Deals of the Day

Still have been working on trying to set up this Yard Sale. I got more stuff put out yesterday, but still have a lot to go.

J got the front porch cleaned off, where we've been stashing scrap metal and aluminum. He also hauled off a refrigerator we had been going to repair and sell, but he was having trouble finding the part, or it cost more than he wanted to pay, or something. Anyway, just got tired of it sitting there taking up space, so off it went.
Between the scrap metal and aluminum, he made $68.00 and change.

I decided to try to expand the Yard Sale to the front porch.That was my plan to do today, figure out how to rig up some more tables/display, and tying up wire/rope for hanging clothes.

Then Ryan comes down and says he wants to go to Goodwill or somewhere to look for a suit jacket to wear to his job interview (for an ambulance service) on Friday.

So, we went a thriftin'.

He didn't find anything that fit at the first store, but I found a long-sleeved shirt in what looked like "Autumn Gold" colors on the $1.00 rack, and also a utensil tray for the camper. I'd planned to eventually get one at the Dollar Tree, but paying 50¢ was even better.

 The next thrift store didn't have clothes, and is really more an antique store than thrift store, kinda misleading.

I passed up this large, plastic table for $1.00 even though I could have used it for my Yard Sale. Later I could have painted it with Krylon for Plastics, but then I didn't know what I would do with it after that.  I am getting rid of plastic patio furniture at the Yard Sale, so last thing I needed was to buy more.
But, dang it! It was only a dollar. I should have gotten it.

Neither of us found any Treasures at the next couple of thrift stores or the Goodwill, and he ended up finding what he needed at Kohl's.

On the way home we stopped into Walgreens to pick up some sale items.
They have Oscar Meyer bacon, 2/$8.00 and then I earned back 2,000 Points, which I can redeem later for $2.00, making the bacon $3.00 each.
This bacon is usually $7.98 a pound, so $3.00 is a great price to stock up.

I had planned to use my Points to pay for the Vitamin Water, but the Know-it-All Manager (the kind who thinks they know it all but are typically wrong) told me I couldn't redeem Points to buy an item that was supposed to give me a Register Reward back. Which, of course, was wrong.
But I didn't argue, and just paid $1.50 for the Vitamin Water, and got back a $1.50 RR (Register Reward), making the Vitamin Water free.

The tuna is on sale for 79¢ a can (Tuna is typically around $1.00 a can). I spent my $1.50 RR and paid 13¢ cash.

Then we stopped in at Kroger grocery store because they're having a Buy 4 (specified items), Get Free milk.
I needed cereal, and I needed milk, so that works out good for me.
Usually works out better when better cereal choices are offered.  There wasn't many varieties included in the deal, and we don't like at least half of them.

Only two kinds were included that matched the coupons I had: 50¢ off Rice Krispies, and $1.00/3 Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks (some other kind I can't remember).  Out of all the cereal listed on the coupon, only Frosted Flakes were included, so I ended up having to get 3 boxes of Frosted Flakes.

Oh well, we eat them...but we like Corn Pops better!

The cereal is on sale 4/$10, or $2.50 each.
I used 50¢ and $1.00/3 coupons = $8.50, or $2.12 each + free Milk.

I don't usually pay as much as $2.12 for cereal, but in the cases where cereal is on sale for $1.99 and I have a 50¢ (or less) coupon and end up paying around $1.50 or so for cereal, then I still have to buy Milk. Milk at $3.58 divided by 4 boxes of cereal adds about 90¢ onto each box.

Bonus!
I'll enter my Three codes from my specially marked boxes and get a free book from Scholastic. 

When we got back home, all I wanted was a nap. I didn't take a nap (I'd have been up all night), but I didn't get any work done outside, either. 

Tomorrow morning I'm going to the food give away at a local food pantry, then hopefully after that I can get some more setting up done.

