My husband writes software for a living and I consider him to be a real nerd, but not in the traditional, anti-social, awkward way. Actually, he’s a friendly guy with a warm heart and contagious personality, something fairly rare in the world of software developers. But working in software has kept money in my husband’s pocket for years. A steady income stream and generous spirit have enabled him to spend thousands of dollars on gifts each Christmas. Every year he buys top of the line computers, printers, mp3 players, stereo equipment and all sorts of other electronics for his family.
But over the years, my frugal ways have started wearing off on my husband. I remind him that we should clip coupons, show him how to use ebates and fatwallet when making online purchases, and constantly update him on our monthly net worth statements. Last year, after reading the ‘Family CFO’ we even convened for our first annual financial meeting. Despite all of our every day frugal ways my husband has continued to spend generous amounts of money at Christmas. So I was absolutely shocked when he mentioned this year’s Christmas plan.
He wanted to buy noise cancelling headphones for his brother. I assumed he’d buy the $299.00 Bose brand headphones, but no, much to my happy surprise he said he’d buy $50 head phones from Best Buy. Why, Best Buy? He had two $20 coupons and one triple point coupon. So rather than paying $50, we’d only pay $10 plus tax. Plus, we’d get 150 points on our Best Buy Rewards card, rather than just 50. Now that’s thinking frugal.
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