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My favorite frugal move

It’s gonna be a short one today kiddos because life creeped up on me yesterday and ended up busier than I anticipated. So today, I thought I’d share with you my most favorite frugal purchase of all time: my wedding ring.

As you know, I spared no cost when it came to picking out Girl Ninja’s ring (actually that’s not true at all, I definitely had a budget set up for the purchase). I sold my motorcycle….tear….and saved up a few grand more so I could buy her something that not only looked awesome, but also fit the ring styles she liked. I set out on my mission, and $5,500 later  I had myself an engagement ring for her. Here’s the bling…

Today’s post isn’t about how epically awesome her ring is though. Nope. It’s about how glorious my ring is. We went to a local jeweler, while we were engaged, so I could get an idea of what kind of rings I liked (style, material, size, etc). I ended up deciding a tungsten ring was my destiny. It’s a pretty cheap metal, super durable, and looks great. There’s an urban legend out there that says if your finger swells, you can’t have the tungsten cut off because it’s so strong. That’s not entirely true. Yes, they can not cut the ring off, but there are medical clamps that can shatter the ring to remove it. As soon as I learned that a tungsten ring wouldn’t impede on the functionality of my finger, I was ready to pull the trigger.

Problem was the jeweler only had tungsten rings that were either UGLY or EXPENSIVE. Since, I knew Girl Ninja and I would soon be combining our lives (and finances), I figured it was best to go the way of the miser. We turned to the internet. Specifically, Amazon.com. Amazon not only had a ton of ring choices, but they were SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than the tungsten rings at the jeweler. Thirty two dollars and ninety-nine cents later, I had my ring…

Doesn’t that ring, just scream “I’m a freakin’ ninja!!!” No, okay maybe it’s just me. Seriously though, the jewelers rings were priced between $300-$400 for something similar. I’m really glad Girl Ninja and I could save some coin and end up with an awesome ring. Five months later and I still love it!

What’s your most favorite frugal buy?

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25 COMMENTS

  1. My mother’s favorite sewing machine was pulled off the curb on trash day. It’s a brother which is a really good brand. I guess it doesn’t count as a purchase because we didn’t buy it, but it’s our favorite thing of late.

  2. Very cool ring for a very cool price! My wife’s engagement ring is quite similar to yours – a good tip we found was to buy the diamond wholesale then take a picture of the style of ring you want to a local ringmaker who will make it for you, also helped save $’s and the ring looks as good as the original!

  3. So happy to read you went all frugal with your ring! We did the same with my husband’s. He wanted titanium because it’s so light, and when we looked at the jewelry stores, they were so expensive (well, too expensive for what he wanted anyway). We hit up ebay and got one for about $25. Weee!

    He then lost weight and needed a new ring. We ended up choosing a sterling silver + titanium ring that looks very similar to yours. It was like $80, which he almost had a fit over.

    Just this past weekend, my girlfriend was bragging to a group of friends about how her husband’s platinum ring cost not HUNDREDS, but THOUSANDS of dollars. It’s very plain and looks no better than my husband’s. I just sat back ans smirked.

  4. When I get married, my ring better not be more than $40, because I’m certain I’ll have to replace it about once a year after I lose it all the time.

    I’ll have to keep Amazon in mind for years down the road when I get married. Although I’m sure I will, because I use Amazon for everything.

  5. Not to put a damper on or anything, but I found this comment:

    “There’s a lot of cheap tungsten jewelry out there. Cheap tungsten is made with cobalt which is used in light bulb filaments. You want to find tungsten with a nickel alloy. Slightly more expensive but it won’t corrode and turn your finger brown. Stick with a brand name, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429032241AAGCdHw

  6. Girl Ninja’s ring is GORGEOUS!!! What does her band look like? Very cool about the clamps that can shatter your ring…I learned something today! I have to say “go you!” for a $33 wedding ring that looks much more expensive!

    I would have to say that my most favorite frugal purchase was when I was pregnant, I found an Eddie Bauer car seat/stroller travel system at Big Lots for less than HALF (115.00) the cost of what it would have cost me to get one at Babies R Us (300.00)…I used that thing for upwards of three years and totally got my money’s worth. Wo0t!

  7. I hope my future wife lets me get away with spending far less than $5500 for her engagement ring. Not holding my breath though.

    I tried to encourage a recently married buddy of mine to purchase his wedding ring online, but he spent a few hundred dollars at a jewelery store IN A MALL. If you want to overpay for jewelery, go to a store in a mall.

