Deal Hunter

(Inspired by Jenni)

It's what my husband calls himself. People like this go by lots of names... Deal Hunters, Coupon Kings, Mr. Frugality, etc. Jenni recently created a post showing the amazing loot that she and Mr. Clark found. Well, I too, married one of those types. My husband works very hard and makes sure to stretch our dollars as far as they will go. Although I don't always share his enthusiasm, I must admit two things: 1) His savings really add up. 2) Some of his deals are truly incredible. The most important thing is that he looks to make me happy. His recent finds have included a beautiful television armoire, a new kitchen aid (I've always wanted one), and now a Dyson vacuum. All of these things were bought because he hunts for amazing deals. You combine stellar deals with coupons/negotiations, and you end up with incredible savings.

I thought I'd share the story of the Vacuum and how we came to own it. Seen here in this picture, we are the new owners of the Dyson DC25 Animal (one of two models known casually as "the ball")

Just to give you an idea of the prices available: Kohl's had it on sale for $549.99 last week. Costco has the best price around - $529.00. Wal-Mart is a little more. Anything under $500 for this particular model is a good deal (other models can be cheaper).

The story starts when Michael noticed that Wal-Mart had the DC25 on "roll back" for 399.99. It's not quite as good as the animal. Michael had a 30% off coupon for Kohl's so he called customer service to price match. The only problem was that Kohl's was out of the DC25 - all they had in stock was the DC 25 animal. Quite the upgrade. But thanks to some clever negotiations, Michael convinced Kohl's to apply the price match at Wal-Mart to the DC25 Animal. So basically they would sell us the DC25 Animal for 399! Of course at check out, he applied the 30% coupon code to make the total to about $280. In addition, Kohl's was having a promotion where you get a $10 gift certificate for every $50 spent. So we got a $50 gift certificate as well. Basically he got this $600 vacuum for $230 + tax.

UPS dropped off our vacuum yesterday and we couldn't believe how well it picked up hair, dirt, and plenty of other gross things! I feel like our old "renters" carpet is actually clean! (*as a side note: we learned the call it the "animal" not because it's an aggressive vacuum with animal-like qualities, but because it's great for picking up animal hair).

Deal hunting...He calls it a talent, I think it's more one of his hobbies. I'm still only learning the "art" (Michael made me include this word). But that's why I have him. We go so well together! My husband really likes to see me happy and really does take care of me...