What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[LaineyAZ]

Speaking of Costco, I picked up a few things there this week.  As I entered the self-checkout area, I was asked by an employee to show the photo side of my
Costco card.  He really examined it to compare it to my face.  That's a first.  I guess they're cracking down on those who lend out their cards to family or friends. 

Also saw an ad there regarding Costco eyeglasses being available for purchase online, including trying them on virtually.  I know there are other companies who have been doing that but I didn't realize Costco offered that option.

[Loretta]

I self trimmed my eyebrows and my fingernails. I did indulge in a $18 pedicure that would have been $38 if I hadn’t redeemed some points.  Due to some physical limitations I need to get my feet professionally groomed at times.  I also did a search on retail me not. Com to save $5 on lunch earlier. 

[Dicey]

I self trimmed my eyebrows and my fingernails. I did indulge in a $18 pedicure that would have been $38 if I hadn’t redeemed some points.  Due to some physical limitations I need to get my feet professionally groomed at times.  I also did a search on retail me not. Com to save $5 on lunch earlier.

Taking good care of your feet is imperative. Good for you for recognizing this and getting it done on a dime. Very smart.

[Michael in ABQ]

Went to Costco today, because the person who was supposed to host our group tonight is sick, so we're stepping in. Twelve on short notice? No problem! Despite the weekend insanity, we stuck to the list and spent $100.13, which is something of a miracle for us.

You do know you're legally required to spend at least $100 when you shop at Costco, right?  Good that you had a 13 cent buffer.

As a kid I remember Costco selling a t-shirt that said something like "I left Costco without spending $100 dollars"


Our typical bi-weekly Costco bill is $300-500 - albeit that's for a family of 8.

[Loretta]

I did not buy groceries because I’m using up stuff in the fridge and going away for a couple days. 

[Dicey]

Went to Costco today, because the person who was supposed to host our group tonight is sick, so we're stepping in. Twelve on short notice? No problem! Despite the weekend insanity, we stuck to the list and spent $100.13, which is something of a miracle for us.

You do know you're legally required to spend at least $100 when you shop at Costco, right?  Good that you had a 13 cent buffer.

Lol, our average spend there is so high that a single $100.13 trip isn't going to  have much impact. The biggest score was that I needed individually wraped chocolates. The Costco assortment was $20 and the Hershey's was a couple of bucks less. I didn't want so many leftovers. I kept looking  and found a smaller bag of Godiva chocolates on sale for $6.99. They worked perfectly and there are a reasonable number of yummy leftovers. DH is happily consuming tmost of them and they should be gone soon.

[ColoAndy]

Was unaware that my health insurance company offers cash incentives for meeting certain health metrics (exercise quotas, health screenings, etc) so logged on there and found I received a $25 credit each for the following:
Colonoscopy screening, dental check- up and cleaning, daily steps taken, and workouts per month.
So, a $100 Visa card is headed my way.

[Dicey]

Was unaware that my health insurance company offers cash incentives for meeting certain health metrics (exercise quotas, health screenings, etc) so logged on there and found I received a $25 credit each for the following:
Colonoscopy screening, dental check- up and cleaning, daily steps taken, and workouts per month.
So, a $100 Visa card is headed my way.

Nice!

[jnw]

Bought a $110 Amazon gift card today from Raise.com w/ a $0.51 discount.  I also used the LUCKY10 promo code for an extra $10 off.  So the $110 gift card came to $99.49.  But it gets better, Discover It Cashback Q3 rotating category is Apple Pay (along with gas stations).  I paid Raise.com w/ Apple Pay so I will be getting %10 cashback (first year with Discover It Cashback -- double cashback) on the $99.49 for $9.49.  So I essentially paid $90 for a $110 gift card, which results in a 18.2% discount.

[Rosy]

@jnw
       Sweet - always feels good when you realize all the small things really do add up.

