What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[1967mama]

Crockpot full of dried beans is now cooking. Will bag up for "instant" beans later from the freezer.

Decluttering - hope this saves me money in that my house will be less cluttered so I can find the things I have instead of having to go out and buy them again! grrr

[SF Semi-Mustache]

Worked from home.  Saved me bus fare (even if I bike I have to bus up the hill home), and I ate a warm lunch of scrambled eggs over toast instead of eating lunch out.  Which I still do far too often, even though I'm getting better. 

[Astatine]

Made enough of dinner (feta and roasted vegies pasta) to freeze two lunches for work.

Bought bones from our local butcher to make bone broth (thanks in part to the inspiration in this thread).

[Squirrel away]

- Leftover tomato and chili soup for dinner again. I'm loving this homemade soup at the moment, which is lucky as I make big batches at a time. :D

- Free exercise at home by just stretching on a mat and then using my mini trampoline.

[Setters-r-Better]

I vacuumed my air filter to make it last longer lol

Good idea!  I never thought of that!

[CheapskateWife]

4 yr old Garbage disposal seemed to die this morning.   Prior renters had lost the "unjamming" tool, cobbled together the right driver bit with a socket wrench to free it up and hit the reset button.  Good as new...can't say the same for the penny in the disposal that led to the jam in the first place.  DH thinks it is now official, I am a MMM badass.

[richcatpoorcat]

Over the past 3 days experimented with weighing the coffee I use in the french press.  Discovered no taste benefit using 1.25 oz vs 1.00 ounces of beans for 32oz water.  If coffee is 10$/lb:

1 pot x 1oz x 62.5 cents / oz x 300 days = 187$/year on coffee.  (~65 days a year not making coffee for one reason or other)

That's versus

1 x 1.25 x 62.5 x 300 = $234

Saving approximately  $47/year.

This is exactly what I have been doing as well. Was wasting so much coffee/money

[2ndTimer]

Made cous cous.  It will sit in the fridge and be good weekend food.  The vegetable I have a lot of in the garden right now is Italian Parsley so I used about a cup of that.  The stems are almost thick enough to pass for very skinny celery.

[2ndTimer]

Over the past 3 days experimented with weighing the coffee I use in the french press.  Discovered no taste benefit using 1.25 oz vs 1.00 ounces of beans for 32oz water.  If coffee is 10$/lb:

1 pot x 1oz x 62.5 cents / oz x 300 days = 187$/year on coffee.  (~65 days a year not making coffee for one reason or other)

That's versus

1 x 1.25 x 62.5 x 300 = $234

Saving approximately  $47/year.

This is exactly what I have been doing as well. Was wasting so much coffee/money

Wow, I never thought of this. 

[Threshkin]

Free salmon heads for dinner last night.  We have some friends who run a restaurant and we help them out from time to time.  Every few months they give us a bunch of salmon heads from their sushi prep.  We bake the heads, eat the meat and then make fish soup from the bones and fat.  This is some of the best stuff on earth to eat!

[OSUBearCub]

Free salmon heads for dinner last night.  We have some friends who run a restaurant and we help them out from time to time.  Every few months they give us a bunch of salmon heads from their sushi prep.  We bake the heads, eat the meat and then make fish soup from the bones and fat.  This is some of the best stuff on earth to eat!

This is pretty hardcore!  I'd share this one in the Badassery forum! :-)

[Threshkin]

Free salmon heads for dinner last night.  We have some friends who run a restaurant and we help them out from time to time.  Every few months they give us a bunch of salmon heads from their sushi prep.  We bake the heads, eat the meat and then make fish soup from the bones and fat.  This is some of the best stuff on earth to eat!

LOL, I don't consider this hard core at all.  Just good eating.
This is pretty hardcore!  I'd share this one in the Badassery forum! :-)

[galliver]

Called my bank to get an account fee waived (only $10, but stupid). Because of changing jobs (same job, different institution), my monthly paydate got moved and my first paycheck had issues, so I didn't have a direct deposit in my last statement period, hence, fee. But I asked nicely and they waived it. Thanks MMM forums for teaching me to call and ask nicely for things. :)

[southern granny]

Made a large pan of homemade vegetable soup using leftover roast, potatoes, and carrots.  Added my jar of "freezer soup" veggies, and a jar of home canned salsa from the tomatoes we grew this summer.  It was delicious.

