It’s been weeks since I gave a “frugal wins” update, and I feel like enough have accumulated to gather them up for a little post!
- We got a great deal on thrifted sneakers. While we were waiting to go see The Odyssey, we ended up visiting a new-to-us thrift store. It was small, but filled with some great deals. Belle spotted a pair of Nike shoes in like-new condition. (This girl has plenty of shoes, but like all teenagers these days, she seems set on growing her collection of footwear.) They were $24.97, which is a bit steep as thrifted sneakers go, but a lot better than the price of a new pair. When we got to the cash, I realized they were part of a sale (things were marked with price tags in a variety of colours, and it just so happened that blue stickers were 75% off the day we visited!). Guess what had a blue sticker? Belle’s sneakers. So they ended up being less than $7. YES PLEASE!
- We split two foot-long subs at Subway. (This also happened on the same day we went to Halifax to watch The Odyssey.) We did upgrade each sub to a meal deal, but we grabbed four straws and split each drink between two people. We wanted 6-inch subs, and it’s cheaper to order a footlong than to order two separate 6-inch subs. Plus, they let you divide the footlong into two halves and put different toppings on each side.
- In the last two weeks, we have found TWO long charging cables on the ground in parking lots. In both cases, they had clearly been dropped by someone (and there was no way of locating the owner). One was a cable for charging iPhones; the other will charge my Kobo.
- A free trampoline! The kids have been asking for a trampoline for (literal) years, and I always put off their requests. Partly, it was because of the inherent danger of trampolines. The other part was the cost. But when someone offered us their trampoline for free, it was an easy yes. The kids have already spent so many happy hours bouncing, and the price was right.
- Aside from a few pens and pencils for Belle, I didn’t buy anything new for the kids’ return to school. They’re each reusing their old bookbags and lunchboxes, and almost all of the clothes they’re wearing were thrifted. I know some people get a lot of joy out of having crisp new things for the start of the school year, but our school actively encourages families to reuse existing paraphernalia to cut down on waste. And our middle-schooler has all his school supplies included (aside from a zippered binder) as part of his school fees ($50 total; it’s not optional and I pay it gladly because I LOVE not having to shop for school supplies and this way all the kids have the same items—no competition over brands!—and teachers can make sure they all have the supplies they need.)
- A warranty replacement. Belle bought a refurbished iPhone before we left for Europe, and something went wrong with the camera this summer. It was still under warranty, so we took it to the Apple Store for repair. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the camera, so they ended up replacing ALL the guts (I have no idea what the technical term would actually be) in her phone. Thankfully, John had backed up her phone—if not, all her photos and contacts would have been permanently lost. And the repair didn’t cost us a cent. Apparently, it would have cost $750 if it hadn’t still been under warranty, which was more than the original cost of the iPhone! So in a way, aside from the cost of gas to get to the mall, Belle essentially got a new iPhone for free.
- John’s computer repair abilities. While I do most of my “creative” work on my Mac laptop (blog + Patreon), I do most of my business work on a desktop. It has been acting up lately, and John spent a lot of time troubleshooting things until he identified the issue. Then he built me a brand-new computer from parts he already owned and it is now working LIKE A CHARM. He was able to use my old hard drive, so it preserved all the things I had arranged and I don’t have to set anything up from scratch. While we’re not very savvy with home repairs, John is an absolute WIZARD with all things technology. It’s easy for me to take this for granted, but not only is it an incredibly useful skill set, it saves us a boatload of money.
- $5 is $5! I blogged about this before, but our online investing platform frequently has contests with prizes. Like $1 million; needless to say, we haven’t won that yet. But if you take the time to go on and click a little “Reveal Now” button, you sometimes get awarded smaller cash prizes. Yes, it’s only $5, but between the two of us, we’ve made $17 in cash this summer for a few seconds of tapping.
- An auto expense deferred and/or avoided? A few weeks ago, I took our SUV in for a routine oil change. I had my laptop and was quite content to work in peace in the mechanic shop, but as more and more time went by, I was feeling perplexed. An oil change is a relatively quick process. What was going on? Next thing I know, the mechanic comes out to tell me the plug that seals up the oil pan was stripped, and they couldn’t fit the plug back in. That meant they couldn’t put in fresh oil… which meant I didn’t have a functional vehicle to drive. (Also note that this was less than 48 hours before we were supposed to drive to New Brunswick.) In the end, they were able to put in a slightly larger plug and, for now at least, it’s working. There are a few options for how to repair it long-term; some are extremely expensive (replacing the oil pan in our particular vehicle requires REMOVING THE ENTIRE ENGINE… which is Cha-ching), but there are some other creative hacks that will hopefully fit the bill. While this frugal win might simply be punting a major expense down the line, it still feels like a win. And it’s bought us some breathing room to figure out solutions to the issue.
Your turn.
- What are your frugal victories lately?
- Have you ever found a significant amount of money—or something genuinely useful—on the ground?
- Do you have someone in your household who can fix things that would otherwise cost a fortune to repair?
- Have you ever had a warranty save you a shocking amount of money?
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Those are some great wins! We need to replace our trampoline, it’s lost a few springs. I wouldn’t mind a free one…
I can sew, so I can make amazing outfits that are a lot cheaper than buying them. I guess I can paint walls, which is helpful.
Frugal wins: my son needed new jeans – the kid keeps growing! – and luckily the shop where I buy them has an offer going. I also found new ski trousers for him on vinted, they should arrive next week. And I found discounted walking shoes for myself and my daughter (her feet keep growing too, ahhhhh).
Many trampolines have replacement springs you can buy- if it’s in good condition otherwise, you could try that. They’re not hard to attach. We’ve done this about five times in the past few years.
