Recent Frugal Wins: Thanksgiving Turkey, Nail Polish + Phone Upgrade

• Always check your receipts! I checked our receipt before leaving the grocery store and realized we’d been overcharged by $7.85 for our Thanksgiving turkey. It took about five minutes to get the refund processed, but I was very happy to get that money back! This is actually a double frugal win because the overcharge was related to a membership discount. Certain items have special member pricing (including, this particular week, turkeys), and when you scan your membership card, the discount should automatically come off the shelf price. It usually does, but not this time. So I saved money by having the membership and by checking my receipt!

• Library books! I’ve been using the library a lot lately, especially since Belle has decided she’s back into reading. I’ve been checking out stacks for her, and big hits so far have been Beautiful Ugly, Thief River Falls, and Where the Crawdads Sing. Libraries save SO much money!!! (Recent hits for me have been The Light Between Oceans, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Address Unknown.)

• Credit card cash back! Every few weeks, I get to cash in the rewards I’ve accumulated on my (no annual fee) credit card. I always apply the money directly to my credit card balance. This time it was $13.50. Nothing earth-shattering, but $13.50 is $13.50! I really like getting a little bit of money back on purchases I was going to make anyway.

• Nail polish refresh. I had recently purchased Sally Hansen Insta-Dri In a Blush but did not like the formula (too runny) or the brush (too narrow). I also had a half-used bottle of Nail Kind Miss Ballet which was getting a bit thick and once a bottle is half gone, it starts getting tricky to load enough polish onto your brush. So… I mixed the two. Too thin + too thick = just right, and I poured everything into the Nail Kind bottle which has a superior brush. I love the final colour. Win, win and frugal to boot. (The top picture is of a brand-new bottle of Nail Kind in the shade Miss Ballet, so you can see on the right that mixing the two brands/shades lightened the colour. The Nail Kind also tends toward sheer and the Insta-Dri is full coverage; together it was a great blend.

• A new-to-me phone! My old iPhone could no longer be updated, was slow and buggy, and had horrific battery life. John recently got an upgrade and handed down his old iPhone, which is still in great shape AND has a battery that lasts all day. Gold stars to him for backing up my old phone and handling all the tech side of moving everything over. Hooray for hand-me-down technology.

• A new-to-her case. Belle is ALL IN in terms of Christmas. So when John came home from a thrift store with this $2 case in hand, she just about died of happiness. Of course it immediately went on her phone, ignoring the fact it was still over two full months until Christmas. Nothing will steal this girl’s anticipatory holiday joy. NOTHING.

• The humble freezer! Freezers save SO much money. Not only can I tuck leftovers away so they don’t languish in the fridge and go moldy, I can also stock up on food when it’s on sale and freeze it for later. Less food waste, lower grocery bills, and the convenience of having meals and ingredients ready to go. What’s not to love?

Your turn!

• What frugal wins have you enjoyed lately?
• Do you always check your receipt when you leave a store??
• What’s one ordinary thing in your home (like a freezer!) that saves you money on a regular basis?