Frugal Friday

I really don't feel like we're being all that frugal these weeks (paying for SAT scores to be sent, & college applications & feeding two teen boys ;-)), but it's nice to remind myself of the small wins we do have.

Saving on things we buy

• We have an Alaska Air credit card, and they were having a cash back offer for in flight purchases (meals, snacks, etc). We were planning to pre-order food for our flight to Hawaii, so I made sure to save the credit card offer, and confirmed that we received our cash back. It saved $5. 
• Uploaded our receipts to Fetch. This is a slow process, as we rarely buy the special items, but it only takes a few seconds to submit the receipts. 
• We get a small reimbursement for personal development at work. This can include lessons, foreign language classes, learning a new skill, etc. I submitted my pickleball lessons from our most recent vacation, and should get a bit back on that. I submit my gym membership each month, and get about $40 back, which is a nice offset to the cost. 
• Picked up more of Nick's juice for smoothies, which had a new iBotta offer, saving $3.25. I used our Amex gift card to get our groceries, which included ingredients for guacamole, chicken broth, oat milk, & the juice. 
• Combined a 20% credit card cash back offer with a 25% coupon I received to place a clothing order. I was surprised to see that both worked. I don't know if I'll like the two jackets I ordered, but if I do, they will be at near half off, particularly as I also ordered via Rakuten, to save another 2%. 

Earning money

• Nothing this week

Avoiding spending

• I'm staying at a hotel in London that is more expensive than allowed in our work system. (It has a gym, room service, but more importantly...is walking distance to the office during a week that there are expected to be several protests near my office, which could otherwise disrupt transit). I have to pay out of pocket for the difference between our allowed amount, & this hotel's total. I'm not sure how this hotel dropped off the list, as it's always been where I've stayed. Regardless, using my own hotel points to offset the difference, thus saving myself the need to reimburse the company any actual cash for the overage. 

Eating what we have

• The goal of the past few weeks has really been "avoiding takeout" vs trying to be super frugal about food costs overall. We're in a very busy season with everyone, so I'm working on not letting perfect be the enemy of good, or whatever that phrase is. 
• I made gyros (meat from Costco, which is good in a pinch) for dinner, and served with feta leftover from a chicken shawarma recipe. Also used mini cucumbers & tomatoes. I thought we had tzatziki sauce, but my parents must have finished it all off when they were visiting. They were a little dry, but otherwise delicious. We enjoy the Trader Joes naan bread, and the boys like to make grilled cheese sandwiches out of the leftovers. 
• I also pulled taco meat out of the freezer, and we had that for two dinners as well. 

For others

• Dropped off banana bread for our elderly across the street neighbor
• Gave away a bunch of stuff on Buy Nothing

What about you? Any wins to share?