5 Ways I Saved & Earned This Week – Volume 2

Do you do that thing before bed each night where you refresh your account balances? No? Maybe it’s just me. I’m not entirely sure what it is I think I’ll find, but I suppose on some level, I’m checking to see whether or not I still need to set my alarm clock for work.

Of course, I’m lucky enough to love what I do. But I wouldn’t mind at all to open an app and discover that I’m suddenly independently wealthy.

Since that hasn’t happened yet and my salary is pretty much set in stone thanks to the salary schedule, I’m still consistently on the hunt for ways to save money and ways to earn money, too.

This week started out chilly, but then it ended with a few days of sunshine and spring-like temperatures. The fact that we were able to get outside so much always helps us save. Here’s a look at some other things I did to keep some extra green in our bank account this week.

5 Ways to Save

I am my own worst enemy when it comes to spending. I out-earn my husband, and I put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to keep us on the path for financial independence. But my dad consistently tells my husband, “She also spends more money than you ever will.” And, uh, he’s not wrong. This week, I tried out a trick to keep myself in check and saved a few other ways, too.

Leave My Wallet At Home

This weekend, we ran errands to the library and grocery store. My husband had his wallet (he was driving!), so I left mine at home. It’s not like we don’t have identical credit cards in both our wallets. It’s just one small way that I try to curb my impulse buys. I also made a mental note to try this the next time we go to Target.

Skip Snack Bars

My husband is a PE teacher, so he burns eleventy billion calories a day (and goes through at least two shirts and two pairs of socks — don’t even talk to me about how much laundry we do). So he eats a lot. Normally, I stock up on box after box of snack bars and cookies or other treats. This weekend, though, I made two trays of brownies and two loaves of banana bread. To save myself from myself, I’m sending everything to work with him.

RELATED POST: How Not To Save

Stock the Freezer

We have a small kitchen by modern suburban home standards. It’s still plenty spacious, but it’s nothing like you’d see on HGTV (unless you were watching a show with a couple complaining about a kitchen that didn’t have a pantry). To reduce food waste and keep our counters clear, we don’t keep much more than a week or two of groceries on hand at a time. The exceptions are spices (some are older than my son!) and baking ingredients. To curb my impulse to go out to eat, I’m stocking up on frozen pizza and ravioli. With Lent coming up, I want to have easy meals on hand that everyone likes. Plus, I don’t want to give into the excuse of not having ingredients for meatless meals.

Ditch the Meat

One local grocery store sells cage-free chicken very inexpensively. But inexpensive meat is still more pricey than grains and veggies. This week, I made black bean and sweet potato tacos again. It’s so inexpensive, and my husband and toddler devoured them. I really love them, too, even as leftovers. I’m going to keep working on finding more easy meatless meal ideas.

Re-gift

I know some of you instantly cringed. But hear me out! Years and years ago, we were given a lovely wool throw blanket. We used it and used it, and then we tucked it away once HP turned into a toddler. Now, we have a relative in a care facility who is always cold. I bought her a comforter for her bed, and I was going to buy a smaller throw blanket to wrap her in when she is in her wheelchair. Then, I remembered the wool blanket we tucked away. It’s the perfect size for not tangling with her chair’s wheels, and she looks so sweet and cozy in it. I took the money I saved to the bakery and bought treats for the nursing staff and the office staff. And then I bought her the biggest apple fritter I could find.

5 Ways to Earn

This week doesn’t include any of my regular teaching work (I get paid next week!), and it doesn’t include any freelancing. Instead, I wanted to focus on small ways that I tried to quickly pick up some extra cash. Here’s what I did this week.

Sub Again

I really could have used my plan period to plan, grade, contact home, and post grades. But the sub shortage continues in our district. Shockingly (and by shockingly, I mean not at all surprisingly), people are frequently out on Fridays. Also shockingly, Fridays are the least popular day of the week for subs to sign up for shifts. So that meant I said yes again when the office asked. After taxes, it’ll be about $15. Most importantly, I’m helping my school and our office staff.

Redeem Shopkick Points

This app is really hands-off for me. You can definitely get a lot more of out this app than I currently do by scanning receipts and making purchases. I mostly just turn it on when I’m walking past stores like Marshall’s. I noticed that they now allow you to cash out on PayPal. I had enough points for the smallest amount, so I did it. I’m not sure this deal will last long, so I jumped on it! This is $10 to our Christmas savings account.

If you want to give Shopkick a go, here’s my referral link – we both get 250 points.

RELATED POST: Should I Worry About Christmas in July?

Cross a Benchmark in a Study

Last week, I talked about how I use Achievement to earn a bit of money. I don’t really use it. I basically clicked it once to set it up and maybe check on it every month or two. It monitors my FitBit steps mostly. It does have a bunch of other features that I don’t take advantage of, except I did agree to be part of a health study. The information they gather is minimal and its self reported, so it seems OK. I’ll do a full post on this at the end of the study, but I got the $10 PayPal bonus for being admitted into the study. We shall see if the rest of the money shows up!

Cash in a Fetch Gift Card

I have a whole series of grocery receipt and shopping apps, including Fetch. I use this in tandem with Ibotta and Receipt Hog. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve started writing this series or because I’m growing weary of keeping money tied up in apps, but I decided to cash out for an Amazon gift card here, too. I try not to shop on Amazon often, and I basically decided to squirrel away all my Amazon gift cards for Christmas. If it’s anything like this past Christmas, I will redeem them for gift cards like Sephora and Lowe’s. This $25 is stashed away for now.

Spot Now Hiring Signs

Job Spotter was my tool of choice for filling up last year’s Christmas fund. This year? Not so much. The interface has changed a few times, and they seem to be revising point values quite a bit. At first, I thought things were going to be valued about the same. After finding two mom & pop shops that were hiring that no one had submitted yet and only earning about 40 cents each, I think I’m putting this on the back burner. If nothing else, it’s good exercise. All said, I earned less than $2 this week.

Final Thoughts on How I Saved and How I Earned This Week

After writing this recap, I really spent some time looking at this week’s earnings. The amounts are relatively small compared to the earnings that I pull in from freelancing and ghostwriting. However, I really enjoy looking at the various ways that I can earn cash and gift cards for just a bit of clicking. If nothing else, it’s going to make for a stress-free Christmas season. Or at least, it’ll take the financial stress out of the holidays.

Pssst…If you missed how last week went, here’s how I saved and earned then.

So Tell Me…How did you save last week? Are you trying anything out to grow your earnings?