Four Frugal Things (and a fail)

1. I snagged some Safeway savings

I needed to pop in for a few things, but I opened the app at home first and discovered a $10 coupon for an online order.

I added items to my cart, and then I realized there’s a $3.95 fee for orders under $30.

That eats up a lot of the $10 discount! So, I poked around on their online deals page and found enough things I needed to get to the $30 mark.

And of course, my student discount applied as well; usually it’s 5%, but for some reason, this month it’s 10%.

(I have no questions or complaints. Ha.)

2. I ordered a smaller planner pad

I use the simple design from 3-2-1 Done, and my current pad is just about empty.

The 8.5×11 size is $17.99, which is not a big expense for a year, of course.

But I decided to try ordering the half size ($11.99) to see if that works just as well. I don’t find myself filling up all of the space on the big sheets anyway.

3. I printed a free monthly calendar sheet

I always keep the current month and then next month up on my bulletin board, and since it’s just about a new month (October starts on Thursday!), I needed to print a new sheet.

I always use a free printable from Home Printables; you don’t even have to register or anything!

And since my printer has big ink tanks that are refillable with ink bottles (no expensive cartridges), printing these at home costs almost nothing.

(This printer is similar to mine; my model is several years older.)

I just recycle the calendar page when the month is over, so it’s pretty low-waste too.

4. I got the BLS license issue fixed (I think!)

I’m pretty sure I told you that my school was going to make me take a whole new BLS course because the one at my hospital (where my current license is) is from the Red Cross instead of the American Heart Association.

This is particularly stupid because my clinicals are at the outpatient wound clinic at the hospital WHERE I CURRENTLY WORK WITH MY RED CROSS LICENSE. If it’s good enough for the hospital, it should be good enough for the school.

I sent multiple emails explaining the situation, and no one was responding. So, I kept following up, and finally yesterday someone got back to me!

It sounds like I am not going to have to take a whole new course, which is a relief because that was going to cost $120, and that would be maddening to pay given that I am already licensed.

So, yay! My persistence has paid off.

(I maintain that it should not take 8 emails from a student to elicit a response, but that is neither here nor there.)

5. I missed the Goodwill return window

I had a doctor’s appointment near the Goodwill I used to frequent with my kids, and I stopped in on the way home.

I picked up two pairs of shorts, wanting to try them on, and then discovered they no longer have fitting rooms.

They do, however, have a 7-day return window now (they used to not allow returns at all), so I took the shorts home and tried them on. Unfortunately, neither of them fit right.

And since that Goodwill is not particularly near where I live, I accidentally missed the return window. BOO.

Another boo is that even if I had made it in time, the return is only in the form of Goodwill credit. Annoying.

So, I am chalking this up as lessons learned:

• Only buy clothes at Goodwills that are near my usual routes.
• Wear leggings and a tank top if I plan to look at clothes, because then I can try them on right there in the store over top of the leggings and tank top.

You will note I am not following the How To Make Yourself Miserable After a Money Mistake steps.

I’m just saying, “Ok! I learned a lesson, and I won’t make that same mistake again.”

Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to?

Feel free to share a fail too, if you’d like. 😉