Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Weekly Wednesday: fun with gift cards

I had this idea for a Weekly Wednesday...

We seem to hoard gift cards - holding on to them for some magical special occasion that never comes. We end up with a bunch crowding our wallets for, sometimes, years. OR... what about the ones that have just a couple bucks left on them? (Does everyone do that or just us??)


So how about running around and using up all the little cards in our purses? An adventure with spending as little money as possible!


First up was Davidson's for a late breakfast. We ate and sketched out our day. The one-egg special for me (sub fruit for meat): Years ago, Eryn won free bowling... OK! We only had two coupons, so I watched, snapped pictures and heckled the bowlers. Mom, who has a crooked right arm from a childhood accident, crushed Eryn!!! It was great :) Tiny ball + handicapped bowler = happy Mom and sad Eryn. Next we swung over to the brand-new Wilsonville Fred Meyer to spend my $7.99 from a Christmas return: I spent just 24 cents and got four plants: Then we hit up Target, where Eryn had a $10 gift card left unclaimed all year at work.

First I made Mom (the social studies teacher) play the can-you-name-all-the-presidents game. She got ALMOST all of them right - and in order, too! WOOHOO!
Eryn searched and searched and finally settled on this coat. It cost her just $12! (yes, it's in the children's section. no, she doesn't care. if the shoe jacket fits...) We needed nourishment, so we grabbed some grub at Claim Jumpers, where Mom had a $25 gift card. We carefully selected off the lunch menu to use exactly the right amount. We had 53 cents leftover so we gave it to the family at the next table. Fish tacos for me: Next up was my top-secret stop at Fit Right NW to register for my impulsive half marathon. I'm glad they made me do it - otherwise I might have chickened out!

Across the river to Next Adventure, where Eryn and I each had $40 gift certificates from Christmas that were about to expire. She did
not buy this hat: I forgot to take any pictures, but Eryn scored a brand-new pair of Chaco sandals that cost her just $10.

I found a shirt and then let Mom use the rest of the $40 to buy a backpack. She gave me cash, which I used to offset my $60 race fee... perfect!!!


We still had several cards to use up, but it was getting late and we were running out of steam. We headed home but first stopped at Starbucks for a quick pick-me-up: Eryn had exactly enough to buy two drinks and a bag of chips: Eryn wasn't feeling well on Wednesday, so our outing was pushed back until Friday. I'm glad we postponed and didn't bag it... it was a lot of fun! We love bargains :)

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