We put down the deposit on our vacation! HOORAY! California, here we come! My San Diego package actually went up a few hundred dollars- because of course it did. My travel agent Erin is going to keep an eye on the pricing for me. Because I’ve booked so far out, there is a chance the price will drop or we’ll be able to find it through a different package cheaper. She actually told me if she finds it cheaper than going through her, she’ll let me know so I can get a refund and book it on my own. How insane is that? She is literally going to do all this work for me, for potentially no commission. It boggles the mind. That’s how committed she is to saving her customers the most money. I know this sounds like an informerical, but this is a serious conversation we had this past week.
As we’ve been working on our pantry clean out, I’ve also been taking stock of some of my household stockpiles.
I know that sounds a little hoarderish- but it’s really not. For those of you that aren’t really familiar with stockpiling, it’s pretty simple. When you find an incredibly low price on something, you buy several (or many), to use when the price goes back up. Some people stockpile. I try to only stockpile household items, so we aren’t stuck with 300 cans of beans to get through before they expire. You do you though!
The nice thing is I never have to pay full price for something like laundry detergent or my deodorant. Right now I have so much name brand laundry detergent that I’m able to ignore the sales and unless something is $1 or under, I just use what I have. This also means I have plenty on hand at a cheap price, so if a friend or family member has fallen on hard times I can send them household goodies to help out. I may have only paid $1 for a jug of detergent, but it saves them $6. When a friend of mine lost everything in a house fire, it was nothing for me to put together a sizeable box of household goods and even some comforts like name brand lotion, soap and makeup because I had it on hand and had purchased it at a cheap price. I could help without having to hurt our own budget and a dollar was stretched way farther than if I had gone out and purchased everything retail.
Right now, because we’re living off my stockpile of toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent, soap- my household budget has gone way down. That means more money to put in our savings account (or throw at debt, your trip- whatever your case may be), because we were smart enough to buy extra on sale to hold us over until the next good sale.
So, stockpiling is something you should consider doing, if you have a little extra room in your house and a few extra dollars left in your budget. I’ve seen folks keep their stockpile in a guest room closet, on shelves in the garage- even in containers under the bed.
2020 West Coast Trip Goal: $5000
August 19th- August 25th
$31.35- Secret Shopping
$25- Swagbucks Visa Card
$22.21- Credit Card Rewards
$10.95- TopCashBack
$10- Dabbl
$5- Credit Card Rebate
$3.15- Misc Tasks
$2 Amazon GC- MCR
$0.02 – Found on the ground
Total earned this week: $109.68
Fund Total from last post: $1319.34
Current Fund Total: $1429.02
Only $3570.98 to go!
Couponing to Somewhere– Week 13: Why Are Flights So Expensive?