I see mbmom11 responded, but YES, you can buy replacement springs!!
I can’t sew or paint. Sigh. There is relatively little on the DIY front that I’m much good at, to be honest.
My son SKIPPED a shoe size. And I swear every few weeks if he hasn’t worn a hole in his shoes (how does this happen so quickly???), he needs a new size. Our daughter, on the other hand, has small feet and is still wearing shoes that fit her 2-3 years ago! So I wasn’t prepared for this constant needing to source footwear!
I too have my own in-house IT and system administrator (husband). Anything technical- he’s got it. When out internet went wonky, after I got through to a real person on the help line, he started describing cable types and technical terms that left the CSR speechless. He can also do all home repairs ( electrical, and plumbing included), maintains and fixes our cars, builds stuff ( andirondak chair and a sturdy bookshelf this summer), sewed curtains for our dining room,and so on. It’s wonderful, as long as I can get him interested in fixing what’s needed . ( my vacuum and dryer need help right now, but it’s the beginning of the semester, so not yet.) He’s thrifty, so he tries to do everything himself. I can’t do much around the house, but I’ll plunge toilets and clean out drains; I have to contribute something.
Not much thrifty. Hmm. I did use my McDonald’s app to get my overheated son a free ice cream cone after XC meet yesterday.
I’m probably the person who drops charging cables, not find them! And no thrift store wins- you really have great stores near you.
Your husband SEWS CURTAINS, too??
Yay for free ice cream.
Those Nike sneakers for CAD 7 is a VERY satisfying frugal win! Nothing like a bargain ON TOP of a bargain!
And John building you an entirely new computer – how handy is that?
We haven’t had many frugal wins over the past few weeks. In fact, we seem to have wandered rather spectacularly into the opposite category. We’ve been doing a lot of travelling, which has involved an unfortunate amount of cars, flights, hotels and restaurants. And next week we’re off to Hamburg to visit Kai’s Mum, so naturally there will be MORE of that. Because apparently we haven’t spent enough money yet! 😬
All of this will (hopefully) change (or at least be cheaper) once we’re back in Cape Town. I’m counting that as our upcoming frugal victory!
It is so handy to have a top-notch technology specialist living in my house! Highly recommend.
There seem to be very distinct seasons of saving and spending. But you’re spending on travel and adventure and family and memories, so I think that is all money VERY well spent.
These are all fantastic bargains, especially the sneakers! We always share the footlong subs in Subway and it sounds like the kids are really enjoying the trampoline!
The trampoline has been the sleeper hit of the summer. My son has a friend coming over today and I doubt they’ll even come inside to drop off their backpacks after school… I’m anticipating they’ll head straight for the trampoline!
Sigh! We have no tech wizards in our house. That would be SO helpful! My daughter has been the frugal winner around here lately. She’s been thrifting all her clothes, and recently found a dress for $4 which she’s planning to wear to Homecoming. Her friend came over and sewed some lace trim on to make it more “fancy” and she’s really happy with it.
An inexpensive dress that you’ve personalized is a GREAT win. I hope she lets you share a picture of the dress on the blog <3
Those are some good wins! Including having a mechanic who is willing to come up with an alternative solution and not insist on the pricey repair!
My husband is very handy with home and auto repairs, which has saved us SOOOO much over the years. Tech issues, though, he is hopeless and I am only slightly less hopeless. I did have a major win recently though! My iPhone was being super glitchy because the storage was full, but it wasn’t even my apps, photos, etc taking up most of the storage, it was this phantom “system data.” I’m talking over 2/3 of my phone storage was this system data! Anyway, after a lot of googling and troubleshooting, I ended up backing up my phone and doing a factory reset, and it worked! It was either that or buying a new phone, so this saved me $$$!
Phone storage is a bane of my existence! Gold stars for sorting this out.
You got some great frugal wins! Finding shoes that fit for $7 is truly amazing! Sadly, I am our family’s tech support, and I hate it! I’m not great at it, but usually the problems aren’t too dire and I can figure them out. If not, I have to help them set up their new devices!
Ha! I love how you realize you’re the tech support… and hate the role. When John’s not around, I’m the tech go-to, and I also don’t enjoy it! That said, most of the time I can punt the issue down the line until he gets home 🙂
My husband is the IT around here, he’s pretty good at figuring things out. I don’t think he could build a new computer though. I’m glad Belle’s iPhone was still under warranty, that’s a big savings!
Remember that credit card that you suggested that gives you 100,000 points after you spend $5000? Well, we had to buy a new dishwasher last weekend, which put us over the top. GREAT news, and I’m using that $1000 to buy the dishwasher (at least most of it, sigh.) THAT is a frugal win my friend!
YES!!!! Feel free to christen your new dishwasher Elisabeth in my honour, haha.
More seriously, that is amazing!!! Needing to buy home appliances is never very fun (and always expensive), but it’s great that you were able to maximize on the points deal. They really can have a great payout.
I love frugal wins. Both wins for Indy and Belle were top-notch! How lucky. And I love that John was able to fix your computer with old parts. That’s tech-savvy! 🙂
Ok, this was a while ago… but I once found $400 (yep, you read that right) blowing around in a parking lot with NO person nearby…. so yeah, while I felt kinda bad for the person, I was thinking a) who carries that much cash loosely in their pockets and b) I was able to treat my parents for a great dinner , which was really nice.
$400!!! That is… more money than I’ve ever seen on the ground EVER. I think the most I’ve found was $10 (John did once find a $50 poking out of a snowbank).
I love that you were able to spend that money on making a special family memory.