Being observant means being quick to notice things. When it comes to money, I am extremely observant! Down to the penny. I had a very profitable week this past week, simply by being mindful of what I was doing and how I was spending my money.

So, imagine my surprise when I ordered 6 boxes of Tetley British tea from one of Amazon’s vendors and I only received one box!

A quick chat conference with Amazon notified them of the fraud and got me an instant refund of my $16.99 PLUS I could keep the one box the vendor did send me. Saved $16.99 plus free box of tea bags valued at @$2.83 = $19.82 total savings.

The second thing I noticed this past week was another surprise charge on one of my charge cards. I had been charged a $40 annual fee. I had never been charged a fee like that before. Again, a quick telephone chat with a supervisor (the original responder couldn’t waive the fee) and I got the fee taken off. Permanently! Never to be seen ever again!

Watch your credit card receipts/statements closely. You just might not know what you may discover. Savings $40.

Twice a year, hubby and I shop the infamous can-can sale offered at a local grocer here, Shop Rite. We personally have been doing it since the late 1980’s. Shop Rite’s been offering this sale for fifty (50) years! Although our can usage over the years has gone down (as our kids are now gone) nonetheless, we still enjoy our Sunday night pasta dinners. Thus we still continue to stock up and buy our fave canned Tuttorosso tomatoes and Botticelli olive oil at tremendous savings. What was different this year was I tried to buy these items off their internet/grocery drop-off site but was disappointed their website would not fully honor the reduced can-can prices. The canned tomatoes normally sell at $1.25 a can. On the internet I could get them for $1.00 but if we went in to the store, we could get them for .66 cents a can. We’re trying to stay out of the stores lately as the covid-19 cases rise but we really wanted the savings. So hubby physically went in to the store exactly as they opened at 7AM, bought two cases of the tomatoes and 4 cans of the olive oil (which will last us the 6 months till the next can-can sale) and we were able to save the $20 vs the $12 off the internet. Hubby stayed safe because there was no one in the grocery store that early. He was back home by 7:45AM.

Savings $20.
We buy a case of crushed and a case of plum tomatoes. We go through a 2 liter can of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) every 6 weeks or so.

In the food department, while doing our bi-monthly Aldi shopping, I noticed these smallish, boneless sirloin pork roasts at $2.00 off. Most were priced at only $4.00, so it was like getting a 50% discount. I bought three of them. They fit perfectly into my 2 quart-size slow cooker. I popped one in this morning and hubs and I had a pulled pork dinner by 6PM. Total savings for the three pork roasts came to $6.00. I know, I know, I know I’m supposed to be eating more vegan meals, and I am. But who could resist a good pulled pork dinner, on sale?! We teamed up the meal with some potatoes hubby sliced up as French fries, seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika and popped them on a silicone mat (no oil needed) for 40 minutes at 375F degrees.

Voila! Dinner is served (and the pulled pork made great sandwiches the next day!)

Lastly, another way I saved money this week: I’m still having mostly oatmeal daily for breakfast. This week however, I made it with cut up pears and a tablespoon of coconut sugar. Delish!

And I purchased a super large butternut squash which was ample enough to make two bowls of soup for hubs and I, with seconds! And enough left over to fill two plastic storage pints. One I put in the freezer for another meal. The other I put in the fridge for a lunch coming up this week.

TOTAL ACTUAL, REAL MONEY SAVED THIS WEEK: $85.82. Just by being observant!