Last time we talked about the power of just asking for a lower price when you are purchasing something. You’ll be surprised how often the other party will agree to that price, and you will save money in the process. I have had great luck with this strategy from saving $12 on the canning jars I recently bought to not having to pay any utilities at our current apartment for the duration of our two year lease.
However, there is another important step to the just ask philosophy.
Before you spend any money, ask others if they have what you are in search of. Before I hit the mother load of canning supplies, I went to a garage sale, specifically looking for canning jars, but there weren’t any there. I asked the person having the garage sale if she knew of anyone selling canning jars, and she ran down to her basement and returned with 12 new quart jars and offered them to me for $1. (I paid $3 because I felt bad taking brand new jars for that ridiculous price.)
Likewise, before my son’s First Communion, we looked for a suit for him. However, because we were out shopping the weekend before the event, all the boy’s suits in size 8 and 10 were gone at the three stores we stopped. I happened to ask another mom if her son was going to wear a suit, and she said yes but then offered me her son’s outgrown suit for my son to wear. We had planned to spend up to $60 for a new suit for my son, but instead we borrowed one and only had to pay the $11 dry cleaning bill.
If you are in need of something, see if those around you have what you are looking for. You may just be able to save yourself money, leaving you more money to snowflake.
Our Progress
I can’t believe I missed writing this post last week, because something momentous happened–we paid off our smallest credit card! Now, we have one credit card and 4 student loans left!
We have made great progress snowflaking over the last two weeks. Here is where we “found” the extra money:
Sold an air conditioner on Craigslist: $175
Our new apartment has a built in air conditioner, so we put our big and little air conditioners up on Craigslist and sold them both in two days when temperatures peaked in the upper 90s. Thank goodness for heat waves!
Sold a baby crib set on Craigslist: $40
I had a new in package Gap baby crib set that a grandmother who was going to be babysitting her new granddaughter daily bought.
Unexpected work: $222.50
I received a few unexpected jobs over the last two weeks which netted me the additional money
Discount in son’s tuition: $200
Before we decided to enroll our daughter in Japanese school, we paid a deposit to both Japanese school AND my son’s school (where we considered sending my daughter). Since she didn’t go to my son’s school, the school agreed to reduce his tuition by the deposit amount. (We will also get a small refund next month for this.)
Flexible spending reimbursement: $200
We have dependent care as part of our flexible spending, so we were reimbursed $200 for May.
Virtual assistant work: $128
Over the last two weeks, I have earned $128 for the virtual assistant job I have dedicated to debt repayment.
The good news is that over the last two weeks, we have “found” an additional $965.50. Last week I applied $622.42 of that to pay off our smallest credit card. That leaves us with $343.08 in “extra” money, but this week I am choosing not to snowflake anything, yet. We had a few expenses we didn’t plan on this month and my estimated quarterly taxes are coming up, so I want to make sure we have enough to cover our bills. Hopefully we will have some extra that I can apply next week.
We were able to snowflake $622.42 over the past two weeks. In the last 31 weeks since we have gotten gazelle intense, we have “found” $7,099.25 to snowflake!
How did you do this week? Feel free to link up and share your progress.
Well done hon – brilliant news on the Credit Card. All those little pots soon start to mount up don’t they.
I am a great believer in asking too – its a great way of bringing a community together that goes far beyond the “cup of sugar” principle. I have taught a group of mums how to make toddler pants from £1 rail charity shop finds.
I now have a pool of ladies ready to baby-sit when I get work. I taught one lady how to bake – she brings me surplus from her allotment.
Skills and stuff are better out circling our community than stuck in our own houses don’t you think?
I couldn’t have said it better myself. 🙂
We are having our daughter’s first birthday party next weekend and have been looking around for a tent to use in the backyard, as we want to have people outside, but that would help if it’s wet or too sunny. My wife mentioned it to a friend and she offered to lend us one for no charge. That will be a lifesaver!
That’s great for comfort at the party. Those are expensive, so you saved quite a bit!
Yay! Way to go on paying off that card!!
May was a bust for snowflakes. 🙁 Coming up, I’m saving change (although I rarely use cash, so there’s not much) and hopefully will sell a few things on Amazon and Craigslist. One of my textbooks sold yesterday!
Sounds like you are on a roll! Congrats on all of the extra money and getting that CC paid off!
Congrats on finding extra money. I am amazed at how much we have received through letting people know what we need. I often haven’t asked outright, but since we have a great community where I am we all know what each other needs and if we can, just help each other out.
This month I am doing a No Spend Just Sell Challenge. Hopefully I will sell a few things, like you have.
I love the idea of negotiating and asking for what you need. I really resonate to the idea of collaborative consumption. Don’t like to own excess stuff.