forgoing purchases…etc.

I had to be selective of what I bought before spending a dough in Vegas. I almost bought a 6 dollar study guide, thank goodness I hesitated and did research and saw how old and uncurrent it was (may be a future purchase for reference). I also avoided paying out 20 bucks for some magazines as I did go to the library to read them, haha.

Best Buy story/prepaid phone cards.

Fortunately , we had to kill time while our family friend was having a procedure done and needed a ride. Nearby was the Best Buy and needed a phone card anyway since we had a prepaid phone card. With member rewards, you can get 10% off from their coupon; phone cards were listed in the coupon as acceptable. The cashier scanned it and it didn’t go through, so THANKFULLY with no customers in the morning behind us, I didn’t hesitate to ask WHAT phone cards could use the coupon…the manager came up to verify it was a legit coupon and to take off the price manually. WHEW! There are times like these when I’m glad I’m an early bird and do shopping in the mornings before it got to hectic to get assistance! So we got to save 11 bucks there.

The prepaid cell phone we got really answered our problems. We were spending way too much on a plan for a cell phone used only for emergencies and a few calls each month. Also to boot was that the phone is much easier to use as well. Net savings for year was around 400 bucks!!!

Michaels, milkshakes, etc.

I found out how to use the 50% Michael’s Coupon for something practical, I bought size 6 needles for 2.15. That’s the cheapest I have found for knitting needles. I made a promise not to buy milkshakes until Super Bowl Sunday since there’s a deal at the Sahara of getting a free souveneir glass with their milkshake.

I am really working the “not buy anything full price” in Vegas plan:
-MGM Member Rewards Card sign-up: $10 freeslot play
-Got 50% off for the Ka tickets
-buy one get one free Eiffel tower ride, plus senior discount for family friend
-Price is Right tickets marked off 10 bucks per ticket
-three-day pass on Monorail to save estimated 15 bucks
-senior discount on parking at airport
-buy one get one ticket free for Sahara/Rick Thomas show plus halfpriceshows.com discount

How you can help Haiti by text message

This is perhaps a late message as so many have texted their donations by cellular, but I needed to point out that Verizon will offere text messaging for free for ANY charity donation sent by text. I was able to give RedCross my donation thismorning via text.

Guys, whatever your problems may be, think about the Haitians who went from poor to even poorer than before.

Marshalls deals

I gave in and bought another pair of jeans to replace the tight faded jeans I am really going to toss. Marshalls at ten bucks! Though the lowlight was having to fork another ten bucks to alter the lengths. Since I have huge problems of finding good cheap jeans, I have to be willing to pay to alter them.

Way too much spending prior my Vegas trip

My whole goal of saving money BEFORE going to Vegas is a bust! I just calculated all my spending for the last three weeks and it totaled nearly $500 bucks of clothes, printer ink, snacks, doing my hair/teeth!~

I got comps for $70 bucks off the hotel stay, and got the cheapest best flights. Also, I somehow got half off on the best Ka tickets and got it marked down to 72 bucks per ticket. I am waiting for the Price Is Right tickets to get marked down ten bucks per ticket. I could do tix for tonight half off buying on the same day as the show date, but wondering if I should gamble on that! On a related note, if we were to do Let’s Make a Deal, I did go to Party CIty and get a mardi gras mask marked down from 12 to 4 bucks.

I may have gone way off my head by buying bargains. It is not a bargain if you have to fork over dough. I got Hanes blouses marked down to 7 bucks each and scoured for reduced shipping handling to 2 bucks. Full price I would have spent 18 bucks more. I did like the tops, so that was a plus. I got a bra for 7 bucks marked down from 25 dollars at Sears. NEVER count out Sears, they have a pricing machine (I hadn’t seen this at other dept. stores) to see how much the price tags got marked down. Thankfully, to curb my impulse buying, they did not have the sandals I saw in their ad, so I saved 18 bucks there.

