This is a guest post by my lovely bride-to-be:
My fiancé, the goal nerd himself, would be so proud of me today.
Today, I had a wonderful experience of coming ahead of the money curve by $100. How so? Due to an unfortunate buy that would not work for our wedding, I returned the item and received $70. I still needed the item, so I bought it elsewhere for better quality for ten dollars less.
Then I found a gift card to a New York & Co. for $20. It had been sitting inside my house and/or card for over a year. Gift cards may just be my favorite kind of gift since I can wait to buy items and make the money last longer. It's also fun to find them lying around the house way after a birthday or holiday has passed and yet I still get a chance to celebrate. Now the store was having an 80% off sale (gosh I love back to school merchandise switch-overs). I bought just enough clothing items to come to $19 and some odd cents. The salesclerk told me at the cash register that I saved about $71 through the sale.
So to sum it up, I started with -$70 (since I already bought the dastardly no-good-very-bad-item in the first place). By returning an item to the store because it wasn't going to go work, I gained back $70 putting me at $0. Then I bought a better version of the item for less money. Since I only spent $60 instead of $70, I had now gained $10 for the day. Next I used a gift card, which is essentially free money, to buy about $90 worth of clothes. Now I have a $60 item, $90 worth of clothes, and still $10 back in the old bank account.
I was so excited to tell my goal nerd that he suggested I post the story. It is an incredible high to be thrifty and get more bang for the buck these days. Yay us!!
