From at-home car maintenance to coupons, refunds and rice, our frugality has run the gamut this week! Here are some of the top picks.
1. Our neighbor offered up his vacuum for our cars.
For weeks now – really, since we returned from the beach in June – LeeLee has been idly threatening to go get his car detailed in order to rid it of all the sand we tracked back from vacation. Given that funds are tight at the moment, I’ve been dutifully kicking the can down the road on this in the hopes that, I don’t know, the sand would magically disappear on its own? That LeeLee would get used to it? Neither of those things has happened, so imagine our delight when our wonderful next-door neighbor knocked on our door last Friday evening to offer up his vacuum cleaner to vacuum the sand out right then and there. The best part? He had no idea that this sand issue was even an issue! He had just taken the time to bring the vacuum out onto the street and clean up his own car, and wondered if we’d like to share the wealth. We jumped at the chance and LeeLee’s car is now beach-free once again. Isn’t it wonderful to have great neighbors?
2. The clerk at Ace offered me a coupon.
I visited our local Ace Hardware last week to pick up exactly two things: A plastic tarp (prior to last week’s tropical storm here in Virginia – this Florida girl feels it’s always good to have a tarp on hand!) and a new outdoor lightbulb for our porch. I had in my wallet a $5-off-$30 coupon that had just arrived in the mail and was eager to use it, but lo! With tax, my total only rang up to $27 and change. I lamented this and the clerk said “Wait! I got you!” and produced from behind the counter ANOTHER coupon that got me $5 off $25. I rejoiced, and so did my bank account!
3. We figured out how to reset a dashboard light without a trip to the car dealer!
LeeLee bought a new-to-us car back in May, and just last week its “Oil Change Required” light came on! Oh, how we frowned. First, he called CarMax and they confirmed the records indicated the oil was indeed changed before we bought the car in May, and only about 1,000 miles had elapsed since that time. They suggested he look in the manual for a solution, but the manual gave us no joy. After some digging, I found an article online addressing this very thing, sent it to LeeLee, and voila! The light is off! Any day we don’t have to take a car to the dealer is a great day indeed.
4. I used some “found rice” in my chik’n divan.
I had all the fixings for chik’n divan the other night – except for the rice! But before I gave up and trudged down to Safeway for a new bag, I decided to put a little light on the subject (literally – I used my phone’s flashlight) and inspect the depths of my cupboards. There I found two little folded-up mostly used bags of rice – the contents of which gave me a full cup’s worth! Thus, the divan dinner was saved, and no additional money was spent. It’s so hard to use up those little dribs and drabs – I love when I can find occasion to!
5. I lobbied for a refund on part of LeeLee’s recent trip – and won!
I mentioned LeeLee’s little travel mishap in last week’s post, but this has been a great week of tying up loose ends on that front. On his original ticket back from seeing his mother in Florida, we had paid for a little upgrade to his seating since I knew it was going to be a potentially stressful weekend for him. When his original return flight was canceled due to the storm and he was put on another the next day, we lost that upgrade status, and he also had to take a less-ideal flight back with a connection (rather than the nonstop he was scheduled for). My mama always taught me that nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I pinged American Airlines’ customer service on Twitter (I refuse to call it X, as that’s not a great name) and they got right to work helping me. I submitted a refund request for that leg of the journey, and oh happy day! It was approved! I am thrilled, and so is my travel credit card.
What frugal wins (or fails) have you enjoyed this week? Let us know in the comments!
:)