freeze half gallons of milk and heavy cream in my freezer this week to see how that works out. At my last Prime Now delivery I was feeling pretty pessimistic so I bought a ton of dairy, toilet paper, soap, coffee and other pandemic essentials so I'm trying the freezer to prolong the dairy's lifespan.

middo · « **Reply #13903 on:** June 06, 2020, 09:52:12 PM »

Quote from: MoolahLula on June 06, 2020, 10:22:55 AM

I did preventative maintenance on my expensive vacuum cleaner this morning.

Yesterday I did a better than usual job of eating leftovers.

I'm attempting to freeze half gallons of milk and heavy cream in my freezer this week to see how that works out. At my last Prime Now delivery I was feeling pretty pessimistic so I bought a ton of dairy, toilet paper, soap, coffee and other pandemic essentials so I'm trying the freezer to prolong the dairy's lifespan.

Milk and cream freeze fine. The milk will separate when it defrosts, so give it a good shake before use.

LWYRUP · « **Reply #13904 on:** June 06, 2020, 10:15:06 PM »

I made a giant pot of chicken soup and popovers.

My kids (six and four) helped make the soup pot.

We are actively teaching them a lot about cooking and gardening. I want to make sure they have these home economics skills and they see us doing these things. My parents cooked but never really taught us and when I went off to college I pretty much new how to microwave hot pockets. Now I am getting pretty good and want to get even better, to where people are like "wow LWYRUP is really a great cook." It's fun watching your skills compound over time.

marion10 · « **Reply #13905 on:** June 07, 2020, 02:15:35 AM »

Needed to repot a plant that had outgrown it’s pot- our condo has a Facebook page and I posted a message asking anyone had one I could use. Two hours later- delivered to my door.

Rosy · « **Reply #13906 on:** June 07, 2020, 10:16:32 AM »

Cold hard Cash
Rewards points - cashed out $60 on one and $50 on the other - $110 to savings (CD @ 3.25%)
always nice to get a freebie boost to my savings:).

Staying within my budget - there is always next month:)
Resisted buying a series of romance books from an author I just discovered.
Resisted ordering a garden book that I've been coveting.

Gardening - a reward in itself:)
Ooops - found out that one of my new pepper varieties I seeded out is not a sweet pepper but hot - hot - hot:).
Harvested a batch of peppers for the freezer and a huge batch of dried dill seeds.
Plan on harvesting and drying lemon verbena and lemon balm leaves for tea and seasoning this week. I prefer fresh leaves, but in the fall and winter I'll be glad to have dried.

Kept the mystery plants alive - they are either melon or squash - a garden gift from the birds, it will be fun to see what they turn out to be.
Free food:) never a bad thing.

Rosy · « **Reply #13907 on:** June 07, 2020, 10:31:48 AM »

Quote from: Frugal Lizard on June 04, 2020, 06:02:07 AM

Am starting a few flats of wildflowers with collected seed. If I get one plant of each species , this is a huge frugal win.

@Frugal Lizard - That's awesome, what kind? - I actually dug up a few blooming groundcovers throughout our yard and back forty:) for my new walkway in the brew garden area. Cheaper than buying gravel.
The more I look the more different wildflowers I find, but I never had any luck buying a seed mix and have it take, although during the rainy season some suddenly appear out of nowhere like Tickseed which is a Florida native and will naturalize.

Biggest success this year I moved five big leaved tropical Taro plants into my garden - took them a while, but they have taken off - HUGE Leaves.
I'm enjoying all the wild elderberries and hope to transplant two into my garden before the county crew comes by and kills everything in and around the ditch.

Frugal Lizard · « **Reply #13908 on:** June 07, 2020, 04:08:09 PM »

@Rosy
Nodding onion, penstemon, brown eye susan, bottle brush grass prairie smoke, new england aster, grey headed coneflower, and bergamot are what I am trying from collected seed.
From the advice I have recieved: they germinate in the sun so I just scattered the seed on the soil and moistened it lightly. It was only in the fridge for five weeks....hoping that was enough cold stratification.

