Frugal Friday

 It's been a very busy week, and we definitely had some wins. 

Saving on things we buy

• Our grocery store has not been running many gift card offers, but I noticed there was a great one this week. Picked up $300 of gift cards we will use, and earned $60 in grocery rewards.
• We buy red curry paste at the grocery store, and it is crazy expensive and never/rarely on sale. I found that it was 40% off on Amazon, and bought a large container. We use this for curry dishes, and I'm hoping this is about a 6 month supply. 
• I rarely find iBotta offers that we need, but I was able to find four things at Rite Aid that were on sale, on my list, and matched up with an offer, saving $9.50. I also used $1.79 of rewards that were expiring, and earned another $2 in future rewards. 
• Used the $2 in Rite Aid rewards to offset slightly the cost of a prescription, which is always nice. 
• I also found very inexpensive yogurt marked down (a 4 pack for $.80), which I bought for muffin making. 
• Used previous flight credits & a Southwest gift card to drop the price of flights for three by $700 for college tour, part 1. 
• Booked a rental car for the above college tour using Costco travel, saving about $40 over the next cheapest options. 

Earning money

• I prefer to use our credit card for all purchases, as we get cash back, and pay it off every month. However, some places charge a fee for using your card, so the cash back is not always worth it. I researched a couple of larger expenses (DMV & home insurance) to determine if there were fees, and/or if the fees were higher than the cash back. The insurance company charged nothing, making it an easy decision. The DMV did charge a processing fee, but it was less than our cash back. I would have done it up to the point of being an even exchange, as having all of our bills in one place is easier. There is another expense I researched, and the fee was more than double the cash back, so definitely won't be charging that on the card. 

Avoiding spending

• Picked up the Friday Freebie at the grocery store - a flavored sparkling water. I'll use it for a virtual "happy hour" I'm attending, as I'm trying to keep January as dry as possible. 
• Continued to provide additional details to my credit card company, for a double charge. (I bought movie tickets online for Sam & friends, and the first charge errored out. The second charge worked fine, and tickets were emailed me.) The movie theater, of course, wanted to charge me for both & it took two months for me to get my $56 back. Irritating, but worth it to provide additional detail each time the movie company came back with why they should be able to double charge me. 
• Saved the price of a night of a hotel (~$185) by using a free night award, for the college tour trip (part 1, I suppose). 

Eating what we have

• Made two large soups over the weekend, and froze it in lunch sized portions. I'm the only real lover of soup at our house, so I typically have it for lunches.
• Made a loaf of French bread, to go with my soup. 
• Ate leftover orange chicken & rice for two meals. 
• Made a double batch of blueberry muffins, using yogurt I picked up on clearance, and blueberries from the freezer.
• Went through the 20+ bananas in our freezer, and pureed them all. Made a double batch of banana muffins, and froze the rest of the puree, which is much more manageable to store in the freezer. 
• I went to lunch with a friend on Monday, and the portions at the Mediterranean place were huge. I easily had enough for leftovers on Tuesday as well. 

For others

• Donated to a local charity, helped out at the food bank & provided ongoing mentorship at work

What about you? Any wins to share?