One of the many treasures I found while cleaning out our attic was a stack of undeliverable wedding invitations. For whatever reason we weren't able to get our invitations to 4 people the first time & were stuck with extra invites. I was just getting ready to chuck all of them in the recycle bin, when it occured to me that there were un-used RSVP envelopes inside. After a little digging I was left with four 41 cent stamped envelopes.
Now, I have heard rumor that you can simply take such envelopes to the post office & they will give you a new stamp, but I'm lazy, & our post office is on a part of town that I never frequent, so I figured I'd come up with a different plan.
I first used a Sharpie to block out the address, then I used glued some paper I got for free from a local credit union to cover the address. I then applied some 1 cent stamps that I had on hand & finished with a little bit of tape on each side of the paper.
Now I know that these envelopes look like the dickens, but they're perfect for mailing rebates. For less than 5 minutes of work I saved $1.64--not a ton of money, but every little bit counts!
Now, I have heard rumor that you can simply take such envelopes to the post office & they will give you a new stamp, but I'm lazy, & our post office is on a part of town that I never frequent, so I figured I'd come up with a different plan.
I first used a Sharpie to block out the address, then I used glued some paper I got for free from a local credit union to cover the address. I then applied some 1 cent stamps that I had on hand & finished with a little bit of tape on each side of the paper.
Ha ha ha! Well - if you're just thinking of this now... I wonder if that makes me the (31 year old) gramma of cheap?! I have had a few envelopes over the years that got a stamp put on them and then didn't need to be mailed, so I just cut the corner where the stamp was off and glued it well to another plain envelope and sent it. Everything always got where it was going. But I never thought to take a mis-stamped envelope to the Post Office to get a new one... but good to know! :D
ReplyDeletePS - it will ALWAYS post that funny - but it IS supposed to read Lionel, Mo & Quentin - and I just realized - we need to add the baby's name in... so soon it'll look really funky w/Jacob added in there! LOL
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new baby! I thought I saw his little picture on your facebook profile. How wonderful!! :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I've never taken the envelope to the post office, I just read you cold on Tightwad Gazette. If you try it, let me know if it works!
Ha! That's so something I would do! Hey I love saving money, no matter how little! Smart mama ;)
ReplyDeletexo
They did used to exchange an uncancelled envelope for a stamp, but as of very recently they've stopped!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's a federal offense to cut them out to try to reuse them, because it's possible you're trying to use a stamp that was from an envelope you received that missed being cancelled (postmarked), which is stealing from the government (because the process was paid for once, and that's all you get).
What you did here seems fine, though, and what a great tip!