frugal friday - december

Christmas has come and gone! Here's to a new year of saving and making money.

• No Spend Days: Only One 😔
• Grocery deals: free bag of salad with a Kroger coupon, $1.61 bag of cauliflower florets, $1.80 80 Acres Power Crunch, 49¢ avocado
• Money made outside of my job: 
• DoorDash: $135.14
• Ebay/Poshmark/Mercari: $21.60
• Other: $26.81
• My auto/renters insurance company made one too many mistakes so I took to the internet to find a replacement. I got quotes from another company and ended up saving $50 a month and I'll get a partial refund for $85.47 from my old company.
• iHerb sent me a $10 promotional credit, which I used to buy needed celery seeds*, Alba Botanica lip balm*, and Frontier Savory Pepper*
• I cashed out $11.56 from the Eureka app. I had it sent to my PayPal account.
• Via ibotta*, I got back 25¢ for a Whole Foods receipt and $5.30 at Walmart

I'm still decluttering! I cleaned out my storage closet and packed up some things I'd like to keep but didn't really have a home in my current apartment. It got a lot of things out of my every day living space.

• Several flower pots and propagation jars - sold on Facebook marketplace
• A top - sold online & shipped with recycled polymailers
• I have switched over to 100% glass for my food storage thanks to my coworkers savings glass jars for me, so I swapped out plastic condiment bottles for glass and recycled all of those. I'll do my best to replace the plastic clad products with glass or make those condiments myself from scratch. I washed and donated all of my other food storage containers to the local Food Not Bombs.
• I shipped off four old pairs of sneakers to GotSneakers - we'll see if I get back and cash for them.

I'm still trying to work through a lot of the freezer and pantry - I'm doing another low grocery month. I eat a lot of fresh produce, so I don't count that in my travels.

• Used up from the freezer and pantry - a bag of Trader Joe's vegan orange chicken, some lima beans, a can of tomatoes and chiles, a can of black beans, 

Frugal Fails:

• Somehow my laptop charger broke off so I had to order a new one for $10. Not an entire fail as my laptop is a $75 refurbished Chromebook, but still an expense I could have avoided

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

frugal friday - november

The holidays are approaching and I'm saving up to make a large purchase - here's some frugal stuff for November!

• No Spend Days: Sadly only four!
• Grocery deals: $3.79 5lb bag of potatoes, free bag of Kroger shredded green leaf lettuce with coupon, $1.49 loaf of bread, 99¢ each jarred low sodium pasta sauce, 99¢ Ranch Idahoan Instant Potatoes
• Money made outside of my job: 
• DoorDash: $41.25, $27, $28
• Ebay: $47
• Other: $15
• I used two empty dog food bags for trash - saving a bag I actually paid for
• I needed something from the store so I walked the three blocks one way instead of driving. My car rarely moves on the weekends.
• Baked potatoes in the air fryer are cheaper and quicker than the oven - I love using Penzey's Krakow Nights on potatoes
• I shipped off two Tervis tumblers to be evaluated for heat extortion via their Lifetime Guarantee. I've done this once before and while the tumbler couldn't be saved, they gave me credit and I ordered a new one.
• I'm starting a new job! While I love what I do currently, the customer service aspect is weighing on me pretty badly. I'll make $4 more an hour and I'll be in a private kitchen.
• A sweet regular who I have become friends with brought me the nicest good luck card and a $20 Petsmart giftcard - the best gift for me is one that spoils Ogden!
• I was tasked with making deviled eggs for Thanksgiving - I don't typically make these so instead of buying a portable egg plate, I borrowed my sister-in-law's

I'm still decluttering! I feel like I've been doing this forever and my belongings don't dwindle. What is happening?

• Another plant pot saucer, half roll of paper towels (though I salvaged what I could to clean floors) - chewed up by the piranha that is Ogden
• Two 32oz Hydroflasks (and picked up in a half hour!) - sold on Facebook marketplace
• A simple clip photo holder, a NWT laptop bag, - sold & shipped with recycled polymailers

I'm still trying to work through a lot of the freezer and pantry - I'm doing a low grocery month.

