I found out a used bookstore near me buys books and went by there with a big box today. They offered $21 in store credit, so I picked up some books for my daughter.
Ate leftovers at home, haven't eaten out today.
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I found out a used bookstore near me buys books and went by there with a big box today. They offered $21 in store credit, so I picked up some books for my daughter.
Ate leftovers at home, haven't eaten out today.
Okay, one more:
I'm late on paying bills this month. When I went to finally deal with them today, I realized I will end up paying a late fee on my credit card (ouch) and that this was the last day to avoid a late fee for my mortgage payment. When I called the bank to see if I could pay over the phone, they said I could, but it would be a $20 service charge, though paying online would be free. I automatically froze up at the thought of trying to figure out how to make an online payment, but I had a dim memory of doing it in the past and it being really easy. Well, lo and behold, I had saved all relevant user names and passwords in my phone, and it took like 3 seconds and I saved myself not only the $20 service charge, but the $90 late fee.
I know this seems small, but this is the kind of stupid thing I would blow money on in the past, so figuring out how to solve this problem in the most frugal way was a big one for me!
I haven't been posting much for frugals lately because I feel like all of my frugals are getting to the point where they are simply my daily habits. Hooray!!! But there are obviously places where I can still improve so I will try to keep focusing on those. Overall this has been a very informative year when it comes to small frugals. Back in January or February, I think, I made a point in the monthly frugals thread that I wasn't going to buy any more lip "stuff" until I used up what I already had. Well, guess what? I'm still using stuff up! I haven't bought anything this year and along the way was gifted with a single tube of natural beeswax lip stuff, but otherwise I am still working from the same stash I had back at the beginning of 2013. Wow, how is it that I ended up with such a stash of something so ridiculous? Same goes for hair styling products. I've not bought since back in December of 2012, I think, yet I feel that I've barely made a dent in what I have on hand. Gah!!! Now neither of these small changes have made me wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but obviously I was just spending little amounts ($5, $10, $15) here and there for NO GOOD REASON!!!
Other frugals have mostly been around free food. We always have something happening at school where food is provided. It's hit or miss as to whether everything will get eaten, so when appropriate, I've been grabbing some of the leftovers and bringing them home. I always first try to find some starving students to feed, but if that option has already been exhausted then I have no qualms about bringing home 4 bagels and a container of cream cheese the way I did yesterday. Or the two giant bowls of tortilla chips like I did last week.
Final sort of big frugal, our vacuum cleaner stopped working. I thought it was finally time to replace it, but it turns out that a belt had simply come loose. A quick fix and now we are back to vacuuming.
That's all for now. Would love to hear from some other folks about their frugal endeavors this month!!!
Free lunch today, for the same reason cdttmm. The restaurant that our event organizer contracted with made an error in their order and brought SO MUCH food! So we all had some and it was a nice treat.
Time to get my car fixed again :( Something with the suspension in the front end, and I'm finally going to spring for my hood latch to get fixed. I can always get it to close, but it takes finesse. As I stood at the gas station refilling my wiper fluid (emergency, couldn't see to get home) I imagined a screaming baby in the back seat and knew I wouldn't be able to get that hood closed on the first, second or third try . . . eek. So whenever I get it in for that front end thing I will finally have the latch done. I'm sure the cable is just stretched out.
Scored a deal on Chex at the grocery store, so stocked up. Thinking of resurrecting a price book, there is an app that I could use . . . anyone keep one?
Worked at the cafe today and had a great lunch then went to church to serve dinner - the plan was to feed 100 only 65 showed so there was a ton of left overs. I brought home food for a healthy sized meal for DH and self as well as my all time favorite corn muffins. All the volunteers had plenty to take home as well as lunch for staff for 2 days.
Feel like I've been grocery shopping a lot lately in anticipation of the holidays but I think as much as big meal plans, I've been adding to the stockpile.
Just have to say, don't do any online shopping under the influence of Vicodin. Yark!
The drive belt in my dryer broke a few days ago - ordered the part and installed it using the repair manual I bought the last time I fixed it. $20 and a bit over an hour in effort, including ordering the part.
by paying attention to the newspaper ads got a free rotisserie chicken. I was not impressed, it was small for the normal price of $7.29 We eat little meat so I am not used to these prices.
DH had surgery and I packed food for the day. I got to sit outside in the sun to eat, made a long day much more pleasant. Also had food for him for the way home. He was starving of course and we probably would have stopped otherwise. He is doing well.
I am so enjoying a low-key and fairly frugal holiday season. We spent yesterday cross-country skiing. A frugal activity for us since we own all the equipment and so simply had to drive to the state reservation and go! We took our dogs with us and skied more than 5 miles, which was a good first outing of the season. We came home and enjoyed some leftover rice and beans from the day before and watched several episodes of Dr. Who from the most recent season. We're working our way through the entire show since the 2005 reboot before the start of the new season.
Today the weather is so warm and rainy that most of the snow will be gone by tonight. So we'll go to the gym this afternoon so that I can go to my usual Sunday afternoon Tae Kwon Do class and we'll do some work around the house. I'll probably take advantage of this warm spell to set out and fill the bird feeders, too. Another fairly frugal hobby of ours: feeding and watching the birds during the winter months.
Several months ago I ordered some art prints. But they were odd sized and I just knew I would need to have them custom framed-->$$$. But Friday DH and I went looking at mattes and frames at Hobby Lobby and lo and behold we found perfect frames and mattes. With a bit of trimming, it all went together for about 1/4 what custom framing would have cost. :D