rocket finance

Surprising Deal on CFL Bulbs and a Pizza

My wife recently gave me a $1.00 coupon for a Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb that she had printed off, so I stopped by our local Ace Hardware to pick one up. I had heard that there were a lot of rebates flying around for CFL’s, so I hoped to maybe “stack” the $1.00 coupon with another rebate. I was pleasantly surprised to find CFL’s with a regular price of $6.49 discounted to $2.99. Then I looked closer and saw that there was also a $2 per bulb instant rebate! For a final price of .99 per bulb. They also let me stack the one dollar coupon, so I picked up seven CFL bulbs for $6 plus tax. There are lots of CFL coupons on the internet to print off, so check your local hardware store for the bulbs – most come with a rebate right now. Not quite a Hustler deal, but a pretty good find for rocket finance. I am planning to purchase a dozen more this week.

CFL bulbs are said to save $7 to $10 a year in energy and most come with a 5 to 7 year guarantee. I find the $7 to $10 in electricity savings per year to be a little farfetched. Maybe they save that much if you are someone who leaves your lights on all day and all week. We tend to keep our off as much as possible. This deal will probably save us the most money just in not having to replace the bulbs for five years or so. The first CFL’s I installed in our house were in the basement because my beautiful wife has a habit of turning on the lights in the basement and then forgetting about them for a day or two at a time.

After purchasing the bulbs after work, I arrived home to find that my wife had baked a pizza. It was equivalent in size to a Pizza Hut large that sells for $15 in our area. The pie included cheese, pepperoni, green peppers and mushrooms – my favorite combination. I asked her what she thought it cost her and the estimate was $3. A pretty cheap meal for a family of five and there is enough left over for my lunch tomorrow.