What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Bracken_Joy]

DH and I are having to drive to visit our parents today. An old high school friend posted on FB that she needed a ride from our current city back to our mutual home town, where we are going today. So we will get a chance to catch up (she lives on the other side of the country now), and will get a few $ for gas money. All around, a small thing to save money, but also a happy coincidence!

[Easye418]

What main ingredients are you talking about?

Meth?

I hear that works wonders for motivating people. For me, it does damn near nothing.

That being said, my SO drinks No-Xplode all the time. We call it crack. :)

sorry i don't know what you guys are talking about

Heh.... it's not meth, but I drank the "good" stuff back in the day before it was banned.  I used No-Xplode in the past when I was 17-18. 

Caffenine tabs 200mg x 200 tabs
Beta Alanine 500g
BCAA 2:1:1 500g
L Citrulline Malate 500g
Will be adding ALCAR down the road.

I do heavy lifting on the weekends.  This should last MONTHS and I know it only has these 4 ingredients in it. 

[kander]

Today I'm making a receipe from an American cookbook. One of the ingredients is evaporated milk. This is something we don't use a lot in Holland, so I accidenilty bought the sweetened version. But instead of throw it away because I already opened it, I've now made cookies with it :D

[Jakejake]

Today I'm making a receipe from an American cookbook. One of the ingredients is evaporated milk. This is something we don't use a lot in Holland, so I accidenilty bought the sweetened version. But instead of throw it away because I already opened it, I've now made cookies with it :D

NOooooooonononono! One can condensed milk (the sweetened stuff) should always be mixed with one cup cream and one cup whisky, a splash of vanilla and if you have it, a spoonful of chocolate syrup to make irish cream.

[Zaga]

Today I'm making a receipe from an American cookbook. One of the ingredients is evaporated milk. This is something we don't use a lot in Holland, so I accidenilty bought the sweetened version. But instead of throw it away because I already opened it, I've now made cookies with it :D

NOooooooonononono! One can condensed milk (the sweetened stuff) should always be mixed with one cup cream and one cup whisky, a splash of vanilla and if you have it, a spoonful of chocolate syrup to make irish cream.

And an egg!

[kander]

Today I'm making a receipe from an American cookbook. One of the ingredients is evaporated milk. This is something we don't use a lot in Holland, so I accidenilty bought the sweetened version. But instead of throw it away because I already opened it, I've now made cookies with it :D

NOooooooonononono! One can condensed milk (the sweetened stuff) should always be mixed with one cup cream and one cup whisky, a splash of vanilla and if you have it, a spoonful of chocolate syrup to make irish cream.

And an egg!

I'm sorry I've disappointed you both ;)

[mm1970]

Walked to Kmart at lunch because we are out of sunscreen, and I was too lazy to walk to Costco (0.6 vs. 1 miles).

Couldn't believe how expensive it is by the bottle (vs. package at Costco), continued to look around the shelves until I found a bottle that was marked down from $10 to $7.  It's an off brand.

It rang up at $5.40.  I should have bought the only other bottle too, but I figure I need to make sure it works first.

Beach season is really just starting here.


Resisted...everything else at Kmart, which is tough when the lines are 6 people deep and they are SLOW.

[1967mama]

*Made the Monterey Chicken Skillet (minus the bacon) from Budget Bytes. Teen kids loved it! Are there any recipes on that website that don't work? Wow! I'm so impressed! And it was so easy, too.

*Started cooking the chicken bones from 2 nights ago into stock in the crockpot today.

*Listened to a podcast since all my kids were out at various activities/jobs today -- I hardly ever have the house to myself so this was a real treat! Took notes and drank copious amounts of tea.

ETA: The rest of the family loved the Budget Bytes meal as well! Winning!

[Jakejake]

* biked to target to do the kashi cereal deal
* noticed an end cap with 3lb bags of gala apples for $1.25 each!
* biked to kroger next, used the free bread coupon from earlier this week for a giant loaf of french bread.
* bike to kmart for a free gallon of milk for yogurt making, got a 20 cent rebate on the milk and found a pepsi bottle on the sidewalk, good for 10 cents.

