Author Topic: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?  (Read 8020850 times)

firelight

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3200 on: April 23, 2015, 02:47:26 PM »
Spoke to ATT to reverse a charge and saved $100 in the process :)

Catastrophysicist

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3201 on: April 23, 2015, 06:46:02 PM »
My young daughter broke one of the hinges off from our toilet seat. Instead of buying a new one I bought two 1" threaded posts for $1 each, and drilled holes thru the hinge and seat to fit. Works as good as new, and saved around 30 bucks.

Kwill

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3202 on: April 23, 2015, 08:27:34 PM »
I made a sort of stone soup tonight from chicken thighs I'd gotten on sale and frozen, the last couple sad little carrots, rice, frozen vegetables, dried herbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3203 on: April 23, 2015, 09:55:40 PM »
* No-spend day today, cooked from home including a couple of dishes using homegrown food.
* The kitchen is well-stocked for the time being so I've set a goal of no further grocery spending for the month of April. It's only 7 more days. We can make it! (Right?)
* Sprayed down our now-unused compost bins in anticipation of selling them on Craigslist. (We now have chickens and worms for food waste and an open pile for other green waste.)

JRA64

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3204 on: April 23, 2015, 10:32:34 PM »
I used my reward dollars before they expired to buy some cat food that also happened to be on sale. I saved $8 off of $33, almost 25%.

I met my earlier goal of no extra trips to the grocery store this week. I *discovered* a few items at the back of the cupboard while making substitutions and have been using them. I've been making a shopping list this week and doing some meal planning instead of making it all up as I go along. I stopped by store number 1 (I shop a couple because of price and selection) on the way home WITH A LIST this time and should not need to go back until next week.

Pooperman

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3205 on: April 24, 2015, 05:25:50 AM »
I made a sort of stone soup tonight from chicken thighs I'd gotten on sale and frozen, the last couple sad little carrots, rice, frozen vegetables, dried herbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Did you put the good luck stone in it?

Gerard

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3206 on: April 24, 2015, 06:40:41 AM »
Now I need to sort out a naan recipe that freezes flat before baking.

Can you put them on a cookie sheet and put another cookie sheet on top before putting them in the freezer? Maybe with some parchment paper involved?

swick

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3207 on: April 24, 2015, 07:27:31 AM »
I used my reward dollars before they expired to buy some cat food that also happened to be on sale. I saved $8 off of $33, almost 25%.

I met my earlier goal of no extra trips to the grocery store this week. I *discovered* a few items at the back of the cupboard while making substitutions and have been using them. I've been making a shopping list this week and doing some meal planning instead of making it all up as I go along. I stopped by store number 1 (I shop a couple because of price and selection) on the way home WITH A LIST this time and should not need to go back until next week.

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/fire-drill!-skip-this-week%27s-grocery-shop/300/?topicseen Skip this week grocery gauntlet :)

Kwill

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3208 on: April 24, 2015, 08:18:20 AM »
I made a sort of stone soup tonight from chicken thighs I'd gotten on sale and frozen, the last couple sad little carrots, rice, frozen vegetables, dried herbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Did you put the good luck stone in it?

No I forgot to do that! I need some good luck, too. Maybe I should throw in a stone and some extra ingredients when I reheat the leftovers.

Moonwaves

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3209 on: April 24, 2015, 09:15:05 AM »
Now I need to sort out a naan recipe that freezes flat before baking.

Can you put them on a cookie sheet and put another cookie sheet on top before putting them in the freezer? Maybe with some parchment paper involved?
Or would the method I use for freezing shortcrust pastry work? Roll them out flat, put on a sheet of greaseproof paper and roll that up and then put that into a large ziplock bag. Not sure if you need to roll naans out so thin that they'd be suitable for rolling though.

handsnhearts

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3210 on: April 24, 2015, 02:15:48 PM »
*  going gluten-free for 30 days (this means I cannot buy beer - cha-ching!)
*  setting up automatic payments for savings - never did this before because I did not trust myself to leave money in the account to be available on the scheduled transfer date . . . but now I do :)

Nice work!  I have only gotten this together myself in Feb.  It feels really good to be doing automatic transfers and not miss it at all.  It is fun to see the balance grow.  After our move in 2.5 weeks (eep!), I am going to start saving into the retirement accounts because Emergency Fund is now full up. 

