Savings I'm glad I can't take advantage of
I'm really supposed to be doing a Wednesday Baking post today...but I forgot to do a Q&A on Monday, and so I just decided to scrap the regular features for this week(although food waste IS coming on Friday!), and get back on track next week. 🙂
So, here's today's non-baking post; a list of deals/bargains I have to pass up(and I don't even mind!)
- Medical expense deductions on my taxes. I'd have to spend thousands of dollars to be able to do that, and I'm so glad that we didn't have to do that last year.
- Those "Get a free $25 gift card with a new or transferred prescription" coupons. I haven't had to fill a prescription for about three years, and I'm grateful for that.
- A 20% off coupon at my grocery store(Weis). To get one of those, I'd have to spend $800 in six weeks. I'll probably barely make the cutoff for the 5% coupon(I have to spend $200 to get that). 20% off is nothing to sneeze at, of course, but I'd much rather spend $200 instead of $800, because those savings are worth way more than 20% off.
- Credit card rewards points. I do earn some of these, but it's very slow going because I don't have a lot to charge! And that's something to be thankful for.
- Those $10 coupons you get if you spent $50 at Kohls(I occasionally get one when I'm doing my Christmas shopping, but I never have a fistful!) Since I shop clearances and Goodwill for myself and get piles of hand-me-downs for my children, I hardly ever have to spend $50 at a time on clothes.
- Free antibiotics. A lot of the grocery stores around here offered free antibiotics(the basic type) over the winter, and I'm so glad we never needed them.
I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of...if you come up with one that I forgot, share it in the comments!
photo by Carly Jane
I like this post! I always see those coupons for savings and since I don't spend much except at thrift stores, I never can use them. Also, ditto on the medical expenses...we are healthy people too, nothing spent there.
I did use my senior discount today at Savers and bought 5 brand name pieces of clothing for me for a total of $15.00!
I have a love/hate relationship with "savings offers". I love the idea of them but I just threw out a handful of coupons targeted to a new baby. We will be having a new baby soon but none of those products or services were any that I consider essential or the best deal (before or after the coupon).
And I hate the fact that I had to throw out (recycle actually) all that paper. It is so unnecessary. I do hope companies find more ways to offer those deals without wasting the resources (and my time).
If anyone has the perfect solution to direct marketing please let the retailers know!
I wish our credit card gave reward points. We buy everything we possibly can on our credit card and pay it off each month. Because we have a floating mortgage, this method keeps all our money in the mortgage account as long as possible, hence us paying way less interest, and because we pay the credit card off monthly, we never have bad interest on that...
Franci: Switch to a different card if you can. Mine gives me rewards for Amazon.com (my favorite store) so I put everything on it. I even put my car insurance on it (without knowing they were having a 10x Bonus Points for paying bills with it) as well as my cable, internet and cellphone bills.
The trick is, of course, paying it off in full each month and never spending more just because it's a card.
Battra-Franci is in NZ, and from what I hear, rewards credit cards are mostly just found in the US. Lucky us! lol
I do like you and charge everything I can. If only I could charge my mortgage payment....I'd rack up some serious rewards points! lol Of course, I pay my card off in full every month, or the rewards points would be of no advantage.
I'm the same way. Actually the last time Weis had the extra savings - I had $195 (the highest in over a year). I was so close to getting the 5%. Hehe!
Regarding the points, I have one card that gives you a $25 gift certificate at Amazon.com for every $2,500 you spend. I use it to pay for most of my purchases, even utilities (unless they charge a fee to pay by credit card). As long as you pay the balance off every month you don't pay any finance charges.
It does take a certain amount of discipline to faithfully pay of the full balance each month (I've got to get back on track), but if you have to spend the money anyway and it won't cost your anything in finance charges and you get the $25 reward certificate, it's a win-win.
Good Lord. I was so excited about my great card that I didn't read all the posts. Well, as I always say, great minds think alike :~)