What Small Things Did You Do Today to Save Money?

[Apple]

Last night-- saw the movie. I've now seen 8(?) movies on my $90 card, for $11.25/movie. If I see 8 movies next month, I'll halve that amount.

I stopped by the grocery store to catch milk before it went off sale (99 cents/half gallon). They were out, so I got a raincheck. While I was there, I saw that cream was 4 pints/$1. It was dated that day. So, I bought five and opened one for coffee this morning, and put the other four in the freezer. I'll probably use them to make butter later (and, for that reason, I wish I had bought more).

Today I go to Portland to see The Book of Mormon, as my last "happy birthday to me" present. I saved money on that by buying the cheap seats, even though they are separated (one is a box seat, the other on the orchestra floor, both both aisle seats). Third time I've seen the show, but I paid less for both tickets this time than I did for one ticket last time.

I've decided to skip the fabric store while I'm there, even though I really want to go. That alone is going to save quite a bit of money. We'll go out for dinner, so that will use up some, but we haven't gone to a real restaurant for a little while, so the money is still in the budget.

And, happy (day late) birthday, @bamafan1954 !

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 28, 2018 11:44:38 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

Jan 28, 2018 10:15:00 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

It isn't the show of my youth, but it's a great show.

I know. I used to love his flamboyant costumes. He's still on my bucket list anyway!

And crawling all over the piano and stage.  Saw an interview of Elton watching video of that and he said he only wishes he could still do that.  

Billy Joel did the same thing.  He can't climb on the piano either.

[dogmom]

After watching a few videos, and of course while I'm getting a hair trim, I did trim my bangs today.  Cut 1/2" off, saved $10.  Surprisingly I did okay.  Next scheduled hair dresser appointment isn't for four weeks.  Really couldn't wait that long.

[Iggy aka IG]

Happy Birthday, @bamafan1954!

alwaysbeoptimizing, good job on the furnace!

kadee79, my DH and I have had that conversation about whether or not things draw a bit of electricity, even when they are turned off.  I insist they do, he says they don't.  I don't care, I still unplug them. 

A tiny amount of savings, but I pour remaining drinking water into plants, both here at the office and at home.

I learned Friday stamps are now up to 50 cents here in the states.    Time to reevaluate things we mail out here at the office even further.  At home most things are electronically sent, so we're doing okay there.

[TheOtherMe]

I didn't know postage went up.  It wasn't publicized very well.

[CCL]

Jan 29, 2018 12:48:25 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I didn't know postage went up.  It wasn't publicized very well.

I didn't know that, either.

[Iggy aka IG]

Jan 29, 2018 12:48:25 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I didn't know postage went up.  It wasn't publicized very well.

Agreed.  I had to do a search, and came up with this, a proposal from Oct 2017.  I should have stocked up at that time. 

USPS announces new 2018 prices

[NastyWoman]

Ooooh, international mail stayed the same. I better stock up on global mail forever stamps, what with having 2 grandbabies living abroad. And at least the oldest loves getting mail. The youngest is just 7 months old, so no interest from him yet

[Sharon]

I paid attention to what I was being charged and questioned it.

Took my car in to be serviced today (lube and oil).  I had made the appt online and noticed that the charge was slightly over $50.  Then I found a coupon I had received from the dealership and remembered to take it.  Gave the coupon to the person who checks your vehicle in.  He looked at it said he would adjust the total and handed the coupon back.

Car is done and I go to pay and the total is $64.  I ask about the $10 off coupon and the gal said he probably forgot to collect my coupon and forgot to make the adjustment.  I got the impression this one guy does this a lot.  I then mentioned that when I made the appt that I thought the service was going to be slightly over $50.  She than asks me if I made the appt online and I told her yes.  She looks online and as of today it was showing the service would be $49.95.  She gave me the coupon back because it was only good if you spent over $50, charged me the $49.95 and sent me on my way.

Approximately $15 saved because I paid attention and asked questions.

[countrygirl2]

Have been home painting, bought nothing today nor nothing online.

[TheOtherMe]

Received the Ticketmaster Verified Fan code for Elton John.  I looked, didn't like the seats offered and did not buy!

[seriousthistime]

Made my own coffee, ate out of the fridge and pantry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and finished the rest of the Diet Coke I got at the vending machine yesterday.

[countrygirl2]

I blew it today. $111 at TJ Maxx, got a queen sheet set and 3 new towels, wash cloths, to take with us.

