Y’all, I saved around $600 this week and I’m living my best life. When we booked the Ultimate Christmas Package, the room we wanted was unfortunately sold out. It was all my fault, I was trying to save a few extra bucks by waiting on my Target giftcards to come in, so by the time I had the deposit ready for the ever patient Travel Agent Erin, my room had sold out. DOH! We booked anyway, because Erin thought (and I agreed) there was a good chance someone would cancel before the final payment was due, meaning I could change my reservation.
Well, Disney just announced they are not only extending the Ultimate Christmas Package booking period, but they opened up some new rooms. Erin must have called the moment the news broke, because I didn’t even know there was an extension before I got the call- we got the room we wanted.
All of this is to say- we just saved $600ish dollars on our Christmas package and I didn’t have to do a single thing! THIS is the benefit of a travel agent- I didn’t have to call. I didn’t even have to be AWARE of new packages being released, because Erin knew what I wanted, she got the news and she acted. BOOM. Done. Now she doesn’t have to call Disney every single day to check anymore. It’s win-win. Ha!
Now that we’re doing so much better with eating at home almost exclusively, I’ve been thinking about ways to stretch our grocery budget.
Do you have a problem with buying something like waffle mix or bisquick and not using it all before it expires? I do. We just don’t use that much- I’m not a breakfast person (as you may know) so even buying a small bag or box tends to last us, sometimes to the point it expires. Well, I just did a double batch of waffles the other night and froze them. Voila! Tons of quick breakfasts knocked out for Tim and Miss Bongo, plus now I don’t have to worry it’s going to expire. Feeling pretty good about that one.
I had a recipe call for sour cream. We’re not big sour cream eaters and I had about half a container left after making dinner that night. I threw it in the freezer! Next time I need to cook with sour cream I’m not going to have to buy a container to use half.
Stuff like this is so easy- but for me, it takes a slight bit of planning. As in- remember to make all those waffles before the mix goes bad. Put the sour cream in the freezer immediately, before it gets pushed to the back and I find it 6 months from now.
I’m thinking about keeping a master list- nothing too difficult, but when I buy new waffle mix, just writing down the expiration date on a piece of paper and hanging it on the fridge beside the grocery list. Every week when I grab my grocery list, I can check to make sure nothing is expiring. Maybe I’ll even write down “1/2 container sour cream freezer” so I don’t forget I’ve already got it. You know what kinds of items tend to fall by the wayside in your house. Just remember every item you don’t have to toss is that much more money in your fund- not to mention cutting down on food waste and plastic/paper usage. Not having to buy a second sour cream container saves room in my recycling bag, which means less trash bag usage, which means…saving money! It’s little stuff, but hey…pennies…make….dollars!
I did have a fail. I tried making my own pizza dough using a new recipe. The plan was to make one pizza fresh, then freeze the rest of the dough for later use. Unfortunately the recipe was not…right. I don’t know what the deal was, and I followed it exactly, but it was definitely off. I guess that dough sitting in the freezer will have to go into the trash because it isn’t good enough to be repurposed into anything. That’s the frustrating part of trying new recipes- if they don’t work out or you can’t bring yourself to eat it, there isn’t much you can do other than toss it. Blah.
2020 West Coast Trip Goal: $5000
October 14th- October 20th
$44.90- Secret Shopping
$15- Panel
$5- Crowdtap
$3.87- InstaGC
$3.65- Misc
$3- Pinecone Research
$2.79- Credit Card rebate coupon
$1.15- Found on the ground!
Total earned this week: $79.36
Fund Total from last post: $2184.90
Current Fund Total: $2264.26
Only $2735.74 to go!
Couponing To Somewhere Week 21: Black Friday