[sheepstache]

This is ongoing but I had a tube of lip balm that had "run out" meaning it was too much trouble to get any out when I was carrying it around in my pocket. But by keeping it standing up on my desk I've gotten one or two uses a day out of it for several months.
(This was after I'd had a paperclip splint taped along its side for 6 months because I was worried it was getting bent too often in my pocket and the tube would crack. This is good lip balm and I am committed to it.)

4 yr old Garbage disposal seemed to die this morning.   Prior renters had lost the "unjamming" tool, cobbled together the right driver bit with a socket wrench to free it up and hit the reset button.  Good as new...can't say the same for the penny in the disposal that led to the jam in the first place.  DH thinks it is now official, I am a MMM badass.

A moment of silence for CheapskateWife's lost penny...

[jengod]

Took in some recycling (we are blessed to live in a bottle bill state) while waiting for my kid to finish an activity. Another lady didn't want to wait in the line for the machine so she gave me hers. I combined the redemption value "coupon" and a store coupon and came home with 2# of apples, five cans of beans and a .50 profit. Plus contributed to cleaning up our streets (I'm not to proud to take cans out of the gutter or a trash can--that's .05 and .10, people!)

[horsepoor]

I cut open a big bottle of lotion and scraped out what was left - probably about half a cup - and stirred it into my unmustashian jar of Body Shop Grapefruit Body Butter.  Saved the bottom of the bottle because it will work perfectly as a pen holder in my horse trailer. 

[1967mama]

Made split pea soup for dinner from chicken stock I made and froze in the summer. The chicken was cooked a few months ago and appeared on top of Caesar salad. But it was far too hot to eat soup the next day so I did the bones into stock in the crockpot and froze it. So easy today to put together a delicious soup. I use the split pea soup recipe from the Moosewood cookbook.

[2ndTimer]

I cut open a big bottle of lotion and scraped out what was left - probably about half a cup - and stirred it into my unmustashian jar of Body Shop Grapefruit Body Butter.  Saved the bottom of the bottle because it will work perfectly as a pen holder in my horse trailer.

Horsepoor:  I am doing something similar to extend my spendy Rose Argan Body Butter.  The smell is so intense that it flavors a whole lot of cheap stuff.

[thedayisbrave]

Was able to have a no-spend day yesterday despite being fairly busy/active (people think 'no spend' equates to sitting at home).  Ate for free at work, went running at the local lake, and then went to a concert.  I've become friends with this particular musician and he asks for volunteers to work for him at the merch table so I got a free ticket in. 

[Squirrel away]

- Made a batch of soup to have for lunches for the first half of the week.

- I received £125 from our bank as it was the incentive they used to switch to them. It's First Direct if anyone from UK is interested.

[tracylayton]

1. Instead of going out to dinner for my daughter's birthday, I cooked a nice family dinner at home complete with wine and homemade pineapple upside down cake. She's a vegetarian, so I planned the meal around that. We all had a great time carrying on actual conversations (which would have been hard to do in a busy restaurant) and probably saved $50.

2. The temps have been dropping into the low 60's at night. I open up the doors and windows in the morning and trap all the cool air in the house, so I don't have to run the AC.

[Albert]

We all had a great time carrying on actual conversations (which would have been hard to do in a busy restaurant) and probably saved $50.

Funny that you say that. Yesterday was a rare night out in town for me with former colleagues.  One of them I hadn't seen in 10 years (she lives in Canada). A lot more money spent than would be "mustachian", but we had no problem whatsoever holding conversations for close to 7 hours straight.

Today is spend nothing day as I'm just about to leave for a fancy dinner payed by the company. I expect the bill to be close to 2,000 $ (for 21 persons), but who cares? :)

[Threshkin]

Took in some recycling (we are blessed to live in a bottle bill state) while waiting for my kid to finish an activity. Another lady didn't want to wait in the line for the machine so she gave me hers. I combined the redemption value "coupon" and a store coupon and came home with 2# of apples, five cans of beans and a .50 profit. Plus contributed to cleaning up our streets (I'm not to proud to take cans out of the gutter or a trash can--that's .05 and .10, people!)

I used to do this way back in the 70's when I lived in Oregon.  Outdoor parties were the best!  I could collect a couple hundred dollars worth of cans and bottles in a couple of hours just by wandering around asking groups if they would give me their empties.

