1. I mended a dress
I got a thrifted dress that had a tiny hole on the side.
So I just stitched that up by hand, and all is well.
Under the arm is a nice, inconspicuous place to do a repair; it’s way lower stakes than, say, the middle of the bodice.
It’s too cold for the dress right now, but I will for sure wear it to a symphony once the weather is warmer!
2. I got 20% off Target groceries
Zoe came with me to Target to pick up a few groceries, and she noticed she had a 20% off grocery items offer in her Target Circle app for me to use. Sweet!
Of course, I also used my Target Red Card debit card for another 5% off. 🙂
3. I got Chiquita a cat tree at Aldi
It was $35, which seemed like a pretty good deal, given that it includes scratching posts, and this scratching post alone is almost $30 even on Amazon.
It is true: I have not taken down my little Christmas tree yet.
I also like to buy cardboard scratching pads when Aldi carries them; they’re intermittently available in the Special Buy aisle.
4. I got my entire fourth-semester tuition paid for
I applied for so many before nursing school started, and a lot of the ones I won were good for all four semesters. Which means that I got a lot of return for my time; I’m still seeing the fruit of my 2023 efforts.
I am so grateful to Lisey for setting an apply-for-scholarships example for me! 🙂
I am also grateful that writing comes easily to me; I churned out essays with no difficulty, and that made the scholarship application process much less laborious.
I am also grateful that in those essays, I was able to write about some hard things that happened to me and turn them into something good (money for a nursing education, which I will use to hopefully go out and do good in the world).
VERY satisfying. 🙂
5. I got a $0.99/month Kindle Unlimited membership
Lisey wanted two Kindle books (we share an account), so I signed up for a temporary cheap membership. I think I have the $0.99 price for three months.
As it happens, I also wanted to read Tia Levings’ book, “A Well-Trained Wife” (Tia was in the documentary Shiny Happy People), so I snagged that.
Which means each book has cost us $0.33 apiece for the moment. Sweet!
DebbieR
Tuesday 7th of January 2025
1. Car insurance was up for renewal and since adding my 16 year old son last summer, it has doubled for us. However, I called to add the "Good Student" discount (couldn't add last summer as we were halfway through the year) and that took off almost $600! 2. Redeemed some points on my pet store rewards account for a $10 off coupon to be used in the next couple months. Will use to buy dog food when it goes on sale. The points were set to expire at the end of December and I was thankful to catch them a day before they did! 3. Making a concerted effort to eat up the fridge, pantry and freezer this month and not to buy any more SNACKS until we have eaten what we already have! 4. Did not buy any more chocolates or candy in after-Christmas sales but stuck to small gift bags for teacher gifts and small toys/stuffed animals for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for this year. All were 70% off. 5. Played the Starbucks for Life game throughout December using the free entry method and won 270 stars, which is enough for one free drink (actually, two, when added to my current stars total)! 6. Bought some bras on sale from ThirdLove but didn't love 2 of them, so will return. However, when I received my order, it came with a $15 off coupon and I was able to use it on another bra on sale plus convert reward points to another $10 off making the bra only $4! Even with paying for shipping it was only $10. The bra was originally $79! 7. Husband got a free trial of Amazon Prime throughout December so we used it to watch shows and then my son got a month-long free trial as well so we made sure to cancel my husband's trial once it was up and switch the account to my son's on the TV. I can watch a few more weeks of Pop Culture Jeopardy! for free.
AFVirginia
Tuesday 7th of January 2025
This week I: -shoveled our driveway and walkway ourselves -Cooked at home -used the library -got multiple quotes for a repair we need that found a cheaper option -hand wrote birthday invites for my little instead of getting them printed (which is a trend here) -used up my Christmas gift cards
Full disclosure: we moved recently and it is hard to be frugal! I am trying to focus on making do before purchasing new things (shelves and hangers and bins, oh my!) but the temptation is much stronger than usual to add to cart. Send be frugal strength!
Becca
Tuesday 7th of January 2025
Well, since I am on the eve of the third snow day in a row, I suppose I have time to think of five frugal things.
1. I made a big pot of cabbage soup that used up some cabbage I had prepped in the fridge. I find it I chop stuff like radishes and cabbages from my farm share up and put them in prep bowls, I am much more likely to use them. The soup also used stock that I had made from a thanksgiving sale turkey and frozen, as well as other inexpensive ingredients like onion, carrot and celery. We had the soup for three different dinners and one lunch, and there's still about one lunch left. In order to have it be different each night, we had it plain the first night, over egg noodles the second and over baked potatoes tonight.
2. I used some leftover egg nog to make egg nog bread, and we liked it so much, I made another loaf but added chopped craisins. Yay for easy and cheap recipes.
3. We entertained ourselves on this snowcation by watching free movies online, playing video games we already owned and playing in the snow. Free entertainment.
4. I shuffled our winter gear around and discovered that I didn't need to buy anything for us all to be able to go out and stay dry and warm. This is really more of a benefit from my parents' past generosity and my children's complete willingness to wear hand-me-downs of any color, shape or size. Hurray for unpicky kids!
5. I took inventory of the pantry and freezers and determined that we can definitely skip a grocery week. This will help offset the cost of our farm share which we buy in January but don't get to eat until May. Our grocery budget has room for us to take the hit, but it's still nice to give a little extra wiggle room because then I can splurge on sale items later in the year without feeling worried.
I hope everyone is staying warm and dry wherever you are tonight!
auntiali
Tuesday 7th of January 2025
My frugal 5: 1. bought a 4 pack of tea towels from Macy's using my Macy's rewards. My tea towels mysteriously disappeared and I found one with lots of red on it that looked like it was used to clean up from a murder. It was one that dh used to clean up spilled red paint as he was painting the front door. Gently reminded him to try and remember to bring up some rags from the basement when he's doing something messy.
2. Got a $50 gift card for Christmas and used it to buy some items at Walgreens that I needed and some to donate to the food closet.
3. My daughter in law gave me their leftover Korean hand lotion that she and my son got on their flight here from South Korea.
4. Bought a huge Christmas book by Caroline Kennedy from my library's book sale room and paid $1. I was having a small crisis about whether to keep it or give it to the free little library but I remembered that I do have a bookshelf downstairs. I can keep it now for another year and if I want to donate it I can.
5. Got a couple of free dinners out from our son and daughter in law. One was at Cracker Barrel which had terribly slow service and one that I paid for at Outback with my free $100 gift card from credit card points. That one was disappointing as the food wasn't that good and service was slow. But my Asian daughter in law made us pork belly and fried rice that was fabulous!
BonG
Tuesday 7th of January 2025
My 5 are: 1. Used a Skechers $20 reward from when my husband got some new shoes and bought myself a pair off the clearance rank and only paid $5 and tax. 2. Used up food from the fridge to make a delicious soup yesterday so no food waste there. 3. Was able to work from home yesterday and today due to snow so no gas used to go into the office and no parking fees at the garage. 4. Passed on some eggs and milk leftover from holiday breakfast to a friend that will use them. Food waste once again avoided. 5. Got a $14.81 deposit into my Venmo account for a Verizon Class Action Settlement. I don’t remember filling anything out for this but I will happily take the payout.
Have a great week everyone!