Money Saving List: July

[Total savings: $476]

July—was hot and dry. Our water and electric bills were up, but in general we tried not to make any big purchases to keep spending down.

Our healthier eating is becoming the norm, so we're watching the grocery spending (which is not easy). We still do binge every once in awhile. This month it's been ice cream & one dinner out.

The Garden Update

Not enough rain and my inability to maintain a regular watering schedule resulted in blossom end rot for most of my veggies, although we did get a couple of harvests. Not enough water uptake = not enough calcium intake for the plant which equals blossom end rot. (Which equals total bummer.)

July

Week 1: (We saved $81)

• Continued to save on our Internet service (because we switched to TWC over AT&T)—[$12 savings per month]
• Continue to save on purchased modem instead of leasing from Internet provider @ $10/month in perpetuity—[$10 savings per month]
• Used a Walmart gift card that T won at work [$10 savings]
• Took lunches to work. We started making healthier lunches with slightly more expensive ingredients, but the average cost isn't too far from what we were saving with less expensive ingredients— [$35 savings]
• Used ibotta* for $1.75 rebate [$1.75 added to my ibotta acct.]
• Bought Siggi's on sale (again). This time it was 10/$10, saving 57¢ per container—[$5.70 savings]
• Used Target Red Card for 5% off—[$0.93 savings]
• Used Cartwheel for 20% off—[$3.00 savings]
• Got 5¢ off per gallon of gas (10 gallons)—[$0.35 savings]
• Got 2 dozen XL pastured eggs at the farmers market for $3.75/dz—[$4.50 savings]
• Continued to make coffee at home (I've sort of stopped calculating this on the monthly level)

Week 2: (We saved $265)

• Took lunches to work—[$25 savings]
• Used B&N Gift card—[$25 savings]
• Harvested and ate 2 zucchini and 5 cucumbers from the garden—[$6.75 savings]
• Fixed leaking water pipe instead of calling plumber—[$122 savings]
• Bought replacement food processor on Amazon Prime Day + used coupon—[$46 savings]
• Used Amazon credit card for 5% cash back—[$6.70 Amazon credit]
• Used Target debit card—[$0.49 savings]
• Used Cartwheel app for 20% off vitamins—[$1.68 savings]
• Used ibotta for 25¢ rebate—[$0.25 added to my ibotta account]
• Used Checkout 51 for rebate on Mayo—[$0.50 added to my CO51 account]
• Bought groceries at Costco—[$31 savings]
• Organic Romaine lettuce (6 heads)—[$1 savings over grocery store]
• Oatmeal—[$2.64 savings over Target generic brand]
• Mayonnaise (64 oz)—[$3.82 savings over Target]
• Balsamic vinegar (1 ltr)—[$4.99 savings over Target brand]
• Grapeseed oil  (68 oz0—[$8.55 savings over Target]
• Ibuprofen (1,000 count)—[$5.11 savings over Target generic brand]
• Vitamin D 2,000 IU (600 count)—[$4.50 savings over Target generic brand]
• Continued to make coffee at home, but it was a stressful week, so there were a couple of Starbucks iced coffee runs.

Week 3: (We saved $77)

• Took lunches to work—[$25 savings]
• Signed up for a free month of Google Express
• Used a Groupon coupon: $15 for $40 on Google Express orders. Bought a bale of Scott 1100 toilet paper and specialty cat treats for our geriatric cat. The total bill was $40.04. I paide $15.04—[$25 savings]
• Made homemade Skyr (Icelandic yogurt)—[$11 Savings over Siggi's]
• Bought 2 Fido canning jars at the thrift store [$7 savings]
• Used ibotta* rebate  [$0.25 added to my ibotta acct.]
• Made homemade granola—[$9 savings]
• Our electricity went out, so we were forced to eat out (twist our arms). We split a meal to save some money, making sure to leave a generous tip to our waitress—[$15 savings—which I'm not going to include in the total since we spent $25 more than we would have had we not gone out to eat.]
• Streamed new music via Amazon Music for free. I still think Amazon Music is hit or miss, but this month it has kept us adequately entertained.

Week 4: (We saved $53)

• Took lunches to work—[$25 savings]
• Continued to make coffee at home
• Took advantage of a BOGO 20% off deal on Seventh Gen dishwashing detergent (which is NEVER on sale & rarely has coupons)—[$1.30 savings]
• Used Check Out 51 app for 50¢ back on Frontera—[$0.50 added to my CO51 account]
• Used Amazon credit card points—[$8.30 savings]
• Used the Cartwheel app (major coupons this week)—[$11.85 savings]
• Used the Target Red Card for 5% off—[$6.11 savings]
• Used ibotta* rebate app—[$1.75 added to my ibotta acct.]

The Summary 

We're kind of hitting a plateau as far as savings go. Even with keeping our a/c turned up a few extra degrees & using ceiling fans only in the rooms we're in, we're not saving a whole lot on the utilities. In our defense, it's been freakin' hot out, so I'm proud of us for not bumping the air down.

I've also hit a wall with the rebate apps. The last few ibotta and ebates money-saving attempts met with utter failure as my purchases did not qualify, even though the fine print didn't specify that fact—so I'm not really thrilled with them right now. As for the other apps—Mobisave is posting fewer and fewer cash back offers that I can use and Checkout 51 is following suit, trying to force people to use the rebates they offer this week in order to unlock new offers next week. No thanks. It was already a lot of hoops to jump through. These new hoops just make me want to junk the apps, except I still have money in my CO51 account.

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Utility Update

Compared to last month, our electric bill was considerably higher ($90 vs. $60). Compared to the same month last year, however, our usage was down ever so slightly from $98, saving us $8. 

As for the gas bill, the only thing that runs is the water heater. Our bill has leveled out at about $19/mo. Not much change over last month.

Utilities were pretty much a wash. We continue to save over the previous year, only slightly.

Actions we've taken:

• Installed programmable thermostat
• Keep the a/c off as long as possible
• When a/c is on, bump it up 2 degrees (runs between 72-76) & use ceiling fans when in the room
• Weather stripped the doors
• Turn lights off when not in room
• Replaced incandescent bulbs with Fluorescent / LED
• Keep the water heater at between 110-120 degrees

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Rebate Savings:

		Amount Saved (So Far) This Year
Ibotta		$17.70
Mobisave		$3.30
Checkout 51		$4.75
Ebates		$8.52
Savingstar		$3.50
Cartwheel		$10.03
Target debit card		$45.31
Manufacturer coupons, coupon codes, & rebates (Mostly thanks to the Honey app & the Ebates app)		$165
Swagbucks		n/a
My Points		n/a
Groupon		$57
Total		$315.11

*Note: the ibotta links above are affiliate links. If you sign up through any of those links, you can earn a $10-$20 welcome bonus and I will earn a $5 referral bonus. 

The Mobisave, Savingstar, Honey, & Ebates links are also referral links. The sign up rewards vary, so try out the links and see if they'll save you any extra money.