What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[Well Respected Man]

This was an accidental one... complained to a food blogger I like, because they posted a recipe that was basically a "buy my spices" feeling money grab (like, it was pretty much 'shave brussel sprouts, then add my spice mix! Total BS and not their usual level of quality). They apologized, modified the recipe, and are sending me a pack of samples of all their spices! =o I made sure to thank them and tell them their usual stuff is wonderful. I still feel a little guilty for moaning though, haha.

The first hit is always free :-) It's probably pure Doritos spice, which will keep you coming back for more.

[I'm a red panda]

Bought hair gel at target. Stacked cartwheel, a coupon and a coupon app and after tax I made 1 cent :). If I didn't need debit card swipes I could have used my red card too.


Also used a coupon deal plus cartwheel plus Giftcards rebate to get 4 bottles of the scrubbing bubbles cleaner for about the  cost of 1 bottle.

[Linea_Norway]

This was an accidental one... complained to a food blogger I like, because they posted a recipe that was basically a "buy my spices" feeling money grab (like, it was pretty much 'shave brussel sprouts, then add my spice mix! Total BS and not their usual level of quality). They apologized, modified the recipe, and are sending me a pack of samples of all their spices! =o I made sure to thank them and tell them their usual stuff is wonderful. I still feel a little guilty for moaning though, haha.

This was a nice reaction from them.
We sometimes buy good quality apple juice from a small producer. Once there was a lot of residue in the pack, so much that we complained to the producer about it. For our complaint, we were also rewarded by getting 5 new packs of juice with different tastes from them, delivered on the door step. Complaining with a good cause sometimes pays off. Producers and bloggers care about their reputation.

[Vicster]

Cancelled Audible subscription and signed up for free audio books from library
Cancelled YNAB
Going to have leftovers for lunch and dinner
Will do some more stuff but only 10 am here.

[tc_traveler86]

Great to read about everyone's small victories.
My 'pantry-anarchy' continues- throw together recipes trying to use up as much as possible before moving cross country.
Made meat sauce and only had to buy a small tin of crushed tomatoes!  Used up 2 cans of tomato soup, random freezer veggies, shredded cheese, 1/2 lb of frozen ground beef, pasta, and some excess onion and carrot.  Based on a suggestion I think heard here, I shredded the carrot for extra volume in the sauce.  I was home, so I let it simmer all afternoon to create a beautiful rich sauce!
Semi- saving/ semi spending money- bought a frozen pizza while at the store.  In my defense, I plan on pulling it out when SO and I are too tired from packing to cook, and we have the impulse to order in. (Being organized to have a freezer pizza on hand has helped stopped us from the dreaded "I dunno what to do about dinner, lets eat out" many times before.)

[golden1]

Let's see -  in the past week I bargained down my $20 a month subscription to the NYT to $7.50 a month, I stopped my encroaching habit of buying coffees out in the morning, I made a very delicious and economical chicken thigh dinner which should last 3-4 meals. 

[misshathaway]

I have a steam mop that works fine except for one problem. The washable pads are held on to the bottom with velcro and the velcro stopped sticking after about 6 months. So every time I lifted the mop up to reposition I had to manually position it on the pad again.

I thought about adding ties but the top of the mop is dome-shaped so they would not stay on. Finally settled on a hole on each side of the pad and a bungie cord that hooks in to one hole, goes around the handle, and hooks in to the other hole on the other side of the pad. Had the bungie cord already so $0 fix vs. $60 replacement mop.

[rebecca527]

Husband is out of town for work, and sometimes when he's away I like to get myself some sort of takeout that he doesn't like.

Instead, I'm eating up all the leftovers in the fridge and freezer. Yay me.

[PJ]

I have a steam mop that works fine except for one problem. The washable pads are held on to the bottom with velcro and the velcro stopped sticking after about 6 months. So every time I lifted the mop up to reposition I had to manually position it on the pad again.

