Friday, July 26, 2019

Frugal Friday

In addition to the normal things this week (cleaning the house, making meals, doing our own yard/pool maintenance), here are our other frugal wins for the week:

Saving on things we buy:

  • I bought two Uber gift cards at Rite Aid, earning $10 in bonus cash for a future purchase
  • I also used a $5 Rite Aid bonus cash from a previous transaction towards deodorant that I needed to pick up
  • Filed for a reimbursement of my eye exam, as I had to pay out of pocket
  • We received a gift card for Christmas from M's manager, but despite several calls & tries to the company, the gift card wouldn't work & I was always asked to call back. Finally got it to go through today, so we will get a few bottles of wine delivered. I'm glad to check that off the list!


Earning money:

  • I found $9 in Las Vegas in leftover slot machines. I suppose people are too lazy to take their vouchers another foot or so to the machine to cash them in? I also found $.25 or so on the ground & in various change machines. I turned the money into an Amazon gift card via CoinStar (one of the free redemption options)
  • Sold two items on eBay
  • I haven't been able to redeem anything on Bing/Microsoft rewards forever. Finally tracked down customer service, after multiple emails, and redeemed for an Amazon gift card.
  • Filled out the Equifax data breach compensation form, which means M & I will likely both get $125. 

Avoiding purchases/spending:

  • Returned a lip treatment that I didn't like, and got a credit back to my card
  • M & I got back later than expected on Sunday (flight delay), & we were tempted to go out to eat. Instead, I defrosted a few things from the freezer (kebab for M, sausage for me), put together a couple of salads, and we had that outside on the patio with a nice glass of wine. It was lovely. 
  • We've been able to eat a few tomatoes from the garden - they are delicious!!
  • Used an Amazon mailing package from a camp purchase to mail an eBay sale. 
  • Used a grocery store gift card to pick up a few things we needed
  • Returned a dress that I noticed was almost sheer in the right light
  • Sent my Jansport backpack in for repairs. I've had the backpack since college, so it's more likely it will be replaced (they have a lifetime warranty), but I'll give repairs a shot. I did pay for the shipping of the backpack there. 
  • Used a $2 reward + a gift card to treat myself to lunch at Panera one day, when I was out & about
  • Took advantage of a work promotion on a photo book. It required some effort & a bit of driving, but will save $20 on my next photo book. Woohoo! Perfect timing.
  • Went to the library & picked up a big bunch of new books to read

What about you? How did save money this week?

8 comments:

  1. Hey, that totally counts as getting some where on your photobook project :) I harvested a few strawberries, several tomatoes and a few peas from my own garden and then took home a cabbage, several cucumbers, 2 zucchini, some more strawberries, radishes and a few blueberries from my friend who is going on holiday and didn't want things to go to waste while she was gone. Other than that with Kid #2 it was more expensive than we had hoped - you win some you lose some

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  2. Have not grocery shopped as I saw nothing in the adds to stock up on. Eating almost exclusively out of garden.

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    1. I miss that phase of gardening. We have a huge squirrel problem here, so unfortunately, we are getting just a few things off of the plants. But, nice for you to get such a volume of fresh produce.

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  3. I just caught up with your updates. We've been traveling and I haven't had time to read any blogs until now.

    Found money is great and also baffling! How do people just leave money behind?

    What was going on with your Bing redemptions, do you know? I've been hoarding the points but this makes me wonder if I should be starting to redeem those.

    I filled out the compensation forms yesterday! I won't log that until I get the money though.

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    1. On the Bing rewards, it's because I have a VOIP vs traditional cell number. It was an easy fix - I gave a friend's number (with her permission) & they only use it to send a code. They don't share the number with anyone or use it for marketing purposes. I then used the code to redeem. It took forever to figure out what the issue was, but the fix was quick at least.

      I have no idea why people leave money behind. Agree, totally baffling. Their time is worth so much more than anyone elses?

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    2. Ah, I see! I'm going to try a redemption just so I know how it works in a bit so that's good to know.

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