What small things did you do TODAY to save money?

[MrsPete]

I ate porrdige for lunch today. We have a kitchen here at the office, so my sole cost were the rolled oats (0.39€ here per 500 gramm)
Since i once made (comparatively cheap) holidays in scotland, i like porrdige. Its made quick as hell, is  cheap as hell, and also healthy (not quite as hell).

I don't know the reason either, but I also know that eggs wash off better in cold water.  Eggs also never quite come out of dish towels, so always use a paper towel if you drop one on the floor.

Fellow oatmeal eater here. It tastes good too.

Ever notice how that stuff sets like mortar? I have to soak the oatmeal bowl longer than any other dish.

I wonder if there's a market for oatmeal glue...

YES!  Its actually the reason I won't eat it for breakfast at work (I eat breakfast at work when I eat it, not before).  We have no kitchen, no sink, nothing :(  So the bowl is a block of cement I have to bring home and soak forever.

Whenever you soak, do it in cold water, not hot, for oats. It'll come right off in five minutes, ten if you put peanut butter in your oatmeal.

Serious?  Why?

[momo]

Had a walkable errands run combining walking the puppy, ourselves, groceries, and exploring new trails in our city for two hours.  The weather was cooperative and so was the puppy.  :)

[TheRedHead]

Made these 'roily polys' with my kiddo for his morning before-breakfast snack. (We add a teaspoon of cinnamon to add flavor in case anyone makes them). We make most of his snacks (the ones that aren't nuts or fruit or kidz cliff bars).

http://www.firstbites.org/#!apple-oat-balls--first-bites/c12zd

[ThatsMyOtter]

On Sunday my whole neighborhood was without running water due to a water main being shut down for some emergency work. I melted snow to flush the toilet and melted ice cubes from the freezer to drink, rather than going out and buying a case of bottled water like several of my neighbors did. I had planned to make homemade soup for dinner, so I made a grilled cheese sandwich. The water was back on Monday morning, so I didn't even have to fill up my reusable water bottles at work as I had planned.

[rocksinmyhead]

on MWF I go to yoga in the morning (at the YMCA, and work reimburses my membership, woohoo!), so I eat breakfast afterwards at work. just finished scarfing down two delicious, nutritious breakfast muffins (I have a whole sack in my freezer) instead of going to the cafe downstairs :) oh and I'm drinking black tea that I get at work for free.

[Mortgage Free Mike]

Took advantage of the Whole Foods Groupon offer ($10 for $5) and bought organic quinoa and ground turkey. Foods that'll fill you up for less.

[sheepstache]

Made these 'roily polys' with my kiddo for his morning before-breakfast snack. (We add a teaspoon of cinnamon to add flavor in case anyone makes them). We make most of his snacks (the ones that aren't nuts or fruit or kidz cliff bars).

http://www.firstbites.org/#!apple-oat-balls--first-bites/c12zd

That site has some cool recipes.  Watermelon popsicles, never would have thought of that.

[LanceBurkhart]

Biked to work despite the forecast of rain. On reflection, water is pretty harmless to human skin and dries on its own.

Decided against using movers for our upcoming move to new apartment (which incidentally will save us $525 per month(!) and help us learn how to live simply with less space.)

[crumbcatcher]

I got out of bed earlier.  This saves me money because when I get up later I often end up running late with dropping off my son, which means that in order to get to work on time I need to take the toll bridge.

So, waking up earlier = no toll = $$ saved.

Yay!

[1967mama]

Turned off the furnace from 9 am - sunset 2 days in a row due to warm sunny weather (Pacific Northwest).  Watching heating bill DROP!

Our power company has a feature where you can view your daily usage and your hourly usage. It posts at around 10am for the previous day. Continues to amaze me how being just a little bit careful produces massive drops in power usage!

[HappierAtHome]

Writing a meal plan for the next week based on what we already have on hand.

Convinced a spendy (but lovely) friend that we should hang out at my house and bake together instead of going out for a meal.

Came up with a game plan for how I'll get through the work lunch and drinks tomorrow without spending a half day's pay in one hit (which is about standard for my workmates). Tip: it involves not drinking very much. We'll see if I can pull it off.