I thought about adding ties but the top of the mop is dome-shaped so they would not stay on. Finally settled on a hole on each side of the pad and a bungie cord that hooks in to one hole, goes around the handle, and hooks in to the other hole on the other side of the pad. Had the bungie cord already so $0 fix vs. $60 replacement mop.

I love my steam mop, and it suddenly stopped working the other day.  I'm going to try to figure out if I can get it fixed, because I do not want to buy another one!

[jengod]

* Watered seedlings with water from our rain barrel.

* Ate a homegrown tangerine. Used homegrown potato, chard and thyme in a pot of minestrone soup. Made "potato skins" with the peelings to reduce food waste.

* Made and froze six batches of baby food, for a savings of at least $6.

* Bought a commission-free ETF, saving another $6.

[Linea_Norway]

Bringing leftover salad from yesterday's dinner to the office for lunch.

[frooglepoodle]

I have a couple gift cards I am unlikely to use. I did some research and decided to list them on Raise.com instead of selling to Cardpool since the payout will be a few dollars higher.

I had my husband stop at the grocery store on his way home from work last night to pick up a few things. He is way better than I am at going in and getting just what's on the list, so we saved the money I would have spent on an extra item or two, and the gas it would have taken me to drive there and back.

[engineermom21]

* Did a mystery shop while getting groceries.  I had to stop there anyway, and the extra money off my grocery bill doesn't hurt.

* Asked the library to purchase a book I want to read rather than buying it off Amazon.  9 times out of 10 they end up purchasing it, so this helps me and whoever else also gets to read it now that it's part of their collection.

* Bought birthday and wedding cards at the dollar tree.  They are just as nice as ones I can buy at any other store, and while I hate the thought of wasting money on a card, some occasions still call for one, so paying $0.50 is better than the $5 to $7 they all seem to be anywhere else.

[LindseyC]

I received some free coupons in the mail I sent away for. They are for products I don't buy a ton of but come in very handy when I am having guests over or going to a movie/games night.

For two minutes worth of effort I get for free (no purchase required) a case of 12 or 15 Pepsi brand cans of pop.  A 2 litre bottle of pop.  A bag each of Tostitos, Lays chips and a third variety of chips and one bottle of either juice or ice tea.

At the same time while in the grocery store the other day I collected a handful of different coupons for products I do buy. They are having a promotion for three charities, so not only do I save money I help some charities.

[Bracken_Joy]

-Asked for a printer on my Buy Nothing Project group. Surpassed my expectations- older lady gave me a printer that was too high tech for her SIL and her, since it's wifi only. Copier/scanner/fax and prints up to 11"x17" which is awesome for DH's work. Full ink, too. Looked it up- it's over $200 new.

-Found what I can only assume was mis-labeled corned beef. All the other ones in the pile were $4.39/lb, and this one was $3.49/lb. Same product # and label and everything. Thanks Costco!

-Thawing steak from our 1/4 cow for my birthday dinner tonight. Will use my free starbucks birthday reward this weekend when we go hiking. Good birthday in my book!

-Switched to a knock of version of the bread we like... used to buy Dave's good seed but costco keeps spiking the price (it's like $8 for 2 loaves now!). A different local bread company has something they call "great seed" (lol), and it's only $4.99 for 2 loaves at costco right now.

[G-dog]

-Asked for a printer on my Buy Nothing Project group. Surpassed my expectations- older lady gave me a printer that was too high tech for her SIL and her, since it's wifi only. Copier/scanner/fax and prints up to 11"x17" which is awesome for DH's work. Full ink, too. Looked it up- it's over $200 new.

-Found what I can only assume was mis-labeled corned beef. All the other ones in the pile were $4.39/lb, and this one was $3.49/lb. Same product # and label and everything. Thanks Costco!

-Thawing steak from our 1/4 cow for my birthday dinner tonight. Will use my free starbucks birthday reward this weekend when we go hiking. Good birthday in my book!