Better Late Than Never

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3211 on: April 24, 2015, 04:51:23 PM »
My furnace stopped working the other day. I suspected the thermocouple might be the problem since it has been many years since we changed it. Googled and Youtubed and learned how to replace it myself. Spent $12.48 on the part, and it worked! I'm guessing it would have cost about $150 to have a repairman do the job.

Now that I know how easy it is to light the pilot light, I plan on shutting it off for the summer to save some gas. Now if only the weather would warm up. We had snow flurries yesterday. :(

Paid my credit card bill online, saving a stamp. With forever stamps, I hadn't realized the price of a stamp is now 49 cents. Paying one bill online every month will save $5.88 per year.

Bought a few groceries yesterday using coupons and saved 83%. Today I checked Ibotta and realized I could submit rebates for 3 of the items I bought yesterday. Saved 85 cents by submitting the receipts. Now I'm only $1.45 away from cashing out $10.

DS will be working on a Merit Badge this week during school vacation. Borrowed the Merit Badge book from the troop's library instead of buying a new book at the scout store. The troop doesn't have all the merit badge books available, so we were lucky they had this one.

DS will be attending the Ordeal weekend for the Order of the Arrow, which is the Boy Scout's National Honor Society. Filled out the paperwork today to get early bird pricing and saved $10 on the registration fee.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3212 on: April 25, 2015, 12:40:43 AM »
I used my reward dollars before they expired to buy some cat food that also happened to be on sale. I saved $8 off of $33, almost 25%.

I met my earlier goal of no extra trips to the grocery store this week. I *discovered* a few items at the back of the cupboard while making substitutions and have been using them. I've been making a shopping list this week and doing some meal planning instead of making it all up as I go along. I stopped by store number 1 (I shop a couple because of price and selection) on the way home WITH A LIST this time and should not need to go back until next week.

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/fire-drill!-skip-this-week%27s-grocery-shop/300/?topicseen Skip this week grocery gauntlet :)

Thank you for the link to this gauntlet. Inspired.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3213 on: April 25, 2015, 06:35:05 AM »
My furnace stopped working the other day. I suspected the thermocouple might be the problem since it has been many years since we changed it. Googled and Youtubed and learned how to replace it myself. Spent $12.48 on the part, and it worked! I'm guessing it would have cost about $150 to have a repairman do the job.

Now that I know how easy it is to light the pilot light, I plan on shutting it off for the summer to save some gas. Now if only the weather would warm up. We had snow flurries yesterday. :(

Paid my credit card bill online, saving a stamp. With forever stamps, I hadn't realized the price of a stamp is now 49 cents. Paying one bill online every month will save $5.88 per year.

Bought a few groceries yesterday using coupons and saved 83%. Today I checked Ibotta and realized I could submit rebates for 3 of the items I bought yesterday. Saved 85 cents by submitting the receipts. Now I'm only $1.45 away from cashing out $10.

DS will be working on a Merit Badge this week during school vacation. Borrowed the Merit Badge book from the troop's library instead of buying a new book at the scout store. The troop doesn't have all the merit badge books available, so we were lucky they had this one.

DS will be attending the Ordeal weekend for the Order of the Arrow, which is the Boy Scout's National Honor Society. Filled out the paperwork today to get early bird pricing and saved $10 on the registration fee.

Congratulations to your son! You must be very proud. That takes a lot of hard work and time commitment.

Better Late Than Never

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3214 on: April 25, 2015, 09:52:04 AM »
Congratulations to your son! You must be very proud. That takes a lot of hard work and time commitment.
Thank you, Bracken_Joy! We certainly are very proud of him. He didn't join scouts until he was 13, but he really enjoys it and is working on Life Scout rank now. We didn't really know much about scouting before he joined, but we are very impressed with how much they learn in terms of leadership and life skills. Between school, marching band, cross country, track and scouts, he's a busy beaver and turning into a very well-rounded person.

