- I cut Indy’s hair and trimmed Belle’s. He wanted a taper fade and he got… a haircut. But it doesn’t look half bad, he’s content with it, and it saved me both a trip to/from the hairdresser and a bill. Belle needed a little trim to tide her over. She wanted me to try something different, and neither of us is completely convinced it worked (I followed a YouTube tutorial), but it bought us another month before her back-to-school haircut.
- Whipper snipper cord. Our edge trimmer/whipper snipper/weed whacker (insert whatever else these things are called) was on the last spool of cord. We were at Home Depot and saw the price of the refills, and John realized he could buy a giant spool at Dollarama for a fraction of the price and just manually wind it onto the existing spools we own.
- Fish filleting knife. Indy’s big fish taught us that a) we don’t really know how to fillet a fish and b) the knife we had was never going to properly fillet a fish. To be fair, we found the knife left behind at a fishing spot, so it had cost us zero dollars, and we’ve used it (and run it through the dishwasher) for a few years. But it was time to up our game. John checked out a brand-name fillet knife at one store and it was almost $50. He found the same fillet knife (same brand and everything) for $4.50 at Dollarama.
- I got a $5 cash deposit. Our investing platform—Wealthsimple—has a monthly Millionaire Series. Throughout the month, there are weekly draws, culminating in someone winning $1 million. Alas, we didn’t win any of the big prizes, but by logging in and spinning a wheel, I got $5 cash and John got $8. It’s not a million, but $13 for a single tap of our fingers isn’t half bad.
- Wealthsimple bonus. I can’t even remember what promotion this stems from, but there was a sign-up bonus and for every month I keep an account open (or a certain amount in an account… I can’t remember), I get $65.53, up to a total of $786.36. Yes, please. And that amount gets deposited into a chequing account with a reasonable base interest rate. Double win.
- Booking tickets for “cheap” night. We’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about seeing The Odyssey in IMAX. Close friends said it was one of the best movie-going experiences they’ve ever had. I’ve never been to see a “real” movie in IMAX. I’ve seen a few short nature documentaries on IMAX screens at aquariums and museums, but that’s it. So I’m really excited. What’s less exciting is the price tag. Wowzers. IMAX tickets are not cheap. But we can save a little over $40 by going on Tuesday (which happens to be the day we wanted to go anyway). This might be the only time I go see an IMAX movie with the kids, so I’m happy to fork over the cash. But I love parting with less of it than originally planned.
- Grocery order on John’s account. I’ve reached the end of my welcome bonus vouchers for curbside pickup ($15 off the first three orders over $75). So now we’re taking advantage of the same opportunity via John’s account. Between the two of us, that’s $90 in savings. Plus, we almost always buy things that are already on sale!
- Gratitude practice. Some people might think this is a stretch, but I figure I’m boosting my mental health by doing a daily gratitude practice in August. And mental health has direct impacts on physical health, and both sides of the coin can involve spending money (and rightly so; therapy for the win!). But my gratitude practice cost me the price of a single piece of printer paper, which is a great deal if you ask me.
- Insurance for the windshield. Ugh. At some point recently, we got a chip/crack in our windshield. There’s no way to repair the issue; it will require a completely new windshield. Whomp, whomp. This is the first time we’ve had to replace a vehicle windshield, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of insurance. Turns out it’s covered under our comprehensive coverage. So aside from a relatively small deductible, we didn’t have to cover the cost of a new windshield ourselves. Hooray.
- Free activities! We continue to do a lot of free activities this summer. Most recently, I thought about this during our trip to Ettinger Falls. Admittedly, there is the cost of gas associated with driving there, but other than that (which kind of feels like a sunk cost of just… living life), it was free! Adventure! Swimming! Climbing! A nature walk! And no entry fees.
- Free costume. There are annual themes at the summer camp where Indy goes/Belle works. This year it’s time travel, so the week started with cavemen and at some point got around to medieval. It’s optional, and for the most part it’s the leaders—not the campers—who go all in on costumes. But I figured a crown would be pretty easy to source. (Belle got a Cinderella tiara and wand from Dollarama, which she used week after week!) We used to have a dress-up crown, but at some point I must have downsized it. Belle told me lots of kids were showing up to camp with Burger King crowns. That I could do! The day before Indy headed to camp, we went to Burger King, bought him a single soft-serve (a little over a dollar), picked up a few of the free paper crowns (so he’d have some to share)… and that was medieval done and dusted.
Your turn.
- Tell me all about your frugal wins.
- Best free activity you’ve gotten to do lately?
- Have you ever seen a Hollywood movie on an IMAX screen?
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I’ve never seen a “proper” movie in an IMAX either! Seeing Odyssey there sounds like a fabulous idea and definitely worth the extra money.
And free activities! We’ve just come back from a two-day hike, which was essentially completely free. We hike in our trail-running gear, so there’s no extra expense for hiking boots or special equipment. The only thing we had to pay for was accommodation.
Even there, we managed a little frugal win. The couple we went with had booked the last available room, which happened to be a family suite with two bedrooms. We stayed in the second bedroom and paid 50% of the room rate for the two nights. So they got a “reduction” for their stay, we got inexpensive accommodation, and everyone was happy. A win-win all round!
I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie in a proper IMAX setting. I’ll be sure to report back.
Love that shared accommodation hack! It truly is a win-win.
I cut mine and my youngest girls hair and over the years it has probably saved us a small fortune and my fella buys the same kind of cord for our strimmer or whatever it’s called. lol Fantastic money saving ideas!
Haircuts REALLY add up, not to mention the cost of gas to get there, temptation to buy speciality salon products, and things like gifts (which I know people who regularly go to the hairdresser often give for Christmas, for example).
I can’t wait to hear how you like the movie! When my son was little we saw Polar Express in Imax. I think it was a little too intense for him- he was only 4. Up till that point we had only seen things like nature documentaries- he like seeing sharks swimming around better.
Hmm, frugal wins? Well, yesterday I was at Barnes and Noble, saw a book I wanted and quickly pulled out my phone. I checked the library website and saw that they had it at my branch, so I picked it up for free on my way home. But I’m not sure I would even count that- it’s just common sense to get books from the library rather than spending $30 for a hardcover.
My daughter cuts and colors her own hair! Her friend spends hundreds of dollars to get her hair colored. Granted, Angie has had some less successful hair colors, but she’s okay with that. She would rather do it herself.
Libraries for the frugal win over and over and over again!!!
Colouring hair at home saves an absolute bucket of money. (I save even more by not colouring it at all which is free, ha.)
We used our national museum card to meet up with friends. It’s already a sunk cost anyway, and it’s a fun museum. We did buy lunch there, which wasn’t free, but it was nice to have a place to sit that was shaded and cool(ish).
This week, my kids are at my parents’ place. They cover food costs, we pay activities. Cheaper than ‘normal’ camp, and they get to hang out with family (nieces and nephews are also joining).
I’m trialling the Garmin extra options – not sure yet if I want to continue, but at least the trial is free – and the free Nike running club app.
Looking forward to hear what you think about the movie /IMAX experience!
Yay for museums and using cards (you’re so right about the sunk cost and it does feel good to put that money to use and actually attend those places).
Love the Grandparent Camp situation. Seems like a win-win for everyone.
I will definitely report back on the IMAX experience.
Not feeling particularly frugal right now… I’m in my sister’s wedding this weekend which of course has associated costs, and just came home from an orthodontist consultation for one of my kids- the first to need some work in that area. Oof it’s not cheap!!
Let me think… line drying some towels today, meal planning and cooking almost all of our meals- I recently switched to planning out meals a month at a time and it’s GREAT- utilizing the library, trying to batch errands since we live outside of town…
Little things do add up. I just have to keep doing them!
I did think of some frugal wedding things: DIY hair, makeup, and nails for myself and my three daughters, clearance dress shoes that I will wear again at other times, my son will wear dress clothes he already owns so we only bought a certain colored tie, and accepting my parents offer of paying for our hotel room!
The wedding will be a very Happy Thing. The event itself plus seeing lots of extended family that I rarely see anymore. But also I am ready for it to be over 😄
You saved…$1,000s there alone?? Four people getting hair, makeup and nails done would cost a small fortune. Gold stars!
