When you need to sell something...

Wow. Today has been an experience! We still have my old SUV sitting in the driveway, deciding not to have it fixed after Mary's accident with an uninsured driver (I could go on and on about THAT, but I won't... I'll just say this is her 2nd accident with an uninsured driver and both times the cars were badly damaged and both times it was just too darn bad. What is Ohio going to do about this?!?) Anyhoo.... It was a nice sunny day so I decided to go out and take some pictures of the car and put it up on Craig's List. I also created a new blog solely for the purpose of selling the car. I had NO idea! LOL! Within 30 minutes of posting the ad, my email was flooded with requests to come see the car. Now granted, it's not every day you can find a car for sale that actually runs for $750. And it's an awfully pretty car... it was my baby for a long time. But it was in an accident, it has some major repairs that need to be done to it and we had already decided to replace it with a new car and were going to trade this one in. I have had people offer to buy the car sight-unseen, tonight, cash in hand. I have had people beg and plead with me to sell them this car. One guy apparently even came down our street and looked at it, which is a little scarey, since I didn't post my name, address OR phone number! (You get a special email address from Craigs List so you don't have to give out your own.) So tomorrow morning the first person is coming to see the car. He owns a body shop business, so it will be a real deal for someone who can fix it themselves. I know it needs a door and the frame has to be pulled back into shape. The engine is OK for 140k miles, but when we started it up tonight I did hear noises I'd never heard before. It may be because it's been sitting in the driveway since mid-January and never been started, I'm not sure. But the moral of the story here is -- if you need to sell something, try Craig's List, for sure! My blog with the car photos has had over 175 hits as of a few minutes ago -- just 5 hours after putting it up! I've had about 25 email responses, and all but one wanted the car "now". I know we never would have gotten a response like this if we'd paid the $19.95 for an ad in our local newspaper. I'm definitely sold on Craig's List!

Comment on a comment

Got to love "Anonymous" comments... Here's one I got today: So, I don't get it. You did a freezer inventory and found you had frozen EVERYTHING and then you went to K-Roger as a "loyal" customer and bought more dead animals to freeze, even though a couple of days ago you said you wouldn't have to go to the grocery store for a month. Duh. I'm just dense, but do you ever READ what you write?

I guess I shouldn't comment on the "I'm just dense" part... mustn't offend a blog reader and all that. However, you missed the point. My challenge is to cut my grocery bill back by almost 50%. It just happened that Kroger had sent me Loyal Customer coupons that matched items they had on sale, and the coupons were about to expire. Throwing out those coupons for something I would normally buy, would be like throwing away $7.50 cash. Any time I can get a meat meal (which, apparently, is not to your liking... each to his own on that one) for .26 per person.. hey, I'm dancing in the aisles. It is RARE (occassion-wise, not meat-wise) that I can purchase meats for that price.

So, dear commentor, YES I read what I write but Life Happens. Things Change. Big Money has been $aved and that's the goal here. And you might just want to look away cuz you never know -- I MAY even do it again :)

Kroger shopping

I had no intention of going grocery shopping, but expiring coupons that matched sales lured me in today. But it was worth it!

Pork chops (assorted, which means 30% good pork chops and 70% pork "steaks") were on sale for .99 a lb. (normally $2.49 to $4.99). Kroger had sent me a "Loyalty" coupon for $2.50 off $10 pork purchase, so I bought 10 lbs of pork chops for $7.50 -- .75 cents a pound! I came home and divided it up into serving portions (2 adults) and we will get at least 10 meals (12 if I do additional stir fry meals), with meat for each meal costing only .75, or $.37 per person!

Kroger also had all their chicken at 40% off, so I picked up a Roaster -- starting price $10.80, sale price $6.50. Again, Kroger had sent me a "loyalty" coupon for $1.50 off $5 chicken purchase, which I used to get the roaster for $4 for an 8lb roaster, or .50 lb. We will get at least 3 dinners and sandwiches for 3 lunches, plus 2-3 meals of soup for that $4 purchase. Again, that's a decent meat meal for .50 per meal, or .25 per person!

I picked up 12 cans of Kroger canned vegetables, on sale for .33 a can (normally .79), and 3 8ounce packages of Kroger extra sharp cheddar cheese, at $1.50 per package (normally at least $2.89). They also had "expired" hamburger rolls (the bakery ones, not the flat Kroger brand) normally $1.99 for $.79. Those went right into the freezer. Kroger also had their brand of cereals on sale for $1.49 and $1.69 a box, so I added two boxes of cereal to the pantry.

So I don't feel bad about going grocery shopping. I stuck to my list (sale items only) and got some great bargains. Gas prices here jumped more than .30 a gallon this week to $3.49 a gallon, and you know that increase is going to hit at the grocery store shortly.

By the way, yes we survived the "earthquake"... but it did wake us up around 5:30 am. We're about 180 miles from the "center" of the 5.4 earthquake in Indiana, but it shook us enough to wake us both up and wonder what it was. You just don't expect earthquakes in Ohio! Live and learn!