2ndTimer

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3215 on: April 25, 2015, 10:09:37 AM »
Toasted homemade bread and ate it with Grocery Outlet discount peanut butter and fresh ground coffee for breakfast.  Yum.  All hail George Washington Carver, the man who developed peanut butter.

choppingwood

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3216 on: April 25, 2015, 02:35:17 PM »
* The kitchen is well-stocked for the time being so I've set a goal of no further grocery spending for the month of April. It's only 7 more days. We can make it! (Right?)

Seven days is nothing if your kitchen is well-stocked now. You may make a couple of meals that are more creative combinations as you go along, but don't back off from the challenge.

Our cafeteria at work was serving tortellini with yogurt sauce this week. It might have been a creative venture, but it seemed to a few of us that this was awfully close to what gets served in our houses in the couple of days before payday. Maybe the day before the new food order was delivered at the kitchen? These are some of the best meal discoveries, though.

Intoku

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3217 on: April 25, 2015, 02:50:11 PM »
Finally nailed my chicken tikka masala recipe. Even DH doesn't get how exciting this is, and he's seen me work on this >1yr. Victory!

Now I need to sort out a naan recipe that freezes flat before baking. Oh, and try freezing the tikka masala.

Care to share that tikka masala recipe?  You could potentially save me a year of work and many dollars in ingredients :)

Sure! http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/cooking-up-fi/

Intoku

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3218 on: April 25, 2015, 03:00:46 PM »
Now I need to sort out a naan recipe that freezes flat before baking.

Can you put them on a cookie sheet and put another cookie sheet on top before putting them in the freezer? Maybe with some parchment paper involved?

Yes, you absolutely can freeze flat things that way! I freeze large towers of corn tortillas in packs of 3 (I use waxed-paper bags for those, since they are cheap and the right size) exactly like that.

What I'm looking for in this case is a naan recipe that can be rolled out, frozen flat, and will successfully thaw and rise. I'm not happy with frozen pre-baked naan.

Yesterday: bought birdseed and printer paper on sale, and bought a dessert while I was at the store instead of going to a favorite restaurant next door.

Daisy

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3219 on: April 25, 2015, 04:28:33 PM »
Dug a jar of roast pork juice out of the freezer.  When it's defrosted I will use it to make some excellent corn chowder I recently discovered using some of my free potatoes.

Sounds intriguing. Please elaborate. ;-) How does this juice work in a soup?

I've wondered what to do with excess roasted pork juice (or other meat).

One time I made a beer smothered chicken in the crockpot. Then I used the liquid that remained as the water base for couscous. It was very flavorful.

The juices aren't exactly stock, so I was wondering what to do with excess pork juice.

oldfierm

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3220 on: April 25, 2015, 06:56:53 PM »
This was technically yesterday, but I was looking over our T-Mobile bill and realized we've been paying $10/month for something called JUMP!.  Apparently this service lets you switch to a new phone before you've paid off your old one.  We both paid cash for our phones, and would never use this "service," and have been paying for it for well over a year. 

So I canceled and saved us $120/year!  It really does pay to look at your bills every now and then! 

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3221 on: April 25, 2015, 07:17:51 PM »
Drove husband to the airport so he wouldn't have to pay for parking. 

Actually had a spendy day of shopping, but:

After a work trip this week, I decided that I really need a bigger laptop backpack that can hold more than just a couple slim files and a water bottle.  I was at the store about to choose between a $50 pack and a $60 pack when I lightbulb came on in my head and I realized that this is something I can have my employer purchase for me.  Yay!

Also while at TJ Maxx I found a women's golf shirt that will work perfectly as a horse show "competition shirt", on clearance for $10.  The equestrian ones are usually $60+.  Bought two, since they're white and will inevitably get stained after a show season or two.  Found hair product there for a fraction of what I pay for it from the salon.

Went in to CostCo planning to purchase a Bosu Ball with our membership dividend, but they didn't have them anymore (New Year's resolution product, I guess), so used the dividend for dog food and other stuff I would have purchased anyway.

Ate homegrown eggs for breakfast, having a salad of homegrown lettuce, radish and green onion for dinner.

