It’s Frugal Confessions Friday!!
Posted on | August 28, 2009 | 18 Comments
Hello Frugal Confessions Readers! Check out here what this series is all about.
Here is my confession of the week:
I never carry around cash. It’s one of my pitfalls (and drives my fiance crazy!). A few weeks ago I borrowed $4 for a fundraiser at work from a close colleague of mine. In the last several weeks I haven’t had any cash on hand to pay him back, and the thought of taking $20 out of the atm to do so was gut-wrenching for me. So one day this colleague, me, and a bunch of others were going to go to pick up a sandwich to eat. He ended up not being able to go last minute, but still needed to eat. I jumped on the opportunity. I said “oh–no worries. I will get you your sandwich and we can call it even.” This was fine with him.
What he didn’t know was that I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for the sandwich shop we were going to. So, I bought my lunch, and got his sandwich for free, and now we’re even! Sometimes you have to get creative when you don’t carry around cash…
What are your confessions for this week? Remember, you can confess something from years ago, or from more recently–whatever you prefer. I’m dying to hear about it.
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18 Responses to “It’s Frugal Confessions Friday!!”
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I have Joined the Yakezie Challenge!
August 28th, 2009 @ 2:49 pm
sometimes I really try to go out of my way to avoid suspicion from sales clerks – recently Giant had santa cruz organic flavored iced teas on sale for $1.50, and I had an unlimited amount of printable 75-cent coupons, which would make the teas free after doubling! I thoughtfully grabbed 3 bottles of mango tea and 2 bottles of raspberry, thinking that if I got any more and I would hardly be able to carry them and might raise an eyebrow or two (who needs that much iced tea?), then walked right over to the self-checkout so I wouldn’t have to deal with a suspicious sales clerk when my order rang up for *zero*. well it turned out the joke was on me! after all that trouble to avoid noticing, apparently when you have multiple coupons for the same product only the first one will double, and all the rest will scan at face value. although it wasn’t the steal I expected it to be, $3 for 5 bottles of really yummy tea was still a sweet deal. And now I know for next time to only buy one at a time!
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FruGal Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Ahhh…avoiding those suspicious sales clerks. I totally agree! I do that a lot at CVS where I get most of my toiletries for free. Thanks for the comment, and keep reading!
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August 28th, 2009 @ 4:31 pm
LLLLAAAAAAAMMMMMMMEEEE
5 minuts of making out and i’d call it even ha!
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August 28th, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
I will only share this Amanda if you promise not to share it with mom….HA HA HA. SO I recently finished her wedding book, lots of pictures put together in digital album form….well, I was putting off printing it and bounding it and such…it would cost around $30-$40 dollars not bad for a Christmas gift……Well, now for a measly $4 shipping and handling charge….and a few coke rewards points, I have a beautiful Wedding Book to give them for Christmas!!!
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August 28th, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
an addition to my above comment….think of that when the photographer for your wedding is breathing down your throat to spend hundreds to preserve your wedding memories…I didn’t have a photographer and neither did mom and we both have beautiful albums to show for it! (mom just hasn’t seen hers yet)
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August 30th, 2009 @ 2:45 am
I’m sorry but I don’t think that is a debt paid. He gave you something that cost him and you gave him something in return that didn’t cost you.
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August 30th, 2009 @ 2:58 am
This probably doesn’t count as being frugal but today I bought a 4 pack of 16 oz. cans of Red Stripe lager for $5.60 instead of buying a like amount of Heineken for $7.20
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August 30th, 2009 @ 2:32 pm
Hello BluSky!
Thanks for sharing your frugal confession! Way to save almost $2.00!!
I have to disagree though (respectfully, ofcourse:)). He was coming to the sandwich shop anyway, and would have had to spend $4 out of pocket. Because I gave him the sandwich, he saved himself $4.
Makes for good discussion! Thanks for your comments.
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August 31st, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
Just found your blog from Nickel’s. I agree with BluSky. Your colleague contributed $4 for you. If you don’t like to have any cash on you, write a check. It’s not frugal borrowing from your workmates, it’s just cheap.
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August 31st, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
Hey EZ!
Thanks for joining us. Do you have any frugal confessions of your own? I’d love to hear them.
I can’t wait to show this discussion to my colleague–we are really close, and he is going to laugh!
I have to say, I still do not see the difference between me paying him back this way, and me taking him personally to a sandwich shop to pay him back (and buy both sandwiches that way). My friends and I do this–like I’ll pay for your lunch this time, since you paid for mine last time.
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FruGal Reply:
August 31st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
But it looks like the consensus is that it was cheap of me to do!
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August 31st, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
No confessions, my wife is the frugal one. I will say that I used to carry alot of cash when I was younger and never really knew where it all went. Then someone gave me Managing Your Money (oops, showing my age) and I started tracking what I spent and was surprised at how much I essentially gave away. I enjoyed too much buying drinks and dinner for my friends and acquaintances. When I stopped spending so much, I bought our next car for cash the next year. The only debt we had after that was a mortgage, which is now gone.
If the colleague who gave you the $4 was a good friend, it makes a difference. Borrowing from co-workers is not a good idea, IMHO. And didn’t you say it took you over 2 weeks to pay back $4? Friends buying friends lunch is fine, but I’ve experienced co-workers who always tried to take a little too much advantage of some more generous folks. People look at money in very different ways. Some work a little too hard at getting more money and trying to get something for free.
I like your blog.
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August 31st, 2009 @ 6:57 pm
ok … here goes my confession … and yes, I know I have sinned.
Sometimes when I go to the bulk food section of a grocery store, I will purchase the supposed “organic” item and then label it as though it were the “chemically marinated” item.
In my defense, I don’t really know if the supposed organic one is really organic or not. So just to be safe I buy the organic version but pay the inorganic price.
Hasn’t put anyone out of business yet for this indiscretion. Hey, great blog, by the way !!!!!
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August 31st, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
I don’t think that was bad at all. For example, i had a friend come into my resturant with a bunch of his co-workers…and guess what, I didn’t charge him. If that were you getting the free meal would you feel extra bad about eating for free???? No, didn’t think so…a meal is a meal especially if you don’t have to do any work to get it. $4.00 bucks…I get charged more for delivery.
FYI..I eat for free in alot of places. It pays to know the right people. So next time I invite you out for lunch think about that. I’m cheap but the food is always good.
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August 31st, 2009 @ 8:24 pm
Hi EZ!
I am so happy that you bought a car in cash and have also paid off your mortgage! How fantastic.
Two weeks is a bit long…but yeah, we are close co-workers! (I probably should have mentioned that:)). I am happy you like my blog, and I hope to see you back!
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September 7th, 2009 @ 2:35 pm
When I see a bogo (buy on get one) on any of my favorite products (usually cereal), I buy all they have on the shelf. And at Publix in Florida, if they don’t have any more, they will give you a rain check. I have had people comment on my basket full off Raisin Bran. Also, during the first few days of a promotion like that, often times there are none on the shelf. Then I stop by multiple Publix stores on my daily travels, and get rain checks. I still have rain check from six months ago. Although sometimes I need to search out shelf space in the house for my horde of cereal.
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September 7th, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
Hello Scott! Nice to have you on board. That is really funny–but probably saves you some dough! As long as they don’t expire first…
Personally, I LOVE cereal. I eat it most mornings, and every now and again I will have a cereal dinner:).
Keep reading, and thanks for the comment!
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September 7th, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
P.S. Did you know that you can use as many coupons as you can find for those boxes of cereal? You can use one coupon PER box of cereal.
Hope this helps!
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