Thumbs up for the BORG!

[John Pollman]

Sometimes junk mail isn't so bad.

A couple days ago I went to the mail box and brought the mail in. On the way back up the driveway it looked like the usual 95% junk mail and just a couple other items. I noticed something from Home Depot. I'm always getting 10% off coupons or 12 month no payments/no interest financing offers. I'll usually put the coupons aside in case there's something I need and I might as well take advantage of any discount available. I'll normally put the financing deal coupons aside too until they expire just in case something unexpected comes up and I need a big ticket item that just isn't in the budget right now. (busted fridge, washer, dryer, etc) Might as well use their money for twelve months if they're offering.

Last night I got home from a job and the wife was sitting on the couch going through the stack of mail. She said "Here's something from Home Depot" and handed it to me. I figured it was just as I thought but it looked a little different. It was a card the size of a credit card and it said $50 on it. I figured it was just another coupon deal but they had changed the look a little. I flipped it over and read the back fully expecting it to be $50 off of a purchase of $250 or more or something like that. I read the fine print and it just says to redeem the card at the Pro Desk of my local Home Depot. It's valid for any sale total of $50.01 or more. COOL!! Basically they're just giving me $50 toward the purchase of just about anything in their stores. There is a short list of a few items that aren't included but that's OK, I'm not interested in any of those items anyway.

So that's a good lesson learned. Don't always just throw away junk mail. Sometimes it IS worth something. Now I've got to figure out what I want, the coupon is only good until April 11, 2010. Maybe I'll go shopping today!

John