Enjoy the wedding. Also, I completely and totally understand that: it’s going to be great AND I can’t wait for it to be over.
I think there is the knowledge, too, that the memories of the event will be glorious without all the in-the-moment stress.
Congrats on the upcoming wedding. I hope it’s lots of fun.
Ortho is SO expensive. We joke that Belle’s mouth cost the same as a decent used car.
This isn’t really a frugal win, but it feels like one so I’m counting it. I found a Clipper card on my Clipper App that I had forgotten about. Clipper cards are for the public transit, and there are two kinds…some give you a (small) discount if you do auto reload, and only work on the big transportation (BART) trains, and the other kind does not have discounts, but also works on busses and cable cars. Well for some reason I had one of each kind on my Clipper App, but was only using one of them. So yesterday I took the day off and went to San Francisco to see my BFF (visiting from Philly!) and used the BART only one. It felt like free money, because I had forgotten about that card!
IMAX movies are SO expensive. I generally lose money on going to the movies because I have a Cinemark membership, which means I get one ticket every month for a set monthly fee, but then the only time we go is to the matinee which is less than the monthly fee. So every time we use a monthly ticket for a matinee showing, I lose $1.50. But I get 20% off on popcorn, and I always want popcorn, so it probably evens out. My husband likes to bug me by saying ‘can we use one of your free tickets?’ Because he knows they are not free and I’m losing money on it. I had so many ‘free tickets’ saved up because of the pandemic, that it didn’t make any sense to not use them. We’ve been going a lot lately though, so maybe we will run out and I will make my husband pay. HA!
Yay for “free” money!
I don’t go to the movies very often, but it does pain me to not go on cheap day (we don’t have matinee rates, unfortunately, just one day a week with cheaper admission)! Knowing I can spend a lot less on tickets if I just go on Tuesday makes me… very determined to go on Tuesday!
No frugal here- school started and emergency pairs of shorts needed! I swear I had put a few aside in the spring, but I guess not. My son made it through the first day without busting a seam at least.
Good job on the wins!
The back to school season can definitely be very spendy!
We still need a few things and I have no idea when that shopping is going to happen. I’m trying to pretend like everything’s under control even though it’s currently about 75% under control…
My son saw his first imax too and he said next time he would set more to the top seating.
We’re in the mid section of the theatre, slightly toward the top. We had to wait WEEKS to get those seats!
I’m going to say something that may be unpopular, but I’m doing that all over Bloggyland, so why not here? Sometimes the Dollarama purchase is not a good purchase. You know that you need a knife. You know that you will use a knife. I suspect that Dollarama one is going to get dull and fall apart and not be as good as if you had just invested in a good knife. You’ll try to make the not great knife work, but it will frustrate you. My take on tools is: buy cheap the first time and then invest in a good one. I don’t know if I have it in me to be frugal if I’m going to be annoyed by an inferior quality.
(Just wait until you hear an upcoming rant I have on my blog about a water bottle.)
I agree with you, there’s a saying, ‘Penny wise, pound foolish’, which would mean instead of paying $50 for the knife, they would end up paying $54.50 for the knife by buying the discount and then ending up buying the good one. BUT, I think she said it’s the same brand, so I’m guessing the store had a close out and they are getting rid of the last of the knives. So in this case it may be ‘Penny wise, pound wise.’ I will look forward to hearing how it goes with this specific knife. Elisabeth, report back over the months and years, let us know.
Ha! Will do 🙂
I definitely fall into this trap sometimes. In this case, it was the same brand of knife and if not the exact same knife, VERY close. This isn’t something that will be getting much use, we have a knife sharpener, and for the level we’re going to use it I think this $4.50 purchase is likely to be great!
Hooray for frugal wins. Every bit counts! And I think you should totally count things that boost your mental health!
My best recent frugal win was spending “less” of my work trip per diem money than what I get reimbursed for. Ha. 🙂
What a win! I have a brother-in-law who frequently travels for work and gets a per diem and almost always spends less and gets to pocket the rest.