Week #18 - Cheap or Frugal?

*editors note: the 'bonus section' of this weeks blog is actually better than the actual blog so if you find yourself bored with this weeks topic at least skip down to the bottom before you just stop reading. I'll try to do better all around next week!

I have never really pulled any punches when it comes to the fact that I'm cheap. Some people have tried to correct me and say that I'm 'frugal' or that I'm 'smart with money', but the truth is... I'm cheap when I can be! There are some things that are important to me and there are a lot of things that are not important to me. If you read last weeks blog you know that I spent a couple of hundred dollars on records a couple of weeks ago, but I'm wearing a shirt and pants that came from Savers (a regional thrift/2nd hand store) and cost a total of $8 for both. I have lots of shirts from Savers and all my pants come from there and usually cost between $3-$6 each. I was actually at a regular retail store and saw some shorts I really liked and gasped when I saw the price of $14!

So clearly clothes are not a big concern for me. I also don't put a high priority on having a fancy clothes, expensive shoes or brand name glasses. In fact I try to get as much of that stuff as I can for free. Often I will help friends with graphics for T-shirts to promote their bands or other causes and all I ask in return is a free shirt. One of the benefits I get through my work is a free pair of steel toe safety shoes (up to $125) per year and I'm currently looking at the computer screen through horribly scratched glasses because I will be getting a new pair of free safety glasses though work in August. I did splurge on a pair of prescription sunglasses a couple of years ago, but they came from a website that offers very discounted glasses and cost a whopping $18!

Now because I'm so cheap with things like that for myself I am able to do things for people I care about without having to worry to much. Like when Christmas comes around and I'm able to get nice presents for the people I care about or when another type of event pops up and I'm able to give someone a nice gift or treat a friend to a treat of some kind. I guess you could say is that I pick my battles! I'm willing to wear $6 pants to ensure I can buy someone a nice birthday present (or buy myself a few records!).

Ok... so today I got the first paycheck for May which I'm going to deposit into my primary checking account to pay my credit card bill ($150) and to pay for the rest of regular the stuff I will do or buy over the next few weeks. The check was for $615.36 with $39.12 taken out pretax for my 401K. I didn't have any cans to return and didn't really do much else besides making my $20 vacation transfer so there really was not much saving this week. I do want to point out that May has 5 weeks which means 5 paychecks for me and since I do my budget on a weekly basis that means an extra check. I have some plans for it already, but we will get more into that in a couple of weeks. Now on to the weekly wrap up....

Here is the week 18 wrap up:

$39.12 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund

which makes the 2013 totals:

$562.82 in my 401K
$360.00 in the vacation fund
$30.25 in the piggy bank
$150.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$75.00 in my vet bill savings
$562.82 in my money market
$562.81 in my car account

 

I was having a hard time coming up with a topic for this weeks blog aside from the usual bullet points but I did a couple of things yesterday that I think make this 'bonus section' actually better and more informative than the actual blog portion.

Over the last week or so I got a few things that could be considered to be junk mail, but I set them aside when they came in and yesterday I actually used them. First I had gotten a coupon for 20% off any item at Bobs Store and then a $10 off a $10 purchase at Bobs Store. I went to Bob's and found a bathing suit that I wanted to get. It was on 'blow out' sale for $20. Unfortunately my 20% off coupon was not good to use on a 'blow out' item. So what I did was I folded the price tag in half where it said 'blow out' and I hoped the cashier wouldn't notice. Well... he didn't so I got 20% off and then $10 off making my $19.99 bathing suit cost only $5.99. Not bad, but not the best bargain of the day! After Bob's I went to AAA where I applied for a AAA Visa card. Upon my approval I was able to buy a 4 pack of movie tickets (to any theatre) for only $1! I also found out that the usual cost of 4 movie tickets from AAA is $26 which is a savings of at least $14 versus buying them at the theatre. So I got 4 tickets for $1, but going forward I will buy tickets at AAA before I go to the theatre!

Make sure you take advantage of coupons or other special offers you are entitled to. Saving .20 cents on a can of soup might not sound exciting, but all savings add up and once in a while you hit the jackpot and you get 4 movie tickets and a bathing suit for $6.99!

 

 

 

 

BONUS BONUS...

I just set up a Facebook group for the blog. My hope is that people will post hits and tips on savings as well as coupons, special deals, bargains as they see them on the fly etc. Join the group and participate. The more we share, the more we can all save!!

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OCDSavings/