Post Your Wins

[scfr]

what sign up are you working? How'd you get the bonus?

I'm doing the Wells Fargo Active Cash bonus ($1K spend in 3 months for $200 bonus). Because each person's situation is different, what's considered the "best" bonus varies. I like this one because of the relatively low spend requirement, no annual fee, I'm actually eligible for it, and the card pays 2% cash back which is as good as my Citi Double Cash card. Hard core CC bonus chasers may find this bonus too small for their tastes, but it works for me.

Probably important to note that I'm at a point in my life where I really don't care about my credit score, so I don't worry about the "ding" to my score from opening a new card. I wouldn't recommend opening a CC for the bonus for someone who, for example, is hoping to buy their first home and is working on building up their credit score so they can get a more favorable mortgage rate. Also, CCS are safe in my hands because I pay off my balance every month and have decades of spending discipline under my belt.

[james.hendrickson]

I'm doing the Wells Fargo Active Cash bonus ($1K spend in 3 months for $200 bonus). Because each person's situation is different, what's considered the "best" bonus varies. I like this one because of the relatively low spend requirement, no annual fee, I'm actually eligible for it, and the card pays 2% cash back which is as good as my Citi Double Cash card. Hard core CC bonus chasers may find this bonus too small for their tastes, but it works for me.

Probably important to note that I'm at a point in my life where I really don't care about my credit score, so I don't worry about the "ding" to my score from opening a new card. I wouldn't recommend opening a CC for the bonus for someone who, for example, is hoping to buy their first home and is working on building up their credit score so they can get a more favorable mortgage rate. Also, CCS are safe in my hands because I pay off my balance every month and have decades of spending discipline under my belt.

Thanks scrf, I figured it was maybe a "get paid to sign up" type offer.

[rennigade]

Met my $4k spend within 3 months for chase sapphire card. 100,000 points as the reward. Already cashed in $900 as a statement credit. I still have another $400 to use...will probably also apply it towards statement credit. Weird seeing -$900 on credit card statement. Guess I have to keep using that card for a little.

[ua_guy]

Here in the upper left, we are experiencing temperatures near 100 degrees, and the wildfire smoke is so bad, my throat burns just breathing air outdoors. Our air conditioning quit on Thursday night. (!!!)

DH and I know enough about HVAC to be useful. The capacitor had gone bad. $58 for the part, which included overnight shipping. Meanwhile, we set up "camp" in our RV parked next to the house to survive the heat on Friday with AC. We have a 30a plug there for guests, so the RV's rooftop units kept us nice and cool. Our very old little doggie was very grateful. HVAC contractors couldn't come out for almost two weeks--not surprising, given the heat wave.

The part arrived this morning and we had the unit running inside of 10 minutes. We saved ourselves at least two weeks of misery without AC, about a $200 service call, and parts markup. Now, HVAC work is a noble profession and we do schedule the professionals to come out and do routine checks/cleaning/maintenance in the fall. We just couldn't wait this time, and just as they use their skills to make money, we used ours to save money

[scfr]

Zucchini is plentiful and inexpensive right now.
As a lazy cook, I'm not motivated to use it for fancy baked goods or to create zoodle spirals.
Wanting something beyond plain old sauteed, while keeping it super simple, today I experimented and chopped and steamed some zucchini and then stirred in some artichoke bruschetta.
It was pretty good!
Another frugal (and also simple, tasty, and nutritious) home cooking win for the books.

[disneysteve]

Zucchini is plentiful and inexpensive right now.
As a lazy cook, I'm not motivated to use it for fancy baked goods or to create zoodle spirals.
Wanting something beyond plain old sauteed, while keeping it super simple, today I experimented and chopped and steamed some zucchini and then stirred in some artichoke bruschetta.

Good job!

On a related note...

