Frugal Friday

 It's Friday again! Here's a roundup of a few wins for the week. 

Saving on things we buy

• I needed a variety of pantry staples that I was out of, so decided it was a good time to hit up Safeway & use a $25 gift card I earned via Fetch. I also took the time to download two $1 off coupons in their app. I bought: stone ground mustard, Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, whipping cream, a bag of potatoes, & a bunch of celery. I spent $4.74. This was still a lot for what I got, but those pantry staples can be quite expensive, so it was a good time to use the gift card. I rarely shop at Safeway, unless they have a particularly good loss leader. I also uploaded my receipt to Fetch, saving a bit more, as they have a Safeway receipt offer.  
• With Sam at an out of state college, we've had a lot of flight expenses. Southwest is almost always quite a bit cheaper than Alaska. Costco was selling Southwest gift cards for $429.99 for a $500 gift card. I bought the limit of 5. I used my Costco credit card, which saved $43. All told, I paid $2149.95 for $2500 worth of gift cards, then minus the additional $43. 

Earning money

• Sold a pair of work pants I bought & didn't wear before I stopped working. Made $20 on eBay. One more item out of the house!
• A huge one - finally sold our extra car! This *almost* covers the cost of our property taxes, so that's a big win. 

Avoiding spending

• Charged our car for free at M's office. This is something we do weekly, but I often forget about the savings.

Eating what we have

• We've been using up peppers (purchased for fajitas during my parents visit) in salads
• Eating lots of pomegranates from our tree. They are delicious!
• Ate leftover french dip sandwich for lunch (this was from our Halloween dinner out)
• Rescued a potato soup fail by pureeing it, adding more cream & sour cream & thinning it out a bit with milk. While not exactly what I'd envisioned (my fault, I added too many other veggies), it's definitely passable. 

For others

• Very minor, but picked up some leftover trash on the pickle ball court, after we wrapped up our game. Someone else had left it behind, but it's nice to keep the courts clean for everyone. 
• I picked up glass beer bottles left behind on the soccer field. This is especially dangerous, as the bottles break, glass gets into the turf, and it can really injure the kids. 
• Continued to do calls & volunteer for my high school students. 

How about you? Any wins to share?