Pennies From Heaven

 

Hello Dear Ones!

How are you all?  I hope well! Have you been finding ways to stretch what you have and bless your family? I hope so! This past week was Fall Break for our daughter, so most of my money-saving endeavors went towards making our mini vacation economical.  But first, we had to get ready for Fall Break!

Things that I did to get ready for our trip included:

1) I had a new key fob made for my van.  This was an expense that I wish I didn’t have to spend, but the electronics in my old key fob had gotten to the point where it was sending mixed signals to the van.  I would come out of the house in the morning and find the van hatch up—and it had been up all night, sometimes when it had been raining! Then I started coming out of stores and would find either the hatch or the van side door completely open as it sat there in the parking lot! Not exactly a circumstances I desired! Then it got where I would be loading groceries in or out of the van, and the side door or the hatch would start closing on me even when I had not touched the button to open or close the door at all! One day, I needed to load groceries in the back at the grocery store, and I opened the back hatch and the door goes half way up and then down and then halfway up and then down over and over again, probably doing this at least ten times while I stood there with my loaded shopping cart of groceries just wanting to load the groceries and go home! And I wasn’t even touching the key fob at all while it was doing this little dance! Sigh.  Well, I first called the dealership, and learned that a new key fob was $300–and THEN they charged an additional $80 for programming it!  So basically $400! Yes, my jaw hit the ground at learning that price! I did some online research—some people had had success with ordering off brand key fobs off of Amazon and programming them themselves, but the more I read the more I wasn’t sure this was the best route for me—though it was definitely the least expensive. My fear was that I would be out $ and still not have a working key fob in the end.  I found some videos on how to repair the key fob, and tried that—when I opened my key fob up, I did find the same loose parts that the video person talked about, but I glued them the same way they did on the video and after I glued it the buttons no longer worked at all.  At least THAT was better than having a door open and close all by itself!  I would rather just manually open the door, but it was getting to the point that I wasn’t even sure I would be able to do that soon.  So after doing more reading online, I finally settled on a middle ground.  I learned I could get a off brand key fob made for me at a Batteries Plus store, and THEY would program it to my vehicle for me.  This sounded like a good idea, because I would not be paying anything until the key fob was made and was working with the car.  So that is what I did, and I am delighted to say that it worked!  Their price for a key fob was $139, and then a $70 programming fee.  I did ask if there might be any discounts or coupons or such that I might be able to qualify for, and I am sure glad I asked, because the employee ended up taking off TWO coupons for me!  One was for $15 off, and the second one took $19.50 off!  It never hurts to ask!!!  With tax included, I ended up out the door for $191, and I have to say I am delighted beyond anything at that price as compared with the price at the dealership!  And the replacement fob has been working beautifully!!!  Best part is thanks to the online research and the things I had learned, my husband was able to take his non-working key fob, and take the shell of his and put into it the electronics of mine, and the end result was a working key fob for him as well!  So we are back to having two working key fobs—one purchased, and one from the scrounged parts of the two! What a blessing to be able to close the doors and lock your vehicle, and have them STAY closed and locked!

2) I made home made granola

3) I made meals for the weekend ahead of time, doing things that would be easy to travel with us and just reheat and eat. I did things such as home made waffles with home made apple butter, peanut butter, and applesauce and granola on top. I made a cooked brown rice cereal—sort of like cream of wheat, but a home made version. I made lentil sloppy joes, that we heated the lentil mixture and spooned it on top of toasted whole wheat burger buns. And I made some oat patties that we assembled into sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, and onion to eat on the drive home. 

4) For our Fall Break, we went camping at a state park! We choose one that had cabins we could rent, and we choose a cabin that was one of their “rustic” cabins, as compared to the “deluxe” cabins. I was reading in the brochure, and one of the largest differences between the two cabins was the “rustic” cabins did not have satellite tv! That made me laugh, as we were going to the state park to hike, not to watch tv! Though the deluxe cabins also had more recently refurbished kitchens and bathrooms.  Our cabin was built in the 1940s, so it was historic! But it had been upgraded with heat and air and at some point the kitchen had new cupboards and counter put into it. I could see a spot in the kitchen ceiling where there used to be a stove pipe going, from a wood burning cook stove that would have been in the kitchen! 

We had a most delightful time on our weekend!

Since we have been back home, energies have centered around doing the regular routine of catching up on laundry and putting everything from our trip away. 

5) I visited a Free Little Library to leave a book off, and found a book I was interested in to take home. I love the Free Little Library concept!

6) Our daughter had an appointment in a city a ways away. Instead of stopping for fast food while we were out, I prepared food ahead of time to take with us, and took a jug of water with us as well. I was so glad I had, for our trip home found us in a huge delay due to construction and one lane closed on the freeway. Instead of an hour and a half to drive home, it took us three hours! I was thankful we were safe, we were together, we had food and water and plenty of gas, and we had already met the appointment so we did not have the stress of being late for an appointment.

Well, those are the things I write down on my list. What did you do these past two weeks to save pennies  and bless your family? I would love to hear! I hope you are all happy and well—and Happy November, by the way! 🙂

Friend