Do I NEED That?? – My Escape From Reality


As many people know: my life is full of a lot of unusual stresses, most of which are beyond my control right now. It’s nice to have something that’s a bit of an escape from reality, something to help distract me from the stresses in my life. I’m not into TV or movies – they do nothing for me. What do I find more entertaining than anything? Deal shopping! Shopping in general – eh, no thanks. But deal shopping? Now that’s a totally different game!

A few weeks ago life started out particularly stressful. I quite literally ran out of hours in my Monday. Tuesday wasn’t much better. Then Wednesday rolled around… wait, what? A price mistake? HOW MUCH?! Holy cow! Buy first – think later! It’ll never happen, but it’ll be good for a laugh.

Then Thursday came. Uh oh. Now what? This is the thinking part and that’s not as much fun. It’s still good for a laugh though! Hmm…

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Yeah, you’re looking at FIVE monitors that cost me a total of $53.99. There might even be a $20.00 rebate coming… YIKES!

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As quickly as one deal ends, another one rolls in. This one nets me $19.05 profit – essentially ~40% off the Kindle cards since the Visa card can easily be flipped back into cash. Times EIGHT cards I can do this deal with, and I’d call that WELL worth my time! Add in the $5 in store rewards for EACH transaction – that makes this deal a $192.40 money maker across the 8 cards!

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These are the kind of deals that cause people to ask “But do you NEED it…?” when I tell them about a deal I got.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Does it matter??

Who, or what, does it affect anyway?

No one.

Or…

Let me tell you who or what it might affect:

– ME! It’s a great stress release that doesn’t cost much money and often MAKES money.

– My husband. He’s an aspiring filmmaker and the discounted Amazon gift cards really help stretch his budget on equipment he needs for projects.

– The household budget – debt free except for the mortgage. Quite the change from just a few years ago!

– The folks who frequent the food pantries that I donate loss leader bargains to.

– The friend who wants to buy an item from me at a deep discount, MUCH cheaper than retail.

– The family member who wants to buy something off Amazon and gets a discounted gift card at cost.

– The family member who may need to borrow a few bucks for an unexpected purchase.

– The child we got matched up with through a local program who will now have a warm jacket, mittens, boots, clothes, and toys for Christmas.

– The friends and family that already do these types of deals, as we all share info with each other.

– The friends and family that want to learn a few new tricks, and are learning to save some of their own $$ in the process.

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So I like to deal shop and get good bargains – so what? Who DOES this affect anyway?!?

More people than anyone will ever understand…