Easy target

I just spent an inordinate amount of time listing stuff on eBay and Craigslist. Every time after we move or even just have a yard sale I wind up with some things that I don't want to bring back into the house but I can't just send on to Goodwill like the rest of my rejects.

Sometimes I'm irrationally defensive of it, usually for nostalgic reasons, e.g., I can't believe none of the yard sale crowd couldn't see past the chips in this coffee mug my mom gave me in college! Sometimes I'm trying to make up for spending too much on it myself, e.g., I paid $25 for these extra wet bags because I didn't know I'd only have two kids in cloth diapers for one month, and I am not just going to give them away!

Typically I load everything into a laundry basket in the trunk of my car and, over the next few weeks, make the rounds -- the children's consignment store, the consignment store where I take my clothes, the consignment store where I take my housewares, the used bookstore where I take my books, various stores for returns of unopened merchandise, Amanda's garage for Fed By Faith, friends' houses for their own yard sales and possibly better luck. Anything left after all this is finally given up and away.

Returns: I consider myself to be pretty shameless about them. Matt thinks I'm crazy, and now you all will too, but I have no problem returning something as small as a four-pack of packing tape I ended up not needing. I wouldn't go out of my way to do this, but I always keep my receipts and these items in the trunk of my car so I can hit up customer service next time I'm at the store.

However, I don't return perishable items and personally I don't think stores should even accept returns for them. If someone buys a pack of bacon and then changes her mind, does the store put it back on the shelf? I hope not -- there's no way to know whether it was refrigerated, etc., while the original buyer had it. And if the store just throws it away, that bothers me too, and it makes all of our prices go up.

A couple of months ago our whole family was at Walmart and Matt was taking care of a return while the kids and I got started shopping. The woman in front of Matt at customer service was trying to return meat that had EXPIRED the day before -- and they let her! Matt said they did have to call in a supervisor to approve it, and they only gave her store credit, not cash, but come on. I hate to use "Walmart" and "generous" in the same sentence, but they do have a generous return policy, and it annoys me when people so blatantly take advantage of things like that.

Talking about Walmart reminds me of another good story. I didn't know this post was going to turn into a Walmart-crazies rant; this is fun.

A few weeks ago I went to Walmart (by myself) and when I came out, loaded up the groceries and got ready to leave, I found I couldn't back out because a truck was behind me, waiting for someone else to pull out so they could have their spot. This is another pet peeve of mine, but I waited patiently for a couple of minutes. By that time the cars were starting to line up behind this truck and I was starting to get annoyed. I wasn't in a particular rush (for once), but they were being so inconsiderate.

I was the closest car to them so I got out to talk to them. When I got to their truck I saw they were an elderly couple so, trust me, I was VERY GRACIOUS and totally giving them the benefit of the doubt when I told them there were quite a few cars waiting on them and asked if maybe they could circle around.

They started talking (NOT graciously) at the same time. Husband: "If you're in a hurry, you should have started sooner." Wife: "We're in a hurry too, but we have to park somewhere." I didn't argue, just got back in my car. The whole crowd of us sat there probably at least five more minutes -- the cars on both sides of mine were waiting by this time too -- and I finally escaped when the car parked in front of me left and I pulled through. I don't know how much longer everyone else was there. Ah, the 'mart: bringing out the worst in all of us. I love to hate it.

Yard sale bomb

Our yard sale Saturday bombed, and not in a bomb.com kind of way. This is the fourth yard sale Amanda and I have collaborated on in the past two years, and typically cars are lining up 30 or 45 minutes before the advertised start time. So this time, when we'd had only two or three buyers by 8:15 a.m., we knew we were in trouble.

Granted, it was January -- chilly, though not miserably cold, and not high season for yard saling. But I'm convinced the main reason for the pitiful showing is that The Pilot failed to put the ad online. It did go in the print edition, but leaving it off the website was a big deal. So far The Pilot has failed to return two voicemails.

