What did you do today to save money?

[bevtoy]

I turned the thermostat down several degrees.
Ate at home.
Made my own coffe and put it in a carafe to take to work instead of buying it.
Wonder how much I saved?

 

[MrsPete]

I went to work and earned a day's salary.

Now on to savings:
I brown-bagged my lunch (not really a choice for teachers).
I drank a free glass of tea (teacher perk) from the cafeteria instead of buying a soda.
I went grocery shopping after school, and I didn't buy any junk food.
I cooked enough dinner so that we could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
I used the last of the rice in a plastic container; I washed it and saved it to use for beans or something similar in my pantry.
I received an ebay package -- a car charger for my new cell phone. The charger cost .99, which is considerably less than it would've cost at the store.

Something I did a few days ago was really good: We'd had chicken and rice (you know, baked together with the recipe from the back of the soup can -- does everyone eat this, or just us Southerners?) for dinner, and we had leftovers. I mixed up the leftovers with a can of cream of chicken soup, some onion, carrot, and celery; and we had some really excellent "homemade chicken/rice soup".

 

[Disneymucks]

oh yeah i also saved on lunch by staying home.

 

[kmk160]

I bought a few sets of winter pjs for ds (3) and dd (9mos) for next winter.
All Carter's brand and came to about $4 or $5 a piece.
Better than spending the $18.00 that they're ticketed next year

 

[Hedy]

I didn't buy anything from the vending machines at work today, nor did I just buy a quick snack or dessert in the caf.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Stayed home!!! lol OH, and lowered my electric bill over $60 a month, by doing the budget billing (finally available to us)

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

T1130, hun what ya gonna do with them Gymbucks??!! Surely not let them go to waste??? PM ME!

I did use my gymbucks today, so I guess not going out and lowering my electric bill just went out the window.

 

[mom2alix]

I went to the grocery store and stuck to my list! I can't remember the last time I left the store spending less than $30! I can't remember the last time I went to the grocery store and spent less than $60 (and that's on a normal "oh we need milk" trip") I have a really bad tendency to wander the aisles and let things fall into the cart.

 

[sammielynn]

Took my lunch to work and bought nothing from the machines.
Stopped just window shopping on the internet, I always find something we "need".

 

[tar heel]

Took my lunch and a container of ice tea to work.
Drank free bottled water after my tea was gone.
Made a dinner that cost less than $2.
Made my grocery list.
Started turning a hambone into lentil soup for tomorrow's lunch.

Speaking of the hambone . . . I got to list how much I've done with one good-quality spiral sliced ham. It was a grocery store loss leader that cost about $14. We had three ham and veggies meals (one for four people and two for three people), six sandwiches, toppings for a pizza and now the lentil soup. We've had all three cars in the garage in the past five weeks and two of my children have birthdays in the next three weeks. I decided I was going to spend a maximum of $150 on groceries over three weeks, and, if this week is any indication, I may come in under goal!

 

[java]

I made dinner!! And made dinner for 2 more nights... Froze one and have the other for tomorrow... avoiding take out is my big $$$ saver today.

 

[minnie1928]

LOL Kelly, I guess you can call running around Home Depot and The Galleria pricing out stuff for our basement remodel, saving money. But, I don't know if you call cutting through the Walmart parking lot to get to the mall and seeing Party city ad for a clearence sale saving money. (I live in Y too) I did buy a few things clearenced for my middle DD b-day soon and for the supperbowl party Dh wants to have to show off the basement.

I did go to Blockbuster to get the dvd non returned (I did rerturn it) straighten out and my balance wipped away and hopefully the calls stopped.

I'd say you saved money, you bought the party stuff on clearance instead of waiting till closer to the party date and paying full price. And I'm guessing that straightening out the Blockbuster thing is cheaper than paying for the DVD. And, by doing these all on the same trip you saved gas! If you would have tried this on a weekend, you would have been stuck in Market St/Galleria traffic and wasted tons of gas and time!

 

[minnie1928]

On Tuesday (ok, technically it's not today ) I made stew. Considering I don't cook, THIS WAS HUGE for me! My DH actually ate 2 bowls, and I shared it with mom last night and she liked it too! I'm still in shock that it was edible

Technically, I didn't save money because I don't have much in the way of cooking supplies (spices, etc.) that I ended up having to buy. But next time, it won't cost me nearly as much!

 

[nuke]

I brought my lunch today and I got a free water instead of buying a soda.

 

[storybookstory]

I shopped around the grocery store for cheaper options for some of our staple products. Realized I can get along with the $1.19 store brand white bread rather than the $2.99 "potato" bread . Also found packaged bagels that seem to taste just as good as the "bakery fresh" bagels, at half the price . I also bought the non-organic milk, because I just can't afford the extra $2.00/gallon this month (we drink 3-4 gallons a week).

Also let Coldwater Creek credit me back for something I returned rather than exchange it. That was a gift so I will buy something else eventually, but there wasn't anything in the outlet I wanted right now.

 

[Kahana-ri]

I turned down a lunch invitation with coworkers and ate my packed lunch.
Went to Target and only bought the three items I went there for.

 

[Tink561]

I returned a dress and shirt to BabyGap and didn't buy anything else because dh doesn't need it. I just got a credit! I went to Gymboree to check out their new line and decided I didn't *have* to have any of it for my dd so I didn't use my Gymbucks.

I also went to the grocery store and stuck to my list. I used a $10 reward on my total bill.

My dh called around to try to get a better deal on cable/internet. We'll be switching to BellSouth and Direct TV next week. We got free equipment and installation. We'll be getting about $450 in rebates for making the switch. Also, with the bundle option, we'll be saving a total of about $50 per month total. We bundled the phone, DSL, satellite and our Cingular account.

Tomorrow we're going to shop homeowners and car insurance.

 

[maggiew]

I purchased 5 Lean Cuisines for $10 and put them in freezer at work for my lunches this week. Lunches for only $2 each! Plus I bought a 24 pack of Caffeine free coke and put it in my office for lunch too. Better than the $1.50 per bottle from the coke machine in our building!

Maggie

 

[Chris]

Well I WAS doing good~ but then the brakes went on the car and cost 330.00 to fix

 

[HayGan]

I did a mystery shop that pays $10. Not much but it also includes 2 future shops in which I will get $100 of free stuff that I choose. (No it isn't a scam, yes, I know what I am doing and no I won't give you the company name - too many people from this board in my area who could take away my favorite mystery shops - sorry )