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Shopping finds

February 21st, 2015 at 10:17 pm

I got a Macy's and BB&B gift card in the mail last week as rewards for wellness checkups, so today's goal was to go spend them.

At Bed, Bath & Beyond, I found a nifty (small) teak cabinet with door and 2 shelves above, about 12 inches square and 45 inches high selling for $99. They had the assembled display model on a high shelf but I couldn't find any in the boxes anywhere. The woman said they could order it online for me so I could take advantage of my 20% off 1 item in-store only coupon, and then it would be delivered to my door. But they were out of stock online. I asked if I could buy the display model so she checked with the manager, who said yes. With the coupon, it was $80 and it was fully assembled, another plus. It just fit in my back seat.



I also bought a liquid soap dispenser for my bathroom, to replace the one I got at the $ store which leaks every time you use it. I also got a much needed lazy Susan type spice rack with 2 levels.

At Macy's, I found a nice Charter Club sweater marked down from $129, if you believe the price tag, and with my $10 off coupon, it was just $23. Correction: The sweater was already marked down to $23 and my $10 off coupon couldn't be used because I hadn't met the minimum purchase of $30. The clerk returned the coupon to me, but it would have been nice if she had told me this because I also had a 10 or 20% off coupon which I don't think had a minimum purchase requirement. Frown

I filled up the gas tank, bought some stuff at BJs and also hit a totally mobbed Trader Joe's.

I got home before the snow started and before the water main break on the main road by me. Now it's snowing steadily and the car is safely tucked in the garage.

Tomorrow I hope to get my hair cut with a coupon, do laundry, and make a broccoli soup and a pea soup for freezing and for work week lunches.

Also today, I bought my first smartphone, a 5-inch display Android, on HSN. It comes with no contract, just pay as you go with TracFone. It comes with 1200 each talk minutes, text minutes and data and 1-year tech support, plus the cover and car charger. It cost $129.

I have waffled on doing this for a long time. I'm not a big talker and didn't want to be locked into a contract. The 1200 minutes they give you expire after 1 year if you don't use them, but if you order more minutes before they expire, they'll be rolled over and be good for another year. The least amount of minutes you can buy at 1 time is 400 minutes for $100. However, all minutes I buy will be automatically tripled for as long as I have this phone. Does this sound like a good deal to you?

My costs with this phone will be as follows:

Year 1: Cost of phone only ($130) as I know I won't use up 1200 minutes each of phone, data, text.
Year 2 and each year thereafter: $8.33 a month, or $100 a year.

So, not too bad, and I can enter the Electronic Age. Coincidentally, the cheapie basic pay as you go phone I've had for years I can't find, so perhaps this is timely as I would at least like to have a phone for emergencies when driving. I'd also like to be able to check my personal email while at the office or elsewhere, although I don't think I'll ever be one of those people who walk around mindlessly staring at their phone.

I don't know if other phones are better than my basic one, but when you turned it off and on, you had to wait probably 20 seconds for it to be on and ready to dial.

So yes, I feel a little spendy, but I'm still holding true to old habits of earning free gift cards whenever I see an opportunity, using coupons and the like. And I'm trying my best not to incur ongoing monthly costs in particular, as those seem to be overlooked but add up over time.

So for instance, although I did recently spring for the $100 a year Amazon Prime, I decided to cancel my Hulu Plus and even my Netflix. After browsing their titles, I feel they have plenty of stuff for me to watch without it being necessary for me to pay extra for another movie subscription; I can only watch so many movies at one time, and I have over 100 in my Amazon queue. I am disappointed at having to give up American Idol on Hulu Plus, but that's really the only thing I think I'll miss.

3 Responses to “Shopping finds”

  1. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1424557892

    That sounds like a pretty good deal, especially if you know you won't use too many minutes/much data. Do you have WiFi at home or at work? If so, the best way to save on data is to turn off celluar for most functions - make it so you can only use them on WiFi unless you *really* want to use them out of WiFi range.

    Since going on Ting I've done this, and am much less on my phone when out and about. Which is a good thing. Smile

  2. PatientSaver Says:
    1424558761

    I have broadband here at home. Does that mean I have wifi?

  3. snafu Says:
    1424604692

    congratulations on catching up with technology.I hope you like your phone and will make the effort to learn to use all it's features. You've a terrific price, only $ 10.83 per month. Will you consider relinquishing your landline once you're comfortable with Smart Phone?

    Like you, I'm not a big phone user but all the other apps are so effective and efficient if you use them consistently. 1st having everyone's contact into including service providers is ace. Being able to instantly get details or respond to a request via text makes miscommunication issues gone forever. It's likely not important to you but I now know the time in any city or village in the word without having to work it out. I love maps, more than I thought since I use GPS. I can easily work out which errands need to be done in what order based on location and all important parking facilities.

    The apps for Notes, Reminders and 'ShopShop' [grocery list & buy wish list] make sure I get through each and every day without things falling through the cracks. It makes daily life glide by without the !%$#@ I forgot the_____________ and that caused some other thing to fall off the rails. I wish our 'Price Check' app worked better but I know the American one is excellent. It's an electronic price checker to check if the item like a TV is better priced elsewhere. The neat thing is that you can show the clerk/sales manager the price on your phone and 99% of the time they'll meet that price. I always say how much I'd rather buy from them, but...

    I don't use music much, and am not yet ready to add banking info/access as I fear leaving phone behind in a public place. DH does realize it but he uses the camera and financial app more than he actually talks on the phone. We both agreed to cancel our land phone the day we each had a Smart Phone. Never missed it, never wished to re-instate.

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