1. I scanned a pile of receipts with Fetch.
I’ve been using this app for a while now, and I can definitively tell you that it’s a much better use of your time if you buy a lot of brand name grocery/personal care items.
Fetch does give you 25 points for a receipt, even if you haven’t bought anything from a brand name that participates with Fetch, but 25 point receipts take a LONG time to add up.
Every now and then, I buy a participating product without knowing it, and then the receipt is suddenly worth 400-600 points.
Anyway, if you have receipts with a lot of brand names, Fetch would probably be more worth it for you than it is for me!
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In case you are new to it, Fetch is a free app that gives your rewards based on what groceries you buy. You can get $3 just for downloading the app and scanning your first receipt. Use code QG8V2.
2. We used a birthday discount at our favorite restaurant.
It’s still a splurge compared to our usual $20 date nights, but a free appetizer and dessert does help a little.
3. I tried earning Starbucks stars.
I scanned my grocery receipts from buying two bags of Starbucks coffee at the grocery store, on sale.
But for some reason, the stars are not showing up in my account.
I am still giving myself credit for trying, though!
4. I trimmed my own bangs.
Last time I did this, I accidentally cut some hairs that I didn’t mean to, and I will be paying for that mistake for some months.
But this time, I was more careful, so I have no new damage. 😉
And I’ve trimmed my bangs approximately a million times in my adult life, so hey, one mishap is not a huge deal.
5. I…
filled up my gas tank with a discount card, made sure I had downloaded podcasts to entertain me on several longish drives this past week, cancelled an auto-ship delivery, and shipped out a book I sold on eBay.
Randi Macdonald
Monday 9th of March 2020
Have you heard about the app getupside? Its for gas points. It kinda sounds too good to be true.
Tammie H
Saturday 29th of February 2020
Your Five Frugal Things is one of my favorite parts of your blog. I'm always reading, but I can never think of any frugal things I do. So I am challenging myself to start today... I hope to have several things to post next week!
Tiffany
Saturday 29th of February 2020
Thanks for the honest Fetch review. I'd been considering trying it, but I also almost entirely shop at Aldi, so I think the juice isn't going to be worth the squeeze for me!
Amanda
Wednesday 26th of February 2020
1) I scrubbed my shower curtain liner. I really hate this chore. And a new, perfectly clean one would be what, $10? But then I would have to live with myself for putting a perfectly useful piece of plastic in a landfill.
2) We menu-planned, shopped at Aldi, and prepped lunches at home this week. (And every week.)
3) I made two strategic career moves: timing my dissertation defense to the best job market advantage and prepping for an online interview for a post-doctoral fellowship.
4) We made bread in the bread machine this morning. Usually I'm the one who makes it, based on your recipe and guidance, Kristen. But the last couple times my husband filled the bread machine, and things didn't turn out quite right. This morning he watched me, and we realized that over ten years I have subconsciously altered the recipe for what works best in our climate and bread machine. I hadn't even realized! Now we're both on board, which will hopefully result in consistently good bread.
5) We have decided to put our sizable tax refund straight in our "spending saving" account. It is our sinking fund for big purchases--major house repairs, new vehicles, major vacations. We toyed with putting it on the mortgage or splitting it between the kids' 529s, but I think the sinking fund is the right call.
Heidi Louise
Wednesday 26th of February 2020
Shower curtains are a pain to clean, and I commend you for not just throwing it out! They can be washed in a not too full load in the washing machine, with bleach and soap and a few towels for friction.
A
Wednesday 26th of February 2020
You now have to follow up and send a photo of the receipt to earn stars from bags of coffee at Starbucks. They'll have sent it to the email connected to your account, so check there, it could be in SPAM. It's annoying, but I have a hunch it's because people were peeling those stickers off and grabbing points they hadn't actually "earned."
Myra Bruce
Saturday 29th of February 2020
You can text “rewards” to 811811 and they will respond asking for your scanned receipts. You can upload as many as you want. They’ll text once they have been accepted and your stars show up in your account then.