Freedomin5 · « **Reply #13909 on:** June 08, 2020, 01:09:43 AM »

Brought lunch to work and avoided the temptation to buy a pastry at the cafeteria. Also brought a smoothie to work for snack. I love my little blender cup.

Rosy · « **Reply #13910 on:** June 08, 2020, 09:10:31 AM »

@Frugal Lizard - oh those are all lovely. I do have seeds for half of what you listed - maybe I'll try them in the fall or next spring.

Monthly expen$e reduction
Finally managed to cancel Starz subscription - even managed to resist their tempting offers to stay.
Should have canceled sooner - but hey, I canceled before they charged me another nine bucks today.

MountainGal · « **Reply #13911 on:** June 08, 2020, 02:16:34 PM »

DH has been home on medical leave and has had this annoying habit of leaving the garage light and computer screen on when coming into the house for lunch, etc. Saturday, I finally asked him to turn them off when doing so. I'm in charge of the energy bill and like to keep it as low as possible.

This week I'm going to rewrite my business insurance policy to a different company. This will save $250+ a year, and $21 in quarterly installment fees.

Have been focusing on incorporating freezer leftovers into suppers. I've also been grilling on the Traeger the past 3 weekends. Yet another thing I've learned while DH has been down. True, the pellets cost money, but it saves propane.

MaybeBabyMustache · « **Reply #13912 on:** June 08, 2020, 05:47:14 PM »

We're in the process of a bunch of home projects. I took advantage of gift card deals for Home Depot and earned a bunch of grocery store gift cards

Keeping fresh fruit cut in the fridge for kid snacks. Both to reduce food waste, and to get them to eat healthy stuff.

okisok · « **Reply #13913 on:** June 09, 2020, 11:13:24 PM »

Quote from: Catbert on June 04, 2020, 11:32:56 AM

Quote from: Roadrunner53 on June 04, 2020, 06:13:36 AM
Quote from: okcisok on June 02, 2020, 09:48:41 PM
Processed the five pounds of free celery. Chopped it into sticks for snacking, strips for cooking, and mince for adding to tuna & chicken salad.
Rescued a cast iron skillet! I found it in the storage closet at work, and was given permission to take it home. I washed out the dirt, slathered it in bacon grease, and popped it in the oven.
Made several quarts of spaghetti sauce with more cast-off tomatoes.
Finished the last of the leftover cake from work.
Washed out five gallon zipper bags to reuse. My current box was purchased in 2018 and is still half full of new bags because I reuse as many as I can.

What do you use 5 gallon zipper bags for and where do you buy them?

I suspect that they were 1 gallon bags and there were 5 of them. ;)

Yup!

1967mama · « **Reply #13914 on:** June 10, 2020, 01:10:48 AM »

*Reading a stack of library books that were collecting up at the branch during lockdown - opened back up this week

*Listening to podcasts while I putter in the kitchen

*Made soup stock in IP with chicken carcass

*Continuing with sourdough experiments. Made double batch of delicious English Muffins

*Cut up fruit for snacks

Imma · « **Reply #13915 on:** June 10, 2020, 01:37:00 AM »

Just noticed that I've been doing something for months: I wear clothes a day longer than I would have when I was working outside of the home. I've never been the type of person to automatically wash clothes after wearing them once, but I would wash them once they start smelling like 'person' instead of soap, usually after 2-3 days. Now I wear them a day longer which has significantly reduced the amount of laundry (I'm a woman and I use deodorant, my partner still needs a fresh shirt every day).

ZsaZsa · « **Reply #13916 on:** June 10, 2020, 02:56:05 PM »

I used up as much of last weeks produce as I could today: used some slightly tired apples to make apple dumplings, made a turnip casserole for lunch, stir-fried enough onions, peppers, tomatoes and parsley to add to rice for supper. But...I found one small, moldy squash I missed on my last search...and had to throw it in the compost. Color me embarrassed!

