Post Your Wins

[annibe11e]

Good credit!!

Do you ever look back and realize how far you've come? I just had one of those moments and it was amazing!

We still have a long way to go, but...

My credit card is paid off, so now I use it strategically. For instance, I just used it for all the expenses involved in my son's trip to visit his dad for the summer. That way, instead of identifying all the separate expenses in our checking account, it's just one credit card payment that I can categorize.

Anywho, I logged onto my CC site and was making the payment and realized it's not even due until 7/20. There was a time I was struggling to make the $20 minimum payment on time!

This lovely moment compelled me to head over to CreditKarma, which I hadn't checked in awhile. Both of my (estimated) credit scores are over 700 for the first time in my life!

[msomnipotent]

This isn't a financial win, but I'm so happy. We had one of those books that records your voice while you read the story. My daughter recorded one for me all by herself when she was 5 years old (she is 12 now). We would pull it out periodically to listen to it because it was just so cute. I checked on it before the garage sale and not only had the batteries leaked, but the voice disappeared. I was heartbroken. My husband cleaned it up and told me to sell it at the garage sale, but I just couldn't. I've been staring at it for days now trying to will it back into working condition. Yesterday, for no reason at all, it decides to start working and her recording is still there.

[disneysteve]

My daughter got mail from her college yesterday. She opened it to find a $3,000 check! Of course, there was absolutely no information or explanation at all so she had no idea why they were sending her $3,000 (great system). She called the bursar's office and they told her that she had been granted a scholarship for last semester. Why it came in so late we don't know. Why they didn't just apply it to her account as a credit we also don't know.

We're assuming this is the same scholarship that she got last year, also out of the blue and with no explanation until well after the fact. There is an English department scholarship that according to the website requires an application process. She never applied but it just showed up on her account one day.

Bottom line is that we just got $3,000 knocked off her bill for the coming year so no matter how it happened, we're certainly happy about that.

[Gailete]

Well that is great news!

[Thrif-t]

Congrats Steve! That happened to my DD and I then called the school and put a hold on her account so any credit would stay in it instead of being refunded to me so it could be applied to her next tuition bill. I just figured that's easier and I don't have to worry about any tax consequences.

[Gailete]

Couple of small wins today. Got what seems like a mammoth doctor bill, $208, and when looking at it, I realized two of the items on the bill were from last year. One of them May 2016! Now I know I had paid all of their bills that they had sent me and so I went into my excel sheet for personal expenses and sure enough, there was the check for $52. So, I called their office and talked with the lady and she agreed that it was an error - $52 saved. Since it wasn’t anything current, neither of us would never have probably noticed and I would have been out that money completely.
Then noted I had a CVS panel survey in my e/mailbox got done with it in probably less than 5 minutes and got $10. Thank you so much to the person that clued me into this. I have the hardest time trying to remember which thread I saw things on!
Got a book I had wanted on Amazon, using Prime so no shipping (and yes, I use my Prime account to make it worthwhile and my son is included so his Amazon purchases ship free as well), and Amazon reward points so it cost me $10 ��

[FLA]

I had a crappy long term disability policy at my old job. My doctors had to fight like hell to keep me on it, it was constant having to go to the doctors to prove my illness. At the 2 year mark, they told me most people lose it so I should not count on receiving the measly $170 a month anymore. My doctors wrote great notes for why I would be kept on it long term. To my absolute shock, I got it! and because DD comes off of SSDI child support that my ex gets, my money from the LTD policy goes up to $1100 a month. And they only need to hear from my doctors yearly now. I am thrilled. I am going to save every penny of that money if at all humanly possible.

[Gailete]

Got another CVS survey today for $10 bonus bucks. That is two so far this week. I get a lot more things at CVS than meds so this will certainly help.

[msomnipotent]

I sold something on bookoo for $25 yesterday. I also was paid a bit over $1800 from State Farm to get our car fixed. The guy doing the bodywork said he will try to keep the work as close to his $1700 estimate so I can keep the extra money. The last time he fixed our car he managed to come in under his estimate, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[FLA]

Got another CVS survey today for $10 bonus bucks. That is two so far this week. I get a lot more things at CVS than meds so this will certainly help.

how do you get these surveys?

[~bs]

Got another CVS survey today for $10 bonus bucks. That is two so far this week. I get a lot more things at CVS than meds so this will certainly help.

haha nice, glad those surveys are working out for you! Think I got $17 this month.

I like rolling through the checkout with sale items that I might not need immediately, but will eventually need, and paying almost nothing for them.

[Gailete]

https://cvs.opinioninsight.com/

if you qualify and take their survey (and you should if you use mobile devices to order/pickup/make appointments or anything really normally done in the 21st century) they usually give you $5 or $10 in cvs bucks, no strings attached..

FLA - Here is the url BS sent me about the CVS thing.

And thank you so much BS for the help! $20 in bonus bucks already

[Gailete]

haha nice, glad those surveys are working out for you! Think I got $17 this month.

I like rolling through the checkout with sale items that I might not need immediately, but will eventually need, and paying almost nothing for them.

And I like doing that as well, plus getting my not so secret passion, Hersheys mild chocolate with almonds nuggets or Peanut M&Ms for free. I don't feel so guilty that way. I don't think I have bought hubbies coffee anywhere else than CVS in years, plus his cereal, granola bars, canned soup, vitamins, and the list goes one. The more bonus bucks the better and the less I have to spend in cold cash.

[Gailete]

My son surprised me today and asked if I wanted to go shopping, which I almost always say yes to. I told him one of the places I wanted to go to was CVS. Got the cart filled stuff including a BOGO detergent (the only kind that doesn't give me hives), Checked out and between my bonus bucks that I had earned in prior post, a $6 bonus buck from spring savings, 4 $1 manufacturers coupons, I owed $.74! I saved $53.55! Happy Dance! Since everything I bought was on sale, I couldn't redeem my save $5 off of $25 CVS coupon.

[disneysteve]

I posted this in the "warehouse club" thread, but we made our 2nd visit to BJ's today. I didn't calculate our total savings but just on 3 items we bought, we saved over $21, and we bought numerous other items, too. I just didn't sit down and add it all up. It only cost us $25 to join and we earned that back on our 1st visit so we're definitely ahead now.

We are also sponsoring a dessert reception at our synagogue in a couple of weeks. Typically, the office orders everything and the sponsor just pays but that runs $200. We are doing it ourselves with items from BJ's and we figured out today it will cost us right around $100, saving us another $100.