A few days ago, resold a silver show halter that I picked up on eBay for $92, for $175 after a little bit of silver polish, better photos and better description.

MBot

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3222 on: April 25, 2015, 08:15:36 PM »
After using 2 dollar store pregnancy tests a few days ago, got the free clinic to conform with a third test today.  Guess what? We confirmed we are pregnant... and frugal.

big_slacker

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3223 on: April 25, 2015, 08:20:31 PM »
Congrats on the soon to be little one!

I took mine (2 and 4) to the library and then to a free 'math fest' for entertainment today. They played some counting, probability, navigation and programming games. Probably learned something even if they don't know it yet. :)

Raislin

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3224 on: April 25, 2015, 09:33:28 PM »
I biked home from a particularly long day at work (15 hours) and my wife had accidentally left the blinds open all day after she left. It was 80 degrees inside and cooler outside.  I opened the windows, went shirtless with shorts, got a mug of ice water and sat down to review Mint and lurk on the forums while waiting for the wife to get home from visiting family.  The apartment is down to 75 degrees with a comfortable and cool breeze blowing from the window next to me.

I think it's been 10 days since we last chose to run the A/C here in Arkansas!

Intoku

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3225 on: April 25, 2015, 11:26:12 PM »
Congrats MBot!

Went to a (long-anticipated) show today. Didn't buy any snacks or merchandise, and went straight home to drink beer from a growler and play a board game.

2ndTimer

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3226 on: April 26, 2015, 09:17:16 AM »
Dug a jar of roast pork juice out of the freezer.  When it's defrosted I will use it to make some excellent corn chowder I recently discovered using some of my free potatoes.

Sounds intriguing. Please elaborate. ;-) How does this juice work in a soup?

I've wondered what to do with excess roasted pork juice (or other meat).

One time I made a beer smothered chicken in the crockpot. Then I used the liquid that remained as the water base for couscous. It was very flavorful.

The juices aren't exactly stock, so I was wondering what to do with excess pork juice.

I use leftover meat juice to flavor soups that don't contain other meat.  They are pretty concentrated so they add a lot of flavor.  They may not be exactly stock but they work the same way.  Excess pork juice is rich and lovely.  I use it anywhere I would use chicken stock.

protostache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3227 on: April 26, 2015, 10:00:35 AM »
* Spent 30% less at the grocery store than normal. Stuck with the list, planned recipes out of the pantry, and bought a bunch of chicken on sale.

* Convinced DW that we can pay off our last remaining non-mortgage debt (car loan) without sacrificing our emergency plans through the combined powers of spreadsheets and positive thinking.

Better Late Than Never

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3228 on: April 26, 2015, 10:09:16 AM »
Congrats, MBot!

We went to a local minor league hockey playoff game last night. DH was able to get 4 free tickets from work. We parked on the street and walked a couple of blocks to the rink instead of paying $10 to park in the parking garage across the street. Usually we end up buying popcorn and drinks at the concession, but we only bought 1 soda which we got out of a vending machine for $1. Oh, and the home team won.

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3229 on: April 26, 2015, 10:39:22 AM »
All weekend I've been Kondo-ing the hell out of my house. I'll be hauling multiple loads to a community garage sale happening next weekend. VERY excited to release these items back into the world and maybe make a bit of money, too.

Kwill

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3230 on: April 26, 2015, 06:49:04 PM »
Such fun to read of everyone's adventures. Congrats to MBot and good work everyone on the frugality.

Today I took my bicycle to the supermarket for the first time since the snow melted. Eggs were on sale, so I got two dozen.

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3231 on: April 26, 2015, 06:53:27 PM »
Got a big pot of chili ready to slow cook tomorrow in the InstantPot.  We have a busy week and this should save us from going out to eat.  Making sure we eat all the perishable stuff before we leave for vacation on Friday.

Daisy

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3232 on: April 26, 2015, 07:23:12 PM »
Dug a jar of roast pork juice out of the freezer.  When it's defrosted I will use it to make some excellent corn chowder I recently discovered using some of my free potatoes.

