Frugal trips to CVS and Kroger

Around 2:00 today the weather finally broke for awhile (though we got hit by a really severe thunderstorm again this evening), and I decided to get my shopping done. I have Brayden Thursdays and Fridays from now on, and I needed to get some fruit and lunch items in before he arrives tomorrow. I went to CVS first. I am SO catching on to this whole ECB program, though I'm still a novice and learning. Today I purchased: 1 8 count package of Bounty papertowels - on sale for $5.99, less .25 coupon 2 pgk CVS brand bandaids - $1.99 each = $3.98 1 Old Spice deoderant - on sale for $2.99, less $1 coupon from Sunday's paper 1 bottle of Bayer Heart Healthy aspirin - $6.99, less $2.50 coupon (get coupon here) Total amount: $19.95 Less mfg coupons $3.50 Less $3.00 off $15.00 CVS coupon Total after coupons 13.45 I used $11.00 in ECB's from my last trip. I actually had another $4 ECB, but didn't realize they wouldn't give you cash back or another coupon back for your change (I'm new at this!). So if I'd spent another $1.55 I wouldn't have had ANY out-of-pocket expense, but I elected to take my $4 ECB back and pay $2.83 (including tax) out-of-pocket. However, I received $10 ECB's for the Bounty (it finished the needed quantity from shopping earlier in the week), plus $3.98 ECB's for the Bandaids and $2.00 ECBs for the Bayer aspirin, for a total of $15.98 new ECB's. So, for $19.95 worth of merchandise (and that's sale prices), I paid $2.83 cash, and received $15.98 back. Yeah baby! Next, I headed to Kroger for my weekly grocery shopping....which you know I've been trying to cut from an average of $140 a week to $60 a week. The first thing I did when I arrived was purchase their $300 gift card to receive the additional $30 bonus. Once again, Kroger had sent me some great "customer loyalty coupons" for items that were on sale this week. For example, they sent me a .60 cent egg coupon, and eggs were on sale for $1.00, so I paid .40. They had Chef Boyardee items (which Brayden likes for lunch now and then) on sale for $1 and I had a $1/2 coupon and a .75/3 coupon, so I bought 5 cans for $3 (Kroger up's all my coupons to $1.00). I purchased $77.60 for $50.27 when all was said and done. I used the gift card to pay for the groceries, which included the bonus $30.00, so I see it as spending $20.27 for $77.60 worth of groceries, including several "stock up" items. A side note: Every blog I've read infers that you can purchase only one of these Krogers gift cards. I talked with our store's customer service manager and she told me customers can purchase up to FOUR. They need to be in $300, $600 or $1200 amounts. This is the second $300 card I have purchased since the beginning of their offer, and I plan on purchasing two more. If you shop Krogers, this is a no-brainer. Pay $300 for $330 Kroger gift card -- instant 10% return on your money. By the time I've purchased my other two, I will have made a profit of $120 just for buying my groceries in the store I always buy my groceries!

Scarey weather here

I'll be on the computer just a short time today, as we're under yet another tornado watch and severe t-storm warning here. It's been a nervous 24 hours, but everyone here is fine and no major tornadoes have hit in our area. This is what the weather map looked like at about 9pm last night:


If you look in the center of the screen you can see "Hamilton" where my daughter and grandson live, with a tornado just above in the bright bright pink (the white "spots" are lightening ground strikes). Then if you follow the red and blue diagonal lines for about 10 miles, that's where we live. The lines were the direction the tornado was going. It was NOT a full-scale tornado -- no structural damage at all, just trees and power lines down. It never arrived here, but we did get the signs of tornadoes in the area -- a very jumpy cat and pea-green skies.


It was pitch-black during the storms last night, but I managed to catch the above picture just as lightening was flashing -- look at those ominous clouds and the weird colors.

These storms are "freight training" right across our area today, meaning they are just lining up one after the other after the other. Here's what our 8am weather looks like. I assume the Hamilton thermometer got hit by lightening last night -- because it's been reading 150 degrees all morning! It's hot and steamy but not THAT hot and steamy!

I'm home alone today, but have my cell phone charged up and a little "emergency" kit ready to take to the basement with me if necessary. We've had very very heavy rain this morning, and it's very dark outside despite being 9:30am. We're under a tornado watch until 4pm, so it will be a long day!

To friends and family reading this, PLEASE don't call me until after 4pm. I hate talking on the phone during these storms!

