Five Frugal Things -- I Try Out Chipotle's $5.70 Kid's Meal
1) I spent $5.70 of my $15 American Red Cross gift card on a Chipotle kid's meal. (You can read about my most recent platelets donation HERE.) Unfortunately they forgot to include my "sides," (corn salsa and fajita veggies) as well as the the milk I'd chosen through the app.
My plan had been to bring the milk home to use in tea, as my drink was a reusable water bottle filled with a refreshing "Arnold Palmer." I didn't want to waste the included beverage. Now I need to go back and complain, which I hate to do as I worry I'll come across as a liar.
They did include my tangerine, which was a fun treat, as grocery stores don't package them individually, and I'm past the point in my life where I want an entire bag at a time. Unnecessary packaging, but that's out of my control.
Having said all that, it was actually a delicious and satisfying meal -- well worth the $5.70. I can see myself picking these up on a car trip or while out and about running errands.
2) I sent out a $35 offer and sold on my garbage picked Rejuvenation Lighting ceiling fixture.
Click HERE to see the listing.
It came from this box of random items that a neighbor set out on their parking strip. Ironically to someone else in Portland! This doesn't actually surprise me, as Rejuvenation's lighting, (especially their older fixtures) are designed with Portland houses in mind.
In retrospect, I should've also grabbed those lightbulbs. What was I thinking?!
3) I finished reading my library copy of Lisa See's Daughters of The Sun and Moon and have picked up Homebound, by Portia Elan as my next read.
Set in the present, with the narrative moving all the way to the year 2586, it'll qualify for the "Set in the distant future or distant past" box in my Powell's Books "Summer Reading Challenge" bingo card.
I understand that my sideways handwriting is hard to read, so here are the books I've read so far this summer:
- "The Wedding People," by Alison Espach
- "Daughters of The Sun and Moon," by Lisa See
- "August Lane," by Regina Black
- "Beasts of a Little Land," by Juhea Kim
- "Cherry Baby," by Rainbow Rowell
- "Actress of a Certain Age," by Jeff Hiller
- "Maybe in Another Life," by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- "City of Night Birds," by Juhea Kim
- "How to be Okay When Nothing is Okay," by Jenny Lawson
- "Time Loops and Meet Cutes," by Jenny Lau
- "This Time Tomorrow," by Emma Straub
- "The Overdue Life of Abby Byler," by Kelly Harms
- "A Cosmic Kind of Love," by Samantha Young
- "Atmosphere," by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
- "The Time Pirate," by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Luckily, Powell's reading challenge goes until December 31st, as I'm going for the "full blackout," which'll earn a second $5 Powell's gift card.
4) I went to my mother's house to help her refresh and rearrange her bedroom and came home with a book and some bubble wrap.
5) I drove past Trader Joe's on my way home from my mother's house and stopped in for bananas and bought . . . bananas!
I know this shows up repeatedly in the blog, but lifelong frugality is often about the boring stuff.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
1. Well my walking an hour a day in my neighborhood is boring but it is what I do to avoid a gym fee!
2. I made turkey meatloaf to eat after I get home from my new job that is starting on Monday.
3. I made turnip greens and rice with the turnip greens from a can because I really don’t trust any type of fresh leafy greens right now in the stores. Plus I have multiple cans I need to use and didn’t want to spend any money on fresh greens.
3. I am cleaning my house.
4. I hope to clean my car this afternoon.
5. I want a nap between no. 3 and no. 4. I also have not driven anywhere today.
P.S. major frugal fail. I spent $28 on two bags of tomatoes about 12 medium sized tomatoes, and an eggplant at the Farmer’s market. I am still in shock. Half the tomatoes were for my ex and for his birthday. We try to do consumables. He also requested bread from the bakery at Publix and two loaves were $11. He was very appreciative but this was NOT a cheap gift in my opinion. I am still trying to recover my shock over the cost of the tomatoes bc the regular farmer’s market I go to would have had those tomatoes for less than half that price. I am sticking with Aldi from now on…….
We need some foundation work to our house, which is expensive but necessary. Thankfully we have the cash for it, and we got a 5% discount because my husband served in the military.
For the last time, I saved 25% on a hospital bill by paying in full. From now on it will be 10% if you pay in full within 30 days.
My husband needed new sneakers, and we just happened to shop the first day of back to school tax-free weekend when there’s no tax on clothing, so that saved us almost $9.
We went away for a couple days and combining Rakuten plus credit card rebate I should get 13% back for the hotel stay. Also found a dime in the hotel parking lot.
While on vacation I got to shop at a used bookstore and picked up 5 nonfiction books I’m excited to read for just $17.
Kids meals can be such a great way to get a meal on the cheap! My husband and I try and mix and match deals on the (rare) occasions when we eat out. We like discussing the places we eat and how we might replicate something at home or what we can add ourselves to make something tastier without paying an arm and a leg. We decided to try and do more trial and error at home and do our best to recreate dishes or go without when the Panda Express kids meals started to creep up to the cost of what we had been paying for a regular bowl.
We were pretty boring here today: ate the last of the leftovers in the fridge, used the windows and fans to get fresh air circulating inside, warmed up peanut butter and mixed it into some vegan vanilla ice cream for a treat, made popcorn on the stove, finished an audiobook. I'm a big fan of boring and mellow after all the running around we've done during the week so it suited me just fine!
1. I just did my last commute home from work apartment until September, so I'll save about $250 for the month on gas and tolls in August.
2. I cleaned the apartment before I left, as a friend will borrow it for a long weekend, and she usually gives me about $100, so passive income except for the electricity that they will use.
3. My partner hit the CSA jackpot at work! He gets a free produce/veg box, but he can also take home any box that folks don't pick up. This week, the extra that he brought home: 1 large produce box (gave to neighbors), 1 small veg box, 1 corn & peach box, 1 berry box (all raspberries and blueberries), and 1 sunflower share! He froze all of the berries, and I'm about to process the corn, zucchini, and onions also for the freezer. I'll wait for the peaches to ripen a bit before figuring out what to do/make, and that leaves a bunch of cucumber/Armenian cucumbers and eggplant, so I'll base the next several days of meals around that.
4. I picked up a mystery shop for deli meat, and I ate some for dinner last night, and my partner will use the rest for a sandwich lunch tomorrow.
5. I downloaded the 19th book in the Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James book series from Hoopla, used fans instead of AC, had free coffee and lunch at work yesterday, and I finished my lettuce-cucumber-avocado-yogurt-cilantro soup, filled up my gas tank at the BJ's in Chicopee, which seems to be the cheapest gas in Massachusetts (at least on my route) between home and work apartment.
Husband went recliner shopping this morning (he’s got to test run and sit in lots of them! LOL) and asked me to go along and we’d eat lunch out. I declined and said I planned our lunch at home, after his shopping, to use up things that needed eating:
1) four frozen hash brown patties, the last of a package from the bottom of my freezer;
2) finish off a box of buttermilk pancake mix;
3) finish off a bottle of maple syrup;
4) finish off a small leftover seasoned chicken breast which we split;
5) some leftover sautéed kale;
6) I made some scrambled eggs.
It was frugal AND yummy! Cooking at home for the win!