10 Frugal Things This Weekend

Continuing on with our frugal ways...

1. We went to the Goodwill today and I got a screaming hot deal on an Arc'teryx fluorescent green windbreaker which will be great for walking this fall.  It is similar to this jacket but instead of paying hundreds of dollars for it, I got it for $4 (it was $5 but there was a 20% discount).  Wow!
2. The toilet in hubby's bathroom had a slow leak.  We determined it was leaking from the gasket between the bowl and the tank so I ordered the gasket from Amazon for $6 and we fixed it within a half hour.
3. Also, while I was shampooing the carpet, I noticed the brushes weren't rotating.  We took the shampooer apart and determined the belt had broken so again, I hopped on Amazon and ordered two new belts for $7, they were delivered the next day, and it took all of ten minutes to fix it and get back to shampooing the carpet!  FWIW there are YouTube videos on how to replace the belt and every other thing you could ever need to fix.
4. Finally the temperature in Las Vegas has dropped to a more reasonable 80ish degrees so we have officially (I hope) shut off the AC for the season.  We are hoping to go at least a month without needing either heat or air conditioning which will save a good deal of money.
5. Also, on a happy utility note, we got our electric bill this month and found the bill was zero plus we have a $30 credit for next month.  Apparently our electric company was ordered to return money to consumers for some reason so we ended up with a nearly $200 credit!  Yippee!
6. When hubby got his VA disability rating, we noticed that he was listed as single even though we have been married for over 30 years.  We gathered up the necessary paperwork, filled out the necessary forms, then went online and changed his status from single to married.  Apparently this will increase the amount he receives for disability.  At least his information will be correct whether there is an increase or not.
7. After everyone left I did a major cleaning.  All bedding, all laundry, all blankets, etc. got washed.  I also steam cleaned all of the carpets.  I think the $100 steam cleaner we bought several years ago has been a great investment as we have used it at least twice a year since we bought it and it has paid for itself many times over since then compared to renting a carpet steamer.
8. This weekend we used our local grocery store app to buy several grocery items, mostly at loss-leader prices, to start rebuilding our stockpile of food.  I was glad to be able to use up a lot of meat and other groceries while everyone was here (we had a huge ham that we got on sale after last holiday season but never had occasion to use it until last week...everyone loved it and it freed up space in our freezer!).  Instead of running out to the store to hoard massive quantities of food like many people did at the beginning of the pandemic, we just buy $10 to $20 worth of extra food items each week (on sale of course!) and pretty soon we end up with a pretty big stockpile of food which would be really useful during an emergency.
9. Today is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.  This afternoon we will run a bunch of prescription drugs that hubby never used to a local store where they are being collected for free to safely dispose of.  We didn't want to just toss dangerous drugs in the garbage but he pretty much refuses to take opiods even after the many surgeries he had so they have just been collecting up in the house; it will be good to get rid of them safely.
10. My Amazon Prime membership is coming up for renewal.  Since I've only used it on the rare occasion to watch free movies (we mostly use Netflix) and maybe got free shipping a half dozen times over the past year, I don't think the $119 cost is worth it so that will be getting cancelled at the end of the month.