Cooking Oil Goblin

I can't seem to keep cooking oil in the house. I rarely use it, and DH says he rarely uses it, but we are always out. I think we must have a goblin who loves cooking oil. I had to make an unplanned Albertsons run Tuesday night for the oil. Not wanting to waste a trip, I took my binder and three double coupons with me. I picked up two more doubles from the ads in the store.

I spent a total of $10.12. $4.77 of that was the steak sauce. I had three $2/1 coupons that expired that night. The smallest bottle Albertsons had was $3.59. I got the sauce for $1.59 each and made DH very happy.

2 Gatorades - Free (Catalinas which printed from Right Guard purchase previous week)
Cakesters - $.99
2 Toothpaste - Free
Baked Tostitos - $.79
Coffee Mate - Free
Oil - $2.39
Peaches - $1.00

Last night I got four pints of Breyer's ice cream for free. Plus a $4 Catalina good on any five Breyer's products. So we will be doing this deal again and getting our ice cream for $.20 a pint. We definitely buy a lot of ice cream in the summer. With DH and 170 pounds of dogs, it goes fast!

Blueberries and Bras

DS began his blueberry picking job yesterday. He said it wasn't difficult, just boring. Do you ever think about people who work in factories, doing the same job over and over? In my early 20's I worked in the accounting department of a company which manufactured bra cups. They made other things too, but the bra cups were their main product. For real, Moldex/Metric in Culver City, CA.

Mexican women sewed all day long. This was a reputable company, no one was being exploited. I used to wonder how a person could sit behind a machine 40 plus hours a week, for oh, 20 or so years. My young mind didn't realize you do what you have to do. I remember a woman who worked in the office too. Her name was Josie and she was just a few years older than me. She had a three year old daughter out of wedlock and then married a great guy named Fernando and was pregnant again.

Josie and I became fast friends and I was included in all the family celebrations. There I would be, the only blond head in the crowd, understanding about 20% of what was said to me, and having a blast. I was always made to feel welcome. Fernando and Josie had were able to buy a tiny little house in Inglewood, directly under the flight path of LAX. Your typical California home buying experience. Pay 10 times what you would pay anywhere else in the country, and be happy to do it.

I remember vividly Josie getting her paycheck on Friday and taking it to the bank on her lunch hour. Often I would ride with her. She had no checking account. She had a savings account. And she had her list of what bills needed to be paid that week. She got money orders for those bills, kept out enough cash for gas and groceries, and put what was left into the savings account. No credit cards so of course, no debt. If they didn't have the money for something, they didn't buy it. Interesting concept.......

Hot Dog! and ice cream, too

I had to pick up a prescription, so got in a little bargain shopping too.

Albertsons:

2 pkgs. Hebrew National hot dogs @ $3.99 each = $7.98
Minus two $1/1 coupons and two double coupons = $4.00
Total paid: $3.98 plus received a survey offer on the receipt ($2 off next purchase)

Walgreens:

8 pints Starbucks ice cream BOGO at $4.79 = $19.16
Minus eight $2/1 coupons = $16.00
Total paid: $3.16

Hubby and the dogs are BIG ice cream fans. So far this summer I've gotten their ice cream super cheap (Breyer's for $1 a carton, and now this Starbucks for $.40 a pint). I would not be able to afford these things at regular price.

Common Sense.....

.....you can't teach it, buy it, rent it, or have it surgically implanted. Now the three people who read my blog on a regular basis know how much I love my son. He's my only child (that I know of) and he's brilliant on so many different levels. Every once in a while though, I wonder about him.

He opened a 16 oz. bottle of Nestle Chocolate Milk (free of course) about midnight last night. Early this morning I noticed the bottle sitting on his bedside table. I just assumed he finished it before he went to sleep. He rolls out of bed about 2:00 pm and I asked him about the milk. I said, "You cannot leave milk out overnight, it will go bad." He said, "I just had some" and I replied, "Good luck with that." I know, I remind you of June Cleaver, right?

A few months ago I gave him an Advil and told him to be sure to take it with food because otherwise he'd get an upset stomach. Next thing I know he's standing in front of me with this horrible look on his face and a mouth of full of bread and one Advil - both bread and Advil being in various stages of mastication. "You said to take it with food Mom!" He's a very literal boy.

I Crack Myself UP

If you've ever taken any college classes having to do with medicine (chemistry, biology, A&P, etc.) you know how perfect the hygiene students are. I will leave it at that because yes, I was jealous and apparently I still am.

This is a magnet (2.5x3.5 inches) and it's for sale on eBay and Etsy.

Albertsons Run

The lady in front of me spent $208 on her groceries. I like to get behind people who are buying a lot of things, just to see if they use coupons and what their final total is. I definitely need to get a life....LOL. She bought a lot of exotic fruits and veggies, even her garlic was inside a little net bag. Didn't use one coupon though.

Here are my non-exotic purchases:

1 gallon 2% milk
1 8 oz. pkg. Tillamook Swiss cheese
1 lb. Carolina Honey Turkey from deli
Bunch of bananas
2 pkgs. Oscar Mayer Premium hot dogs
1 loaf bread
1 pkg. bagels
1 pkg. hot dog buns
2 pkgs. Kraft Pasta Salad
3 pkgs. Taco Bell taco shells
25 pouches Starkist Tuna

Total without sales and coupons: $85.66
Total after sales and coupons: $19.63. Received $5.00 in Catalina coupons for buying the tuna.

