OK, I have to admit that a good portion of the reasoning behind our Get Out of Debt Plan was a fluke that had everything to do with freebies. Both of these things happened around the same time. I don't remember which one happened first. Here it goes.
I'm going to say that this happened first- I got my first taste of getting something for nothing at Walgreens. I had been suffering with cheapo shampoo and conditioner and my hair was rebelling and my scalp was crazy itchy but I was going to live with it until the next payday when I would go plunk down a fiver for a bottle of Fructis. Then I stumbled across a Walgreens circular and saw that with their coupon I could get a bottle for 99 cents. The same price as I was paying for the cheap crappy shampoo!!! Whee! I went skipping down there as soon as possible. What did I find? I found some bottles were on sale for $2.17. The coupon was for $2.50 off. Put two and two together and VOILA! A free bottle of Fructis! I was hooked. I then discovered the rebates. And the Register Rewards. And the ability to double up coupons on an item. OH JOY! I now have a nice arsenal of Fructis and Herbal Essences so my hair doesn't have a break down and it was all free. I also have a ridculously large stockpile of free toothpaste. I once know a man who lived off of a tube of toothpaste for a month while in Vietnam so I suppose it could come in handy someday... Anyway, the freebies that way have been eye-opening for me. I can't believe I've been paying for all this stuff my whole adult life! It's a travesty!
Secondly (I think), I was told about The Freebie Blogger. Handsdown the best freebies site EVER. I go there everyday without fail. The thrill of a thick envelope or little box in the mailbox gives me enough of a buzz the abstain from random shopping. It's weird but true. I got the tiniest little roll of toilet paper the other day that was so cute and unexpected I was showing it off. Crazy, huh?
Once the freebies ball got rolling, I really got into seeing how much for how little I could get at the grocery store. The stores in my area do not double coupons so it's an even bigger challenge. My best so far has been 63% off the original bill. ^_^ Yay!
When all of these came together, I realized we could live without credit cards. Some weeks it's a stretch but we've already made it over a quarter of a year and taken almost 10% off our original debt load. We probably could have done better but we're still learning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment