Author Topic: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?  (Read 8020899 times)

ragesinggoddess

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #700 on: April 07, 2014, 11:14:33 AM »
Shopped around and found cheaper eggs and cheese at the bargain grocery. Normally pay about .20/egg, now .08! Since I eat a couple dozen eggs a week, this will really add up.

RootofGood

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #701 on: April 07, 2014, 11:30:10 AM »
Gave my daughter $90 cash* for her 9th birthday.  I wrapped it up in an old Aldi's sales paper.  Saved money on an envelope, fancy gift bag, or wrapping paper. 

I also gave her a Lite Brite toy (remember those from the 1980's?).  $2 at the thrift shop visit a couple months ago.  Her response: "OMG this is the awesomest toy ever.  This is incredible.  You can create anything you want, and we can draw our own patterns."  I totally forgot you were supposed to buy blank patterns for the toy (at $6 per pack back in the day).  Now her little sister wants her own Lite Brite.  I'm not sure if they even make them any more. 


* After giving her the cash, she collected it and some more birthday money and piggy bank money and gave me a total of $200 to deposit into her bank account.  She says she's saving up for FI, as she doesn't want to work forever.  Sorry folks, she won't be paying for your social security for very long.

My 9 year old just blew my mind last night.  A couple weeks ago I put her $200 piggy bank money into her savings account (that pays 0.x% interest).  Last night at allowance time she asked if she can transfer that $200 from her savings account at the bank to her 529 account*.  She says she has decided she wants to be a college professor (in a currently unknown field of study), therefore she wants to ensure she will have enough money for college. 


*I think she's been reading MMM or my blog.  What kind of a 9 year old knows what a 529 is, let alone thinks to contribute money to it!?!?!

sheepstache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #702 on: April 07, 2014, 11:39:16 AM »
But then I think, the amount it's throwing off each month is so small, small enough to fall below the $10 that would trigger a report to the IRS.  And indeed, .87 minus 15% (my tax bracket) is .72, meaning I'm better off leaving it in the lower-interest account that I won't have to pay tax on.
(1 - 0.15) * 0.87 = 0.7395 > 0.72
It's still worse than 0.75, but by little more than one basis point. I assume the rates are variable, this could change very soon! If your taxed account rises to .89% or your tax-advantaged account goes to .73%, then moving your money becomes profitable*. Also, at such a small margin, if the balance is <$10, a rounding error of 1 cent could tip the balance - it depends on the exact amount in the account.

*For extremely small values of "profit", and not counting all the effort of watching those interest rates.

Ah yes, thank you, I did do .85 * .87 to come up with my answer at the time but then misremembered later when, under the influence of wine, I was confessing it.  A wise reminder to me not to do arithmetic under the influence.

warfreak2

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #703 on: April 07, 2014, 11:54:59 AM »
As usual, I split my grocery shopping between the family-run supermarket and the big chain supermarket, getting things from whereever it's cheaper. While at the family-run supermarket, I bought yellow plums (£2.18/kg) but not regular ones (same price) because I misrecalled the big chain supermarket's price for regular plums. At the big chain supermarket I realised that the regular plums there were actually more expensive (£3.33/kg), but rather than take the hit and pay an extra ~50p for the amount of plums I wanted, I just skipped buying them until next time.

The big chain supermarket had reduced the fancy hummus to £1.65/kg (30p/182g) and fancy coleslaw to £0.33/kg (10p/300g), so I took "Reduced to Clear" as an imperative, and bought all of it.

In total I have a rather impressive grocery haul, probably two weeks' worth of food for under £13. If only this was possible every fortnight.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2014, 11:56:43 AM by warfreak2 »

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #704 on: April 07, 2014, 12:04:45 PM »
Walked to the gym with my two toddlers instead of using the car. Reduced coffee consumption from a full cup to 2/3 cup. (It looks less sad if I use a small mug.)

Rural

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #705 on: April 07, 2014, 07:16:49 PM »

ETA: I almost forgot the coolest thing! Cut my own hair for the first time this morning (girl hair, no buzzer here). It looks pretty darn good! There's one little spot that's too long, so I'll trim it in the morning. It's just a straight bob, chin length, so it irks me to pay to have it cut, but I'd never gotten up the nerve to do it myself. It wasn't all that hard, just a pain doing the back.

