Cheapwad Finds--Opposite of Blow That Dough!

[brett]

I was looking at four outdoor lounge chairs @$279 each at a local dept. store.

Saw them for $169 on Amazon.

They came on for a one week sale at Costco on line for $129.

From my perspective that is a clear indication of the margin.

All vendors, including the department store, we drop ship for the supplier.

 

[NoEZmoney]

Get 3 and 4X Kroger fuel points by loading digital coupons and shop Friday and now can load 20 to 40 cents off a gallon at Kroger gas pumps. Do the surveys on receipts and get another 100 reward points added.Got regular for $2.67 a gallon Friday. Me and missus fill up about 3X a month total.

Other hack is shopping clearance end caps at World Market , snagged 2 24oz bags whole bean Amalfi and Sumatra roast coffee for 55% off and another 15% off member discount paying <$9 total on what would've been $26 reg price.

Gallon of organic 2% milk for $1.79 (reg $5.49) with a week to go sell by date. Got 2 and froze one. I do the same on clearance meats, marked down 50% off, still have a good sell by window and freeze. Still have lots of Nolan Ryan beef filets in freezer. Got a note taped on pantry freezer with inventory dates. It's all good when cooked and tastes better knowing the discount.

Got a heckuva deal on McCormick blended Scotch in 1 liter for $5.99 & 1.5 for $7.99 clearance at chain liquor store. It's an unknown brand here so no one was buying it but at Wine and Spirits in Dallas it sells for 2.5 X that and is a good mixer with soda or Drambuie. Got 4 1 liters and 3 1.5 liters so were set for 6 months as far as Scotch goes (including friends coming over).Now if I could find a deal on Drambuie, I'd be in heaven.

 

[38Chevy454]

Heh, heh, I think Costco will keep the price for a while. They know that folks like DW and me always drop a hundred or two whenever we go to Costco. If the cheap hotdog/drink deal keeps me coming back, they'd be foolish to cut that off. That's what loss leaders are for.

Costco, and Sam's with the same, $1.50 hot dog and drink deal are the low budget retiree lunch special. I crack up every time I am in either one and probably 2/3 of the people eating are retired. Although now that I think about it, since I typically go in middle of the week and middle of the day, it is lot of retirees there already.

 

[jcfradio]

Heh, heh, I think Costco will keep the price for a while. They know that folks like DW and me always drop a hundred or two whenever we go to Costco. If the cheap hotdog/drink deal keeps me coming back, they'd be foolish to cut that off. That's what loss leaders are for.

Except for cheapskates like me, who go to Costco when doing other errands, don't buy a thing in their store and then get a cheap hot dog lunch.

 

[NoEZmoney]

Hah! My older brother hits all the free samples given out at the end caps at Costco and fills up. Cost ZERO

 

[daylatedollarshort]

What are seat filler memberships?

Programs that get unsold event tickets and give them to members or sell them for a deep discount. If you are a vet, a free one is called Vet Tix. There is also a free app called Today Tix, which sells same day rush tickets at nice discounts.

Most venues have some way of unloading unsold tickets, either through theater groups, contests, seat filler programs, Goldstar, Today Tix, or specials on social media. It has been my job, as a frugal retiree, to find out how all our favorite theater groups and concert venues, handle their unsold tickets, and which ones have discounted previews. There is a lot less now in our area than there used to be, especially post pandemic, but still a decent selection most months.

 

[Koolau]

Hah! My older brother hits all the free samples given out at the end caps at Costco and fills up. Cost ZERO

Yeah, we just call those "appetizers" in anticipation of the tube steak and bubbly (hotdog and diet coke.)

 

[old medic]

We have a store called Wise Buys... Its a food resale place, mostly restaurant packs of stuff.
11 lb pack of smoked sausage.. $18.
20 lb box of Cornish game hens.. $15
The vacuum sealer hates when we go there...

 

[pacergal]

Using Safeway grocery points, got $0.40 off per gallon of gas at fill up this morning.

I love burning candles, especially in the Fall and Winter. Used a coupon from Yankee Candle for buy 3, get 3 free. All Set for the next few months and the house smells lovely in the evening.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Admittedly, I haven't read all the posts...so if it's already been shared, my apologies.

Anyway, Costco is running a deal on P&G products...spend $100 and get a $25 Costco gift card. You can do this twice ($200/$50) and it expires on 9/29 if I recall. If you spend enough, the order will be shipped to you at no additional cost. Also, the warehouse deals they advertise can still be used. This is a pretty good deal to stock up on goods that have long shelf lives.

 

[Marita40]

Big reader here, and never buy books. I use our extensive Little Free Library system or upload from the library app Libby. Sometimes I'll walk down to use the library for a hard copy book. Reading is a very cheap hobby all around.

 

[John Galt III]

Buying 90% of my beer at 60% of retail at my local beer distributor. They have a sale rack I always check out. $40 cases offered for $22. Awesome.

 

[braumeister]

Nice sale on older iPhones (today only) at Woot. Model 11 and earlier.

https://www.woot.com/plus/a-grade-iphones?ref=w_cnt_gw_dly_snb

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Buying 90% of my beer at 60% of retail at my local beer distributor. They have a sale rack I always check out. $40 cases offered for $22. Awesome.

My FIL is good friends with the local beer distributor and often has beer "left over" for some reason or another and so the family *always* has lots of beer...at no cost to us.

 

[mickeyd]

Does Cimemark still have $1 movies?

 

[ownyourfuture]

I use lots of Reynolds Aluminum Wrap for cooking. Mid June of this year, It was getting low. Went to walmart . com to add a 200 square-foot roll to my cart.
Was astounded to see it was $21.99 before tax.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Reynolds-Wrap-Everyday-Aluminum-Foil-200-Sq-Ft/11027096

Went into my spreadsheet & found that my last order for a 200 square-foot Reynolds roll was on November 30, 2021. Total with tax was $11.42
So I went with two 225 sq foot rolls of ‘great deal’ foil. Total was around $14
Not sure if it's as strong as Reynolds, but it works fine for me.

 

[Koolau]

I use lots of Reynolds Aluminum Wrap for cooking. Mid June of this year, It was getting low. Went to walmart . com to add a 200 square-foot roll to my cart.
Was astounded to see it was $21.99 before tax.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Reynolds-Wrap-Everyday-Aluminum-Foil-200-Sq-Ft/11027096

Went into my spreadsheet & found that my last order for a 200 square-foot Reynolds roll was on November 30, 2021. Total with tax was $11.42
So I went with two 225 sq foot rolls of ‘great deal’ foil. Total was around $14
Not sure if it's as strong as Reynolds, but it works fine for me.

Time to start cleaning and reusing aluminum foil, I guess.

Next thing you know, we'll be adding "reuses aluminum foil" to our standard "recycles dryer sheets." YMMV

 

[Idnar7]

Afriend of ours brings an individually wrapped slice of cheese with him to McD's and puts it on their plain hamburger. Now that is frugal.

 

[Koolau]

Afriend of ours brings an individually wrapped slice of cheese with him to McD's and puts it on their plain hamburger. Now that is frugal.

Now that's a good idea! Just be sure to remove the plastic.

 

[Bamaman]

We have a Big K gas station that has $.89 cold drinks in any size up to 42 ounces. They must have 24 flavors of soda, 3 ice teas and 10 icee type slushes at the same price.

My grandson and I cannot pass the place without stopping. With a card, you can set the drink(s) on a pad and it automatically rings up the purchase.

 

[cyber888]

8 Big Slices of Freshly Char Grilled Juicy Steak - $27 dollars. Golden Corral take home.
50% off Fresh Sushi meal with tuna or shrimp ($10 becomes $5) - Lowes Grocery every Wednesday.

 

[braumeister]

Afriend of ours brings an individually wrapped slice of cheese with him to McD's and puts it on their plain hamburger. Now that is frugal.

Makes good sense since it's probably actual cheese rather than what they use.

 

[TripleLindy]

There's room for both. You find easy, painless ways to save in one area, and then you have enough dough to "blow" on something fun! Post to both threads.

-ERD50

We’re going hiking in the Tetons (leaving tomorrow!) to celebrate my 60th birthday. Forecast changes daily, but no doubt we’ll experience some rain. Found waterproof hiking pants for $30 on Amazon (delivered next day!) when local stores (REI, Bass Pro) were $100+. Yes, I’m sure they’re cheaply made, but I doubt they’ll see much use other than trips like this. Of course, we’re blowing dough by taking the trip.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

We’re going hiking in the Tetons (leaving tomorrow!) to celebrate my 60th birthday. Forecast changes daily, but no doubt we’ll experience some rain. Found waterproof hiking pants for $30 on Amazon (delivered next day!) when local stores (REI, Bass Pro) were $100+. Yes, I’m sure they’re cheaply made, but I doubt they’ll see much use other than trips like this. Of course, we’re blowing dough by taking the trip.

You can't beat the Tetons in September. You should be hearing the elk bugling. When I go there I stay in Dubois rather than Jackson. Everything is more laid back and about half price.

 

[CaptTom]

Afriend of ours brings an individually wrapped slice of cheese with him to McD's and puts it on their plain hamburger. Now that is frugal.

I specifically ask for "no cheese" if I order something that comes with it. Not to save money, but because that stuff they put on their burgers is horrible.

Time to start cleaning and reusing aluminum foil, I guess.

Next thing you know, we'll be adding "reuses aluminum foil" to our standard "recycles dryer sheets." YMMV

Hey, I've been known to do that! If the piece was just used to gently cover a dish, and didn't get any food on it, I might re-use it to line a baking pan for making biscuits or something in the toaster oven.