Frugal Friday

 This is a bit of an abbreviated edition, as we were largely traveling. As I'm sure you can guess, taking four teens skiing (plus two adults) is nowhere near frugal! But, we had an amazing time, & no regrets at all (other than the rain for the first half of the trip). Unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to control the weather yet. ;-) 

Saving on things we buy

• I was able to apply a "Guest of Honor" award to the second hotel room (1st half of our stay), which ensured all of us could eat breakfast for free during our stay. Breakfast was a large buffet & very nice, and pricey. It would have been ~$250/day otherwise! Insane pricing, but I won't complain about free. 
• Bought lunch at Costco (drive up) & In & Out (drive home), both of which were so much cheaper than on mountain food. 

Earning money

• I was able to cash out some survey response money (Prolific), and made $25
• I sold Sam's old bookshelf on FB, for $45.
• I gifted M's coworker a United upgrade (a business upgrade from Tokyo to Newark, which is extremely pricey, if you are paying out of pocket) & he gave us a $150 gift card as a thank you. 

Avoiding spending

• M & I ate a free dinner on NYE, courtesy of the hotel we were staying at. It was nothing to write home about, but neither of us were particularly hungry, as we were both coming down with a head cold. 

Eating what we have

• Brought tons of snacks for the teen skiers, and they ate plenty in the room, on the drive, on the  slopes, etc.
• Made everyone a big breakfast this morning, before they took off for: bowling, soccer practice & the rock climbing gym. 
• Managed to eat almost everything, despite being on two trips. Just a tiny bit of food waste (an apple, a pear & a handful of tater tots.) 
• This should be under the category of "drinking" what we have, but M & I shared wine at one of our ski dinners, and didn't finish the bottle. We brought it back to our room, and kept it in the fridge. We had a toast before our NYE dinner, with the remainder of the wine. 

For others

• Gave away a fancy NYE goodie bag from the party we attended. 
• I was drying ski clothes at the hotel laundry & gave away both change & laundry pods for other guests who needed them. 
• Dropped off Persian goodies (from my MIL) as a New Years gift for my neighbor, who cooks a lot of Persian food. 

What about you? Any wins to share?