What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Josiecat23503]

My friend and neighbor got a glut (10lbs) of carrots from an errant online grocery order....so she called me to ask if I'd take them off her hands.  Fast forward to 10 pint jars of spicy pickled carrots, a batch of carrot ginger soup and sliced up carrots and dip to go with DS's flatbread pizza dinner!  Don't know if this was a "money saver" or a "keep stuff out of landfills" thing, but felt good about it.

[onward19]

Somehow our baby only has three footie pjs in this size and only two are zippered. She’s got an assortment without feet and some random pants. This is not enough for us to survive the daycare week grind and have a spare at daycare and in the diaper bag. Tonight instead of ordering some for delivery I dug through the 12 month bin looking for some outfits that seem smaller and I pulled out 4 footed sleepers that seem like they won’t been too horribly big. We should be able to make it to Christmas break with those in rotation. Then she’ll have two weeks at home and we can do laundry more often. By the time new years hits I bet more of the 12 month clothes will fit. Hopefully I can avoid spending money there altogether.

If you have a Once upon a Child consignment store in your area you could find fleece sleepers for around $3. Another good option is facebook marketplace, people are always selling baby clothes. We somehow ended up with 3 in the right size and 3 that are just a little too big, as well. Funny how that works! I keep eyeing the fleece sleepers on sale at all the stores these days but can't justify the $7+ per sleeper, and I haven't made it a priority to go to the consignment store.

[onward19]

Aldi was out of canned chicken so I tried Sam's. I got the membership as a gift, so no cost there. They had canned chicken in a six pack for $7, while Aldi wants $2.99 per can! I got the two things on my list and got the heck outta there without looking at anything else.

Had to drive across town for an appointment and found gas for $0.15/gal less than my side of town and needed to fill up. 3/4 of a tank for $40! That hasn't happened in a while in my state. I tried to go into the Dollar Tree for a couple of wants but that store was temporarily closed so I saved $2.50. I decided to skip another errand out of laziness so I saved quite a bit (:

As an aside to this, if anyone is interested you can get a Sam's Club membership for $50 right now and get $50 off your first purchase of $50 or more. So if you know you need to spend $50 in one trip, then it would essentially make the membership free.

https://daily.slickdeals.net/shopping/best-sams-club-membership-deals-discounts/

[Freedomin5]

Used a gift certificate for free lunch at work today.

[oneday]

Tried a new tea variety from the overstock grocery store. It's not as good as my usual, but palatable. I'll save $1 😄

[Trifele]

We're doing a "Clean the Cupboard" meal week, where we aggressively try to eat up things we have.  We'll only have to buy a few fresh things at the grocery store this week.  Mucho savings.

[LinLin]

Finally made the leap and signed up for Visible wireless on my phone. They have a deal right now where it's $30 per line per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. I also found a promo code to get the first three months for $15 per month.

Right now I'm testing it on my phone, and if it works out I will also install it on DH's and DS's phones. We were paying close to $200 per month for Verizon, and would be paying only $90 per month when we are all on visible. I'm a little skeptical, and wondering why Verizon would offer the exact same service you get through its normal business at a steep discount.

Supposedly it's because with a visible there are no storefronts and the only support is through chat. If that's the case, well, i'm not sure it's worth the extra $1200 per year to be able to speak with a customer service person on the phone! I think I have used their customer service only once in the few years I have been on Verizon.

[oneday]

Hi Lin Lin, I've used a bunch of MVNO's over the years, and they are usually OK. Yes, only phone support and yes it's kind of sub-standard, but as you note, it's not needed very often. I will take the savings in exchange for that.

I think you'll be fine.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Finally made the leap and signed up for Visible wireless on my phone. They have a deal right now where it's $30 per line per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. I also found a promo code to get the first three months for $15 per month.

Right now I'm testing it on my phone, and if it works out I will also install it on DH's and DS's phones. We were paying close to $200 per month for Verizon, and would be paying only $90 per month when we are all on visible. I'm a little skeptical, and wondering why Verizon would offer the exact same service you get through its normal business at a steep discount.

Supposedly it's because with a visible there are no storefronts and the only support is through chat. If that's the case, well, i'm not sure it's worth the extra $1200 per year to be able to speak with a customer service person on the phone! I think I have used their customer service only once in the few years I have been on Verizon.