Bought a $110 Amazon gift card today from Raise.com w/ a $0.51 discount.  I also used the LUCKY10 promo code for an extra $10 off.  So the $110 gift card came to $99.49.  But it gets better, Discover It Cashback Q3 rotating category is Apple Pay (along with gas stations).  I paid Raise.com w/ Apple Pay so I will be getting %10 cashback (first year with Discover It Cashback -- double cashback) on the $99.49 for $9.49.  So I essentially paid $90 for a $110 gift card, which results in a 18.2% discount.

Food and time savings
Since I had one fresh batch of homemade sauce left - (from the garden) Italian tomato/basil/pepper/garlic chives -
I heated up freshly made (pasta from scratch-manicotti) with a topping of fresh spinach - from the local Italian Deli -
$7.98 for five manicotti - that gave us two dinners for two at two dollars per plate.

Of course while there I had to pick up two giant cinnamon rolls from their bakery at $3.50 each. Took us three breakfasts to eat it all plus I got one afternoon tea treat out of it. There is a reason that Deli is literally elbow to elbow every time I go no matter what time or day.

Garden -  Who knew that
1. some sunflowers are strictly ornamental, others are excellent for harvesting for human consumption and some are better suited for wildlife.
You know that famous sunflower still life by Van Gogh? Couldn't resist when I spotted seeds for those multi-flower branches. Definitely ornamental and an excellent reason to hunt down a similar vase at the thrift store to mimic that look - just for fun.
The Van Gogh sunflowers have already begun setting multiple flowers... Yay!

My original intent was to grow sunflowers for the birds.
Five hours online and ten seed packets later ... I'm now obsessed with the world of sunflowers.
I had only partial success since I only tried three seed packets but I now have four giant edible sunflowers, looking good at 4-5 ft tall and growing well.

Go figure - none of the sunflower seeds for the birds came up - maybe they found and ate the seeds?:)

2. Surprise - on a whim, I ordered a Chinese Lemon Basil seed packet.
I had zero expectations of it doing well in my zone 10 garden (hot and humid). Ha! That taste is outstanding. A lot like Lemon Verbena - can't wait to use its fresh leaves for a summer drink maybe mix it with orange mint or lemon grass.
It doesn't look very robust yet, (thin, light green leaves) so I think I may try it in salads next and then try it in a marinade.
So much better in flavor and intensity than any lemon basil that I've ever found in the garden centers.

3. So essentially,
1. organic heirloom (meaning I paid through the nose) sunflower seeds - that I can now save my own seeds from - forever. Awesome!
2. The ornamental Van Gogh - a joyful garden moment. Free cutting flowers for the season. Nice savings.
3. Fantastic lemon basil, full of flavor for summer drinks and salads. It seems to handle our extreme heat and humidity well, we'll see how it does by Aug.
I got five good-looking plants - so definitely a win - I gotta remember to add some leaves to the ice cube tray. 

Books
Enjoying the perks of Kindle Unlimited - spending way too much time reading entertaining series by new to me Fantasy and Sci-Fi authors.
Totally taking my time reading a new Interior Design book I found at the discount store and slowly re-reading my favorite garden books tomes.

Freebies
1. My neighbor made a great all-natural Mosquito repellant! A must-have in Florida and I refuse to use the chemical stuff.
2. Same neighbor gifted me with jars of papaya lime jam - which I promptly used for ribs on the 4th of July holiday.
3. Amazon - a dress lost in transit - got a full refund and then the dress arrived a week later (which I'm allowed to keep for free:)

Deep discount Shopping
1. Discovered that one vendor at Temu online has nice quality summer dresses that fit me for $8 to $12 dollars and tops for $6 to $8. Free shipping. TBH however, I ended up with five dresses from other vendors that were way too large or I didn't like - $40 blown, but I'll donate them instead of returning them. Overall still a huge win since I'm keeping six dresses.
2. Temu also had an impressive selection of curtains - I bought eight panels at $3.97 each for our outdoor gazebo, but if I'd come across their curtain section sooner I would have gladly spent $25 to $30 per panel for some fancy living room curtains. Not to be found here in the States for under $100 ea panel.
Project
3. Their art supply section is massive but so far I've only picked up a few stencils, excellent quality, incl. larger sizes for beyond dirt cheap.
Now I own a good variety of stencils suitable for my next DIY project(s) incl. stenciling the tiles on the bathroom floor.
An easy, cheap and construction mess-free solution.

