Friday, July 9, 2021

Frugal Friday

We had 10-12 people at our vacation house (different days) for a last hurrah, & it was so much fun. Entertaining that many people is rarely cheap, but we had a few frugal wins along the way.


Saving on things we buy

  • Used a Starbucks gift card to treat my mom & sister to a "thank you" drink for all of their help packing, organizing & cooking
  • My mom doesn't use iBotta, so I uploaded one of her receipts, saving $.10
  • Earned a $30 grocery store gift card for buying Uber gift cards (which, we will use for travel).
  • Used a $1 grocery reward for mayo, and earned another $1.15 iBotta offer for the same item. Made coleslaw for M, which he loves. 

Earning money

  • Found $.25 on the ground at Starbucks
  • Unpaused my eBay listings, & sold a few things:
    • A book from a freebie table
    • Two vases (on FB marketplace) that we brought back from the beach house

Avoiding spending

  • M & I had just one meal on our road trip home. We picked up deli sandwiches at Costco, and ate that for a combo lunch/dinner. I ate some trail mix I'd packed for the drive, and we considered that good. 
  • We were able to sign the closing documents for the vacation house in person (we thought we'd have to sign at home) & saved $175 on a mobile notary
  • We also fit all of our items from the beach house that we were moving (a couple of pieces of furniture that M really wanted) into our SUV, which I find nuts, but the kids weren't with us, so we folded the seat down. That saved another couple of hundred dollars. 

Eating what we have

  • With just the adults for the next few weeks, we need to be on top of our purchasing & consumption, as we don't have hungry teens around. I used lots of garden produce in our salads, and ate a couple of leftover hot dogs for lunch.
  • Used fresh chives, the aforementioned mayo & some leftover heavy cream in a coleslaw dressing. I had shredded cabbage & carrots in the back of the fridge, so this nicely used up that as well. 

For others

  • Gave away garden produce on Buy Nothing, as well as for neighbors
  • Got back into supporting the non-profit I volunteer for, now that I'm back from vacation
  • Listed a bunch of items on Buy Nothing, that I had put away for when we are back from our trip. We're back! Time to clean out the closet
That's it from our side? What about you? Any wins to share?



9 comments:

  1. My wins were light financially, but the items that were perfectly fine, but would have been thrown out form my daughters work were put to good use, or saved for later. I have my daughter use my receipts as well-she earned a gift card this past week so I'll share her win.

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    1. It's so nice to be able to use up food that would otherwise go to waste. We have a nice neighborhood swap that we use when someone has too much of something. It's really convenient. A neighbor dropped off a coleslaw she didn't care for (it was the Trader Joes Indian themed, with curry). M happily ate it, so no waste!

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  2. You did a great job as always! We were dealing with the hurricane here so we didn't go anywhere, I didn't even go grocery shopping. I squeezed out our meals over the very few things I left in the fridge and freezer. Right now my fridge contains milk, eggs, and a few condiments and that's serious it lol. We spent zero this week so that's a win all by itself. :)

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    1. While I wouldn't want to wish a hurricane forecast on you, it sounds like it does have benefits of cleaning out the fridge & freezer!

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  3. I put some leftovers into the freezer today to save them for another day. It’s nice to be able to eat what is on hand when the kids are out of the house. I do that too using up some things I know she wouldn’t eat. Sounds like you had a good week. I hope your weekend is equally good.

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    1. It's true - we can definitely choose our own adventure with food.

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  4. It is expensive to entertain that is why it is so nice to have a pantry and freezer full of rock bottom price food to build a menu from for a party. We ate yellow squash fried, last night along with a caprese salad from home grown tomatoes, basil and leftover fresh mozzarella,plus Swedish meatballs from the freezer with gravy from the restaurant supply store where it is pennies to make.

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    1. Yum! We went out for dinner last night (kid free date night), but we will plan for caprese salad tonight. I love the home grown tomatoes & basil. We have some really delicious fresh mozzarella in the fridge.

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  5. Sounds like some great wins! I love that you are eating the wilting veg, so you can pick up more at the farmers market. Fresh vegetables are the best!

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