We've used Visible for a few years now, having switched from Total Wireless (also using Verizon's lines), and Verizon before that.  Our plan is grandfathered in, and we pay $25 for the unlimited +$5 for our Apple watches.  Service has been completely acceptable.  We like Visible because we could still be a family group but the bills are separate so our young adult children pay their own bills.  I didn't want to end up like my dad, who was paying for my sister's cell phone into her 40s.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I made sourdough pancakes for breakfast this morning, as I've been waking up a dormant starter and can't bear to throw away the "discard".  So I saved it, then mixed up a pancake batter sponge last night.  This morning I made 48 pancakes, of which the family ate 21, so there are now 27 pancakes in the freezer.  I did have to add eggs, oil, and leavening to make the batter, along with some flour last night, but we had to eat breakfast anyway, and now we have several quick breakfasts in the freezer for anyone in a hurry (or in the mood for pancakes).  Also, my oldest is allergic to dairy, so I just used water instead of a plant-based "milk", which also saves money.  I have more "discard" in the refrigerator and will try my hand at overnight sourdough waffles soon.

I've basically been trying to come up with breakfasts that aren't egg heavy, because eggs are so expensive right now. Four eggs in pancake batter that makes 8-10 servings is much less expensive than scrambling a dozen eggs for four people.  We're eating a lot of toasted homemade bread, oatmeal, cornmeal mush. muffins, etc.  When we do eat eggs I'm frying them and serving no more than two per person, or I scramble the eggs with corn tortillas to stretch them.  But based on the price of eggs at Aldi yesterday, even 8 eggs would cost $2.80!

[LinLin]

Thank you, @One Day and @K_in_the_kitchen ! So far so good with my visible plan. It was a tiny bit of hassle setting up voicemail; apparently you need to have visible reset it for you. But I love that it's unlimited… In the past we used Ting for a while while I was paying down debt, and I hated having to yell at everybody to not stream videos in the car, etc. It felt so luxurious when we got back an unlimited plan.

Something funny: we had to call Verizon today to pay off our son's phone so we can move it to visible. The website kept giving us an error message, and the phone support was simply terrible. They had no idea what they were doing and kept passing us from department to department. I said to DH, "So are you sad we won't be spending an extra $1000 per year to get access to this wonderful phone support?" Ha.

[Dicey]

We've had Visible for about a year.  It's okay, but we've noticed an oddity. You're on a call, the call drops, you try to redial and the call won't go through. The other party tries to call you back and the call goes straight to VM. It's as if the call doesn't actually disconnect when it drops. Sometimes waiting two minutes solves it, sometimes we have to restart our damn phones.

[RWTL]

We've had Visible for about 6 months.  Haven't had the issues that @Dicey has had.  We also had issues with setting up voicemail initially, but that was a one-time headache.  Overall good service.  Web pages load slightly slower than Verizon, but I don't really notice it any more.

[LinLin]

This is all good info to know about visible. The person I most concerned with is DS, who is 13 years old and much pickier about his phone and it's performance than we are. 😂 that's why I'm testing it on my phone the first, I want to make sure we don't lose any of the functionality we're used to.

[Taran Wanderer]

DS is 13? He can accept what you provide for him or pay for it himself!

My DD wanted an iPhone 12 when she got her first phone. She got an SE, and she was happy with it because it’s that or nothing.

[LinLin]

@Taran Wanderer I get you, but I'm going to give him this one. He doesn't ask for much...spends most of his time at the Y or the field (which he walks/bikes to), watching football highlights on YouTube, and eating junk food I didn't have to buy at his friends' houses. To be honest, I also think it's important that he have the best phone service; he's pretty independent and for safety reasons, of the three of us, he's the one I want to have the best-working phone, longest-lasting battery, etc.

[Dicey]

Since you put it like that, I'm giving it a little more thought. Sometimes texts are slow to come through. This may be a function of slightly sketchy coverage where we live, or it may be a Visible thing. I can't say for sure.

[cool7hand]

Walked to the library

[Loretta]

I got 4 1997-era fillings replaced for $575 by a fairly gentle dentist who had good reviews online.  I am hopeful that today’s work will mean I get another 25 years out of these molars.  The old ones were “leaking” which I had never heard of until I googled. 

After the novocaine wore off I bought a sandwich at Wawa while I charged up my car, and used a $3 off rewards coupon from the app.  I am seeing why people love Wawa, which has recently opened up in my region. 

I donated some bags of clothing to the thrift store and did NOT go in to acquire more stuff. 

