A Matt Kramer Savings Strategy

A while back, I mentioned our search for dining room chairs in a post.  To make a long story short, nothing compared to the dream Pottery Barn ladderback chairs that matched the planked PB table.  So leave it to my husband to be creative and figure out how to purchase these chairs while staying within budget.

The solution - Ebay.  When he mentioned, Ebay, my response was, "I already looked, and they are just as expensive."  His response, "Amanda, you need to think outside the box."

His idea - buy PB gift cards at a lower value than they actually are worth (i.e. paying $115 for a $200 gift card).  Genious really!  So Matt went on a gift card bidding frenzy for a week or so, and we became really intentional about checking the mailbox every day.

Research other possibilities - Beforehand, he did research to learn that not only does PB accept PB gift cards, but they also accept PB Kids, Williams Sonoma, and West Elm gift cards.  This enabled us to expand our search options and save a lot of money too.  Also, you can purchase coupons on Ebay too (i.e. 10% off cards) which is another way to get to the price you want to pay for an item(s).

Disclaimer - For those of you who don't know, Matt once had an Ebay business but that has since taken a backseat in recent years to his other entrepeneaur ventures (i.e. collecting satellite dishes, stripping copper from TVs), although he is still Ebay savy.

The End Result - We purchased the dream chairs about two months ago (using the gift cards pictured below) and love them.

The cashier asked me if we had been saving up for a while when I handed her these.
Haha.  If only she knew...

Not only does this Matt Kramer savings strategy work for Pottery Barn purchases, but it also works for places such as Best Buy and Kohls (he actually bought his laptop for college this way).  If you have the time and patience, this strategy can really come in handy when making a large purchase. Unfortunately, for some places (i.e. Target and Walmart) this strategy doesn't work as well since those cards usually sell really close to face value.  But you never know, unless you check!

Happy saving, searching, and bidding! :)