- I earned 1,038 bonus Swagbucks last month! I was very, very surprised (and pleased) that I did so well because that’s an additional $10 in Amazon credit on top of the other points I earned last month.
- A couple of months ago I submitted records of the past two years of my student loan payments to Wellesley’s financial aid office, and they adjusted WenYu’s aid award by several hundred dollars, reducing the balance she has to pay.
- We cooked every meal at home, used up leftovers and other odds and ends of produce so there was no food waste, and drank lots of filtered water and sun tea.
- We put $23.06 into our change/$1 bill jar. $15.56 was the change from another trip to Costco, and $7.50 was left from our farmers’ market shop.
- We suffered a frugal fail this week: We had to make a second return trip to Costco for more things that we had run out of, although we still managed to leave the store with just three items (peanut butter, nuts, and fruit). This is the second time we’ve run out of things, most likely from poor planning on my part when I made last month’s shopping list. Fingers are crossed now that we don’t have to step foot in Costco or Big Save until our regular big shop toward the end of the month.
Hopefully none of you had any spending fails this week!
The Occasional Nomads 
Some one lost but I gained 64 cents that I found at the end of my road. 2 cents in Walmart and 12 cents in Publix. All in the change jar.
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I love finding change on the ground! Sadly, I really haven’t found any since we’ve been here, not like I used to in Portland.
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Eh, having to go back is more of a planning fail than a frugal fail, in my mind. 😉 M sometimes goes to Costco three times in a week. I would never do that. Going to Costco is painful for me. If he doesn’t have a fully stocked fridge, he panics. I’m more of a “make do” kind of person. You can imagine how things go between us at times. 😉 It was a great week for decluttering – I sold $240 of patio furniture that the previous owners left behind. I have one table left I’m selling for $10 today, and have another person coming to get our TV stand for $50. The key is pricing everything so low that it moves quickly. I know I can get more, but I have zero appetite for waiting, negotiating, etc.
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Going back means we need to dip into our monthly “slush fund” so actually end up spending outside our regular food budget, so it’s a fail in my book. I still think we did well to get out of the store with just three things, but at Costco those three things add up quickly. We found a new type of nut mix and almost added it to the other things, but in the end decided to wait until our next big shop (and hope they still have it). We eat peanut butter and nuts every day, so why I didn’t plan to buy enough at the end of last month is a mystery. Same for the fruit.
I’m with you on pricing low to get things sold. I am always amazed at finding used goods priced like they were new, or just under. I always price 50% of original cost, or less – I want the stuff gone!!
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I had a frugal win this week. I had a change jar that I’ve been adding to for a while and it was almost full, so I took it to one of those Coinstar machines and I had $45! I put that on an Amazon gift card and I plan to buy an indoor electric grill with that. If you opt to get cash instead of the gift card, Coinstar charges an 11.9% fee.
About the peanut butter, do you get those two large jars of PB at Costco? I eat quite a bit of it myself and find it’s a good value.
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Yes, we get our peanut butter at Costco. We go through at least two jars a month – both Brett and I enjoy having a spoonful for a snack – Dr, recommended it because it’s low carb. Last month I used some in a couple of recipes which threw off our supply. So, back to Costco for more. We will be in good shape next month though.
I’ve never used Coinstar – good to know that you can load an Amazon (and probably other) gift cards with your total.
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