Total OOP: $14.63

Of course the $85.66 reflects the prices if none of this was on sale. The stores don't make it easy for you to get the rock bottom price. Buy certain items in groups of 10 and they take $.50 off each item. You have to be very careful and count and then count again. You have to be sure you have the correct number of items in the correct sizes. Getting nine out of 10 means you are SOL, discount wise. It's definitely a challenge, but that's what makes it fun!

.....AFRICA HOTTTTTTTT

I would love to have a summer place in Australia, but not much chance of that happening. A semi would have to land on me to get those kind of bucks.

Juneau normally blows his coat in May. It's a three week event of hairnormous proportions. He has been blowing another coat this past week. Hubby and I disagree about dates and times of the blowing. Bottom line is this is not usual for the dog. Does this mean it will be a really hot summer? At least the fireworks don't bother him.

Miss Jessie is on everyone's very last nerve. There is no comforting her. Years ago I was talking to one of our vets about Jessie's reaction to fireworks. This doctor was quite competent I felt, but odd. Just an odd duck and someone I could never establish a rapport with. I can find some common ground with 99% of people, almost immediately. Not this guy. He had no visible sense of humor. The more I tried to find something to make him smile, the more he stared at me with this disgusted/bored look. The more he stared, the more nervous I got and the more I kept trying. Kind of like when you're having a pap smear and you begin this stream of random chatter - as if the chatter will magically transport you to some happy place. Good thing this guy went into animal medicine. He never would have made it as a gyno.

So, the doctor was prescribing tranquilizers (they didn't work) and I commented that here was a dog who would rush full speed out the door into a totally dark backyard, to face who knows what. No fear or hesitation when running through that black hole. Yet let a firework go off two streets away and she was beyond scared. He looked at me like I was the most stupid person he had ever seen and said something about not being able to apply reason to a dog's paranoia. Either he's an uptight jerk, or I'm a total blond airhead idiot. Or maybe it's a little of both.

At the visit before that one, I had asked if he felt it was odd that every night after dinner we had a family howl to just reinforce our "pack." I was expecting him to chuckle and say he had heard of people doing that, or make a comment about that being a good idea. Nope. He gave me the same disgusted/bored look and asked, "Do the dogs howl too?" I said they did and he said, "Then I guess it's not odd."

We see a different vet now.

Walgreens aka WAGS

Hello Frugal Friends! Here are this evening's Walgreens purchases. I did four separate transactions. I didn't have to do four transactions but doing so helps me keep things straight. It's easy for me to forget to use a coupon or RR if I have too many items at once.

Transaction #1:

A promo where you buy $20 worth of participating products and get a $5 RR back. I purchased:

3 boxes Kraft mac and cheese 3 for $5
4 boxes Capri Sun $2 each
4 pkgs Chips Ahoy $2 each
Sub Total: $21.66

I had $9.50 in manufacturers coupons and then used $6.00 of RR's. I paid $6.16 cash and got back a $5 RR. Total OOP was $1.16.

Transaction #2:

5 cans Oust spray $2.99 each
1 banana cake square (filler) $.99
Sub Total: $17.17

I had 5/$2.00 off Oust coupons and also used a $3 RR. Total OOP was $4.17.

Transaction #3:

2 1-liter bottles Listerine with bonus bottles attached (score!) $4.50 each
Sub Total: $9.00

I had 2/$2.00 off Listerine coupons. I paid $5.74 cash and got back a $3 RR. Total OOP was $2.74.

Transaction #4:

3 bottles Excedrin (one had a second box attached for free) $9.98
1 purse size tissue (filler) $.29
1 vanilla caramel (filler) $.39
Sub Total: $10.66

I used $3 in Excedrin coupons and $5 in RR's. I paid $3.50 and got back a $5 RR. Total profit was $1.50.

Final Tally: $6.57 for everything

Deals of the Day

Went to Safeway and picked up six packages of Mission white corn tortillas (30 count) for $.24 each. They were on sale for $.99 and I had coupons for $.75 off each package. "They" say tortillas will freeze just fine. Let's hope "they" are correct.

I also got a 44-load bottle of Arm & Hammer laundry detergent for $.99. We have three bottles of ALL detergent already, but at $.99 I couldn't pass up this deal.

In the past few days I have also purchased peaches, bananas, romaine lettuce, celery, cucumber, mushrooms, 93% lean organic ground beef and string cheese. I really do buy healthy food too!

I created the frog last summer.

A Good Day

Doesn't this look like a great place to spend a day or week or month?

Today was a good day. I turned the corner on this cold ~ thank you Jesus. My son returned safely from his four day mini-camp. His pastor was speaking at this camp and took my son and another boy along as helpers. They went rafting, climbed a rock wall and did scary things with ropes. I'm sure they spent some time concentrating on the Lord too!

We sold some stuff. I washed my hair in the shower and it only hurt a fraction of how much it usually does ~ thank you Jesus once again. I received a lovely email from my ex-husband's wife. She is always so kind to me. My BFF had a good first day at school. Our neighbor gave us a gorgeous coffee table. Just gave it to us.

I caught most of Ralphie May's newest DVD Austin Tatious, on Comedy Central tonight. I can cross that DVD off my wish list though. Not his best work in my opinion, but still very funny. And my husband went to work in the morning, and came home afterward....that's always a good thing.