Sounds intriguing. Please elaborate. ;-) How does this juice work in a soup?

I've wondered what to do with excess roasted pork juice (or other meat).

One time I made a beer smothered chicken in the crockpot. Then I used the liquid that remained as the water base for couscous. It was very flavorful.

The juices aren't exactly stock, so I was wondering what to do with excess pork juice.

I use leftover meat juice to flavor soups that don't contain other meat.  They are pretty concentrated so they add a lot of flavor.  They may not be exactly stock but they work the same way.  Excess pork juice is rich and lovely.  I use it anywhere I would use chicken stock.

Thanks! I am going to have to try this. I just happen to have frozen off some rendered pork juices from a slow-roasted pork shoulder braised with Guinness back for a party a few months ago. I keep staring at that frozen concoction in my freezer and have been wondering what to do with it. The pork was so good that I figured the juices would be a waste to throw away.

I'm not sure what kind of soup/vegetables would go well with pork "stock" such as this. I was thinking of using the juices to make a rice for a pork-flavored fried rice or something.

Along those lines, I am currently eating some shrimp and broccoli cooked in a red curry sauce that was leftover from a squash red curry it was made in. Once that dish was cooked a few months ago, I saw there was way more sauce than was needed for the amount of squash in the dish, so I froze off the extra red curry sauce, knowing I could just cook something else in it in the future. I've had some shrimp red curry all week.

No sauce should go to waste!

lunahsol

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3233 on: April 26, 2015, 08:32:24 PM »
Got a big pot of chili ready to slow cook tomorrow in the InstantPot.

The InstantPot is the pressure cooker that I recently purchased and OMG, has it been a game changer on my weekly meal prep!

My victory for today:
*  Only $4.62 spent on fresh produce for the week.  I bought things I may not have ordinarily considered, but they were on sale . . . so time to test out my creativity and willingness to try new things :) 

Thanks to the InstantPot, it is totally easy to cook/prep these veggies for later use.  I swear I am not paid to write this - I am just a very happy customer.

MoneyCat

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3234 on: April 26, 2015, 08:50:04 PM »
Today, I cashed in another 1000 Social Rewards points for $10 in Total Rewards comps to use for the vacation I'm planning for this summer.  Free money is awesome.  I finally got around to mowing the lawn after letting it grow like wild for a couple weeks and I used our electric lawn mower powered by electricity we produce for free with the solar panels on our roof.  I followed that up by trimming the edges of the lawn and then blowing the cut grass off the driveway and front walk using the rest of our lawn equipment which is also powered by solar-generated electricity.

After that, I went with a friend to a professional soccer match.  She treated me to lunch before the game and we went to the stadium early to pick up a free hat I ordered with loyalty points I earned by entering codes from soccer match TV broadcasts.  The soccer ticket itself will be paid for by scalping tickets for special events this summer during the season ticket holder presale window.

We even got in 5.8 miles of walking today between traveling to and from the stadium and walking around the stadium before the game began.

All in all, another good day.

PJ

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3235 on: April 26, 2015, 09:05:58 PM »
What I did today to save money ... I went shopping!

This week, the "special" at Shoppers Drug Mart (Canadian chain - pharmacy, plus HABA, many stores also expanding to include limited groceries) was a "spend your points" event.  I had accumulated enough points to get $85 worth of stuff, but this weekend, that went up to $100.  I'm also on their e-mail list and get coupons for discounts or bonus points.  I also had a number of coupons that I thought I could use, including some rebate offers from recent inserts in the free newspaper.

There wasn't a lot that I urgently needed, but I thought I could take advantage of this combination of circumstances to buy a bunch of stuff that will last until I'm ready to use it.

