Frugal Friday-Saving Change

Crystal is hosting Frugal Friday today and I enjoy participating. And learning!

Coincidentally, my tip is quite similar to Michelle's at Life's Accidental Journey. We both have the same philosophy, but put it into practice a little differently.

My husband and I have a habit of never spending "silver" change. All of our silver change is rolled up and deposited into our savings account. We have a vase in our bedroom and at the end of the day or "ever so often," we deposit all of our change into a vase in our bedroom, except for pennies. When the vase is full, I'll roll it. Since there are no pennies, the money total is pretty high each time. (over $100 typically - and it's money we didn't even miss!) Usually we deposit it directly to savings, but we've also used it for our spending money on vacation.

(This is a personal preference - I just don't like to roll pennies. They take as long to roll as any other denomination, but you only get 50 cents for your time.) If I'm at the store and the total is $1.51, I'll give the clerk a penny, then I'll have 2 quarters to add to the vase. I try to spend my pennies so that I can save my other change.

Frugal Friday

Biblical Womanhood is hosting Frugal Friday again today and I just love it!

My frugal tip is dealing with your cable provider. Ours is constantly advertising specials. We never pay full price for the movie channels - and often get them for free!

I'll call occasionally and ask what special they currently have. Oftentimes, there is an unadvertised special that is great. We've gotten free movie channels for 3 months. We've never paid more than $5 for 3 months of premium channels. Considering it is nearly $4 to rent ONE movie, this is a big savings. About the time we've seen all they have to offer, I'll call and cancel.

That is an important step - once the 90 days is up, call to cancel the service or they will start charging you. I will often write it in my planner or calendar it in Outlook.

For more tips, visit Crystal at Biblical Womanhood!

Saving at Target

Crystal at Biblical Womanhood is hosting Frugal Friday.

I confess: I am not good at keeping up with my receipts!

My post is not necessarily about saving money, but a way to ensure that you can return items, even without a receipt. It certainly saves money to be able to exchange items that don't fit or to be able to return an item if I bought too many.

I love to shop at T*arget. Their stores are always clean and I just love the merchandise in general. I, however, do not love their return policy. No receipt, no return. Period. The customer can exchange an item, but that's it. And, an exchange must be for a "like item." Returning a game, get a different one. That doesn't really help, I don't think.

Anyway, here's the good news. I always pay for my "stuff" at Target with either a credit card (with a rewards program - and I pay it off in full each month) or use a debit card/check. I never use cash. T*arget keeps a record of the purchase on file for 90 days. If I need to make a return, I simply walk up to customer service, hand the clerk the item, let her scan it, swipe my card, and I am automatically credited the amount of my original purchase. Takes less than two minutes!

Being able to get my money back if I need it helps me!