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coupons, rebates and savings galore
I am not a fan of the holiday shopping season. A lot of people are, and that’s great if it’s something you enjoy ~ but getting up at 4am the day after a holiday to fight the crowds just to save a couple of dollars is not on my list of fun things to do.
I am, however, a fan of shopping online, and I’m definitely a fan of big savings. Do you know how many web sites there are that will help you save some serious money while doing almost all of your shopping online? About a gazillion. Seriously. A gazillion. Recently I became a member of several of them ~ all free memberships ~ and already they’ve paid off (literally).
I have needed a new mixer for a while now. My in-laws gave us a Sunbeam stand mixer as a wedding present over 20 years ago. Earlier this year I started noticing that electrical smell that small appliances give off when they’re about to quit working. I let Roger know we were going to need to get a new mixer soon, and outlined the benefits of a couple of different brands I was interested in possibly purchasing. I won’t go into the debate over whether a Bosch is better than a Kitchenaid ~ that’s one of those things you’ll have to decide for yourself.
A few nights ago Roger and I were talking about what we would like for Christmas. We’ve been married for a long time now, and quite honestly getting a nice appliance I know I need is no longer offensive to me. Roger spent the first 17 or 18 years of our marriage giving me nice jewelry as gifts, because he knows how much I like pretty, shiny, sparkly things I can wear. He has proven he truly does understand that giving your wife a vacuum cleaner or a mixer for her birthday, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or any other day that it’s conventional to give a gift to one you love is NOT okay. 
I’ve trained him well.
This year I asked for a new mixer. Roger was a little taken aback by that, and he questioned me over and over to make sure a new mixer really was the thing I wanted for Christmas. I was finally able to assure him that I WANT (not to mention NEED) a new mixer, and that buying me a small appliance for Christmas was not something that would go on the “Hold Against Roger Forever List” (unlike buying a $500 dog ~ that I didn’t even want ~ on our 14th anniversary. Sorry honey, but that is one I don’t intend to ever let you live down!)
I did all of the research, and decided for my purposes a Kitchenaid would be a very good investment. If I were an everyday bread baker I would probably have asked for a Bosch ~ and again, I really don’t want to get into that whole debate ~ but since I bake bread only occasionally, and I’ve never needed to make more than one loaf at a time on any given day, the Kitchenaid has the features I was looking for. The spoiled little girl in me wasn’t willing to settle for the lesser Kitchenaid though. I wanted the big mama of the Kitchenaid family ~ the professional 600 series mixer. Try as I might to get rid of her, that spoiled little girl inside me always seems to reappear. This time, however, I was able to satisfy the spoiled little girl in me AND the grown-up in me who really would like to get the most for my money.
I joined Ebates because I have heard people talking about it and have read quite a number of posts on blogs and Facebook by people who love shopping through Ebates. Then through Ebates I was able to find a store that had the mixer I wanted on sale, and they were offering free shipping with the purchase of $100 or more. I also had a coupon code for that store for an additional 20% off. The store’s page for the mixer had a link to a rebate form I could print out and receive $$ back from Kitchenaid. On that particular day, the store was offering rewards dollars (basically a gift card that can be used at that store for a future purchase), and the cash back value on Ebates on that day was higher than it usually is. Wow.
All told, I bought a mixer that normally sells for $500, and I paid a little over $200 for it. There’s a possibility that if I had continued looking around for a couple more days I may have been able to save a few dollars more, but I’m VERY happy with the deal I got. My time and effort are worth more than the additional $5 or so I might have saved if I’d waited and done a ton more research.
If you’re not a member of Ebates, you really should check it out. The membership form doesn’t take long to fill out, and you don’t have to give them any kind of credit card or bank account information.
If you decide to join Ebates, please use my link. You and I will each earn a $5 credit to our accounts from Ebates just for you signing up and becoming a qualified member! Really it’s a win-win situation. The next time you need to buy something, look it up on Ebates and buy it through their site. Ebates will give you a percentage of your purchase price back ~ so what have you got to lose?!
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2 Joyful Comments Shared to “coupons, rebates and savings galore”
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WOOHOO! That’s an awesome deal!
Another good thing to tuck away in your memory is price adjustments. I bought everyone in my family a pair of pajamas at Old Navy last week. Went back in there on Saturday to get another pair for J (they were out) and ALL OF THE PAJAMAS I’d bought six days ago were on sale for $6. I had my receipt and asked them to adjust the price and they did saving me $22.
What a GREAT deal! I was just wondering if you still blog and boom there was a post in my reader. LOL