This is awesome!!! I keep wanting to try cutting my own, but I'm scared :) it is thick and curly, so I don't think minor unevenness would be to obvious, but it's also the kind of hair where a good vs. bad haircut makes a HUGE difference in how it looks (at least to me) and I haven't been able to tell what they are doing differently when I get a "good" haircut. will have to pay closer attention next time and then maybe try it myself!


It took me a couple of months to get my nerve up, but I don't believe I'm going back now! Trimming up the long spot this morning worked out just fine, and I think it looks good ( mo one else has said a word, but then it was just a trim). I did time things so that I would be able to go and get a repair job done before I have to do a conference presentation next weekend, just in case. :-)

nikki

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #706 on: April 07, 2014, 07:24:59 PM »
Last night's dinner was leftover curry I wasn't thrilled to eat. I added in some fresh perilla leaves to make it more exciting, and it was... slightly. Rather than chucking it out and eating something else, I pushed through and finished my bowl. It wasn't great, and I rarely make myself eat things that aren't great, but I just couldn't bring myself to toss something made from the beautiful, giant organic spinach I got in my CSA box last week. Respecting the ingredients and whatnot.

New CSA box coming today and I still have some crown daisy and perilla leaves left! The crown daisy will be tossed into a "minute minestrone" soup I'm making for dinner.

No waste!

LibraTraci

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #707 on: April 07, 2014, 09:09:39 PM »
I very rarely have anything to post here because I'm a watcheverypenny type in everyday life.  But!

Today I had some dental surgery done and rather than go fill all the prescriptions, I'm doing a wait and see.  I don't tend to want painkillers in my system, especially not as a precautionary measure.  And I don't tend to want antibiotics, unless an infection actually develops.  (It's my body's damn *job* to fight infection, so I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for some pills to that effect. Teach *that* b!tch a lesson.)

Also, it is a good feeling to pay in full with a debit card and feel no sense of loss at all, since I already have ten times that amount stashed and earning interest. :)
« Last Edit: April 07, 2014, 09:17:04 PM by LibraTraci »

JamesL

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #708 on: April 07, 2014, 10:23:15 PM »
I listed a ton of stuff on Amazon, Ebay, and Craigslist. I sold $200 worth on Amazon today and $340 from Craigslist. I'm selling everything I haven't used in the last few months (laptop, textbooks, etc). It feels good to de-clutter. I'm also eating all of the food in my kitchen before I go shopping. I'm close to being down to beans and rice lol. I only have coffee in my fridge :)

LucyBIT

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #709 on: April 09, 2014, 10:56:49 AM »
I Mustached-up last night and instead of paying H&R Block $30 to file my state return for me (like I have done every year since I started doing my own taxes), I only filed my federal through them, then used CO's free online filing.

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #710 on: April 09, 2014, 03:30:33 PM »
Made a batch of whole wheat buns to go with our dinner. Ground the flour fresh in my grain mill. Yum! Hard boiled a dozen eggs for snacks for the kids. Made some quinoa to go with dinner. I accomplish so much more on the days when I just stay home!

Squirrel away

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #711 on: April 11, 2014, 07:56:34 AM »
No spend day apart from paying off a credit card. Only the mortgage debt left now.;)

Shopped around and found cheaper eggs and cheese at the bargain grocery. Normally pay about .20/egg, now .08! Since I eat a couple dozen eggs a week, this will really add up.

That seems like a lot of eggs! Lol.

BlueMR2

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #712 on: April 11, 2014, 09:16:23 AM »
Walked down to the store to pick up some brake caliper grease so I could regrease the sticking caliper pins on my car myself.  $12.29 for the big bottle of high quality synthetic grease that will likely last the rest of my life.  My labor (about an hour) to get the car back on the road.

Last time this happened, I took it in to the shop and got nailed for $170 (2 hours of labor @ $85/hr).

4alpacas

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #713 on: April 11, 2014, 11:08:02 AM »
No spend day apart from paying off a credit card. Only the mortgage debt left now.;)

Shopped around and found cheaper eggs and cheese at the bargain grocery. Normally pay about .20/egg, now .08! Since I eat a couple dozen eggs a week, this will really add up.

That seems like a lot of eggs! Lol.

I'm also a huge fan of eggs.  I eat about 3/day (at breakfast). 

tmac

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #714 on: April 11, 2014, 11:08:57 AM »
I'm not sure if this is frugal or just ridiculous...

