Author Archives: Gomanson

Wedding Anniversary Trip – Clues #3 & 4

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(This is a data recovered post, originally published on June 17th, 2015.)

As some of you know, I have secretly been planning a vacation for Nicoleen to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. She knows about the trip but the destination is still a surprise. Help her figure out where we’re going!

Here is the updated list of possible locations:

  • Africa
  • Antarctica
  • Australia
  • Asia (continental)
  • Caribbean
  • Europe
  • Hawaii
  • India
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
  • South America

Clue # 3: Jai No!

Clue # 4: Nicoleen likes the ethically sourced diamond in her wedding ring; and I dislike yams

Below this post is a comment field where you can enter your ideas and help Nicoleen solve the riddles! (No registration needed)

Latest Load of Free Menards Stuff

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(This is a data recovered post, originally published on June 14th, 2015.)

Here is the last load of Menards stuff I picked up before the big flea market.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring this box of stuff with.  The flea market, Swappers’ Meet, was yesterday, and it was fairly successful.  I’ll give a full report, including stats, in an upcoming post.

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What you’re looking at:

  • 4x rain poncho
  • 4x oven drip sheet
  • 10x 20-pack touchscreen electronics wipes
  • 6x long stick lighter
  • 2x 100-piece picture hanging kit
  • 1x 26-in-1 screwdriver

The total retail value of this free haul is $94.63.

Wedding Anniversary Trip – Clue #1

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(This is a data recovered post, originally published on June 11th, 2015.)
(Original post had comments. See bottom of post.)

As some of you know, I have secretly been planning a vacation for Nicoleen to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  She knows about the trip but the destination is still a surprise.

Every few days from now until the location is revealed, I’m going to help inquisitive minds narrow down the field of options.  The clues will come in the form of riddles.  Here is a list of possible locations:

Africa
Antarctica
Australia
Asia (continental)
Caribbean
Europe
Hawaii
India
Japan
Mexico
Middle East
South America

Clue # 1: No marching for these love birds

Clue # 2: “That’s not a knife.”

Which destinations can you rule out?

Below this post is a comment field where you can enter your ideas and help Nicoleen solve the riddles!  (No registration needed)

The following comments were left on the original post:

2 thoughts on “Wedding Anniversary Trip – Clue #1”

  2. Mrs. Value Tactics

    My coworker Karen just said Australia is ruled out, Crocodile Dundee.

Limiting Myself on Free Menards Stuff

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(This is a data recovered post, originally published on June 10th, 2015.)

As some of you may know, I am in the midst of a value tactics experiment.  For almost two years now I have been buying free-after-rebate (FAR) items from Menards on a semi-weekly basis.  (Details of the system can be found on my Menards Free Stuff tactical page.)  I don’t just buy some of the items; I buy all the items.  And not just one or two of each; I max out the quantity limit for a given rebate offer.  But… and here’s what this post is about… that’s not entirely true.  Allow me to explain:

There are several reasons why my experimental data is slightly tainted.  I haven’t always bought absolutely all of the current rebate items.  There are a few scenarios where my purchases were either limited or self-limited:

  1. I got there too late and the items were sold out.
  2. There was a ‘no quantity limit’ rebate offer and I either didn’t have enough rebate checks to cover say, 450 three-piece caulking tool sets, or I simply didn’t want to store 150 of xyz item.
  3. There are a few items which routinely appear on a free-after-rebate sale that I simply don’t buy anymore, per my personal policy.

My personal policy regarding the items from reason #3 came about for practical reasons.  Sometimes 10-foot sections of vinyl rain gutters are offered FAR.  Storing a 10 foot long stack of items that I would probably sell for $1 each is simply not worth the hassle for me.  Another example are the 1-gallon jugs of driveway degreaser, deck wash, and non-tintable latex paint which seem to go up on a FAR offer several times a year.
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At my first two garage sales where I had Menards stuff these were not good sellers.  Besides, they are so frequently on sale that if I ever sold out of them I could quickly replenish my stock.  It’s another case where the work of lugging around large, heavy items is not worth what I could sell them for.  So as a personal policy I decided to stop buying all one-gallon FAR items about 9 months ago.

Sure, it would be nice to have a 100% accurate picture of how much free stuff one could possibly acquire from Menards over a certain period of time.  But what good is data that represents an unrealistic situation?  I’m taking this project to an extreme that has probably never been matched, and I still haven’t completely maxed out the opportunity.

