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Big Spender

January 9, 2012 By Dana White | 17 Comments

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I had one hundred dollars to spend.

Do you know how much stuff this deal-lovin’ mama can get for one hundred dollars?

After Christmas, I had a one hundred dollar department store gift card burning a hole in my purse.  My mind started to buzz with ideas of what I could do with that money.

In the past, I’ve been known to hit the sales with a gift card in hand, passing up things I’d been wanting forever (but couldn’t afford) in favor of filling up my basket with lots of clearance stuff that I didn’t know I needed.

That was my definition of getting the most for my money.

The way I did things in the past hasn’t really work out very well for me.

This time, I was determined to be purposeful.  Deliberate.  Wise.

As I walked to the microwave to heat up my just-brewed coffee . . . it hit me.  I needed a new coffee maker.

We have coffee-maker issues.  We break carafes.  Glass coffee pots are not safe in our home.  And our most recent carafe-less coffee-maker isn’t working well anymore.  We were in desperate need of a new coffee-maker, but I hadn’t bought one because I wanted one with a stainless steel (unbreakable) pot.

But those are more expensive.

Like . . . almost one hundred dollars.

Hubby was concerned.  He knows how I love to milk any giftcard for as much as I can.  Coffee-pots do exist in the 30-40 dollar range . . .

And then I could hit the clearance racks too!

But coffee-pots in that lower price range are destined to be shattered in our home.  And even if we’re lucky enough to find a replacement carafe that actually fits . . . they’re around 12 dollars apiece!  Those numbers multiplied by the 3-times-a-year that we (on average) break a glass coffee pot . . . mean that the expensive unbreakable one is actually a good deal!

So I bought it.  I used up all but a few dollars of my gift card, and even though my trip back to the front door of the store was filled with longing clearance-rack glances, I’m happy.

I didn’t really need more stuff.

I needed an unbreakable coffee pot.

 

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Filed Under: progress | 17 Comments

Comments

  1. Molly W. says

    January 9, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    Good for you! I’m a huge sucker for a sale and have been known to buy “weird” things just because they were a steal so I can relate.

    Reply
  2. Rebekah from Simply Rebekah says

    January 9, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Sometimes when I read your blog I get confused. Did I write this???? Oh no. It is just Nony being all creepy in my head again.

    Reply
  3. Taycia says

    January 9, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    i got my Black and Decker coffee maker at a community yard sale! Love it. It isnt stainless, but rather the plastic outside/stainless inside unbreakable caraffe. Keeps mah coffee hot for 4 hours (and i drink it by the gallon anyways) without burning it. You will not regret this purchase 🙂

    Reply
  4. Heather G. says

    January 9, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    So glad you went for something that would last and be useful for you guys regardless of cost!

    As an aside, I will now have “the minute he walked in the joint…. I could tell he was a man of distinction, a real big spender….” going through my head the rest of the day.

    Reply
  5. Dakotapam says

    January 9, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    I don’t break carafes, but I wear out coffee makers. Coffee is my favorite food group!

    Reply
  6. Stephanie says

    January 9, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    We have caraffe-less coffee maker and it makes life soooooo much easier! It just holds the coffee in there until we put a cup against it. Glad you found something you love that will not clutter up your home 😉 I love clearance though haha

    Reply
  7. Pagan O. says

    January 9, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    Awesome! I’m much the same when it comes to spending gift cards. I received one for lane bryant this christmas and immediately thought of a few cute tops I could get. Then, to make it worse, they were recently having a 60% off everything sale. That’s 3-4 tops possibly I could have gotten instead of just 2! Then my brain kicked in and reminded me I was down to my last bra, and it was hanging on by a thread (haha). Suffice to say, I got 4 bras instead of some cute new tops I may or may not have worn ever. Doesn’t it feel great to actually do something-useful- with a gift!? 🙂

    Reply
  8. Elizabeth K. says

    January 9, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    Wow. We had to do a similar thing with a kohl’s giftcard because we needed a new vacuum. It was VERY hard for me to walk by the clearance racks too. I felt only a little sad, though, and that sadness went away before we even got out to the car. My husband thought I was a little crazy, so I’m glad to know I’m not alone.

    Reply
  9. Jennifer says

    January 9, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Way to go! It is so hard for me to resist the allure of super marked down , yet unnecessary items, to splurge on quality over quantity. $100 is a lot of money, but sometimes it can be a good idea to spend it all in one place.

    Reply
  10. dawn says

    January 9, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    way to go nony!

    Reply
  11. Livin In Duckville says

    January 9, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    Good for you!! I have $150 sitting here (birthday money). One thing I know I want is tan pants & a red long sleeve shirt. I also want spice containers, but I haven’t found exactly what I want. I figured I’d spend it on something that I DO want instead of, like you said ‘clearance’ stuff I didn’t know I wanted until I saw it….

    Reply
  12. Lynn @ Scrapity Anne says

    January 9, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    Ahh Nony……you read minds, don’t you? This is SO ME! I always go for quantity, I want everything I can. It’s no wonder that my home is so cluttered! I seriously need to focus on de-cluttering this year and making my home more peaceful for everyone. Thanks for the post, and way to go on your coffee pot! My BFF bought me a Keurig for Xmas so I’m all set too.

    Reply
  13. Dawn says

    January 10, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Great job, Nony! I have been guilty of this, too, and completely understand the need to feel you got the best bargain for your buck. I remember when I was in high school I wanted nothing more than a pair of GUESS jeans – they were the ‘It’ brand back then but my mom said “no way”, there was no way she was spending that much money on a pair of jeans. However, my mom loved to shop and couldn’t pass up the clearance racks. Usually, at least once a week, she would come home with several items for me that she had picked up clearance; ugly, out of style, poor quality things that I would maybe wear once – at the most. At one point, I added up all the “deals” hanging in my closet (with the tags still on them) and was crushed when I realized I could’ve owned at least 2 pairs of jeans for what had been spent on all the good bargains that I would never wear. No, clothes are not everything but for a girl that was bullied/teased all through school because of the way she looked and what she wore this was devastating. And it also took me until I was almost 40 to accept that I was “worth” something that didn’t come off a clearance rack.

    Having said that, I am frugal and love a good sale but I have learned that you usually get what you pay for. And that often if we forgo the 20 so-so things (that will just clutter up our homes ) we can afford to get something really nice … and that is the better deal by far.

    Reply
  14. Milehimama says

    January 10, 2012 at 10:15 am

    I had the same problem! Actually, I was tired of the big automatic coffee makers breaking down. It seemed like I had to buy one once a year! Also, it took up too much room on my countertop. My countertops are rarely clear.

    So I got a coffee press. And broke the glass carafe- twice. So then I bought a stainless steel stovetop percolator
    http://bit.ly/zvL8qY It’s $36 at Amazon.

    It actually makes better coffee, IMO. So you let it boil until it’s as strong as you like (I boil it for like a minute, I don’t like put-hair-on-your-chest-coffee) and then I put it in a Thermos so it will stay hot.

    Reply
    • Nony says

      January 10, 2012 at 2:03 pm

      I . . . . am totally a hair-on-your-chest coffee girl! I didn’t even drink it until I got married and now have to have hubby’s strong stuff!

      I do know that we used a campfire coffee pot last Thanksgiving and everyone said it was the best coffee they’d ever tasted. Hmmmm.

      Reply
  15. Cherish says

    January 16, 2012 at 8:57 am

    Major progress!!! Good choice.

    Reply
  16. Jacqi says

    June 4, 2016 at 1:38 am

    This is years later, but yay for you! I wonder if you still have it.

    Reply

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