Not everyone will agree with me on these ideas, but after the Holidays I do a lot of returns and take advantage of a lot of the sales.
After Christmas I try to return any unwanted gifts that my family received. I truly appreciate the thought behind the gift but find it wasteful to keep unwanted items. Many stores will not accept a return without a receipt or a gift receipt, but sometimes you can get a store credit. If I get a store credit, I either use it to buy something my family needs or I save it to purchase a gift for someone at a later time. If the items can't be returned, I usually save it to give to someone as a gift (re-gift) should it prove to be an acceptable item for such an occasion.
The other thing I do is to check to see if any of the items I purchased for Christmas have now been marked down on sale. If I find something that I already purchased on sale, I will buy the item at the sale price and later return it with the original higher receipt. This can save a significant amount of money.
This article has been included in the Carnival of Personal Finance #134 over at Mrs. Micah.
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5 comments:
I do agree with you & do the same things ~ (ex: my father bought me two pair of pants - he included the gift receipt ~ I took those 2 pair & turned them into 4 for the same price!!! I did tell him about it & he was very approving of the idea ~ I did the same thing with a few things he got for my daughter - we ended up with an extra pair of pjs & 3 books!)
Looking forward to following your progress in 2008!
Hey there! glad to see you back. :)
I'm very impressed that even though you had to use the cc to get through the month (man, have we had months like that in the past!), you had the foresight and control to pay it off in full once the check came through. That's AWESOME! lol
Sounds like you're on a roll and ready to go - and I return stuff, too. I see no use in keeping things we won't use. I usually wait until this week, though. I may enjoy after-xmas sales, but not the lines for returns. Crazy, I know. :)
CONGRATULATIONS!!
I couldn't help but notice that you've gotten your debt total under $30K!
AWESOME!!
Very cool to see your progress!!! What does your husband do? He brings in a great amount every month!!! We only bring in ~$2000 after taxes and I am a sahm as well. We don't know where to begin with financial peace.
Thanks steph, kris, and jw!
kelli, my husband works in sales (computer software, data, etc.). Dave Ramsey is the best place to begin with for financial peace. Read Financial Peace or The Total Money Makeover. He will give you the steps to follow. (You can see an overview of his Baby Steps if you check my archives for "Dave Ramsey"). Best of luck to you and your family!
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