MaybeBabyMustache · « **Reply #13917 on:** June 10, 2020, 03:13:25 PM »

-I've continued to slice up fruit & offer up lots of options I'm trying to get rid of, as the kids are having breakfast & lunch each day. They largely are in charge of their own, so if I'm willing to prep/cut it, they are almost always willing to eat it. Trying to reduce waste before we head out of town on Friday.

-Have sold 38 items on eBay in June. Largely small things, and lots of books.

-Rescued artichokes from our produce box before they could go bad

-Filled out paperwork to receive reimbursement from a prescription I filled

-Purchased Home Depot gift cards at the local grocery store. We are in the middle of numerous house projects. The gift cards earned grocery store gift cards, so free future groceries!

RainyDay · « **Reply #13918 on:** June 11, 2020, 10:46:17 AM »

Covered the top portion of my plant/box window with sheets of typing paper to keep the sun out. Save on a tiny bit of A/C costs.

Figured out how to turn the "heated dry" cycle OFF on my dishwasher.

Every little bit, right?

MaybeBabyMustache · « **Reply #13919 on:** June 13, 2020, 09:33:15 AM »

We drove from California to Oregon, and arrived at our vacation house yesterday evening. A few wins from the drive:
-Used Starbucks credit for breakfast for everyone
-Brought leftover perishables with us in a cooler, to eliminate food waste
-Took advantage of a BOGOF foot long subway offer for the kids, on the drive
-Prepped taco meat before we left & froze it. Once we'd arrived last night, I pulled together a quick dinner.
-Inventoried the freezer & pantry here, so we'll know what we need once we get to the store to stock up

Trifele · « **Reply #13920 on:** June 13, 2020, 04:05:08 PM »

At his request I cut off 14 yo DS's long coronavirus hair with a clippers. I have to admit the result doesn't look good. Good thing he's not picky.

MyAlterEgoIsTaller · « **Reply #13921 on:** June 13, 2020, 09:07:24 PM »

I was going to order a turntable lazy-suzan type thing to organize spices and other small things in my kitchen cabinet, but while shopping online for one I saw a video of how to make one by putting some marbles in a cake pan and putting another cake pan on top of the marbles. I already had cake pans, and bought some marbles for $2.49. Works great.

Loretta · « **Reply #13922 on:** June 14, 2020, 07:40:02 AM »

Before shopping a friend and I ate al fresco at Pizzeria Uno and man, does restaurant food taste good to me after eating my own cooking! It was a lovely sunny afternoon too. I got an appetizer instead of a heavier meal, so some savings there. I tipped well.

My local thrift store is open!!! Woohoo! I had put about 4-6 articles of work clothing in my Amazon cart beforehand but was able to procure enough summer blouses and dresses at the thrift store that I now don’t need them from Amazon. Also at this rate I haven’t worn a dress to work since February, in lieu of jeans and cardigans for my essential days, so some of these dresses I bought may not be worn until September.

okisok · « **Reply #13923 on:** June 15, 2020, 01:56:25 PM »

My first day off work since the temps have been in the high 90s here. I got up at 6AM and opened doors and windows. I've been moving around the house closing them as the sun hits that side of the house. There are three fans going and it's still under 80 degrees in the house.

lexde · « **Reply #13924 on:** June 15, 2020, 02:44:57 PM »

Worked from home: no gas or wear/tear on my car.
Ate vegan: dirt cheap & nutritious!

chesebert · « **Reply #13925 on:** June 16, 2020, 05:30:27 PM »

Tried to buy a game on PSN and got an error message - uh I saved $17 ;)

okisok · « **Reply #13926 on:** June 16, 2020, 06:37:56 PM »

Got a free Sams Club membership coupon in a Valu-pak coupon mailer. I researched my often-bought items on their website before I went to make sure it was cheaper than other options. I'll mostly use it for their inexpensive gas stations, but I was able to buy several things in bulk that I will actually use.

