Thank you, TVA. I don’t like you. January 30, 2009

I never thought I would be thrilled to receive a $205 electric bill! It’s the highest one we’ve ever had, but I was terrified it would be in the $300-400 range like some of my friends got last month. See, it DOES pay to be freezing cold all the time and scream like a crazy person at any poor soul who leaves a light on! This was only $5 more than last month, so the next one should be our last high one of the year. I guess I better get some more cozy slippers.

Ironically, Baby Girl still wants to be naked all the time. Apparently, she didn’t inherit my low body temperature and thin blood.

Stupid cold snap.

How to get cold meds in 26 easy steps January 23, 2009

Geez. Have you tried to buy cold medicine lately?

I had to sign a document at the pharmacy counter acknowledging my purchase of a “methamphetamine precursor,” first of all. Then, when the price didn’t scan correctly, I had to be escorted (because, you know, I couldn’t actually HAVE the medicine yet) to customer service by the pharmacy technician. Apparently, the cash registers at the pharmacy counter don’t “do” price corrections (doubtful).  I eventually got my Advil Cold & Sinus, after many sighs and eye rolls. I was exhausted, I tell you.  I was so flustered that I totally forgot to use the coupon that was in my blasted pocket, so I got to pay full price for my practically-black-market goods. Even better.

Laugh at me (C’mon, it’ll be fun) January 17, 2009

Okay, I know myself. I know that I am distracted (ditzy, even). My evidence is piling up by the week, though.  Over the past week, I have done the following:

• found  myself completely and paralyzingly unable to come up with my own address. I could name the street, but the house number was just GONE. It wasn’t that whole “right on the tip of my tongue” thing, either. Total black hole where that information was stored. Had to ask Andrew.
• gotten lost in a school with a kid in tow. I left the office I was borrowing, got the kiddo from his classroom, and could not find my way back. In my defense, this school is designed in the shape of a wagon wheel with spokes (ridiculous, right?).
• put Baby Girl’s shoes on the wrong feet, then insisted there was nothing wrong with them. I also made her wear footed pajamas with a sock wadded in the bottom of one foot, until she said cheerfully, “What’s in there my foot?”
• left a pan cooking on my stove from 6pm until 1:30 am. I was attempting to make chicken stock, so it needed to simmer from 6 to about 10. I just went on to bed, of course. Though it didn’t actually burn totally down to nothing (amazingly), the whole house still smells like burnt chicken and smoke. Awesome. Bonus points because the smoke detectors didn’t get set off at 1 am when I bolted out of bed because I was dreaming about chicken noodle soup.
• While painting, I think I washed my paintbrush in my cup of wine instead of my water cup. Again, in my defense, they were both plastic red cups (classy, I know–I don’t think they’re really allowed to have beverages at the place where we were). Either that, or I just lost my cup somehow. The resulting painting is sort of ugly but doesn’t seem to smell. I would like it noted that I did this before I had taken more than about two sips of my wine–I am completely dimwitted BEFORE the application of any adult beverage, thankyouverymuch.
• driven to the wrong school (at least 1/2 way) a few times–that’s pretty typical for me. It’s a big county.

I’m sure there are more, but that’s all I can recall. I just pray Baby Girl gets her daddy’s common sense. Or that she’s really, really pretty. Either way.

Adoption money January 9, 2009

I have $900 to deposit in our adoption account tomorrow. I’m so excited! Some of it is Christmas money from our parents, a mileage check from work, birthday money from Grandma Adams, and a big fat surprise bonus check from our mortgage company (overpaid escrow last year). Yippee!

Trying the coupon thing… January 7, 2009

Okay, I got sucked into the world of crazy-couponer-blogs, but I’m back now. If you want to see some people who are FOR REAL SERIOUS about this, especially CVS and Walgreens, just google “CVS game” and prepare to be amazed. They also link you to all their online coupons they used for all items and what Sunday’s insert the coupons came from–I am not quite that cool. My deal is that I’m just trying to save money on what we need to buy anyway, and I see no need to buy a snazzy glucose meter, even if it is FREE and will give me a hundred imaginary CVS dollars (I made that up). My whole point is to simplify, right?