  8. We found a circa 1960ish swivel oval shaped chair at an estate sale for $40. Perfect condition. We’ve been offered upwards of $350 from an interior designer friend who covets this chair almost to the point of obscenity. We’re absolutely keeping the chair, but it makes us smile inside whenever she makes another offer!

  9. Reminds me of my husbands ring, very smiler design(he says it reminds him of paladin armor and since its been blessed it has +1 ageist undead) but he got Palladium which can be resized which was important to him since his weight has fluxed a lot over the past 5 years. As a matter of fact we had to get it resized a few months after the wedding because it kept slipping of. We did how ever pay way more then $35 dollars for his band. Mine however (simple white gold) was only $40 and my engagement ring was just under $1000 and we opted not to get a real diamond for the center stone to save money.

    FYI as long as your lady is ok with it you don’t need a real center stone right away. Diamonds are very expensive and a fake stone looks just as nice if not better and no one can tell the difference. My sister even told me she was a little jealous of mine since they had to pick out a less expensive center stone and mine looks brighter and clearer then hers.

  10. Its kind of funny, but I actually bought a $400 wedding ring when we got married. Then a few years later before we went on a vacation to the Bahamas, I had read on a travel forum about how you could buy a tungsten ring on line for $30 to save myself from losing my expensive ring. So I bought one and used the cheaper ring on our trip instead of the expensive one.

    Now, I use the tungsten ring almost all of the time.

  11. My wedding band is my FAVE frugal purchase, hands down, bar none! Believe it or not, I didn’t want an engagement ring, but a more elaborate wedding band; it was Hubby that insisted I sport somethin’ before we got married. Since I had to chose an engagement ring style, I told him I wanted a channel set (more commonly sold as an anniversary ring). The bevelling on the top of the ring is higher than the bottom, so just getting a regular wedding band would make the “set” look awkward; a friend gave me the name of an independent jeweller her husband had used. We bought a plain 14K yellow gold wedding band (same as my engagement ring), and the jeweller re-worked it to match the exact measurements of my engagement ring (I think we spent maybe $300 total for the ring and re-working). The set looks like one big custom-made ring (which is what I wanted), I have an engagement ring (which is what Hubby wanted), and I’ve received loads of compliments on it over the years…. win win all around!

    BTW, Ninja, I’d NEVER have guessed your wedding ring was bought online for $32.99… it’s stunning!

  12. There’s a jewelry store near our place that’s going out of business, so we bought my fiance’s wedding band there for $39 Canadian! Very excited! Unfortunately they didn’t have anything to fit my e-ring, so we’re still shopping for my band!

  13. Nice going man. We don’t wear our bands anymore. It doesn’t make a difference to us.
    I’ll tell you a secret. I lost my band and the gym and got another one. I put that one in the safe and only wear it to functions these days. Don’t tell the Mrs.

  14. Girl Ninja’s ring is very similar to mine, so of course I’m biased, but I think you did an awesome job. And now I’m crabby that I spent $280 on my husband’s ring because, again, it’s similar to yours.

    Our best frugal find was probably group of decorations for our living room that I got at a garage sale. People get rid of some cute stuff.

  15. Both rings look great. I almost choked when you said you spent $5500 on the diamond one though…wow. I thought we splurged with the $120 we spent on mine. 🙂 Two words of advice, enjoy them and insure the diamond one. 🙂

  16. […] Fiance (I’m upgrading him from “The Boy”) got his wedding ring this week. Like Ninja he ordered a tungsten ring off Amazon for 30 something dollars. Frugal and it’s actually […]

  17. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by retirebyforty, Frugality Guru. Frugality Guru said: My Favorite Frugal Move – Punch Debt In The Face http://bit.ly/dYBP6i […]

  18. Did that ring seriously cost $5500? It’s very beautiful, but I’d never wear it out of the house if that were mine.

    (Also, I have ethical issues with diamonds.)

  19. Kind of funny, Hubby and I were looking at that ring for him too! We ended up with a different style though. That has to be our frugal buy too. I saw other retailers selling the same ring upwards of $400+. Hubby loves his ring and so do I!

  20. My wife and I both have a problem with real diamonds, too. We decided to go with a lab-grown diamond for her setting. It’s much cheaper, and looks fantastic. Nobody knows it’s not real, and we have peace of mind because we know the origin of it.

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