[MrsPete]

Many people here seem to be into cooking . . . and freezing meals; thus, I have a question:

I came across a website a couple days ago that lists recipes /shopping list several options:

- Make 10 freezer meals in an hour
- Make 20 slow cooker freezer meals in two hours
- Make 40 slow cooker freezer meals in four hours

Incidentally, the website is WhoNeedsACape.com -- or something close to that.

I tend to make "batch meals" -- that is, I see pork chops on sale, and I make up 3-4 pork-chops-and-stuffing casserole, a HUGE favorite of my husband's, cook one and freeze the other 2-3. 

But I've thought about the above-mentioned website's concept a dozen times -- I've just never followed through with the legwork (though I never considered making them all slow-cooker meals -- that is a stroke of genuis!).  I've thought of picking out 8-10 of my favorite recipes (that freeze well) and writing them up in one place . . . together with a complete shopping list.  My thought was to put together, say, a chicken-recipe day so that when I find chicken very cheap, I'd do 8-10 chicken meals.  Or when I found ground beef cheap, I'd have the recipes and shopping list at my fingertips so I could prepare 8-10 ground beef meals at once.  But, as I said, I've never followed through with organizing the materials. 

The other thing that holds me back:  To make 40 meals, I'd need to empty the freezer . . . but that never happens.

Anyway, since someone else has already done the work, I'm interested in doing this . . . but I'm nervous about the actual freezing.  I tend to freeze at most 4-5 items at one time.  Like most people, I freeze in gallon Ziplocks.  If I put 40 meals into my freezer at once, will I have any problems with the meals in the middle not freezing?  Do you think I should "rotate" them as they freeze so they all get a chance to be on the outside?  Or am I just making up a problem in my own mind? 

[soccerluvof4]

I have not spent a dime since Monday! However today i need to go to Aldi's but in a round about way that is a big savings as well!

[C. K.]

Reusing store-bought pickle juice in my homemade pickle recipe. I never knew what to do with all that leftover liquid until I searched the internet. Now it's a no-brainer and I feel like an idiot.

Live and learn.

[nottoolatetostart]

Recently, I turned the thermostat down to 60 and no one noticed, including myself. Today, since I work home and it's only me & the dog during the day, decided I would try 57 and see how that goes.

Also emptied and unplugged a 2nd refrigerator that we hardly use. DH has not noticed yet and probably will take him weeks to do so.

Yesterday, I made chocolate chip cookies, but thought I had more chocolate chips than I did. Turns out, I only had 1/2 cup and the recipe called for 2 cups. Went ahead and made them anyway and the chocolate distribution was perfect. It was enough to taste like chocolate chip cookies. DH proclaimed they were the best I ever made. LOL

[RootofGood]

Reusing store-bought pickle juice in my homemade pickle recipe. I never knew what to do with all that leftover liquid until I searched the internet. Now it's a no-brainer and I feel like an idiot.

Live and learn.

We have started making our own pickles with leftover pickle juice.  Cucumbers are $0.29 at aldi's often enough and they fill up a 16 oz jar pretty easily.  $0.29 vs. $1-2 for pickles?  Don't mind if I do!  Even better is grabbing that old forlorn cucumber that no one has eaten and pickling it before it goes bad.  In a way, that jar of pickles is free (sunk cost on the cucumber - it might go bad if not pickled).

[RootofGood]

I tend to make "batch meals" -- that is, I see pork chops on sale, and I make up 3-4 pork-chops-and-stuffing casserole, a HUGE favorite of my husband's, cook one and freeze the other 2-3. 

I don't do the 10x of the same meal type batch cooking, but I'll "batch cook" perhaps 10 servings beyond what we would eat at 1 meal.  Some favorites are chili, shredded pork taco filling, or guacamole.  The chilis or shredded meat fillings freeze very well.  I use 1/2 cup silicon cupcake molds to freeze small single serving portions of those, or qt ziplocks to freeze a family size portion.  I'll also cook a bunch of beans and freeze in 0.5 c servings.  Instant tacos, nachos, burritos, quesadillas, whatever. 