Imma · « **Reply #13927 on:** June 17, 2020, 08:16:07 AM »

Bought lots of food at 35% off because it's almost expired. Will eat half of it today and the other half will go in the freezer. Also used points to get €2 off. All in all I paid €18 for €25 worth of groceries. Every little bit helps!

MaybeBabyMustache · « **Reply #13928 on:** June 17, 2020, 08:43:59 AM »

Called our internet provider, as they started charging us for service on Friday, but were unable to get it working until yesterday (they had to send a tech to turn it on at the street level). Saved $10

Dollar Slice · « **Reply #13929 on:** June 17, 2020, 09:19:44 AM »

I remembered that my monthly transit pass was set to renew this week after I paused it for three months (remember when that seemed like plenty of time to be in lockdown, hahaha). I put it on pause again before I got charged $127.

lexde · « **Reply #13930 on:** June 17, 2020, 10:12:26 AM »

My SO is moving and I found a Kendal Microdermabraision System under the bathroom sink. WHAT. He’s been holding out on me for a year now!

I asked him what it was and he told me that it was a commercial grade machine for facials! I found all of the pieces and assembled it at my house, watched a bunch of how-to videos and then tried it out!

I saved $50-75 for a facial session and my skin feels GREAT! I will get to do this twice a week for the foreseeable future and I’m super excited about it. If all goes well, it will reduce and/or eliminate my scarring and improve my overall skin health on my face and neck.

I’ve been meaning to go to a dermatologist for YEARS about my slight acne scarring/discoloration, but haven’t bothered because it wasn’t that bad. I was looking into it again recently (dermatologist performed chemical peels and/or microdermabraision) and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

So I saved $50 now, and probably several hundred dollars over the course of the next few months. :-)

Catbert · « **Reply #13931 on:** June 17, 2020, 11:57:24 AM »

Quote from: lexde on June 17, 2020, 10:12:26 AM

My SO is moving and I found a Kendal Microdermabraision System under the bathroom sink. WHAT. He’s been holding out on me for a year now!

I asked him what it was and he told me that it was a commercial grade machine for facials! I found all of the pieces and assembled it at my house, watched a bunch of how-to videos and then tried it out!

I saved $50-75 for a facial session and my skin feels GREAT! I will get to do this twice a week for the foreseeable future and I’m super excited about it. If all goes well, it will reduce and/or eliminate my scarring and improve my overall skin health on my face and neck.

I’ve been meaning to go to a dermatologist for YEARS about my slight acne scarring/discoloration, but haven’t bothered because it wasn’t that bad. I was looking into it again recently (dermatologist performed chemical peels and/or microdermabraision) and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

So I saved $50 now, and probably several hundred dollars over the course of the next few months. :-)

How (or do I mean why?) does a guy just happen to have a commercial grade microdermabraision hanging around?

lexde · « **Reply #13932 on:** June 17, 2020, 12:55:57 PM »

Quote from: Catbert on June 17, 2020, 11:57:24 AM

Quote from: lexde on June 17, 2020, 10:12:26 AM
My SO is moving and I found a Kendal Microdermabraision System under the bathroom sink. WHAT. He’s been holding out on me for a year now!

I asked him what it was and he told me that it was a commercial grade machine for facials! I found all of the pieces and assembled it at my house, watched a bunch of how-to videos and then tried it out!

I saved $50-75 for a facial session and my skin feels GREAT! I will get to do this twice a week for the foreseeable future and I’m super excited about it. If all goes well, it will reduce and/or eliminate my scarring and improve my overall skin health on my face and neck.

I’ve been meaning to go to a dermatologist for YEARS about my slight acne scarring/discoloration, but haven’t bothered because it wasn’t that bad. I was looking into it again recently (dermatologist performed chemical peels and/or microdermabraision) and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

So I saved $50 now, and probably several hundred dollars over the course of the next few months. :-)
How (or do I mean why?) does a guy just happen to have a commercial grade microdermabraision hanging around?

