What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

Potential Money in that Junk Mail!

OK, I not advocating everyone rush out a get a new/another credit card. But I just got some junk mail offer by Bank of America for a new credit card. Normally, I just shred the paper for coop litter. However, this time I read the offer and took them up on it.

Main Feature: A $200 cash rewards offer if you spend $1000.00 in the first 90 days of opening the account.

Heck, I can do that no problem just paying the heating bill here in northern Minnesota as we head into the winter. Plus, Dear Wife wants to get a new dishwasher because our old one is leaking underneath and was not able to fix it. I told her I would start looking around for sales on dishwashers.

Secondary Benefit: 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

That's a fair deal on purchases. I almost never use cash or checks for purchases. I have been using my cash rewards credit cards for years getting 1.5% to 3% cash back on purchases. My Harbor Freight member credit card gets 5% back, but only for future purchases at Harbor Freight.

I don't advocate using credit cards if you cannot pay the balance in full every month. That 1.5% cash back rewards means nothing if you end up paying 20% or more interest on an unpaid balance.

But if you have good discipline on using your credit cards, you can take advantage of those sign on bonuses and cash back rewards programs. I usually set up my credit cards for autopayment, full balance, every month out of my checking account. Then I don't have to worry about missing or being late on any payments.

The dark side of using credit cards is that the interest rate charged on unpaid balances is very high, something like over 18%. And if you miss a payment, you can expect penalty rates around 30%! So let that be a final warning.

 

[Sally PB]

Main Feature: A $200 cash rewards offer if you spend $1000.00 in the first 90 days of opening the account.

There are people who look for these kinds of things. They get the card, spend what they need to, get the reward, pay off the card, and cancel it. This even has a name: "Churning cards." Banks absolutely hate it.

In the 90s, they had card offers with 0% interest for an introductory period, say, 6 months. I once heard someone refer to this as "free money."

 

[gtaus]

There are people who look for these kinds of things. They get the card, spend what they need to, get the reward, pay off the card, and cancel it. This even has a name: "Churning cards." Banks absolutely hate it.

In the 90s, they had card offers with 0% interest for an introductory period, say, 6 months. I once heard someone refer to this as "free money."

I guess maybe I'm a churner? I have no problem using the card only long enough to get that $200 cash rewards, and then canceling out the card. What I did like about that Bank of America credit card is that it still gives you 1.5% cash back on all purchases, which is the same as my current credit card I use most often. So maybe I'll dump my other card.

On the other hand, maybe I'll keep both cards just because it helps to keep up my credit score. Funny how that credit thing works. I recently retired some credit cards I never used. My credit score went down a few points. Even if you don't use the credit card, having that available credit line somehow improves your credit score. I believe it has to do with your outstanding bills balance to your available credit line ratio.

As to your last point, if you pay off your monthly balance you get charged no interest. You even "make" money if you get that 1.5% cash back bonus. Since I have enough money to cover my credit card bills every month, all my fixed expenses like heating, electricity, and other utilities are paid via my credit card. After a while, even that small 1.5% adds up to a nice treat. Money back for paying my regular utility bills!

But if you don't have the funds to pay off that credit card in full every month, then expect to pay around 20% on most credit cards these days.

 

[Sally PB]

As to your last point, if you pay off your monthly balance you get charged no interest. You even "make" money if you get that 1.5% cash back bonus. Since I have enough money to cover my credit card bills every month, all my fixed expenses like heating, electricity, and other utilities are paid via my credit card. After a while, even that small 1.5% adds up to a nice treat. Money back for paying my regular utility bills!

Oh, I agree 100%! We always pay our credit cards in full every month!

Paying interest on a credit card reminds me of a story some one told me in a CPL class I took a long time ago.

A man is walking down a street in a bad neighborhood and another man steps out of a doorway and asks him, "You got any money I can hold for you?"

They first man says, "No," and starts to walk away.

The second man grabs his arm and says, "You don't understand," and clicks open a switchblade. "I said, you got ANY MONEY I CAN HOLD FOR YOU?"

Paying interest on a credit card makes me feel like someone is saying, "You got any money I can hold for you?"

 

[gtaus]

Paying interest on a credit card makes me feel like someone is saying, "You got any money I can hold for you?"

I totally agree with you. I don't think I have paid any interest on my credit cards in over 35 years. But both Dear Wife and I exercise great spending control and pay off the bill every month. We are fortunate.

I do know some people who have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble with credit card companies. I think they consider getting behind or late on the payments more like having a gun to your head.

That's way I always suggest people avoid credit cards unless they can pay the balance in full every month. Nothing frugal about paying some company 20%, or more, for your borrowing money on a credit card if you cannot afford to pay the monthly balance in full.

 

[gtaus]

Holiday Gift Card 10% discount at Wells Fargo Bank

I just got an email from my Wells Fargo Bank about 10% off on gift cards from a number of retailers and restaurants. For example, you buy a gift card for $50, and pay only $45. Since Black Friday is coming soon, I wanted to know if I could get a gift card for Home Depot. Yes, I could!

Well, if you know you will be buying goods at a store on their list, why not get an extra 10% off? So, I might take advantage of that 10% off gift card promo this year because there are a few things I want to buy at Home Depot this Black Friday sales event.

There were many other businesses on the Wells Fargo promo gift card list, but I only shop at Home Depot. If you don't bank with Wells Fargo, you might want to ask if your bank has any offers like that.

I am not a fan of buying gift cards for others as presents. I suspect that many gift cards are never used and/or lost. I only buy gift cards for myself, to take advantage of that extra 10% for things I would be buying anyways.

For example, I typically buy hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards, for myself, at our local Fleet store when they are sold at a 10% promo sales discount. I get almost all my chicken supplies and feed there. So, I know how much I will be spending there in a year.

