Busy week

I have a lot of things I need to get done this week, aside from my regular household cleaning, tending to the garden, babysitting for Brayden, etc. I need to make a list to keep myself organized this week, so here it is:

1. Laundry - including bedding because it drys so quickly out on the line during this hot weather. DONE
2. Meijer's store - Apparently the only place you can buy Cremora in our area these days. I don't normally shop this store, but I need to stop by and buy 10 bottles of Cremora to stock up. I went. No Cremora. That means NO store in our area sells Cremora. Bah humbug.
3. Coupon clipping -- I sent Jeff out to buy two Sunday papers -- he came back with FOUR! All this coupon-ing apparently appeals to the accountant in him :) I have a lot of coupons to clip and my CVS, Walgreens and Kroger deals to plan. DONE
4. Menu-planning - after I do the above.
5. Vet appointment - Tuesday. Oh boy. Joey loves his cage and the trip in the car -- NOT. DONE
6. Time Warner Cable repairman on Friday - Don't even get me started on Time Warner Cable these days. I'm still recovering from getting hung up on, then getting a recording at 10:10 am that their offices weren't open, then having my entire DVR box erase all our taped shows. RRRRR
7. More weeding -- this wet Spring and now hot weather is just been an incubator for weeds. The gardens I weeded just two weeks ago are over-run with weeds again, despite mulching and putting PREEN on them. I'll save this for the end of the week when slightly cooler and less humid weather is supposed to arrive. - DONE
8. Call telephone company to come trim trees hanging over our wires -- this may appease the next-door-neighbor a bit as well, since they are trees near the one he wanted to cut down. Done, but only informed by Cincinnati Bell that they no longer provide this service ahead of time -- they wait for things to break. Higher prices, less service...that's the way these days!
9. Buy a new fountain for the little pond in the front of the house - our plastic turtle has succumbed to plastic-turtle-disease and needs to be replaced.
10. Hair cut - Long overdue!

I now have Brayden on Thursdays and Fridays, so I need to re-arrange my normal weekly schedule. Here's what I've come up with:

• Mondays - Coupon clipping, sale planning, menu planning, other paperwork and filing, possible CVS or Walgreens trip, Laundry (weather permitting)
• Tuesdays - Housework - upstairs
• Wednesday - Housework - downstairs, laundry (weather permitting)
• Thursday - Brayden, gardening
• Friday - Brayden, yard sales, possible 2nd CVS/Walgreens trip if sales warrant it
• Saturday - Quick housecleaning and pickup, grocery shopping
• Sunday - Gardening, relax, fun stuff

CVS Revisted, CVS Rainchecks w/ECB's!

I made another trip to CVS today because they were out of stock earlier this week on several items I wanted. For my $38.00 in purchases, out-of-pocket money today was .07 cents! Here's what I purchased: 2 Chex Mix - $1 each (normally $1.99) 2 Cascade Dishwasher Gels $3.99 each (normally $5.49) 10 cans BumbleBee Tuna - .66 each (great sale - normally $1.99) 1 Listerine Smart Rinse - $3.49 (normally $3.99) Coupons: $3 off $15 CVS purchase $1 off Chex Mix x 2 coupons = $2.00 $1 off Cascade x 2 coupons = $2.00 $1 off Mouthwash I used $13.00 in ECBs. Total amount out-of-pocket: .07 cents I received $3.49 in new ECBs - so I made a profit of $3.42! However, I found out something new about CVS. Earlier this week I went to pick up Chex Mix, and they were out of stock. They issued me a Rain Check with no expiration date for the $5/5 price! I will hold onto this until I find more coupons and, hopefully, get these for free again. They were also out of the $6.99 Oral B toothbrushes - so I asked the store manager about them. He had the cashier issue me a Rain Check for them -- with a note to issue me the $14.98 in ECB's when I purchase them even if it's AFTER the ECB offer date!!! I have no idea if all stores do this, but it's definitely worth the effort to find out!

The Best Things in Life -- are FREE!

I've been cruising the web and frugal blogs today, and came up with some nice freebies. Many of these may have a time limit for availability, so you'll want to take advantage of them "PDQ", as my Mom used to say! FREE 1 yr subscription to Woman's Day Magazine FREE at Home Depot - Buy 1 Shrub, Get 1 free - Printable Coupon FREE (after rebate) bottle of Wish-Bone's new Bountilfuls Salad Dressing - I bought the Hearty Italian and REALLY like it! Tastes like an upscale restaurant salad dressing. If I remember correctly, the price was $1.89 (on sale at Kroger). Printable Coupon - Lowe's - Get $10 off $25 - you have to use a VISA card with this purchase.

One reason not to dust

"Dust Art" - That's right - this piece of art is done on the dust on the back window of a mini-cooper! You can see more "dust art" here.

Summer is here! My Summer To Do List

Although the calendar says summer is still a few days off, the weather says that summer is officially here, with temps in the 90's all this week.

I have a list of annual things I need to get done to prepare for summer living. Here's my list:

1. Wash down all outdoor furniture*
2. Sweep back deck and patio - done
3. Bring stack of firewood to outdoor firepit - done
4. Blow up Brayden's pool - done
5. Put flowers in planters and place around deck - done
6. Put covered trash can near barbeque area.
7. Hang hose reel and hose. Make sure nozel doesn't leak, buy washer at hardware store if it does - done
8. Clean out fountain and put on timer - done
9. Wash patio door - done
10. Check grill propane tank - done
11. Check grill grate - buy new one at Lowe's if needed - done
12. Put up canopy on back deck - done
13. Hang patio lights in canopy roof
14. Put candles on patio table
15. Hang windchime in canopy structure
16. Sweep front sidewalk - done
17. Use Roundup or other weed remover on cement spaces in driveway
18. Sweep front porch, including under porch roof (spider web patrol) - done
19. Shake and sweep Welcome Mat - done
20. Wash front door windows, front door hardware, doorbell - done
21. Polyurethane front porch wicker furniture
22. Plant geranium in gnome - done
23. Paint mailbox (?new color?)

That's all I have for now, but I may think of more as I go!

A helpful hint if your GRILL is looking old and sad. Go to the hardware store and buy a can of black spray paint made for hot surfaces. Tape up any handles and knobs, then spray paint the exterior of your grill. I swear, you will think it's a brand new grill when you're done! And do you know you can buy a new rack for your grill for just a few dollars? I replace mine about every two years just because it starts getting rusty and wearing out in places. You can also buy new lava rocks for your grill at any hardware store. It's easy and more cost efficient to restore an old grill before throwing it away and buying a new one!

Is your OUTDOOR FURNITURE looking tired? If you have resin or plastic furniture, go to any hardware or WallyWorld store and buy a can of spray paint specifically designed for plastics. In just an hour or two you can spray paint life right back into your furniture! We went from tired old green plastic chairs to bright and cheerful yellow and blue (2 of each) for under $10 (3 cans of spray paint).

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!