My May Spending Fast - Update

Thanks to Beth Dargis of My Simpler Life blog, I have been on a "spending fast" since May 1st, with the object of not spending any unnecessary money. I thought I'd update on how the month went.

I've actually learned quite a bit this month. First, I have a tendency to order things online -- mainly fabric but also computer games and "gadgets" that appeal to me. I did buy myself two birthday gifts -- first was James Frey's new book, Bright Shiney Morning, but I'm not counting that against my spending fast, since I pre-ordered it last March when I first heard it was coming out in May. On the day of my birthday, I bought myself a computer game for $9.99.

I've really tightened up on my food spending, and have spent this month learning how to work the Walgreens and CVS coupon and rebate/money back programs. At this point I am getting all our personal care items, cleaning supplies and paper goods for free or nearly free. It took me awhile to get this process organized, but I'm feeling confident now and can see the advantages every week when I check my bank balance.

My weakness is yard sales. Last week I spent about $8 at yard sales, for clothes and toys for Brayden. I didn't buy anything for myself, but then again, I didn't see anything I wanted! I think I need to incorporate yard sales into my monthly budget, and designate an amount I can spend and not go over.

Jeff had a week off this month, but we spent all but one day doing yard and garden work. I purchased my vegetable plants at the flea market this year, and saved about 1/2 of what I normally spend. If I was truly frugal, I would have started them all from seed back in January, but it didn't occur to me then. We did take the last day of his "staycation" off and went to a movie (matinee, senior rate (!) $6.50 each) and dinner. However, I used a 60% off coupon from Restaurant.com , so a nice dinner cost us less than $15.00. (I don't think we'll ever eat out again without checking out that web site. I love the fact there is no membership fee. You just go on the site, type in your zip code, pick a restaurant and purchase a "Gift Certificate". The day I checked there was a 60% sale going on, so I paid $4 for a $25 gift certificate!)

I driving far less these days because of the cost of gas. I try to incorporate all my driving into one day specifically for errands. I'm hoping a tank of gas will last me 6 to 8 weeks, since everything I need is within 3 miles of my house... grocery stores, department stores, bank, post office, office supply store, etc. Walgreens is about 1/4 mile away and CVS about 2 miles. Last week I did buy gas but I first used gasbuddy.com and got gas for $3.86 by driving 2 miles, instead of paying $3.99 at the three gas stations closer to my house.

Jeff and I sat down and talked about our budget and about getting prepared for prices of everything to go up even more in the near future, and where we could cut back to prepare for it. Jeff went into work the very next day and approached his boss about working from home 10 days of the month! This would be a tremendous savings on gas, cut down on mileage on the new car, and cut down on buying new clothes for work so often. He's still waiting to hear if they're going to approve it.

We received several checks this month, including our federal tax refund (the regular one, not the stimulate-the-economy check), a bonus from Jeff's work, and some rebate checks. We have decided to use Jeff's bonus to replace the skylights in our master bedroom and Jeff's bathroom with more energy efficient units, plus put a timer on our electric water heater. All other checks went towards the principle of our home improvement loan we took out two years ago to re-do the kitchen and exterior of our house. I learned if I make additional payments on the loan, I need to do it on THE DAY the loan is due, otherwise, part of it will be applied straight to interest, not the principle.

So it's been a learning experience for me. I've always thought of myself as a frugal person, but this month has helped me examine where I can make long-term changes that have a positive effect on our budget. It's been an education!