-Switched to a knock of version of the bread we like... used to buy Dave's good seed but costco keeps spiking the price (it's like $8 for 2 loaves now!). A different local bread company has something they call "great seed" (lol), and it's only $4.99 for 2 loaves at costco right now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Bracken Joy - great finds!

[Epor]

-Thawing steak from our 1/4 cow for my birthday dinner tonight. Will use my free starbucks birthday reward this weekend when we go hiking. Good birthday in my book!

Happy Birthday! Yes, steak dinner sounds awesome!

[Dollar Slice]

Doing a 'Buy Nothing Day' for International Women's Day. I forgot to pack a lunch and nearly decided to cave and buy a salad (I have a gift card so I was rationalizing that it's not *really* spending money...) but I managed to cobble together some salami, cheese, crackers and fruit and throw it in a bag on the way out the door this morning.

[Thinkum]

Fixed a portion of the roof gutters by replacing failed anchor nails with screws.

I suppose I saved a bit of loot by riding my bicycle to the home center rather than driving the short distance.

[Bracken_Joy]

Not me, but husband. DH sweetly bought a bota box for my birthday... but didn't notice that it rang up at $28 =o instead of the $18 it should have been. When I saw it on Mint, I mentioned it, so he went and did a price fix. Would have been easy to not go back (right next to the high school, and school was just getting out!) but he went and took care of it =)

[mustachepungoeshere]

Not me, but husband. DH sweetly bought a bota box for my birthday... but didn't notice that it rang up at $28 =o instead of the $18 it should have been. When I saw it on Mint, I mentioned it, so he went and did a price fix. Would have been easy to not go back (right next to the high school, and school was just getting out!) but he went and took care of it =)

Town planning win. :D

I bought a Brita water jug on sale yesterday.

We already have one but my husband and I have given up juice, alcohol, soft drink, everything but water and milk, so our jug wasn't keeping up with demand. Now we'll have two on the go.

Saved $7 on the jug plus all the money we're saving by not drinking rubbish.

[alewpanda]

One of our leashes was just starting the unraveling phase on the handle stitching.  I used a bright blue thread to reinforce the handle portion.  I have one "puller", so I also stitched a line of the same bright blue thread just above the hook on the other end.  I can lengthen the life of my stitches even more if I remember to hook the older, better behaved dog to the already weakened leash...rather than the 3 year old Lab.....

Mended the hem of the husbands dress pants. 

Found husband a replacement polo at goodwill for 3.50!

Have chosen to do without several more processed, often expensive foodstuffs to save on money, space, health and waste packaging.  Most were "healthier" versions of a processed convenience food. Our budget has already shown a drop in costs!

Sold a book on ebay.

Arranged to take out a teen in my life during BOGO cones time at Culvers ;)

Will get a free dinner through my work on Sunday night.

Have plans to trade in some semi-valuable gold jewelry items for some cash.  They have only a small amount of sentimental value, but never get worn or even looked at.  The people matter -- the rings don't.

Grilled cheese for dinner after getting home late!

[I'm a red panda]

Returned store bought baby clothes. Despite them being adorable, and more than 50% off, they still cost way more than the used clothes I bought, and which I likely have way more than enough of.  If I don't have enough, I can find a new deal closer to when I actually need them and know what size/season I need better.

[halftimer]

Called insurance company to ask a few questions including what the new phrase on our car renewal meant exactly ("eco credit") and learned it has to do with driving less than 10,000 km per year and 15 km commute each day. I told them those numbers are both accurate, although I don't actually use it to commute, we only drive evenings or weekends. Apparently those were magic words and our premium went down $120!
Then I finally checked a gift card that had been languishing in a drawer for 2 years that I thought was used and could be cut up to be a duct tape holder.  Nope - it's $100. How did that go unspent for so long?!

[horsepoor]

Brought food from home on a work trip this week.

Reviewed the 5% cash back categories on my credit cards and found that I should be buying gas with my Discover card for the rest of the month, and if I decide to remodel the bathroom, will do so after April 1 when home improvement stores are in the 5% category.