Total cost for gallon of milk, 12 pounds of apples, 2 boxes of organic cereal, and fresh bread: $6.24.

* made dinner that was giant sandwiches from the free bread, and deals I'd gotten earlier on pesto, fresh mozarella, green  olives, fresh tomato, chicken and pepperoni. I figure dinner for two of us was probably less than a dollar total.

[Mr. OTT]

Went and got an annual physical.  My insurance pays $125 to my HSA account for getting an annual physical.  Half my co-workers aren't aware of the plan or don't think it's worth their time.

[Meggslynn]

Started making overnight oats for my hubby, our three year old and myself to eat in the morning instead of our usual's.

Usually I would eat a quest bar (they seem to be the only thing that keep me full till lunch and I am trying to lose weight) at $3 each. My hubby would eat Kashi Go Lean at $9 for about 10 days. My son is gluten free and his gluten free cereal is $5 for 5 days.

So breakfast went from $60 a month to about $15 as I like to add some flax seed and hemp hearts for extra nutrition.

Oats have gluten.  The mnemonic for gluten I use is "BROW"  Barley, Rye, Oats, and Wheat.

You can get certified gluten-free oats. The issue is they are often made on equipment that processes gluten-containing grains. Oats themselves do not contain gluten, which is why you cannot get a bread to rise out of oat flour.

ETA: sorry, not rise, but elasticity/stretch/crumb structure. You don't get the gluteny stickyness lol.

Good to know!

Yup, we buy gluten-free oats.

[Meowkins]

Today: brought my lunch in. avoided both rounds of office coffee runs and instead drank the nasty free stuff.

[Kaspian]

Have to go to Toronto tomorrow.  Found someone on Kijiji to be a passenger who's pitching in $30 for gas.

[kander]

I've cut my husbands hair. But unfortunatly he's not happy with it. He thinks it's too short. But for now it saved us €16,50

[Merrie]

I cut my husband's hair the other month but he didn't like the way I did it. He said it was a "dad" haircut. (He's 38 years old and we have 2 kids, but whatever...) So the other week he went to the haircutters and came back with a haircut that looked substantially the same, but acknowledged he didn't like that cut either. I mean, at least I messed up your hair for free...

[1967mama]

*Funny! I cut my husband's hair last night too! I've been cutting his hair (and all of our boys) for over twenty years.

*For lunch, used up some chicken strips and fries that had been languishing in the freezer

*Made some muffins

*Listening to old fashioned radio instead of streaming -- we were going over every month on our internet usage

ETA: Tried a friend's recipe for Green Tea Lemonade -- its delicious! 2 c. boiling water over 2 green tea bags, steep 10 minutes, add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and sweetener to taste (I used stevia, but white death sugar would work fine too) Serve over cup full of ice.

[Cyanne]

Went to a conference today. There were box lunches left over for the taking. Took one home for dinner since hubby and son were not going to be home for dinner tonight. Free food and no cooking!

[MountainGal]

Today I'm making a receipe from an American cookbook. One of the ingredients is evaporated milk. This is something we don't use a lot in Holland, so I accidenilty bought the sweetened version. But instead of throw it away because I already opened it, I've now made cookies with it :D

NOooooooonononono! One can condensed milk (the sweetened stuff) should always be mixed with one cup cream and one cup whisky, a splash of vanilla and if you have it, a spoonful of chocolate syrup to make irish cream.

My DH is going to love you for this.  :D  And, well, me too of course.  0:)

[Easye418]

At my old job, the buffoon Admins used to order TONS of excellent food and they would literally throw it out at the end of the day.... I'm talking Brisket, chicken, turkey, queso, mexican shredded steak,etc.

Since I always brought my lunch, I would empty out some of my containers and take home 5-10lbs of food every time.  Ate that shit for like a week.

[jordanread]

At my old job, the buffoon Admins used to order TONS of excellent food and they would literally throw it out at the end of the day.... I'm talking Brisket, chicken, turkey, queso, mexican shredded steak,etc.