[2ndTimer]

Nibbling leftover BBQ as I write.  Making a mental note to BBQ everything I can find next time we fire up the grill since the leftovers are so good.  Made a double batch of Bourbon Chicken sauce.  It didn't take any more time or clean up than a regular batch and I will freeze the extra.  Didn't have any apple juice so substituted the juice and some of the fruit from a 25 cent past-sell-by date can of pineapple.  Put the rest of the can in the fridge for homemade pizza later this week.

I am working at making one three legged chicken bought and frozen earlier this year last an entire week for two people by cooking it different ways.  The plan is Bourbon chicken twice, pad thai once and BBQ chicken pizza once.  Then leftovers on Friday.

[sheepstache]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

[swick]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

Utility Bird?

[Oltmanh]

Made popcorn the old fashioned way...almost free, then dinner tonight.   Resisted temptation to go to the store for more interesting choices. 

[peppermint]

Prepared chicken in the crockpot and put it in the fridge so it'll be ready to plug in and cook all day tomorrow.
Roasted a pile of veg for the week's meals.

[Breaker]

Here is a tip that I haven't seen here. 

Dry wet shoes by putting them in front of the refrigerator.  The Fridge is running all of the time and warm air is always blown out from under the door, so may as well make use of it. 

Skipped buying take out for supper tonight, nothing sounded good.



 

[McGeens]

Visited a sick little friend in hospital. Took her a care package of homemade play dough, thrift shop books, bunch of lavender flowers from the garden, homemade fruit salad. She was pleased, and it'll give her some entertainment while she recovers. Total cost under $3

[2ndTimer]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

Utility Bird?

A three legged chicken is a grocery store tray containing a whole cut up chicken plus one extra leg and thigh.

[NinetyFour]

Here is a tip that I haven't seen here. 

Dry wet shoes by putting them in front of the refrigerator.  The Fridge is running all of the time and warm air is always blown out from under the door, so may as well make use of it. 

You can also stuff crumpled up newspaper in the shoes.  The paper will absorb the water.  You may have to remove the soaked paper and repeat the process once or twice.  I do this when I am out on hiking trips and need for my wet hiking boots to dry out before the next hike.

[OSUBearCub]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

Utility Bird?

A three legged chicken is a grocery store tray containing a whole cut up chicken plus one extra leg and thigh.

Is this a regional quirk or something a specific chain does?  I think it's fascinating; I just can't imagine why a grocer would randomly throw in an extra leg and call it a "thing" lol  I would love to know more about this!

[cowboysgirlfriend]

Successfully trained the other half not to use the dishwasher, but to do the dishes in just a few inches of water in the sink.

[sheepstache]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

Utility Bird?

This fails to assuage my concerns.

A three legged chicken is a grocery store tray containing a whole cut up chicken plus one extra leg and thigh.

Whew.

Lately I've been meal planning and meal prepping like crazy. We are wasting less food, going out to eat less, and eating healthier. I could get used to how easy this is becoming!

I know, right?

[OSUBearCub]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

Utility Bird?

This fails to assuage my concerns.

A three legged chicken is a grocery store tray containing a whole cut up chicken plus one extra leg and thigh.

Whew.

And that was the point I shot coffee out my nose at the office.  lol

[Louis the Cat]

I took a peach I had started yesterday that had a terrible texture but was perfectly edible and a mango that was molding, trimmed the mold and other issue areas and threw it all in the food processor with 2 lbs of plain yogurt and a little agave nectar. My 3 year olds proceeded to demolish all but maybe 1/2 a cup for lunch...

[Zamboni]

^I did something similar with a wrinkly peach, his less moldy friend, and some frozen bananas and blueberries from the freezer.  A little milk and a cup of yogurt past it's sell by date, and everyone is happy here!

I also resisted pleas to make a special trip to the store and low and behold the peasants here managed to find plenty of things to eat anyway.

[2ndTimer]

three legged chicken

Please explain.

Utility Bird?

A three legged chicken is a grocery store tray containing a whole cut up chicken plus one extra leg and thigh.

Is this a regional quirk or something a specific chain does?  I think it's fascinating; I just can't imagine why a grocer would randomly throw in an extra leg and call it a "thing" lol  I would love to know more about this!

It was something that I saw as a child in Michigan where they used to be advertised that way.  This one I bought here in the Seattle area but they didn't actually call it a "three legged chicken."  I just used my childhood terminology.