The worst part is that even if they end up giving me a full refund of the cost of the ad, it was only $16, and that doesn't begin to make up for the time and effort we put into sorting and organizing and pricing and hauling borrowed tables and a clothing rack and putting up signs and spending the better part of a Saturday in the driveway.

It wasn't a total waste, though. I did make a little money. I did get rid of a lot of junk (by midmorning I wasn't charging for much of anything; I was thrilled that someone was willing to cart it all off for me). I did do a little shopping of my own from Amanda's and Jax's "junk" piles. And I did get to spend some much-needed, much-enjoyed one-on-one time with Amanda. All things considered, I really can't complain.

While I should be sleeping

I absolutely love the way our new house is coming together -- it has as much character as you can possibly hope for in brand-new construction -- and it just feels wrong to fill it with mirrors from Kirkland's and light fixtures from Lowe's. Therefore, I have spent an unhealthy amount of time the past couple of weeks searching for thrifty, awesome alternatives.

I've squeezed in a five- or 10-minute run through practically every thrift store I know of around here, but haven't found anything I couldn't live without. I've also done plenty of searching online, everything from Craigslist to Etsy to eBay to the big boxes. Although that's provided a lot of inspiration (and confidence -- other people have pulled off spray-painted chandeliers, so maybe I can too), most everything online is either ugly, boring or more than I want to spend.


We ended up getting really lucky with the light fixtures. After bemoaning the lack of "different" options at A Light Source in Aberdeen, the salesman took us in the back and showed us two gorgeous antique chandeliers they'd rescued from a home renovation and were rewiring. They sold them to us for $120 each. Score! I probably will end up painting one of them because it has great detail but the finish just looks rusty. The other has a nice oil-rubbed bronze finish and we'll leave that as it is.

Our dining room chandelier we actually did get from Lowe's and I love it. I'm hoping that it will hang high enough above the table that no one will notice that the "crystals" aren't really crystals. For that matter, I'm hoping that globe at the bottom is glass, not plastic -- we haven't taken it out of the box yet.

Mirrors should have been easier to find, because virtually any of them can be made beautiful with a little paint and elbow grease, but it's been a tough assignment, because we need two sets of matching mirrors (one pair in the master bathroom, one pair in the kids' bathroom). And mirrors don't typically come with matches in thrift stores. So I've pretty much decided we'll have to buy four of the cheapest, most generic mirrors we can find in sets of two and plan on painting them whenever I get around to it. However, if you know of any great, inexpensive mirror resources I might be overlooking, do tell.

Even though I couldn't buy any of it, all the cute stuff I ran across online gave me the energy to finally get to work painting a mirror I bought for $5 at the Habitat store awhile ago. A lot of Habitat's mirrors are pretty pricey, but I always seem to find cheap ones in the mix. In fact, the mirror that's probably going to go in our powder room is one I found there, painted, distressed, and now love. It was also $5. I left the price tag on the back just for fun.

Anyway, the mirror I bought more recently is going to go over a cute antique (maybe just old) vanity Matt and I claimed from the side of the road on our way home from Charlotte one day last fall. Eventually I'm going to paint that too. It didn't come with a mirror, but obviously that was easily taken care of. We picked up a matching dresser and not-matching but adorable stool from that same spot on the side of the road.

(I have a weakness for seeing potential in free and cheap things. Our garage is FULL of painting projects. Not only can we not park in it, we can't even walk through it. Thank goodness we're having a yard sale next week so other people with the same problem can take some of our junk to their garages.)

Tonight I was finally inspired to paint the vanity mirror, so that's what I'm doing right now, alternating between blogging and reading "The Great Gatsby" (for book club) while I wait for each coat to dry, and falling in love with Pandora all over again. It really gets me.

Sneak peek

Mod Merry Ornaments Christmas

Find unique and Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

If Corduroy were a dresser

Ever since Matt's mom showed me how easy, inexpensive and fun it is to transform furniture with paint, I've been constantly on the lookout for future projects. I don't think there's a room in our house that doesn't feature some piece I found at a yard sale, thrift store, Freecycle, the dump, or that was handed down from family. And you should see our garage -- it's full of discarded furniture patiently awaiting new life.