For the same reason anyone else who purchased one would. He used it frequently when he first got it and, like most luxury items, didn’t really keep up with it as well as he thought he would.

Loretta · « **Reply #13933 on:** June 18, 2020, 11:30:16 AM »

I returned a pair of shorts to Amazon that were, like, illegally, indecently, micro minishorts.

I grabbed 2 packets of sugar from the stash in my car to improve the taste of a box of cereal I purchased to try out--it's healthy but it also tastes like paste.

I threw some old coffee grounds on my burgeoning sunflowers this morning for the first time ever. It's been raining here so the baby sunflowers are really happy.

Linea_Norway · « **Reply #13934 on:** June 20, 2020, 08:45:56 AM »

Doing the cleaning of our sold house myself. DH is physically not able to help, so I need to do twice as much as I anticipated. But I still don't want to pay a company to do it for me.

Rosy · « **Reply #13935 on:** June 20, 2020, 09:08:38 AM »

1. Saving seeds from my favorite plants like Cosmos, Zinnias and Snapdragon.
Plus - one jar full from one plant that cost me $15 - so now I can go crazy with ten more plants next year for nothing:).
... two batches from rare tropical plants - I might even sell some of those seeds.

2. Harvesting veggies and herbs for our chicken dinner today.

3. Will plant the Rue and the Rosemary out into the garden if they grew enough roots in the spice jars in the kitchen window.

4. Will have to fight the Blue Jays, Mocking Birds and Cardinal for the wild Elderberry seeds so I can finally make wine/liquor.

5. Printed $20 worth of coupons for things we routinely purchase, cat food, cheese...
Got free cat food from a store promotion.
Free is good:) and the kitties like it too.

Linea_Norway · « **Reply #13936 on:** June 20, 2020, 09:12:06 AM »

I got registered at the local library a loaned a couple of books. Membership is for free.

CrabbitDutchie · « **Reply #13937 on:** June 20, 2020, 12:11:49 PM »

Found a camping chair with broken arm rest dumped nearby by the street. 10 minutes with a needle and thread and I have a perfect chair for keeping at the allotment. No more perching on a small tree stump when I want a break

MaybeBabyMustache · « **Reply #13938 on:** June 22, 2020, 12:16:04 PM »

-Sold a few things on a local site, while at our vacation house
-Made a menu for the week, focused on optimization of food we still have lingering
-Decluttering our toiletry area, which ensures we don't buy 4x handsoap. Our previous location was too hard to see (tall & deep)

Loretta · « **Reply #13939 on:** June 23, 2020, 04:29:26 PM »

I opted to have my prescriptions delivered for free so that saves me the many minutes in the pharmacy’s super-popular drive through plus gas to get there.

I am using up weird odds n ends from the fridge and planning to share some frozen foods with a coworker as I know she likes to keep breakfast food in the work fridge. I bought 2 packages of a Jimmy Dean type roll dealio that was way too salty for my taste.

Trifele · « **Reply #13940 on:** June 24, 2020, 04:40:53 AM »

I needed a new pair of glasses so I decided to try online buying for the first time. It was so easy, I didn't have to go anywhere, and it cost $30. Can't beat that with a stick.

Sugaree · « **Reply #13941 on:** June 24, 2020, 05:13:58 AM »

I don't know if this counts, but I was checking my Internet data usage this morning and noticed that my 600GB plan is now showing that it's a 700GB plan. That's of interest because the kid is home watching Netflix all day and we were on track to go over 600GB this month (and get to pay for the extra data). I'm hoping this isn't a fluke. Sparklight did say that they were going to be making some "enhancements" to their Internet plans this month. Hopefully the price won't be enhanced. I'm already paying about $15/month more than if I switched to AT&T and as much as I hate them, I might be tempted to go back if Sparklight increases their prices by much.

