What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[middo]

It wasn't today, but we bought a years worth of dishwasher detergent tablets from Aldi when the 100 packs came out cheap.  They come out once a year, so we stocked up for the next year.  They were less than half price.

[cool7hand]

We use a heavy duty 100' outdoor extension cord for most of our outdoor-adventure power needs. The cord starting tripping GFI outlets, and we discovered a leak in one end because of a small crack. We found a kit for heavy duty cords like ours for replacing only the cords ends, which cost about 1/4 of what a new extension cord would cost!

[BookLoverL]

Done some simple sewing repairs on some of my clothes that had been sitting around waiting for me to repair them due to having broken in a way that made them not suitable for wearing. This includes some office trousers I had. The fixed trousers are now wearable again, so I now have enough pairs of smart trousers in the rotation again that I won't have to go and buy any new ones before I start my new job.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I was finally able to use a travel credit from a cancelled COVID flight, and the rules were flexible enough I could use it to buy my sister's flight to London. We're meeting up for a few days, joined with a business trip. The hotel will be free (work), my flight is free (work) & her flight was covered by credit. I'm thrilled with the savings.

[Michael in ABQ]

We went to a consignment furniture store a few days ago to get some chairs for our office. We also picked up a 50" TV for only $50. Our current 32" TV is 10+ years old and is fairly small for the larger room it's in now. I was considering spending several hundred dollars to get a deal on Black Friday so this was a much better solution.

[Extramedium]

We use a heavy duty 100' outdoor extension cord for most of our outdoor-adventure power needs. The cord starting tripping GFI outlets, and we discovered a leak in one end because of a small crack. We found a kit for heavy duty cords like ours for replacing only the cords ends, which cost about 1/4 of what a new extension cord would cost!

That's next level, congrats!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I organized our freezer, so I can easily find prepped meals. I've been defrosting them for lunches during the work week.

Also, picked up the Friday freebie at the grocery store (cookie dough, which the teens have already eaten) & converted some of my store rewards to points, to save a bit off of our Thanksgiving budget.

[EchoStache]

My current commute is about 50 miles each way.  2/3 of the trip is 45-55 zone.  I reduced my cruise speed from 68-62 mph.  Only changed my commute time by a couple of imperceptible minutes, but increased my fuel economy by at least 10%!  42 mpg on the last fill up and that included 30 minutes of heavy traffic and red lights.

Previously, I ate at the cafeteria every day and often stopped for snacks and drinks on the way home.  Last month was over $200 for this expense although that is higher than usual.  This month, I have spent $0 so far.

Wife has a significant commute as well, and she was taking the turnpike most of the time, which costs us $125/month in tolls.  This month she has cut back most of her turnpike usage.

Some big savings all in all.

[Dutch Comfort]

Went to pick up some sports gear for my son on the BuyNothing group. The lady also gave me a pair of jeans and 6 hoodies. Still a little too big for our guy, but I will save these for next year's winter.

[Loretta]

I came home and ate last night’s delicious leftovers for lunch. 

Received a gift card in the mail for referring a relative to my realtor. 

[Erma]

Mended a hat
Bought a train ticket with 10% of for holidays next year (completely refundable and extremely flexible)
Installed the buy nothing app. Unfortunately, no people around here use it but that can still happen - so maybe future savings?

[nessness]

Saved some seeds from an acorn squash to plant.

[Trifle]

I was tempted to buy a new coat I don't need.  Then I mentally face punched myself, pulled my old coat out of the closet, gave it a good washing and we're good to go. 

[Extramedium]

I was tempted to buy a new coat I don't need.  Then I mentally face punched myself, pulled my old coat out of the closet, gave it a good washing and we're good to go.

For some reason coats and jackets are tempting to me, too.  Coziness, I guess? 

I do this with some regularity, then remember that I have a few of each already, and pay attention to enjoying them.

[Anette]

I was tempted to buy a new coat I don't need.  Then I mentally face punched myself, pulled my old coat out of the closet, gave it a good washing and we're good to go.