[NV Teacher]

Took the school van to go to a training that was held at the district office.  I hate driving the school van but it saved me half a tank of gas.

[Linea_Norway]

Bringing a left over prition of food to work for lunch again. Not sure if it's saving anything, though, because I didn't reducev the amount of bread I bring. But as it is a typical lunch-size portion, I'm nit sure when we would eat it at home.

Something that would help: When buying bread, I usually cut it into 2 daily portions and slice off 2 slices. Then I store all the daily portions in the freezer and 6 slices go together in a bag. What would help is cut all the bread into slices to make more precise cuts and being able to vary the amount of slices that I defrost.

[alewpanda]

Brought lunch.  Drinking water from my water bottle.  Drank coffee at home.  Got paid for a simple babysitting gig. 

[Scortius]

My car's front blinker is busted.  Instead of bringing it in, I ordered a replacement part online for $20.  Now to see if I can install it myself...

[SEAK]

Re-booked my rental car and cancelled my previous reservation. I've been doing this all month. The price has dropped  from $220.92 to $203. Curious to see if the price will continue to drop before our trip starts in two weeks.

[SEAK]

Yesterday I got a $100 check from my mom for my birthday. Today I deposited it in the bank and then bought $100 of VTSMX in our SEP IRA. Loving that I just reduced my 2016 taxable income.

[lizzzi]

Looked at fancy-ass baskets online--want some for storage in my new, unfurnished apartment. Hmmm, $60, $80, $129...but attractive. Went to Aldi's and grocery-shopped for the week, then went to the Dollar Store next door to Aldi and bought a great, big, artisanal-looking basket for $10. Looks great--like something I would have picked up on an expedition to some tribal outback place. Filled it up with household linens, thus freeing up shelf space for other things. Done.

[HappierAtHome]

Picked up free disposable nursing pads via my Buy Nothing group. I plan on primarily using cloth nursing pads, but I know there'll be times when disposable is a better option, and it's nice not to have to pay for them :-)

[I'm a red panda]

Picked up free disposable nursing pads via my Buy Nothing group. I plan on primarily using cloth nursing pads, but I know there'll be times when disposable is a better option, and it's nice not to have to pay for them :-)

Too funny- I picked up cloth ones from my buy nothing group yesterday! Apparently never used.  I have some disposables left from last pregnancy when I needed th before I had a chance to find cloth, so I'm also set for both types.

[HappierAtHome]

Picked up free disposable nursing pads via my Buy Nothing group. I plan on primarily using cloth nursing pads, but I know there'll be times when disposable is a better option, and it's nice not to have to pay for them :-)

Too funny- I picked up cloth ones from my buy nothing group yesterday! Apparently never used.  I have some disposables left from last pregnancy when I needed th before I had a chance to find cloth, so I'm also set for both types.

Great minds ;-)

[marielle]

Going to install new rotors and pads today myself (with bf's assistance) because a shop quoted me $420 JUST FOR LABOR for 4 rotors+pads. And $77 EACH ROTOR. I got the whole set (rotors + pads) for less than what I would have paid for their shitty rotors, and I got a nice performance set too because it wasn't too much more. They may save money due to better heat dissipation and less warping issues, who knows.

Going to do this in a parking lot too. No excuses! If you're hesitating to do your own repairs, do the easy ones like brakes/rotors! I almost took the lazy way out until I realized how stupid that would have been.

Money saved today: $470+ even after buying a couple tools and lubricants needed for the job

[Trifle]

Going to install new rotors and pads today myself (with bf's assistance) because a shop quoted me $420 JUST FOR LABOR for 4 rotors+pads. And $77 EACH ROTOR. I got the whole set (rotors + pads) for less than what I would have paid for their shitty rotors, and I got a nice performance set too because it wasn't too much more. They may save money due to better heat dissipation and less warping issues, who knows.

