What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[ElleFiji]

Still mostly choosing $3 transit over $7

[mustachepungoeshere]

... I foresee tacos and nachos in the near future.

Mmmmmm, tacos.

I've been putting off cooking a big batch of taco mince for the freezer but you've just inspired me.

[11ducks]

-Cancelled my fee=bearing credit card, which I have been meaning to do for ages - had the $59 annual fee refunded
-Downloaded and printed an email for 5% off the holiday house we are staying at next week
-Talked myself out of $15 takeaway on Monday night, by stopping  at the grocery store for something else I wanted instead (gnocchi - $3)
- Researching free things to do in the city we are visiting next week.
- Batch cooked  meals for work this week - lentil potato curry!

Late addition
-Read through this thread, and was inspired to go freeze a batch of soup I had made (and forgotten about) in the back of my fridge - made 7x lunch serves that i'll take to work over the next few weeks.

[HappierAtHome]

Was late to my mums' group meeting, which meant I missed out on picking up a coffee and/or donut - so that's up to $9 saved!

Made a big batch of bolognese in the slow cooker, stretching the meat with veges.

Going to soak beans overnight tonight!

[Trifele]

I've been doing a bit of online window shopping over the past couple of weeks, looking at things for my balcony. Lanterns, boho prints, glassware, etc.

Spring is here, and I want it to be beautiful when friends come over for dinner, drinks, barbecues, etc.

Instead of spending money, I got out there and cleaned it. Scrubbed the balcony railings, cleaned the barbecue, threw a few things out, wiped down the furniture.

I went through my stash of empty jars and found a few that will be perfect with 6mm Ikea tea lights, and I'll string up my copper wire fairy lights.

It was a great example of the importance of identifying the trigger behind the desire to spend.

+1000.   This is so, so true. I've noticed when I get the urge to buy something, a very effective way to deal with it is to clean and organize what I already have.  9 times out of 10, the itch is gone as I appreciate what I already have. 

[Hula Hoop]

Scored some free furniture from a friend.  We're going to get rid of a larger item but the two smaller IKEA shelves are perfect for storing some things around the house.

Researched home insurance for when we refinance our mortgage later this month and found a plan that's significantly cheaper.

Decided to bring a coffee maker that we never use into the office to avoid my daily bought coffee habit.  Should save me around Euro 30 a month minus buying coffee and milk to bring to the office.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Forgot this one from a couple of days ago.

I don't wear lipstick. Never bought it, and the few times it's been applied professionally, I've wiped it off at the first opportunity and reverted to tinted lip balm.

I found out that my preferred lip balm brand was releasing a new colour and I was a bit interested in buying it. We're talking $3.20 for something that will last four or five months.

I went to three different shops and couldn't find it. Looked online and it was $12!

Finally found it at my local pharmacy and, rather than buy one for myself (I decided I didn't need it after all), I bought five and listed them on eBay for a profit.

Made $15.

[kaypinkHH]

Went to the pharmacy to pick up some needed vitamins (generic brand for the win), and decided to quickly check if they had tinfoil (as we needed some, had agreed that if it was too expensive we would wait until groceries later this week to pick it up)...It was significantly ON SALE!!! I got way too excited about that.

[marty998]

Forgot this one from a couple of days ago.

I don't wear lipstick. Never bought it, and the few times it's been applied professionally, I've wiped it off at the first opportunity and reverted to tinted lip balm.

I found out that my preferred lip balm brand was releasing a new colour and I was a bit interested in buying it. We're talking $3.20 for something that will last four or five months.

I went to three different shops and couldn't find it. Looked online and it was $12!

Finally found it at my local pharmacy and, rather than buy one for myself (I decided I didn't need it after all), I bought five and listed them on eBay for a profit.

Made $15.