I did get a GREAT bargain worthwhile from Walgreens: I got Halls cough drops two bags worth for 50 cents each. ALWAYS scour for Walgreens bargains: they allow you to use both manuf. coupons and walgreens coupons at once. I also got body wash from phisoderm marked down to 1.69 after a discount from store plus a 2 dollar coupon. Not bad for 12 ounces! Target also had some great deals, and had half off dvds; so I bought a workout dvd. YES, I use youtube clips, but I love the Firm series, so that was a great deal.

Membership programs

Well I did the unthinkable and joined up membership reward programs. You might say they really don’t matter unless you spend a whole lot, though realized, I go to Borders bookstore often for some splurges, I might as well use them. At this point here are the programs I joined:

www.mypoints.com – I was on this one ten years ago when it first came out, and I did get a worthwhile 10 bucks for all the hard work I did doing surveys. Mind you this took me one year. After joining last year, I decided it wasn’t worth it. I wasn’t bothering to spend more to get more, and after 8 months on it, I am still 700 points away from a ten dollar gift card. Really ultimate fail.

Best Buy membership rewards – The last electronic stuff I paid for at Best Buy was a Wii at 180 bucks and a GPS unit marked down to 150. YIKES, wish I thought of this rewards points when I bought the Wii! Nobody asked me and I didn’t bother since I really rarely go there (since Frys is so much closer). Anyways, I didn’t even realize I had to activate my darn account online, so a couple of purchases went AWOL. The customer service was EXTREMELY kind in backtracking my purchases six months, and I was very close to the point marker for a gift card, and they rounded it up so I could get one! WOW! I’ve never had customerservice that nice before! Any motives here? The sad part is, as stated, the two Best Buys I know are really further away from me than Frys, my main computer store.

office depot rewards: I also just started purchasing off this one, 10% back is not bad, as I buy a lot of printer ink. Though I need to check if the printer ink is cheaper over at wal-mart, IF they have it in my number.

Year end Review?, more deals

HI guys, long time no see I know. I had some good holiday bargains, and decided to just accumulate them altogether here. Hoping everyone is having a happy holidays!

My Xmas gift budget was a hundred bucks for several folks.
-Thankfully some were given the Sams Club cat calendars we made and they loved them.
-I managed to get a 5 dollar gift card from Toy/Baby R Us for selling my Wii Sports Game. I WAS going to give that gift card to a friend, but decided to use it for another friend’s newborn for a toy, marking it down to 14 bucks with the card.
-We did some Sam’s Club purchases, like a cocoa-mix gift set. I managed to get an organized file system for four bucks at Borders for another gift.
-We went to Garden Ridge pottery and got a marked-down scarf/hat set that was seven bucks. They also sold some books and I got a book I actually wanted, Wendy Knits for a dollar!
-We knitted sleep masks and shawls from RedHeart acrylic yarn that was two bucks a skein with the Hobby Lobby coupon. We’ve managed to make 5 masks per skein. I am making a shawl for 6 bucks with three skeins (pic coming soon)
-We netted some NICE items for our travel purposes at Bed Bath and Beyond. With my 20% coupon, I got a two-piece carry-on luggage set for $25! It was so lightweight too. Mum got a neck pillow for 7 bucks with her 20% coupon. I HIGHLY recommend utilizing these coupons, as with them they are cheaper for those As Seen on TV items (and escaping the S/H costs involving purchasing online/by mail).
-I am taking advantage of the MovieWatchers Network; I only wished I signed up beforehand. With just the purchase of 3 movies in 5 months, I got free popcorn. The dollar off concessions is NOT a big deal, but getting free food is. No, it didn’t make me watch more movies, if that is what you thought.
There’s still movies I missed, and I get around to watching through Redbox.

barnes and noble, soma, etc.

Soma: 50% coupon from the catalog, $10.00 gift card at the mall, purchased $6.50 (actually free)

Barnes and Noble: Bathroom Reader (my splurge since they don’t have them at the library), read them everywhere except the bathroom: 25% off coupon, $11.06, final price

Ross: bought two jeans for a total of 30 dollars. $20 in alterations, to make each pair=$25 I STRUGGLE FINDING JEANS, so it was a miracle I did this.

touch yarns

Check out www.touchyarns.com ! I LOVE the Possum Yarn!