LWYRUP · « **Reply #13942 on:** June 25, 2020, 06:59:30 AM »

Cancelled the "sump pump endorsement" on our homeowner's policy (which I swear was randomly added -- we didn't do it).

Our deductible is already $10k so what sump pump overflow is going to cost more than that?

$63 basically free dollars a year back.

MountainGal · « **Reply #13943 on:** June 25, 2020, 12:36:49 PM »

~On Monday, there was some confusion about one of DH's appointments, so he carpooled with me to the big city the next day
~Paid my business insurance in full which will save installment fees over the next year
~Used value card points at the gas pump which saved .20/gallon
~Used a gift card for lunch Tuesday
~DH used a gift certificate for a free coffee drink also on Tuesday
~Returned a used toner cartridge in exchange for $ rewards towards a future purchase
~As usual, eating leftovers here at the office for breakfast, lunch and snacks, and bringing iced coffee from home
~Continuing to use paper and e-coupons at the grocery store
~Half of DH's birthday presents were 30% off. They were something he'd been wanting to try, and the price dissuade him from doing so last year. Cannot wait for him to open them. :)
~Continuing to eat leftovers and things on hand

ZsaZsa · « **Reply #13944 on:** July 02, 2020, 07:30:35 AM »

Harvested some of my basil, and made my first batch of homemade pesto!
Picked lettuce and assorted peppers from the garden.
Gave Mr. Z a haircut.

okisok · « **Reply #13945 on:** July 03, 2020, 06:33:14 PM »

Had homemade cornbread and gifted jams for breakfast/lunch. Not the healthiest of meals, but delicious!
Worked from home. One work errand combined with a personal errand, and found two pennies in the parking lot.
Talked myself out of buying a Kindle book, got on the library website instead. Didn't find what I wanted, but saved the cost of the book.
Found an item I needed on Amazon for buy one get one 50% off. It bumped me over the free shipping limit and it's a toiletry I use every day. I'm still going to use up some gifted versions, to keep the purchasing to a minimum.

Linea_Norway · « **Reply #13946 on:** July 05, 2020, 02:40:16 AM »

DH caught a trout that we can have for dinner.

horsepoor · « **Reply #13947 on:** July 05, 2020, 12:05:36 PM »

Harvested what I could from my lettuce before pulling up the rest of the plants.

Also picked chard, potatoes and carrots, and now have enough room to replant the volunteer onions that I dug up from the garden walkways and stuffed in a pot a couple weeks ago.

I've been wanting to get cellular shades for the basement windows, because I telework down there now and the sun can be pretty harsh right behind my desk (when I'm on video calls it looks like I'm an interviewee in the witness protection program). Realized today that I have some outdoor shade sails sitting around and I could use one of them to block the sun for outside. Still might spring for the cellular shades before winter, but at least the purchase is delayed a few months.

Went through all my horse equipment and identified a bunch that can be sold. In the process of cleaning it up to post on local FaceBook group.

Made some seed crackers using up pepitas that were left from a bag of trail mix after high-grading all the more choice bits.

Arbitrage · « **Reply #13948 on:** July 05, 2020, 03:44:32 PM »

Replaced the air filter and cabin filter on my wife's car with filters I purchased online for ~$25 total. Took 10 minutes, but most of that was pulling the car out of the garage to get access and watching a couple of short youtube videos. Ridiculous that the mechanic wanted to charge us $150 for that.

FrugalAussie · « **Reply #13949 on:** July 05, 2020, 05:24:50 PM »

Some of our young adult kids and their partners are coming for lunch next weekend. One wanted to play board games and suggested Cluedo which none of us own. I was going to search it out at thrift stores, it was a good excuse to get bargain hunting but first I put up a request on my Buy Nothing Group. I pick up the game for free today. So I saved the cost of the game and as well as the other treasures I would have found at the Thrift Store.

News:

Author Topic: What small things did you do TODAY to save money? (Read 7443688 times)