By the way, MrsPete, I tried your bourbon chicken recipe last night and it turned out well.  Everyone in the family liked or loved it.  I added sliced carrots, onions, and green peppers about half way through the simmering and it was great.  In hindsight the veggies needed a little less cooking, maybe 5 minutes total.  It tastes a little like the sauce on my wife's favorite chinese food in RTP - mandarin chicken/mandarin tofu.  They put onions and frozen peas/carrot mix into the mandarin dishes.  Maybe with some tweaking I can get the sauce even closer and avoid the $7-11 cost of take out. 

[CommonCents]

Called my insurance company to get them to lower the insured value of the house to just the appraisal cost of replacement (incl debris removal etc), and requested they backdate it as promised, to the date we bought the place end of Dec.  (They insured at sale price, do an appraisal and then will adjust up or down.  It's supposed to be automatic but didn't happen in our case.)  Saved $400

[tmac]

After a trip to the (free) art museum today, the kids were clamoring for modeling clay and other art supplies. Two hours later, my wallet is still tucked away and they're covered with paper mache paste (flour, water, and paper out of the recycling bin).

Now I'm making dinner, which will include salad that I bought as a cheap head of lettuce, instead of a spendy bag of prepped lettuce. Dressing will be olive oil and either vinegar or lemon juice, pepper, salt, maybe some herbs and garlic if I'm feeling fancy.

With dinner, I will have a glass of cheap but decent beer or wine purchased cheaper at Costco. After dinner, there may be tea brewed from loose tea purchased in bulk.

[HappierAtHome]

Manager really wanted me to go buy a coffee with him (as his usual coffee buying mate is off work today). I resisted and saved the $5 that coffee would have cost.

Made it up to him by sharing the baked goods I had on hand. So he didn't take offense. Always good :-)

[sheepstache]

Wore a bib while eating a taco so I wouldn't potentially ruin a white shirt.

Seemed like a circle of life sort of thing.

[Bookworm]

I never left the house.  This seems to be the most powerful weapon in my Mustachian arsenal.

[CompoundingRocks]

stayed at home, cleaned and did work! LOL

no coffees outside,
no fuel spent
no lunch
no dinner spent

[LanceBurkhart]

Signed a lease on a new apartment with 30% cheaper rent and which is bikeable to work. I suppose this is the most mustachian thing we've ever done, and it feels awesome.

[swick]

Signed a lease on a new apartment with 30% cheaper rent and which is bikeable to work. I suppose this is the most mustachian thing we've ever done, and it feels awesome.

Awesome! :D

I took cream into work so I could have my own pot of coffee...umm not that I'm getting paid to be at work today ...but it will perhaps pay small dividends in the future with the happiness and health of my volunteers? Yup that's what I'll tell myself. Besides... keeps me away from the massive amount of online shopping I do every single day for sparkly things....

[horsepoor]

Picked up enough chickens for the month of March and stashed them in the freezer since the sale on them ended today.  Bought myself a little piece of licorice instead of the Hail Merry macaroons that were calling my name (which history has show I will eat the whole bag of those damn things before I get home from the store).

[payitoff]

made my own orange marmalade jam out of over riped oranges. this rain helps, were just home in our pajamas all day!

[RootofGood]

Investigated medical tourism TO Canada from the US for possible multi-hundred dollar savings. 

[nikki]

I made applesauce from cores and peels I had saved in the freezer, as kolorado mentioned here: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/ridiculous/msg209125/#msg209125

Totally worked. I wonder why every recipe for applesauce insists on coring and peeling the apples first?

Also froze a big slice of the chocolate chip banana bread I made yesterday so I'm not forced to eat it all too quickly alone. It'll be a good snack or breakfast later on!

I've been keeping my apartment at 19C/66F. A neighbor came over today for some aforementioned banana bread, coffee, and conversation, and he commented on how cold I keep my place. I hadn't noticed!

[Bbqmustache]

I bought boneless skinless chicken breasts from Aldi for $1.59/lb.  Loaded up and tossed them 4 at a time into freezer bags, seven of them!