However, at some point even I have to concede that a person only needs so many tables, dressers, chairs, bookshelves and mirrors (a particular weakness). So today I would like to share the love and let you know that a diamond-in-the-rough dresser is available at the Coalition on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southern Pines.

For the bargain price of $15 (!!!) this can be yours:

It's big -- wider than it looks in the picture -- and solid. The wood is definitely worn but easily covered by paint. I saw only one somewhat significant flaw: A piece of one of the drawers is broken off. This is cosmetic only and wouldn't affect functionality but if you did want to fix it I'm not sure how easy it would be.

Slap on some paint, replace the handles, maybe work on that drawer and you have a gorgeous, sturdy dresser at a nothing-to-lose price, plus a good story for every person who compliments it for years to come. Somebody, hurry to claim this -- and by all means, if you do, let me know!

P.S. Shout-out to Matt's dad, who babysat for us tonight while we went to dinner and then Bible study. We had a great time, Ron had a great time and I know the kids did too. Not to mention we didn't have to pay a babysitter. Let's see, I think that would be a win-win-win-win situation. Thank you, Ron!

Things I'm loving lately (Part 2)

1. Craigslist. Until a couple of weeks ago, when what free time I had went up in smoke (see No. 4), I spent some fun hours rediscovering Craigslist. We bought only one thing (this rug, at a fraction of what it would have cost new), but it's definitely going to be the first place I look next time I want something that I can't justify paying full price for.

2. Netflix streaming. Since we don't have cable in this house -- we're getting it next week, for football season -- we have been blazing through some documentaries. I cannot believe how many good ones are out there. North Korea, public education, the vaccination debate, New York City preschools, America's oil dependence, for-profit colleges, solitary confinement, Vogue's September issue, famous advertising campaigns, overmedicated children, crazy Christians and more ... I can't get enough!

3. Time for $2. Thanks to Amanda and her frugal blog, we're subscribing to Time magazine for $2 per year and Newsweek for free. I'm not crazy about Newsweek, but the Time deal is pretty fantastic.

4. Working. I've picked up another magazine, one I really like, to copy edit and occasionally write for. I just finished editing a book for the first time, which was very different from anything else I've done, but I enjoyed it. And Doug Gray, the lead singer of the Marshall Tucker Band, sent me a thank-you note for the recent article I wrote about them. The man performs something like 200 concerts a year and he took the time for a handwritten card. I put it on our fridge.

5. Sewing group. Some women at church have formed a sewing group. Those who already know how to sew can enjoy the company while they work on their own projects, and those who don't know how to turn on their machine (hi) can learn. This is something I love only in theory so far, since something has come up four straight Tuesday nights to keep me from going. But I do have a borrowed machine, thanks to Amy (whose blog name is sadly appropriate), and have high hopes that next week I'll be there.

6. Farmers market flowers. They are absolutely gorgeous. They last more than a week. And they cost $5 per bunch. What's not to love? Most Mondays afternoons, Claire and Evan and I walk to the farmers market at the gym and load up. (The flower lady was featured in The Pilot recently -- click here.)

Nothing a pot of coffee can't cure

Sunday night I went to bed at 7:15 (before Claire) and that uninterrupted stretch of, I guess, almost 11 hours of sleep worked wonders. When I woke up yesterday morning I was still tired, but like a normal person is tired, not like a zombie who might actually fall asleep standing up.

Being somewhat rested felt so good that last night we were in bed before 10, but if I had to guess, in another day or two we'll be back to our old ways. I tend to forget very quickly how much sleep matters.

----------

I've been spending a lot of my "free time" lately listing items on eBay (they now allow 50 free listings per month). The main thing I've been selling is clothes -- lots and lots of clothes. I'm learning what works: well-known brands, lots of measurements, stupid-low start prices. Then the market does its thing.

