Frugal Friday

The weeks are whizzing by, as we enter the home stretch to the end of the year. It felt like a solid frugal week, but maybe that's because I had to purchase a few things. Any time you're purchasing something, there's more of an opportunity to find it for less, or save a bit here & there. I also did so, so much better than previous years, on only buying things on the list! I avoided many impulse purchases, which I've struggled with in previous years. 

Saving on things we buy

• Bought a Starbucks card I needed on Black Friday, and earned a $5 bonus gift card
• I bought new running shoes a week or so ago, and noticed that Rakuten hadn't applied the cash back. I filled out a quick form, and earned $4.40 back. Sidenote: running shoes are expensive. I'm on a schedule of buying two pair/year, around the holidays & trying to make them last for at least 6 months. It's a bit hit or miss, whether they last that long.
• Uploaded a receipt I found in the car (maybe Nick's, or a friend, when they went to the movies) to Fetch, & saved a couple of bucks. 
• Bought two pair of Nick's tennis shoes, at a large BF discount. He is so hard on the shoes, and plays a lot of tennis, so I'm hoping these will last through the summer.
• Saved $540 by calling & asking for a price adjustment to our Christmas flights. They were on sale for Cyber Monday, and I was able to get the money added as a credit to our travel account. 

Earning money

• Listed a few new items on eBay
• Finally earned enough points on Fetch to cash out a $5 reward. 
• Made $150 selling furniture we weren't using. I'd kept it for a few months, to make sure we wouldn't change our minds, and then listed it for sale. It sold very quickly, and I had MANY interested folks, so lesson learned for next time - I didn't have it priced quite right. ;-) 

Avoiding spending

• I picked up a large bag of apples from a neighbor. I'm pretty impressed they are growing apples in our area - we're more of a citrus fruit climate. 
• Picked up a bag of cranberries from another neighbor. I put it in the freezer for future cranberry muffins. 
• Used expiring Starbucks points to buy myself a latte, after a very early workout. 

Eating what we have

• I made a large crockpot of soup on Wednesday, knowing we'd be home late due to Nick's game. We had it for dinner one night, and I had three lunches, & then I froze the rest. 
• Made Philly cheesesteaks, out of things we had in the fridge/freezer, leftover from last time we made them. We're slowly but surely making freezer progress. 
• Made a squash soup out of a few different squash varieties we grew, roasted & then froze a few months ago. I added fresh herbs from the garden, and also some celery I had that needed to be used up. It turned out delicious. Froze a small portion for a future lunch. 
• I also used the last of some bread purchased on Wednesday to make a second batch of goat cheese crostini, which the boys adore. We had that as an appetizer, while decorating the tree. And, when I say "we", I mean, I had one piece, M had zero, & the boys ate the rest. ;-) 
• Ate the rest of a taco bake over mashed potatoes, for a lunch & a single serving dinner. 
• Made another loaf of foccacia bread, out of yeast that is not very active. Because the foccacia rises for so long, it still works reasonably well. The boys love it, so it's a win.
• We used/froze all of the dinner leftovers by Wednesday, which is an accomplishment. We cook on weekends, and then after we're out of prepped meals, we dig into the freezer. 

For others

• Gave stuff away on Buy Nothing
• Began what I assume to be the last of a mentoring project at work

What about you? Any wins to share?