What a marvelous weekend Georgina and I just had. Went out to eat, to the movies, the beach. Even bought some stuff.
And when the weekend ended, we had more money than when it began. Call it a two-day savings spree.
We started on Saturday morning with our weekly trip to the grocery store, $7.35 worth of coupons securely paper-clipped to our shopping list.
After dropping off Georgina at the entrance to the supermarket, and before rejoining her, I drove less than a hundred yards to gas up the car.
There we saved money again: I use a credit card from Chemical Bank that gives me a 2 percent rebate on the things I buy to redeem for free Shell gasoline. Since I got the card a year and a half ago, I have gotten $129 worth of of free gas.
The thing is, I would buy Shell gasoline anyway, what with the convenience of a Shell station in the same shopping center as the supermarket, and another in the office complex where I work.
After doing the groceries, we stopped in the post office, which was on our way home. Georgina, a free-lance writer, needed stamps for her business. Our detour was less than four blocks, but now that she had bought the stamps, the eight miles to and from the post office, at 30 cents a mile, became a $2.40 business expense for Georgina, and a tax break.
Unpacking the groceries made us hungry, but neither of us felt like cooking or preparing anything. Off we went to Cluckers, a roast chicken fast-food chain where you can get a family meal (two whole chickens, three enourmous side dishes, eight muffins) for less than $20. Enough for us to eat one lunch, and save the rest for two or three more during the week.
Next came the movies, the early matinee of course, with all seats $3, compared to $6.50 for the evening show. We really liked “While You Were Sleeping”; enjoyed it even more because, with only a few dozen people in the theater, we didn’t have to wait in line to get in, or sit behind any tall people.
Back home we got a package in the mail, six compact discs I’d gotten for free (well, actually $12.72 shipping and handling) for joining the BMG Music Service club.
I know what you’re going to say: Now they’ve got him. But no, all I have to do is buy one more CD at $14.98, and I can get two more for free, and then cancel the membership. Yes, cancel. Which is something Georgina and I have done a number of times, from a number of clubs, only to be solicited again with an even better offer to rejoin (such as nine more free CDs, not even shipping and handling, and all we have to do is buy just one).
End result: Our compact disc collection now stands at 104, with the CDs costing us an average of $4.17 apiece (postage included). And that’s music we love and play often. Besides, don’t feel sorry for the music clubs. They make enough money from the members who let unwanted “feature selections” be shipped to them, automatically.
While we listened to some of the CDs, Georgina gave me a haircut; she does that every two or three months in between my visits to the barber. Together we have spent only $38 on haircuts this year; we go to the same hair-cutting center, which is in the same shopping center as the supermarket, which cuts down on trips, and car expenses.
The next day, Sunday, we went to the beach, a 20-minute drive. Georgina packed a picnic of sandwiches, fruit and lemonade. So our only expense was the gas for the trip, and a couple of quarters to feed the parking meters.
We didn’t get around to reading the Sunday paper until late afternoon. And what a find it was. First, we clipped more than $8 worth of grocery coupons, one of our biggest hauls in a single day. (Imagine, you would have to invest $8,254 at 7 percent to make $8 a week, after taxes, if you are in the 28 percent tax bracket.)
And then the nicest surprise. Georgina found the paper had used a story she had written on a trip we took to Atlanta a year ago-a story she figured they wouldn’t use by now-and a story for which she will be paid more than everything we spent over the weekend.
Yes, altogether a marvelous two days.
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Humberto Cruz welcomes questions and comments from readers. Although he cannot respond to each one individually, he will answer those of general interest in his column. Write to him in care of the Orlando Sentinel, P.O. Box 119, Orlando, Fla., 32802-0119.