My advice is to use my results as a general guideline to see whether or not this type of tactic is worth it for you.  If you decide to try something like this and make some extra money, conserve some of your garage space and your wife’s good graces, and don’t overdo it … too much 🙂

Weekly Review (Monthly Version 2)

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(This is a data recovered post, originally published on June 8th, 2015.)

Would you look at that!  This update conveniently covers the period from May 8th to June 8th, making this the second monthly “weekly” update in a row.  Yes, life continues to be extremely busy, and this website is definitely a part-time endeavor for me.  Let’s get on with the update:

As far as free gas goes, I only had $38.53 in the past 4 weeks.  (This is really only 3 weeks worth since I spent the past week in one location and hence there were no commute miles).

On the Menards front there is a new round of sales up and running.  The Crazy Days 3 day sale was this last weekend, but I could only get to the store on the 3rd day (Sunday) so one item was sold out (mosquito repellant spray).  I had planned on setting up at a large nearby flea market 2 weekends ago, but the weather didn’t cooperate.  I also found out that I had way more stuff than I thought, so getting it all packed up was a chore, as will be setting it all up to sell.  I’ve been collecting free stuff from Menards for almost 2 years and it completely fills up my dad’s Chevy Tahoe and a 4×8′ trailer about 3 feet high!  I can’t tie up these vehicles any longer, so the flea market will probably be a “go” this Saturday, despite the questionable weather forecast as of the time of this writing.  If you want to check out my stuff, I’ll be at Wright County Swapper’s Meet in South Haven, MN this Saturday!

Website Update
Despite the last of recent posts, I have been doing a lot of writing about free travel and related value tactics.  Posts in the hopper include a review and cost-breakdown of my first ever points-redemption trip last summer; the long-awaited review of Nicoleen’s and my Jamaican vacation this winter; and a posts related to other value tactics and strategies.

Travel News
June is here already.  It’s travel season!  I have an annual weekend camping trip planned at the end of this month, and less than 2 weeks into July is our 10 year anniversary trip!  Details of that trip will be revealed shortly.  In the meantime, like ValueTactics on Facebook and follow us @ValueTactics so you can keep up to date!

Credit Card News
There are so many good card offers right now I can’t even keep track of them all.  This is partially due to the fact that I’m avoiding acquiring new cards for the time being as we may be applying for a new mortgage within the next year.  Not being able to apply for new cards makes Ross unhappy, and he starts writing in 3rd person.

If you want to know the biggest news, however, it’s probably the arrival of theCiti Thank You Premier card, which has an awesome sign up bonus and really great daily spend category bonuses.  Check out frugaltravelguy’s review here.

I have new referral links for the always-good Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Ink Plus, the business version with additional benefits (including 5x points on telephone and internet bills and purchases from office supply stores).  Send me an e-mail if you’re considering one of these cards and I’ll e-mail you a link so I get some referral points.  It’s a win-win!

Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!

Weekly Review (Monthly Version!)

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(This is a data recovered post, originally published on May 21st, 2015.)

This weekly review actually covers a period from about April 7th – May 7th.  As I reported in this post I had an extremely busy month or so at work, so I was unable to get any meaningful updates up online.  Recovery from the busy season isn’t instant, and I am still about a week behind, but we’re getting there…

The overtime also meant some extra commutes; bad for gas expense, but good for my savings totals!  From April 7th to May 7th I pumped $72.78 in free gas during my commutes to and from work. That brings my total free gas to $228.96 since January 1st! Learn how I did it at my free gas tactical page.

I did my monthly spreadsheet update for my wife’s and my credit card accounts. In the past month we:

  • redeemed no points or miles
  • earned 19,774 airline miles
  • earned 58 hotel points
  • earned 1,222 Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • earned 1,315 “other” points (Wells Fargo Rewards and Barclay Arrival Miles)
  • avoided $37.76 in interest charges

New Posts this Week
– Regrouping After a Hiatus is my report on the aftermath of my busy work season, during which I fell behind in everything including this site.  This post begins to explore some methods of getting back in the action after you take an extended break from your value tactics program.
– Menards Haul Spring Update shows approximately the last month’s worth of free Menards stuff.

Website Update
I may need to move the website to a new host in the near future. If this happens I will try to keep the downtime as short as possible.

