Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Frugal fail, & leftover takeout

Frugal fails are easy to forget about, but I assure you, they happen in my life! 

Monday was a wild day, with an away soccer game, lots of schedule glitches, & a generally late evening. I had dinner planned, but the boys were desperate to get takeout & wore me down, thanks to the craziness of the day. I really wanted to get home. I had the genius idea to do delivery, and it could be delivered right as we were arriving home, and remembered I had an Uber gift card that we could use (you can use Uber gift cards for UberEats as well). 

Nick loves all things tech, so offered to place the order & allow me to start driving home. Order placed. I asked him to check on the arrival time, and he paused & says, "Oops." He placed the order to be delivered at the location we were at (the high school where the soccer match occurred), vs our house. I pulled over, and got it sorted out, with some effort. A few problems:

  • The order originates from a specific restaurant location, and there's no way to change that part. So, I had to pay extra (and, it was already so over priced, due to fees), as the driver had to go even further. Understood. It was a big mileage difference.
  • The food was...not warm, by the time it arrived.
  • It also was 30 minutes later than expected. I could have EASILY thrown together another meal in that time.
Laziness for the ..... non-win. ;-) 

In positive news, I was able to re-heat the leftovers yesterday, and the boys ate that for another dinner. I had leftover salad for lunch & dinner, with about 1/2 a salad left for today's lunch. The portions were generous, I'll give them that. So, not all was lost. But, it was a good reminder that "saving time" or choosing the "relaxing" option, is not always as it appears. 

Ah, well. Life goes on. I'll try to remember that next time they ask for takeout, and instead throw a frozen pizza or the like in the oven instead. Or, better yet, plan ahead with M to get dinner started while we're gone, reducing all temptation.

What about you? Any frugal fails lately?

5 comments:

  1. Frugal fails happen from time to time here too. Sometimes it involves having food delivered from restaurants too. It’s easy to give into the pressure. When my daughter was in school she wanted to eat out regularly. It’s easy to get worn down. Hang in there.

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  2. I struggled with Applebee's app and the bonus gift card a few weeks ago. Now I know I either have to call it in, or in the restaurant. We have four more weeks to use it. We usually do pick up, not delivery in the winter because where we live, things seem to always be cold and when I pick up, I bring an insulated bag-not that we do it often.

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  3. I have more frugal failures than I care to admit. I also have TONS of cases like your son's snafu with ordering, which tend to cause an unnecessary expenditure of either time or money. I often tell my family that I am sick of thinking things through for them. In fact, earlier in the month, we made an appointment to get h.s. kid's tires rotated. He agrees later to work that afternoon--no problem, friend will follow him to shop, drive him to work, he'll walk to the shop after his shift to pick up car. But, just today, THIS MORNING, before school, h.s. kid decided to check shop hours, and realized that he doesn't get off work before they close, so he tells me he needs me to meet him there at 3, give him my keys, and wait for his car to be finished. ORDINARILY I would have done it, but, as he well knows, I have to pick up his friend's sister after her school gets out, and take her to dance--as I can't be two places at once, he had to figure something else or change the appointment. Changing the appointment comes with a fee. OF COURSE, had he checked earlier in the week about when he had to pick up his car, I would have not agreed to helping the neighbor. Just an example of the thought (or lack of) processes here which occur on a weekly basis at least.

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  4. We all have frugal fails from time to time. But how frustrating, not just the money, but the time!!!!

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  5. I don't even want to think about all my frugal fails. You at least got another meal from yours. Me, well I am never that lucky.

    God bless.

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