Sometimes being frugal is all about making do without.
Sometimes being frugal is all about getting the best deal when you must part with your precious dollars.
Here are my recent wins and fails when it comes to getting the best deal.....
* I actually broke down recently and went and bought some white thread.
I was clean out of white after many many years of using my stash from my costume designer/theater days.
Hey! It only took 30 years to use it all up. ;-)
The only fabric store now around here is a Jo-Ann's.
You could have picked my jaw off the floor when I saw the prices of thread!
What?.....is it spun from GOLD now or something?!?
The rack of regular threads came in 3 sizes, with the "best" deal being a spool with 500 yards on it costing $4.29.
WTF?
I did reconnoiter through the rest of the store and found a bin of "value" spools by Coats & Clark(is it just Coats now?)of 400 yard spools for $2.99.
Well I just did the math and the 500 yard spools are a better deal, but lured by the lower price
point I bought 7 spools of the $2.99 one.
But I did have a 25% off my purchase coupon so it wasn't a total frugal loss.
* I bought a restaurant gift card the other day at Rite-Aid......
R-A put out a Facebook Q for $5 off a choice of restaurant gift cards when you put $25 on one so I took the bait and went and bought one.
R-A has put another Facebook Q up for $5 off either a Panera Bread or a Dunkin Donuts gift card purchase HERE. It's good until next Monday so go print that baby.
After all, 20% off a gift card is nothing to sneeze at!!
Then to make any more gift card purchase deals even better at Rite-Aid I went and did this.......
I bought a Rite-Aid gift card on one of the buy/sell Gift Card exchanges online to pay for any more gift card deals I do at Rite-Aid.
The R-A gift card was 11% off the face value, so if I use it to pay for the Panera/DD gift card, that's something like 31% off? Ok, so I am not so good with math but I just know it's a bigger deal than 25% off. lolz
Even if there is no Facebook Q for a gift card at Rite-Aid, there are also the gift cards during certain weeks which give you an +Up Reward instead, which means free toiletries.
Either offer is a win/win.
* And speaking of Rite-Aid......
I went on Sunday and bought this stuff--
I was suppose to get a $5 OYNO Catalina for buying 3 Aveeno products but it didn't print.
Cashier insisted that the machine was on but I suspect it wasn't.
So I couldn't do my second transaction of 2 Aveeno products which at the end of it all would have given back +Ups/Cats equal to what I spent on all 5 products.
So I am out $5 +Ups right now.
I really don't feel like calling Catalina and waiting the usual 2 weeks to get that $5 Cat so I am just going to return these 3 items and get a refund on a gift card.
I was just buying them to roll my +Ups until Black Friday sales at Rite-Aid, I didn't "need" them and there was nothing else this week I saw that would let me roll the +Ups and not spend them down.
I will still be down some +Ups but they will now be tucked into a gift card and won't expire, which is even better.
And I don't have anymore +Ups expiring until Sunday and I have a plan for how to roll them then.
* I spent $160 on $236 worth of items at Kohl's online yesterday during their Veteran's Day Sale.
I saved $78 in discounts plus earned $30 in Kohl's cash.
#2 Son needs pants and Levi's were BOGO50%, making them $30 a pair. I got 30% off from that so they ended up being $21 a pair.
$21 a pair for LEVI'S!
I also got some Christmas presents and nightgowns for myself and everything was 30% off the already discounted sale price.
And I got a new crockpot. After discounts and a $5 rebate it will cost me $8.99.
Not bad.
The FAIL in this Kohl's Deal?
In my excitement I forgot to go through the ShopAtHome portal and didn't get cash back on that $160.
bleh.
* Now I am off to return those items to Rite-Aid and then off to Ollie's with my discount card they sent me to see what I can find......
What successes or failures have you had lately when it comes to being frugal?
Sluggy
Sometimes being frugal is all about getting the best deal when you must part with your precious dollars.
Here are my recent wins and fails when it comes to getting the best deal.....
* I actually broke down recently and went and bought some white thread.
I was clean out of white after many many years of using my stash from my costume designer/theater days.
Hey! It only took 30 years to use it all up. ;-)
The only fabric store now around here is a Jo-Ann's.
You could have picked my jaw off the floor when I saw the prices of thread!
What?.....is it spun from GOLD now or something?!?
The rack of regular threads came in 3 sizes, with the "best" deal being a spool with 500 yards on it costing $4.29.
WTF?
I did reconnoiter through the rest of the store and found a bin of "value" spools by Coats & Clark(is it just Coats now?)of 400 yard spools for $2.99.
Well I just did the math and the 500 yard spools are a better deal, but lured by the lower price
point I bought 7 spools of the $2.99 one.
But I did have a 25% off my purchase coupon so it wasn't a total frugal loss.
* I bought a restaurant gift card the other day at Rite-Aid......