For some reason coats and jackets are tempting to me, too.  Coziness, I guess? 

I do this with some regularity, then remember that I have a few of each already, and pay attention to enjoying them.

I was tempted in the same way and really could use a new winter coat but decided to wait until the sales.

Just bought a new Aldi cell phone package for 59.95€ which will give me  12 month worth. I will only need to renew it in February but at this time it came with a 5€ Aldi voucher. So I am under 5€/month, that makes me happy

[Roadrunner53]

Made turkey broth from the turkey carcass and after I degrease the broth and thicken it, I plan to make a turkey pot pie.

[Dicey]

Made turkey broth from the turkey carcass and after I degrease the broth and thicken it, I plan to make a turkey pot pie.

Hmmm, I think I'll follow your lead and do the same thing.

[Catbert]

Made turkey broth from the turkey carcass and after I degrease the broth and thicken it, I plan to make a turkey pot pie.

Hmmm, I think I'll follow your lead and do the same thing.

I made turkey and dumplings last night.  Pretty much the same thing but with dumplings rather than crust.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Made zucchini muffins out of shredded (frozen ) zucchini from our garden this summer

[Roadrunner53]

I prefer pot pie with a bottom crust but will put the veggies and turkey in a casserole and dollop Bisquick biscuits on the top after it is heated then brown them up. Love that too!

[LaineyAZ]

Located the spare set of car keys.  Saved $60 by not having to get another key fob.
Lesson:  always know where your extra car keys are!

[daverobev]

Replaced iPhone batteries at home rather than using Apple... honestly it would've been better to just use Apple but whatever, they didn't want to do the job, they apparently just wasted my wife's time and wanted to sell her a new phone.

Not a particularly fun job. Fingers crossed the replacements will hold up a couple of years.

[Sugaree]

Picked up a winter coat for the kiddo for under $10 at the thrift store.  I'm fairly certain that this one slipped through the cracks because this particular thrift store is pretty knowledgeable about brand names and this one was easily $100 new and looks barely worn (not a big surprise since it's a ski jacket and it rarely snows here).  Now I just have to hope that the kiddo doesn't acquire a taste for expensive clothes.  He's getting to be that age where his peers are becoming more brand conscious. 

[Freedomin5]

Gingerbread house kits here cost $40+. Today, I made enough dough for two small houses. Cost of the ingredients was about $15, plus another $2 for the gingerbread house cookie cutters. We are splitting the costs with another family who are providing the candies for decorating.

[cool7hand]

We performed a tune-up on our boat, saving on hundreds of dollars of labor.

[cool7hand]

Cleaned our grill and ordered some replacement parts instead of buying a whole new grill!

[sonofsven]

Cleaned our grill and ordered some replacement parts instead of buying a whole new grill!

That's great! My gas grill is over twenty years old and still going strong, albeit with many new parts.

[cool7hand]

Cleaned our grill and ordered some replacement parts instead of buying a whole new grill!

That's great! My gas grill is over twenty years old and still going strong, albeit with many new parts.

We're only 1/2 way there--thanks for helping to encourage us to see how long it will last!

[cool7hand]

We've been on a roll lately--now respooling all of our fishing reels ourselves!

[baconschteam]

Removed and securely reattached (with some extra screws and zip ties) the Toyota Prius' front bumper after a tow dolly incident that caused it to hang off a bit on one side (ugly and a possible safety issue). Cost an hour or so of my time. Not sure how much a new bumper would have cost.

[sonofsven]

Removed and securely reattached (with some extra screws and zip ties) the Toyota Prius' front bumper after a tow dolly incident that caused it to hang off a bit on one side (ugly and a possible safety issue). Cost an hour or so of my time. Not sure how much a new bumper would have cost.

You can go to Rock Auto dot com and find out

[Loretta]

This afternoon I went down to the creepy storage bins and located some old gift wrap instead of buying an ugly roll for $9.95 at a fancy shop this morning. 