I have bought 2-3 Sunday papers for the past few weeks and started a coupon stash. I have also printed a few coupons online, but very few. I obsessively read blogs to see what others were doing, picked out the things I thought I could actually apply, and tried it. I’m still learning, but here are some highlights.

Walgreens, 1st trip:

When you get there, pick up the sale ad and these little blue booklets (called Easy Saver Catalogs). They all have coupons you can use right then, and you are allowed to use 2 coupons per item (1 manufactuer’s coupon + 1 Walgreens coupon). The only trick is that you can’t have more coupons than items, so you might have to throw in a little candy item or something to up your item count (it doesn’t matter how much it costs–I bought $0.50 Skittles to do this, for example).

(I’m not going to list everything I bought because I’m lazy)

Electrasol Dishwasher Tabs, 3.49 (used 2.50 mfg coupon, and submitted 1.50 rebate, so eventually free)

Loreal lipstick x2 on clearance, 2.39 (used 2.00 mfg coupon on each, so .39 each)

Aquafresh toothpaste, 3.79 (used 2.00 man coupon, not a really great deal because I thought it was marked cheaper)

Garnier Fructis Shampoos/Conditioners x4, 2.99 (for each: used an EasySaver Catalog coupon for 2.00, + mfg coupon for 1.00, so free)**even without my other clipped coupon, they would be .99, so great deal

Garnier Fructis Hair Putty, clearance 2.19 from 4.99 (used 1.00 mfg coupon, so 1.19)

Walgreens sale savings, 19.50, Mfg coupon savings 13.50, Total savings 33.00

ETA: The Reese’s whips are also 2/$1 at Kroger, so you can use the coupon from Sunday’s paper to get those free there, too.

Kroger:

Kroger doubles all coupons up to .50 cents. As far as I can tell, no other major hoops to jump through, though I suggest you select a nice-looking cashier just in case one of your coupons beeps (some are friendlier than others).

Okay, that receipt is really hard to decipher (I don’t read register), so here are the few things that were really cheap:

Coffee-mate liquid creamer, 2.15 (used .50 man coupon, so 1.15 final price each)

Holiday Cinnamon Spice Quaker Oatmeal x3 (the only kind BG will eat, of course), .99 on back clearance rack (and I found a 1.00 coupon today, so they could have been free

Powerade Zero 32 oz, 1.60 (used 1.00 man coupon on each, so .60)

Snapple Green Tea, individual size 1.00 (used .75 coupon, so .25 each)

Tyson Chicken Quarters, 8.25 (manager’s special markdown 5.40)

Small Suave lotion x2, 1.00 (used 1.00 man coupon, so free)

Suave body wash, 1.67 (used 1.00 man coupon, so .67 each)

Softsoap hand soap, .99 (used .35 man coupon, so .30)

Lightlife vegetarian “meat slices” 1.29 managers special (used 1.00 man coupon, so .29)

Colgate toothpaste x2, 2.00 each (used 1.00 man coupons, so 1.00 each)

Kroger Plus savings 17.68 (doesn’t really count–we all get that!), Mfg coupons 10.65, doubled coupons 3.15, Total Savings on 51 items 31.48

Walgreens, trip 2:

One of my coupons “beeped,” so I didn’t push it (the register wouldn’t accept it). I realized later this was a mistake and it should have applied, so I’ll be more careful next time. This cashier was really nice and cheered for me when it showed I saved so much!

Did the whole Garnier Fructis Shampoo again for 3 more bottles free, ended up paying .99 for one that beeped

Reynolds Wrap 20 ft, 1.69 (used Walgreens coupon to make it 1.00, then used 1.00 Mfg coupon to make it free)

Walgreens brand TP, .89 (used Walgreens coupon to make it .50 each)

Two Reese’s candy bars (used a coupon for those, but I can’t read the receipt!)

Bag of Skittles for filler to make my # of items equal my number of coupons

Walgreens coupon savings 1.48, Walgreens sale savings 2.90, Mfg coupons 8.00, Total savings 12.39 (paid 3.14 out of pocket)

Okay, and just a little tip for you for reading all that garbage…go to coupons.com and look at the household coupons. There is a .50 coupon for Cottonelle toilet paper. You can print it twice from each computer. When it doubles at Kroger, you can get the 4-pack of Cottonelle TP for free! That’s my favorite so far. No muss, no fuss.