So clever, well done my friend. Why didn't you buy 50? :D

[Sixof1]

Coworkers were going to an expensive sporting event today. I really wanted to go. But I t meant using PTO and spending at the least $40. So I passed

Shopped on thrive market. This is technically spending but that have good prices on things we use regularly (i price compared before buying- they can be sneaky with listing the original and then the "thrive market" discount price)

Will make tomato sauce with all the tomatoes that are starting to go bad from the garden

I'm buying a new to me car (debated about how mustashian this is but that's another post...), instead of getting my old car detailed before selling (for hopefully a better price) I'm going to just clean the hell out of it myself with cleaning supplies I have around.

[jengod]

* parked on the street instead of in the paid lot for my daughter's doctor appointment

* picked up a penny

* took the cargo bike instead of the car to go grocery shopping

* picked up replacement bulbs for our can lights at an estate sale for <$1 each.

[Raenia]

My HSA finally verified all my information, so last night I was able to set up the deposit and set it to auto-invest.  That's a big one off my to-do list for the year, finally.

[Poundwise]

My preschooler spilled a basket of berries in the dirt in our yard.  Though initially I thought I'd just throw them away, we picked them up and washed them many many times. She is eating them now.

[horsepoor]

Turned off the A/C this morning; hopefully it won't be on again until next summer.  It would have been off sooner, but the smoke pollution has been making fans and open windows at night a no-go the last couple weeks.

Watching free horse training videos on YouTube.  I found a whole series that previously never came up in my searches, and I'm mining that seam it for all it's got.

Bought a gallon jug of rice vinegar and 1/2 gallon of sesame oil at the Asian market yesterday.  WAY cheaper by the ounce than smaller containers at the grocery store.

Coworker brought me feed store coupons good for $20; I have her trained well (and have given her homemade chile paste and heirloom tomatoes)

[Bracken_Joy]

Turned off climate control completely. It's getting cool at night and a perfect 72F during the day, so we just open up a lot =) Hope the wildfire smoke stays at bay and we can keep doing this! Last month was insane for electric bill.

Drinking through a coffee we really didn't like much that I tried from costco. It was cheap, so we're just trucking through. Waste not, want not. (OTOH, kinda using it as an excuse to drink lots of coffee... oh well!)

Going to go buy more cheap canning grade tomatoes and make even more salsa today. My goal is to put up enough for the year. Given how much we eat mexican, this is a LOT of salsa. Like, a pint a week of red and green each. I'm about 1/3-1/2 the way there for red, 1/4 the way there for green. =o

[Hadilly]

Mustachepungoeshere: I borrowed your idea and chopped up the rest of the chicken to freeze. Highly recommend tacos!

Today I did a heath apt which gives us $280 a year in health care bonus $. Coincidentally my husband did his too at the same time so we had a quasi medical date, ended by biking to free breakfast at his work. Not bad!

And, this is SO non mustachian, but I only did Botox today instead of Botox and filler. Saved several hundred dollars. <ducks the face punches>

[Dollar Slice]

And, this is SO non mustachian, but I only did Botox today instead of Botox and filler. Saved several hundred dollars. <ducks the face punches>

How many days did the doctor say you have to avoid facepunches after the procedure? :-P

[FrugalAussie]

More frugal food and parental pride: My daughter found bargain pre-made pasta at the supermarket and made us dinner. Cost of tortellini down from $7 (I can't believe people pay that!) to $1.25. Actually, we don't eat much of this type of food and was reminded why, it's very bland BUT it's great that DD is hunting for bargains.  As most of the ingredients for the sauce were from the garden, added to a can of tomatoes, she also learned to cook a healthy frugal meal.  Win/win.

SO and I made 15 jars of marmalade last night, made with gifted Seville oranges.  YUM! We doubled the recipe so we'd have jars to give away as we like to share.  Total cost, about $5.

[Rural]

Refrained from full frankness in a meeting. :)

[KelStache]

Rural that made me laugh, awesome!

I usually walk home for lunch, but I was having a busy day at work, and instead of grabbing takeout I asked husband if he could drop me off a sandwich. I was lucky it was his day off :)

[Cressida]

Refrained from full frankness in a meeting. :)

haha, I hear you.

