Post Your Wins

[disneysteve]

DW's iron died. Being a sewer and quilter, she uses her iron a lot and it's important to have a good quality one. She did her research online but didn't really want to pick one without seeing it in person. That' difficult because most stores don't stock the good ones, just the run of the mill models, but she found that Target had one of the ones she was considering in stock. We took a ride over there and checked it out. She liked it but they were charging $69.99. I looked on Amazon and it was $59.00. Then she checked Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It was $59.99 but she could use a 20% off coupon making it $47.99. They don't carry it in-store so we came home and she ordered it. She has to wait a few days to get it which is a pain but to save $22 over Target's price and $11 over Amazon's it's worth it.

[bjl584]

It seems that a lot of brick and mortar retailers are wising up to the "Amazon Effect" and taking steps to counteract it. I'm running into situations more and more where you can find things cheaper than on Amazon with use of coupons and promotions from the more traditional retailers.

[disneysteve]

It seems that a lot of brick and mortar retailers are wising up to the "Amazon Effect" and taking steps to counteract it. I'm running into situations more and more where you can find things cheaper than on Amazon with use of coupons and promotions from the more traditional retailers.

It happens some, especially if you can find a good sale or coupon, but Amazon still wins the vast majority of the time. Amazon also has the benefit of 1 or 2-day shipping. We almost went with the higher price just because of that as she's really not happy about having no iron for a week until it comes from Bed, Bath, and Beyond when she could have had it today from Amazon. She's in the middle of making a bunch of items that someone ordered for the holidays plus a baby quilt for a friend of ours who is due in February so being out of commission for a week is a pain. The biggest issue we run into anymore is that stores just aren't stocking much variety. They have many other options on their websites but if you want to actually see the item before you buy it, that's harder and harder to do. I suspect Amazon has something to do with that as so many people only use the physical stores as de facto Amazon showrooms today, checking the item out in person and then buying it on Amazon where the price is lower. I know we've done that many times ourselves.

[disneysteve]

The iron deal turned out even better. When she placed the order, it said delivery 11/15-11/18. When she actually got the confirmation it said 11/22. We left to go to the gym this morning and there was a package on the front step - the iron. It somehow showed up in under 24 hours.

[Gailete]

While not huge, I got a $1/month bump in my SS for life. I even got $9 as they didn't make the change until October when it should have been in effect in January. Why a bump? I think I have mentioned before that I do product reviews for Amazon as part of the Vine program. For years we got stuff and didn't have to worry about it financially and then a couple of years ago they started sending 1099 Misc. for the estimated taxable value of the goods we got. Much of 2018 we were prepping for my grandbaby and got some really nice things like strollers and car seats, diapers, clothes, etc. My estimated tax value went over a certain amount I guess and as it gets counted as income on my 1040, SS pays out. This year I should bump up another $1-2/month again, and of course, each year that we get a COLA it might be enough to bump me over a certain amount. In trying to understand what happens (the letter explaining the money came about three weeks after I got the money, I read something that I had never realized before. While on our taxes they round up anything over 50 centas and round down anything less than 50 cents. My state does the same thing. SS, however, rounds DOWN everything from 99 cents down! Maybe some of those $1 will be enough to have totals hitting the next higher dollar. Anyhow it is a win for me.

[Singuy]

Won 4 Sea World Tickets and Fun Spot Tickets back to back off the radio.

[Thrif-t]

Won 4 Sea World Tickets and Fun Spot Tickets back to back off the radio.

That's a great win, congrats!

[scfr]

Small Win: Got a free turkey at the grocery store.

Big Win: 3 bank bonuses paid off in the past month.

[porkpistol]

I have been wanting to come in here and post this since it happened. I haven't ran into too many wins this year until 2 weeks ago. My company did a market evaluation on my position and effective 2 weeks ago my salary increased exactly $15,000 per year. This was not a merit based raise or anything of the sort. Simply the company I work for wanting to stay competitive in the market for my position and to make an effort to retain the talent they already have in house. I'll be up for an annual merit based raise again in April.

[james.hendrickson]

I have been wanting to come in here and post this since it happened. I haven't ran into too many wins this year until 2 weeks ago. My company did a market evaluation on my position and effective 2 weeks ago my salary increased exactly $15,000 per year. This was not a merit based raise or anything of the sort. Simply the company I work for wanting to stay competitive in the market for my position and to make an effort to retain the talent they already have in house. I'll be up for an annual merit based raise again in April.

Great job Pork. Huge win.

[bjl584]

I did a side job hanging some kitchen cabinets last weekend for someone and made $300 cash

[porkpistol]

Great job Pork. Huge win.

Thanks! It's such a big win right now for my family. Trying to pay off some last remaining debt will be accomplished much quicker now.

[corn18]

Just calculated my taxes for 2019 with updated actuals and found a big error in my previous estimate. I was double counting a bonus. Turns out I will owe $30k less in taxes than I thought. Immediately transferred that over to my retirement accounts. Yeah!

[disneysteve]

Just calculated my taxes for 2019 with updated actuals and found a big error in my previous estimate. I was double counting a bonus. Turns out I will owe $30k less in taxes than I thought. Immediately transferred that over to my retirement accounts. Yeah!

[disneysteve]

Our auto insurance policy premium is due. safari mentioned in another thread that Chase Freedom Visa has 5% cashback on PayPal purchases this quarter. I was able to use our Chase Freedom card to make the $1,254 payment through PayPal which means I'll get $62.70 back.