Friday, December 10, 2021

Frugal Friday

 We are just cruising towards the end of the year! The weeks are flying by. It was a busy week, with plenty of school soccer, an office visit, a few late work nights, etc. 

Here are our frugal wins for the week:


Saving on things we buy

  • Bought Home Depot gift cards at the grocery store, earning $30 in rewards. 
  • I had some Rite Aid rewards to use up (from Black Friday), so I went in to see if I could find any deals that matched with iBotta or Fetch. Not much there, but I did use a $10 off of a $50 purchase coupon, & picked up a bunch of stuff we were running low on. I also restocked a few makeup items (mascara, for my gym bag & eyeliner, which I wear rarely, but I'm out of). Total was $16.50, after my rewards. I was able to get $6 off from iBotta for the mascara & eyeliner, bringing the total to $10.50 out of pocket. I then earned another $8 back. I didn't notice that I earned a discount on one of my items, so I'm also $2 away from a $5 bonus reward. 
  • Went back for the second round of Rite Aid (to spend the $2 for the $5 reward) & spent $8.26, earned $6 in bonus bucks, & another $1.00 via iBotta. I bought: shaving cream, four boxes of tea, & 2 mini chocolate Santas for the kids. 

Earning money

  • M & I received our comp updates for the year, with our salary increases, annual bonus & stock awards. We also received a one time bonus (not part of our standard comp), which was super awesome & unexpected. 
  • Redeemed Fetch points for a $10 Amazon gift card
  • Cashed out $25.55 of iBotta rewards via Paypal, added it back to the grocery budget
  • Made $90 on Facebook Marketplace, selling outgrown skis & poles
  • eBay....oh my. I'm very frustrated by some of their crazy policies. I'll leave it there for now, but wow. They make it hard to be a seller.  
  • I did sell an ugly holiday sweater on eBay

Avoiding spending

  • I used Rite Aid rewards to cover the out of pocket cost of a prescription. 

Eating what we have

  • Ate restaurant leftovers for lunch 2x, and made the kids leftovers for lunch 2x. Teens are lazy, and if I prep it, they will eat it. ;-) 
  • Had a really busy night, and defrosted a freezer meal (taco cauliflower rice). Shredded cheese, sliced tomatoes & got the guac all ready to go. As soon as my calls were over, I heated up the dinner & we were good to go. Bonus points that it moved a large container out of the freezer. 
  • Nick had a taco quesadilla on another night, using up a bit more of the leftover taco meat. 
  • I had a taco salad for lunch, using up the tiny amount of taco meat & taco rice. 
  • We had leftovers several times for dinner this week

For others

  • Call with mentee
  • Helped a charitable organization get set up through our work system, so I can log volunteer hours (as can others) & have donations matched
  • Volunteered (2x) for a sports tournament for the kids
  • Optimized my time to volunteer as much as possible, as I'm attempting to log plenty of volunteer hours before the end of the year. (My company makes a donation to the charity for each hour I volunteer.) 
How about you? Any frugal wins to share? 

9 comments:

  1. You had another good week, especially with the unexpected bonus and volunteer hours!

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  2. Odd. I thought that plans for investing the unexpected bonus (plus the other annual income increases) would be front and center in your comments, instead recounting minor savings from purchases. Roderick

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    1. Hi Roderick. I think your slew of only ever negative & nonsensical comments are odd. You have never commented on a post, other than to add a negative comment. Why is that?

      I'm not sure what your intentions are, but you come off as envious. You may want to rethink your trolling. :-)

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  3. I would definitely like an unexpected bonus…. Lol. I am retired from full time as of December 1st but go back to old job part time on January 3rd and head into trial that day! I guess frugal win is to still get a paycheck? Cindy in the South

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  4. Congratulations on the year end bonus. I'm sure you'll put to good use. I like how you describe the boys eating habits. Your life lucky they enjoy whatever you serve, but I read your meals and know they've got to be good.

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  5. What a great frugal week.

    God bless.

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  6. Sounds like a good week for you all. Great news on the bonuses. Sounds like you did a good job using stuff you had on hand for meals this week. I know what you mean about prepping the food so your kids will eat it. I do the same thing here. :)

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  7. Hope you've made it through the week ok!

    I am bemused about how long it's taking me to get any traction on ibotta. I've been on there for ages and still haven't reached teh first payout XD

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