What I got: 
  • household - some laundry pods (Tide), dishwasher tablets (Finish Quantum), plug in air freshener,  and a small bottle of VIM
  • health and beauty - 2 bottles of my favourite facial moisturizer (Oil of Olay), hand soap with touchless dispenser, and 2 boxes x 50 generic version of Pepcid, which one of my dogs takes regularly (I buy the 20 mg tablets and break in half to get the right dose for him)
  • dairy case/cooler - 2 litre regular milk, 1 litre chocolate milk, dozen eggs, 2 small (500 ml) cartons cream (same price as 1 larger, better expiry date), 1 container greek yoghurt, tub margarine, 2 cartons rice milk and 2 cartons soy milk (long expiry on both)
  • pantry - couscous, brown rice, popcorn kernels, 5 large tins of various beans, 2 peanut butter (1 kg, Kraft), white sugar, loaf of bread, package of 4 Skor bars, cereal
I rang things through in 2 separate transactions, to optimize coupon use and collection of bonus points, and negotiated that they print me a duplicate receipt to use when claiming the rebates on 3 items (as a loss prevention measure, they don't normally print duplicate receipts).  It cost me a total of $31 OOP, and I am hoping to receive $31.48 in rebates.  It will also cost me 3 stamps to mail the rebate claims in!  I am confident of receiving at least an $8 rebate for 1 item that I bought on my smaller transaction, just not sure whether they will accept the duplicate receipt on the larger transaction, or whether they'll disallow it because it was paid for with points.  But I think it's worth a try!

Melody

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3236 on: April 27, 2015, 06:13:57 AM »
I had a no spend day and started playing the ASX Sharemarket game to learn about investing. (Free game with allows you to trade top 200 stocks in real time, the winner of the game gets an $8000 cash prize). I also read a magazine from the library :-)

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3237 on: April 27, 2015, 08:36:46 AM »
Found more gift cards! $22 in Starbucks cards will make a nice coffee house date night or three for hubs and I.

4alpacas

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3238 on: April 27, 2015, 09:19:54 AM »
Found more gift cards! $22 in Starbucks cards will make a nice coffee house date night or three for hubs and I.
Nice!  I found a Petco gift card this weekend, so we picked up a few treats for the dog. 

Yesterday, the dog and I dragged my husband to an event downtown.  We received a lot of freebies and had a nice walk around the downtown.  Total cost = $0.  We also have a new reusable grocery bag and coupons for some of the downtown restaurants. 

Today I showered at the gym after my workout.  I packed breakfast, lunch and snacks.  I also brought in my tea pot, so I can make tea for a coworker today (tea party!).  If I don't have a lunch meeting, I plan to play tennis at lunch with a few friends.

Better Late Than Never

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3239 on: April 27, 2015, 09:54:51 AM »
What I did today to save money ... I went shopping!

This week, the "special" at Shoppers Drug Mart (Canadian chain - pharmacy, plus HABA, many stores also expanding to include limited groceries) was a "spend your points" event.  I had accumulated enough points to get $85 worth of stuff, but this weekend, that went up to $100.  I'm also on their e-mail list and get coupons for discounts or bonus points.  I also had a number of coupons that I thought I could use, including some rebate offers from recent inserts in the free newspaper.

There wasn't a lot that I urgently needed, but I thought I could take advantage of this combination of circumstances to buy a bunch of stuff that will last until I'm ready to use it.

...

I rang things through in 2 separate transactions, to optimize coupon use and collection of bonus points, and negotiated that they print me a duplicate receipt to use when claiming the rebates on 3 items (as a loss prevention measure, they don't normally print duplicate receipts).  It cost me a total of $31 OOP, and I am hoping to receive $31.48 in rebates.  It will also cost me 3 stamps to mail the rebate claims in!  I am confident of receiving at least an $8 rebate for 1 item that I bought on my smaller transaction, just not sure whether they will accept the duplicate receipt on the larger transaction, or whether they'll disallow it because it was paid for with points.  But I think it's worth a try!

Nice! I need to do something similar at Walgreens. I have $20 worth of points built up that I "earned" by connecting my Fitbit to the Walgreens 'Balance Rewards for Healthy Choices' program. It automatically logs my steps for the day, and I earn points for my steps. I've been saving the points for when I need something and don't have any coupons or a sale.

Yesterday I used Ibotta, Checkout51 and SavingStar apps to save $4.69 on some "any brand" offers. I reached $11 in my Ibotta account which I  redeemed into PayPal and transferred to my bank account.