Going to do this in a parking lot too. No excuses! If you're hesitating to do your own repairs, do the easy ones like brakes/rotors! I almost took the lazy way out until I realized how stupid that would have been.

Money saved today: $470+ even after buying a couple tools and lubricants needed for the job

You rock!

[Well Respected Man]

Way to go marielle!

Today I built a CD ladder with cash that is slated for college expenses. The rate topped out at 1.55% for the 2-year CD, which is better than the 0% it has been earning for too long. A thread on this forum kicked my ass into gear on that one. Also made my 2016 and 2017 tIRA contributions. Just need to remember to put that into mutual funds once the transaction settles.

[10dollarsatatime]

Was invited to lunch by a friend.  We went out to eat last night.  I agreed to join him, but I made a salad and brought it with me to the sandwich place.  Social interaction and homemade food FTW!

[1967mama]

So badly wanted to order in dinner after a busy day, but instead threw the chicken that's been defrosting in the oven, cooked up some mashed potatoes and steamed some broccoli and carrots.

Husband was going to go to the grocery store tomorrow to pick up an easy dinner for when his parents come to visit. Instead, I made a chili today and threw it all in the crockpot. Will pull it out of the fridge and heat on low all day. Also have some refrigerator bread to make into a crusty loaf of bread. Daughter is planning to make a banana cake with all the black bananas we have.

Shopped for a few things at the dollar store.

[Trifle]

Forgot to take my lunch to work one day this week, and I resisted the temptation to buy lunch.  (I remembered MMM's funny post about "lift up your shirt and look down folks, and you'll see that your next meal is pre-installed", and I remembered how tough Linda from Norway was last week when she had no food at work.) 

Today I'm going to use up a ton of aging stuff in the fridge to pre-make a huge pot of stew and freeze it, so I'll have lunches for a week.   

[Poundwise]

The big accomplishment of the week was replacing my Macbook display, which cracked when I tripped over the power cord. It was still sort of usable, but extremely annoying to have a 4 inch spider web shaped black area at the top, plus flickering lines running all across and down the screen.  Getting it fixed at a local store would have been something like $650, but I ordered a used display online for $200 which looks like new.  I had some setbacks installing it, as I didn't have the right size Pentalobe screwdriver (but found a tiny flathead which worked in most of the screws) and then one screw wouldn't come out so I had to go to the Apple Store where they "loosened" it for me as a courtesy... but I had to pay $3 for mall parking.

Then I had to find a window of time where my kids wouldn't disturb me while I took my laptop apart. But thanks to iFixit's excellent instructions, I now have crystal clear window to the world again!

[horsepoor]

I was looking at buying a fancy handmade kombucha crock from Etsy, but they couldn't do the glaze color I wanted.  Yesterday I found 2 gallon glass beverage dispensers at TJMaxx for $16.99.  I ended up buying two, which will actually improve my kombucha-making process over having a single crock.  Still need to buy stainless spigots to replace the cheap ones on the dispensers, but all in, it will still be almost $200 less than the Etsy crock, and more versatile.

Completed a $4 mail-in rebate this morning.

Planning to plant lots of veggie seeds in the garden this weekend, and clean up the front yard landscaping (not that I every hire someone else to do this).

[Orvell]

Cut my own hair this morning! :)

[Alfred J Quack]

Bought a 2nd hand kiddie seat for my bike so that our youngest son with DS can have some fun and strengthen his muscles at the same time. Saved about 45,-.

Also made a small detour on the way back, bought supplies at the big Chinese grocerer which is a lot cheaper than the smaller one in our city. We stocked up on the basics so no splurges :)

[Linea_Norway]

Staying at our mountain cabin. There is no shop anymore, so no temptations. We brought 30 liters of water from home. That is all the water we'll use the whole weekend with 2 people.

