Frugal Friday

It's been a busy week, trying to squeeze things into a very short work week, and now a trip to Boulder. But, we had a few wins along the way. 

Saving on things we buy

• M eats a lot of sardines (not my jam, but whatever) & our Costco is no longer carrying them. I found them on sale at our local store, and bought out the few remaining. I also picked up some avocado for our fajita dinner. I had a $5 off of a $15 purchase, dropping the charge to $12 for 9 packages of sardines + 2 avocados. 
• Pre-booked airport parking, which is the cheapest option for us on most trips. I also created an account, as apparently they are starting to build a loyalty program. 

Earning money

• (Insert caveat that chasing credit card perks never makes sense unless you are paying your bill in full every month & aren't carrying a balance.) Thanks to a variety of factors, mostly including work travel, I hit my spend reward goals on a couple of my other credit cards, and decided to shift the rest of the year spend to United. I earned a $100 travel credit for my efforts, which is basically zero effort at all. Next year will be different, as I won't be charging work travel. One of my goals is to build a credit card strategy, to ensure we are utilizing the best cards for our situation & ditching what doesn't work.

Avoiding spending

Eating what we have

• I'm continuing my fridge, freezer, pantry attempts for lunches, as well as dinners. I prefer berries on my yogurt, but saw we had some grapes that needed to be used up, so had those chopped instead on top, and they were quite good. My preferred yogurt combo is: Trader Joes Greek vanilla yogurt, some sort of fruit on top, with a light sprinkle of the TJs protein granola. Hits the cravings for something a little sweet, but isn't bad for you. 
• For the Korean beef dish I made last weekend, I sliced the pickles that go with it, and added them to the leftovers of a pickled onion jar, and shook them up for a few hours. That added great flavor to the recipe, for free. I did this 2x during the week.
• Used six overly ripe bananas from the freezer to make banana muffins (9 without chocolate chips for M, 3 with for Sam). Everyone was pleased. 
• I noticed that the shelf stable oat milk I keep on hand was going to expire in December. I don't prefer this kind at all, as it doesn't foam up for my morning latte, but I also don't want to waste it. I've started adding a bit to my regular oat milk every morning. Somehow, even a small amount means the milk doesn't foam, but that's a pretty small problem, all things considered. ;-) 
• Ate leftovers during the week, to ensure the fridge was cleaned out before we left for Boulder.

For others

• Shared a Guest of Honor Hyatt award (gives anyone the same status as a Globalist, which means free breakfast, potential for room upgrades, etc) with a friend. 
• Increased a tip on a delivery, when the person was extremely prompt. I'm not a huge fan of the tipping culture (wish everyone was paid a fair wage by their employer), but I also know that's not the current system & how hard some of those delivery people (and, other staff who is tipped) work, and while I tip a standard amount always, I like to remember to reward awesome service as well.
• Reached out to my family + my BFF, and have more folks lined up to contribute encouragement cards to the guardian scholars (students just coming out of the foster system & in college). I'm writing my own cards, as well as adding some gift cards.  

What about you? Any wins to share?