• I brought home a romaine end and regrew it! I ended up getting enough growth to eat it on a taco. I've got several green onion ends and more romaine ends regrowing now.
• Used up from the freezer: last of a bag of shoestring fries, a block of tofu, ten tilapia filets tossed in turmeric for Ogden, the last of a bag of Gardein crab cakes, giant ball of hashbrowns (freezerburnt) 
• I pulled a large portion of black bean soup from the freezer - I heated it up, threw in some fresh diced tomato, sour cream, and spicy ranchero sauce and it was great. I got two meals out of the bowl.
• Teriyaki sauce finally went on sale so I can use up the last of the rice noodles and a block of tofu I've been marinating
• Thanksgiving dinner was cancelled due to illness, so I just cooked here at home for me and Og. I used up so much from the pantry and freezer! A few potatoes, some sweet potatoes my great uncle grew, a bag of stuffing, a box of jumbo shells, a package of Trader Joe's beefless crumbles, a low sodium gravy packet

Frugal Fails:

• Somehow my little pot of return address labels, thank you cards, and note cards fell into a tupperware of water and plant cuttings I was soaking in the sink. I managed to salvage my sheet of stamps but had to toss everything else ☹
• Ogden chewed the corner of my phone and it spread, resulting in needing a $136 screen replacement

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

frugal friday - october

There have been some circumstance changes and some opportunities that have opened, so I really need to buckle down for them!

• No Spend Days: 7
• Grocery deals: free bag of Kroger salad with coupon, $1.49 box of Cap'n Crunch, BOGO free can of pumpkin (2 for $1.75 each), free Too Good No Sugar yogurt with Kroger coupon, $1.19 So Delicious yogurt, $1.49 jar of Bertolli Garlic Alfredo sauce, $1.99 10oz snacking tomatoes $1.59/each Smart Ones meals, free 14.1 box of Barilla Al Bronzo Fusilli with local store coupon
• Money made outside of my job: 
• DoorDash: $57.72
• Ebay: $17
• Other: $10
• I scored a fully functional basic sewing machine at a local crafty thrift store for only $15! I've wanted to pick up machine sewing for so long but was holding out for a deal
• I got an email from my health insurance that said I had $60 one week and then another $20 in rewards. I'd rather them just take that off a bill, but I redeemed it for Mastercard giftcards - I used the giftcards to make payments on my electric bill
• When back at my dad's one weekend I packed up a box of old inventory that I wanted to get listed, brought it home, and listed it. Either it sat back home, got donated, or I listed it and sold it. Either way it needed to move!
• A catering event at work rewarded me with a couple salmon filets and a large container of mushroom marsala (oh my god, this was so, so good)
• I went up to visit family and my dad's girlfriend fed me dinner while I was there. It was very tasty!
• My Kroger Cashback had a balance of $5.75 so I sent that over to my PayPal account

I'm still decluttering! I feel like I've been doing this forever and my belongings don't dwindle. What is happening?

• One heeled sandal of the pair, two plastic plant saucers, his ceramic treat jar - chewed up by the piranha that is Ogden
• Mini sewing machine - sold on Facebook marketplace
• Package of buttons, NWT bralette - sold & shipped with recycled polymailers

Frugal Fails:

• 3/4 of a loaf of bread molded, unfortunately
• I had to cancel my endoscopy appointment because they called me 6 days before the appointment and dropped the bombshell that they wanted a $750 deposit. Even if I had that in my emergency savings, this is not what I would use it on.
• I lost 96¢ on an Etsy sale because of Offsite Ads. I promptly went into my settings and opted out of these.

my poshmark closet | shop my mercari | shop my eBay
lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

link love

recipes I'd like to try: creamy vegan green chile casserole // tvp lasagna soup // garlic buffalo tofu sandwich // vegan irish stew // popped lentils with mashed potatoes // Polish dill pickle soup // potato garlic soup // lentil sloppy joes // orzo puttanesca 

Lodge has new DOLLY PARTON CAST IRON PANS! 

I'm loving this Mokuyobi Dragonfly Camp Bag.

Here's a great tutorial on how to make figure 8 bows.

Definitely check out my friend Jess' recipe club, thyme & butter!

Recently a (very well) targeted ad introduced me to Jiby's leash badges!

Here's a bunch of free e-cookbooks centering around mushrooms.

_________

Photo by Carol Romão on Unsplash

my poshmark closet | shop my mercari
lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*