May was better than April, thankfully. Lots of things could be seen as better than April, though, so I’m not sure I’m saying much.
In May, I:
- Paid for half of my Patreon pledges using money earned doing surveys. I haven’t been getting as many surveys lately, which has been disappointing — but I don’t shop much (or buy the right kind of convenience foods), so I rarely qualify.
- Watched a free webinar that was mostly a product-specific ad, frankly — but still got some good, workable information on how to use email marketing as an author. (I expect I’ll need that info one of these days, you see.)
- Baked banana oat muffins using a slightly modified version of this recipe. I didn’t need any muffins right then — I just wanted to use up some overripe bananas before they spoiled — so I popped them into the freezer for later.
- Had a free drink on my Starbucks card.
- Purchased a replacement mattress cover, since our old one was falling apart. It was on clearance and is supposed to help keep you cooler in the summer — yes, please! On both counts.
- Was pleased to see that we’ve saved $332.36 in the last six months at Costco, according to the spreadsheet I keep. That’s what we’ve saved over regular prices at Kroger or Target (or wherever) — minus the cost of our membership. Our membership renews in late November, so this should be about half of our annual savings.
- Went to see Houston Grand Opera’s production of “The Barber of Seville” for free at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park. Everyone was shocked that I, the former opera major, had never seen it. But it’s a dude show — and the female lead is a mezzo-soprano, so of course this soprano had never bothered with it.
- Made a t-shirt using scraps from other sewing projects and a pattern I’ve used at least five times — pretty much free, except for my time. I sewed several things this month, but I didn’t buy any fabric and only bought one sewing pattern.
- Spent $13 on a new battery for my three-year-old phone — which is considerably less than a new phone (obviously). This will probably save a tiny bit of electricity, too, since I won’t be charging it three or four times a day.
- Replaced our shorted-out microwave with a brand new microwave for only $20 using points from Lennox’s Best Buy Visa. We also got a Blu-ray of “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”* for only $1 on that same shopping trip because the credits were applied proportionately to both items. We saved $100! (*I’m studying to become Aunty Entity in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. I want to be ready for my metal shoulder pads when the time comes.)
- Got a free sample of Cheetos from Instacart. They also sent a free sample of mayonnaise about 3 or 4 times the size of standard restaurant squeeze packet, which turned out to be the perfect amount for the coleslaw dressing recipe I use — so it came in very handy.
- Read 15 ebooks and six physical books from the library, and one free Kindle book. I spent $35.82 on other books in May (including a full price pre-order and a gift for my Mom), so that was much better than last month!
All in all, a much better month! Let’s hope June goes at least equally well.