Rainy Day Activities for Toddlers

Anyone who reads my blog knows I adore my 2 1/2 yr old grandson, Brayden Lee. I babysit for him two days a week, from 7am to 5:00pm. We spend about 50% of our time outside, 15% of our time doing some kind of activity or game, 25% of our time doing "chores" including both housework and gardening, and 10% of our time with Brayden playing quietly on his own with whatever he wants to play with. But then, there are rainy days and I suddenly have to find new things to do with the 50% of our time that's normally spent outside. I thought I'd share some of the things we do. I found age-appropriate computer games at our local library. One in particular that Brayden has enjoyed for several months now is called "Giggles Baby - Animals and Friends". (You can find more info here - no affiliation!) He can make mice race or kitties meow or gophers pop out of holes. I put his high chair right up to the computer so he can easily access the mouse and keyboard. He will sit for 20 or 25 minutes playing these computer games by himself, and sometimes 20 or 25 minutes of a two year old playing quietly by himself is a Godsend! We have visited a few web sites on the Internet -- Noggin and Mickey Mouse Club House, for example -- which Brayden really enjoys. For both these sites I sit with him and and he can point to what he wants to do and I click on the mouse for him. Attention span on each site is about 10 minutes. Another great website we have tried is called TumbleBooks and it is online animated storybooks for little ones! You'll need to have a flash player installed to view the books, but it will be well worth it! If you have a little one that loves books, these are just perfect. They page through automatically, with an audible reader, and each page of the storybook is animated. I loved the AbraCadabra and the Tooth Witch story, myself. Once you get to the initial screen, click on "StoryBooks" to find the books for younger readers. They also have several "Caillou" animated books, which always have such a nice "message" to the story. If you have a little one in your life, you won't want to miss this web site. Oh, and there ARE books for older children here as well! Another cute site for older toddlers and pre-schoolers is the ABC site at StarFall. You click on any alphabet block, and a little animation comes up about that letter. Cute way to introduce your toddler to the alphabet! Think it's impossible to play "peek-a-boo" on the computer? Babies and toddlers will love this web site! Check out the entire Kneebouncers web site while you're there -- lots to do for babies of all ages! Non-computer things we do: Cooking - Brayden likes to dump things into a bowl, so I take advantage of it and we sometimes cook something as easy as cupcakes, or as difficult as homemade soup. Anything that needs to be chopped with a knife is done beforehand, so there are no knives in the area. Crockpot recipes are as good as homemade soups. You need something with 8 or 10 ingredients that can be "dumped" and stirred. And don't forget to have them SMELL -- spices, onions, everything! Explain what it is they are smelling. The Missing Game - I get any four objects I know Brayden can identify verbally. Last week we used a ball, a block, a marble and a gyroscope (he says diediscope). I line them up on the coffee table, and have him say the name of each object. Then I cover them all with a cloth, grab one item and pull the cloth off, with the item hidden in the cloth. Then Brayden tells me what object is missing. He loves playing this! The Front Door game - We have a glass storm door on our front door, so we can do this in any weather. Our staircase is just a few feet from the front door, so I open the door and we sit on the stairs together and talk about what we see. First, I'll say, "Oh, I see so many things! I see..." trees, grass, flowers, a neighbor's truck, a school bus, etc. Then I ask him what he sees. When he tells me something he sees, I'll ask him what color it is... We try and cover blue skies, green grass, yellow flowers -- just to reinforce his colors and his verbal skills. Music - If you have a toddler in the 2-5 year old bracket, you need to have them listen to the music of Laurie Berkner... great stuff! Some of Brayden's favorite songs -- Drive My Car, The BumbleBee Song, Laurie's Got a Skunk on Her Head and more. Check your local library -- they may have it and you can copy it on your PC :) We sing, we act out the music...we chase each other to "I'm gonna get you so you better run..." Good stuff. Sandbox - I took a medium sized cheapo clear plastic storage container that's about 2 feet long, 18 inches wide and 8 inches deep, and bought some sandbox sand ($3 a bag) and filled the container with sand down in my basement. I brought down some kitchen utensils and a dump truck... and away we go. Brayden will play in this little sandbox for at least an hour. Go the the Library! Our public library is one of my very favorite places, so I was overjoyed when Brayden was finally old enough to attend weekly Story Hour, but that's stopped for the summer. So we just go to the library to enjoy ourselves. Our library has board books and toddler books in boxes on the floor, and Brayden picks out 3 or 4 and we sit in the tiny sitting area in the Children's Room and read. He is allowed to take 2 books home with us (one book for each year old is a good rule). If you go to the library, please be sure and teach your child library manners - no pulling books off the shelves, no running, no talking loudly, etc. As someone who has worked at the library, I know that a large majority of parents forget that step and it makes it difficult for everyone. Grocery Shopping - You CAN go grocery shopping with a toddler, honest! I don't do a two-hour monthly shopping marathon, but I can definitely keep Brayden happy for 30 to 45 minutes in the grocery store. Just as we're about to enter, I give him two "jobs" -- "Brayden, your job today is to find Bananas and Yogurt" for example. I choose foods that he eats on a regular basis and knows by site. As we move through the aisles, he's doing his job -- trying to find yogurt and bananas. We talk about things we see, especially in the produce aisles. I let him smell things -- apples, oranges, cantelope, flowers, spices, air freshener, etc. Every once in awhile I remind him of what his job is and ask him if he's found them yet. I generally go to other aisles for 5 or 10 minutes, then go down the aisle that has one of his foods and let him find it. I make a big deal about what a great job he did -- and remind him of his next food to look for. That usually gets me through another half of the grocery store while he's looking. When I'm almost finished we go down the aisle where his last food is located and he's happy all over again. Then we're ready to head to the register and go home. Grocery shopping done, toddler happy, and he wasn't focused on what we weren't buying (junk food, toys) because he was too busy looking for the things we did buy. Completely avoid aisles that you know are going to cause confrontation (candy aisle, toy aisle). When we arrive at the check-out I pull out any "squishable" food and then put Brayden in the cart and have him help me put the food on the check-out counter. This keeps his eyes in the opposite direction of the candy at the check-out lane! We do lots of other things -- coloring, "writing", reading, play-doh and if I'm terribly tired or if he needs something to quiet him down before naptime -- Baby Einstein DVD's. Very rarely do we turn the TV on and very rarely is Brayden ever bored!

