Brian-Foley.net

We’ve been slowly working at decorating our new home, after our bedroom set came we decided to get a nice new comforter and a duvet cover. Well, I just have to say, comforters are UNBELIEVABLY EXPENSIVE ! We went to Bed Bath & Beyond as they had a good seelction and decent prices. The prices are even better with the 20% off coupon that they often mail out. Unfortunately we didn’t have any coupons (nor did we have Linens & Things, those coupons are interchangeable with both stores BTW)…Well, wouldn’t you know it, there are TONS of people selling the coupons on ebay! I picked up a coupon for around $1 that saved me a bunch on the duvet cover, and while I was on ebay I found a great deal on a brand new comforter.

When we moved in to our house we had to buy a bunch of appliances. I got them all at Lowes for a very reasonable price. I tried to also get a 10% discount, but they wouldn’t do it, but the sales person did tell me that I could get a coupon when I moved for 10%. He said I could bring it in later and have it applied to my purchase. I never received the coupon from Lowes, however I went to ebay and found one there for a few bucks. The other day I went to lowes and they refunded the 10%, saving me about $600! If you have any big projects that you’ll be needing to get supplies from Home Depot or Lowes, consider getting the coupon. They will make a difference!

Welcome back!

I’ve been so busy since we moved into the new house. It’s a lot of work setting things up and unpacking everything. Most of my possessions have been in storage for so long, I forgot how much crap I really own! It’s starting to come together now. I finished hanging the light fixtures and ceiling fans we purchased awhile back. We bought some curtains from JCPenney’s the other day that should be in soon. Tomorrow we get to take the foil off the bedroom windows when the shutters get installed. Oh, and about 3-4 weeks we should have our new bedroom set delivered! We found something we liked at a local furniture dealer when we out on Sunday. I originally wasn’t going to purchase it until I paid off some other debts, but they had a new promotion where there is no interest if paid off by January 2008, and the first 12 months there are no payments, as long as I never miss a payment. Knowing how anal I am at paying off accounts like this I decided to take advantage of the offer. Besides, we got them to come way down on the set, and throw in a couple Tempurpedic pillows (to go with the mattress!).

Sunday Lowes came back and delivered our new (convection) oven. Speaking of Lowes, I found this link that will get me an additional 10% off my appliance purchase. The sales person told me this would come from the USPS with the MoversGuide, but he was confused, that was The Home Depot that has a 10% off coupon in the MoverGuide. Anyways, he said I could bring the coupon into the store to be credited the money back to my Lowes account. Not a bad deal, I bought the appliances at the best prices around and, with the rebates and coupon I saved almost another $900!

I’ve learned something valuable recently…It never hurts to ask for something. As I’ve been going over our budget lately, seeing where we need to watch our spending. It makes me sick to see how much we spend on cable TV, where Brighthouse bundles everything together and charges a small monthly fortune. So I decided to call them up and ask them if they could do anything to help me out and lower this obscene bill. The CSR put me on hold for a fwe minutes and when he returned, to my surprise, he says “Ok sir, I have given you a special promotional rate for about 8 months that will lower your bill by a little over $10″. He also said when it runs out, jsut call back and they might have some other promotion to offer. It’s not much, but it all adds up over time.

Next on my list was the $20 monthly fee my bank was charging for my checking accounts. After calling up the bank, they quickly offered to change my account which no longer offers the interest on my checking account, which is fine. That interest was a measly 0.10% anyway. Which brings me to my savings accounts at INGDirect. We actually have two accounts there, one Mandie setup for our wedding expenses, and I have one to save for big annual expenses, like auto insurance. Today INGDirect raised the rate from 2.60% to 2.80%! We’re actually getting a higher rate than that as we took advantage of a $50 signup bonus (If you want that bonus, drop me an email and I’ll tell you how to get it).

Last week I received a call from a company representing Brighthouse Networks. They invited me to come to their office and discuss my thoughts on their Digital Phone service that we’ve been using for the past several months. In return they will pay me $65 cash for about an hour and a half of my time. Cool, I’ll probably put that in one of the savings accounts…