I personally find my Five Frugal Things posts more fun when I do something visual like a repair, or a rehab. Same goes for when I cook something, or get an interesting item for free.
But sometimes, frugality does involve doing the unaesthetic personal finance stuff, that kind that produces zero fun pictures.
Ready for some dull, responsible behavior??? Let’s go!
1. I put my raise in my investment account
You know how I got the regular raise and then the market adjustment raise recently?
That seemed like a good reason to adjust my investment account contributions at work; between my blog income and nursing income, I had enough to live on before the increases. And that means I’m in a perfect position to invest my raises.
2. I submitted my $100 book for reimbursement
We were required to spend a little over $100 on electronic access to a book for our current 8-week course. Unfortunately, you can’t just buy access for eight weeks; it only comes in one-year increments.
BOO.
So, I submitted the receipt to my hospital for reimbursement, because class supplies qualify as well as actual tuition.
Every time I do something like this, it feels like kind of a headache, and I understand why people don’t bother. But also, $100 isn’t chump change, so it’s worth the time it takes to dig up the receipt and send it in for submission.
Sometimes frugality is about being willing to do the annoying, tedious things. 😉
In another boring move: my nursing paychecks were still set to go into the Chase savings account (which I had only opened for the bonus!).
That savings account has an embarrassingly low interest rate (I got a measly $0.03 in January with a $5,000 balance!), so I shifted money into my CIT savings account, which pays a much higher interest rate.
I also changed my direct deposit settings so that my checks aren’t going to the Chase Savings account anymore.
In this, the era of high-yield savings accounts, there is no reason to use an account that pays you an insultingly low rate. 😉
(You can click here to open the savings account that I have; the interest rate changes all the time, so I won’t quote it here, but it’s always a very competitive rate!)
4. I froze some burgers
I had a pack of ground beef in the fridge, so the other night I mixed up a batch of this burger recipe, placed them on a baking sheet, froze them, and put the burgers into a ziploc bag.
This way, I can just grab a few in the morning, put them in the fridge before work, and then they’ll be thawed and ready to cook when I get home at night.
Homemade convenience food: a favor to my future self.
5. (an old standby) I used my dishcloths and towels instead of paper towels
I thought it might be fun to occasionally throw in an old standby, so here is one: I almost never use paper towels.
Instead, I use cloth towels and dishcloths.
(Exceptions: when the mess is straight grease or raw meat.)
Cloth kitchen towels are fairly commonplace, but I have been in a lot of kitchens that have no dishcloths, which always surprises me.
There is seriously nothing better for wiping off counters, and if you are like me, you do NOT feel like the kitchen is clean until the counters are wiped off, and that includes the sink edges and around the back of the faucet.
I use my kitchen towels for the obvious stuff like drying dishes or hands, but I also use them for covering rising bread dough (just dampen first) and for drying off things like freshly-washed asparagus (so it doesn’t spit at me when I put it in a hot pan).
Anyway, I almost never have to buy paper towels, and I suppose that has saved me a tidy sum over the years.
(On a related note: here’s how to keep your kitchen linens stink-free.)
Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately?
Source: www.thefrugalgirl.com…