My favorite compression shorts are 18 years old. They're still functional, but they do look their age. The logo has worn off. The fabric is now grey and pilly instead of black and sleek. In the last wash, some of the elastic waist-band stitching came out. So I hauled out my Craigslist sewing machine and figured out how to sew it while keeping it stretchy.

Here's to another 20 years!  :)

kimmarg

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #715 on: April 11, 2014, 04:41:21 PM »
Just declined to order take out with the folks from work in favor of my leftovers from home. Rather than $9 for thai take out I'll make my own tomorrow, as I already have most of the ingredients.

homehandymum

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #716 on: April 11, 2014, 07:08:23 PM »
Went to the op shop (second hand store) to see if they had any hawaiian shirts today (I'm collecting them for a quilt).  They didn't, but as I circled the shop I ended up with quite a pile of things in my arms anyway.

I put half of them back.

LibraTraci

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #717 on: April 11, 2014, 09:30:05 PM »
I'm not sure if this is frugal or just ridiculous...

My favorite compression shorts are 18 years old. . . I hauled out my Craigslist sewing machine and figured out how to sew it while keeping it stretchy.

I vote "awesome".  Workout clothes *should* look like they've had a workout!

southern granny

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #718 on: April 12, 2014, 08:21:41 PM »
I needed new pillowcases.  I found a white sheet (brand new) at a garage sale for $1.00.  I turned it into three pillowcases and they look great.  Of course, I used gas driving around to garage sales, but I would have done that anyway.

Argyle

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #719 on: April 13, 2014, 02:40:24 AM »
I got out of a meeting early and was wondering what I should do with the hour before it was time to pick up my child from school.  The meeting was near the school, and I was on my bike.  I thought of going to the Starbucks next to the school, buying some coffee, and working for an hour.  But this would break my record of a "no-spend" day.  So instead I biked 15 minutes home, made myself some coffee at home, worked briefly, and then biked over to my child's school.  No money spent.  Saved about $2.50.

reginna

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #720 on: April 13, 2014, 08:08:03 AM »
I got out of a meeting early and was wondering what I should do with the hour before it was time to pick up my child from school.  The meeting was near the school, and I was on my bike.  I thought of going to the Starbucks next to the school, buying some coffee, and working for an hour.  But this would break my record of a "no-spend" day.  So instead I biked 15 minutes home, made myself some coffee at home, worked briefly, and then biked over to my child's school.  No money spent.  Saved about $2.50.

Yep, winner!

Scooter

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #721 on: April 14, 2014, 05:50:42 AM »
This weekend the wife and I terminated our Verizon contract (without a penalty), started a small garden in the backyard, and signed up for Ting.

Squirrel away

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #722 on: April 16, 2014, 06:29:04 AM »
I've spent a lot today but it was all necessary stuff for us and the pets and the house.

I am putting some money into savings today though too.:)


NinetyFour

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #723 on: April 16, 2014, 07:42:29 AM »
Biked to work (habit).

Showered at work (habit).

Brought lunch from home (habit).

Found a dime and a penny on the street during my bike commute.  Bonus!!!

Oh--another bonus was that I didn't fall off my bike when I stopped to pick up the coins--like I did yesterday when I stopped to pick up a rusty nail.  I was clipped in and had a moment of extreme clutziness!!  Hmm--maybe the eleven cents today was my reward for doing the right thing yesterday of stopping to pick up a nail to possibly prevent a flat tire for another commuter.  Or maybe I was just lucky today.  And maybe I should stop typing now and hit "post".  Yep.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #724 on: April 16, 2014, 07:56:25 AM »
Walked to the gym (3/4 of a mile) instead of driving. Doesn't sound like much, but (a) it means having to try a different, probably harder, later exercise class and (b) I was accompanied by an almost-two-year-old in a stroller and a three-year-old on foot whining that the wind kept blowing off his hood and he wanted to be inside. Well, gotta practice badassity early.

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #725 on: April 16, 2014, 12:17:23 PM »
Eating out of the freezer -- leftover chill, made a crisp out of various berries, thawed a chicken that's cooking now in the crockpot, getting out stock to make a soup

FrenchyMustache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #726 on: April 16, 2014, 12:22:33 PM »
I just sold my old dusty PSP for 30€, and gave away and old bed/shittons of olds desk to someone who does some wood-working.
When i'll move out in few month, not having to carry pointless stuff will be quite nice.

begood

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #727 on: April 16, 2014, 12:47:28 PM »
I combined trips. I parked at the grocery store near the dry cleaners, walked down to the cleaners, then back to the grocery store. It's not my favorite store, but I figured I'd give it a try. :) Some things turned out to be more expensive there than at my regular store so I don't think I'll repeat that particular experiment, but hey, it worked today.

