The washing machine finally died. DF can’t remember how old it is, but it’s at least 25 years old and possibly older. It didn’t owe us a thing. But the appliance still had one act of service left: It waited until the day before Black Friday to give up the ghost.
We were lucky it lasted as long as it did, yet we dreaded the cost of replacing a major appliance. Even a quick glance at the ads left us a bit breathless.
Fortunately, we are money nerds who specialize in stretching every dollar. A quartet of frugal hacks helped reduce the financial pain:
First, DF compared prices and incentives at half a dozen retailers before choosing Lowe’s. (Hurrah for free delivery, setup and haul-away!)
Second, as always, he paid with a rewards credit card. As do I: All of my plastic is rewards plastic. It just makes sense to us.
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He further sweetened the pot by raiding the “washing machine fund” jar for another $150. This is one of our easiest stealth saving* tactics: For every load of laundry we run, $2 goes into a jar. Your fund can be for anything you want; in fact, we took money from this jar a few years back to help pay for a new stove.
Finally, I cashed in enough Shopkick points to get $225 worth of Lowe’s gift cards. Since I’m always telling him that the points are for our household, not just for me, this was another chance to put my (free) money where my mouth is. As recently noted in “How I saved $233.07,” these rewards programs provided a pretty nice boost to our home and garden budget this year.
Not everyone wants to get another credit card, and some people think that rewards programs are a pain. While it’s true that too much plastic can be tempting (as well as potentially detrimental to your credit score), I am here to testify that rewards programs aren’t hard to use.
That’s true even if you don’t buy all that much. I’m fairly minimalist but I rack up the points like nobody’s bidness. Learn more about the how and why at a previous post I did called “Rewards cards FTW!”
Black Friday FTW, too
Lately I’ve cared less about Black Friday because the deals have been a lot less attention-getting. In previous years I’ve gotten items to donate as well as to give to family and friends. It’s also because I’ve been lucky enough to find really good deals (or even free items) all year long, so there’s less need to score on the biggest shopping day of the year.
This year, the timing was pure serendipity. It’s possible that DF could have gotten just as good a deal next week, since retailers are both previewing and extending their Black Friday deals. But I wouldn’t count on it.
Incidentally, DF did all this on his own because I was in the Lower 48 at the time. Abby and I didn’t go out of the house on Black Friday. She did find and order some decent deals for in-store pickup or home delivery, but neither of us wanted to brave the crowds.
Rewards programs worked for me while I was in Phoenix, too: I was paid $1.40 to buy three stocking stuffers. The program in question was Ibotta, which you can learn more about in the “Rewards programs FTW!” article. Won’t mention what the items are, though, because one of them is going to someone who reads this site.
I love putting things in stockings, but I don’t want to spend as much on them as I do on bigger-ticket items. This year’s haul includes those three items, a few things picked up at the Financial Blogger Conference, a couple of things from my Buy Nothing Facebook group, some small gift cards obtained through those rewards programs mentioned above and, yes, a couple of things I paid actual cash to get.
Those frugal hacks pay for a big chunk of my holiday and birthday gift-giving each year. This year I also donated three gift cards to my pal Revanche’s annual gift drive for Lakota families. That’s a link to last year’s article. This year she’s focusing on warm coats and clothing, blankets, diapers and OTC medications, but hopes to add food and books. (Edited to add: Revanche just posted info about this year’s giving drive. Find it at http://agaishanlife.com/agsl-giving/.)
If you get going now, and by next November you’ll likely have enough to stretch your own giving dollars. Or, if you’re supremely unlucky, to help pay for a major appliance.
Readers: Did you shop on Black Friday, either online or in person? Which frugal hacks did you use?
*A chapter from my first book lists a bunch of stealth savings tactics – and I’ve made that chapter available for free as a Google doc. Feel free to share the link.
[Surviving and Thriving has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Surviving and Thriving and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses and recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.]
Thanks for the link, and thanks again for the gift cards! Something about many helping hands making the work / cost burden light applied here, big time.
If your readers are interested in how we did this year with the giving drive, I’ve collected it all here: http://agaishanlife.com/agsl-giving/. I just finished the last of our shopping yesterday so I’m taking a quick breather before I add my final updates.
I did a little shopping of my own after I squared away our Lakota families. We picked up some basic clothes for the kids at 40% off, got them a couple small extra gifts (a hat, a sweatshirt, we gift very modestly around here), replacement shoes, and a few clothing gifts for the cousins. I also nabbed a few vitamins and cold medications. We are terribly exciting, are we not? 😉 I had planned to buy our big ticket tech items this season but we clean ran out of processing power between we two adults so I may have to give it up until next year. Or wish me luck with tomorrow’s sales!
Thanks for that update. And yes, you are at least as terribly exciting as I am.
Pray tell which machine you decided upon, please. 🙂
I, too, am a big fan of rewards cards – we put everything on them. We’re going to be spending the money anyway; it’s awful nice to get that little bonus back. We’ve used those rewards points for some very nice things.
What an exciting day for me, too!