I have an ever-growing list of improvements I want to make to the site, but I have precious little time to devote to keeping content updated, let alone to work on design enhancements. If something on the site is broken, if you find a typo, or if there is some feature I could add that you just can’t live without, contact me! (Yes, I realize how ironic it is that I just linked the contact page, which needs a major revamp.)

Travel News
The busy spring has flown by, and it’s hard to believe Nicoleen’s and my anniversary trip is less than 2 months away. The destination is still a secret, but seconds after the details are revealed to Nicoleen, you’ll be able to read about them at ValueTactics.com!

If this summer’s vacation is approaching at warp speed, our last trip is fading into the past just as rapidly. Jamaica 2015 was almost 3 months ago, and I still haven’t posted the trip review as I promised. That review is currently in the works, so visit the site regularly to see it when it’s published. Better yet, like ValueTactics on Facebook and follow us @ValueTactics so you never miss a single post!

Credit Card News
A lot of good promotions have popped up during my “month off.” The most exciting one, in my opinion, is Chase’s United Mileage Plus Explorer card. The sign-up bonus on this card is now at 50,000 United Miles, enough for two domestic round trip tickets. The card bonus is normally 30,000 miles, so this deal is a significant improvement. But it won’t last long; the promotion ends on June 2nd, so get the card now if you’re interested. Here is Frugal Travel Guy’s post on the subject (includes a link to the application):

Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!

Menards Haul – Spring 2015

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Here’s my Menards haul from the last month. It totals $203.25.  I somehow managed to get to Menards and max my limit on all the sale items during crazy work month.  To find out about how I get this stuff for free, check out the free stuff from Menards page.
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Here’s what you’re looking at:

  • 12 elastomeric blacktop crack filler tubes
  • 1 36″ stainless steel yardstick*
  • 12 paint brushes
  • 4 wiper blades
  • 1 10-pack dust masks
  • 2 pair tinted safety glasses
  • 3 NoDoz berry shot 6-packs (limit was 48)
  • 4 hose-end spray bottles of house wash
  • 4 cleaning cloth 3-packs

This spring has been riddled with 11% sales, which is great if you have some projects that require supplies or materials.  But it’s bad for free stuff, since the 11% sale never coincides with free-after-rebate deals.

Stay up to date on current deals at Menards by checking their ad flyers page.

Regrouping After a Hiatus

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hiatusI just got done with a string of 70+ hour weeks (not counting my 3 hour daily round trip commute). April is the busy part of the year for three different aspects of my work, so it’s always go time. This year was especially bad, with a very active fire season and more acres than usual of tree planting to supervise. In order to survive the work-storm, I basically had to ignore the rest of the universe. So how do I clean up the mess left by 3 weeks of neglecting everything? Piece by piece. I’m using this blog post to both organize my thoughts, and to offer tips to others like me who have had to put there value tactics on hold for a time.

First of all, throughout the work-storm I knew nothing too horrible would happen. I have automatic payments set up on all our credit card accounts. As long as my minimum payments are made on time, my credit score is secure.

While my credit score was safe, there are 3 aspects of my hobby that suffered in varying degrees from my neglect. The first is tracking and recording. As I pointed out in these blog posts maintaining records of everything related to your value tactics is not really necessary. But for me, tracking and recording is part of the fun, and it’s also how I get the data to prove to Nicoleen that all my obsessing is worth while. It’s not that hard to catch up my spreadsheets, but it does take some extra diligence and motivation.

The second aspect that suffered is evident to anyone reading this right now: It’s been almost a month since my last blog post, update, tweet, or facebook activity. As someone trying to run a website and get the word out on these great deals and tactics, a dead zone like that really hurts. There’s nothing I can do about that now, so it’s time to move on…

The third aspect I fell behind on during my hiatus is all the new deals I have been missing! I managed to keep up with Menards free-after-rebate items, but there have been credit card offers popping up all over the place, and I didn’t so much as read a single blog post about them in the past 3 weeks. Becoming re-apprised of the current card offer situation takes a little extra time and a little extra reading, but it can be done in an evening. I’m not out of the woods yet at work, but hopefully as the pace slows down in the coming weeks I can catch up and pass along the awesome deals and offers to you, my faithful readers!

The road to recovery
I have to keep reminding myself that it will only get harder and harder to catch up with things every day I put it off. Piece by piece is the way to do it. I took my own advice and forced myself to write this blog post tonight, even though I really wanted to just go to bed! Hopefully you’ll be reading more of my catch up blogs posts, including a big weekly update, shortly!

Thanks for reading.