[horsepoor]

Just cancelled the three magazine subscriptions on my Amazon account.

[tmac]

Hung a load of laundry. Currently making yogurt. Will soon head to the market with a well-thought-out and budgeted shopping list.

[G-dog]

Reusing store-bought pickle juice in my homemade pickle recipe. I never knew what to do with all that leftover liquid until I searched the internet. Now it's a no-brainer and I feel like an idiot.

Live and learn.

We have started making our own pickles with leftover pickle juice.  Cucumbers are $0.29 at aldi's often enough and they fill up a 16 oz jar pretty easily.  $0.29 vs. $1-2 for pickles?  Don't mind if I do!  Even better is grabbing that old forlorn cucumber that no one has eaten and pickling it before it goes bad.  In a way, that jar of pickles is free (sunk cost on the cucumber - it might go bad if not pickled).

Do you just cut up salad cucumbers and toss them in the jar?  Do you remove the seeds (and watery core)? I've tried this a couple of times long ago, and the resulting pickles seemed kind of watered down in flavor, so I am wondering if I need to adjust something.

[nikki]

I have plans for meals and snacks all day today, largely based on items I got free from others. I do have to buy onions for tonight's curry, but ~$0.56 isn't so bad for a day's expenses.

I'm about to making exfoliating scrub from used coffee grounds (from the coffee I'm drinking now, also acquired free).

Going to hang laundry on the rooftop clothesline, which doesn't really save me money since I have to hang-dry everything anyway, but it's nice to be able to do it on the roof and I just had to celebrate this new option ;-D

[horsepoor]

Reusing store-bought pickle juice in my homemade pickle recipe. I never knew what to do with all that leftover liquid until I searched the internet. Now it's a no-brainer and I feel like an idiot.

Live and learn.

We have started making our own pickles with leftover pickle juice.  Cucumbers are $0.29 at aldi's often enough and they fill up a 16 oz jar pretty easily.  $0.29 vs. $1-2 for pickles?  Don't mind if I do!  Even better is grabbing that old forlorn cucumber that no one has eaten and pickling it before it goes bad.  In a way, that jar of pickles is free (sunk cost on the cucumber - it might go bad if not pickled).

Do you just cut up salad cucumbers and toss them in the jar?  Do you remove the seeds (and watery core)? I've tried this a couple of times long ago, and the resulting pickles seemed kind of watered down in flavor, so I am wondering if I need to adjust something.

Pickling cucumbers are better.  They are seasonal, but also dead-easy to grow and very prolific.  You haven't had pickles until you've had homemade fermented pickles (even cheaper than canned, no need to buy vinegar).  I cut the ends off of the bigger ones, and pickle the smaller ones whole.  Tried spears, but they turned to mush too quickly.  Google fermented pickles for instructions.  I still have a batch from summer in a big jar in the fridge; they last a long time.

[NinetyFour]

I had every intention of going out and spending money today (about $15 on groceries and not sure how much on vitamin D3), but since I was feeling lazy and still suffering a bit from a cold, I just stayed home and spent $0.

[RootofGood]

I bought boneless skinless chicken breasts from Aldi for $1.59/lb.  Loaded up and tossed them 4 at a time into freezer bags, seven of them!

We hit up aldi's today, too.  I planned on getting the $1.59/lb chicken breast like you and freezing 15 lbs or so.  Then I saw the half off leg quarters and thighs.  $0.60/lb for quarters and thighs (two cuts my wife loves dearly) - yes, I will, thanks.  I did get one tray of the chicken breasts and we used half for fajitas today, and we'll have leftover fajitas again tomorrow.  Tomorrow we'll be feasting on the leg quarters too.  And the freezer will be full of 15-20 lb of quarters and thighs.  Mmm

[libertarian4321]

I didn't go to the local monthly gun show yesterday.

I really want to pick up a .38 revolver, but I decided to stay home instead.  Saved $10 in entrance fees, plus about $400 on the revolver.

Let's hope I have the strength to resist today...

[Bbqmustache]

I bought boneless skinless chicken breasts from Aldi for $1.59/lb.  Loaded up and tossed them 4 at a time into freezer bags, seven of them!

