10 Thankful, Thrifty Things: Cheap Tickets, Free Hotels, CNY and Saving Soap...

Chinese New Year is next week, and that means festivities are ramping up here in Hong Kong. I always look forward to this time of year. Firecrackers, orange trees, dragon dances, cherry blossoms, traditional foods...so much fun!

I'm also thankful for The Ronald McDonald House and all they do for families around the world. I was blessed to volunteer at the RMH here in Hong Kong today. One of the regular local volunteers, Candy, makes the most amazing homemade Hot Chili Sauce. Today, I mentioned how much I like it and she gave me a jar! Thank you, Candy!

I'm also thankful that it is raining in Australia. My friend and former coworker, Jane, posted this picture today. I think it is a touching shot. (PC Pamela Schramm.)

We are part of a wonderful international community. Last week, we had a little gathering of "awoks"(adults with out kids--(at home:)). Some were back visiting, some are getting ready to leave, and some of us still call this city home for right now. New Zealand, US, and Canada all represented here. Thankful for these people who love Jesus and love each other, and thankful for the Autys who hosted.

Our son needed to fly home earlier than he had originally thought because of some college issues. American Airlines wanted to charge us $3000.00 USD!!!! to change our ticket to an earlier day. That was NOT going to happen. I had some points with the same airline, but since it was a last minute flight, I was looking at 120K points for a one way economy ticket from HK to Philly. I didn't have or want to use that many points, but I kept checking several times a day, and sure enough, a business/first class ticket showed up for 70K points and $62, so I snagged it. My son got the enviable opportunity to fly in a sweet lay flat seat for his 13 hour flight, after his steak dinner. I have never been able to do that. And that, my friends, is nothing but mother love. Here he is back in Philly with his girlfriend. 

A few things on the thrifty front:

I have a pair of slippers that were wearing through on the the bottom. I found a child's fleece jacket on the free table at work, and it yielded enough material to add two extra layers to the bottom of my slippers. I cut them out and rough-stitched them in. Not only are they softer, they are much "cushier." 

How many small, almost used bars of soap can you add to a bigger bar? In this case, the answer is three.

I told my kids that the only thing I wanted for Christmas was cheese and coffee, and they delivered! This is only a portion, but today we enjoyed some Wisconsin Cheddar from Abby and some Starbucks from Lee, (who happens to work there). 

I know it's a little thing, but I get free trash bags every month from our apartment security guards. We get a receipt in our mailbox when our landlord pays the management fees, and our guards stamp it and give us our free trash bags. It makes me smile every time!

I needed to get in a free night at a hotel within the IHG group before my annual certificate expired, so last Friday, Mike and I spent the night at the Crowne Plaza in Causeway Bay. Had a little fruit platter waiting for us, and we had nice view. Room was comfy and we slept in. What more can you ask for?

In other news, we are trying to eat up all the leftovers before Chinese New Year break begins next week. Do you know where we are going? I'll let you guess!

Thanks for those who participated in my contest a week or so ago. The winner was Jon Seah, who correctly guessed 4 out of 5 of our favorite eats.

That's a wrap for this week. Tell me...what are you most grateful for this week?

9 Ways I've Saved Money this Month

(This is the school where we work.)

I enjoy reading personal blogs about saving money. There is no end to the amount of money saving information available via books and the internet, but so much of it is "big picture" savings. Nothing wrong with that, but I absolutely love reading the specific ways people save money in everyday life. I follow several blogs from people who live in different areas of the world, which is even more fascinating to me. While the concepts are the same, the tips are as diverse as the countries they represent. 

There are very few people who don't like getting a deal. So while the specific ways I save money may not apply to you, the concepts can be applied no matter where you live. Hong Kong ranks as one of the most expensive cities in the world in which to live. Rents are ridiculously high, which in turn causes retail shops to charge more money for goods. For this reason, I can often buy items in the US that are made in Hong Kong and China for less than I can buy them here! But, "expensive" is a relative term and there are always ways to save.

1) I pack work lunches from home for my husband and I nearly every single day. 90% of the time, that means leftovers for Mike and a salad for me. Our school does have very generous parents, however, and yesterday our grade 4 parents provided a meal for us. This happens at least a dozen times a year. It's such a blessing not to have to pack a lunch the night before. Packing lunches is NOT something I enjoy doing, lest you think I only do it because I find it fun. Many, many nights I have to force myself to do this task. It would be very easy for me to spend $4-6 USD a day for each of us and buy lunch here at school. We'll say that conservatively averages $9 US a day. This equals $1710 per school year. I make our lunches for about $2-3 total. That's over a $1100 a year savings, and there are many ways I'd rather spend that cash!

2) I mended a cloth grocery bag, a throw rug and a pair of my slippers. The year we moved here, I bought a little sewing kit for about $3 US and it has no doubt paid for itself. None of these items are particularly nice nor would they be expensive to replace, but I can get at least another year of use out of them.

3) I bought produce from the mark down cart at our local grocery store. Prices were half what normal prices were, and this meant I did not stick with my grocery list, and had a few meal combinations that were a little odd....which leads me to...

4) We will be on spring break next week, and will be traveling. I always try to use up all the food in the refrigerator before a trip, so we have had some rather strange food combinations. But, I am happy to report that when we leave in the morning, and the only thing I will end up throwing out is a very wilted head of lettuce and a bowl of soup. I will chop and freeze a half onion and a bag of bok choi. Normally, I would freeze the soup, but the noodles are already mushy and couldn't handle the freezer, and it was made with leftovers anyway.

5) I downloaded 5 free kindle books so that I can just take my phone (I have the kindle app) instead of books, because...

6) I bought super cheap airline tickets, and would have to pay extra to check a bag, which I don't want to do, so I am trying to keep the packing very light as even the carry ons have a weight limit. This means I didn't want clunky books hogging up space and weight.

7) I used Ebates (affiliate link) to get over $20 cash back on a Kohl's order for wedding clothing. (Our oldest son is getting married this summer.)  The order itself was not even that high, but they were having a extra discount through Ebates. If you don't use Ebates and you buy anything online, I highly recommend it or another cash back site. Please, do yourself a favour and sign up. So easy! Use my link above and get an extra $10 when you spend at least $25.00. 

8) I used the Kohl's Cash that I received on the above order to get a pair of shoes for myself for free! Aren't they cute??

9) This one is not specifically mine, but our oldest son told us the blinkers were not working on his truck. He stopped by the Ford dealership, and they told him it would cost at minimum $150.00 USD. He googled the problem and then looked up how to fix it on YouTube. He bought the part at NAPA for $40ish and did the work himself. So proud to pass on the frugal genes (indirectly, I take credit..ha)!

Hope you all have a frugal week! Next week, I'll let you know how we saved money on our trip (and where we went!) Hint: sand and sun