From car repairs to Roomba repairs, free festival entry to free food, it’s been a great week of frugal wins! Here’s what’s been going on.
1. I replaced the brake light on my Bronco Sport!
Now, friends, I must admit I had been putting this off for quite some time – maybe even a month. But one of the brake lights in my Bronco Sport went out (I was alerted by the quick-blinking of my right turn signal) and while YouTube confidently told me I could do this myself, I admit to you, I was still apprehensive. So when I went in to get my oil change a week ago, I asked the associate at dealership if they could do it for me. Oh, yes, they said – for $115.
Um, no.
So I swung by my local Advance Auto Parts, picked up a two-bulb package for $11 (that’s $5.50 a bulb), came home and gave it the old college try. And even with spending a substantial amount of my time watching a portion of the video, pressing Pause, and trying the motion myself, I replaced the bulb in … 10 minutes.
TEN MINUTES!
For the rest of the day I strutted around proud as a peacock for my achievement. A new skill unlocked – and for a lot less than the dealership wanted for it!
2. Speaking of replacing things, I also replaced the Roomba brush.
Over the years, the front sweeping brush on my Roomba had begun to fall into decline. First, one of the three brushes got all tangly and limp; then it fell off entirely. And then a couple of weeks ago, I flipped the Roomba over to see that two of the brushes were just GONE! Poor old Roomba.
Now, the iRobot site had kits I could buy, but all the rest of the parts on my Roomba are just fine. So I turned to eBay and bought a replacement brush for $4.13. A steal, if you ask me! It arrived in no time and I unscrewed the broken brush, replaced it with the eBay one, and now the Roomba is good as new!
3. I scored free entry to a local festival.
LeeLee and I have visited the Pickle and Grilled Cheese Festival out at Bunnyman Brewing for the past two Mother’s Days, and this year I was feeling a little glum that the Sunday festival day had a $5 entry fee (last year, only Saturday had the fee). But lo! Once we got up to the check-in stand, the guy working said that mothers got in free on Mother’s Day. I told him I was only a cat-mom, not a human mom, but he said “Good enough!” and in I walked. I’ll take it! (And not to worry – we used that $5 saved, plus much more, on pickles and beer!)
4. A friend dropped off some fruits and vegetables she wasn’t going to use.
I know I have discussed with you all the joys of Rotation before, and here it came again over teh weekend! My friend Denise dropped off several onions and some oranges (along with a jalapeno plant and several books) that she wasn’t going to be able to get to before they went bad, and LeeLee and I have embraced the bounty. As of this writing, we’ve got only one onion and one orange left, and they will be enjoyed in short order!
5. The Leftover Revolution continues!
It may not be the sexiest of the frugal things, but it is certainly one of the tastiest! So far this week we’ve enjoyed leftovers of mushroom tetrazzini and chik’n sandwiches with all the fixings, not to mention our lunchtimes teeming with PBJs and leftover chips and fruit (including some of the oranges from Frugal Thing Four). Works for me!
What frugal wins have you concocted for yourself this week? Let’s hear it in the comments!
:)
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