Frugal living isn’t just something that happens at the store or when you’re crunching the budget numbers. It really is a way of life.
Rather than getting uptight or frustrated I like to look at our frugal adventures as just that– an adventure! There are wins, bumps, and funny things that happen along the way.
That’s what this “Frugal Feats, Flops, and Funnies” series is all about– the adventures and misadventures of living the frugal life. There’s something comforting about coming together with like-minded people who understand the unique challenges, fulfillment, and humor that are just part of the frugal life. You can see more from this series here.
So sit back for a little story time and I’ll share some of my frugal feats, flops, and funnies from the past few months.
Frugal Feats
Sleeping Under the Stars
If you’re taking a summer road trip in the west, then I have a great money-saving hack for you. We just drive until we are tired and then sleep on a tarp under the stars. Out west we have so much national forest and BLM land that it’s easy to find free places to sleep for the night. With a family of eight, we would otherwise have to rent at least two rooms. Sleeping under the stars gives us so much flexibility on where we stop.
We bring a tarp and blankets or sleeping bags with us, so we’re totally comfortable. It feels adventurous to the kids because they often fall asleep in the car, then wake up to a beautiful new place. We recently drove our oldest to attend college in Utah. Normally the 10+ hour drive is done in one day, but being able to camp halfway through allows us to split up the drive and not have to dedicate an entire day to driving. Over the years we’ve saved so much money by choosing to sleep under the big sky instead of paying for tiny motel rooms.
For more tips on this idea, see this post I wrote years ago about camping for free.
Rapid Rewards Points
On a morning in June, my mom died suddenly and completely unexpectedly. By that evening, all of my siblings and I made it to Arizona to be together with my dad. Having Southwest Rapid Reward points to completely cover the cost of the flights made it so the last minute travel didn’t add any financial stress at an already difficult time.
I also just flew to Arizona to visit my dad again. I brought my oldest son with me as my companion who flies free. We enjoyed spending time with him and helping him do some work on his property and house. Thanks to my Rapid Rewards Points (which we earn from just using the Southwest credit card for our family purchases), I didn’t have to pay out of pocket for my flight (and my son was free with my companion pass).
Southwest occasionally has really great sign up bonuses with their credit cards that let you easily earn the companion pass and get enough points for a free flight or two. If you want me to let you know when those great deals pop up, just enter your info below. This is not for my newsletter; I’ll only use it to share particularly good Southwest credit card promos, and you can unsubscribe any time you get one.
Frugal Flops
Water Bill
I already talked about this one here, but I think it definitely qualifies as a flop. I’m not sure what happened, but our last water bill was nearly $900. Surely the garden water got left on for a day or more. The really frustrating thing is that there is such a delay in the water bill, that the mistake could have been made two months before. Our next water will is coming up soon and I’m super nervous that it will also be outrageous.
Gym Membership
I had high hopes that I would make time for a good gym routine over the summer because it definitely wasn’t happening during the last school year. We could be paying just $20 a month for gym memberships for our two older kids who go regularly, but instead I keep paying $60 for the family membership with the good intentions of going myself. Well, I think I went once over the whole summer. 🫣
Frugal Funnies
Mozzarella Sticks
My oldest son and I flew to Arizona for Labor Day weekend to visit my dad and help him with some things around his property. Halfway to the airport we got notice that our flight was delayed for over two hours, so we stopped by Sam’s Club to get something to eat. We killed some time walking around the store and happened upon a 6 lb box of mozzarella sticks on clearance for less than $5. Now I don’t think I have ever purchased frozen mozzarella sticks from Sam’s Club, or anywhere else for that matter, but I know a sweet deal when I see one. I texted my dad to see if he likes mozzarella sticks. Then I thought, why not grab a couple of boxes for our family too. The flight’s not too long (though it was delayed). We had had packed light, so squeezing in 18 pounds of frozen mozzarella sticks wasn’t a problem. We did wonder if TSA would ask us about them, but they didn’t bat an eye!
Shoe Surprise
My daughter was interested in these shoes but definitely didn’t want to pay full price for them. She had been looking on Facebook Marketplace, but couldn’t find anything good in her size in our area. I found a pair on Depop that was pretty much brand new and was half the price of Amazon. I decided to surprise her and have them sent to her college apartment. I was excited that the shoes would be arriving on the day we were moving her in, so I could be there for the surprise. Well, the day before we left for Utah, she ecstatically told me that she just found a like-new pair that had just been listed on Depop for only $25! She immediately bought them and was thrilled at her great find! My surprise for her turned into a surprise for me! Now we are twinning!
Its your turn!
Tell us about your wins, failures, and humorous money experiences lately! It’s fun to learn, commiserate, and laugh together about all things money!
I always love your budget posts. Can you not read your own meter along the way so you can see what is happening? I would turn everything off and see if the meter still moves. I live in AZ and so we are super vigilant about water leaks. I’ve never had a huge water bill like that but did get a super high electric bill in our first house. We had just bought it and the heat pump was malfunctioning and we didn’t know because we had never had a heat pump before. The worst part was that we were on an electric coop and so it had been malfunctioning for two months before we knew. 🙁
Thanks Sheila. That’s so frustrating about the electric bill! I think we do have access to the meter, but it’s a little tricky because it’s not actually on our property oddly enough. It’s either a steep hike or a 4 mile drive. When we first got the bill I insisted that we do a check for a leak, but I don’t think we have yet because we were pretty sure that leaving on the garden water was the culprit. Well (spoiler alert) we just got our next water bill and it’s $946, so it’s definitely worth checking.
Oh my goodness!! That’s awful! I’m sorry. I do hope they will give you some grace!
We live in VA and our county will reduce the water bill if we prove that we’ve made a repair. Maybe check into that in case it turns out you have a hidden leak somewhere.
That’s good to know, Angela. If it turns out that we find a leak, we will definitely look into that!