In the spirit, a poverty post

I thought I'd share some recent "good deals" that took a modest amount of effort, but yielded great savings.

First, we received two Walgreen's coupons offering $25 gift cards with a prescription transfer. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Not quite.

We had a heck of a time with poor communication between Walgreen's and our doctor's office and Walgreen's and us. It took us 3 days and 4 trips to accomplish one of the transfers. I was almost ready to forget the whole thing - I think I have issues with a low frustration level - but we finally were able to fill the prescription there and dh even used the gift card to pay for it (I think that's a no-no, but the pharmacist is the one who allowed the transaction).

Thankfully, the second transfer was much easier, though still not as convenient as the small, locally-owned pharmacy we usually use. Still, $25 is $25.

We fully intend to transfer the prescription back to Bauder's where "everybody knows your name." It's comforting to walk into the homey pharmacy/soda counter and have the pharmacists recognize you and share a bit of conversation. I also have never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes for a refill.

A second "good deal" was at a local specialty foods store, Gateway Market.

We stopped in yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving, to see if their local fresh turkeys had been marked down.

They hadn't.

At $3.99 a pound, I just couldn't justify the purchase right now.

So, I talked with the meat manager, who agreed to lower the price to $3.49 a pound, close to what the store paid (he said).

I said I had hoped for a price closer to $3.20 a pound, and he told us to go pick one out.

So, we got a $55 turkey for $44.

Fresh, local, organic, on sale.

And all I had to do was ask.

I think I'll go back on Sunday or Monday and see if I can get an even better deal.

Finally, we're not big "Black Friday" shoppers here, but yesterday saw us venturing forth for a couple deals we just couldn't pass up.

First, I sacrificed principle for savings and went to Home Depot for a $14.98 Christmas tree. I would much rather have bought our tree from a local tree farmer, but this year the savings trumped local. Along with the tree, we also snagged 10 poisettias for 99 cents each. The flowers are quite nice, with three or more blooms per plant. A great deal.

On our way home, we drove past the new Habitat for Humanity house in our neighborhood. An Afghani family was in the process of moving in, so we stopped and took them a poinsettia as a "welcome to the neighborhood gift.

Two more will find their way to a dear friend and the rest are already decking our halls.

Finally, a $79 gift I bought at Michael's a couple of weeks ago with a 50% off coupon was now on sale for only $19.99. I found the original receipt, we returned the item and repurchased it along with a 25% off coupon applied to the new price.

I know this was a good deal, but you'll have to do the math to figure out the exact savings.

Not bad returns for a little extra effort.