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
