Biting the Penny: Saving money each day

Update

bitingthepenny — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:01:35 +0000

Hi few remaining readers I probably just have:

After 3 years, and way much of other things happening, this blog is going to be on definite hiatus. PLEASE look over my links because bloggers out there are doing a fabulous job maintaining their blogs. Thanks so much for your time and consideration.

Hello

bitingthepenny — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:23:51 +0000

I’m kinda back! And with more bargains.
After so many years of not using rewards cards, I finally did. AND WOW! What bargains I got. In the past couple years I received $150 in gift cards, and some travel bonuses, like redeeming points for airport shuttles rides and parking.

Free shipping day. coupons galore 20 batteries for 47 cents

bitingthepenny — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:38:51 +0000

Patience paid off and got the best deal over at Barnes Noble. I received two gift cards totalling 45 bucks. I was at lost of what to get at the stores, so I waited one more day to get free shipping at their own site. No minimum needed, whew. I bought two books at 24 bucks paid by gift cards.

I had to pass up on a 10 off of at least 20 bucks coupon at Sears (I had no idea what to buy) and a 50 bucks off 100 bucks at NY Company. Good lord I’ve never bought that much for a wardrobe at one time! Luckily I did get to use a 15% coupon at JC Penney and got 3 bucks off a blouse. Well after everything it got marked off 60%.

After much patience I didn’t have to hit $250 at Best Buy to get $5 off. THey emailed me a coupon for 10 bucks off so I got a boat load of batteries and bought them for just 47 cents!!!

98% refund deal

bitingthepenny — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:22:46 +0000

I just topped myself with a beauty basket from Wal-Mart. They had a Proctor Gamble gift basket going for 10 bucks. It came with a free magazine subscription, and in small print on the application, you could get cash back if you wanted none of the mags. The refund came to 9.99, so with tax and postage, my basket just got me 1.27 for showerwash, a pouf, and a Venus razor (I originally was browsing for that razor and my eyes moved to the next aisle and saw the gift baskets!) WOW!

notes

bitingthepenny — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:31:32 +0000

Card Cubby Ebay $10
Amazon teach12 $10 saved
magazine rack 25
shadowbox stand 4.00

Bare with me folks, I’m still here! I hopefully have my blogroll up again. Whew. More to come.
Edit: so you can see up there more bargains I found. Instead of going to the Card Cubby’s site, I won a bid on Ebay and saved 6 bucks. It looks like a little purse! I went the amazon route for my teaching company DVD collection and bought it used. Instead of giving in at Container Store the $25 magazine wall rack, I improvised and used pants hangers to hang my magazines. They did however have a discounted shadowbox (with a cracked corner) that I was glad to buy to store figurines!

My best bargain was today, a groupon competitor offered discounted dental exam, x-rays, and cleaning for 40 bucks! WOW! The idea was for them to sell couchers and once they got the minimum needed, they could release the discounted vouchers.

yipee more bargains: the Leslie Sansone DVD

bitingthepenny — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 01:36:10 +0000

I have been really taking advantage of the Amazon Trade Ins program where you can trade in book/videos/games for Amazon credit. I think it is far better than Half Price books, and plus, I don’t pay shipping to deliver my items. So far I have gotten around 40 dollars since participating six months ago. I sacrificed an exercise DVD to get 4 dollars back. It was a DVD I got at Sam’s Club that actually had a rebate for the total cost of the DVD. With a slight twinge of regret, I had second thoughts about trading it in because it was free, so I GAVE IN and bought a new exercise video at Target. Lo and behold, it also had a similar rebate! So after the smoke cleared, I got a dollar back (counting my 4 dollars trade-in, the Target purchase, and that rebate), and got another exercise DVD!

I had a flurry of good coupons I was able to use. Einstein Bros Bagels had a series of coupons for free lattes and bagels; I really enjoy going there. It is in an easy to go to strip mall that I can drive to before work or after work. It’s next to Michaels and a JoAnns, making it even nicer.

Since it is the start of a new movie season, I’m taking advantage of the AMC Movie Watchers club, and it is really working out. I got free popcorn, free soda so far, and I’m one movie away from a free ticket!

Cleaned rebate house

bitingthepenny — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:18:29 +0000

the office depot rewards were actually working, I got a 21 dollar gift card for my hard work/spending. Whew! I’ve been doing a streak of 10 bucks back: the Target gift card from buying ink, and a 10 dollar Safeway gift card and $10 rebate from buying $30 of Proctor Gamble products. If you were wondering if I made effort like the couponers who buy bulk items, I’m not, there is simply not enough room in my house to keep shelves of products to use in the next five years. I also managed to use a five dollars off coupon at Ulta and got concealer and lipstick marked down to 7 bucks.

My blogroll, Staples

bitingthepenny — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:31:48 +0000

Hi guys, bear with me, once I put my paloozacity icon on this page, my whole blogroll was gone. At the end of the month, I will have it out here again once the sweepstakes is over.

I was really mulling over getting a Staples rewards account, since I took that deal of buying a backpack (got this HUGE one that had a laptop pocket) at 25% off AND a 100% rebate in form of Staples gift card. But alas, I will give up on it. Staples is really too inconvenient from my home, plus I got an Office Depot and Office Max around here with my existing rewards account. Were those worth it? ABSOLUTELY. I print out so much from my printers, and with officesupplies and ink (mainly from Office Depot) I got 21 bucks cash back!

Whew, more money saved Staples, Wells Fargo caution

bitingthepenny — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:46:26 +0000

We gave in and bought a new tv to replace the plasma decade old tv that broke down. Hopefully, this will be worth it because a flatscreen will be easier to move. We got a 10 dollar Sears gift card and 10% marked down for using a Sears card for our efforts to purchase at Sears.

More rebates. I got a pack of printer paper for 60 cents after the rebate. I used that rebate to buy lunch at Ikea which got marked down to 2 bucks. Not too shabby meatballs! I won a 5 buck gift card and used it to buy some groceries.

So gift cards and rebates now to date for this year: $10 Borders + $55 winnings +5 rebate + 5 Borders Bucks= 75 dollars back!!!

I did do the Staples backpack rebate so I got a marked down bag for 39 bucks and will get their gift card in six weeks. I researched online, and with two Borders codes got three books minus 9 bucks discount which I would have lost in an actual Borders store.

Finally my tale at Wells Fargo. I read the fine print of their rewards program. Their card COSTS 12 BUCKS A YEAR TO USE to get points! WTF! I called to cancel my program this morning, successfully.

Soma, wii, etc

bitingthepenny — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:07:41 +0000

Hi viewers, not much here in terms of bargains, but would like to cover some purchases:
Patience paid off and the dress that I really really wanted this summer got marked off at Soma at 40%. Whew! I also saved 20 bucks by not succumbing to a new Wii game after reading some bad reviews about it. However, I gave in and bought a Wii game online from Wal-Mart because it was a good deal: 20 bucks for a book plus the Wii disc.
My devotion to Borders Books only and avoiding Barnes Noble paid off as I got my 5 dollar credit. Their member rewards is a 3% cash back which is doin better than money markets these days. I also got a 10 dollar gift card for purchasing gift cards from them. So total freebie was 15 bucks this year.
So what did I save on my latest Vegas Trip? The best I did was halfpriceticket shows getting the Pet Comedy tickets at half off. Also making more effort to eat at food courts rather than the fancier places.