[Dicey]

Need to get my lazy self in gear. We're leaving on a road trip tomorrow and I have a huge pot of marinara on the stove. I need to turn it into lasagne, manicotti, stuffed shells and pizza sauce in time to allow them to fully freeze before we roll. Our last trip was only two weeks ago. I used up my freezer stockpile on that trip and then we had a heatwave and broken A/C when we got home. Today's cool, so windows are open and the stove's humming.

Being able to bring home cooked meals to our newly expanded family and not waste time eating out while on the road is worth the effort. Plus, it uses fresh ingredients up before we leave.

[GuitarStv]

Picked some fresh sumac drupes on the morning walk with the dog, brought them home, crushed them, and let them steep in some ice cold water.  Should have some excellent sumac lemonade to quaff when I bike my ass back home from work.

[Dollar Slice]

A friend of mine who is pretty low income mentioned that he wanted to see a particular museum exhibit before it closed, but the library was out of passes until after the exhibit was over. I looked online to see if I could find any discounts and saw that there was a new program for people on SNAP/EBT to get in free with a companion. I didn't know if he was on SNAP for sure, so I mentioned the program and said "if you know anyone on SNAP, maybe you could invite them to go". But it turns out he's on SNAP and was really grateful to find out he now has unlimited free admissions to this museum, so he invited me to come with him as his +1 and we had a great time. :-) A $25 value.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Rosy - I too take advantage of Kindle Unlimited. I pay for the service, but I read through most of our tiny local library in a short period of time. I adore Kindle Unlimited, and read 5-8 books/week. It's my treat to myself.

On the money saving side, we've been using up lots of garden goodies lately: lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, & basil. A critter ate all of our zucchini, and I'm so disappointed I didn't even get one. Last year, we were giving away bags of it.

I also figured out how to use a complicated trip credit (from a flight where we cancelled half way through), and saved $250 on my teens flight back from my parents in August.

[jnw]

Bought a $200 Lowe's gift card from Raise.com for $183.82 using SORRY5 promo code.  Bought it with Discover It Cashback card via Apple Pay.  Q3 rotating 5% category with Discover is gas stations and mobile wallets (e.g. Apple Pay).  Since this is my first year with Discover It Cashback, I am getting 10% back.  So I'll be getting 10% back on the $183.82.  So I got the $200 Lowe's gift card for basically 0.9 x 183.82 = $165.44, for a 17.3% discount on $200.

[jnw]

Bought $58 worth of copy paper (11 reams of 500 sheets) for $8.. with taxes it came to $62 or so.  So $12 for 11 reams.  Used $50 statement credit offer on capital one web site (using my savor one card).  Hopefully they will honor it.  I read the fine print and I believe I did everything correctly.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv-capital-one-shopping-50-back-on-staples-purchase/

(I use the copy paper as laser printer paper.  11 reams will probably last me 5-7 years.

So between this and my previous post regarding Lowe's gift card.  Saved $85 today.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Borrowed a carpet cleaner from a friend (that I met here, actually) instead of renting one!

[Serendip]

Simple but effective: ate breakfast at home, made tea to take with me to work and packing leftover pizza for lunch.

[jnw]

Bought $58 worth of copy paper (11 reams of 500 sheets) for $8.. with taxes it came to $62 or so.  So $12 for 11 reams.  Used $50 statement credit offer on capital one web site (using my savor one card).  Hopefully they will honor it.  I read the fine print and I believe I did everything correctly.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv-capital-one-shopping-50-back-on-staples-purchase/

(I use the copy paper as laser printer paper.  11 reams will probably last me 5-7 years.

So between this and my previous post regarding Lowe's gift card.  Saved $85 today.

Just want to say I got the $50 statement credit today from capital one for the 11 reams of copy paper for $58.

[Loretta]

I may have unknowingly walked into a criminal enterprise.  I had some watches that needed work and walked into a small jeweler’s store.  No jewelry in sight, no employees, no nothing until a guy appeared and took my stuff and told me to come back in 30 min.

