Combining two weeks, as I was out of town last Friday.
Saving on things we buy
- Earned $20 cash back from a TurboTax credit card offer, and $1.98 in a gas cash back. Costco gas is always cheaper than other stations, but sometimes Nick fills up on his way somewhere else, so I always download the gas offers.
- Uploaded our Costco receipt to Fetch & iBotta, and caught a $.10 off any grocery purchases from iBotta.
- Received an email that $6 of Rakuten credit cleared from a purchase way back in December.
- Submitted my last claim for my health & wellness reimbursement. I had $108 left for reimbursement, and had a sports massage to work on my QL for $110. An almost perfect match!
- Had to mail something to Nick that arrived after he left, so used Pirate Ship to save a bit off of standard USPS rates.
Earning money
- I put money aside in a savings account to pay taxes. Now that we know how much we need (and have paid), I have moved the rest of the funds into a CD that is paying 3.5%. Not amazing, but we need quite a bit of cash for future college spending (among other things, where we don't want to add to our investment accounts). This should generate about $110/month of interest, which will be helpful.
- I charged an expensive work course on my credit card, and will be getting reimbursed in a few weeks. The purchase will generate about $30 in credit card rewards. Nothing incredible, but it all adds up.
Avoiding spending
- Washed all of the bathroom rugs, and took advantage of the sunshine by drying them all outdoors. That saves quite a bit of drying time/cost, given how heavy they are.
- My bay area friend & I hit up a lounge at the Las Vegas airport, where I had a sparkling water, filled up my water bottle & we both took advantage of a pretty good kale salad, to add a bit more nutrition to our packed lunch (sandwich & protein bar).
Eating what we have
- Sent Nick to the airport with a bagel & a banana. he wasn't hungry in the morning for breakfast before his flight (and, let's be honest, didn't get up early enough for that anyway), but this way he could have food on the flight & avoid buying anything at the airport.
- Made the Costco pad Thai for a quick dinner on Saturday. M eats more protein than that, so I added a leftover grilled burger patty on the side with his.
- For dinner on Sunday, M made rice & I pulled grilled chicken out of the freezer to go with it. This worked well with our dinner plans, as the rest of the rice was used to round out a chicken satay dish, also from the freezer. Sometimes it's about adding enough to round out a couple of leftovers, and Persian rice is both delicious & great at bulking up a meal.
- I inventoried both freezers, so I have a better idea of what we need to use up.
- As part of my goal of working down our freezer & targeting one item a week, I pulled out shredded zucchini from the garden last year & made a shredded zucchini casserole. This recipe also used up: more cottage cheese (almost gone!), the rest of a bag of cheddar cheese, the end of a container of sour cream (not called for, but added it in to avoid waste) & I topped it with green onions from the garden. We are always looking for ways to use more green onions!
- M made barbecued chicken & rice for dinner on Sunday, and I made a salad. I added a green onion from the garden.
- I packed food & snacks from the condo (from the groceries we purchased and/or I brought from home) for airport/travel food on Sunday.
- Used United miles & Hyatt hotel credits for family weekend at Boulder in October. Both flights & hotels were outrageous, so we opted to use miles & credits.
For others
- Offered to help two college students out with calls to discuss careers, how to find a job, skill sets they need, etc.
- Found a lost wallet at the condo we were staying at, and returned it to the owner
What about you? Any wins to share?
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