Training them young

I had two full days with Brayden Lee this week. My daughter went to a Reds baseball game with friends on Thursday night, and since Friday is my normal day to babysit, I offered to just keep him overnight. (My purely selfish reason was that if she picked him up at 11pm to take him home, he'd be wide awake and not get much sleep, and I'd be stuck with a cranky child on Friday!)

On Thursday evening after dinner (he ate spaghetti - yay! Something other than chicken nuggets!), Brayden and Jeff went out for some hot tub time. (We turn the temp down to 96 and I set a timer for 15 minutes.) How sweet is this photo of Umpa (Jeff) and Brayden? They have such a wonderful relationship -- you can see it in both their eyes!

After the hot tub, Brayden played with his garage and cars for awhile (which is a very calming and quiet activity for him), then it was off to bed to read a story. I have a book called "Ten Little Monkeys" which has been his favorite book at my house since he was old enough to read to (6 months). We hadn't read it for at least a month, so he was happy when I pulled it out. Each page has a little monkey poem, plus a number 1 through 10. On each page, he pointed to the number and asked me what it was. When we got to the page with the big green 10 on it, Brayden said, "Umma! Two Number 10!" and pointed at the page, then flipped the book closed to point at another number 10 on the cover! I thought that was quite clever :)

Brayden hadn't slept at our house for several months, so his "big bed" (our guest bed) was a little strange to him (he naps in my bed normally), so it took him awhile to fall asleep -- about 11pm! He slept until 7am the next morning, which is really about 2-3 hours less than he'd normally sleep.

We decided to clean house before going out (I do try to teach him that we have to do our work first), so Brayden vaccuumed the family room and kitchen for me. How's that for big help?

The most fun we had, though, was when we went to a yard sale I'd seen advertised in the paper (because it had his size clothes and toys). We arrived and walked up the driveway, and Brayden timidly held my hand as I looked around. I did find some great clothes (nearly new Children's Place and OshKosh clothes for 50 cents each!), and asked Brayden if he saw any toy he'd like and he said.. "Ummmmm....... noooooo....." I chose a Hot Wheels Steering Wheel for him to play with in the car, and I found an age-appropriate battery-operated race car for him. He was so excited to play with the steering wheel when we got back in the car! I said to him, "Do you want to go back to Umma's house and play with your race car?" and he said... "One more yard sale!" LOL So off we went.. to one more yard sale...

At the next yard sale, Brayden had the hang of the whole thing. He walked into the garage like he owned the place. I told him to look for a toy to buy, so he began looking at everything around. He walked by so many things I thought he'd like, but about half-way around the tables, he suddenly said, "Umma! Red Elmo cup!" and sure enough, clutched in his little hands was a great plastic cup shaped like Elmo's head... for .10 cents. "Do you want to get that?" "Yes!" and then he kept looking and found a very small toy watering can for another .10 cents. And look what I found for him -- for $3 (it sells on Amazon for $55!).

When we got back to my house, the first thing Brayden wanted to do was have some applejuice in his Elmo cup. He's used to Sippy Cups, so when he took his first drink, he dribbled a bit. He took a look at the cup and said, "No top! Big boy cup!" and was so proud of himself.