[okisok]

Had one fancy dress party this Christmas season. I was given several yards of a very colorful fabric that was vaguely holiday patterned. Dusted off the sewing machine, fired up YouTube, and made myself a lovely outfit to wear. The thread, zipper, everything was all from my sewing stash. (I end up with a lot of sewing stuff for free--as soon as people find out I sew, they offer me items from their grandmother's sewing box or I find stuff in free boxes at garage sales.)

The parts that showed got matching thread and the hidden parts got lime green and other bits from an old mending kit. I got several compliments and they were effusive when told that I made it. I wore shoes and jewelry I already owned. I patted myself on the back for getting through the holiday whirl without spending money on clothes, especially for a very dressy item I probably won't wear often.

I sewed some homemade Christmas gifts while I was on a roll, using all items from the fabric stash. Decluttering and saving money!

[Dicey]

Had one fancy dress party this Christmas season. I was given several yards of a very colorful fabric that was vaguely holiday patterned. Dusted off the sewing machine, fired up YouTube, and made myself a lovely outfit to wear. The thread, zipper, everything was all from my sewing stash. (I end up with a lot of sewing stuff for free--as soon as people find out I sew, they offer me items from their grandmother's sewing box or I find stuff in free boxes at garage sales.)

The parts that showed got matching thread and the hidden parts got lime green and other bits from an old mending kit. I got several compliments and they were effusive when told that I made it. I wore shoes and jewelry I already owned. I patted myself on the back for getting through the holiday whirl without spending money on clothes, especially for a very dressy item I probably won't wear often.

I sewed some homemade Christmas gifts while I was on a roll, using all items from the fabric stash. Decluttering and saving money!

A headless picture would be nice so we can all ooh and ahh too.

[LinLin]

@okisok Photo please! (If you have one?) That sounds fabulous.

@Dicey thank you for the info! I will need to test at home how quickly texts and calls go through. I do notice that sometimes when I text DS, it goes through as a plain text instead of an iMessage. I don't know why that would be or if it really makes a difference, though. It could be on his end, because I text him sometimes while he is at school and they don't have good cell coverage there.

[Dicey]

@okisok Photo please! (If you have one?) That sounds fabulous.

@Dicey thank you for the info! I will need to test at home how quickly texts and calls go through. I do notice that sometimes when I text DS, it goes through as a plain text instead of an iMessage. I don't know why that would be or if it really makes a difference, though. It could be on his end, because I text him sometimes while he is at school and they don't have good cell coverage there.

I should probably mention that we are Android users, though I don't know if that would make any difference.

[LinLin]

@Dicey I will check in any case! By the way, I saw an ad on YouTube that with T-Mobile you can get four iPhones for free and T-Mobile service for $25 per line. There has to be a crazy catch, right?

[Sugaree]

@LinLin the catch may be that it's T-Mobile.  Around here we generally refer to them as T-Maybe. Or that you have to have four lines.  Probably a lower amount of data than other plans too. 

For what it's worth, my brother and I pay my parents to stay on their family plan because it's cheaper for everyone to have four lines than it would be to have three separate plans with 1-2 lines each.  My kid, however, is on a Verizon plan because they offer a plan specifically for wearables (and have a cool little smart watch specifically for kids) that is $15/month even as the only line on the plan.

[Dicey]

@Dicey I will check in any case! By the way, I saw an ad on YouTube that with T-Mobile you can get four iPhones for free and T-Mobile service for $25 per line. There has to be a crazy catch, right?

I would totally look into that offer.

For years I had Metro PCS, which was cheap* and reliable, but did not include phones. They were bought out by T-Mobile around the time I got married and  moved to a new house...where there was no reception. DH had AT&T, but they were total assholes when his wife died suddenly and the password was forever lost. Over the last decade, we tried a few other providers** and so far, Visible has been the best combination of coverage, features and price for us. Not perfect, but so far, worth the occasional dropping hassle.

*I was a traveling salesperson. My company provided a monthly phone allotment. I made money on that deal even after paying for phones a la carte.

**Lol, we "tried" the mustachian way, by asking everyone who came to our house if their phone worked.

[UltraStache]

My electric generation rate just increased to $0.14612/kWh.  I changed suppliers and got a fixed rate of $0.11780

Since we average around 1100 kWh/month usage, this saves over $30/month. 