When I came back in 30 min, he had fixed me up and didn’t charge me anything. 

[Taran Wanderer]

Yikes, that’s creepy!

[Serendip]

Not sure yet if this will save money but I wrote someone with some unused garden space and asked to use it and then could split the food with them. I was told they are overwhelmed and too busy to care for it right now so it might be a win-win situation.

[Frugal Lizard]

Doesn't seem so small now that we have done it.....But we washed the two story window at the back of the house. Just DH and I with a long hose and step ladder and a long pole with window washing squeegee and spongey thing that was given to me.

I look out of the lower part while I am at my desktop and it is so squeaky clean right now it is delightful.

[oneday]

Well done, Frugal Lizard! Squeaky clean glass always feels like such luxury.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We've been making good use of our garden items (basil, tomatoes, peppers) in salads. Fresh basil really elevates pretty much anything. I love a traditional caprese, or a peach/mozzarella/basil salad. Delicious.

We've also been doing a good job of eating up leftovers, which has the bonus of saving me a lot of time during work days. And, the teens are bringing sandwiches to their summer jobs (vs buying food), which is always cheaper, and gives them a good flavor of how much money you can save by packing your own meals.

[stoaX]

We've been making good use of our garden items (basil, tomatoes, peppers) in salads. Fresh basil really elevates pretty much anything. I love a traditional caprese, or a peach/mozzarella/basil salad. Delicious.

We've also been doing a good job of eating up leftovers, which has the bonus of saving me a lot of time during work days. And, the teens are bringing sandwiches to their summer jobs (vs buying food), which is always cheaper, and gives them a good flavor of how much money you can save by packing your own meals.

Peach mozzarella basil!  I'm making it tomorrow.

[jnw]

Amazon has a promotional credit of $15 if you link your Citi credit card.  I just linked my Citi Custom Cash card with Amazon and got the $15 promo code.  The promo code only works for items both shipped and SOLD by Amazon.  I went with the $32.99 thirty two roll Scott 1000 toilet paper.  This reduced the price of 32 rolls down to $17.99, or just 56 cents per 1000 sheet roll, which is a pretty great deal.

Found this promo at doctorofcredit, which I monitor on an almost daily basis:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-amazon-add-citi-card-get-10-off-promo-code-22citi10/

EDIT: And you have to actually use the citi credit card for the purchase in order to apply the CITICARD15 promo code.

[Dollar Slice]

Did the annual "I'm cancelling my subscription because it's too expensive to renew at the regular rate!" song and dance to get a discount for another year. $80+ saved (although I would have just cancelled if I had to pay full price).

[Loretta]

Finally switching off my $35/month plus taxes phone plan to an MVNO for $15/month.  I’ve been on the brink awhile now.  Every little bit helps right.

[LaineyAZ]

Got my car insurance reduced by about $110/year.  My annual mileage in retirement has been around 7,500 miles, which apparently is the magic number for when the Low Mileage driver discount kicks in.

But I decided to pay an additional $65/year on my homeowners insurance to get "service line" coverage.  The houses in my neighborhood are all 45+ years old and some are experiencing pipe line breaks (the line between the main which is serviced by the City and the piping at the house).  If you don't have that coverage on your insurance it's an easy $5,000+ out of pocket to repair.

[hdatontodo]

The battery in my Garmin GPS stopped holding a charge. For prior models, I usually bought $12 batteries on eBay. However, all I could find was a $50 battery from Amazon. Refurb units were only a little more. I noticed they mentioned a warranty. I checked mine. It has a 1-year warranty, which expires in 2 weeks. I chatted online with Garmin and am sending mine in and getting a refurb one in exchange. $0

[Roadrunner53]

I didn't actually do it today but in June I locked in for my home heating oil at $3.399 a gallon for one year. I am on a budget plan so from last year to this new year I am saving $40 a month. Today I checked on oil prices and the per gallon price went up to $3.499 a gallon so that is 10 cents higher than when I locked in. Very happy on the savings. Last years price was a nightmare!