Some hangers, a sweater, and a basket. Kids are still waiting for their shipped stuff to arrive, very sparse

at their house

Then about $70 at Sam's Finish liquid, container of Tide pods, 3 salads, 2 boxes corn flakes, 1 of raisins,

Breathe Rite Strips, and 2 bottles of ibuprofen, plus 4 pounds of ground turkey.

Office supplies, bankers boxes, new stapler, pocket folders for taxes and paper work, ink pins,

markers over $100, sigh, but was charged to business account.

$20 car wash, $10 lunch, $30 gas.

Then $450 for plates for International truck, tool trailer, and 16 trailer, business account.

Very little of this money was wasted, the sweater and basket, and lunch $49 other then that,

necessities, but what an expensive day, sigh.

I don't spend for a few days then I have to anyway.  There were quite a few things I decided not

to buy to limit the spending, the prices of things are really high.

[vetswife]

I returned some pillow covers to Macy's and got a refund.  For some reason I ordered twice what I needed.  

[Blonde Granny]

Im going to be joining those of you eating out of the pantry and the freezer. I way over did the soup making last fall and the pantry has way too much sweet and snack stuff in it.

In addition, I'm just cheap and watch every dime, nickel, or penny I spend.

[hopetoberich]

Went to costco filled up on samples. Spent $35 saved $17.49 by buying on sale items. Gas is up to $2.75

[NoNamePerson]

Made a Target run and found one of my hair colors on clearance. Had a buy 2 and get $5.00 off coupon. So I wound up paying $2.62 each and on top of that I used a gift card to pay for it!!

[wyouser]

TURN OFF THE BLOODY LIGHTS!! I swear none of the grandkids know what a light switch is!

[Iggy aka IG]

Lately:

Cut off the top 2/3 of a lotion when the pump no longer was effective.  I get about 2 more weeks worth of lotion by doing this.

I've been putting off stopping at Wally World to buy paper, so I thumbed through the "scrap paper" file folder and found 9 pages which had just one line/whatever small printed on it.  Put those in the fax (so they aren't used for client documents).

I read this one on another frugal site:  The poster and her SO occasionally take time to rummage through totes, purses, backpacks, etc. for small things such as mints, hand sanitizer, chap stick, etc. in order to avoid putting them on the grocery list.

We've been keeping the food waste to a minimum at the house, which isn't usually an issue for us anyway.    DH is out of town, so instead of making myself a pizza, I'll eat leftovers instead.

Speaking of meals, here at the office I reuse plastic utensils.  I also have 3 hard plastic plates (from Pampered Chef back in my spendy days) I wash and reuse.

[Blonde Granny]

I'm staying home today....no Walmart runs or trips to The Fresh Market. Lunch is leftover from dinner last night at a new restaurant and dinner likely soup from the freezer. Tomorrow I'll pack my lunch and again, dinner from the freezer.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2018 11:24:32 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Speaking of meals, here at the office I reuse plastic utensils.  I also have 3 hard plastic plates (from Pampered Chef back in my spendy days) I wash and reuse.

I hate plastic eating utensils.  They are too flimsy.  So I brought a place setting of real silverware from home to put in my drawer.  It's great.  I also have a Corelle plate that I got at a garage sale and a soup mug.  I keep them plus an apple corer in a drawer in my desk.

I wash all of them.  Unfortunately, right now I have to wash them with hand soap.  I'm the only one that cares about stuff like having dishwashing detergent so I generally bring a bottle to put in the communal kitchen area.  It disappeared the same day I bought it this time!  I pleaded in an email for its safe return, but no luck.

I'll probably buy another bottle just because I like having it, but I am still pouting right now.

[Iggy aka IG]

@bamafan1954, excellent idea about the silverware!  Sorry about the disappearing detergent.  I've heard of employees stealing TP, but not detergent. 

[TheOtherMe]

Never heard of stealing detergent from the communal kitchen either.  Toilet paper yes.  Why, I don't know as it's usually of such poor quality that I don't like using it.

Took dad for groceries today.  I get mine at the same time.  I love a different brand of lactose free milk that I found but it is so expensive.  I bought almond milk today.  Will have to decide if I want to indulge in the better tasting milk or the almond milk.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2018 18:17:01 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Never heard of stealing detergent from the communal kitchen either.  Toilet paper yes.  Why, I don't know as it's usually of such poor quality that I don't like using it.

Took dad for groceries today.  I get mine at the same time.  I love a different brand of lactose free milk that I found but it is so expensive.  I bought almond milk today.  Will have to decide if I want to indulge in the better tasting milk or the almond milk.

