Frugal things I did to save money this week + a few frugal fails

Tracking my frugal activities always motivates me to look for additional opportunities to save!


First up, frugal wins:

1. Used a first time purchase offer for Amazon Now, and saved $20 off of a $50 order. I used the order to stock up on exciting pantry staples like toilet paper, tea bags, & diced tomatoes - all items that we were running low on & I would have purchased anyway. I managed to get the order down to $50.79, to minimize overage on the offer. Although a few of these items were $.05-$.25 higher, so total savings is estimated to be $15 (conservative estimate, given price variances). Here's what was ordered:
• Protein powder (had a hard time finding the preferred brand/flavor anywhere else)
• 3 boxes of tea, total of 60 tea bags
• 2 containers of kids shampoo
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 32 rolls of double toilet paper
2. Realized that I hadn't spent all of the money in my dependent care FSA account, and submitted all outstanding claims for a savings of (or, loss of reimbursement) - $349.23.
3. Made dinners all week, as is the usual, and got creative with the menu planning to avoid food waste.
4. Used an Amazon Pantry credit to try out the service, combined with free shipping. I felt like it was still relatively expensive compared to say, Costco. But, saved $5.99 on credit.

In non-frugal choices, or altogether frugal fails:

1. Despite my strong confidence that I updated my address on a Christmas order I placed, Crate & Barrel still sent the package to our old house. Our property management agent offered to mail it to me (great!), and it cost $23!!! The shipping was free from C&B originally, & the total value of the gift was the same price as the postage. Stupid tax, clearly. ;-) 
2. I also bought myself a few of the Gap Fit shirts (I have two, and currently wear them every weekend - perfect for a workout, running errands, etc) with my Gap Cash. Total spent in a splurge on myself = $40

That's it for me! How about you? Any big frugal wins or fails this week? In other news, so happy it's Friday!!!! I desperately need a weekend - crazy long week at work.