[Vanguards and Lentils]

The big accomplishment of the week was replacing my Macbook display, which cracked when I tripped over the power cord. It was still sort of usable, but extremely annoying to have a 4 inch spider web shaped black area at the top, plus flickering lines running all across and down the screen.  Getting it fixed at a local store would have been something like $650, but I ordered a used display online for $200 which looks like new.  I had some setbacks installing it, as I didn't have the right size Pentalobe screwdriver (but found a tiny flathead which worked in most of the screws) and then one screw wouldn't come out so I had to go to the Apple Store where they "loosened" it for me as a courtesy... but I had to pay $3 for mall parking.

Then I had to find a window of time where my kids wouldn't disturb me while I took my laptop apart. But thanks to iFixit's excellent instructions, I now have crystal clear window to the world again!

This is amazing! Broken electronic devices scare the heck out of me, but I will have to try iFixit the next time something breaks.

[PJ]

Forgot to take my lunch to work one day this week, and I resisted the temptation to buy lunch.  (I remembered MMM's funny post about "lift up your shirt and look down folks, and you'll see that your next meal is pre-installed", and I remembered how tough Linda from Norway was last week when she had no food at work.) 

Today I'm going to use up a ton of aging stuff in the fridge to pre-make a huge pot of stew and freeze it, so I'll have lunches for a week.   

I love it when we inspire each other around here, and I think it's great that you gave credit where credit is due!  I posted this elsewhere last night, but yesterday I realized that because my bills and spending have been lower so far this month than I'd expected (I only get paid once a month and I'm halfway between pay periods) that my budget isn't as tight as I'd thought it was.  But, I'm working on paying down debt.  So, inspired by a case study thread started by dashh, instead of loosening my budget, I went ahead and made an extra payment on my CC, which will reduce the interest slightly on my next bill.

The big accomplishment of the week was replacing my Macbook display, which cracked when I tripped over the power cord. It was still sort of usable, but extremely annoying to have a 4 inch spider web shaped black area at the top, plus flickering lines running all across and down the screen.  Getting it fixed at a local store would have been something like $650, but I ordered a used display online for $200 which looks like new.  I had some setbacks installing it, as I didn't have the right size Pentalobe screwdriver (but found a tiny flathead which worked in most of the screws) and then one screw wouldn't come out so I had to go to the Apple Store where they "loosened" it for me as a courtesy... but I had to pay $3 for mall parking.

Then I had to find a window of time where my kids wouldn't disturb me while I took my laptop apart. But thanks to iFixit's excellent instructions, I now have crystal clear window to the world again!

This is amazing! Broken electronic devices scare the heck out of me, but I will have to try iFixit the next time something breaks. 

I am really hard on my laptops and phones, and have broken screens more than once.  For the phone, one time I paid $100 to get it replaced.  The second phone (my current one) the crack wasn't as big, and I have one of those plastic film screen protectors on it (which is helping to stop the crack from getting worse) so I have just kept using it.

But last year I dropped my fairly new work laptop and cracked the screen really badly.  I took the "Geek Squad" guy's word for it that it wouldn't be worth fixing due to the cost, and got my work to buy another one.  But I felt really bad about the church having to spend that money.  If anything like that happens again, I'm going to look into fixing it myself!

[alewpanda]

I didn't want to cook last night.  It was Friday, a busy day for both of us, but I  still managed some shrimp from frozen and some roasted sweet potatoes.  Although we did crack and use a coupon for buy one, get one free sundaes from the Culvers down the road...

Have stayed home so far today.  Saturdays are perfect for hibernating...

Was given some raw milk, veggies and fresh ginger from a friend who was going out of town.  So we have tried out ginger tea, and have lots of supplies for salads and milk for hot cocoa later!

Sold some scrap gold yesterday and deposited 80.00.  Also got our small tax return (a first for a couple years...diddn't expect it)  in our account and transferred it into savings.

[I'm a red panda]

Our grocery store has strawberries on sale that (even after hulled) cost less than I pay for frozen ones (I have a smoothie for dinner about 4 nights a week).

Bought 8 pounds of them, sliced them up and froze them for smoothies.