Also, this is a fixed rate locked in for 35 months!  I was pretty happy about this since most offers seem to be very limited duration.  I was sure to check that there are no fees of any type, and can cancel at any time with no penalty(in case rates drop, which I feel is doubtful).

Total savings over 35 months is >$1,000

[sonofsven]

Bought some xmas gifts using amazon gift cards, got the gift cards from churning activities through Swagbucks. Free money.
I did buy items from sellers designated as "small business" to somewhat assuage my guilt for feeding the behemoth.

[Michael in ABQ]

Bought some xmas gifts using amazon gift cards, got the gift cards from churning activities through Swagbucks. Free money.
I did buy items from sellers designated as "small business" to somewhat assuage my guilt for feeding the behemoth.

Basically, every third-party seller on Amazon would be classified as a small business. Maybe the top 5 or 10 would exceed the revenue and employee count but that's it. Those caps vary by industry and can be as low as $7.5 million or $30 million+. The employee caps can be between 100 and 500.

There are a lot of third-party sellers that actively want to remove that badge as they think it makes it look like they're a little mom and pop business when they may have dozens of employees and 8 figures of revenue.

[sonofsven]

Bought some xmas gifts using amazon gift cards, got the gift cards from churning activities through Swagbucks. Free money.
I did buy items from sellers designated as "small business" to somewhat assuage my guilt for feeding the behemoth.

Basically, every third-party seller on Amazon would be classified as a small business. Maybe the top 5 or 10 would exceed the revenue and employee count but that's it. Those caps vary by industry and can be as low as $7.5 million or $30 million+. The employee caps can be between 100 and 500.

There are a lot of third-party sellers that actively want to remove that badge as they think it makes it look like they're a little mom and pop business when they may have dozens of employees and 8 figures of revenue.

I figured it was just a marketing ploy, but since I have, in the not so distant past, but gifts exclusively from small businesses it gave me a little pang of guilt.

[okisok]

Rolled up old flat sheets to make draft stoppers.

Made a big batch of stew from pantry and freezer ingredients that will make several meals. This way I can skip a big grocery shop this week.

[Dutch Comfort]

Mended 3 clothing items and a kitchen towel so they can be used again!
Used "old" wrapping paper to wrap the Christmas presents. Kids won't notice I think......

[sonofsven]

Made a big batch of roasted almonds after soaking the raw almonds overnight in Bragg's liquid aminos. 4 hours @ 225*.
Saved the excess liquid for the next batch.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've been slowly working my way through our freezer, turning random things into stuff we'll actually use. Today: used shredded zucchini (garden) & three overly ripe bananas into two batches of muffins. We'll take some of the muffins on our ski trip next week.

[srrb]

Walked to the library

My favourite way to spend an afternoon!

[Runrooster]

Our main car is all electric so I’ve ignored all the fuel point bonus rewards. But recently the stores started offering food rewards too. Got $21 worth of food for $7 worth of fuel points.

[Loretta]

I’m currently delaying a haircut at the barber and not  visiting the nail salon.  I recently bought a bottle of cheerful magenta nail polish while I was going through a bad emotional time and I just completed painting my nails this cheerful pop of magenta.  A good investment.  I also dyed my eyebrows. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We managed our flight home without spending any money on food or drinks. We ate snacks we'd packed, and filled our water bottles at the airport. We also pre-booked parking back in November. Ubers used to be much cheaper than parking on site, but the airport offers a substantial discount for pre-booking, and is now a minimum of $40 cheaper than two Uber trips. We drive our electric car to the airport, to avoid paying for gas.

[okisok]

Ran all my errands in one trip. Used up a coupon that expires soon and combined other savings apps to get some free and reduced groceries. Currently drinking cranberry tea that was on sale for 99c with free creamer.

Had a cheap date night last night with a video from the library and a Scrabble game.

I found some great deals on candy clearance for a holiday celebration tomorrow. Christmas is much cheaper when you celebrate after the actual day!

[Dollar Slice]

I found some great deals on candy clearance for a holiday celebration tomorrow. Christmas is much cheaper when you celebrate after the actual day!

I went to a store today specifically to pick up some half-price/clearance holiday stuff and they were still selling it for full price :-/ I was so annoyed!

[okisok]

Target only had candy at 30% off but Wal-Mart had some for 50% off. I would be so frustrated to see no clearance!

[Dollar Slice]

Target only had candy at 30% off but Wal-Mart had some for 50% off. I would be so frustrated to see no clearance!

