Frugal Confessions Friday
Posted on | July 9, 2010 | 15 Comments
Hello Frugal Confessions Readers!
For those of you new to this series, check out the introduction here.
Here is my confession of the week:
I had a wonderful customer service experience that resulted in me earning money! I ordered our wingback chair slipcovers off of Overstock.com, and wanted to pay using our last $100 in visa gift cards from our wedding. The problem was that I had to use two different ones to pay for them, but the system would not allow it. I ended up signing up for BillMeLater (for free), and when the bill came in, I called them and tried to make the payment using the two gift cards. They couldn’t do it, even though the Overstock.com rep told me that they would be able to. Anyway, when I called Overstock back up and spoke with someone, they were completely apologetic, and understood that I now had to take the $100 out of our bank account, which was an inconvenience. To make up for it, he said (without me even asking) “you know what I am going to do for you? I am going to give you a $50 credit at our store to use whenever you want to, and it will not expire for ten years”. Amazing! What great customer service! I wonder what I will spend that $50 on…..
What is your frugal confession of the week? I’d love to hear it!
- Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living
- Frugal Confessions – Frugal Living
- Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living
- Always Check your Automatically Withdrawn Amounts
- Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living
Comments
15 Responses to “Frugal Confessions Friday”
Leave a Reply
Previous article: « How to Get Through to a Live Person in Customer Service
Next article: The Value on Our Home Decreased by 3.9% in One Day…and I’m Smiling? »
Subscription Options
Meet Amanda
Blog Sponsors
July 9th, 2010 @ 9:25 am
That is awesome customer service, wow!!
My frugal confession has to do with this yucky heat wave we’ve had up here in the northeast this past week. We don’t like to use A/C much, but even we weren’t about to suffer through the 100+ temps! But as a way to cut back slightly on some of our A/C use, Scott has been getting up really early in the morning when the temperature has cooled off to (around) its lowest point, then opened up the doors downstairs and put a box bow fan in a window upstairs blowing the warm air OUT of our house, which then sucks the cooler outside air in through the downstairs doors. Its basically what a “whole house fan” would do if we had one (which we are planning to get eventually!) but for now this works to cool our house a couple of degrees before closing back up and turning the A/C back on. The whole house fan will be much more powerful and efficient, so we’re looking into our options to get one installed (I’ve heard arguments that they can be a source of heat loss in the winter, though, so we definitely need to do our research!)
[Reply]
July 9th, 2010 @ 9:27 am
wow I just re-read that, I have no idea what a “box bow” fan is… just take out the “bow” part, hahaha!
[Reply]
July 9th, 2010 @ 1:28 pm
hey Aurora!
Thanks for sharing:). We have a whole house fan (I believe–it’s in our attic on the top of the house?), but that is practically a necessity down here in Houston. Great job on your husband’s efforts to save money, and hang in there with the heat wave!
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Frugal Confessions Friday
[Reply]
July 9th, 2010 @ 2:44 pm
We were able to keep the thermostat at 84 the whole week we were out of town at the end of June. Woot for a slightly lower electricity bill to come!!!
My frugal confession is that I took too many waterproof cameras with me on the cruise and ended up selling the leftover one at a slight profit. I paid $10.42 and they bought it for $12…saved them $8 over the beach’s price and covered the cost of the snow cone I just bought.
[Reply]
July 9th, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
OK…so I splurged and bought a bottle of coconut rum. It had a $10 rebate for buying the bigger bottle. So, I justified buying the bigger bottle because with the rebate, it was the same price as the smaller one.
Mysti recently posted..Crisis Averted-
[Reply]
July 9th, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Mysti–way to go! Thanks for sharing.
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Frugal Confessions Friday
[Reply]
July 9th, 2010 @ 9:16 pm
I picked fresh vegetables from the garden this week instead of buying from the store!
Car Negotiation Coach recently posted..Centsible Show -amp Contest Reminder
[Reply]
July 10th, 2010 @ 12:12 am
Car Negotiation Coach: That is wonderful! It is always a delight to pick food right from your yard. So far our garden has yielded us cilantro, enough basil for two batches of pesto (we froze a bunch) and some carrots. Hopefully it will yield even more next year!
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Frugal Confessions Friday
[Reply]
July 12th, 2010 @ 3:41 pm
I know I’m late chiming in, but I was moving over the weekend. I have an awesome savings that fell in my lap. I was up for a lease renewal but wanted to move to a slightly bigger apt in the same complex. We went to talk to management. They were running an amazing special and let us sign on at that rate! I am paying $30 less a month for 150 sq. ft. more – now that’s some long term savings!
[Reply]
July 12th, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
Angela,
Hello! What a great deal. Good job:).
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..The Value on Our Home Decreased by 39 in One Day…and I’m Smiling
[Reply]
July 19th, 2010 @ 5:05 pm
I thought you might find this interesting. In 1999 I bought a TI-89 Graphing Calculator for high school pre-calc, it was $180. It was hard to convince my parents to buy it for me, but since I was going to go to college to be an engineer they figured it was worth the investment since I would need one for school. 11 years later the same calculator costs $150 at an office supply store. I think that is one technological item that hasn’t depreciated in value, considering back then a laptop that only costs $500 now cost $3000 in the 90s. I would say my parents made a good investment, that calculator got me through 8 years of school and 2 engineering degrees, and I still use it everyday at work, which is more than I can say for the $1500 laptop they bought for me when I graduated high school in 2001. Although, I do still have that laptop, and it does work, but I have since upgraded to a new one.
[Reply]
July 19th, 2010 @ 7:43 pm
Hello Michelle!
That was a good investment. Thank you for your story!
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..What Kind of Information is Your Credit Card Collecting on You
[Reply]
August 2nd, 2010 @ 5:09 pm
Hi Amanda I enjoy your articles on the Houston Chronicle too but can’t seem to leave a message there.
At risk of being the wierd house on the block I got a white metal roof after Ike. Here in Houston, this has made my attic and 2nd floor go from 150 F in the day down to whatever the outside temp is. ( I don’t try to air condition up there). Downstairs I use one window unit and a bit of ducting to cool the whole floor. The unit runs only 1/3 to 1/4 the time even in the hot afternoon and 50 deg air comes out!
To top it off, the water from the window unit fills a birdbath!
Have a good day and keep up the great articles and frugality.
[Reply]
August 2nd, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
almostanative: Thank you so much! Sorry you can’t seem to leave comments at the Chronicle…
I would not have thought to do that, but what a great idea! By being different you are saving a ton on electricity costs.
Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Negative Externalities of Frugality
[Reply]
August 2nd, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
Thank you. The chronicle will work better if I figure out how to “log in”.
Regarding whole house fans, I’ve found you can set up a pathway by opening certain doors and a window or two, to create a breeze that flows around your whole house. From Oct. to April this works a lot of the time even here in Houston. The reader who was wondering about what to do in the cold might want to look into getting an insulated door made of foam sheets to put over the fan in winter.
Have a good day.
[Reply]