His PS3 was his 1 year anniversary gift and it is a big use item in our family. Since we don't have cable, it is used for all our TV watching through Netflix. His biggest hobby is video gaming so he spends several hours each week doing that, and it is our only dvd/blue ray player. So it being dead affects our at-home entertainment which is our primary entertainment since it fits our budget life.
So it was an automatic that we needed to get it fixed or buy a new one. Since it was no longer under warranty, it would cost $80 to get it fixed through Gophermods. And while they would warranty it for another year, once a ylod strikes it is prone to happen again. So we sat down discussed it and agreed to go ahead and purchase a new one.
If this had happened just a couple months ago, we could have gotten a great Black Friday deal :-/ But you know I was still going to find a way to save some money on this purchase...
We found the one we wanted on Best Buy for $249.99. So I activated my Ebates (if you sign-up via this link you also earn me $5 *wink*) to earn 2.5% cash back. It's not much but all those nickels and dimes do add up. The browser extension makes it easy to check for participating websites and use one-click activation while shopping. So this one quick move earned me $6.76 after tax.
Then I charged it to my cash back credit card to earn an extra $2.71. At the same time I joined Best Buy's Reward program to earn 250 points which will transfer to a $5 credit on a future purchase.
Next we wanted to purchase an extended warranty option since Luke's first PS3 died within the 2nd year of use. We compared different options and ended up opting for a third-party plan from Square Trade. They offered the best service for the price with a 3-year consumable warranty that covers repairing this under the manufacturer warranty, repairing or replacing things not covered by manufacturer, reimbursement for non-repairable issues, and accidental damage (via optional add-on). Initially we weren't going to get the "accident coverage" add-on since it was an extra $21, but then I decided to check Retail Me Not for a coupon. Turned out they had a 35% off code that saved us $22 on the full coverage plan. Putting that also on my card earned me another $.41 cash back.
If you decide to purchase a Square Trade extended warranty plan yourself, please put sebrina.m.parker{at}gmail{dot}com (with the "at" and "dot" as symbols) in the referral box on the checkout page. This will earn me another $5 cash back in the future ;)
So while this was an unplanned, unexpected purchase, we were able to save $36.88 by shopping wisely and taking advantage of special offers and discounts.
P.S. Another great money saving site is Save1! Check out my post explaining how they are a socially responsible choice when deal hunting.
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