LIFE

Gift cards among Bargain Advocate's frugal wins

Abbey Roy

For a number of weeks leading up to June 21, Little Roy made it a point to tell me almost every night and at various intervals throughout almost every day that she wanted to get Daddy a video game for Father's Day that they could play together.

This is a treasured pastime for the two of them that happens quite rarely when the Bargain Advocate is grocery shopping (on the prowl for deals, of course), at a baby shower or holed up in a dark room writing her weekly column.

I couldn't say for sure, but my impression is that it involves Daddy playing the "main character" (Lego Ironman, for example) while Little Roy holds a controller and plays a secondary character who sort of jumps around aimlessly, runs into walls and follows the main character in his or her quest to save the universe.

I'm sure Little Roy is better at it than I would be, but I have too much pride to try.

Because her little heart was obviously set on this purchase, I decided to humor Little Roy and look around for a video game she and Daddy might be able to play. I didn't have much luck, because my idea of a good video game is Super Mario on a clunky gray Game Boy.

So I told Little Roy to draw a picture of herself playing a video game with Daddy, and she did.

Because I am cheap, but not THAT cheap, the implication of the picture was that Daddy was to pick out a video game using his solid gamer judgment. Which he did — but not without first scoring a frugal #win by purchasing a Best Buy gift card during the final day of a 4x fuel program promotion at Kroger, which allowed us to quadruple our bonus fuel points from a gift card purchase.

And I think you know what's coming next: the Bargain Advocate's frugal #wins and #fails roundup for the month of June.

While we were at Kroger, we also purchased a gift card for Lowe's, the next stop on our to-do list, where we needed several bags of mulch. We even got one bag discounted because it was opened. Another frugal #win!

The lesson here, of course, is that if you know you'll be shopping or dining at a certain place, purchase gift cards beforehand (especially during special promotions!) and reap the fuel rewards. It's basically free money.

Frugal #win: Buying multiple toothbrushes and bandages at Dollar Tree. I know I've sung the praises of the Dollar Tree before, but in case you weren't aware, everything there is a dollar. Everything. I noticed ours even has a frozen foods section with name-brand frozen veggies and committed that to memory. However …

Frugal #fail: Taking two small children to Dollar Tree with me. In addition to toothbrushes, which were the only item on the list, we also ended up with a magic bubble wand, Dora bubble bath, Barbie hair detangler, some dry erase markers and at least one Disney activity booklet.

Remarkably, our total still ended up being less than $20. So I guess if you're going to impulse buy, the Dollar Tree is a good place to shop.

Frugal #win: Eating from the backyard. Our lettuce and green beans are officially producing enough to provide us with side dishes, and the tomatoes are looking promising. Even if you have only a tiny bit of space in your yard, planting a few lettuce seeds can save you a store run ("But we can't have tacos without lettuce!") and some cash.

Frugal #win: Saving a few sunflowers. A reader pointed out to me this past week that by eliminating the sunflowers that grew from seed that fell from our bird feeder, I was missing a chance to bring beautiful blooms into the house (or share with someone else) and also the opportunity to enjoy the "delightful display of bird antics for several days as the flowers fade and the seeds ripen."

I was thankful after reading her note that I'd decided to save a few of our sunflower plants, which now have surpassed Littlest Roy in height. Little Roy happens to be very proud of a few she transplanted to the garden, and we're all looking forward to seeing the blooms and bird antics to come.

Frugal #fail: Brand loyalty. One of the tenets of frugaldom is that you need to be flexible and willing to change brands according to which is most cost-effective. But I'm willing to bet that whomever dreamed up those tenets, engrained in the hearts of money-savers everywhere, probably hadn't tasted Olive Garden salad dressing or made a pizza with Mid's tomato sauce.

I like to think my newly developed affinity for Olive Garden dressing is actually a frugal #win because instead of going to an Olive Garden and eating the endless salad bowl and breadsticks (sorry, am I drooling?) I make my own salad — with lettuce from my garden — that only requires a couple tablespoons of expensive dressing.

Of course that's not really logical because I couldn't tell you the last time I ate at an Olive Garden, but sometimes a gal just has to rationalize.

And Mid's is made in Ohio, so I'm just eating local, and my homemade pizza is that much better for it.

There.

Overall I'm considering the month of June a frugal #win, though I'm committing to fly solo during future Dollar Tree trips. Here's to hoping you can learn from my mistakes.

If you have frugal #wins or #fails to share, insight about a frugal living topic or an idea for a future column, please email me at amroy@nncogannett.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Happy saving,

Abbey