For your low reimbursement shop purchases, what do you get without going over?

This can be for any shop, but I'm interested in gas station and hardware store items because I am running out of ideas.

This has been discussed many times before, but I am posting it again.

Bottle of water, small pack of tissues, coffee

Mints, small bottles of milk & OJ (I have a cooler bag in the car), individual small packets of nuts...

I tend to buy items I would buy in those places anyway, and don't care about going over. I just did 7 hardware stores that had a $5 reimbursement. I bought a bottle of windshield washer fluid at 1, a bar of Duke Cannon soap that I would have ordered online for the same price but paid shipping, a bag of potting soil that I would have needed this spring anyway, and 4 bags of sunflower seeds for the bird feeder that were already a good deal but with the $5 reimbursement became a killer deal.

For gas stations I buy a candy bar or drink that I would eventually buy anyway.

For hardware store, I have bought tubes of caulking - the kind you don't need a gun for - and painter's tape. For gas stations, it's usually bottles of water, gum, mints, snacks.

Honny,
As a new homeowner you are going to need a small toolbox with a variety of tools, picture hangers and wire, more towel bards than the former owner though about, pots and soil for your patio, and all sorts of widgets. So, bgriffin's take sounds like something you could use to your advantage. If you do get a dog, doggie needs are also found in many hardware stores.

I visit a big box electronics store frequently.. I get SD cards for my PV500, Diet Soda, and office supplies. As I would be purchasing these anyhow, I don't mind going over a little.

Many of the gas station cstores I mystery shop have apples, oranges and b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

I don't do the gas station shops, but for the hardware stores, I'll look for rubber gloves, air fresheners for the car, sponges, wooden shims - the list goes on. My hdwr store has a dollar aisle, so it's pretty easy to stay on budget if I want to.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

For your low reimbursement shop purchases, what do you get without going over?

This can be for any shop, but I'm interested in gas station and hardware store items because I am running out of ideas.

This has been discussed many times before, but I am posting it again.

Doing Home Depot I picked up a great glass cleaner spray that works better than anyone I've ever bought... cost, 1.00....also a screwdriver, again 1 buck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2019 01:38AM by Irene_L.A..

I get a scrub daddy at hardware store there is tons of great things under $5 there

Shoe polish, toilet paper, paper towels, windshield washer fluid, baking soda, seed packets for spring planting should be out soon, bird seed, that one screw you lost a year ago, dry erase markers, matches, light bulbs, a quart of oil, the doodad that fell off the thingy...

I have a hard time when I do these shops because I love hardware stores. So, I have a running list I mark off and add to. It stays in my purse.

For the infamous $1.00 limit, I get the $0.99 Arizona Tea, and I always comment negatively if they don't give me the penny back! On the plus side, even though the receipt says $0.99, my gas receipt is usually a few pennies over $5.00. However, where I report my expenses, they are grouped, so I always end up with the entire $6.00 reimbursement.

At one of the hardware stores, each time I would do the shop (every 3 months), I would get one of those little flashlights by the checkout counter. I have four kids. Each kid got one. It's great for when they have to get up and go to the bathroom at night or get scared or something. I also got one for myself to keep in my purse. It's come in so handy.

At fashion stores, I usually buy a pair of earrings if there is nothing that I want or need at the moment. I can always give them as gifts or pass them to my daughter, in her stocking or something.

At one store, I got the little silver things by the register. Those things that have nice and inspirational sayings on them...I put them at the kids' breakfast spot from time to time; or tuck them under their pillows while they sleep when they've had a hard day.

For the gas station/convenience shops, I will often buy the quart sized milk. It goes over by a few cents, but my kids go through a gallon of milk a day, so to get four gas station shops in one day, while ferrying them hither and yon, gives me a day's worth of milk for them...I usually do the shops on the way home from wherever, or take a cooler bag with me

I can only get milk, though, if I do them all in one day, and I don't get milk every time (I'm afraid always buying milk would blow my cover). So when I do them on different days, each kid gets to pick out a treat, on a rotation. We just remember who got theirs last time....We also use this method when we travel/go on vacation and I pick up gas station or convenience store shops.

One day, my kids were heading to a field trip with some other homeschool kids, and we were out of bread, so I didn't make them lunch. I did the gas station shops on the way to drop them off and got each of them "lunch stuff..." sandwiches, jerky, package of cookies to share, apples and bananas, a salad bowl... we always have a case of water in our car (always for games, practices), and so they just took the shop stuff and a bottle of water and were good for the day....