[Sugaree]

This afternoon I went down to the creepy storage bins and located some old gift wrap instead of buying an ugly roll for $9.95 at a fancy shop this morning.

I don't know how, but I've ended up with way too much gift wrap.  Some of it is stuff that I've bought previous years after xmas when it's 75% off.  I suspect some of it is the crap that I had to sell for fundraisers as a kid (I inherited my grandparents' house and most of the contents therein).  I'm slowly working my way through it and once it's gone, I'm switching to reusable cloth gift bags, at least for family.

[Dollar Slice]

I remembered at the last minute I was going to do a Roth conversion this year. Got it under the wire with one week to go in 2021 :-) That will save me money not right now, but in the future. Took me five minutes and will likely save a few thousand dollars.

Also a random tip: they are about to raise prices on passport renewals (on Dec 27th). If you have been meaning to send yours in, make sure you fill out that paperwork by tomorrow so you pay the lower price.

[Imma]

Since Mr Imma was working on Christmas Day, I walked to the nearest supermarket at 7pm and picked up a fresh pizza (the only type of supermarket pizza that actually tastes good) and a marked down, 2,5 kg turkey. The new price was about 1/2 that of a regular whole chicken, per kg at least. So I bought that as well and we just had amazing juicy turkey for dinner. There are plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. 

[Loretta]

I went to a grocery store in person and bought some stuff I wouldn't have normally seen on clearance.  Tonight was scalloped taters and bbq sandwiches on discount from Safeway. 

[MissNancyPryor]

I fixed my own furnace.  It wouldn't come on for the morning warm-up and of course this is the week we are hit with frigid temperatures in the teens and below zero overnights.  I woke up to 49 degrees inside the house and a dead furnace that wouldn't respond to my rebooting efforts.   

About a year ago I paid for a no-heat call to a service company and they charged me $150 for a 10 minute job of cleaning the flame sensor.  I wondered if it was the same trouble so I turned off the breaker and aggressively started poking around to troubleshoot it.  I checked YouTube and other online resources for clues.  Found the sensor on my unit, cleaned it with super-fine-grit sandpaper, and reassembled.  The furnace fired up perfectly.  I about broke my arm patting myself on the back and danced around the house for a little while. 

I saved at least $150 since I bet the "It's 12 degrees right now so we will charge what we want thank you very much" premium fee is added to all service calls today, and lately every kind of home maintenance cost is stupidly expensive.  A great thing also was that I didn't have to wait for hours in the cold and worry about frozen pipes. 

It is good to be handy and brave to try to fix things on my own.  Good for the psyche and wallet together.   

[mr.mac]

I stayed home and put out more birdseed.  The family enjoys watching the birds in the garden and the only costs associated are for bags of birdseed which last a long time.

[Imma]

Yesterday was the last day we could change our health insurance for 2022. I changed a minor thing for Mr Imma's insurance and we'll save €200 in 2022. Plus we used vouchers from 2020 on the last day they were valid to book a trip in 2022.

[Sugaree]

Instead of joining a gym, we bought an elliptical.  On Facebook.  For about 1/6 of it's retail price.

[Dr Kidstache]

I rented a Rug Doctor to clean the carpets in my new house instead of paying for a service to do it. It was hard work!

[WorkingToUnwind]

I called Dyson because our vacuum battery was dying. Even though our vacuum was outside the warranty window, they decided to send us a new battery for free. Woot! We also had an old issue with the canister that wasn't fixed when they sent us a new canister in the spring, so they're sending a new vacuum body when those are back in stock next month. Sweet.

Hello @Dr Kidstache, fancy seeing you here. Nice work!

[Dr Kidstache]

I called Dyson because our vacuum battery was dying. Even though our vacuum was outside the warranty window, they decided to send us a new battery for free. Woot! We also had an old issue with the canister that wasn't fixed when they sent us a new canister in the spring, so they're sending a new vacuum body when those are back in stock next month. Sweet.

Hello @Dr Kidstache, fancy seeing you here. Nice work!

