July 2011 Tyler Area Coupon Club Meeting Announcement

Here is the announcement you have ALL been waiting for:

The next Tyler Area Coupon Club meeting will be on Thursday, July 28th from 6:30 - 8:30 PM at Whitehouse First Assembly (on 110 S). This meeting will be a discussion session where you can simply talk about your couponing with other members who attend. There will not be any "formal classes" but please bring any questions and we will all help each other out.

Event includes:
- Everyone please bring a snack to share (I will bring the drinks)
- Coupon swap (bring any coupons to trade)
- Door Prizes (name in drawing for each of the following: bring snack to share, bring friend, bringing up to 3 door prizes (items you got for FREE/cheap with coupons))
- recycle expired coupons (expired less than 6 months; I will be sending them to a military family overseas (Please donate $1 to help pay for postage.)) PLEASE PRE-CUT THESE.

Contest for "bragging rights" of "Q-pon Queen": Bring your BEST receipt and we will announce a formula for calculating the ratio of item value vs. amount spent. No prize for this, but it'll be FUN!! :o)

Please RSVP on the Facebook page: Tyler Area Coupon Club.

Thank you and I hope to see everyone there. :o)

Is It Worth the Insurance Money?

That was some storm we had sweep through East Texas last night. And July 4th was not the night for it to happen. I personally experienced a startling blackout at the house. It was not fun at all. When the lights finally came back on, we realized that our Internet modem was "blown" and we were left without access to the Internet. I unplugged the kitchen clock before going to bed as is my post-power surge ritual; it had been losing function lately, but "resetting" it by unplugging it usually worked. Not this time. And, finally, after trying to send a fax this morning, unsuccessfully, I realized that our phone was not working either. These are all items that our household uses daily, so off to Best Buy I went.

The items I purchased qualified for the 2-Year Buyer's Protection Plan at $15 each. Now, I ask you, "Is it worth the insurance money?" In the event of another power surge in the next 2 years I could get a brand new one to replace the old one if it were to cease working. But is it really worth it?

The clock/radio/timer/tape deck combo that I was replacing was about 15 years old and was bought for my first apartment. It was definitely outdated and the only things that actually worked on it for the last few years were the clock and timer functions. I was hoping to update our model for something with a CD player, but I am more than happy with the one I got. If the old one lasted 15 years and the Buyer's Protection Plan is only for 2 years, the additional $15 for the plan doesn't seem worth it.

The Internet modem that I got is necessary for our household because of our home-based businesses. I was able to replace 2 items with this purchase, though, because the new modem was also a router. The old one had been purchased about 5 or 6 years ago, maybe even before then. The Buyer's Protection Plan on this item may not seem worth the $15 either.

The phone/answer machine that was being replaced was a whole-house system with 3 handsets that is used daily for our household as well as our businesses. Replacing this item was more than a necessity because of our business line. However, the original purchase of the unit was almost 4 years ago. This too seems not worth the insurance.

Is it worth it, though? If any one of these units were to stop working in any way within the next 2 years (inside of the approval of the protection plan) they would be replaced.

Let me know what you think.