Saving on things we buy
- The local grocery store was having a few good weekend sales (mac & cheese, which Nick makes himself if he's on his own for dinner between sporting events, BOGO various items, etc). I combined that with a $10 off a $50 purchase, and bought: 5 packages of sparkling Bubly water (the boys current obsession), 2 containers of raspberries, 6 lbs of pork loin, 6 packages of mac & cheese, Advil, two packages of sliced cheese, the Friday freebie (a sparkling water, ironically) & radishes. There standard prices aren't very good, but I felt like $52 was a reasonable price, particularly given the Advil & the meat. I earned another $.60 back on iBotta, and $2.50 in game pieces that I can redeem next time I'm there.
- Used Too Good To Go to pick up a $5.99 surprise bag at a local bakery. I ended up with two enormous loaves (maybe 2x a standard loaf) of bread - one sourdough & one wheat, as well as 10 huge Dutch Crunch sandwich rolls. It was definitely a bargain, and we will try it out again.
- Signed up for a Care Pass at CVS. You pay $5/month & get a $10/month reward, as well as a few other discounts. I signed up, as my credit card had a $10 off a Care Pass purchase reward, if you paid for the year upfront. I go to CVS reasonably regularly, so I'll check it out this year & see what I think. There was also a small discount for paying for the full year (total = $52.38). All told, it's $120 in credit, for $42.38 (the $52, minus the $10 credit card rebate). So far, I went & bought a bunch of cards I needed for upcoming events (graduation, Father's Day, etc) using my first $10 credit, and earned another $5 credit for a Hallmark reward. Additionally, iBotta had a reward on the full purchase price of your CVS transaction, so I earned another $.73 from that.
- I bought ground beef for $1.99/lb. They only had a couple of packages left, so I bought the largest one they had, and came home & divided the meat for the freezer.
Earning money
- Sold lights we weren't using on Facebook marketplace, and earned $65. The buyer was thrilled, and we got four large lights (three new in boxes, one used) out of the house.
- Sold a Pokemon card on eBay, and earned $75.
- I received my severance today, which was a significant amount of money. While I didn't enjoy the process of the layoff, it was a generous severance & I feel lucky to have gotten this much. I'm putting all of it in CDs, for the boys college, as well as to figure out how to use the rest.
Avoiding spending
- Picked up new books for upcoming college students on Buy Nothing, which will make a great graduation gift for some of Sam's friends, with cash tucked in.
Eating what we have
- I've continued to eat lots of leftovers for lunches, which works well.
- Both of the teens have eaten lots of sandwiches, with the Too Good To Go bread.
- I defrosted cranberries from the freezer (on my May "use it up" goals list) to make cranberry muffins.
- We've been eating lots of garden produce in our salads: basil, chives, mint & lettuce.
- Managed to use up two bags of salad before it went bad, even though the last salad required fishing out some questionable pieces. I'm working hard on food waste, so I went through the effort.
For others
- Finished my volunteer training for my college counselor role, and got fingerprinted for the same.
- Helped my aunt with another billing challenge.
What about you? Any wins to share?
I bought CVS care pass a couple of years ago. Not only do you get the 10 dollars per month, but occasionally they send an email notice with an additional 4 or 5 dollar bonus discount. It all adds up.
ReplyDeleteGood deals on the $52 spent at your local grocery store. That was a lot for the money. I also have the Carepass at CVS, it's a really great deal. I'm glad you got your severance pay. I had to LOL at your fishing out stuff from the salad bag, we do that here too.
ReplyDeleteI've debated the CVS pass- I think I'm convinced it would be a good little bonus to my budget if I used it right. It's been a while since I got the free $4 care bucks. Only breaks in budget was some clearances deli meat, that we froze some and will eat over the weekend and next week at 2/2 price.
ReplyDeleteI commented on Sluggy’s blog since I am catching up on my blog reading so I will try to list a few different things here. I did comment I stayed at Sleep Inn for son’s graduation. It had a microwave, fridg, was reasonably cheap, clean, and 20 minutes from graduation.I put the grands up at Holiday Inn Express because I felt like they could go on safe shade covered walks with the kids where it was located. Grandkids played at free splash pad at local park. We went on a tour of his law school so four year old got to sit in the judge’s chair in the moot courtroom and bang the gavel so she was thrilled… lol. I bought the grandkids crayons and coloring books from Dollar Tree and they were very happy. Picked up a couple of stuffed animals on sale and it was a good thing because the 18 month old arrived not feeling well and was delighted to get it. While paying for daughter’s family’s found trip to fly across country into Atlanta and back home, their hotel bill, meals, and car rental was expensive, it was worth it because neither grandkid had ever been to this state. Normally family ((usually me) flies out there. I am just grateful she (and her husband) were willing to come to her baby brother’s graduation because they are close. To be real, I would not have flown across country with two kids who were barely recovered from being quite sick. To be clear, they were not contagious. But I so appreciate she and her husband did that for her youngest brother. She hooded him in the ceremony. It was fabulous! I ate homemade sandwiches on the fly during a trial a week later so that was cheap. Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteYou had a very good week frugally. Thanks so much for the ideas on using up the glut of oranges I purchased.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.