Post Your Wins

[james.hendrickson]

I was able to buy four silver grams with a couple of Amazon giftcards I got from playing the SoFi rewards game.

The sliver isn't much, but I was able to convert the gift cards to a potentially appreciating asset. That's a win. I enjoy collecting precious metals and hope to pass my collection on to my children.

[disneysteve]

I am now in Florida starting the task of cleaning out my cousin's house and settling his affairs.

So far, I've found $146 cash and couple of bucks in change. I also found another restaurant gift card worth $125. I need to ask one of his friends if I'm able to use those as I now have $316 worth.

[Fishindude77]

Took possession of a new pickup truck this week which had been ordered for about six weeks. I typically install a fiberglass topper on all of my trucks to keep things secure and dry in my travels. Have gotten used to them and don't want to do without. Went to the outfit where I've bought the last two toppers and they wanted $3,000 for a basic cab high, paint matched fiberglass topper and were looking at 12 weeks delivery. That just didn't feel right, so I talked to a friend who had recently purchased one. Went to his supplier and ordered an "or equal" unit for $1,800 and will get delivery in 5 weeks.

Big savings and much faster delivery, that's a win in my book.

[disneysteve]

I also found another restaurant gift card worth $125. I need to ask one of his friends if I'm able to use those as I now have $316 worth.

I checked today and I can use those cards. I'm heading there for dinner tonight.

In the course of cleaning today, I found something that I knew about but had forgotten. My cousin had a 5-gallon water bottle where he tossed his spare change. It's only about an inch deep but should still be a reasonable amount of money. There are no pennies in there, just nickels up to dollar coins. There's also a Mason jar full of pennies on his dresser. I'll take them to a local Coinstar exchange them for Amazon credit so there won't be any service charge.

[james.hendrickson]

I checked today and I can use those cards. I'm heading there for dinner tonight.

In the course of cleaning today, I found something that I knew about but had forgotten. My cousin had a 5-gallon water bottle where he tossed his spare change. It's only about an inch deep but should still be a reasonable amount of money. There are no pennies in there, just nickels up to dollar coins. There's also a Mason jar full of pennies on his dresser. I'll take them to a local Coinstar exchange them for Amazon credit so there won't be any service charge.

Solid win.

[disneysteve]

Another somewhat sad win, but that's going to be my norm for the next few weeks as I deal with my cousin's affairs.

There were numerous grocery items in the pantry that I know had been purchased shortly before his death. I'm actually the one who bought most of them when I was here last month. I figured it was worth a shot to try returning them to Publix. I loaded up 3 bags of stuff and went over there. I explained the situation to the customer service person and he said they would definitely take returns and issue a store credit. The total for the items came to $22. It's better than nothing and I already partially used it to buy some supplies I needed.

[disneysteve]

My cousin had a 5-gallon water bottle where he tossed his spare change. It's only about an inch deep but should still be a reasonable amount of money. There are no pennies in there, just nickels up to dollar coins. There's also a Mason jar full of pennies on his dresser. I'll take them to a local Coinstar exchange them for Amazon credit so there won't be any service charge.

I dumped out the coins this morning. I removed $45 in Eisenhower dollars as Coinstar doesn't accept those. I'll have to take those to the bank. I then put just over 1/2 the pile into a container and brought it to Coinstar. It came to $193.55 which I took as an Amazon credit. I'm guessing the remaining coins will be about $180 plus the jar full of pennies. I'll get that over there sometime in the next few days. I'll post the total when I have it.

[jenn_jenn]

Another somewhat sad win, but that's going to be my norm for the next few weeks as I deal with my cousin's affairs.

There were numerous grocery items in the pantry that I know had been purchased shortly before his death. I'm actually the one who bought most of them when I was here last month. I figured it was worth a shot to try returning them to Publix. I loaded up 3 bags of stuff and went over there. I explained the situation to the customer service person and he said they would definitely take returns and issue a store credit. The total for the items came to $22. It's better than nothing and I already partially used it to buy some supplies I needed.

Just FYI, most grocery stores can’t re-sell returned items. Especially because of the pandemic. Food banks always need extra food if you’re in the same position again.

[james.hendrickson]

Just FYI, most grocery stores can’t re-sell returned items. Especially because of the pandemic. Food banks always need extra food if you’re in the same position again.

Doesn't costco have a pretty good returns policy?

[jenn_jenn]

Doesn't costco have a pretty good returns policy?

Costco has a great return policy.

[disneysteve]

Coinstar. It came to $193.55 which I took as an Amazon credit.

I took the rest of the coins over today. Came to $135.52 for a grand total of $374.07 (counting the dollar coins).

Interesting tidbit about Coinstar machines. The ones in Walmart do not offer Amazon gift cards. I suppose that makes sense given that Amazon is Walmart's main competitor.

[scfr]

Several wins today:

DH did a price match on a pair of shoes and got a $30 credit.

We visited Grocery Outlet for the first time. We spent a total of $39 for 2 households on items that were half of what they would have cost at Walmart. We didn't actually save that much because although many items were things we regularly buy, it included some splurge items that I wouldn't have purchased at full price. But it's nice to have some things like cauliflower fries in the freezer instead of the usual generic frozen peas, etc. Prices there were hit or miss, some good deals and some prices at or near what competitors charge (we passed on the latter). Worth a trip if you know your prices. It's a place I'll plan to visit once every few months.

Bought 300 KN95 masks (very high efficiency per NPPTL - knock wood) for $100. They will go with DH who will be flying in to a Level 4 Advisory country soon. Some will be for his personal use; most will be gifted to friends/family/customers. This is the best win today IMO.

And then there's this: We bought a little piece of land not quite 3 months ago - having a house built on it. Today I looked on Redfin for the first time in ages (I stopped looking once we had decided what direction we were heading.) Based on what we'll wind up paying vs what we could buy for the same price right now as a pre-existing home I'm 100% convinced we made the right decision. And although I'm not going to claim this last bit as a win because I don't expect it to last, according to Redfin the lot we purchased 12 weeks ago has increased 21% in value. haha

[disneysteve]

Part of the estate I have to deal with is two cars. Someone in the neighborhood said he has a friend who might want one of them. He came by to take some photos. While there, he noticed a mini bike and I said it was for sale. He said someone who works for him might want it, and sure enough the guy called me later and said he would like it. Supposed to come tomorrow or Tuesday to get it.

Later in the day, the original guy called again and asked about the tool boxes. Apparently his son just bought his first house and can use them. He came back and ended up buying the tool boxes and tools. I probably could have gotten more for them but I'm not trying to milk every penny out of everything and tools are notoriously hard to sell so I wasn't going to turn away cash in hand.

Hopefully the mini bike sale will go through.

Oh, and last night someone messaged me about an item I have listed on Facebook Marketplace back at home. He came by today and picked it up (my wife put it out for him).

[disneysteve]

Part of the estate I have to deal with is two cars. Someone in the neighborhood said he has a friend who might want one of them. He came by to take some photos. While there, he noticed a mini bike and I said it was for sale. He said someone who works for him might want it, and sure enough the guy called me later and said he would like it. Supposed to come tomorrow or Tuesday to get it.

Hopefully the mini bike sale will go through.

The guy just left with the bike so that's one more thing out and $150 in my pocket.

Now to sell the Corvette. That will be the biggest accomplishment other than selling the house.

[disneysteve]

As I continue to clean out my cousin's house, I'm finding things here and there. Today I found that he had $266 in cash back built up on one of his credit cards.