[jnw]

I didn't actually do it today but in June I locked in for my home heating oil at $3.399 a gallon for one year. I am on a budget plan so from last year to this new year I am saving $40 a month. Today I checked on oil prices and the per gallon price went up to $3.499 a gallon so that is 10 cents higher than when I locked in. Very happy on the savings. Last years price was a nightmare!

Sweet!

[jnw]

Finally switching off my $35/month plus taxes phone plan to an MVNO for $15/month.  I’ve been on the brink awhile now.  Every little bit helps right.

Nice, and it sure does :)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

The battery in my Garmin GPS stopped holding a charge. For prior models, I usually bought $12 batteries on eBay. However, all I could find was a $50 battery from Amazon. Refurb units were only a little more. I noticed they mentioned a warranty. I checked mine. It has a 1-year warranty, which expires in 2 weeks. I chatted online with Garmin and am sending mine in and getting a refurb one in exchange. $0

This is a great one! My Garmin stopped holding a charge, but it was several years old when that happened, so I replaced it on eBay. I just got my first "new" Garmin in a while, but bought a refurb'd one, and really like it. It's also much smaller/lighterweight than the previous versions, which I like, as I have a small wrist & the previous versions were huge.

[Freedomin5]

We are going on a long road trip in a few days. Instead of buying food along the way, I am currently baking up a couple batches of muffins for breakfast and cookies for on-the-road snacks. We are also packing sandwich fixings and bread for lunch.

[midweststache]

Visited a nearby Arboretum with my in-laws this weekend. They have a subscription to their local botanical garden, which has reciprocal visiting privileges, so we recouped more than 1/3 of the cost of entry. Packed a lunch and snacks for the six of us rather than spending money at the expensive cafe. I skipped the gift shop, but my partner went in to browse and - thankfully! - came out with exactly nothing.

It's been a bit of a spendypants month (thanks, surprise new hot water heater) so I'll take these wins where I can get them!

[LaineyAZ]

I realized my credit union's new software had reset my overdraft privileges.  I needed to check a box to opt in again, so I did. 

Overdraft charges - which I haven't had for many years and don't expect to need - are $35.  But it was just a few seconds of time for a preventative loss measure.

[Arbitrage]

We waited out a medical issue with our dog.  While that sounds like it could've been bad on the surface, it was just a sore that she had developed, which the vet thought was either an infected ingrown hair or a small benign tumor.  The treatment (surgical) was going to be the same.  Either way, we had a lake camping trip planned and any surgery would've precluded her involvement.  Vet didn't think waiting would be an issue.  Turns out that it was just an ingrown hair, it resolved itself, and we saved $1000. 

[halftimer]

Happy your dog is doing better @Arbitage and that you didn't have to shell out for that.

I just called our phone provider to see if they could match a competitor's offer and got our price down $500/year! It's a bit better price than the other provider, but not as much data - but we don't use much data so I kept things scaled way down.

Yesterday, we saved by cutting and bending our queen box spring so it could fit through some narrow stairs and avoided having to buy a split box spring. (Yes I know many people sleep without one, but in a basement, I would rather have some separation from the ground just in case of leaks, etc). Also bought some used shelves off Marketplace for nearly nothing instead of the pricey but identical ones my family member almost ordered online.

[Dreamer40]

Minor savings from the garden:

I just finished bundling up my second year of cured garlic that I grew, and picking out which bulbs I will plant for next year’s growing season. My garden doesn’t remotely produce enough food for me to live on, but it at least produces all the garlic I need in perpetuity!

I also harvested poppy seeds and got maybe $10 worth if I were to buy this much at Penzeys. That more than paid for the initial seed packet and they will reseed themselves so there will be more next year if I want them.

This is also a fantastic year for home-grown tomatoes. They don’t always do well in my area but I can barely keep up with the harvest this year. I don’t bother canning, just throw them whole into a freezer bag. When I defrost them later, the skins easily slide off and they can added to chilis and soups all winter.

[Anette]

Needed a care item for my husband from the pharmacy after his surgery and was going to call them and buy there but realized my Mom had told me she might have the exact thing left over. Called and was able to collect the item.