Haha @WorkingToUnwind, today we did floor things. What's our theme for tomorrow? ;-)

[trashtalk]

I washed our reusable HVAC filter in a tub of rainwater collected during a recent storm.

[WorkingToUnwind]

I called Dyson because our vacuum battery was dying. Even though our vacuum was outside the warranty window, they decided to send us a new battery for free. Woot! We also had an old issue with the canister that wasn't fixed when they sent us a new canister in the spring, so they're sending a new vacuum body when those are back in stock next month. Sweet.

Hello @Dr Kidstache, fancy seeing you here. Nice work!

Haha @WorkingToUnwind, today we did floor things. What's our theme for tomorrow? ;-)

Ughhh potty training. Not sure what that would equate to on your end. We'll be embarking on day two of doing this in earnest. Hey, if we can stop buying diapers that'll be a big $ saver!

[Loretta]

I stayed home all day and avoided driving in snow.

[cool7hand]

A lightbulb broke off in an old light fixture. Instead of replacing it, we spent the time to remove the broken lightbulb.

[Trifle]

We're using the first week of the new year to eat down all the food in our cupboards, fridge, and freezer.  Our grocery bill this first week was only $20 for some supplemental milk and fresh items.  It feels really good to clean and organize all the food storage. 

[Dicey]

I fixed my own furnace.  It wouldn't come on for the morning warm-up and of course this is the week we are hit with frigid temperatures in the teens and below zero overnights.  I woke up to 49 degrees inside the house and a dead furnace that wouldn't respond to my rebooting efforts.   

About a year ago I paid for a no-heat call to a service company and they charged me $150 for a 10 minute job of cleaning the flame sensor.  I wondered if it was the same trouble so I turned off the breaker and aggressively started poking around to troubleshoot it.  I checked YouTube and other online resources for clues.  Found the sensor on my unit, cleaned it with super-fine-grit sandpaper, and reassembled.  The furnace fired up perfectly.  I about broke my arm patting myself on the back and danced around the house for a little while. 

I saved at least $150 since I bet the "It's 12 degrees right now so we will charge what we want thank you very much" premium fee is added to all service calls today, and lately every kind of home maintenance cost is stupidly expensive.  A great thing also was that I didn't have to wait for hours in the cold and worry about frozen pipes. 

It is good to be handy and brave to try to fix things on my own.  Good for the psyche and wallet together.   

ClapClapClapClap!!!! Awesome job, @MissNancyPryor!

I rented a Rug Doctor to clean the carpets in my new house instead of paying for a service to do it. It was hard work!

My husband has a terrible voice, but he always has a song, or a snippet of one, on his lips. It's usually something new every day, but sometimes there are random repeats. Recently, he's been singing, "Rug Doctor, steaming mad at dirt." Uh, okay, crazy man. Turns out he's been scanning Craigslist for a new carpet cleaner, because ours is no longer fixable. Someone had a new-looking Rug Doctor for sale. Guy was asking $350, but the listing disappeared. It popped up a week or so later, but the price was reduced to $225. DH acted fast and scored it. The spendypants seller bought it for their new house, used it once, then replaced all the carpet with hard surfaces. Crazy! It looks brand new, works perfectly, and has all the attachments. We have carpet and a pet who loves to rub her dirty, wet face on things, so we clean the fuzzy stuff frequently. Now that we own a genuine Rug Doctor, we can also keep the carpets clean at our library and the thrift store where I (we) volunteer. CL for the win!

A lightbulb broke off in an old light fixture. Instead of replacing it, we spent the time to remove the broken lightbulb.

Glad you were able to remove the broken bulb. You probably know this, but I'm chiming in as a Public Service Announcement. Should anyone else find themselves in the same predicament, grab a potato. Really. Slice it in half, jam the cut side onto the broken bulb until it grabs, then twist the potato to remove the broken base.

[Dutch Comfort]

Brought the company car to the garage for maintenance. Instead of opting for a rental replacement car (which costs around EUR 50 out of pocket), I opted for a temporary free bike replacement for the day. Had some early morning exercise and saved money!