Our routine (pre-MMM) was to go out for dinner with friends on Wednesday nights, but instead I invited them to come to our house tonight. I hossed out my CrockPot and put together one of my favorite recipes from a few years ago using a Costco roasted chicken, a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing, a can of cream of chicken soup, and a cup of chicken broth. Total cost, including 1 lb. of baby carrots for a side: ~$12 to feed six people. My family of three habitually spent twice that at Panera, so to feed us and our buddies for that seems like a good thing.


reginna

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #728 on: April 16, 2014, 02:37:41 PM »
I combined trips. I parked at the grocery store near the dry cleaners, walked down to the cleaners, then back to the grocery store. It's not my favorite store, but I figured I'd give it a try. :) Some things turned out to be more expensive there than at my regular store so I don't think I'll repeat that particular experiment, but hey, it worked today.

Our routine (pre-MMM) was to go out for dinner with friends on Wednesday nights, but instead I invited them to come to our house tonight. I hossed out my CrockPot and put together one of my favorite recipes from a few years ago using a Costco roasted chicken, a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing, a can of cream of chicken soup, and a cup of chicken broth. Total cost, including 1 lb. of baby carrots for a side: ~$12 to feed six people. My family of three habitually spent twice that at Panera, so to feed us and our buddies for that seems like a good thing.

Great start janie!

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #729 on: April 17, 2014, 02:01:50 AM »
Sold old, unused books, made $147. Never done this before, so this was a big step for me!

Bbqmustache

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #730 on: April 17, 2014, 05:32:43 AM »
Ordered the first season of Game of Thrones on DVD from my local library, never seen it because we don't have TV service of any kind, but my better half is into English legends and history.

snareman1

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #731 on: April 17, 2014, 06:11:15 AM »
Bought a used Republic Wireless phone off ebay for $36 and will have it before end of sprint billing cycle, which means, I will save $40 each month effective immediately. FYI, in case you didn't know, Republic Wireless is now doing reactivations, so you can buy any used phone of theirs and connect it..amazing. Here is the phone I bought
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251505306728

I also made my own food for another day in a row!

LibrarIan

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #732 on: April 17, 2014, 07:47:15 AM »
I began teaching myself html and css using Codecademy.com. It's not saving or making me money today (unless you count not paying for classes), but perhaps it will come in handy in the future.

mbl

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #733 on: April 17, 2014, 08:26:14 AM »
Been selling things(that I've acquired for free) on e-bay for awhile now.   
Just purchased a pair of paddock boots that I needed to replace my worn ones.  OOP =$0. 
Have been using the proceeds from my e-bay sales to purchase necessary odds and ends that I would have spent anyway.  Have saved a few hundred doing this in the past 6 months.

My horse threw a shoe the other day.  Luckily the farrier was in the area so stopped by and was able to straighten it and reset it.   He didn't want to charge me but I gave him $20 to cover his gas.  Better than $50 for a new shoe, pad and reset.

Did a deal at CVS where  OOP =  $0.29 for $29.00 worth of things that we needed.

DH and I started cutting and splitting wood for next winter.  Burning wood as our primary source of heating fuel probably saves us over 500 gallons of propane/year.

fantabulous

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #734 on: April 17, 2014, 01:00:21 PM »
Silly and not really any savings, but put a smile on my face.

I did not pull up far enough in the parking space at work today, so I put my car in neutral and nudged it up a foot or so.

megalo

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #735 on: April 17, 2014, 02:19:01 PM »
I canceled my Netflix DVD subscription. Even if I let myself rent one movie a month from Amazon I should end up a couple dollars ahead...

NeverWasACornflakeGirl

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #736 on: April 18, 2014, 05:12:32 AM »
My daughter's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and she wanted a bike.  She doesn't know how to ride yet, and previous attempts to teach her on a smaller bike were unsuccessful.  So, instead of buying her a brand-new bike, we got a like-new bike from Craig's List for $25.  She got to pick it out, and she got a brand-new helmet and pads, so she was happy, and has been having a great time learning to ride it.  :-)

Squirrel away

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #737 on: April 18, 2014, 05:51:00 AM »
No spend day again. I opened up some high (well high-ish) interest bank accounts yesterday but they haven't been activated yet.

