Well, friends, here I am on my new laptop, having breathed a sigh of relief that it has arrived and my backups in the cloud were intact and safe. And in fact, despite the capital outlay for a new computer, I have been embracing some frugalities along the way as well, including my first Frugal Thing of the week. Namely:
1. I have decided to forgo purchasing Microsoft Word for as long as I can.
Now, a few days into this new laptop experience, I must say that “as long as I can” may only be several weeks, but no matter. If I can kick the can down the road even for a little while, that’s money saved, if only for now. I use Word more than I thought I did, to be honest, but Google Docs and Pages (the latter of which I’d never used before in my LIFE until I got this laptop!) have gotten me where I need to go at this point.
2. I’ve been shopping the freezer for dinners lately.
It’s amazing how quickly random items accumulate in the freezer! So far this week I’ve pulled out half a loaf of “good” bread for pairing with (leftover) pasta; bao buns to accompany our fried cauliflower rice dinner; some veggie-bacon, for breakfast; some sandwich bread for lunches; and some Morningstar Farms breakfast sausage links, as a protein-packed afternoon snack. Not too shabby!
3. I finally treated myself to my birthday adventure – on the cheap!
I’ve always wanted to take the train up to New York City, take in a show, have a bite to eat and then head back home all in the course of a day, and one of the beautiful things about living in the D.C. area is that I can do this with relative ease. I can also do it relatively cheaply, come to find out! I purchased a discounted ticket to a Broadway matinee (“Six,” which was great!), then treated myself to 99-cent pizza for lunch, brought my own water, and entertained myself with plenty of free sightseeing before and after the show. I even used the remnants of an old gift card on some new manga from one of my favorite New York bookshops. And because of my 16-hour adventure, I didn’t have to pay for a hotel – even better! (I did splurge on dinner at one of my favorite spots, P.S. Kitchen, but since it was just me, even that was relatively inexpensive.)
4. My downgraded Row House membership is actually making me more faithful in my attendance!
As you might remember, a couple of months ago I downgraded my gym membership to Row House, taking myself down from the unlimited plan to the eight-workouts-a-month plan and saving $30 a month in the process. An interesting thing has happened as a result: I’m actually much more faithful now in attending eight workouts a month! Amazing what happens when you pay for a specific number: I don’t want to lose even one class worth of registration fees, and so there you’ll find me, two hours a week in the gym, rowing away.
5. I’m still uploading all my receipts into Fetch.
This is decidedly not a get-rich-quick scheme, but it takes five seconds to upload my receipts, and I’m working my way toward a $25 Safeway gift card as a result. The time I put into it is definitely worth that!
What kinds of frugal wins (and losses!) have you had lately? Tell us in the comments!
:)