We switched contracts for our landline and internet provider (a little cheaper now, was 48€/ month, will now be 45€/month but a faster connection). Now it turned out we need a cabel box (?) rather than our dsl box and we were about to buy one for about 220€ when I had the idea to ask our son whether he might have one? He has moved in the last few month and since that meant a change to  glass fiber we will now get his for less.

Went to the nursery to buy some more salad plants yesterday. As the season for planting them ends they only had some scraggly looking leftovers so I asked for a discount. I was able to get two trays of 6 plants each for 2,60€ instead of just one. Planted them in my raised beds and the look fine. Except tonight my husband chased the neighbors cat out of the bed! I hope she didn't destroy them.

[Raenia]

Filed for a payment from a class action law suit I qualified for - $21, pretty good for a few minutes effort! It's a pretty high payment for a class action, too, from what I've seen elsewhere.

We're allowing our BJ's membership to expire, as our new home is closer to a Costco. Right before it expired at the end of July, I did a stock up of as much as I could fit in the freezer. I'm hoping to be able to skip a month or two before signing up for Costco and save a few months of membership by delaying the purchase.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Took 2 annoying but brief rounds with Amazon customer service to get a $31 charge refunded- they had given me a refund and then re-billed me when the return was lost in transit. I should be getting it all back now.

[LD_TAndK]

Biked for groceries, saved me about $0.50. Then rewarded myself with a beer that cost about $2.00. So I'm -$1.50 in the hole now.

[hdatontodo]

The battery in my Garmin GPS stopped holding a charge. For prior models, I usually bought $12 batteries on eBay. However, all I could find was a $50 battery from Amazon. Refurb units were only a little more. I noticed they mentioned a warranty. I checked mine. It has a 1-year warranty, which expires in 2 weeks. I chatted online with Garmin and am sending mine in and getting a refurb one in exchange. $0

This is a great one! My Garmin stopped holding a charge, but it was several years old when that happened, so I replaced it on eBay. I just got my first "new" Garmin in a while, but bought a refurb'd one, and really like it. It's also much smaller/lighterweight than the previous versions, which I like, as I have a small wrist & the previous versions were huge.

Nice.

Also, I used their PC software to back up my locations and restore them to the replacement one.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk

[midweststache]

- Not technically today, but finally pulled the plug on Amazon Prime. Turns out I made that choice right before a rate hike, so saved an additional $40 on the rate hike, in addition to the $130 annual charge I planned to avoid.

- Not technically small, but got an email from a travel agent about a trip we're taking in March [DH's family destination wedding by way of this friend-of-the-bride travel agent; I voiced my concerns (fiscal) about going and then graciously said "OK, your family, your decision" so we're going] that rates on the hotel had dropped markedly for the dates we were going to be there, so now we've secured a $4,500 vacation/wedding trip as opposed to $6,500.

- Our mortgage escrow was recalculated and our monthly payment is actually going slightly down ~$5/month. (I'll enjoy this while it lasts because we're going to get nailed with a property tax hike on the next go-around.)

- Accidentally wandered into a Taco not-Tuesday deal near my work this week that made a planned lunch out with colleagues exceptionally inexpensive.

[oneday]

Actually today: walked to enrollment fair at the nearby school, will get help with admin stuff, and free food!

[Dreamer40]

I’ve been buying raw turkey breasts at Trader Joe’s and roasting them for sandwich/salad meat. Much cheaper and tastier than deli meat, and healthier. I’ve also started making my own hummus again instead of buying little tubs.

If anyone wants encouragement to eat better, I recommend the ZOE Science and Nutrition podcast. Science-based nutrition information that I find really inspiring. It’s been making me really enjoy cooking lately, instead of finding it a chore. The episode I listened to this morning on dairy was surprising and fascinating.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Used a $20 grocery store reward to offset the cost of some back to school snacks + ingredients for a cake my teen wanted to bake for a friend
-Made homemade protein bars, as a less expensive/high protein option for our two teens
-Pickled all of our garden jalapenos. My husband loves them, and making them yourself is always cheaper. It also clears out three bowls of jalapenos from our fridge, which thrills me as well.