Since I always brought my lunch, I would empty out some of my containers and take home 5-10lbs of food every time.  Ate that shit for like a week.

I'd take home garbage bags of that stuff. Add a freezer, and I could eat for months!!

[1967mama]

*Replaced printer ink with ink from an ink refill place. Saw that all my refills are empty now, so will gather them up and exchange for new ones. Will also use my punch card for future free ink.

*Thawing uncooked cinnamon buns that we froze last weekend - will have for breakfast tomorrow and start the bread/buns cycle again for the week (6 loaves of bread plus 2 pans of cinnamon buns - slice and wrap bread to put in freezer for lunches for the week)

*Cooking a whole chicken for dinner from our stash of 50 chickens bought from our farmer friend in July - one per week, give or take
Remembered to thaw it first, so hubby will cook it on the rotisserie tonight

*Son handmade a birthday card for a friend (drew Elsa from Frozen movie) ETA: Made her a Nutella Cheesecake this afternoon

*Leftover tacos for lunch today -- leftover management is so key for our family -- I just hate food waste

*Hoping to dig out my old round dehydrator from the basement this weekend to dry some pears that are not being eaten by my people (Hat tip to The Goblin Chief and Erica/NWEdibles)

[Bracken_Joy]

DH and I are having to drive to visit our parents today. An old high school friend posted on FB that she needed a ride from our current city back to our mutual home town, where we are going today. So we will get a chance to catch up (she lives on the other side of the country now), and will get a few $ for gas money. All around, a small thing to save money, but also a happy coincidence!

The friend we gave a ride to gave us $30. I tried very hard to refuse/haggle her down, and she was having none of it. The bus down would have been $50, so she said we were still saving her money.

Saved my bacon, because my blood sugar crashed before we could get from dropping her to relative's house (they rarely have food anyway), so we broke our August restaurant ban and got food to go. Cost $19 of the $30, because we ran into another friend and treated them to lunch. Still came out $11 ahead, though.

[horsepoor]

In the theme of gas/ride sharing, I asked a friend to go with me to see a horse tomorrow.  She agreed, and then later asked if I'd mind if she drove because her truck has barely been driven this year and she feels it needs to run a tank of gas through it.  Mind?!  I'm buying her lunch which seems like a great tradeoff.

After tomorrow's adventure, I'm going to Alberta to look at more horses, so the cooler is getting packed up.  Once I get over the border I'll buy some fruits/veggies at the grocery store and hopefully not need to eat out between what I bring and the hotel breakfasts.  Unfortunately I withdrew Canadian funds a couple days ago and now see the exchange rate is even more favorable.  Instead of buying a block of ice, I'm freezing a gallon of water.  Cheaper, less messy and then I can drink it when it thaws.

Yesterday I made a big pot of gumbo with marked-down chicken drumsticks and the following ingredients from the garden:  okra, onions, peppers, serranos, garlic, tomatoes, corn.  Used half the package of andouille and saved the other half for the next pot.  Took the leftovers for lunch today.

Grabbed a bag of feed that was marked 15% off because it had a taped up hole, but didn't seem to be missing any feed.

[11ducks]

Cut my sons hair - $19 saved
Didn't get the sushi I wanted $10 saved
Waited till health insurance kicked in for new glasses- $100 saved
Changed car insurance and raised deductible to save almost $300 pa

[Bracken_Joy]

Trying to price out reasonable auto insurance. (It's hard! I'm getting quite overwhelmed).

[Sloeginfizz]

1. Rode the Divvy (bike share here in Chicago) to work rather than the bus.
2. Coffee and lunch brought from home.
3. Knitting socks for Husband's Christmas present using free pattern from Knitty and yarn given to me by a sister.
4. Walked home from work. Traffic is crazier than I'm comfortable with at 5 on a Friday. Just takes longer. On a summer afternoon, way more pleasant than the bus.
5. Needed many, many drinks after work. Only had one.  A hard cider left here by someone the last time we had a party.

[jengod]

* Packed snack boxes and water bottles for my kids before a long day of errands. No drive-thru!