We hit up aldi's today, too.  I planned on getting the $1.59/lb chicken breast like you and freezing 15 lbs or so.  Then I saw the half off leg quarters and thighs.  $0.60/lb for quarters and thighs (two cuts my wife loves dearly) - yes, I will, thanks.  I did get one tray of the chicken breasts and we used half for fajitas today, and we'll have leftover fajitas again tomorrow.  Tomorrow we'll be feasting on the leg quarters too.  And the freezer will be full of 15-20 lb of quarters and thighs.  Mmm

We picked up 4 packages of 7 breasts each, and are throwing them in freezer bags, four at a time.

We like to make Tex Mex Chicken starter with some of them, http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/tex-mex-chicken-starter, but we made the following changes that we like MUCH better.
Eliminate the cayenne pepper and reduce the chili pepper.  Add Ancho Chili powder and Chipotle Chili powder instead.

We cook this starter mix, then freeze it.  A base for fajitas, chicken enchiladas, wraps, Tex Mex chicken salad.  Love this recipe!

[Zaga]

In preparation for the snow storm we're supposed to get this evening I move the 4-wheel drive car up to the top of the driveway.  It may cost more to drive to work in that car, but the savings is - DH doesn't get PTO, so this will ensure he gets to work tomorrow!  If I don't make it in I can take a vacation day.

Also today, I'll be making some costume clothing.  This isn't super frugal, but we get excellent custom fitted things for a fraction the cost of paying someone else to do it!

[Zaga]

One more thing.  I have jut set it up so that I am paying my car insurance all at once instead of monthly.  This will save about $15 a month between the payment in full discount and the paperless discount.  I'll do the same thing with homeowner's insurance in August when that bill comes due.

[PMG]

Wasted an hour or two on these boards.. oh.. wait..

Ate leftover homemade soup.

Laundry, cold water wash, homemade detergent, air dry.

[horsepoor]

Stayed home and hacked away at the landscaping project/upper body workout.

[Nancy]

Picked up/dropped off book at library.

Ate all meals at home.

Planted seeds for veggie garden.

[1967mama]

Eating from the freezer and resisted the urge to go grocery shopping.

Made 2 pans of whole wheat buns and will freeze 1/2 for eating later this week.

[homehandymum]

Someone gave us a grocery bag full of pears that they had been given but couldn't be bothered doing anything with!

I'm currently stewing a pot of them to freeze in small batches, and am cooking the cores and peels in the slow-cooker to get the juice out of them.  I'll have a go at making some kombucha using the juice.

And we have friends coming this afternoon.  Afternoon snacks are pears (!), popcorn and homemade banana loaf.

[cdnmustachegrower]

Repaired my vacuum cleaner instead of buying a new one.  Nice burning smell when I was running it before.   Pulled it apart and the belt was surrounded by cat hair, it could hardly move. 

Cleaned that out, put it back together.  Problem solved!

[rocksinmyhead]

I bought boneless skinless chicken breasts from Aldi for $1.59/lb.  Loaded up and tossed them 4 at a time into freezer bags, seven of them!

argh, I saw this deal on the flyer last week (ours said it was one day only) and bemoaned the fact that Aldi is 25 minutes away from us and I had no time that evening. I so wish it was closer!! our main grocery store is only 1.5 miles away so I almost never make it to Aldi.

[Khao]

Repaired my vacuum cleaner instead of buying a new one.  Nice burning smell when I was running it before.   Pulled it apart and the belt was surrounded by cat hair, it could hardly move. 

Cleaned that out, put it back together.  Problem solved!

I love simple things like this. Most people wouldn't even bother trying to see what's wrong when something they own breaks. All it really takes to fix 90% of the stuff in your house is some curiosity and using your brain to do some problem-solving. Even then, if you've gone as far as looking into a problem and can't find a solution yourself, you've still got the internet to find a solution!

[LanceBurkhart]

Sent broken smartphone to manufacturer for repairs, instead of following the advice of several people to "just get a new one!" Also, ordered two Airvoice Wireless sim cards.