Friday, May 29, 2020

Frugal Friday

It's another week of sheltering in place! Here's what we've been up to.


Saving on things we buy
  • Used a discount code to pick up mojito supplies (shop pick up service, where they drop off in your trunk). The supplies weren't cheap, but significantly less than what we would have paid for a few mojitos in a restaurant. We'll also use fresh mint from our garden. 
  • Used $4 grocery store reward to apply towards hot dog buns & ice cream for the long weekend
  • Found out that my husband & I will each get reimbursed for office furniture, as we will be WFH for the indefinite future. We'd previously bought adjustable desks & other items, and will now get our money back! This is a huge win. 
  • I also saved around $2,000 by doing a significant amount of yard work on my own. We will have a gardener handle other tasks, but we cut the bill down by quite a bit by my earlier efforts. 

Earning money
  • Sold a big ticket item (crystal pitcher, $100) on eBay & spent a lot of time & materials around the house to get it packaged safely. Arranged for free package pickup via USPS
  • Sold another good sized item (slate cheese tray, $65) & repurposed a box that had just arrived (we had to buy our son a laptop for school work, which was...not frugal). 
  • Continued listing & selling (smaller) items on eBay
  • Earned a $5 reward on Bing

Avoiding spending
  • We've had issues with our car registration (we paid, and got a smog test) & there was a glitch that kept telling us our smog certification was expired. Because the DMV was closed, I was very tempted to get another smog check. But, instead, waited for an hour in the chat queue, spoke to an agent & got it resolved. Saved $55 & avoided the cost of getting a ticket, even though technically we are paid up on our car tags. 
  • Planned to do a pickup lunch to kick off the long weekend, but forgot that M had the car, and our other car didn't have tags (above). Avoided takeout lunch. ;-) 
  • We've had to run our A/C for brief spurts (an hour here & there) to keep the house cool, as it's now our office & school & the weather has been close to 100 here. However, I am line drying all of our clothes, taking advantage of that warm weather! We do this year round (not with towels, socks or underwear, but everything else) & it's great to avoid heating up the house & to save money. 

What about you? Any frugal wins for the week?

4 comments:

  1. Good for you for selling several big ticket items! I sold one big ticket item this week. My daughter has sold quite a bit too. :)

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    1. It feels great to sell the more expensive items, doesn't it? And, love those weeks where you have a lot of volume just rolling out of the house

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  2. I am truly impressed that you are making money, saving money and getting reimbursed during this crazy time!
    As for the mojitos, I think we all have to treat ourselves a little and like you said, it's much cheaper than having drinks out.
    A restaurant here is selling Bloody Marys by the gallon. It costs less than three drinks at their place normally would so I am thinking it might be really good this weekend.

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    Replies
    1. Ooh, Bloody Marys by the gallon sounds like a perfect weekend treat! I like how restaurants are getting so creative. I think there will be some fun parts that stay, even after life returns to the (new) normal

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