Frugal Things We Have Done This Past Couple of Weeks

These are the things we have done frugally the past couple of weeks.

I signed up for free samples on Amazon. We got our first one. The writing on the packaging was rather hilarious.

On our reunion trip, we purchased no meals or drinks during the trip to our destination or coming home from it. We just ate snacks and drinks that I had packed at home. I had packed an assortment of chips, granola bars, organic Honeycrisp apples, almonds, candy bars, Baby Bella cheeses, mozzarella sticks, turkey pepperoni, avocados, Slim Jims, Parmesan Crisps, bottles of water, and bottles of Diet Snapple Raspberry Iced Tea.

We purchased no food or drinks of any kind at the hotel. My son and DIL were nice enough to feed us breakfast on Sunday before we returned home.

The Hilton Hotel cost us $123. a night for two nights and $5.00 a day for parking. Plus all of the taxes and surcharges that New York state adds on. I purchased the hotel through Priceline using a $5.00 off coupon and used Rakuten to get cash back and by using my rewards card, I also got cash back.

I brought home from the hotel the leftover body wash, lotion, shampoo, 2 K cups, and 2 non dairy creamer.

I used up the last $.20 off a gallon of my gasoline reward points to fill up the tank for our trip out. We used our EZ pass for all the Thruway trips which gives us a discount on tolls.

At the Buffalo Zoo we were able to pay the senior admission for the two of us and children’s admission for my granddaughter. I thought they might question me because she is so tall but they didn’t. These discounts saved us $7.00. Parking was $5.00 and saved us from parking on the street and then walking a long way. We brought plenty of iced water and snacks with us from home so we purchased nothing there.

At Niagara Falls, parking would have been $10.00. But on certain days, if you are a NYS resident and over 65 years of age, you park for free. It was a Tuesday and it happened to be one of those days. We also brought plenty of water and snacks with us.

I purchased the newest Samsung 10.1 tablet for Hubby on Amazon Prime day. We saved $30. over what it would have cost us prior. I also used my almost $20. in rewards cash to help defray the cost further and I earned 6% back in rewards. I had also purchased a $25. gift card to use and got a $ 5.00 promotional credit.

I purchased some Queen vinyls for my granddaughter earning 6% back in rewards. 

In my quest to be more frugal and intentional, I have been working on cutting back what I spend on household products. We use a lot of liquid soap in this house. Not only is it expensive but it seems like I am always buying it whenever I go to Walmart where up to now I had found the cheapest price. So I have been researching a cheaper price to buy it in bulk. On Amazon, I found that I could purchase a good quality soap with good ratings in bulk. I ordered 4 gallons for just $.07 an ounce and it will give me back reward cash. It also will last a while. The only down side is that it won’t arrive for a month but I think I have enough to last me until then. We are also being more intentional about using less of it.

I bought 2 LED 3 way bulbs, that are warrantied for 22 years, for our reading lamps online at Amazon for $19.95. At our hardware store, it would have cost me that for one.

I drink V8 juice quite a bit for breakfast. I was on my last bottle so I was looking for a great deal. I purchased the above pack of 24 for $ 6.16 at Amazon which was a superb deal.

We went to Russell’s Steakhouse , our favorite restaurant, for dinner one night.  It was a celebration with Alexa of our anniversary one week late. We received a gift certificate for Christmas. It covered all of the bill except for $20.74 plus a $35.00 tip. Alexa loves going there as much as we do.

I have problems with my hands when I use my tablet. I noticed that Alexa had a gadget on her cellphone that goes on the back and lets you hold it between your fingers. She told me that they sell them for tablets too and are called Pop Sockets. I purchased one on a Prime Day to get 6% back in rewards.


I read the electric and natural gas meters and submitted them to the company so that I wouldn’t get an estimated bill. We only used 450 KWH’s and 3 CCF’s of natural gas in the past month. Our bill was the smallest ever for a July one: $ 81.50. Of course, we had no A/C for three days but we also didn’t run it when it wasn’t needed.


We know that there was a power surge while we were away at the reunion because all of our clocks were flashing when we came home. We have had a lot of them lately especially when we have a storm. The A/C repairman told us that it is feasible that it could have blown out the switch on our A/C. 


The cost of the repair for the A/C was  $ 139.32 just to come out. They did not have a switch on the truck so he took the bad switch out and twisted the two wires together which will keep the A/C running until they can put a new switch in. We don’t know what the switch will cost yet but it is the cheaper of all of the scenarios that could have been the problem. Bottom line is that we are very happy to have A/C again. Heat index the three days after it was fixed was 100. 

I have gotten very good at keeping the SUV under 2000rpms when I start up from a light or stop sign. This allows me to save on gasoline. No jack rabbit starts for me.

The only school supplies I purchased on the sales this year are these 4 notebooks at Office Max. They were $ .10 each. I use them for keeping track of various things here. I am well stocked on everything else we need. 


I returned two Sim cards that Hubby bought accidentally to Amazon. They are not charging me shipping to send them back. It was easy to get the code on my phone to have UPS scan it,  package them, and ship them back.

I ran all of my errands on Monday doing the 8 mile trip in a circle to save on gasoline.

I froze three bananas that were leftover. I will make banana bread when it is cooler in the Fall.

We were able to turn off the A/C on Monday evening. Temps at night have been in the sixties and daytime 70’s. It’s comfortable since it isn’t humid like it was.

I post my frugal things weekly when I don’t have company. I do it so that you all will sometimes glean a tip or think about things that you haven’t thought about. Some weeks they add up to quite a bit of money; others not so much. But I want you all to realize that the little things add up to big money over the period of 6 months to a year. Saving on these things in good times allows us to continue saving money in our investments so if there are bad times we can weather them easily.

I don’t get much feedback on these type of posts. I can easily change this Wednesday post to something that would be better for all of you. So let me know if you like this particular kind of post or would benefit from something else.

Feel free to share what you have done frugally the past couple of weeks.