Hi! If you’re new here, welcome! I share frugal wins periodically, both to keep myself accountable and to share good ideas with others. Here are some recent ways I’ve saved money. Note: this post uses affiliate links, please read more about that here if you’re curious!
Thanks to a post by MoneySavingMom.com, I got 3 huge bottles of shampoo for under $6, shipped. (I live with 4 other women, and my girls go through a lot of shampoo!) I do a quick scroll through Crystal’s deals every couple of days, to see if there’s anything I can take advantage of.
I snagged a free shirt from ThredUp, courtesy of referral credits.
Thanks anonymous friend who followed my referral link! ThredUp is an online secondhand clothing store. I’ve bought (and sold) with them quite a bit over the years. Their selection is massive. And it’s easier to use their search feature rather than make a trip to a brick and mortar secondhand store.
A lot of women are understandably wary of online clothes shopping. I find it helpful to stick to brands that I know and love, that have consistent sizing. Buying clothing online for kids is much easier, and ThredUp has a huge selection of gently used kids clothing.
I opened a new credit card account.
On the advice of my attorney, I closed the credit card account I formerly used for household expenses because my soon-to-be-ex was an authorized user. I chose Capital One QuickSilver to be my new everything card. Why?
Because it pays 1.5% cash back, has no annual fee, and offers a $200 cash bonus when you spend $500 within six months. Because I use my credit card to pay for literally every purchase, I’ll qualify for that reward in no time. Making this a great deal.
I’ve been using credit cards this way to benefit from cash back rewards, sky miles or other perks for years. It works for me because a) I pay off the card weekly so as to never pay interest and b) I track my spending carefully.
I repaired the zipper on a pair of thrifted shorts.
I don’t know how to sew! Sewing is not generally a frugal hack of mine.
But, when the zipper on a pair of shorts just wouldn’t stay up, I remembered a tip I read from The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I did a simple, easy repair. Now I can still wear the shorts, I just have to pull them up and down instead of unzipping them.
Oatmeal is one of my favorite frugal breakfasts. I could eat it daily for months without getting tired of it. All the toppings change it up nicely! (A few favorites: blueberries, strawberries, banana, dried fruit especially banana or apricot, chopped apples, dates, nuts, coconut, cinnamon, a bit of stevia, butter.)
My kids don’t love oatmeal though, so I make just one serving in the microwave for myself.
Trouble is, I would always have issues with my oatmeal overflowing the bowl and making a mess of the microwave. I tried a lot of things: using a much bigger bowl than necessary, using more or less water, cooking it in 30 second increments. It would still explode more times than not.
This week, I figured out how to cook my oatmeal in the microwave without it exploding.
The trick?
Add 1/4 tsp of psyllium husk. I had a bag of psyllium husk on hand from when I followed THM. (More on why I stopped doing Trim Healthy Mama here.)
Psyllium is a soluble fiber that helps regulate cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar. It also promotes regularity and is great for overall digestive health. Since it bulks up foods, it makes you feel fuller without adding calories.
I have no idea how or why this works, but when I add a tiny bit of psyllium husk to my microwaved oatmeal, it never overflows!
Exploding oatmeal is a small thing in the scheme of things, but it makes me happy to have solved this gnat bite of life. Oatmeal is cheap, healthy and helps lower cholesterol.
Now that I’ve cracked this little code, oatmeal for breakfast is now a “decide once”, meaning I’ll have it every morning. Surprisingly, recent bloodwork showed that my cholesterol levels are a bit elevated for the first time in my life. So, oatmeal for breakfast is a good idea for me. According to this article, eating a serving of oatmeal once a day can lower your cholesterol by 5 to 8%. Nice!
What have you done to save money lately?
I realized that I had some inexpensive jewelry in my stash, although it was real gold. I had three rings I knew I would never wear again and a very small piece of gold chain. I hate hanging onto things that are not used so I stopped off at the local coin dealers to sell for scrap. I figured twenty dollars was twenty dollars. I was quite surprised when I got $68. A nice surprise.
You might look in your jewelry box to see what you have lying around.
Great idea! I’ve never been a jewelry person and don’t have any pieces of value, but very cool that you were able to cash in your stash!
I love oatmeal, but tend to eat it only in the winter – I love peanut butter and a sprinkling of brown sugar and walnuts, when they are on sale. I’ll look for psyllium husk because if I don’t keep an eagle eye on it, the mess ensues.