[Raenia]

Last night I persuaded my guests to let me cook dinner instead of ordering out.  Double win, since I'm pretty sure my from scratch potato gnocchi are way better than take-out Chinese.

[FrugalAussie]

More frugalness today:  Cleaned out our bookcase and shared outgoing books at a local community book exchange so collected some books that I'll store away for holiday reading. Once read the books can then be left behind. One book I'm particularly thrilled to receive is The monk who sold his Ferrari.

I made a resolution at the start of this year not to buy any books, so far I've managed very well by ordering books (and DVDs) from my library. I've stored some more books in the boot of the car so have them on hand next time I come across another book exchange.

[Thinkum]

We walked to the market, about 2 miles RT. The market is literally right across from a really good local fast food place. Walking up to the market we smelled glorious bacon and we had not had breakfast. Well, we stayed resolved and did our shopping and walked home. So saved the small amount on gas, got exercise and saved money and calories by eating at home!

[Bracken_Joy]

Wanted to give thank you cards to the vets and staff that helped with our dog's medical crisis before she passed this week. Still had some nice, all purpose thank you cards from our wedding, so we used those. Also printed some photos at a walgreens to include. Did a search online and they had a 40% coupon code, so it was like $2-3 to print 20 pictures.

Using up potatoes since they're starting to soften, and some to sprout.

Opened up overnight and got the house nice and cold. Hopefully that'll help carry us through the next couple smokey days when we can't open up.

[Bracken_Joy]

Did the vet and staff enjoy their cards with included potatoes?

Hahaha. Line breaks, they're important ;) Well, my dog occasionally would tuck all her limbs in and resemble a potato, so I suppose that's not too far off.

If I had more energy/time/inclination I would have baked them something to take in. Didn't happen though.

[Imma]

After a long day of DIY, my boyfriend wanted to go buy a frozen pizza at the supermarket. I convinced him to eat soup and vegetarian meatballs from the freezer. It did help that it suddenly started raining really badly and we don't have a car. Afterwards he actually complimented me about how nice the spicy lentil soup was.

We also considered buying hollow plinths to hide a bunch of cables behind, but in the end we decided the cables weren't that visible beneath a large piece of furniture and will use ty-raps to tie them together instead.

We are also re-using an old set of speakers as night stands (boyfriend is a musician, so that's a nice personal touch in our interior as well).

[jengod]

* Cloth diapered the baby, dressed her in hand-me-downs and fed her defrosted homemade carrot puree.

* The thrift store was kind today: three pieces of Revereware (1 qt combination pan w lid, 3 qt saucepan, 1 c measuring cup), an electric meat grinder/sausage stuffer, two colorful dresses for our upcoming trip, an unopened box set of Little House books I will save for a forthcoming children's birthday party, and a vintage eyeglasses case to replace my decade-old dinged-up glasses case.

[4alpacas]

Did the vet and staff enjoy their cards with included potatoes?

Hahaha. Line breaks, they're important ;) Well, my dog occasionally would tuck all her limbs in and resemble a potato, so I suppose that's not too far off.

If I had more energy/time/inclination I would have baked them something to take in. Didn't happen though.

I've found baked goods are always welcomed.  I've never gifted baked potatoes though. 

I am open to any forum members who would like to give me baked potatoes.  I love free food.  And prepared free food is even better.  I <3 leftovers.

[horsepoor]

Did the vet and staff enjoy their cards with included potatoes?

Hahaha. Line breaks, they're important ;) Well, my dog occasionally would tuck all her limbs in and resemble a potato, so I suppose that's not too far off.

If I had more energy/time/inclination I would have baked them something to take in. Didn't happen though.

I've found baked goods are always welcomed.  I've never gifted baked potatoes though. 

I am open to any forum members who would like to give me baked potatoes.  I love free food.  And prepared free food is even better.  I <3 leftovers.

Mmm, now I want baked potatoes for dinner.  Gonna eat the lentil/kale/ham soup that's been in the slow cooker all day though.