Anyway, I boned out all three legs and sauteed them with peppers and onions and my Bourbon Chicken sauce, boned out the breasts and put them away for tomorrow's pad thai and threw all the skin and bones in the crockpot with a handful of garden parsley.

My neighbors had to go to a nearby town to get their car worked on and they invited me along since we had recently discovered that there is a branch of a salvage store we all like there.  So we dropped the car and the husband off at the dealership, stopping only long enough to grab free snacks and juice from their generously stocked waiting room and the went out to see the local Goodwill, Value Village and salvage store.  If any of you are from the Seattle area I can report that the Discount Direct in Puyallup is not as good as the one in Tukwila.  For the rest of you that will be gibberish. 

I bought some crochet thread at the Value Village because it recently occurred to me that I did once know how to darn socks and I might as well do it as sit around playing with my bellybutton in the evening.

[zinethstache]

Our vehicle has(had) a growing list of issues... brakes, broken drivers seat, vent no longer changed to defrost etc. DH isn't a car guy but he is very handy.  He has done brakes before but not often, and not on this vehicle, so he took pictures and now the new ones feel great. He learned to weld on the job, and applied that to fixing the seat. He used Google to look up the vent issue, the fix was the first result he read. Total cost was the price of the brake parts. I am sure we saved a mint!

[Louis the Cat]

This one is actually from yesterday and DH did it not me BUT: he replaced the struts on my almost 197k mile car and wow! I just drove it to work and back and it's like a whole new car! Cost of parts and a teeny amount of hubby's sanity.

[NV Teacher]

Don't know if this makes me mustachian or ghetto but I used a piece of duct tape to cover a tiny hole in the foot rest of my favorite chair.  The chair is a dark brown leather and I used black duct tape.  Besides when the foot rest is down you can't see the tape.  Works for me.

[1967mama]

Big steaming pot of cranberry cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast for the fam. Bought a 40lb box of local apples to make applesauce. May try apple butter in the crockpot. What's left, will get husband to run through the juicer on the weekend (I don't know how to use it). Thawed some of last years zucchini t make muffins.

[CommonCents]

Talked to my husband regarding getting a dining room table and chair set from craigslist rather than a store.  (He's worried about cockroaches but will consider it.)

[Louis the Cat]

What exactly is his concern regarding cockroaches? Is he afraid they're hiding in the woodwork or something?

That aside, I love Craigslist furniture. If you're patient, you can find very nice furniture for very good prices and it's usually already a little dinged up so I don't have to feel bad when WE ding it up. (I'm a klutz and we have 2 three year olds and 4 pets.)

[MountainGal]

Treated a friend to Taco Bell coffee at $1 a cup vs a $4+ fancy pants coffee.

Brought my usual lunch, including a tomato from our garden, and filtered water to the office.

At lunch, will use my usual 1/2 paper towel as a napkin, and plastic utensils, which I take home and wash.

Commuted and ran errands in my 13 year old, liability only vehicle.

Paid office rent at $225 less than what I was paying two years ago.

Will eat leftovers for supper tonight.

Still refusing to turn on the heat, despite the fact it's been chilly at night.

[2ndTimer]

Made a foot and a half high stack of flat bread and  froze it for pizza crusts.  Flat bread is just my regular four loaf bread recipe rolled into rough circles 1/8 inch thick and cooked four minutes on a side over medium heat in a dry frying pan.  Serve it with homemade hummus and you will never go to another Middle Eastern restaurant.

[Sphinx]

I am roasting veggies from my garden -- lots of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, egg plant, and garlic.  I use some herbs and good extra virgin olive oil.  They reduce down a lot, so it is easy for me to freeze them in small plastic containers.  This makes wonderful sauce over baked potatoes, rice, meat, fish, etc. all winter.  I can things too, but this is easier, and I like the flavour better when things are frozen.

[MountainGal]

What exactly is his concern regarding cockroaches? Is he afraid they're hiding in the woodwork or something?

That aside, I love Craigslist furniture. If you're patient, you can find very nice furniture for very good prices and it's usually already a little dinged up so I don't have to feel bad when WE ding it up. (I'm a klutz and we have 2 three year olds and 4 pets.)

+1  We bought a very nice patio set this summer on Craigslist for less than $200:  A table with granite slabs, and four chairs with washable, comfy cushions.  Better than the crap we could ever buy new at the store.