This week has been stressful in a monumental way. First of all, packing for a move is bad enough — and always takes longer than you’ll think — but the actual move itself is generally a terrible upheaval. Thankfully, our physical move went very smoothly (we lucked out and hired great movers), but our new apartment turned out to be a little…problematic. We’re going to make it work (and the new landlord is going to fix several things), but it has been a bad week.
And we have been spending like crazy. Ugh. Moving sucks!
Still, little things do add up over time, and though my money saving list this week is all small stuff compared to our moving costs, it still counts.
- Put book on hold at library instead of spending $7.99 on a very tempting ebook. (Also read an additional four ebooks from the library.)
- Used a piece of leftover fabric to make a reusable furoshiki style wrap for Lennox’s present instead of buying a gift bag.
- Dumped my piggy bank into the CoinStar machine and got a $10.30 Amazon gift card (which had no CoinStar fees). I know that I could roll my own coins and deposit them at the bank, or even…you know…spend them. But I have long had the habit of regularly dumping my coin purse into a piggy bank of some kind, then using the money on some kind of treat after it fills up. (I often used it on a movie ticket back when I could rarely afford to go.) Self-care is important, too. I’ll probably use the gift card on an ebook or two. Gotta support my voracious reading habit!
- Had a free hot tea at IKEA because of my IKEA Family membership. Hey, free tea is free!
- Decided not to replace our bathroom trash can. I’ve wanted a new one for a long time now (our current one is 16 years old!), but after I really thought about it, I realized I only wanted to replace it because I have trouble keeping its exterior clean. It’s a metal bin with a spring-loaded opening, but it has grooves around the lid and at the bottom of the bin that trap dust. I decided I would just try to clean those grooves a little better, and now it looks fine enough to me.
We still have to get our new washer and dryer and a few pieces of furniture before things calm down, but we’ll get back to normal soon.