* Am repainting my kids' room by myself, saving the cost of a painter and upholding the Mustachian no-outsourcing ethos.

[Rural]

Last night:


Cooked up a big pot of dal, enough for supper and seven generous lunches for the cost of a pound of lentis, some spinach that needed to be used right then, the last of a pound of barley, a quarter of a bag of frozen mixed veggies for crunch, and spices. I calculated under $2 for the whole pot, and it's wonderful.


Then I cooked up two pounds of brown rice for the freezer for the next couple of weeks.


(Then I left the stove eye on low until my husband found it hours later...sigh)


Still need to cook up ten pounds of chicken leg quarters for the freezer. That's $3.40 worth of chicken because of the incredible sale I found, and there are another twenty pounds in there. Already wishing I'd gotten more, but they wouldn't have fit in the cooler in the car...

[WerKater]

I've cut my husbands hair. But unfortunatly he's not happy with it. He thinks it's too short. But for now it saved us €16,50

My girlfriend now always cuts my hair. Totally worth it! The machine cost 20€ or something and I am saving ~10€ every 6 weeks. And I don't have to make an appointment with a hairdresser. And bike there. And, after moving to a new city, I didn't have to teach another hairdresser in the art of remaining silent while cutting my hair (*) and not trying to engage in meaningless chit-chat.

* unless there is necessary information about the cutting process to be exchanged, of course.

[Spruit]

Switched car insurance for the BF, saves him 120 a year. Switched energy providers yesterday, saves us 50 a month.
Hung three loads of laundry outside in the sun already. I've been waiting for a sunny day like this to hang it outside.
Cut some nice bouquets of backyard herbs (oregano, mint, parsley, thyme and lovage) to dry in our ultimate drying device: the car. Put it in a paper bag, lay it on the backseat or somewhere else in the shade of the car, windows down a little bit and voila, crispy dried herbs to use over winter :-)

[MrsPotts]

When the soon to be fired Toyota dealership told me that my tire was unrepairable and tried to sell me two 200 dollar tires I high tailed it to the local tire shop and had my flat fixed for 14 bucks.

[homehandymum]

Winter is slowly edging into spring here. Hung my first load of laundry outside since autumn.  2 loads, actually.

Free bread today from church. (Local grocery store donates unsold bread for our local semi-homeless ministry. Homeless had already taken all they wanted, leftovers were destined for the chickens, but they invited parishioners to help themselves first. 3 bags for our freezer.)

My task for the afternoon: preparing our spare room to accommodate (paying) international students, whom we hope to host later this year.

[jengod]

* Found a $0.25 on the floor

* Got a $5 Petco gift card at customer appreciation day, plus kiddo got to watch the dog grooming (free entertainment!)

* Had a lovely potluck dinner with friends at the house tonight

[Moonwaves]

Used a gift voucher I got for xmas to pay for a book as a birthday present for a friend. Even better, someone else who was invited to the party asked if I had an idea for a present and was interested in getting a joint one. Told him my idea for a book and he paid for half (well, I paid with my voucher and he gave me cash, which suits me at the moment) - the book would have cost a bit more than I might normally have spent on my own but having the voucher meant I could at least get a present during a very cash poor month (really, really didn't want to pull money from savings). So, despite not having budgeted for it, I've managed to pull off two unexpected birthday presents this month. Three actually, one friend got a voucher for help with the housework (she hates housework so I knew she'd appreciate it).

This morning I grabbed most of the apples from the fruit bowl (not long there but they're early eaters that don't keep long at all), peeled and chopped and made some stewed apple. I've already prepared some pastry and will make frangipane apple buns later on. And am dumping all plans to cook today since I have more than enough leftovers to see me through the day already in the fridge.

[esq]

Last week I visited the doc for my mid-annual thyroid meds follow up.  Was a new doc, who wanted to run a blood panel.  I told him I've been on this same dosage for years, and as usual, I have no problems, and would prefer to wait, as usual, until my annual physical to run the next panel.  He raised his eyebrows a bit, but agreed. 

My insurance covers one panel annually, and this would have come out of my pocket, which I also explained to him.

