Even better, I managed to do it all with some brand-new headphones, courtesy of that $200 Samsung accessory credit. I also earned 14,407 Amex points, which I value at $288.
Finally, I used Rakuten, a shopping portal, to score 10% back on my entire purchase.Īll in, that $2,000 phone dropped to $1,207 (including tax) after my trade-in, veteran discount, and Amex offer. I also hold the American Express Platinum card, which recently featured an Amex offer of $200 off a $1,000 Samsung order, further dropping the price. As a veteran (and student), I had access to a discount program that saved me another $100. I managed to trade in an S20 for $650 off the purchase price of the Fold, but didn't stop there. As a result, they increased the value of your trade-in while simultaneously offering a $200 credit towards Samsung accessories. However, in January, Samsung was preparing to announce the newest iteration of its flagship Galaxy line, the S21. At $2,000, it's a little rich for even my blood. Here's a recent example: I've wanted the obnoxiously expensive Samsung Fold phone for a while now but could never justify the price. What they don't realize is that, by stretching every dollar I've got to the breaking point, I'm living most of my life at a huge discount. I'm not overly glamorous or flamboyant, but to most of my acquaintances my life looks unbelievably expensive. People often ask me how I'm able to live the way I do. Featured credit cards from our partnersĬredit Score Good to Excellent My lifestyle seems lavish but I live on the cheap And he's opened his own rewards-earning credit card, though I'm still in charge of deciding which one we pull out when it comes time to pay. Nowadays, when I unwrap gifts, he makes sure to tell me what a great deal he got.
#LAVISH SOFTWARE DISCOUNT FULL#
More than once this has gotten us into an argument, when he's shrugged and paid full price for something without doing any research.īut he's learning. He looks on with bemusement as I scour coupon sites and buy gift cards to earn extra rewards points where I otherwise wouldn't. It's a vastly different outlook from my husband, who did not have the same experiences I did growing up.
I'm making sure that every penny I spend is doing double - or triple - duty. It's not completely free, obviously, but I'm happy to spend hundreds of dollars a year in annual credit card fees in exchange for a bed and pajamas on my way to wherever I'm going. A couple of years later and I've got a few feathers in my own cap. So rather than lay out thousands of dollars on a flight, I found the world of award travel, where masters of the trade use credit cards and loyalty programs to snag business- and first-class seats for close to nothing. Now I'm older and my back hurts and - let's face it - I'm a bit snobbier. When I was in my early 20s, I was perfectly happy slumming it in the middle seat on a 15-hour flight to Australia. It's remained true even as my tastes have evolved. It was true when I bought my car, where I stonewalled the salesman into giving me a 0% APR. Sweat equity meant that when it came time to sell, I was able to turn a handsome profit.
This lesson held true for me when I bought my second house, which was the ugliest on the block. I live by the lesson I learned from my mom No matter what I buy, where I go, or where I live, one thing is always at the forefront of my mind: Every penny counts. And I was finally free!Īlthough I don't sort coins anymore - I don't even use cash - the lesson I learned as a child still sticks with me. It was slick, the change clanking loudly as it was dropped deftly into each roll. I remember the day she brought home our first automatic coin sorter. And that our landlord wouldn't look too kindly on us if my mom had simply handed him a bowl of pennies. Of course, I didn't know then that we were rolling coins to pay rent. Why did we have to roll our change? What did it matter if our quarters were neatly stored or stacked haphazardly in a pile? Poking pennies into their thin paper tubes took forever, and I was not a patient child. I didn't know it at the time, but the change paid our rentĪt first it was fun.