Friends of ours subscribe to a farm share program. Every week they get a bag full of fresh produce from a local farmers market. They are out of town for 2 weeks and told us we could have their share free of charge. We went on Friday and got 4 ears of corn, a few peaches, 15 potatoes, a couple of tomatoes, a pound of ground beef, and maybe something else. Then there was also a table with a sign saying members could take whatever they wanted for free from there. I took several more tomatoes, a few peppers, and a small eggplant. That evening, my wife used the mandolin to slice a couple of the little potatoes and did baked potato chips that were delicious (they were purple potatoes so kind of different too) and I used a couple of tomatoes, part of a hot pepper, and added onion, garlic, and spices and made fresh salsa which was great. We had the corn for dinner a couple nights later.

[disneysteve]

I didn't think to post this but I count it as a win, even though it's not necessarily a financial one.

DW and I both like iced tea but I hate paying for the ready-made stuff. I've always made my own by boiling a pot of water, then steeping the tea bags in it, then letting it cool completely before pouring it into a bottle. It certainly isn't hard, but it is a bit of a pain to do, so I haven't made it regularly.

Last week I decided to try just "cold brewing" it. I filled a bottle with water, put in 6 tea bags, capped it, and put it in the fridge. The next day I took out the tea bags and the tea was great. We added just a drizzle of agave syrup to sweeten it slightly. When the bottle was about half used, I filled it back up, added more tea bags overnight, and removed them in the morning. Today after lunch, the bottle was almost empty so I refilled it again and added new tea bags. I'll take them out in the morning.

This is far easier, doesn't create dishes to wash, only takes a few minutes for each batch, and best of all I actually like it better than the hot brewed version. I always found that taste to be a bit off. I think the boiling water alters the flavor and not in a good way. This tastes much fresher and lighter. And we only added the agave to the very first fill. Since then we've just been drinking it unsweetened so even better.

It's nice to have something other than plain water all the time and it's cheaper and healthier than soda.

[disneysteve]

Got our Rakuten payment of $14.36. TBH we rarely give any thought to using Rakuten, which we really need to get better about. Still, we managed to earn over $14 this period. I do have the browser add on installed on the desktop but my wife doesn't have it on her computer and it's not on our phones so I'm sure we leave a lot of money on the table.

[ua_guy]

We have an automatic driveway gate with electronics and hardware that was put in about 25 years ago. It stopped working recently, and the whole setup was at a point where it just needed to be updated. A local company wanted north of $5k to put in all new stuff. So we ordered our own hardware for about $2k, same stuff they were going to put in, and did it ourselves this weekend. Works like new again, and I spent a lot of time today freshening up the gate and its brick pillars to give the entrance some shine. The neighbors are going to think we're selling! But, no, we saved about $3k doing the work ourselves, and putting in a little elbow grease. The weather was perfect, not too hot to work.

[disneysteve]

I had completely forgotten to cancel the homeowners policy when I sold my cousin’s house. I called today and then emailed them the info they needed. I should be getting a prorated refund of just over $1,200.

[scfr]

Lazy, frugal cook checking in again: I'm able to make a 2-mile detour on my way home from work and visit a local farmstand. Last week I got some delicious corn-on-the-cob for 33-cents an ear that I cooked this way for the first time:

It was so good and super easy!

I also got some tomatoes and bell peppers at a comparable price to the grocery store, but they were so much tastier.
Plus a huge zucchini that I need to cook today.

[disneysteve]

We took my wife's van over to Wawa to put air in her tires (their air pump is free). On the way there, DW mentioned that she got an email today with a free hoagie reward. When we got there, I checked my email (I was at work all day and hadn't had time to look) and I had the same email. So after we took care of the tires, I opened the app to order a sandwich. I also had a reward for a free any size soft drink. I went in and got a soda and picked up my hoagie, scanned the two codes at the register, and walked out with my free dinner.

[Fishindude77]

Hit a $700 jackpot at the casino Saturday night and pretty well paid for our weekend motel, meals, drinks, gas, etc.

[scfr]

Yesterday morning, before heading in to work, I prepared some paperwork for DH's business. DH's business having sales that require a bit of extra work on my part is always a win.

[disneysteve]

One item from my cousin's that I tried unsuccessfully to sell while I was in Florida was a very nice set of pneumatic tools. I brought it home with me and listed it on Marketplace. I just sold it for $110.