Frugal Mommie Friday’s

I will pick up where we left off on last Friday and give you all an update on the status of the two major purchases. I did purchase the computer this week, but decided to delay the freezer purchase. After the budget talk on Sunday with hubby, we realized that we needed to delay the purchase of either the computer or the freezer. After much thought the decision was made to delay the freezer purchase. With the help of our wonderful neighbor and friend, my husband and I decided to purchase an E-Machine computer bundle online at a great price.

There was just one missing piece to the puzzle; the bundle came with everything except a monitor. So we did a little more research and found a monitor on the same website for $99.99. Unfortunately, this would push us over our $300 budget for a computer, so yet another decision had to be made. After much thought we came to the realization that if we could somehow avoid paying shipping on the monitor purchase, we could squeeze the complete package into the budget. Well, the website that we were purchasing the computer bundle from offered free shipping on orders of $100 or more and less than 25 pounds. There was just one problem; adding the monitor to the bundle would bring us over the 25 pound weight limit and purchasing the monitor separate would keep us under the $100 minimum purchase amount!

So what’s a girl to do? How about me and my bright ideas led to a frantic search on the website for an item under $10 to add to the monitor purchase in an attempt to avoid shipping costs. Well, there I sat at my computer with the bundle purchase in one window on the computer and an item for $7.99 that I found on the website in another window. I hit the “Complete Purchase” button in the bundle window and low and behold after checkout my order summary included the item that cost $7.99! How did this happen? How can I make it go away? This was supposed to go along with the monitor purchase so that I could avoid paying S & H and now it was in with the bundle order! What a blunder on my behalf!

I immediately called the company to have this item removed. While on the phone with the representative I was told that because these items shipped from a different location it may not be removed from the order before shipping out. He said we would just have to wait and see. Of course, when UPS rang my bell yesterday they had two boxes instead one and to make a long story short I may have to come out of pocket to ship it back!

The moral of this Frugal Mommie story is… Bargain hunting is great, but please know when to draw the line in the sand! I’m thinking about just looking on Craigslist for a computer monitor instead. Due to budgetary constraints the monitor purchase is postponed until further notice. Side note to purchasing items on Craigslist: ALWAYS HAGGLE. I normally shave 10-50 percent off of the original price after speaking to the seller. I will discuss haggling in further detail in a future posting. Just remember to always plan ahead when it comes to spending your money. “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5).

Until our next appointed meeting time. Stay tuned for more words of encouragement and inspiration for M.O.M.’s near and far! Please share this blog with as many people as you know (www.savedmom.com), we have so many lives to touch. I would LOVE for you to post a comment and/or subscribe (if you are reading this from your inbox visit the site address referenced above to post a comment). If you would like to submit prayer requests send them to info@savedmom.com. Thanks for your continued support!

Mommie Blessings,

Saved M.O.M.