ALSO - very important information I found out about office visit payment coding.  I have crappy teacher's insurance with a high deductible, which, if not met, requires me to pay up front between $70 (non-complicated) and $110 (complicated) for an office visit.  Upon polite inquiry, I now know that sometimes the difference is up to the mood of the receptionist checking you in.  So, when I check in, I always politely ask if they would code as a "non-complicated" visit. The doctor can change after the fact it if necessary.

Sorry, I had the 4-digit code number written down and now I can't find it.  I don't know if this coding is state or federal.  This applies to a clinic in a large Texas system called Memorial Hermann.  YMMV.  Lesson:  it pays to be politely assertive.

That day I saved several hundred dollars, so I treated myself to a new Michael Kors purse!

(Gotcha.) ;)

[choppingwood]

In the theme of gas/ride sharing, I asked a friend to go with me to see a horse tomorrow.  She agreed, and then later asked if I'd mind if she drove because her truck has barely been driven this year and she feels it needs to run a tank of gas through it.  Mind?!  I'm buying her lunch which seems like a great tradeoff.

After tomorrow's adventure, I'm going to Alberta to look at more horses, so the cooler is getting packed up.  Once I get over the border I'll buy some fruits/veggies at the grocery store and hopefully not need to eat out between what I bring and the hotel breakfasts.  Unfortunately I withdrew Canadian funds a couple days ago and now see the exchange rate is even more favorable.  Instead of buying a block of ice, I'm freezing a gallon of water.  Cheaper, less messy and then I can drink it when it thaws.

Yesterday I made a big pot of gumbo with marked-down chicken drumsticks and the following ingredients from the garden:  okra, onions, peppers, serranos, garlic, tomatoes, corn.  Used half the package of andouille and saved the other half for the next pot.  Took the leftovers for lunch today.

Grabbed a bag of feed that was marked 15% off because it had a taped up hole, but didn't seem to be missing any feed.

I always love your save money posts, because they fit a great life that you've built. (Your garden and horses, right in this one.)

But what will you do once you look at these horses? Are you looking for new ones?

[Ysera]

I visited the local fair yesterday, and I saw lots of nearby parking lots charging people $4-$6 each for fair parking. I narrowly resisted the urge to flip off every one of them and kept driving. I found free daily street side parking not even half a mile away along a tree-lined, shaded sidewalk. Hardly anyone else parked out there and it was less than a ten minute walk, while people were fighting for spots in the paid parking lots. What a racket.

[Salim]

We started clearing some land today by ourselves, DH and me, taking down trees and bushes. He said he may need some help from a guy with a Bobcat to get out all the big stumps and roots. We loaded up the brush in the pickup and started building a new burn pile for next winter. He made a yummy taco dinner and then I gave him a haircut while we watched a TV show streaming on the computer. It was a lovely day.

[1967mama]

*Homemade stir fry for dinner --

Stir Fry Sauce (soooo good!)

3/4 c. each of water, honey and soya sauce
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons cornstarch
6 cloves garlic, minced

Pour over cooked veggie/meat mixture and heat through - thickens as it heats

*Took kids to the beach - free except for small parking charge

*Listened to Dave Ramsey podcast for motivation - love hearing those debt free stories

*Sent hubby to the produce stand with a specific list

[jengod]

Walked to the grocery store instead of driving. Positive consequences:
1. Got to 10,000 steps today
2. Saved gasoline and greenhouse gas emissions
3. Probably bought slightly less than I might have otherwise because realized I had to carry it all home.
4. Collected road-littered bottles and cans on the way there and back
    a. Cash redemption value is $0.75
    b. Items will not end up in landfills or local watercourses.
5. Picked up a fiddle-leaf fig houseplant someone had underwatered and then left out on the curb. (In the way of such things, I had just been coveting a fiddle-leaf fig after seeing a zillion of them on Apartment Therapy, and serendipity provided.)

[homehandymum]

Children had dental appointments today.  Miss11 needs an orthodontics referral, so when I got home I looked up our health insurance coverage.