Whew! That was much harder to write than my regular ramblings. Stay tuned for more mundane details on potty-training, Dora panties, and my current life.

Baby Girls Charms Rite Aid Stranger January 7, 2009

Maybe we were looking especially ragamuffin-chic that day…

Baby Girl and I ran into the local drugstore before church grab a few Sunday papers (great coupons this week-5 inserts!). When we walked in, BG spotted a huge display of giant Diego/Dora the Explorer dolls on the clearance rack. She jumped up and down and squealed (you’ve all see this behavior), screaming “Eigo! Eigo!” We laughed and moved on down the aisle to look at other things, then bought our papers. As we were leaving, a sweet lady came up to us and asked us if she could buy that doll for BG. Honestly, I really didn’t know what to say (also, they were marked $20 and I wasn’t positive they were really on clearance). She said BG hadn’t asked for it (little does she know I’ve tried to keep her from understanding toys at the store can actually be purchased by us, not just Grandma ), but would obviously love it. She said she loved kids and didn’t have grand-kids to spoil. I think I said it was okay, and then I was deaf from BG’s happy reaction. She hugged it, declared it her best friend, and hugged the lady’s knees. Diego went to church with us, obviously.  It was a very sweet thing to do, and a 75% off Diego made this little girl very happy. Now I need to watch for a chance to do the same thing (but not that violently tantruming kiddo I saw last night at Walgreens).

Lessons learned at Wal-mart January 2, 2009

Okay, not doing THAT again. I hardly ever shop at Wal-mart anymore (just sort of drifted away, no specific moral objection or anything). Both of my parents are employed by them, so that’s kind of ironic. However, I occasionally find myself tempted by some specific item that I think will be cheaper there, and I find myself struggling into their incredibly tight parking lot. I had a moment of insanity today and decided to make a grocery run there (mostly because I was going to the ATM to replenish our cash envelopes, and it’s just right there).

Here’s what I learned. Learn from me, kiddies:

• If you absolutely must go, do not go on Friday (payday). This is important.
• I learned that I can’t do my whole coupon/strategy/calculator thing there. I couldn’t even hear myself THINK. Madness. I did manage to get some good deals and get what was on my list, but it was impossible to manage my list, coupons, and everything else when people were ramming into my cart every 4.3 seconds.
• I’m not convinced the deals are better. I know they have great prices on lots of individual things, but I have had better luck matching coupons with sales at Kroger and Publix. I could also concentrate on what I was doing/buying leave those stores without feeling like I had just run a freakin’ marathon. Yes, I know that there are people out there who actually run marathons, and this doesn’t even begin to compare. I’m a wimp. Just let me use the metaphor, huh?
• It took me 95 minutes to get a not-even-full cart of groceries. I could do that in half the time at Kroger/Publix.
• This only happens to me at Wal-mart now, I swear: getting hit on. I had taken my wedding rings off and accidentally left them at home. Not one, not two, but three lovely young gentlemen asked me out (two quite politely, one not so much). I actually felt really bad for one guy, who when I said I was married (with a nice, apologetic smile), informed me it was kinder to just say no (and not just lie and say I was married). What do you say to that, exactly? Whip out a marriage certificate?
• If you can imagine a product, there was a version produced this holiday season with Hannah Montana’s face on it. Trust me–I saw them all this afternoon. They are currently priced 75% off, if you’re interested.
• People will actually wait in their cars for tens of minutes, blocking the entire lane all the while, for a family of 6 to load in all their groceries and children, rather than walk 20 extra feet from a readily available parking space. Amazing.

That’s all for now. I’m trying out some new crockpot recipes, so I’ll let you know how that turns out.

__________________________________

Oh MY. I can’t believe I was about to log off without posting this little gem. I asked Andrew to haul the Christmas tree back up to the attic (which was very traumatic for Baby Girl, by the way. She wants Christmas to stay forever now that she knows presents are involved). He let his deep resentment at being nagged asked to complete such a menial task be known, in his own special way.

Happy New Year, Vanessa:

What? That’s not what you wanted?

And that, my friends, is why you should put your dirty clothes neatly into a hamper instead of in a pile on your closet floor. You just might end up with fiberglass insulation on your favorite jeans and underwear. Just maybe.