What did you do to save money today? Oct 5-11

[SnowWhite607]

- Bought over 40# of meat from our butcher at once, froze everything...comes out to $2.33 a lb when bought in bulk

- Limit my trips to "town" (20 min away) to once a week and do everything at once.

- Instead of fab softener sheets, dampen an old sock with diluted liquid softener/water each time

- Pack lunches everyday

- Limit dining out to once a week

- Only ONE latte a week, that's a whole gallon of gas in that tiny 12oz cup!- Sold old toys on Ebay

- Bought solid wood train/activity table on CL for $50 rather than $200 on amazon

- Tried to get in on a photopass group for our upcoming trip!

- Wash the car at home

- Use local coupons for oil changes, car service

- Bought off brand ink cartridges off ebay

- Bought 3 pair of gymbo shoes for $12 total off ebay!

- Ordered pizza from Pizzahut.com last week and used online coupon for $9.99 (usually a $14 pizza)

- Canceled home phone service

- Going to shows put on by local community theaters rather than the big ticket shows in the city

Love this thread!

You know, I never really thought about it that way. A grande mocha frappucino at Starbucks is $4. A gallon of gas where I am in 3.42 today. So I could drive for 25 miles in my Saturn for what I spend on a frappucino! Thats about 3 trips to and from work! Wow!

 

[tchrrx]

I used a carry basket instead of a push cart at Target to get the 5 items on my list! Thus, less room for dropping in things I don't need and aren't on the list! It really worked!

Great idea! I'll have to try this one.

 

[joy@disney]

My kids are out of school for fall break the next two weeks. It is hard to resist eating lunch out with them. So today we went to Sam's Club for lunch. We had pizza, hot dog, pretzel, soda and an icee and it only cost $5.60. Normally lunch out for the three of us costs anywhere from $12 - $15. And the kids liked it.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Today I did a few errands while on my way home----CVS for otc pain meds and a few other things (no money out of pocket and "grew" my ECBs) and the Pepperidge Farms outlet for whole grain bread. There is only one type of commercial bread we can buy here due to dd's soy allergy so I get 6 loaves at a time at the outlet at $1.89/loaf (I think it's something like $3.59 regular price). I freeze the extras and pull out a loaf of bread whenever we need one.

 

[minnie1928]

I purposely bought my milk this week at Stop n Shop since they have a milk program where you buy 6 gallons (I think?) and you get a coupon for a free gallon. We buy about 4 gallons a week, so if I do this every time this could really save us some money.

I also did laundry (cold water) and line dried it on a drying rack.

I'm also working my way through our new-to-us house painting and updating rooms. I'm doing the painting myself instead of paying someone. I'm also re-purposing many things so that I don't have to buy new things to redecorate rooms. I'll be painting a bathroom vanity cabinet instead of buying a new one.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

I haven't done anything yet today, to save $$ but I just had to say that I love your pics!! Great idea, with the doggie treats too! And I'm sure they are better for the pooches...than the store bought.

thanks My dogs absolutely love them

Just wondering if you used a recipe for your dog treats? I've been looking for one and trying to make it as healthy as possible.
Eliza, to the left, is a lab also. We adopted her last year and are head over heels in love with her! She is the best behaved dog and so loving!!

I get my recipes from Tasty Treats for Demanding Dogs by Gregg Gillespie. It's a pretty good resource and gives you substitutions, why he uses certain ingredients and what not to use. Most of the recipes I have tried use a variety of flours, dry milk, baby food, broth, etc. My dogs have loved everything we've tried. I just checked and my library had the book, so maybe yours does too! Happy baking... and congrats on your lab! I never realized how affectionate and how much personality labs had until we got ours. It's a wonderful breed as a whole.

 

[twinklebug]

I worked from home - saved $11 train + 2 parking +5 gas right there

Looking for a new job though as the 57 hour weeks & still not getting everything done are stressing me out (while the company threatens layoffs)... must find another WFH 2xweek deal though so I have time for the kids.


... also fixed the broken microwave (for now) - no need to replace something that's still in good condition.
Coffee maker I couldn't fix. Had to get a new one (tons cheaper than a microwave, so I'm not too upset but the coffee just isn't the same)

 

[TinkrLiz]

I didn't order pizza tonight

I was making homemade chili in the crock pot. I have a "taco soup" recipe that called for carrots and celery instead of green peppers and taco seaoning in it. My son loved it so much that now when I make chili I put carrots, celery and taco seasoning in it. I must have cut the carrots bigger than last time because the carrots were too hard when it was time for dinner. I left the crock pot going so it would finish cooking. Hubby Dude said hey I'll just order pizza. DS#2 had a friend over which meant three boys between the ages of 17 and 20, my Hubby Dude and me so we would have had to order two pizzas. I told them we had enough leftovers in the fridge that we all wouldn't starve and to pick whatever they wanted to eat and heat it up. Everyone was fed and fine with what they ate.

We saved at least $30 since Hubby Dude would have ordered two pizzas plus wings or chicken fingers.

I'm enjoying this thread too. Thank you ladies

 

[sherry7]

Not too much for me today:

Skipped taking the toll road home from work, and saved $1. Had to take it this morning though, as I was running late and it saves about 5 minutes time (but no distance).

Brought my own lunch to work today, and resisted ordering out. Saved about $6-$7.

Made a huge 8 qt. pot of soup, using leftover chicken, and veggies from the fridge that were slightly past their prime.

 

[jessica52877]

I went to the salon tonight, in my own bathroom. DH cut my hair and saved a bit of money. This is the 3rd time and the worst, but still okay. It will always grow back too!

 

[paulasillars]

Great thread so jumping right in...