Beyond that, I'm going to just end up carting boxes full of whatever out in the driveway and let people have to weed through them. I hate doing that but dang, this has become such a big ordeal, when I'm pretty sure it should be a lot simpler.

Today's Shop

Today I got all this - including a turkey - for less than $20.00.

Publix Cost $17.90
Saved $113.51

Kroger grocery store is having a Buy 10 get $5.00 off Mega sale this week...These mega sales used to be awesome, until the stopped doubling coupons. Blech.

But they have (had) marshmallows for 69¢, which even without a coupon is a great price. Knowing I'm going to be making a few Rice Krispy Treats for the Holidays, it would not be smart of me to wait until next month and have to pay full price ($1.00 +) for marshmellers when I could get them for 69¢ now.

I visited a Kroger earlier in the week, with no luck finding the 10oz bags of regular marshmallows. Not even an empty spot.
I came home and checked the internet again, to make sure I was looking for the right item. I was.
Another day, checked another store. Nope. Another day, another store. Still nope.
Checked another store today and nope, so I went to the Customer Service desk to try to get them to check a computer or call a central office or something, anything, to find out where I get some freeking marshmallows.
Manager took my name and is going to have "his person" check on it and call me.

Meantime, I went to Walmart and got them to price match it for me.
Walmart is generally really difficult to deal with around here and I would have preferred to have not tried price matching since I didn't have a printed ad to prove the sale price, but the mega sale ends tomorrow so I was desperate and had to try.
Luckily I didn't have any trouble. This time.

Cat Sitting, Coupon Shopping & Yard Sale'ing

Most of my Readers probably don't know that a year or so ago, I used to be an Extreme Coupon Shopper. I used buy like 10 Sunday papers a week (when I could get them for $1.00) and collect coupons from everyone and free papers, and I'd make my Shopping Route so I could spend one or two or sometimes more days a week traveling to multiple stores, where I'd "buy" 10, 20, and sometimes even more of the items I was getting good deals on. The majority of the time I'd not only get the items for free, but I'd end up making money. (Not cash money, but I'd use the credit to buy other stuff I needed that might not be on sale).
But then a lot of people started getting into the Super Couponing game, and didn't take the time to learn and used coupons wrong, then that terrible show Extreme Couponing came out and showed people to use coupons wrong, and the stores were like, "Nope", and changed all their rules and limits.

The limits, and all the others getting into the game, were the worst for me because I have to drive a minimum of 30 miles to the nearest store(s) that I can get the deals at. When I started coming home with Limit 1 or 2 at the most, it made it not worthwhile for me to continue.

Now I really only coupon shop if the deal is worth my gas/time/effort, or if I'm going by the store anyway.

This week I got a job checking on a man's house and feeding/petting his Kitties for two days. I actually was going to do it for free, but he insisted on paying for my gas at least. Anyway, my route to his house took me by a drug store and a couple of grocery stores that I can sometimes get some good deals at, so I went to the Shopper Blogs that list out the sales and coupon matches every week to see what there was.

I had said I wasn't going to buy Halloween candy until at least October 1st, but I saw Walgreens was having a great deal on candy, only $1.00 a bag after sale + coupons, and the cereal was only 67¢ a box.

All this cost me only $7.68 plus tax. (Regular price before sale and coupons $49.48)

If you want to see how I did it you can check out my post at my (nearly defunct) shopper's blog, Walgreens 9/19/13.

Our Publix grocery store ends sales on Wednesday and starts the new week on Thursday (no idea why), but since my job carried me by the store on both Wednesday and Thursday, I checked out the sales for both days.

Yesterday I got all this for $8.33 plus tax. Basically I paid for the ice cream and the rest was free.
 

Today I got all this for negative 18¢. That is, I would have gotten it all free plus they would have paid me 18¢ had it not been for tax. Tax was $2.22, so minus the 18¢, I paid $2.04.
Can't complain about that too much.

If you're in an area that has Publix stores and want to see the coupons I used check out Publix post.