A Giveaway on my other blog & being not so frugal

I have another blog, My Quilt Life and am currently holding a giveaway and hope you'll stop by and comment and be in the drawing. All comments through 04/30/08 will be used in a drawing on 05/02/08. If anyone has a problem leaving a comment, just email me (JoanOH AT cinci dot rr dot com). Being NOT so frugal Yesterday I talked to a neighborhood teenager about helping me out for a few hours a week with the yard and garden. Woo Hoo! He's a big strapping kid and as nice as can be, and I know he needs the work. I am thrilled that I'll have some help because this year my back problems just are not going to let me do much digging or roto-tilling on my own. My vegetable garden is 20 by 75 feet and it's a lot of work. Unfortunately, the "frugalness" of the vegetable garden is going to fly out the window because it will be offset by my paying someone to help... sigh. In addition to the vegetable garden, I have a perennial garden that needs major work - dividing plants and moving them - and I'll have him help me with those. We have 20 trees due in soon, and he can help plant those as well. I'll continue to do the lighter weeding and planting, but it will be great to have a big strong back around to help me out. I believe 3 hrs a week for 3-4 weeks ought to do it. Maybe I'll just have to plant an extra large crop of veggies to make up for the money I'll have to pay him, but it will be well worth it to keep the yard maintained and the gardens back to their glory days!

Spring cleaning progress and more

UPDATE ON REVOLUTION MONEY EXCHANGE I received my "free money" yesterday! I did not have to give them any banking info -- I simply requested they mail me a check. I just checked their web site and they still have the FREE $25 offer up, though I think I remember the last day is 04/15. The check is drawn by the First Bank and Trust, just as my research showed me it should be. I'm happy! Hey, anytime anyone wants to send me free money, I'm in! Too good to be true? Not so far! If you go under "Help" on their website, on the bottom left you will see privacy policy. Click on that and it will pull up the whole three pages of privacy details. At the end, there is an opt out section that you have to print and mail in if you want to opt out of the following: their sharing your non-public information with nonaffiliated third parties, with their affiliates, and their using information to market their products and services. I plan on sending in my opt-out information, but maintaining my account. As an Ebay seller, I'm hoping that this new service will make some progress and give PayPal some competition. SPRING CLEANING AND GROCERY SHOPPING PROGRESS I continue to make progress on my Spring cleaning. Yesterday the laundry room (which also holds my chest freezer and cabinets holding baking ingredients) was attacked. Now the kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and family room are done. It was eye-opening to do my freezer inventory. I will definitely have no problem going the rest of the month without buying any groceries. Funny how I think I need to do a full grocery shopping every week (out of habit?), but if I'd just stay organized and keep a running inventory, I'd be better about what I do and do not have to buy. Take a look at my freezer inventory (this is a small chest freezer plus a refrigerator freezer): 5 1/2 lbs of hamburger, plus 2 lbs swedish meatballs 2 pkg boneless pork chops 1 smoked sausage 3 pkg diced ham (for adding to omelettes, mac & cheese, etc.) 2 bags chicken pieces for soup 3 lbs chicken wings 4 pkg chicken breasts, bone in 2 pkg chicken breasts, boneless 1 1/2 bags chicken breast strips 2 pkg talapia fillets 1 pkg lentil soup 1 pkg chili w/beans 2 boxes breakfast sausage links 2 lbs. bacon 5 4-cup bags of tomato sauce (from garden tomatoes) 1 bag mixed vegetables 1 bag whole Okra 1 bag spinach 1 bag cauliflower 1 bag green beans 1 bag peas & carrots 3 pkg pumpkin puree (from our Halloween pumpkin) 2 boxes egg rolls 2 boxes lean pockets 1 loaf bread 1 English muffins 1 party rye bread 1 pkg of 6 cupcakes (no frosting) Open items 1/4 bag french fries 1/2 box waffles 1/4 box mini ice cream sandwiches 1 bag blueberries 1/2 bag cheese raviolis My pantry contains plenty of bottled salad dressings, canned soups, cereal, canned vegetables, rice, and pasta. I also have boxes of brownie and cake mixes (bought at Krogers last week for $1) for desserts and lunches. I got out my bread machine yesterday, but will use up the bread and English muffins we have before making my own bread. I was also delighted to find that I'd stored a large variety of flours in my freezer! I do that to prevent bugs from infesting the flours -- I found almond flour, rye flour, wheat flour, corn meal, barley, and whole oats! Great for future breadmaking! They are all enclosed in ziploc bags, then stored in tupperware airtight containers, so I'm hoping they will still be good. I am proud of the fact I only had two unlabelled packages of "mystery meat" that had to be thrown away. I also had one package of roast beef slices dated 2006.. that got tossed as well. FREEZER ORGANIZATION What good is it to clean out your freezer if you don't organize while you're at it?! To toss all those items back in the freezer in the same jumbled way they came out, just doesn't make sense, so I organized it all. I used two cardboard boxes that fit in the bottom of the chest freezer -- one for beef and pork, and one for chicken and fish. In the two wire baskets, I placed vegetables and lunch items. On the shelf of the freezer, I placed "fast food" items - egg rolls, chicken nuggets, etc. In the refrigerator freezer, I placed all breakfast items (sausage, bacon) on one slide-out shelf; dessert items (ice cream, cupcakes, Girl Scout cookies) on the second shelf; and breads in the bottom shelf. Good to go!