Use it. Don't lose it.

[scfr]

Inspired by the unfortunate food waste that occurred when I cleaned out my food pantry, by the decluttering thread, and by the huge amount of stuff I've seen my mom leave unused while she buys more, I wanted to start a thread where we share things we are using up to prevent things going to waste or becoming clutter, and saving money (and maybe minimizing environmental damage too).

Today I wanted to get my car washed. I go to a place where I purchase a "buy 3, get 1 free" card. Awhile back, my DH had asked for my "free wash" sticker and I gave it to him. It's been sitting in his car ever since, in a spot where he may not even remember he has it. Instead of buying a new card for myself, I fetched the free sticker out of his car and used that. When/if he decides to wash his car, he can buy his own card.

Free wash used = zero chance it will go unused.

[bjl584]

I am guilty of receiving gift cards as gifts for birthdays and holidays and then never using them.
i've been trying to get better about it, but I still have a bunch in a drawer.

[scfr]

I am guilty of receiving gift cards as gifts for birthdays and holidays and then never using them.
i've been trying to get better about it, but I still have a bunch in a drawer.

Looking forward to hearing about your "use it" progress!

[disneysteve]

We keep letting CVS bonus bucks go to waste. We need to get better about that. We don’t generally just go there for the heck of it. We only go when we need something, usually a prescription, but it’s easy enough to pop in and make a small purchase if we have free money to spend.

[bjl584]

Looking forward to hearing about your "use it" progress!

I can say that Covid didn't help matters.
A lot of the gift cards that I am sitting on are for restaurants.
The only gift cards that don't sit around long are the ones that I get for Home Depot or Lowes

[myrdale]

We keep letting CVS bonus bucks go to waste.

Its the same with Kohl's for me. I shop there maybe twice a year to get new sheets or towels, etc.

They offer some good deals, but the offer is only good for the next two weeks. If I don't need something, I tend not to buy it. When the need does come up, then I do.

On the subject of washing vehicles, people are different. I hand wash mine about once ever two months, which is good enough for me. My father never washed his truck. We lived next to a dirt road with alot of log truck traffic, so a clean car really only lasted about 2 hours during the summer.

[ua_guy]

My sister, bless her heart...has no idea what to get me for birthdays, Christmas, etc, even though for so many years, I've said, please, no gifts, it's not necessary. A few years ago she bought me a fleet of "salt block" cooking things including the block, related gadgets, and a bunch of books related to salt-block cooking. (???) I'm not really into cooking-- she did include the receipt, which I took it all and exchanged it for an All-clad nonstick pan, which I have used for everything since buying it. Great piece of cookware.

My birthday was a couple days ago, and she did the same thing again, but with taco stuff. Taco shell holders, recipe books, related gadgets. Thankfully, there was an Amazon gift receipt. It's all going back and the credit will be applied to a new air compressor that I need to buy for my shop.

We also just used a $55 Costco rebate check that survived a move, and a year of not shopping at Costco in-person. Before DH left for the store, I remembered it. *TAKE THE CHECK!!!*.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I lose a lot of those rewards and bonus bucks

[kork13]

I'm VERY guilty of letting my annual leave go unused. Without checking, I've probably lost no less than 40 days of paid leave over the last 3-4 years. Sometimes it's unavoidable because I'm TDY/deployed too much, but I also just don't plan enough in the way of weekend getaways or just free time off at home. We normally do a couple week-long trips each year, but I get 30 days/yr, so those normally only take care of 40-50% of that time off. I really need/want to get better about taking leave to give myself 3- and 4-day weekends on the regular (like 1-2x monthly). This year after I get back from this deployment (in mid-Oct), my goal is to take no less than 30 days of leave before the New Year. I plan to use a fair amount of that time to write my master's thesis, as well as take a couple desperately needed vacations with my family.

I'm better about forcing myself to use gift cards & such... Though it's my birthday this week, and many of the birthday freebies from various restaurants I (occasionally) frequent will go unused. I HATE wasting food in the refrigerator/pantry though. I almost always have leftovers in the fridge, and I typically will eat little else but those leftovers for lunch until they're gone. Produce (leafy greens, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.) is my kryptonite. I love to get/have/use them, but I never seem to use it all fast enough, so some portion of it often either rots or just isn't in great shape when I do actually use them.

[scfr]

This morning I ate a Kind bar for breakfast, and had dried mango for an afternoon snack. Those were the last of my "best by July 2021" pantry items.
However, I'm still working on the Wasa crispbread with BB date of June 2021. I'm officially committing to having Wasa w/ hummus & sliced radishes for lunch tomorrow!

[scfr]

I'm VERY guilty of letting my annual leave go unused.

Good reminder. I haven't looked into the "expiration date" on leave at my new-ish job. I think I'll take some time off when we move to our new house instead of doing the usual "cram it all in on the days off" routine. I'm too old for that anymore, plus ... why not?

[scfr]

Yesterday when preparing to do some "dusty" housework I realized that my first-days-of-the-pandemic face masks were just the thing to re-purpose & wear while doing those chores.

[disneysteve]

Yesterday when preparing to do some "dusty" housework I realized that my first-days-of-the-pandemic face masks were just the thing to re-purpose & wear while doing those chores.

I always had a supply of masks in the house long before COVID. Even a box of N95s for dirty jobs.

[scfr]

This morning I polished off a bag of freeze-dried strawberries on my "pantry clean out list" by dumping them on top of my store brand doughnut-shaped-oat-cereal for breakfast.

However, DH wins the "Use it. Don't lose it." prize today. He just returned from an overseas trip where he used airline bonus miles to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime ride in international first class. I'm so delighted that he has shifted from hoarding his miles to using them.

[kork13]

To help my wife with the kids for a while during my deployment, we flew a friend of hers out to stay with them for ~5 weeks. Tomorrow she flies back home on an early flight, but our house is about an hour from the airport. Rather than try to drive up at 5am, DW called and asked about getting a hotel up there, so that her friend could just use the airport shuttle, and it could be a fun night away for the boys. Sounds like a great plan, so I go to book it, and decide to use some of our stored up points! Rather than spending $160+ on the hotel, 100% free with the points I've slowly built up over time!