Wednesday, November 15, 2017

How I "Spent" My Day - McDs Sticker, Nectar Points and a Tiny Brownie

My day was pretty normal - gym in the morning, kids to school, work, kids from school, home.  I missed out on about 68p at the gym that someone had left on top of the shelves when, for a brief second, I felt insecure about my "weird" status as I was walking out with my friend.  Ugh! I should have just picked it up.  Darn it!  
So my normal day got a bit more interesting - in terms of my "finding the pennies" hobby/ mindset/ lifestyle when I was walking to my car after work and found litter *gasp!* next to my car - it was another McDonald's coffee cup with the loyalty sticker STILL ON IT!  Jack pot!  I secretly high fived myself.  The sticker completed Jeff's coffee card, so he can get his free coffee the next time he goes to McDs.  Caring is sharing, right?!
When we got home from the school run, I discovered that Mr Postman delivered a Nectar card promotion containing a coupon for 800 bonus points, worth £4 on my Nectar card.  Yaaayy!  More on my Nectar points in a bit.  
I wanted to have a meat-free, low-cost meal this evening and the solution was egg fried rice. It ticks the boxes for protein, carbs and veggies, as well as being very inexpensive.  I hadn't ever made egg fried rice before, but it turned out really well having followed this recipe. I used frozen mixed veg rather than chopping up fresh veggies - I boiled them first while the rice was cooking - and actually got to use an unopened bottle of oyster sauce that I bought a couple of years ago and didn't end up using (and it was just fine, by the way).  The girls enjoyed this meal, and even asked if we could add some prawns to it the next time we have it.
 
Are you wondering what's in the glass? It's iced tea "made" from last night's leftover tea in the teapot.  Why pour perfectly good tea down the drain when I can drink it cold another time?  Sooo good.
So it's Nectar Double Up Week at Sainsbury's!  This happens twice a year - once in November and once in the summer.  You can swap Nectar points for vouchers worth double the value of the points in a handful of departments, such as toys, entertainment, clothing and wine.  £5 worth of points can be exchanged for a voucher worth £10, exchange £10 for a £20 voucher, and £20 for a £40 voucher.  We save our Nectar points to mainly use during these double up events because they're such a great deal, especially considering the points were mostly free in the first place.  Find out more by visiting your local store (I've just looked at both the Sainsbury's website and the Nectar website and there is ZERO information about this on their websites - that's not good advertising!) I ended up buying some DVDs, a super cute My Little Pony dress costume for Brenna and toys for both of the girls for Christmas and walked out having spent £8.55 for £88.56 worth of stuff.  These won't even affect our Christmas budget, as the points were free.

I did have a quick nosey at the reduced sections in the store and found a bottle of Sainsbury's lotion reduced to 50p and this tiny gluten and dairy free chocolate & coconut brownie reduced to 10p.   This tiny brownie was tiny... tiny... only a few bites worth.  I cannot imagine paying £2.00 for this tiny little jar of brownie, but I thought it was worth a try for 10p.  I have to admit, it was very good - I heated it up in the microwave for a few seconds.

So, that's how my money-saving mindset worked today.  I hope I've encouraged you to find some small ways to save, too!

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