Even better, I typically stock up on feed and supplies when they go on sale, saving money on the special sales price, and then use my gift cards to pay for the purchase knowing that I saved another 10% off those items.

 

[gtaus]

I am not a fan of buying gift cards for others as presents. I suspect that many gift cards are never used and/or lost. I only buy gift cards for myself, to take advantage of that extra 10% for things I would be buying anyways.

For example, I typically buy hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards, for myself, at our local Fleet store when they are sold at a 10% promo sales discount. I get almost all my chicken supplies and feed there. So, I know how much I will be spending there in a year.

Even better, I typically stock up on feed and supplies when they go on sale, saving money on the special sales price, and then use my gift cards to pay for the purchase knowing that I saved another 10% off those items.

At the risk of quoting myself, I just wanted to mention that our local Fleet store is having a 10% off holiday sale on all gift cards up to $500 total gift card purchase. If you have some extra money laying around, then picking up gift cards for yourself, that you know you will use, is a better investment than letting that money sit in a savings account getting less than 1% interest.

I know how much chicken feed and other supplies I purchase at our Fleet store every year, so tomorrow I will be maxing out a gift card purchase for the next year. Plus, I'll use one of my cash back rewards credit cards and get another 1.5% back for buying the gift cards.

This is the time of year to keep your eyes open to special deals that you can take advantage of and save some money.

Holiday Gift Card 10% discount at Wells Fargo Bank

I just got an email from my Wells Fargo Bank about 10% off on gift cards from a number of retailers and restaurants. For example, you buy a gift card for $50, and pay only $45. Since Black Friday is coming soon, I wanted to know if I could get a gift card for Home Depot. Yes, I could!

Quick update here, too. I took advantage of loading up my online cart at Home Depot with some tools I wanted and checked out the price after taxes. Then I went to my Wells Fargo online website and purchased a Home Depot gift card at 10% off for the price of goods in my cart. Bonus deal, I got another 1.5% cash rewards on the transaction because I used my Wells Fargo cash rewards card to purchase the Home Depot gift card.

It takes 1-3 days for online delivery of the gift card code. It took me 2 days to receive my code for the gift card. Then I went back to my online cart on the Home Depot website and completed my purchase using the gift card code. I even checked the box for them to pick up the products in store and all I had to do was show up at the store and pick up my order. In and out of the store in less than 5 minutes. How easy was that?

Not only did I get a bunch of stuff at Black Friday sales prices, but I also got an immediate additional 11.5% discount on the purchase by using the gift card I purchased from Wells Fargo online.

If an old guy like me is able to figure out how to save money taking advantage of these online deals, no doubt you younger people would have no problems at all.

Of course, you don't want to go broke saving money with these gift card deals. But if you have enough discipline to plan and buy what you need, then I think it's a good deal.

EDIT: I am assuming that you pay off your credit card balance every month to avoid that ~20% credit card interest rate on any balance carried forward. That would more than wipe out any savings I have mentioned on these gift card programs.

 

[Sally PB]

I just wanted to mention that our local Fleet store is having a 10% off holiday sale on all gift cards up to $500 total gift card purchase.

I never even looked at buying a TSC gift card, but I'll be checking to see if they're going to have them on sale. Or Meijer, our local big(ish) box grocery, etc. store.

 

[Sally PB]

Three years ago, I added up what I spent at Meijer in a year. This is my main source for groceries, but we get all kinds of stuff there: blue jeans, underwear, automotive stuff, some pet stuff, etc.

That year, I was flabbergasted to see that I spent $6300 there. So I told myself that I had a new budget: $100/week at Meijer, which is $5200/year. Most of the time, I am below the $100/week. Sometimes, I go over, even way over, to stock up on something on sale, or hubby goes there and "gets a few things." But for the last 3 years, I have been under the $5200/year, by a few hundred dollars.

I am getting to the point here, just had some backstory to tell.

This is my tip. I add up the prices as I go along. Not on a calculator, or my phone. I round up to the next dollar and do the math in my head. As I put each item in the cart, I say to myself, "Seven." "Eighteen." "Twenty-two." (Or whatever the numbers are, obviously.) Then down the aisle to the next stop, repeating, "Twenty-two, twenty-two," so that I don't forget. And, this has kept me on budget, because I know how much I have spent, and how much is left in the $100.

Getting close to the limit? What can wait? This week, it was plastic caps for wide mouth quart jars. (I will need a few more to store dried fruit in canning jars.) Got some extra left? Get another package of bacon or toothpaste, if we're getting low, but it's not on the list yet.

Or even better, walk out of the store having spent less than what I'd budgeted. That's how I came out $400 under last year's budget.

And, yeah, I'm the woman who walks around saying, "Fifty-eight, fifty-eight," to herself. But I'm also the woman who sings and hums as she shops. If they play a song I know/like on the store speaker, I'll belt it out, like "White Flag" today.

 

[gtaus]

This is my tip. I add up the prices as I go along. Not on a calculator, or my phone.

That reminds me of the little 1960's handheld grocery shopping adding machines...

I was just a kid back then, but I always thought they were really neat. I don't think I have seen one of those since the 1960's.

I don't do much grocery shopping, but when I do, I will round off the items in my cart to the nearest dollar and when I check out, I have a good idea of how much it should cost.


This past week, Dear Wife was buying a couple jars of some stuff that were on sale for $7, regular price $10. At the checkout, the items scanned in at $15 per jar! How does that happen? Anyways, the clerk went back to the shelf, verified the sale price, and marked it down on her purchase. But we all know that the next person checking out with that item is going to get charged $15 again because there is nothing the clerk does to fix the overprice issue. So, yeah, try to keep track of your expected purchase total and not get ripped off by the stores.