I realized in re reading that ^^^^^^ post: It's evident I shop for my kids! LOL! Or to offset expenses that I have due to kids...

Gas stations:
Frito Lay 2/$1 nuts.
Arizona Iced Tea $1.10 in CA
Friskies cat food ($0.19-$.25 after the $1 reimbursement). I send them to a friend on my mailing shops.
Car Tree Air Fresheners - sometimes I can find them for $1.29
Tums - because I do a lot of eating and overeating. They are around $1.19-$1.39
Energy Drinks because I need them
Small bags of crackers, pretzels etc which keep me from buying french fries or burritos on my drive home

Hardware stores
Usually cleaning supplies

I get a LOT of those doodads that fell off the thingy!!!!! Thanks for the giggle, nslinhar!

From the hardware store, I've purchased a bunch of hand tools, including a single hex key, and odd size batteries.

@nslinhar wrote:

Shoe polish, toilet paper, paper towels, windshield washer fluid, baking soda, seed packets for spring planting should be out soon, bird seed, that one screw you lost a year ago, dry erase markers, matches, light bulbs, a quart of oil, the doodad that fell off the thingy...

I have a hard time when I do these shops because I love hardware stores. So, I have a running list I mark off and add to. It stays in my purse.

This whole time, I thought that you were a man.

@SoCalMama

Who says I'm not.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2019 03:13PM by nslinhar.

@nslinhar wrote:

@SoCalMama

Who says I'm not.

If you were a guy, you'd call it your "bag."

True

Hardware stores I purchase Ice Melt in the winter.

For gas stations, I load up on gum and protein bars.
For hardware stores, I load up on hummingbird nectar.

For gas stations, usually the cheapest thing I can find is a little pack of crackers. Occasionally these are over $1. In cases where there is nothing under $1 to buy, or there are no prices labeled where I can tell, I purchase what I think is the cheapest, then anything over that $1 I write off as an expense at tax time. If I purposely purchase more than the reimbursable amount, then the extra is on me and not deductible.

I really like the yellow gas station shops, as they give you $2, which covers many more options.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2019 08:25PM by quovatis.

Yes, I do the yellow gas station shops. I bought a Mountain Dew yesterday because the Frito's would have been over $2.

@ArkLaMissshopping wrote:

For hardware stores, I load up on hummingbird nectar.

No offense but WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!

A. The red dye is bad for them unless you buy one that specifically says it's not
B. Hummingbird nectar is just 1 part plain white sugar and 4 parts water

You're basically paying through the nose for someone to mix it up.

Thanks to many convenience store shops I will likely never have to purchase toilet paper again.

@Jill_L wrote:

At one of the hardware stores, each time I would do the shop (every 3 months), I would get one of those little flashlights by the checkout counter. I have four kids. Each kid got one. It's great for when they have to get up and go to the bathroom at night or get scared or something. I also got one for myself to keep in my purse. It's come in so handy.

At fashion stores, I usually buy a pair of earrings if there is nothing that I want or need at the moment. I can always give them as gifts or pass them to my daughter, in her stocking or something.

At one store, I got the little silver things by the register. Those things that have nice and inspirational sayings on them...I put them at the kids' breakfast spot from time to time; or tuck them under their pillows while they sleep when they've had a hard day.

For the gas station/convenience shops, I will often buy the quart sized milk. It goes over by a few cents, but my kids go through a gallon of milk a day, so to get four gas station shops in one day, while ferrying them hither and yon, gives me a day's worth of milk for them...I usually do the shops on the way home from wherever, or take a cooler bag with me

I can only get milk, though, if I do them all in one day, and I don't get milk every time (I'm afraid always buying milk would blow my cover). So when I do them on different days, each kid gets to pick out a treat, on a rotation. We just remember who got theirs last time....We also use this method when we travel/go on vacation and I pick up gas station or convenience store shops.

One day, my kids were heading to a field trip with some other homeschool kids, and we were out of bread, so I didn't make them lunch. I did the gas station shops on the way to drop them off and got each of them "lunch stuff..." sandwiches, jerky, package of cookies to share, apples and bananas, a salad bowl... we always have a case of water in our car (always for games, practices), and so they just took the shop stuff and a bottle of water and were good for the day....