11'er crashing with BHB x-post

SpringSandra brought up a good point in the 'To China or Not to China' thread.

She said if she had known then what she knows now, she would have registered much differently,

Sandra, and everyone else who is using items they received from their registry....

What would you have done differently? Or, what did you definitely do right?

Don't even bother to register for too much pyrex!! THat was the ONE thing I got a MAJOR abundance of!! Items on and OFF the registry... people LOVE to buy pyrex!! Which is great!! But I have over 50 bowls of it now!!!

Towels are great!! I didn't get very many though.

The pot set we got was AMAZING!! Also the crock pot was awesome... and the everyday dishes rock!

I have some stuff to return and I also need to buy something to hold everything in it... I have no place to put anything! My apt looks like I'm either moving out or in... there are boxes everywhere.

I actually went to BBB to use my registry completion coupon the other day and bought myself a whole assortment of things I didn't really think of before -- but silly little things for around the house! They let me use it even though they weren't on the registry, per se, especially when I said 'someone here said I could use the coupon for whatever I want since technically I could just go add stuff and come back and buy it' -- it was funny.

So what did we get since the wedding that we didn't register for (but wish I had)?

- cast iron french oven
- good quality oven mitts (and an ov' glove)
- over the toilet magazine rack
- luxury bath mat
- luxury shower curtain (I always had cheap ones!)
- cubby bookshelf
- swiffer
- china covers (since my china was handed down, I didn't think of it beforehand!)
- gravy boat (we're hosting thanksgiving this year)
- broom & dustpan
- small stepstool
- tons of little cooking utensils I always wanted (like an avocado peeler and potato masher)
- slimline closet hangers (the soft ones that are very thing but sturdy) -- I got the whole set, and they're great!
- shoe cubbies


Best things from our registry we use all the time:
- dust buster
- quality mesh strainers (seriously!)
- cast iron griddle (my friend gave me this for our shower and I can make ANYTHING on it -- cast iron is incredible)
- slow cooker
- 'always boiling' water pot
- luxury ridiculously high threadcount sheets I never thought anyone would buy (DH says he feels like he's living in a hotel lol)
- good tupperware
- really really good knife set
- luggage rack (I love that we have this for guests!)
- quality oreck vacuum
- clay garlic holder

Items I have had for 3+ months but haven't used yet (but plan to keep so I can use them when I'm ready):
- salad spinner
- salad bowls (like the giant one & 4 small ones)
- serving platter
- coffee maker (we're tea drinkers)
- giant iced tea dispenser (I'm in the south, aren't I?)
- salad chopper set (which I might use today, actually!)
- table cloth
- cloth napkins

Items I returned that were on our registry or were random gifts:
- extra sets of sheets (we don't really need more than 3 sets!)
- 2 salad bowls of 4 that don't match the set I put on later
- another salad bowl (somehow people like to buy salad bowls for other people)
- wine goblets
- crock pot (we already have a slow cooker)


I never got these items but I'm still debating whether I 'need' them:
- cheese platter / cutting board
- pressure cooker
- electric knife

Ok that's a lot of stuff! Hope that helps!

Oh, and just FYI, I didn't have a 'normal' shower where people bought us things (my mom wanted people to not bring me gifts for my ladies luncheon) so most of these items were from OOT guests who didn't come to the wedding, or family who wanted to give us 'stuff' instead of cash, which I thought was pretty cool.

We also had a HM registry which we received almost $2000 worth of 'gifts' from, which was amazing and so helpful.

Hey Sandra, not to hijack, but is it true that the BBB completion coupon is a one-time use coupon only?

I heard two conflicting things, one person said it was for one time only, and another person said you can use it for multiple visits up to a year after your date.

---

Posted by coldasice217

Hey Sandra, not to hijack, but is it true that the BBB completion coupon is a one-time use coupon only?

I heard two conflicting things, one person said it was for one time only, and another person said you can use it for multiple visits up to a year after your date.

---

I received a single 10% off coupon in the mail that was valid for 3 months from the wedding date only -- that's actually why I went to rush to use it since we hit 3 months this past weekend. That was my registry completion coupon.

The good thing about BB&B is that you can keep using 20% off coupons on items instead, and at my local store, I can use as many 20% off and $5 off coupons as I want in a single visit too! (I think they did it to save time since I could keep checking out and getting back on line otherwise.) So one day I was making a ton of purchases and found these 20% off coupons from over a year ago (totally expired) and used them and saved about $40 that single visit. It was insane!

---

Posted by springsandra

---

Posted by coldasice217

Hey Sandra, not to hijack, but is it true that the BBB completion coupon is a one-time use coupon only?

I heard two conflicting things, one person said it was for one time only, and another person said you can use it for multiple visits up to a year after your date.

---

I received a single 10% off coupon in the mail that was valid for 3 months from the wedding date only -- that's actually why I went to rush to use it since we hit 3 months this past weekend. That was my registry completion coupon.

The good thing about BB&B is that you can keep using 20% off coupons on items instead, and at my local store, I can use as many 20% off and $5 off coupons as I want in a single visit too! (I think they did it to save time since I could keep checking out and getting back on line otherwise.) So one day I was making a ton of purchases and found these 20% off coupons from over a year ago (totally expired) and used them and saved about $40 that single visit. It was insane!

---

That blows that the completion coupon expires in 3 months...we have so much to still purchase on the registry and we really needed some more time to break down the purchases over so it wasn't such a massive expense at once. It's 10% off your total purchase, and then you can use the regular coupons too though, right?

What I did was I kept using 20% off coupons on my 'regular' visits when I was buying things for the home that I didn't even realize I needed, and then when the coupon was about to expire, I just used the 10% one.

When you use the 10% one, you can't also use the 20% ones on individual items that particular purchase. But normally you can just use as many 20% coupons as you want. I'm sure you could figure out the math if you really wanted to. Basically, if you're going to buy a whole boatload of stuff at once and are out of 20% off coupons, use your registry completion coupon. I kinda just treated it like a regular coupon but tried to knock out the rest of the stuff I really wanted that we hadn't gotten.

I actually just added about 20 things to our registry since then and told my SIL she should look there for christmas present ideas. We still haven't received a lot of presents from our wedding, so I'm hoping some of that 'up to a year after' thing comes true and we get a few more surprises rolling in.

I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the completion coupon. Why would I want to use a 10% off coupon when I have tons of 20% off coupons? Basically, I only used it on a few small items and for anything pricey I used a regular coupon and saved more. I would recommend just purchasing things in small batches as you get coupons.

My favorite things from the registry are my stainless steel pots and really good knives.

I would agree with an earlier posting that pyrex and glasses were some of the things I didn't need more of. Thankfully, my friends and family are awesome and got us all the things we needed and none of the things I regretted adding. We got all of our china but none of our lenox glasses. We didn't get our pyrex or corningware either and these are all the things I realized I didn't need any more of.