BlueMR2

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #738 on: April 18, 2014, 08:27:27 AM »
Made an appointment with a local independent mechanic instead of going to the dealer.

Cooling system failure repairs that I did as much diagnoses myself as possible until I ran out of tools and spares.  Passed that data on to the mechanic.  We're also going to roll in the 270k mile maintenance items (the parts that are beyond my capability, I'll still do part of it myself) at the same time (about 400 miles early, but that's "close enough").

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #739 on: April 19, 2014, 02:25:15 AM »
Made homemade pizza for dinner even though I was sorely tempted to order in. Thankfully, my pizza tasted better than takeout pizza usually does.

JT

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #740 on: April 19, 2014, 04:43:32 AM »
Stayed home, cooked (home made) pizzas, son had friends over, went for a walk around the neighbourhood, didn't wash hair (it's the weekend!)

Sphinx

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #741 on: April 19, 2014, 06:49:53 AM »
I puttered around in the garden a bit , and worked at adding a few containers ( old number size 10 tin cans, and Folgers plastic coffee containers ) to the cold frame.  I have some kale, and heirloom lettuce coming up now, and hope to have some salad greens soon.  I saved my own seeds for most of the plants, including heirloom tomatoes -- will donate a few to the local Horticultural Soc. Plant sale in May -- use recycled coffee cups for that -- collect them after Hort. meetings !  Trying to garden as frugally as possible here in Ontario !

tariskat

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #742 on: April 19, 2014, 09:24:10 AM »
Washed and vacuumed my car in preparation for posting it on Craigslist.

ASquared

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #743 on: April 19, 2014, 10:58:59 PM »
New plants in the garden! Not only is it fun to grow things - but it pays off major when you start harvesting!

N

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #744 on: April 19, 2014, 11:43:10 PM »
went swimming for free at indoor park district pool.

watched tv show online for free.

hubby grilled dinner of steaks and I made sides. delicious and way cheaper than going out, of course.

Squirrel away

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #745 on: April 20, 2014, 02:17:51 AM »
Making a dinner at home, veg stir fry, tofu, noodles and spring rolls. Not very traditional for Easter.;)

I did put a book on my Kindle but that was only £3.

1967mama

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #746 on: April 20, 2014, 02:29:33 AM »
Made a huge turkey dinner for extended family for Easter with:

-free turkey from Winco dug out of deep freeze ($0)
-10 lb of potatoes made into mashed potatoes ($3.50)
-stuffing made from scratch (old bread in freezer) and cooked in crockpot (50 cents -- bread ends saved for several months, onion, celery, spices, chicken bouillon and water)
-cranberry sauce made from bag of cranberries from freezer ($2)
-gravy (5 cents -- 3/4 cup of flour -- used juices from cooking)
-others brought more sides and also snacks for beforehand, and dessert!

Pretty cheap for me, even though I was hosting 16 people.  Everyone felt like they contributed and the meal was a great success for very little $$$ out-of-pocket for me.

dragoncar

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #747 on: April 23, 2014, 10:44:37 AM »
I'm not sure if I should be proud of this or ashamed:

There's a buffet place around here that sells food for $7.25/lb -- pricey, right?  But in the mornings they have crispy bacon.  First, I love me some crispy bacon.  Second, crispy bacon is really light.  So I got a few days worth of bacon for a couple bucks.  The best I can do if I make it at home is $3/lb for Trader Joe's ends-and-pieces.  Factoring in weight loss from cooking, I think I may be outright stealing from this buffet.  Plus, I really hate cooking the bacon - so messy.

On the other hand, I don't get to keep the bacon grease.  But I always end up with far more of that than I can use anyways.

payitoff

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #748 on: April 23, 2014, 11:01:04 AM »
kids closet is getting full and was gonna buy some drawers to add, i sort them all out yesterday and saw lots of outgrown clothes still in there, freed up about 20% of closet space!

re-used old curtains to replace our another old worn out curtain, i used to change curtains to change the look of the room quite a lot before, thanks to my mustachian mom i didnt realize she kept it in her closet, its been 6 years since i took down that curtain and replaced it with a different color.  it still looks new and fits perfect in our bedroom now. 

I used to wonder why she keeps everything, now i know :)   


peppermint

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Re: What small things did you do TODAY to save money?
« Reply #749 on: April 23, 2014, 05:50:20 PM »
Made a quiche and vegetarian tacos. Used up lots of random things in the fridge and have lots of leftovers.