Frugal Friday

It's hard to spend much money when you're quarantined at home! Here's what we got up to this week.

Saving on things we buy

• We have a trip booked to Hawaii (the big island) in June. It seems very unlikely we'll be able to go, unless things trend drastically differently with COVID.  But, if we do happen to go, I noticed that our hotel is now $1,000 less for the trip & includes free buffet breakfast + free drinks. I went ahead & made the change, in the event we are able to go. Costco Travel is so easy to work with. I did have to hold for about 20 minutes (expected, given all of the travel changes), but the agent was able to quickly adjust our reservation. It seems more & more likely that our vacation this summer will be at our house on the Oregon coast, which will be lovely, but not what we'd planned. It's been nice to have this Hawaii trip to look forward to, even though it seems extremely unlikely at the moment. 
• In a similar vein, I price matched all of our flights for the rest of the year, and cancelled/rebooked for the lower prices. It seems unlikely we will be taking those flights, but if we do, we will have saved a few hundred dollars. 

Earning money

• Continued to list things on eBay. The sales have been slow. But, we are getting a few things out of the house per week.
• We received our Costco rebate check (we've calculated to see how much we spend, and this is definitely the right choice for us). I'd wanted M to apply the rebate to our most recent shopping trip, but there was a cashier mix up, so we received it all back in cash. I'll tuck it away for a time when we're out & need cash. 

Avoiding spending

• A neighbor gifted us lemons & oranges from her trees, as a thank you for walking her dog each day. I juiced all of the fruit, and the lemons will serve as salad dressing, reducing our need to buy limes. The orange juice was mixed into an open jug of store purchased orange juice. The kids use the juice as a base for smoothies. We typically don't buy juice, but figure the Vitamin C is good to have right now. 
• After numerous emails & customer chats, finally got a refund for some clothes we purchased for Sam that didn't fit. I mailed them back over a month ago, and never received a credit. That's now sorted. 
• I asked another neighbor if we could pick a few oranges from her tree (it is half in our yard) to which she said to pick them all & enjoy. We picked some for her, gave some to a friend, and will juice the rest.
• Our soccer club refunded part of the spring season fees. The coaches were all paid, which I fully support. We were able to get our money back for a cancelled tournament, field fees which weren't used, etc. In total, it's a bit under $500, as we have two kids in the same club. 

Not frugal for me, but I picked up paper towels & Kleenex for friends who couldn't find them. Left paper towels & oranges out for a contactless pickup for a friend. She has offered me a food drop off soon, which she preps big meals for Ramadan. Yum.

What about you? Any frugal wins to report for the week?