It was dishwashing detergent and name brand (Palmolive).  It was also a really big bottle.  It's obvious that the school doesn't buy it because we haven't had any for about a month.  So maybe that's what made it open season on it.

No one's ever taken it before, but I've always bought small bottles and stuff like CVS brand, etc.  

The good news is it cost me 50 cents including tax thanks to a CVS coupon and a regular coupon.  So I can "afford" to buy another bottle.

The bad news is that I am so p*ssed that I don't want to.  The salt/pepper shakers in the communal room are mine.  I'm the one that refills them.  The plastic wrap is mine.  Etc.  I put it out for everyone to use.  I didn't put it out for anyone to take.

You get the idea.  I'll buy some more this weekend, but I am really annoyed.  I even sent out an email, and it didn't find its way home.

[wvugurl26]

They steal everything around my office and the dish soap just gets used up. It doesn't get stolen. I just wash my stuff at home.

[cael]

I'm pissed and we're seriously falling behind on several bills (it's my husband's slow time of year at work, grr) so I'm trying to enact small changes to start helping without doing something drastic neither of us will stick to long term. I've brought lunch 3/4 days so far this week, which is huge for me (and good for my weight watchers lol).

I'm going to get us good reusable cups with straws so we can make iced coffee at home, partially to save money but partially because all the plastic we use daily makes me sad since we can't recycle straws, it is ridiculous that two adults throw away probably between 2-4 plastic straws per day because of the shitty coffee we buy out. So that's going to change, I hope.

[Blonde Granny]

Cael, I take my lunch 3 days a week even though the VA provides volunteers with lunch. <gag> I tried their lunches twice and said never again. Salads, soups, etc. along with fresh fruit works for me. During the summer I bring my own large insulated container (complete with straw) bought at WMT for $10 and it's filled with iced tea from home. I could buy it in the canteen but why pay $.89 for something I can make at home for pennies. Same with my winter coffee: I brew my own into a good insulated container....even though I can go to the second floor and get it for free. I love my strong Keurig coffee so I just make my own. Same for snacks, put a couple in my insulated lunch bag. I don't leave anything of mine around that can get legs and disappear.

I do however, use the little packages of salt and pepper and the napkins that the VA provides in the Canteen.

I figure if I can take care of my pennies, the dollars just might take care of themselves.

[TheOtherMe]

Feb 1, 2018 18:29:20 GMT -5 @bamafan1954 said:

Feb 1, 2018 18:17:01 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Never heard of stealing detergent from the communal kitchen either.  Toilet paper yes.  Why, I don't know as it's usually of such poor quality that I don't like using it.

Took dad for groceries today.  I get mine at the same time.  I love a different brand of lactose free milk that I found but it is so expensive.  I bought almond milk today.  Will have to decide if I want to indulge in the better tasting milk or the almond milk.

It was dishwashing detergent and name brand (Palmolive).  It was also a really big bottle.  It's obvious that the school doesn't buy it because we haven't had any for about a month.  So maybe that's what made it open season on it.

No one's ever taken it before, but I've always bought small bottles and stuff like CVS brand, etc.  

The good news is it cost me 50 cents including tax thanks to a CVS coupon and a regular coupon.  So I can "afford" to buy another bottle.

The bad news is that I am so p*ssed that I don't want to.  The salt/pepper shakers in the communal room are mine.  I'm the one that refills them.  The plastic wrap is mine.  Etc.  I put it out for everyone to use.  I didn't put it out for anyone to take.

You get the idea.  I'll buy some more this weekend, but I am really annoyed.  I even sent out an email, and it didn't find its way home.

I hear you.  Before I retired, I had resorted to keeping my office kleenex locked up in my file drawer.  If not, they got used up and I'd find an empty box.  

[Artemis Windsong]

H. got Papa Murphy's Pizza.  I made my own.  The cheese is not lactose free like Kraft.  Ugh.

I got my pocket picked last Tues. at the movie.  Only the one's were taken.  I have been told it didn't happen because they didn't take the $20.  Double wound.

[tcu2003]

I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of things I needed for the dish I’m taking for a work potluck tomorrow. I was leaning towards taking the kids out to dinner tonight because DH is out of town for work, my work is crazy busy now, and M generally insists on me holding her when we get home from work and daycare, so no way was I going to be able to make dinner by myself tonight. Instead; I picked up a frozen pizza - not the healthiest, and not as inexpensive (or tasty) as homemade pizza, but cheaper than us eating out, so I’ll consider that a win.