From baseball games to EZPasses, it’s been a fairly frugal week!
1. We received a check from EZPass for reasons I still cannot quite explain.
In the mail on Monday – a real downer of a day, if I’m being honest, but let’s not get into all that now – amongst the other bills, a jury summons (sigh), and random fliers, was an odd check-looking envelope from the “VDOT Customer Refund Account.” Honestly, I thought it was junk mail, but I did open it anyway, and surprise! It was a check payable to LeeLee for the princely sum of $11.43. Why? I’m still not quite sure. VDOT said it could have been due to an overpayment (?) or perhaps LeeLee had closed his account, neither of which has happened. Nevertheless, we are taking the win and I have deposited the check to savings.
2. We used the free tickets I won from the library to go to a Washington Nationals game!
I recognize this is double-dipping in the Frugal Things bin a bit, but remember how I won those baseball tickets? The blessed day finally arrived! LeeLee and I had great fun taking ourselves out to the ballgame (via public transit, of course) and while we did enjoy a beverage and a veggie dog or two while in residence, we worked to keep our spending to a minimum. And our enjoyment was at a maximum!
3. I scored a new-to-me sun lamp from our Buy Nothing group!
I’ve had my eye on a sun lamp for several years now. My basement office is, as you might imagine, pretty dimly lit, and even more so in the winter months, when the sunlight doesn’t hit my little window well “just so.” I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve almost purchased a brand-new sun lamp to combat any winter blues, only to talk myself out of it at the last minute. So imagine my delight when a lady in my Buy Nothing group put one up for grabs over the weekend! I jumped at the chance, won out, and am now the proud owner of a beautiful little lamp, which will have a place of pride on my work desk. Hooray!
4. I purchased a new storm door latch kit instead of buying one from our locksmith.
In fairness, this one actually came about at the advice of said locksmith, Kyle, who was awesome. On Monday, the latch on our storm door decided it was done retracting, thank you very much. And I’m only too grateful that it waited to do this while the door was OPEN, rather than when the door was closed, and didn’t lock us in the house! We called our go-to locksmith right away – I was hopeful it could be repaired rather than replaced – but sadly the entire assembly needed to be exchanged. Kyle advised it would be much cheaper for me to go to Lowe’s to pick one up rather than buy one from him directly, and so I rushed right out, picked one up, and voila! Two days later, all fixed.
5. Our water bill was lower this month compared to a year ago (and last month, for that matter)!
I LOVE when the water bill comes and the little bar chart shows a lower usage this month over the same month a year ago! And for September’s bill, that’s just what happened. I’m sure some of it is due to our recent travel, but hey! I’m not looking a gift meter in the mouth. ;)
What have been some of your frugal wins this week? Let us know in the comments!
:)