Orthodontics covered (at least partly), AND general dental covered (up to a point).  I did not know about the dental coverage.

We'll be getting $300 back from the Mr's dental work earlier ths year. :)

[Easye418]

Cut DirecTV including NFL Sunday Ticket and NHL Center Ice.  $101 a month plus $199 for NFL Sunday Ticket and $120 for NHL Center Ice.

Replaced with Android TV Box with streaming subscriptions.  Box cost $40, Subscription $10 a month, IP VPN $30 a year.

So from $127 a month to $13 a month.  CHA-CHING!

[mustachepungoeshere]

I shattered my iPhone screen last week. Had iPhones for five or six years, never cracked a screen before, so I was annoyed at myself for that.

My battery is also a bit funny (I just never go anywhere without a charger), so my slightly less mustuchian husband immediately suggested I get a new phone.

(His iPhone 6+ is required for work and is tax deductible. I have a 5 on a $30 plan, and my phone subsidy from work is, wouldn't you know it, $30/month, so my phone is free.)

I looked at new plans but I couldn't do it. I didn't even want to do it. I've worked so hard to get our monthly expenses down, renegotiating every set expense, and it would all have been wasted if I turned around and signed up for an $90/month phone.

Instead, we arrived at our destination for our long weekend away, found the nearest shopping centre, and had my screen placed in half an hour.

(Someone on here will tell me they did it themselves. Maybe next time.)

I also fixed my $25 umbrella when the button stopped working last night. Then I opened and closed it repeatedly to test it. In my house. Here's hoping the bad karma doesn't get me.

[Merrie]

I got glasses from Eyemart Express instead of using my eye doctor's office. Saved about $50 on 2 pairs.

But then I blundered into JoAnns and got 3 yards of fabric to make a Christmas nightgown for my daughter... at $8 a yard, and I couldn't find a JoAnns coupon. I could have waited until I could get one, but this wasn't my local JoAnns and I didn't want to have to stress out about tracking down the fabric later and whether the location near me carried it and blah blah blah, so I could have probably saved about $8-$12 there if I'd had a coupon. Blah.

[Zamboni]

I switched to Geico and saved a bundle on my car insurance today . . . seriously. $240 per year less.

Next I shall tackle homeowner's insurance to see if I can do better. . .

[a1smith]

I switched to Geico and saved a bundle on my car insurance today . . . seriously. $240 per year less.

Next I shall tackle homeowner's insurance to see if I can do better. . .

You took my place.  I just switched from Geico.  They tried to raise my policy >9%.  All of the insurance companies are doing price optimization so I have ended up switching about every 2-3 years.

[1967mama]

*Made a huge double batch of granola

*Made chocolate chip cookies with my 8 year old son - he did it mostly by himself

*Stopped at produce market for fruit and veggies -- had the realization, in the store, that this was a better place to go for produce than our nearby Walmart Supercenter because all I could buy was the produce! No videos, no potato chips, no clearance kids tee shirts, etc. DOH!

*Husband took 3 kids on a nice long evening bike ride while I cleaned up from dinner.  I got some peace and quiet, he got some exercise and kid time, they got a fun adventure with their dad and it all cost $0.

*Found an old visa gift card on my wallet with a small amount on it (maybe under $20). Tmw I will go to the website to find out what is left on it

[HappierAtHome]

Managed to limit myself to one treat this morning at the chocolateria with my colleagues (it was a special trip as we're farewelling a member of our team), which means I "only" did $8.95 damage.

Placing an order today with the online shop for slightly cheaper nuts, seeds etc instead of paying full price at the local supermarket.

Walking 4km home from work to save $2.25 compared to the bus fare (and it's good for my health!).

[Spruit]

Visited the hospital on the cheap today: rode my bike on the way there (13 km) and parked it for free instead of paying in the garage. Had BF pick me (+bike) up for the way back, which was no unnecessary luxury unfortunately. Still, saved 5 euros and a lot of time vs. bus. And I feel good knowing I already have my exercize in for the day ;-)

[Kaikou]

saved 20 cents per gallon on gas