As I live in a small town, there was no Black Friday shopping at all for me. I met fiends for lunch, checked the half-price sale rack at the local thrift store on books, and went home. Since lunch was paid for, we gave $10 to the waitress which was way over the price of the meal, but that was OK. She was efficient and nice.
I remember the days when I was off and running at the crack of dawn clutching my list furtively in one hand and my credit cards in the other. We’d have to go out for dinner that night because of my crankiness and exhaustion. No more!!
Great idea about the replacement fund. Only you can make something as mundane as a new washing machine so, well, novel-ish. Enjoyed reading it.
oops met friends. not fiends. (although sometimes I wonder…)
Caught that while reading your post and got my LOL for the day!
There’s no fiend like an old fiend.
Your “fiends” typo reminds me of a bit from Jane Trahey’s memoir Life with Mother Superior (the basis for the 1960s movie The Trouble with Angels, with Hayley Mills). As I recall, as one of her parting shots to the convent, Jane went to considerable trouble to reword several ads “Compliments of a Fiend” in the school yearbook.
Loved the movie. Will have to find the book. I want to read it!
Ventured out into the Black Friday chaos to go to Plaid Friday at my friend’s Indy bookstore here in town. I was pleasantly surprised to find no chaos at her store. Instead, some of my friends were already gathered there for tea. For wearing plaid that day, I received 10% off my total price for some small gifts. Plus, it was fun to see everyone in their plaid. The best parts were supporting a local business and finding perfect gifts for my son’s recent birthday.
That sounds like a great promotion. Kudos to your friend’s sense of fun.
I hope that some of my aging appliances will be as courteous about the timing of their demise as your washing machine was. I’m a little nervous about both my refrigerator and my upright freezer in the basement.
Some of today’s appliances are not as sturdy as years ago. My late cousin operated laundromats. (He made a fortune, all in coins, LOL!) He told me to get the old Maytag washers and dryers, the ones made in Newton, Iowa. He looked at mine and discovered the home appliances had the same heavy-duty belts and drives as his commercial machines. Which do many dozens of loads every day throughout the year. Sadly, he said, that company was sold and their machines are now run-of-the-mill in quality. But when I bought a house, the laundry appliances conveyed — and they were old Maytags! So, since I had a huge garage, I simply stored my oldstyle Maytags out there. When the washer konked out, I paid some college boys $25 to swap it out with the one I kept in the garage. Even though the repairman said the old one would be worth repairing — for $400, which I didn’t have at the time. (By then my cousin had died, or he would’ve fixed it for free.) I’m still saving the washer; I figure 400 or more dollars for a vintage Maytag would be better than getting a new something-or-other.
I think that’s a great idea.
Donna, you and DF have it going on! I’d also like to know what brand of machine y’all bought.
I shopped on Black Friday for the first time in years, maybe decades. A friend and I hit Burlington for clothes. I found a dark blue hoodie for a great price and friend found a pair of black sweatpants. We both prefer to handle the merchandise before we buy.
We then went to Walmart because I needed scrub pants badly. I found what I wanted for a change, so I wasn’t stressing about price. I’m going to wear these pants until they disintegrate!
I usually don’t like shopping with other people because we can’t seem to “sync up” in our shopping styles. I don’t have that problem with this friend, we always have fun.
I too save my rewards earned and put whatever I can on plastic being mindful to pay in full each month. I’m actually thinking of getting the cash (no fee) and putting it in an account to earn a bit of interest rather than letting it sit earning me nothing. Not that interest rates are high, but it all adds up. I plan to use it to beef up a down payment when we need a new vehicle. I also use Raketen and Ibotta. I won’t get rich, but I appreciate the dollars I earn.
Well, you know how I feel about all the rebate and reward apps and cards! So glad they came in clutch when it was time to get a new washer.
I spent part of this evening figuring out Christmas gifts for all of my kids’ teachers. I got their input as to which teacher would like which gift (they had to choose from my collection of items I’ve obtained couponing – nice stuff, mind you. I’m frugal, not cheap!)
I had lots fancy brand shower gel, bath bombs, hand soap, hand cream, candles, etc. and nice gift boxes of Godiva chocolate that I got for pennies at Target – they were on clearance combined with Ibotta and Swagbucks, I believe. I think they retailed for ~$11 each and I got them for maybe a dollar.
Given that I had about 19 teachers and coaches to shop for, I was very pleased to not have to come out of pocket (I use money earned from couponing to coupon – it’s in my PayPal account, so I never touch my personal money).
The only teacher I did come out of pocket for is a newly widowed single mom of two little girls who is the kids’ art teacher at school – I got her a DoorDash gift card so she could have an easy night for dinner. I, of course, however, went through Ibotta to buy it! Actually first, I checked my husband’s work website where points he earns on the job can be used for things like gifts and gift cards, but they didn’t have what I was looking for.
My couponing has also allowed me to donate frequently to a local food pantry, a homeless outreach, and for Christmas specifically, Toys for Tots and a Christmas Party for kids in a low-income neighborhood. Also, I’m finishing the process to become a volunteer for Catholic Charities Gabriel Project, so I’m starting to set aside baby items I get couponing to donate to that.