Five Frugal Things | a certified tightwad

I don’t know how exciting this list will be because shew, the first week of school was nutso for me.

the requisite back to school photo

I don’t think I did any terribly exciting frugal things!

being interrupted by Miss Chiquita

1. I bought a marked-down package of fruit bars

Zoe sometimes likes to grab these when she needs a little snack on the go, so I picked up this damaged box for $1.50. Don’t worry, it wasn’t open when I bought it.

Relatedly, in Amy Dacyzyn’s “Are you a tightwad?” quiz, one item on the list is, “I have a box of dented cereal in my pantry.” Ha. But I think a box of fruit bars counts as well.

And besides, we all already know I’m a certified tightwad, quiz or no quiz. 😉

(For the record, I just finished a box of shredded wheat with a damaged box!)

2. I packed all of my food (and coffee) last week

Exciting? No. But all of these packed lunches add up over time.

I probably save at least $5 every time I pack one and if I do that even four times a week, that’s $80 a month.

If you add in all the coffees I avoid buying, that’s probably another $80 a month.

3. I made a sandwich with two heels of bread

I told you I didn’t have anything earthshaking to share. Ha.

The last two pieces of bread were both heels, sooooo, I made a ham sandwich with them. Yay me for using up the entire loaf.

(The loaf is Nature’s Own 100% whole wheat sandwich bread, which I buy at Sam’s Club in a two-pack, and then I freeze one. The bread is very soft, which makes it good for peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Or ham sandwiches. I also like Dave’s Killer Bread, but sometimes it feels like a little too much for a sandwich!)

4. I ordered a larger bag of kibble from Chewy

I realized the price per pound went down with a bigger bag, so that’s what I opted for. And I went through TopCashback first so I’m getting an extra 4% back on my purchase.

Every little bit helps. 🙂

5. I did my personal tax return

I had to file an extension months ago because there was a delay with my blog tax return (which my CPA does). I just finally got the blog return back, so I hopped onto TurboTax and knocked out my personal return.

Yay!! I am so happy to have this task off my back. I could hire my CPA to do it, but the personal part of my return is still simple enough for me to do.

The blog return? OH HECK NO. My blog is an S-corp now and that is way, way, way over my head to manage.

Anyway, I saved where I could by DIYing my personal return.

Also, also…I’m getting a decent-sized refund this year, which is a nice surprise, of course*. I was telling one of my friends that I am so much less broke than I was at this time last year (when I was getting no child support or alimony while also paying a lot of lawyer fees).

Life has improved in so many ways and I am grateful!

*I know that technically one should adjust withholding to get a $0 tax return, but since I didn’t do that, the refund is a nice surprise. And you know I will put the money to work as soon as I get it.

Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately?