I'm not what anyone would call a deal-maker. I usually pay list price for what I buy, although lately I've become more aware of the wonders of coupons. Now, Becky and my brother Ron are all over deals. I think Becky has almost walked out of stores in which they paid her to take the merchandise (Only a slight exaggeration.) One of her best buys was a $250 ring she bough at Kohl's for $1.41. The ring was on sale, there was a 15% Night Owl Special, she had a further charge customer discount of 15% and used two gift cards and a partial one to come up with the final price. (Do not try this yourself unless you are a consummate shopper such as Becky is. You could be seriously injured in the attempt.)
Starting last Monday evening, though, I had about a 24-hour run of deals that fell into my lap. In no case was I looking for bargains, but there they were anyhow.
It started Monday evening when we decided to rent The King's Speech from Red Box. It is an amazing movie, and you should stop reading this and go see it right away. You'll thank me later. Anyhow, I logged on to Red Box to reserve the film and the checkout indicated I had a credit and that the movie was free. I have no idea why but I was good with it. ( We rarely see films in the theater and catch them later on DVD. The exceptions are the Harry Potter movies, which we saw in the theater except for 7.1 which we watched at home to fill us in before we saw 7.2 in the theater. It is an engrossing and moving film. You should stop reading this and go see it now. And now that I think of it, the only other movie we have seen in the past ten years on the big screen was Seabiscuit. Another good one.)
A friend had asked me Sunday if I were interested in a couple of free tickets to a Nats game in September. Her office was going and they had a couple of extras. The deal included a free hot dog and drink. Yes, I was interested! She sent an email confirming the deal Monday morning and we were good to go.
Monday afternoon I went to wash my pickup since I was planning on selling it to Car Max the next day if the price was right (it was, and that was another deal). I pulled into the car wash place and a couple of guys were working on the control box that money is deposited in. One of them told me they'd have it fixed in a couple of minutes. After about ten minutes, the guy came over and told me to go through, that the wash was free since I had to wait. Score!
Then I went over to Home Depot to get some materials to do some electrical work on the house. I got a current tester to try to avoid the shocks I usually get when I work with household current. There was a nice yellow one on sale for $6, discounted from $22. Deal. When I took it to the register, it rang up as one cent. The checker said it was a secret discount. Yay!
My next stop was Lowes to check on insulation for an attic insulating project. They had denim insulation (doesn't make you itch like a man on a fuzzy tree like fiberglass insulation does)on clearance for less than half-price! I got ten bales of R-19 and was a happy fellow.
Later on that afternoon, Becky sent me a link for a Groupon coupon (I know, it rhymes) good for a 50% discount at a nice local restaurant. We liked the idea so much we got two! Again, I was doing nothing but sitting at the computer, fat, dumb and happy.
After all this, I felt as if I should buy a lottery ticket, except I am cheap and don't gamble. I could invest in the stock market...or maybe not. I am trying to stimulate the economy.
My brother Ron says he would rather be lucky than good. I had about a twenty-four hour period where I was both. I hope you are, too.
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