Frugal Friday

It was another not frugal week, as I discovered that I needed conservative business attire for my trip to Tokyo. In my previous company, we were much more tech, so while we dressed up a bit from the standard California office attire, it was not as my boss described would be appropriate for my trip next week. So, I picked up a few things on Sunday & also placed a couple of online orders. I'll return anything that doesn't work, but it wasn't cheap & I had to pay to expedite one of the orders, to get it here on time. Sigh. 

Nick has also had a lot of "new school" expenses: application fees to rush, climbing gym add on to the gym, game tickets, school supplies, books, etc. We are sharing some of these expenses, as he didn't have a chance to work many hours over the summer, due to the prolonged restaurant closure, so we are also helping him with some of them as well. For example, we definitely want to encourage him to work out, and he & his roommate are both very into using the climbing wall at the school. The gym is free, and the add on for the climbing wall is $35/semester, which is pretty reasonable. 

Also not fitting into this frugal category, but worth noting - I called the IRS & got a 30 day extension (a missing tax form that didn't get uploaded when I did my 2023 taxes). While I hope not to use it, it takes the pressure off with all of the traveling. I have an entire rant about how I used Charles Schwab's tax import feature, and clearly not everything was imported, but that's a story for another day, and now I have some breathing room to get it resolved. 

Saving on things we buy

• We are going back to Boulder for family weekend. I needed to cancel my return flight, as I'm heading to London instead on Sunday, rather than flying back home with M & Sam. When I cancelled the return segment of the flight, United popped up a note that I wouldn't be getting a credit, because the outbound price was miraculously the exact same price as my original round trip fare, down to the penny. I did a quick price check, and proved that was incorrect. I spent some time on the phone with United & the system glitched out when trying to pull the right price for the single flight. I will be receiving a $270 credit to my card (even better than a flight credit!), so I was thrilled that I 1) noticed and 2) took the time to track down & correct their error. 
• I used $4 of Subway rewards when I bought lunch for myself + Sam. Now, I have $40+ of Subway gift cards, and had planned to pay with those, but the app kept glitching & I was on a tight timeline, so I paid with my credit card, which was irritating. I have gone back in & verified that my gift cards are in the app, so looks like it was a momentary problem. At first I thought they had disappeared altogether, which would have made me very displeased. Luckily, problem averted. 

Earning money

• Received my $1500 employer HSA contribution, as well as contributed $250 of my most recent paycheck. (It takes some time to set up on the back end). 

Avoiding spending

• Filled out my work expense report promptly, as I'm paying with my own card & getting reimbursed. (I can request a company card, but haven't jumped through those hoops yet.) It's $2600 of expenses (not including flight, which is covered on the back end by the company), so plenty of motivation to get it submitted quickly. 
• Speaking of hoop jumping, went through a lot of steps to get Nick's health insurance for school approved. This saves $2800, so it was definitely worth all of the hoop jumping. Although, given this is my second kid in college, I will add that this process is unnecessarily hard compared to other colleges. 

Eating what we have

• Made a creative breakfast on a day when I was pretty hungry (jet lag). Used a brioche hamburger bun, a piece of provolone cheese from a pack that needed to be used up, a sliced tomato from an earlier dinner & two eggs. It was delicious & filling. 
• Use chicken leftovers in a salad, for a quick lunch.
• Made my way through some protein bars that Nick left behind for breakfasts.

For others:

• A package arrived at our house, addressed to our specific address, with another name. I posted about it on our neighborhood group, but got no takers. So, I opened the package & gave away the items (100 Solo cups) to a woman who is hosting a community event. 

What about you? Any wins to share?