Five Frugal Things | a viral Snoopy flip

My Five:

1. Gas: Twice this month I was able to use Kroger 1.00 off per gallon of gas to fill up both my car and my son’ car. It’s a bit of an ordeal, but worth it to me. We both drive to the gas station. We fill up the first car and then one of us holds the thing while the other drives and first car forward out of the way and the second car into position to fuel up. Stacked up points buying amazon gift cards on 4X days that I am using for Christmas presents.

2. Travel Hacking: My sister had to make two large purchases this month. She was going to pay cash, so instead I asked if I could put them on my credit card and she wrote me a check to cover it. Not only did I earn a few points, but the $1200 or so helped me meet a minimum spend on a new card to get the bonus points. I pay my credit cards in full each month.

3. Cheese! Our local grocery store had a wonderful cheese festival. I brought my three sons ages 21, 16, and 8 and enjoyed so many cheese samples. They went all out with wonderful appetizers that highlighted the premium cheeses and crackers, and sauces. Free meal. Free entertainment. We did buy a few fancy cheese products, but will love using them during the holidays. My first attempt at making a charcuterie board is in my future…

4. Cyber Monday deal: Spent $400 for $500 of gift cards to my grocery store.

5. Spent $450 for a $500 Target gift card. Beats the 5% I get from using my Target card and I also could put the charge on the new credit card to work towards the bonus.

Ha ha, that's an impressive week of free food! My week was much less fun on the frugal side -- it mostly consisted of saving money a million medical appointments :-/

Also, super random about the Snoopy doll. Reminds me of the weirdness that was the Tickle Me Elmo trend back in like, 2000.

Here are my own frugal wins:

https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/12/05/weekly-frugal-wins-way-too-many-medical-appointments/

I don't even like Snoopy (I know, who doesn't like Snoopy...) but thought the one in the winter jacket was cute. Kudos to you for selling one and, also, for leaving some for other customers. Thoughtful regarding others seems to be your default setting. 1. As I mentioned in commenting on someone else's comment, I won 25 pounds of pineapple shipped straight from Hawaii. That will be a huge savings on fruit for us and also saves us some money as we are giving a few of them away to neighbors. I cannot express how delighted people will be over quality fresh fruit in December. 2. Won a $50 gift certificate to Amazon, after spending five dollars in a raffle to support a local youth sport. Usually I say, "I never win anything!" and here I won something 2 days in a row. 3. Bought a gift certificate to a local pizza place as a Christmas gift for a good friend who rarely has spare money for eating out. The deal was buy a certificate and get a $20 one for free, so it will be frugal in the future when I use it on a day I cannot stand the thought of cooking. 4. For the second time in my life, our garbage guy knocked on our door and said, "This was left with the trash and I thought you might want it." It was another accordion! We are already a three accordion family so the husband cleaned it thoroughly and tested the parts and I was able to sell it locally for $150! (I did offer it to the music teacher at the high school but she laughed and wished me luck selling it. More fool her!) I used $50 of the money to buy a gift card for the garbage guy, since I have literally made hundreds off the accordion finds he has brought to my doorstep. I suggested he might want to give it to a family member who likes accordions and he said, "Mrs, I don't know anyone besides you who likes accordions!" (It cracks me up that he calls me Mrs. In 40 years of being married, the only other time I have been called that is by our postman when we lived in Scotland.) 5. Picky neighbor's dog does not like Blue Buffalo dog food so Pound Hound was the lucky recipient of a barely used 40 pound bag of it. I offered her some of my homemade dog treats but she said her dog refused to eat the last ones. "He and I don't like pumpkin." I did not tell her that my husband ate a bunch, thinking I had made him cookies. Apparently the dog bone shape of them did not give him a clue. So now I make some for him, too. They are totally healthy so what the hell...

Not a frugal observation, but an observation. I'm glad that assisted living is part of your training. My mother (age 83) moved to an assisted living apartment in July after living alone for many years. It was the right choice at the right time, and she adores (most of) the medical staff.

Is Woodstock under Snoopy's cap? Or inside the coat?