A few frugal moves below, but can't imagine how much my youngest child is spending on gas this week. He is enjoying catching up with all of his friends, but it's a ton of driving & we all know how spendy gas is right now!
Saving on things we buy
- I drove to the airport & parked, picking up Nick. Parking set me back $4 (I like to go in & wait), which is still much cheaper than a ride share. I'm an early bird, so staying up late for his flight was the only wrinkle, but I did it!
- Allowed Nick to choose a gift from REI & used my rewards (plus some extra) to buy a birthday gift. Birkenstocks, for the curious. He is truly a Colorado boy now. ;-) Actually, all of his California friends wear them as well.
- Used iBotta for a cash back CVS offer & saved a whopping $1.36 off of a prescription.
- Sold an old gift card we weren't going to use, and after fees, made $13.
- Got a notice from Aetna that my last submission didn't go through. I get one $75 reimbursement for a standard medical appointment/wellness check (there's a long list), but the one I had that qualified was a mammogram. Resubmitted & already received my $75 back.
- You might remember that I ordered a very light weight & very water resistant rain coat for our trip to New Zealand. It was quite pricey. I listed & sold my old rain jacket on eBay & made $17. Didn't come close to the cost of the new one, but made a little back & also don't have two rain coats sitting around.
Avoiding spending
- I pre-ordered food for Nick on his flight home, knowing he would be quite hungry, and they didn't give it to him. I filled out a refund request& received a note that they would reimburse me the $15 I was charged.
- Booked two nights stay at a hotel in Boulder using points for family weekend. The rooms cost $1200/night without points! Insane. It's crazy to book this early, but this is a great opportunity to use Hyatt points.
- Knowing we'd have hungry eaters around again, I remembered to defrost some of the leftover pizza I froze when my parents were in town. It was actually well timed since (see above), Nick didn't get the food I ordered on the flight. He came home & are quite a bit of the leftover pizza. I did this with two different bags of pizza on two different nights, so I'm clearing out the freezer!
- Pulled out baguette & goat cheese from the freezer to make crostini to go with the birthday steak Nick requested. I also used a lemon from our tree, and thyme from the garden, and the only other addition was garlic, which we already had on hand.
- Squirrels made a huge mess in our planters, even though they don't eat green onions. I pulled out a bunch that they uncovered, so I'll be using them this week & will replant the bottoms again.
- Opted to make chicken salad for my contribution to our work potluck. There was an option to also donate money to food delivery. There was no one signed up for a main (isn't that how it always goes - mostly at our work because it's hard to keep things warm), so I opted for chicken salad, which is easy to put together. Not the most cost effective (I bought rotisserie chicken, grapes & celery at Costco), but definitely less than I would have contributed to food delivery. Also, we have about 1/3 of the rotisserie chicken meat leftovers, 3/4 of the grapes (boys will definitely eat them) & I'll use up the remaining celery as well. I mixed in 1/2 Greek yogurt & mayo from the fridge, a bit of garlic salt & topped with green onions from the garden.
For others
- I've been on a huge decluttering spree, and giving away a bunch to our neighbors.
What about you? Any frugal wins to share?
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