1) Took breakfast to work - slice of toast with hummus. The hummus was bought for a work function and not used so I grabbed it before it go thrown out.
2) Took leftovers for lunch
3) Got veges for dinner at the green grocer - no temptation to buy "stuff" as all they sell is fruit and veges. The potatoes I got are a purple "Maori" variety so we will sprout some and grow our own as its the right time of year to do that now
4) Cooked deliberate leftovers for dinner to take to work for lunches
5) Watched TV in the dark with a blanket to save power on lights and heating
6) Biked to/from work - no petrol costs and keeps me fit
7) Sold stuff online - we got $10 for some books - every bit helps and that was the cost of the veges I got today

 

[Pooki]

Today I walked DD to her dance class and back, saving a drop of gas since its only right around the corner, but its still a drop saved, a few calories burned, and better for the environment.

On the way back from dance my kids begged me to take them to a local restaurant, and as tempting as it was (since I don't cook much when DH is deployed), I turned them down, and am reheating leftovers as I type this.

Other than that, I stayed home today, again, so no money spent.

 

[Pooki]

Just thought of two budget-tips that go hand-in-hand that I can share!

I read on the BB a while ago that if you like the foaming hand wash, you can refill the soap yourself, dirt cheap! All you need is the empty foaming container (I think I read that some brands don't unscrew for refill, but I use the Dial brand and it does), fill it about 1/5 - 1/4 with soap (I use great smelling bath soap), and fill the rest with warm water and shake! Instant refill, and I never have to worry about running out of soap!

Once I decided to start doing that, I had to start buying the foaming-type bottles, which meant I had empty regular hand soap containers to throw away. I have a 5 and 7 year old, who take their own showers, but actually handling the shampoo and liquid soap containers are a bit hard for them, meaning they end up using WAY too much and spilling most of it. I now have 2 hand soap containers in the shower for them, one for shampoo, one for body wash. They know to only use one or two pumps, which is easy for them since they don't have to pick up the heavy, awkward wet bottles, and its portion controlled. Less soap wasted, less needed to be bought!

 

[Begiensgirl]

I don't know if this counts but what we did to save money is pay off the balances on all but one of our credit cards over the weekend. It has taken us a while to save the money up, but by doing this we are saving atleast $400 a month. We expect to have the other one paid off by March or April of 09 at the latest and we will be credit card debt free . This will give us $700-$800 a month that was going towards creditcard payments that can then go towards saving for our December 09 WDW trip.

Does it count????? Are you kidding? You guys ROCK! It's so difficult to pay down c.c. debt!

Hey Congrats to you guys! I'm paying off a huge pile of c.c. debt that I've been struggling with since my divorce. I paid off 4k in a year on a budget the size of a toothpick with four kids living with me. It was so tough, and I still have a year to go before it's gone completely.... You are my "hero of the day" today. I feel inspired! I can't wait 'til I can sock my paymets away to my savings too.

Free at last, free at last, - you're almost free at last!

 

[LISMYLIFE]

This was my buy of the month! Jewel has Goldfish cracker bags on sale through today for buy1get one free, and buy2get 2 free (this makes them $.54 a bag). I also got 5 small boxes of Cheerios for $10 and used a $1 coupon on each, bringing them down to $1 a box, but wait,there's more. It even printed a coupon for a free gallon of milk! So, I got 16 bags of Goldfish, 5 boxes of cereal an a gallon of milk for $13.62.

Maybe we'll just have cereal and goldfish for dinner

 

[Tink113]

We had to buy a new car this month & we totally lucked out by finding the car we were looking for on Craig's List for $3,000 less (!!!! ) then the best price I had found anywhere. The Hubby's job was being relocated to japan for a couple years and they kept the car until a week before they had to move. Cars is in super great shape and practically new. Best part - No dealer extra charges & GREAT gas millage as a bonus.

Had to finance the car , but since we got such a good deal we could finance before having to sell DH's car that we were getting rid of. Now we've sold DH's car and we are putting $5,000 towards CC debt! (After we set aside some for our Disney Cruise in May ). We also just transferred the rest of our Credit Card debt to a 0% for a year to work out a payment plan.

All in all, the whole process worked out better then the thought it was going to going into.

Got a great 2007 Matrix for less then trade in w/ the monthly payment we were comfortable with, paid $5k towards Credit Cards, & got rid of interest for 1 year.... not sure how much that adds up to but sure makes me feel a little bit better.

 

[LParente]

I have stayed out of Starbucks for a week now and brought tea from home to work.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I was at target to pick up medicine for ds. I walked past the magazine aisle and picked up a $7.99 magazine, but quickly put it down because I remembered this thread. Thanks, gang! You saved me $8!

 

[sherry7]

Not too good today....

Packed lunch, and didn't order takeout for lunch. Saved $6-$7.
Skipped taking toll road home from work. Saved $1.
All of this offset (and more), by taking an unplanned trip to Ollies Discount Store. Spent $56.03.

 

[Begiensgirl]

So far, I haven't spent any money at all this week other than groceries, gas for the car, and the girl's allowances. That's a savings of 100 bucks over what I usually spend on impulse things like takeout, coffee, stuff on sale that I think I need but really don't, magazines, etc.

Was going to take the family out to dinner for my son's 19th birthday on Sunday but instead we are all going out to breakfast.... it's his favorite meal anyways, and dinner for the five of us could easily cost me 100 bucks. B'fast at our favorite spot will cost me only 40!

Oh, and usually every year I buy a couple of little things on sale to add to our indoor halloween decorations, but this year I just bought candy corn colored lights for my girls to string around their bedroom windows. They were 30 percent off at Michaels, so for $5 total my girls have really cool halloweeny lighting in their room and I haven't added any more dust collectors to my collection!