[FireHiker]

I went to Costco and didn't buy any alcohol, snacks (except for kids' school lunches), or desserts.

[Hadilly]

Dollar Slice: at least my immovable brows will make me look stoic while absorbing the face punches.

Today i picked up a bag of chips to make do it yourself nachos rather than dropping $40 on burritos. Our fridays are crazy with kid activities and I need portable dinners.

[Bracken_Joy]

Bought another insanely huge box of tomatoes (a mere 25lbs this time, vs the 27lbs last time) to make another few rounds of red salsa for canning. We'll see how many pints I get out, depends if I do all 3 batches as salsa or if I run out of energy and do the final ones just as diced tomatoes.

Working on using up pantry contents, in this case, canned pumpkin. Feels like the right season finally =)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Worked from home (saving on commuting costs)
-Sent the kids on some fun activities/shared friend activities vs paying for after care (they are 10 & 11, and no school today)
-Made risotto with homemade chicken broth from the freezer, a mangy looking onion, and a few other fridge ingredients. Will become baked chicken, mozzarella, & tomato risotto
-Called an airline about an issue with our holiday flights. Got $150 in credit & 5,000 miles. (There are 4 of us traveling)

[mustachepungoeshere]

Used up a couple of soft cherry tomatoes in a pasta dish.

Picked up two books from the library.

[FrugalAussie]

No spend day today, didn't leave home, busy in the garden getting ready for summer. 

Cooked a vege curry, used up a couple of soft tomatoes rather than open a tin. I've put some in the freezer already. Also cooked a cauliflower soup using some white sweet potato from the garden that was getting neglected.

About three times a week we do a morning thirty minute yoga regime using various You Tube videos, we're slowly getting more flexible.  We supplement this with a weekly face to face class, we found a bargain one at $10 (usually $18) and really appreciate the teacher so more that happy to pay her the cash. She's lovely, hosted our fund raising Cambodian cooking class, for our cancer charity. 

[tyort1]

Made rice crispy treats instead of buying them prepackaged.  Wow you get a lot of treats for $3!

[horsepoor]

Today is a canning day.  I just filled two slow cookers with tomatoes.  I need to take inventory of what remains of last year's canning, and will make tomato soup, BBQ sauce and ketchup accordingly.  I also have three big trays of plum tomatoes in the queue to can whole, and will start some fermented hot sauces.

Will also go by my favorite fruit stand this afternoon and pick up a big bag of storage onions for about 25c/lb, which will last us until May.

[MBot]

I've been craving mushrooms, but I didn't buy the expensive portobello mushrooms in plastic at the grocery store

Luckily I found that at my next stop, the farmer's market, they were selling locally raised (spored? cultivated?) wine-cap mushrooms for a cheaper price!

Plus some lovely tomatoes, cantaloupe, and even late season strawberries (hooray for Northern Ontario!)

[Kwill]

Came home from a trip and used up odds and ends to make a simple pasta dinner from the pantry, freezer, and fridge. I also took the milk out of the freezer where I'd stashed it before leaving; it should thaw enough by tomorrow morning to go into my coffee.

[frooglepoodle]

Prepping freezer-to-crockpot meals today. I'm pregnant and tired but don't want to be eating frozen pizza every night of the week.

One of the recipes calls for cream of mushroom soup so I'm starting by making a batch of condensed cream of mushroom soup instead of using canned. Because I got the mushrooms and cream on manager's special and used homemade chicken broth, it comes out a bit cheaper than canned too in addition to being free of preservatives.

We bought a reel lawnmower. There were none left aat Lowe's except for the one on display, so we got that one for half price.

[Dollar Slice]

Stocking up on convenience foods before my surgery... whatever non-perishable or not-quickly-perishable stuff I can get to save myself trips to the store later. Used a $50 off $100 coupon (plus a few $1 off per item coupons) for my first Freshdirect delivery. I don't even know where I'm going to put all that food in this tiny apartment. :-P

[Jaayse]

I'm living in a hotel right now while transitioning for my job, and I did my laundry tonight.  Instead of doing a second dryer session for the items that were damp after the first go around, I took them back to my room and hung them up to dry.   It only saved .50 but every little bit counts!