I also stopped in at Kroger grocery store since I was driving past it, too. Blugh.
Kroger has some good sales every so often, especially their Mega sales, but for the most part, not. And this is the last week Kroger's will be doubling coupons in our area, which will make for even less good deals than they already are.

I had a list of several items to pick up, but when I got to the store, for the most part the prices didn't match up to what I read on the blogs, and they were out of the Glade plug-in warmers (no big loss, they don't even include the smelly stuff.)

The Crest was $1.00, and I had a 50¢ coupon that doubled, so I got it free, and the Lettuce is on sale for 99¢ this week, which is a good price for around here. I usually pay $1.19 and up.
Total cost $1.06

The guy whose house and Kitties I was keeping an eye on this week gave me this box of quart size jars and lids Free. Very awesome. I love jars.

I wasn't expecting it on a Thursday, but there were quite a few yard sales going today, so we stopped in to check them out. Because, you know, I need more Stuff. lol.

The first we stopped in, the lady had awesome prices. Too awesome for us, the people that got there before we did were putting everything in piles for themselves and bought all the good stuff, I guess.

This yard sale didn't have much of their stuff priced. Some of it was, and when we walked up they said "Don't worry about the prices, we're making good deals today. Just gather up everything you want and...." (I forgot her exact words. Anyway, I was expecting some really good prices. I asked about a small crockpot and they wanted $2.00 for it. Probably a good deal, but not good enough I couldn't pass it up.

I saw some patterns and one was priced 25¢, the others weren't priced. Ryan has been wanting a vest (or vests), looking at Goodwill for any, so I thought I could get this pattern and give it a try.
Also picked up the backpack sack with the name of the local hospital on it, figuring it couldn't cost too much, with the "great deals" they were going to give us.

So I went to the porch and the lady comes over and says, "Mmm, how about a dollar?"
Umm, how about not.
I said that I thought it'd be cheaper so she said "How about 50¢?"
That was better. Somewhat. Not a "great deal". Maybe a regular deal.

The next yard sale had everything priced...most of it kinda high for my tastes. I found these packages of spider webbing for 25¢, and the little cauldron candle for 10¢. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend 50¢ on spider webbing, but I was afraid it'd get closer to Halloween and I'll end up wishing I had some, and kicking myself for not getting it when I could get two bags for 50¢.

Next we stopped at an Estate Sale, which by the name tells you everything is going to be costly. And it was. There was some nice things, maybe worth what they were asking, but then again they had some regular type stuff that should have only been a quarter or so priced at 2 bucks and up.

I did find this little contraption. Not sure what it is, but it's metal and folds up like this, then opens up into a bowl. I can't remember having seen anything like this before. It's unique, I think, and will make a good fruit basket-bowl.

I loved this metal (aluminum, I think) colander for 25¢.

I believe this is going to be my best find of the day. Vintage Fisher Price Goldilocks and 3 Bears (although there's only 2 bears there) pull along toy for $1.00.  This toy is about my, or my sister's age, and we had one as young'uns. I love old toys from my childhood, but usually they're tagged "Vintage" or sometimes even Lord forbid "Antique" and priced accordingly (aka ridiculously).

My Week

or two? I have lost all concept of time and Days of the Week now. Lost several days after my surgical procedure while I was taking Vicodin and sleeping a lot. Drugs knock me out.

And then it started raining. It's been raining for three, or maybe more, days now. I know, not as many days as it has been raining on others, but it's not a competition, merely a statement that the gray, dreary, rainy days make me lazy and sleepy. I've been laying around reading a lot.

I also started watching Sons of Anarchy on Netflix.
I never had watched it before. No real reason, just wasn't interested.
I'm not much of a tv watcher anyway. What little I do watch, I prefer movies, with a beginning and an ending. With tv shows, I tend to lose interest before it's done.

I don't know what made me decide to up and watch SOA the other day -

Oh, now I remember. One of the books I read this week was Kristen Ashley's latest release Fire Inside , and I liked it.