R-A put out a Facebook Q for $5 off a choice of restaurant gift cards when you put $25 on one so I took the bait and went and bought one.
R-A has put another Facebook Q up for $5 off either a Panera Bread or a Dunkin Donuts gift card purchase HERE. It's good until next Monday so go print that baby.
After all, 20% off a gift card is nothing to sneeze at!!
Then to make any more gift card purchase deals even better at Rite-Aid I went and did this.......
I bought a Rite-Aid gift card on one of the buy/sell Gift Card exchanges online to pay for any more gift card deals I do at Rite-Aid.
The R-A gift card was 11% off the face value, so if I use it to pay for the Panera/DD gift card, that's something like 31% off? Ok, so I am not so good with math but I just know it's a bigger deal than 25% off. lolz
Even if there is no Facebook Q for a gift card at Rite-Aid, there are also the gift cards during certain weeks which give you an +Up Reward instead, which means free toiletries.
Either offer is a win/win.
* And speaking of Rite-Aid......
I went on Sunday and bought this stuff--
I was suppose to get a $5 OYNO Catalina for buying 3 Aveeno products but it didn't print.
Cashier insisted that the machine was on but I suspect it wasn't.
So I couldn't do my second transaction of 2 Aveeno products which at the end of it all would have given back +Ups/Cats equal to what I spent on all 5 products.
So I am out $5 +Ups right now.
I really don't feel like calling Catalina and waiting the usual 2 weeks to get that $5 Cat so I am just going to return these 3 items and get a refund on a gift card.
I was just buying them to roll my +Ups until Black Friday sales at Rite-Aid, I didn't "need" them and there was nothing else this week I saw that would let me roll the +Ups and not spend them down.
I will still be down some +Ups but they will now be tucked into a gift card and won't expire, which is even better.
And I don't have anymore +Ups expiring until Sunday and I have a plan for how to roll them then.
* I spent $160 on $236 worth of items at Kohl's online yesterday during their Veteran's Day Sale.
I saved $78 in discounts plus earned $30 in Kohl's cash.
#2 Son needs pants and Levi's were BOGO50%, making them $30 a pair. I got 30% off from that so they ended up being $21 a pair.
$21 a pair for LEVI'S!
I also got some Christmas presents and nightgowns for myself and everything was 30% off the already discounted sale price.
And I got a new crockpot. After discounts and a $5 rebate it will cost me $8.99.
Not bad.
The FAIL in this Kohl's Deal?
In my excitement I forgot to go through the ShopAtHome portal and didn't get cash back on that $160.
bleh.
* Now I am off to return those items to Rite-Aid and then off to Ollie's with my discount card they sent me to see what I can find......
What successes or failures have you had lately when it comes to being frugal?
Sluggy
The photo of thread that starts off this post totally looked like a k-cup in the tumbnail and by the title I actually thought you went and got yourself a keurig.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, awesome sauce on the gift cards!
A Keurig?
DeleteDid you think I lost my mind?? lolz
NEVER.
Biggest waste of $$ there is.
I was pretty sure that was still your stance on it :)
DeleteI practically gasped when I saw the "k-kup" in the thumbnail!
I'm living in the failure column lately. Just stay here with me, its more fun. OUr food bill is our of control, I'm buying bedroom sets, and all the bedding. I've lost my frugal mind.
ReplyDeleteWell if you're going to fail it's nicer to have your friends around.
DeleteFurniture is not cheap unfortunately. I still need to finish outfitting my living room. 14+years and counting.....
You get great deals in the USA - we don't have anything close. It is almost hard to use a single coupon in Canada. I do like watching what you get with your deals though :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the best thread is A&E, the tall spool of thread. I own about 100 of those at $5 apiece. I had to have three spools of one color to use my serger! I have only bought one spool of thread since I quit sewing for profit or fun or to wear. Since the Coats brand stumped me, I looked it up and Coats & Clark still makes thread.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have a fail, I, too, will return the item.
This afternoon, I am going to CVS to spend $15 to get $5 off and use a gift card to make the purchase. Their coupon machine spit out that coupon, and today is the last day to use it. Then, I have a gift card. That will leave $5 for me to pay. I received the gift card from CVS when a cashier did not offer me a flu shot. I need to find a coupon to use, also. I know it will not lower the $5 I will owe, but I can get more bang for the buck.
I thought this was going to be a fail for me because I could not find the store coupon until late last night. So, I am off to spend $5 to buy $15
Yes it IS made from gold these days!!! :) I typically buy the serger thread because you get 3000 yards for about 3 or 4 dollars. I don't use the spool thing on top of my machines because for some reason they always break off, so I've got a tower thingy that I can put my thread into and can use it on any of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Panera gift card tip!,,,,,and buying it with a discounted RA gift card - even smarter :-)
ReplyDelete