I was going to pick up some cards and gift wrap etc. from a local store I like, since they have a lot of really nice cards from unique brands (not just Hallmark etc.). I buy full-price stuff there throughout the year for birthdays and so on. But I'm not paying $7.50 for a holiday gift bag on December 27th!

I totally forgot about half-price candy - the last couple of times I checked for it the day after a holiday (Valentine/Halloween) they had just packed it away immediately instead of doing clearance sales. I checked a bunch of chains locally and they all did the same thing. Not sure what brought on that change. Maybe my neighborhood is being punished.

[eyesonthehorizon]

... I totally forgot about half-price candy - the last couple of times I checked for it the day after a holiday (Valentine/Halloween) they had just packed it away immediately instead of doing clearance sales. I checked a bunch of chains locally and they all did the same thing. Not sure what brought on that change. Maybe my neighborhood is being punished.

I've noticed this is worse every year for the last decade. I only ever bought holiday clearance candy, & while it's surely better for me overall, it's certainly disappointing.

[Dicey]

We managed our flight home without spending any money on food or drinks. We ate snacks we'd packed, and filled our water bottles at the airport. We also pre-booked parking back in November. Ubers used to be much cheaper than parking on site, but the airport offers a substantial discount for pre-booking, and is now a minimum of $40 cheaper than two Uber trips. We drive our electric car to the airport, to avoid paying for gas.

More significantly, you made it home!

[slappy]

Made a big batch of roasted almonds after soaking the raw almonds overnight in Bragg's liquid aminos. 4 hours @ 225*.
Saved the excess liquid for the next batch.

Tell me more about this...why do you soak them in the aminos?

[slappy]

I saw a comment on facebook about using spices to make plain ground turkey taste like turkey sausage. I love turkey sausage and I have been looking to add some protein to my breakfast, so I tried it out and it was awesome. Ground turkey is way cheaper per pound than pre made turkey sausages. I'm so excited!

[Dollar Slice]

... I totally forgot about half-price candy - the last couple of times I checked for it the day after a holiday (Valentine/Halloween) they had just packed it away immediately instead of doing clearance sales. I checked a bunch of chains locally and they all did the same thing. Not sure what brought on that change. Maybe my neighborhood is being punished.

I've noticed this is worse every year for the last decade. I only ever bought holiday clearance candy, & while it's surely better for me overall, it's certainly disappointing.

Well, good news - I needed shampoo, so I went to the drugstore today. I swung by the 'seasonal' aisle and they did have a little rack of 50% discounted Christmas candy next to all the Valentine's candy (I wonder who the hell is buying Valentine's candy in December?). They only had a few things, but they had an abundance of Reese's and M&Ms, so not a bad selection. I resisted buying the big Reese's gift box with a pair of Reese's mugs (in reference to the other thread I posted in recently...). Maybe if it gets marked down to 75%...

[Poundwise]

I regifted shamelessly, absolutely shamelessly, this year.  I received a lovely box of teas from an in-law on Christmas Eve, re-wrapped it that night and gave it to another extended family member 12 hours later (different sides of my family, they'll never meet). 
But the best one was giving the pair of gloves that my mother gave me last year back to her this year! She had my sister buy and ship them to me, but I never got to use them so they were still new in their packaging.  At this point she has forgotten about them so she was delighted to get them.
FWIW, nothing that I regifted was bad, it was all nice and new.  I just didn't need it and I preferred to have the time and money that it would have taken to find another gift. So I was grateful.

[Dicey]

I regifted shamelessly, absolutely shamelessly, this year.  I received a lovely box of teas from an in-law on Christmas Eve, re-wrapped it that night and gave it to another extended family member 12 hours later (different sides of my family, they'll never meet). 
But the best one was giving the pair of gloves that my mother gave me last year back to her this year! She had my sister buy and ship them to me, but I never got to use them so they were still new in their packaging.  At this point she has forgotten about them so she was delighted to get them.
FWIW, nothing that I regifted was bad, it was all nice and new.  I just didn't need it and I preferred to have the time and money that it would have taken to find another gift. So I was grateful.

I am a huge fan of regifting. My family knows they get better stuff from me because I keep an eye out for things all year long - while I'm in thrift stores, mostly. Volunteering at a thrift store is the best gig ever.

[Dollar Slice]

Remembered that I'd planned to do a Roth IRA conversion, and was able to get it done in time to execute on the second to last business day of 2022. *whew*