Zaga

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3240 on: April 27, 2015, 10:15:03 AM »
Cooked DH his breakfast while he packed his lunch.

Every day we do this (and it's not every day!) makes me happy.

2ndTimer

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3241 on: April 27, 2015, 11:40:59 AM »
One volunteer parsley plant growing robustly in my garden.  Put some of it in my pasta sauce and planted some more.

lunahsol

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3242 on: April 27, 2015, 11:44:22 AM »
Sold first book on Amazon!

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3243 on: April 27, 2015, 11:59:33 AM »
*used up leftover oatmeal for breakfast: mixed in plain yogurt, vanilla stevia, ground flax, chia seeds, pecan pieces and 1/2 a banana

*left furnace off

*premade cupcakes for son's birthday later this week and stuck them in the freezer

*using soup stock made last week to pull together a hearty soup for dinner tonite (chicken-barley-vegetable)

*hanging up laundry to dry on drying rack since its raining today

*leaving furnace off and put on socks and a sweater


Eristheunorganized

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3244 on: April 27, 2015, 12:29:23 PM »
Sold first book on Amazon!

Awesome. Love selling stuff on Amazon. They take a pretty big cut, but it sells super fast if you price it right. No pic taking or description writing either!

No-stache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3245 on: April 27, 2015, 12:42:13 PM »
Yesterday:

- 3 loads of laundry, all hung up to dry around the apartment.
- made potato cakes out of the rest of the free mashed potatoes I got at work last week.
- mashed three pounds of potatoes (I'm on a potato kick!) for meals this week (mashed potatoes as a side and shepherd's pie) and then roasted the peels to make baked potato skins. added cheese and the last little bit of sour cream to make it super delish.
- didn't turn on the heat or the air
-bought dish soap, isopropyl alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide at Sam's in bulk
- bought gift cards for Mother's Day at Kroger to take advantage of the 4x fuel points on gift cards


StudentofFreedom

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3246 on: April 27, 2015, 12:54:08 PM »
I put some cupboard-safe meals in my desk drawer at work so when I forget to bring lunch or I am running late and don't have time, I still have a tasty, cheap meal at work without having to go out for lunch.

My desk drawer lunches look like this:
Noodles ($0.35)
Olive oil/seasoning mix for on the noodles. ($0.10)
Can of green beans ($0.50)
Can of tuna ($0.65)

$1.60 for a meal instead of $8 eating out for lunch.  And I also save on time and gas!

Eristheunorganized

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3247 on: April 27, 2015, 03:17:41 PM »
I realized there's a post office only 2.3 miles away. (I just moved). Walked to PO to mail the item I sold on ebay. I also managed to wrangle my shipment into a cheaper flat rate envelope.

horsepoor

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3248 on: April 27, 2015, 03:19:07 PM »
Got a big pot of chili ready to slow cook tomorrow in the InstantPot.

The InstantPot is the pressure cooker that I recently purchased and OMG, has it been a game changer on my weekly meal prep!

My victory for today:
*  Only $4.62 spent on fresh produce for the week.  I bought things I may not have ordinarily considered, but they were on sale . . . so time to test out my creativity and willingness to try new things :) 

Thanks to the InstantPot, it is totally easy to cook/prep these veggies for later use.  I swear I am not paid to write this - I am just a very happy customer.

Yeah, this forum inspired me to buy the InstantPot.  I am much more prone to cook dried beans since I can run the pressure cooking cycle without baby sitting the thing.  This also means cooking dried chickpeas, which leads to teaming up with Blendtec (my other favorite small appliance) and making delicious batches of hummus.  Being able to saute and slow cook in the same vessel is very handy for reducing cleanup.  Hoping to give yogurt-making a whirl with it in the near future, too.

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #3249 on: April 27, 2015, 10:32:35 PM »
Brought in several lunches for the working week, stashed them in the freezer so I can take them out as needed. Also brought in cashews and almonds for snacks - I didn't feel up to 'prepping' any snacks so this way I can be lazy but still relatively healthy/frugal.

Was planning to bring something in for a team morning tea later this week, checked with the organisers and they say they'll have enough without my contribution. So I'm skipping that expense.