Free Kindle Accessories

In my last post I told y'all how I got my new Kindle for $.06.  Well, after waiting until the beginning of August when I could redeem some more of my Swagbucks, I was able to get a couple of accessories to go with it.

I normally redeem my SB for amazon.com gift cards.  But, after doing a little snooping around the web I realized that I could get what I wanted more frugally if I redeemed my SB for Pay Pal gift cards and ordered off of Ebay instead.  Leave it to a stay-at-home mom to figure out how to be frugal with free! :0)

So, check out what I got.

A cover and light.

Actually, it's a genuine leather cover, not polyurethane.  Cool.

This little set-up is great at night.

Now, let's make a short story long and I'll fill you in on the details, mkay?

Here's the break-down.  A $5 gift card for amazon.com costs 450 swagbucks.  With the amount of SB I had available to redeem I could have gotten $20 worth of gift cards.  Pay Pal gift cards on the other hand cost 700 SB for a $5 gift card.  I only had enough SB for $15 worth of Pal Pal credit.  You would think that the smarter road would have been to get more credit, wouldn't you?  I did too until I did some comparison shopping.

Kindle covers start at $35 on amazon.com.  I'm not talking skins or sleeves here, but cases that still enclose the Kindle while I'm reading like the one pictured.  That's what I wanted.  I would have had to kick in an extra $15 plus shipping.  Doable, but I like a challenge. :0)

With some savvy shopping on Ebay I was able to grab a brand spanking new genuine leather cover that completely encases the Kindle.  Some of the older models just hold the Kindle in with 4 corner elastic straps.  I'm sure that's fine, but this just seemed a little more secure to me.  I chose a top rated seller that didn't charge for shipping and handling and only had to pay $5.89.  The closest comparison I could find on amazon. com was $39.99 and it didn't have a magnetic closure (or any closure for that matter) and it had the older elastic straps.

Since I had some moolah left I snagged a book light for $6.99 - also from a top rated seller that didn't charge shipping.  The cheapest one on amazon.com is $11.99.

Now, don't get me wrong - I have nothing against amazon.com.  I usually go that route.  It's just that in this case it payed to shop around.  If I had went with amazon.com my out of pocket cost would have been $31.98 plus shipping and handling, after using my $20 credit.  By being a savvy shopper, my total cost ended being $12.88 - leaving me a credit of $2.11.  Nothing out of pocket. Plus, I got a higher quality cover in the process.

And, just to round out my shopping experience...  I ordered both of my items late Thursday night.  I received my light on Monday and my cover on Tuesday.  I was surprised at how fast they came.

I love the challenge of finding a good deal!