FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

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floridacatlover
Posts: 8058
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

Post by floridacatlover »

I do not grow vegetables. I don’t darn. I only cook basics from scratch. I don’t can or preserve. I often feel like a frugal misfit. But I have been able to live on a modest income/budget - and accumulate savings - by doing frugality my way. (I am fortunate that I could have a higher income/budget by taking SS or withdrawing more from my investments. Ohjodi would say I’ve been “lucky” in life and I have been lucky to be born in the U.S., have followed a high school friend to a job that became my career and had parents that taught me to save, be 100% honest and believe in personal responsibility.)

In 2023 I am hoping to take two short international trips, to France and England, if my health holds out. (Can I make two separate trips for $7,800 total? I’m going to try.) I’m also hoping to have my house interior painted and get new flooring in order to sell after I finish work on mom’s house. Those two categories, household and travel, will be the largest along with homeowners/flood/umbrella/auto/medical insurance.

So I’ll try to minimize my expenses in other categories - groceries, electric, internet, cell phone, entertainment, clothes/hair and to the extent possible, medical expenses. I do this every year. Then there is the category I call gifts and stamps. I like to give gifts but I’ll try to be much more realistic this year.

Unlike many of you, my savings/scrimping will not come from old fashioned frugality. That is not me. Mostly I try to get the best prices I can, not replace items that don’t need replacing (which I believe has been one of my biggest savings strategies over many years), not spending money on things that are not that important to me or if there is another way to replace them (library, free museum tickets etc.).

I totally cheat because my budget does not include my mom’s house. I use “her” money for that. It helps that CDs are now paring a higher interest rate.

So I’ll update my successes and failures from time to time here.
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

Post by HappyDaze »

I will be looking forward to your updates, FCL! By the way, I like to call those "failures" - "learning experiences".

Best of luck with those travel and other goals!!
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
floridacatlover
Posts: 8058
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

Post by floridacatlover »

I’ve already found something today that will save me a bit of money before the end of 2022.

I went online to pay my Amex bill. They always have a lot of cash back offers, mostly for shopping. For anyone who shops a lot they are great but that is not me. But today I saw an offer to get 10% back as a statement credit on grocery purchases through the end of 12/22 when I use my Amex card. Limit is $20 back so a maximum $200 spend. It does not have to be in one shopping trip. Any grocery store EXCEPT warehouse stores and superstores (so no Walmart I assume).

I’m guessing I’ll spend about $100-$125 through the end of the year so $10-$12.50 back. Plus I can still use the $10/$50 Save A Lot coupon. I’ve already put my Amex card in my debit card slot so I don’t forget.
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

Post by HappyDaze »

That's a great deal - free money!
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
floridacatlover
Posts: 8058
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

Post by floridacatlover »

I found out today that there will be no increase in our monthly HOA fee this year. I had put $50 in my tentative budget not knowing their plans. Our HOA said they are debt free. They have borrowed in the past for big projects such as painting. I’ll change my tentative budget now.

Yesterday I received an email from Marriott that my points would expire Jan. 3, 2023. I rarely stay at Marriott but believe these points are from several days at a Fairfield Inn in Moncton, NB in 2019. Looking at the points, I have enough to get a $50 gift card from most places (Home Depot, Amazon etc.) or get a $100 gift card from Marriott. I’ll think about it but leaning towards the Marriott gift card.

Last month I “broke” a CD that had another three years to go so that I could get a higher interest rate. I paid a penalty (subtracted from the CD total) but it was well worth it. Now I’ve learned that I can deduct the penalty on my federal income taxes and it is an “above the line” deduction so it will reduce my taxable income. Win-Win.
floridacatlover
Posts: 8058
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: FCL’s Alternative Frugality 2023

Post by floridacatlover »

I ordered the $100 Marriott gift card. It used up most of my points and I’m not sure if I’ll lose the remaining ones but I think so. It took forever because it wouldn’t go through without my phone number and my iPad wouldn’t accept it. I had to use my phone.

Somehow I have $116 in Bing Rewards Dollars. I use Bing as my primary search engine to get the $5 or $10 gift cards from Amazon or Starbucks. But these Bing $ are from shopping. I shop very, very little online and most is at Amazon. I believe these Bing $ are 2% of dollars spent so that would be almost $6k in spending. For the longest time my Bing $ said .05 in rewards. So I wondered recently when this $116 started appearing whether it was for real but it looks to be legit - unless they somehow put someone else’s $ in my account. The only thing I can think of amounting to nearly that amount is my Denmark plane ticket and hotel plus my recent property taxes. Did I get credit for searching for these items online through Bing? Or maybe it includes the Stockholm hotel that I cancelled and never paid. Who knows. Anyway it looks like the only way to get the money is through PayPal. I do not have a PayPal account and have always been wary of them. But I’ll look into setting up an account but will not link it to my bank account. I’ll use the money to pay online when PayPal is an option.

Update: I was able to transfer the $116 in Bing Rewards to PayPal and I requested a check ($1.50 surcharge). I didn’t want to link my bank account and I’d rather have the cash than wait to buy something.
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