frugal friday

Yet another week of how I've saved and made a few dollars!

• I never used to be a person who returned things, but now I am (within reason, of course, and never to a small business). I bought a $3.99 block of fudge from The Fresh Market that, after one bite, was just really really not good. I looked up their return policy and returned it and got my money back.
• I didn't renew my BJ's Wholesale membership, but I did redeem the $10 Sam's Club offer a bit ago to make up for it for laundry detergent and dog food.

• I earned $3.60 cash back via ibotta on a small little grocery shop. I don't eat meat, but those Deliwiches will be a nice little snack for friends. Between the ibotta deal, a sale, and a Kroger coupon, I only paid $1.49 for the frozen sandwiches.

• In another trip, I earned $8.05 via ibotta on things I would've already purchased, so I stocked up on razors, Febreze, Triscuits, and soup

More decluttering

• My office was looking for some greeting cards and I had an extra birthday card so I brought it in. I don't send them anymore, so it saved the card from the landfill. Small stuff, but it helped out!

Ways to avoid food waste:

• I made some croutons (pictured above) out of the last few stale slices of a loaf of bread
• Lately I've been really good about finishing leftovers and food I've made and haven't thrown out much at all, though I did lose a bag of hamburger buns I forgot about
• There were some miscellanous snacks in my pantry so I took them to work and I've been finishing them up so they don't go to waste
• I don't eat breakfast at home so I took my value bag of vegan sausage patties, some folded Just Egg, and a bag of slider rolls into the office. I keep them all in the freezer and just microwave as I get hungry. I break the Just Egg in half since it's a little too big for sliders and I can get two sandwiches out of one.  

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link love

Recently when down the rabbit hole, I discovered r/WeWantPlates on reddit and I am living for it. 

Also loving these from KWT Designs - this Seinfeld flash print, and this voracious reader tote.

I stumbled upon this post about 20 rules for making the best salads of your life. I first thought "it's salad, how am I doing that wrong?" but holy - this article has some great tips.

Bolognese is one of my favorites and I really want to try Vegan Richa's lentil version. I say this as if I don't have three different jars of bolognese sauce in my pantry.

While it's not quite gotten hot here, yet, this simple cucumber tartine sounds delicious for when it does!

Photo by Jacalyn Beales 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.*

frugal friday

As usual, here are more ways I've made and saved a dollar.

• For April, my birthday month - I redeemed 5¢ off per gallon at Sheetz, got my free Ulta gift of a travel size cleanser from Peach & Lily, the free Sephora's gift of a Glow Face travel size skincare kit, 25% off an order at Arby's (love those curly fries), had a coupon for a free bag of white cheddar popcorn at Lidl, and a free rice crispy at Noodles and Co. 
• Other freebies lately have been a free carwash from a local place, a free bag of Doritos with coupon from Kroger, a free bag of chips from 7/11 using rewards, and a croissant from Starbucks using rewards.

• I logged in to my Noodles & Company account to check my rewards and discovered a free bowl coupon, so I ordered a Penne Rosa and picked it up for free. In the same trip, I redeemed a buy one get one free coupon at Starbucks and paid for the first drink with a forgotten $5 gift card. I got the second drink with no ice so I could have it the next day.
• I returned a set of curlers that did nothing for my hair, I sold some clothing to Uptown Cheapskate and made $16, and I returned two unopened aquarium items that wouldn't work in my tank.

More things I've decluttered since I moved in:

• A mug, tumbler, three jarred candles, some hot pink tissue paper, a wall hanging, a trinket dish, and a hand food chopper - all to my sister and her family when I visited for Easter
• I sold a full embroidery kit on Facebook Marketplace and shipped it in a recycled bubble mailer
• I started on my borrowed book pile so that I could get them out of here and back to their owners
• Four bags of stale inventory, donated

Since I'm making my own meals again (finally! I've missed cooking!) I've had to be careful about food waste; here's how I've avoided it:

• I regrew some romaine from some cut off ends. They didn't get very big before the tips started browning, but I added them to my big container of lettuce. My regrown leeks and bok choy are coming along nicely, too.

Frugal fails:

• I made my lunch and then accidently left my lunchbox out all night so I had to toss what I'd made (luckily only some pre-frozen cooked sushi, potato salad, and some salad dressing)
• Accidentally parked in a tow zone on the street, but the attendant graciously gave me two parking tickets instead of having my car towed (which would've resulted in work time loss AND a higher fine)
• Tucker, though 14, has his spry moments occasionally. He used one of those moments to break into the pantry and chew open a carton of vegetable stock and a small carton of pasta sauce

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.*

frugal friday

Regrowing romaine hearts. They're already about two inches tall!

Another week (or months with how my blogging is) of how I've made or saved some cash.

• The electric company sent over a refund check for a span of a few years or something and I got back a whopping $1.02
• I picked up a free 40pk of water with coupon at BJ's and a huge bottle of Gain for $16.49. With coupon, BJ's Gain was 11¢ per load (146 loads) compared to Target, where I normally get my detergent, at 14¢ per load (107 loads) for $15.99. Pennies make dollars! 
• I batched errands and all in one day took off my rather accumulated pile of recycling (the facility is only ten minutes away but it's out of the way), utlizied the last few days of my health insurance until the new kicks in to get three more months of my prescription for free, shipped a sold Poshmark item using a recycled polymailer, redeemed a free order of breadsticks with rewards points from Pizza Hut, and then worked my gig job for a bit and made $125 in five hours. While out, I got gas at BJ's and it was significantly cheaper than other stations.
• My first day at my new job was Wednesday and I love it so far. I finally have my nights and weekends back! 💃
• While I no longer have a balcony, I have some huge windows. I planted some basil seeds and I'm hoping they come up. We'll see. 
• My best friend let me redeem her free year of MLB TV from TMobile 😍⚾
• I redeemed a coupon for a free bag of Tostitos tortilla chips at Kroger. I've gotten a free bag each month since I moved to the area in 2018.

Things I've continued to declutter since I moved!

• A piece of art I didn't want, to a coworker who loved it
• I went through a bunch of my plant items and sold three plants stands for $35 total, four small pots for $10, and gave away a few small terracottta pots
• A few more sold items on Poshmark, shipped in recycled bubble mailers

How I avoided food waste!

• I've been eating through my freezer and I just thawed a large bowl of chili - it's as good as the day I made it!
• Even though I overbought on produce, I finished all but maybe a cup or two of romaine.