It’s been a busy week or so here – which explains my silence (and I’m sorry about that!) – but I’ve made it my mission to maintain some semblance of frugality all the while!
1. I snagged some new pairs of my favorite running shoes at a deep discount!
I’ve been running for the better part of 20 years, and while overall it’s a pretty frugal sport (as opposed to my other great love, triathlon), the one major cost sink is keeping up with decent running shoes. Try to make the wrong ones work and you’ll end up with shin splints, or worse; run too long in and old pair and your feet will never forgive you. As I’ve aged, I’ve required more and more cushioning, which sadly comes at more and more of a cost. So I’m always on the lookout for deals. Thankfully, my local running shop, Pacers, hosted its annual warehouse sale a week ago, and I managed to grab two pairs of my favorite Asics for about 50% off apiece. That’s a deal I absolutely couldn’t pass up! And now my shoe closet is well stocked for months to come.
2. LeeLee recently advocated for a free hotel night – and won!
Poor LeeLee. His January was teeming with travel, which was fine, but every week he found himself fighting with the hotel about something, which was decidedly not fine! First, it was that we were charged a “late cancellation” fee when he had to check out early due to the city having no water, a charge it took me several weeks to set right. Then, he woke up one morning to realize his heat was out – and the temperature was in the 20s outside! Despite complaining multiple times throughout the day as he came and went, no repair person ever showed up, and by the time he arrived back after his workday, the room was a cool 60 degrees. I am generally a patient person, but I got so mad I called the hotel from two hours away and gave them the what-for. Before too long, a space heater was provided (as the hotel was sold out, they couldn’t move him to another room), and his frozen night was comped. I was admittedly hoping for his entire stay to be gratis, but I will take a night’s charge, at least.
3. I returned some overdue library books – but no fines were incurred.
Now, in my defense, the past month or so has been an absolute blur. But imagine my surprise when a week or so ago, I got an email from my beloved public library alerting me that several books I’d checked out were now “Presumed lost” and I was being charged to the tune of almost $100 in total! I gasped, and then I pulled the poor books out from where they’d been calmly waiting, so I could return them to the library at once. Before I went, I wrote a little note of apology on a sticky and put it on the front of the book, plunking the pile gently into the book return slot (because, let’s face it, I was too afraid to go in and atone for my sins publicly!). That evening, I peeked into my account online and found I owed … $0.00. ZERO DOLLARS! Our library system is fine-free, which I think is absolutely wonderful, but I expected to at least have to fork over a little bit as punishment. Libraries, man. They’re the best thing the nation has going, and I mean that.
4. I fixed our garbage disposal!
Late last week, I flicked our kitchen disposal on and heard an absolute racket coming from the drain. I turned it off right away, got my trust flashlight, and peered inside, only to find 1) a bottle cap of undetermined vintage and 2) The metal top of our cheese slicing knife (!). I grabbed the tongs and began to fish things out. The bottle cap came out easily enough, but the metal knife was a bit more wily. It took a good 20 minutes of flipping it around with the tongs and cajoling it with alternating sweet talk and curse words, but in the end, I managed to snag it and bring it back to safety (or at least out of danger). Twenty minutes of work saved me what would have been at least a $100 service call – a win any day of the week!
5. And now, a (halfway) frugal fail: We splurged on Chinese takeout and it was lackluster.
We’ve really been immersed in the Leftover Revolution lately, but the other day I had had enough and proposed some Chinese delivery from our favorite takeaway spot instead. LeeLee jumped at the chance and we ordered, and it arrived right away – from one of our favorite delivery guys, to boot! We brought it in, opened it up, and … the steamed tofu just tasted Off to me. Not rancid, not poisonous, not outright BAD – just … off. Like maybe it had been hanging around for just a day or two too long. For his part, LeeLee had no qualms, so I didn’t call to discuss it with the restaurant, but I didn’t eat too much of the tofu, just the accompanying veggies and spring roll. We’ll definitely order again, and probably soon if I’m being honest! But the restaurant’s off night was not on my bingo card for our Splurge Night. Oh, well. Life goes on, and nobody got sick!
What frugal wins (or fails!) have you had this week? Let’s hear it in the comments!
:)
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