[Jaayse]

Double post... Sorry!

[martyconlonontherun]

Had a large canvas painting we had from vacation that needed to be framed. I shuttered at the thought of going to an art dealer to frame it so went to Goodwill and found the world's ugliest stitched piece of art and embarrassingly bought it. Took it home; ripped out the art so only the wooden frame remained and staple gunned my stretched canvas to it. Ready to be hung.

[Imma]

Our grocery store has big discounts on pantry staples this week. We stocked up on staples (only the ones we actually use of course) then found out the discount wasn't applied to one brand of products. I was already nearly out of the store but I went back to customer services and was refunded €2,50. My s/o nearly died of shame. We carefully plan the purchase of these staples so we only have to buy them on discount, so I want to make sure we actually get that discount.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Similar to Imma, our grocery store had a huge sale on pantry staples (organic tomato sauce, in a 32 oz jar, only basic ingredients) for $.57/each. I stocked up. Plus, a stock up on Kraft Mac & Cheese (yes, I know, the health!), for the kids, but $.27/box because it was a Star Wars edition. The kids will be thrilled. Also, $.57 for a really high end organic pesto. I can't make it for that cheap. I grow my own basil, but the rest of the ingredients are pricey. Some organic jams for $.57, and parmesan cheese for $.27. It was crazy. Will go back tomorrow, as I didn't want to empty the shelves.

Did get overcharged by $3.59, so will need to go back for a price adjustment. That's what I get for not watching the register closely.

[Gone_Hiking]

The offspring broke his arm.  DH's first instinct was to take the kid to emergency room.  I suggested urgent care instead; the fracture was not open and the kid did not seem to be in imminent danger.  I called a couple of places, found one that took our insurance and had an x-ray machine, and within 10 minutes we were there.  The copay was a quarter of what a copay for emergency room would be, we walked out after an hour with the arm in a sling, the x-rays on a DVD, and a referral to specialist for arm resetting and cast.  This being Saturday evening, the urgent care nurse even contacted the specialist and arranged for an appointment on Monday.   A couple of phone calls saved us money, time, and a lot of misery that would be awaiting us had we gone to the emergency room.

[Goldielocks]

Going to go buy more cheap canning grade tomatoes and make even more salsa today. My goal is to put up enough for the year. Given how much we eat mexican, this is a LOT of salsa. Like, a pint a week of red and green each. I'm about 1/3-1/2 the way there for red, 1/4 the way there for green. =o

Question -- do you slip skins off the tomatoes prior to salsa?   I am thinking about trying a batch, even though I need to buy tomatoes, but hesitate if I need to skin them...

[Bracken_Joy]

Going to go buy more cheap canning grade tomatoes and make even more salsa today. My goal is to put up enough for the year. Given how much we eat mexican, this is a LOT of salsa. Like, a pint a week of red and green each. I'm about 1/3-1/2 the way there for red, 1/4 the way there for green. =o

Question -- do you slip skins off the tomatoes prior to salsa?   I am thinking about trying a batch, even though I need to buy tomatoes, but hesitate if I need to skin them...

Yep. Core and peel. For large batches, the boiling water/ice water system is the only one that is time efficient. And it's much easier with 2 people. I set a large pot with boiling water on one side, then a bowl of ice water (mainly ice, a little bit of water- it melts quickly) on the other. Drop them (cored with an X cut in the bottom) in the boiling water, and wait until the skin shrivels or splits- about 20-30 second for slicers, or ~30-35 seconds for paste tomatoes. Pull them out with a slotted spoon and drop them in the ice water, 1-2 minutes. Then it passes to the second person to peel the skins off. To do 25lbs took us probably 2 hours to core and peel.

There are oven ways you can peel them, but that handles WAY smaller batches than a gigantic produce box full, haha.