I live in Wisconsin and, being originally from warmer weather, the prospect of setting our house thermostat below 68 is a little daunting. I do have a few reasons for keeping our house as warm this winter: a newborn and the visit of my mom. My mom is coming to stay with us for a few months. She’s coming from tropical weather and this will be her first winter ever. We have her all set with coats and sweaters donated by my mother in law. I know this is a very big thing for her and I just don’t want her to be cold at all. I do not worry about my husband or son because both of them are walking furnaces.
Our house is not too cold or drafty either, it’s only 8 years old. However, for some reason our room is the coldest room in the house. After checking the attic space my husband decided that we could use some more insulation above our room.
Last night, I spent 1 1/2 hours of my time learning how to use power tools at one of Home Depot’s clinics, because they were offering a $25 off coupon on a purchase of $200 or more. We also got 2 $10 off a purchase of $50 at Lowe’s. I got one of the $10 off in the mail and the other I traded for a formula check I got recently in the mail. That brings our savings to 15% off our purchase.
I know I keep saying that wanting to save money makes you creative, but it really does. In other times I would have thrown away the formula check since I don’t need it. But this time I saw it as an opportunity to get something I could really use. Initially, I tried to trade it for diaper coupons but I couldn’t find any with good dates on them, so one of the interested people suggested this coupon and voila’! Everyone became a winner. And what if Home Depot wants to pay me for spending 1.5 hrs of my time learning how to use my husband’s tools? I am a double winner, not only do I learn a skill but I also earn money savings. I’ll take that as my little contribution to our home improvement project.