I've read most of her other books, and mostly enjoyed them, but I can't honestly say I really liked them, mainly because I can't hardly process her style of writing. My mind isn't that acrobatic.
I did like Fire Inside , though. It's her third "Chaos" Motorcycle Club novel...well, technically we were introduced to "Chaos" several books ago, and officially brought in in the last "Dream Man" book so this is actually only the second "Chaos" story, but anyway, I seem to recall having maybe heard or read that the books were similar to or the idea came from the SOA series.
Then I was interested in checking out the show.

It's an okay show, I guess.  Not a huge fan of blonde guys, his droopy pants, or how awful their postures are while riding their motorcycles, with their shoulders up around their ears. Kills me. Sit the heck up straight, lol.
I kindly also expected more raunchy, hard core sex. And the f-word.

The weather was terrible for the 4th, it was rainy and kindly chilly and all the fireworks shows around us were cancelled. I fixed chicken-gravy & toast and we stayed in and lounged around in our pjs all day.
It seemed more like a Saturday than  Holiday.

Then J was off yesterday, too. We piddled around and worked on a kitchen project. So when he had to get up and go to work this morning, I thought it was Monday.

A dreary, nasty rainy Monday. I didn't have anywhere to be (that I knew of) so I laid in bed watching SOA episodes.
Ryan came down and said he was going to meet a guy about buying a gun scope...during that conversation I learned it was actually Saturday - not Monday, and recalled that I had needed to go to the grocery store to shop the Mega Sale one last time before it ended this week, so I got up and dressed and rode along with him.

The Mega Sale deal was "Buy 10 get $5.00 off" participating items. That made the pizzas 79¢, the Country Time and Kool-Aid 99¢, the Green Giant frozen veggies 99¢, and the cereal $1.99 each.

I had $1.00/2 coupons for the drink mix, making them 49¢ each, $1.00/3 on the Green Giant veggies making them about 66¢ each, $1.00/3 and $1.00/5 the pizzas making them 46¢ or 59¢ each.
For the cereal I had coupons ranging from $1.00 or 33¢ off, but I also bought a couple of boxes for the full $1.99 price because that's still a really good price. Sometimes I pay around that much for a smaller box of non-name-brand cereal at Aldi.

The Tostito's salsa's were free, and the Jelly Cream pies I bought because I don't have nearly enough flab on my thighs, lol.

I haven't tallied my transactions yet, but I'm pretty sure I saved at least 70%.

While we were in Carrollton, we visited a favorite store of ours, Robinson's Salvage.
Different from thrift stores with used merchandise, Robinson's sells new items that have been sold as salvage or close-outs.

We used to keep a set of jumper cables in each of our vehicles, but somehow they have all managed to disappear and we've been needing some. We found a set (looked for more but didn't find any) priced $6.00 with 40% off, making them only $3.60.

The Stanley brackets and hinges were marked $2.00 and $3.00-some-odd-change, so I only paid $1.00-something each for those. Hoping they'll work with our recent kitchen project.

And then I happened to see the fire department purse.
I don't purse shop, so it had to be the fire department emblems on it that caught my attention.

The purse was marked $20.00, with 60% off, so I expected to pay $8.00 for it, but turned out it was 70% off, so it was only $6.00. Sweet.

I didn't even know until I got home and was checking it out that it came with a zip-up make-up bag and a cellphone holder with a fire engine on them.

Before anyone asks, like the jumper cables, it was the only one we could find. For the price I would have definitely bought several to either re-sell or give as gifts.

Last but not least, despite my lazing around this past week or so, I managed to score a large bag of fabrics and a Valance for Free from Freecycle.

Most of it is pillow-panel and quilt blocks material. I don't need pillows, nor do I quilt, so I'll likely pass those along to someone else, my Mom or Sister or maybe my cousin who said she was signed up for a sewing class at the local recreation-education thing. These would make good practice sewing for her.