Five Frugal Things | I'm the carpool mom

1. I car-pooled with my clinical group

My clinical group for peds is going to a hospital that charges $25/day for parking.

None of us felt too enthused about that, so we are carpooling together.

We get one validated parking voucher per clinical day, so if we all pile into my van, none of us has to pay a dime. Yay!

It’s a good thing I still have my mom vehicle. 😉

Minivans: good for people-hauling but also good for furniture-hauling. This is the marketplace chest after I painted it. I don’t even need a storage chest but this picture makes me want to go find a used one and paint it for myself. It’s so pretty!

2. I upgraded my Southwest Rapid Rewards card

I got an offer to upgrade to their higher tier, and I carefully read the fine print.

It does come with a $75 higher annual fee, BUT you get an annual $75 Southwest flight credit, which basically just cancels that out as long as you plan to fly at least once per year.

Plus, I’ll get more Rapid Rewards bonus points annually in addition to a 5,000 point bonus for upgrading.

So overall it seemed like a very good choice.

Once I graduate from nursing school next year, I could, you know, actually go places! I do have some weekends off of classes right now, but the problem is that even when I don’t have class, I have studying and homework to do.

But once I graduate, if I have some days off, they actually will be days off. Soooo, I could go on some adventures. Yay!

3. I ordered a lunch container

My oblong stainless steel container fits very nicely in my lunch box, and there’s just enough space for a second one to fit next to it.

My other large stainless steel container (from Goodwill) is round, though, so I cannot fit them both in the lunchbox.

A lot of times I want to bring both a salad/protein (like a chickpea or green salad with chicken) and also a serving of cottage cheese plus fruit or veggies (like tomatoes). So, if I had two containers that fit side by side, I could make it happen!

I poked around eBay to see if I could find a deal, but all of the listings were more expensive than Amazon. So, I used my just-purchased Amazon gift card from my Fetch rewards account and bought a container.

Even if I had to pay the $15, I still would consider this an investment purchase. It would probably only take one day of not packing my lunch for me to spend $15 on food!

So, anything (within reason) that helps me pack my lunches is worth it.

4. I bought some earbuds on eBay

When I work out at the gym, I usually wear my JBL wireless earbuds, which are one of the few styles that work with my tiny ear canals.

the original earbuds

Unfortunately, the ear cover on one side split, and these earbuds will not stay on without a cover.

JBL no longer makes these, so I can’t buy new covers. BOO.

But I did find a new-in-box set on eBay, so I submitted an offer for $5 less than the asking price, and these ended up being way cheaper than the original pair I bought new years ago!)

Ooh! a fun color this time!

Funny note: I saw a not-new-in-box set for $7 and almost bought them. And then I was like EWWW these have been in someone else’s ears!

(!!!!!!!)

I don’t think I could clean them enough to feel ok about putting them in my ears.

5. I got a free emergency pizza

I don’t quite understand how this works, but sometimes Domino’s puts a free “emergency pizza” offer in my app.

Soooo, I ordered a BBQ chicken one for Zoe, since that’s her favorite.

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

P.S. Today is election day here in the U.S., and I just want to reiterate that I don’t have the energy to moderate a political discussion here. I know that whatever the election result is, we in this community will have varying feelings about it. However, this is not the place to process those feelings. We’re gonna stick to things like frugality and thankfulness (and tomorrow, a Tightwad Gazette post.) 🙂

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Lindsay B

Wednesday 6th of November 2024

1. I mended the seam of a toddler shirt.

2. DH and I used the last of a gift card to go out to lunch (a rare occasion, and a treat) after we took in our littlest one for his shots.

3. I remembered to check our health rewards account through our insurance company. We should both receive $25 to our FSA debit cards for doing our flu shots recently!

4. We had to replace our fridge after the compressor died recently. I spent $10 on a Consumer Reports online membership which turned out to not help that much, as there are about a million different options and only a few hundred(!) have been tested. However I finally went to a local store to check out what they looked and felt like in person, then DH looked at the manufacturer’s website for details. He chatted with a rep who offered him a 15% discount code, and the site included delivery, installation, and removal of the old fridge for free! So the total price ended up being less than the Home Depot price by several hundred, not including any delivery/installation fees. And we will also get $55 back from Rakuten. Overall it was better than I expected… and to be honest our fridge was pretty strange and I am glad that of all our appliances that it’s the one that died.

5. We’re slowly eating down some of the miscellaneous freezer items that don’t need to sit around while we are on an extended trip. Tonight we finished off some close to freezer-burned tortellini and I ate some ancient frozen leftovers.

Anita Isaac

Tuesday 5th of November 2024

loved your interview on the other blog. so glad you don't have to pay for parking. that hospital should validate parking for employes. boo on them. when you are a nurse you could work on a cruise ship and then you would really be going places and not have any housing costs. hubby and i are both related to the folks who perished on the titanic. he to ida strauss and me to isidore. plus on our honeymoon in st lucia, he jumped off a bicycle boat and when he tried to get back in, the boat tipped over with me in it and the boat was on top of me. somehow i was pulled to safety and not by my new hubby nor the lifeguard. so no cruises for us. even though the kids would love a disney cruise.

Heather Mar

-I'm gonna count my Chipotle dinner as frugal. For less than $11 I get two nourishing meals..I get the salad (with chicken), extra fajita veggies (free), almost all the included toppings, turn it over, eat all the lettuce and half of the rest. I'm getting home late tomorrow night and will add fresh lettuce. Already looking forward to the leftovers! Easy button activated!

-Using gas gift cards from loved ones to pay for trips to medical treatments. Much appreciated!!

-I voted early on my way to another appointment so I didn't have to make any arrangements today, go out of my way, or stand in any lines. Frugal in terms of time saved and stress avoided today ; )

-My husband cleaned my headlights with WD-40 and I think it worked well.

-Our school division provided a free drink from a coffee truck yesterday for staff on our workday!

Yay for that carpool! $25 at a hospital is so extra.

My purse (a nice navy Tommy Hilfiger my mom picked up for me at a thrift store) has finally completely given up The Ghost and the handles are completely non-functional. Found a lady on Facebook marketplace he was selling a nice large tan leather Coach bag for $40! I met her at the outlet stores near my house to get the purse. I then took my daughter to one of the stores she prefers and got the pants she desperately needs, but cheaper. She is autistic and very picky about clothes

Brendalynne

Thank you for being a politics free zone. I do vote and love my country