We actually had a thoroughly enjoyable day together (which is pretty standard). We cleaned house, went to two yard sales, Brayden had some Umpa time, and we spent time reading, drawing, and playing outside. Brayden is officially the flower-waterer now with his new little watering can, and the morning glory seeds I planted on the back deck have suddenly sprung out of the dirt and are two inches tall since Brayden watered them. It must be the love and absolute joy of a little boy watering his first flowers that made them grow like that.

Walgreens $10 coupon - today only

Head to this website and pick up a $10 off $30 purchase good at Walgreens today only.

Not-so-neighborly neighbors

My next door neighbor is no longer speaking to me. I'm hurt, frustrated, and a bit angry by the entire episode, so thought I'd vent here.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and I grabbed a new quilting magazine and an iced tea, and headed for our back deck to enjoy the weather. Between babysitting and gardening and yard work and this and that, I hadn't had a chance to just sit, relax and enjoy. So that was my plan.

I heard voices next door, and didn't pay much attention. I knew our neighbor was out working in his vegetable garden, and he's a gregarious guy, so I assumed he was just chit-chatting with another neighbor. I looked up a few minutes later and saw six men in shirts with a tree company logo, looking up at the trees in the corner of MY yard, pointing, discussing... Now, my neighbor had jokingly (I thought) told me he wanted me to cut down my trees in the back of our yard because they're blocking the morning sun to his vegetable garden. I thought it was just wishful thinking on his part -- there was no way I was cutting down trees! (Let me add -- his has a HUGE very sunny yard, but his small vegetable garden is in the ONLY shady spot on his property.)

So, I watched the tree men and the neighbor gesturing and pointing and making cutting-sweeps with their hands, all the while looking at MY trees! I walked over to them, and said, "You're not planning on cutting my trees down, are you?" and Neighbor said, "Wellllll... I just want them to cut the TOPS off - not the whole tree." THUD! Are you kidding me?!? I just looked at the tree guys and said, "Those trees are on my property and you don't have my permission to cut them." Honestly, I was in shock -- how could anyone even consider doing that to a neighbor?

The tree in question is this big tree just to the right of the electrical lines. He wanted to "top it off" from the top of the lines up. The electric line pole is the corner of the boundary line -- the tree is obviously to the right of that pole. (And actually we believe we own about 10 feet to the left of the pole as well). That's my vegetable garden you see -- his is about 20 feet to the left of that.

So, very long afternoon later, my neighbor (who drinks way too much, had the day off, and apparently started drinking very early) has cussed at me, told me he was going to build a cement wall down the length of the property boundaries, told me he was never going to speak to me again, and more -- believe me, much more.

Now, this guy has been a GOOD neighbor. Yes, he drinks (I'd actually thought he'd quit but...) and sometimes does some stupid stuff (blow up his pool pump because he mixed too many chemicals; completely burned his garden when he, again, went overboard with insecticides, etc.), but he's also one of those neighbors that would give you the shirt off his back. He brings his snowblower to our driveway every snowstorm and cleans the driveway for us. I bake him brownies in return. He's not the best neighbor, but he's certainly not the worst.

I recognize that all this isn't my fault -- he had no right to call those guys to cut down or even trim our trees. But I'm beside myself because I know he's a good neighbor and I hate that this is going to come between us! He won't listen to reason, he now believes our boundary line is off and wants to get it surveyed (which is really going to be a rude awakening for him, because we actually own far more land than he thinks we do...and have always left that alone)... and worst of all, he turns his back to us when he sees us. It's so sad!!! Jeff went over to reason with him today, and there was just no getting through to him that he had no right to even bring the tree cutters in to "top" our trees. He just won't listen to any of it. He says *I* was beligerent (possible - I was angry) and approached him "in the wrong way" -- well, I'm not sure what the RIGHT way is, when you look outside and see tree cutters about to climb up your trees, but...

Regardless, I'm sad about the entire episode. I attributed his lack of common sense to his drinking, but today is a new day, he's sober, and he's still angry and not speaking. I told him I was sorry if the way I approached him at the time bothered him, and I was truly sorry that he was going to let this come between us as neighbors. He just brushed me off, and later brushed Jeff off as well.

So that's my vent. It didn't do any good or change anything, and apparently things aren't going to change in the near future (until he gets the land surveyed and finds out how much of "his" land we actually own, that is)... I do think he needs to apologize to either Jeff or I for even having called those tree cutters to quote him a fee to cut our trees, but I'd settle for just having my neighbor back again.

Ah well... I guess if this is the worst thing that happens to me this week, I'll be having a pretty darn good week.