Buyers seem to love a robust bidding war. I can start a skirt at $7.99 and it will sit and sit and then expire, but if I start it at $2.99, it will get eight bids and sell for $10. I'm pretty fascinated by the emotional and psychological components of pricing, buying and selling.

It's interesting that I would drive across town to save $20 on a $40 grocery bill, but not to save $20 on, let's say, a $10,000 car. $20 is $20.

Also interesting that I spend hours and hours each month clipping, organizing and using cents-off coupons -- yet I hardly bat an eye when we decide to (yet again) drop the price of our house by thousands of dollars.

And don't even get me started on money spent eating out and my (mostly) irrational justifications for it. That's fodder for a whole 'nother post.

Time to sleep. 10:36 p.m., for the record.

Good stuff

Well, this is a rarity: a night to myself. Claire and even Evan are asleep (thanks to the SwaddleMe blanket -- more on that in a minute), and Matt's watching the Duke game with the guys. I'm eating excellent soup that's been stewing since early afternoon -- Libba's recipe -- and actually blogging and, after a shower (in the bonus room, so Evan stays asleep), I'm going to dive into the book Matt gave me for Christmas. It's "Freedom," by Jonathan Franzen, and it's really good. Two years ago I would have read it in one good long weekend, but my free time lately is such that I'm only about one-fourth of the way through it.

After what felt like an extended period consisting of very few "regular" weeks -- due to Evan's birth, Thanksgiving and Christmas, visiting family in Atlanta, and then snow days -- it is nice to have some routine return to our days. (That felt familiar as I was typing it, and sure enough, I wrote almost the same thing a couple of weeks ago, but before the snow days threw things out of whack again.)

Evan is still not going to win any sleeping awards, but he is doing so much better. After witnessing his exhausted flailing Friday night, Meg gave me the SwaddleMe blanket that her own daughter was using -- literally, she removed it from a soundly sleeping Charli and handed it to me. Every night since then, Evan has actually gone to sleep for the night around 7 p.m., in his cradle (not the swing), and stayed asleep for three to five hours before waking up for the first night feeding. (After that he wakes up to eat every two hours, but this is still huge progress.)

What this means is that by the grace of God we've slipped into a wonderful pattern in which Claire and Evan are both in bed from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., give or take a few minutes -- and Matt and I have our nights back. I know Evan still has some rough nights ahead of him, probably a lot of them, but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The annoying part of this story is that Sonya offered me a SwaddleMe blanket of Belle's, like, six weeks ago, but I didn't take her up on it. Why not? Who can say? I could kick myself.

Two other things have been really nice about the past couple of weeks. One is that Matt and I both have gotten a lot of running in. We didn't make a specific New Year's resolution about it, but after all the sloth and gluttony of the holidays we were both ready to hit it hard. We've both run almost every day this month -- weekdays he runs before work, and I run after he gets home; weekends we go whenever we can -- and it feels SO good to be getting back in shape. I know I'm not a chunky girl, but the fact is that no matter your size, if you're five pounds too heavy to fit comfortably into the clothes in your closet, it's not a good feeling. And that's where I'm at right now. So I'll be glad to leave that feeling behind as soon as possible.

I've been running outside mostly, for a few reasons -- I go farther but the time passes faster; the scenery and daydreaming are better than TV; I feel more removed from and therefore less responsible for the possibly screaming children inside the house; and it just feels like a better, harder workout. Also, there's something about braving somewhat adverse conditions (cold weather/pregnancy/early mornings, etc.) to run that makes me feel mentally stronger, like a "real" runner, and always results in a better run for me. I haven't figured out exactly how that works yet, but I do know running on a treadmill under a ceiling fan while watching "The Millionaire Matchmaker" does not have the same effect.

The other thing I've really enjoyed lately is getting to reconnect with a bunch of friends we didn't get to see much in the blur that was November through early January. Between girls' nights and one-on-one lunches and couples' dinners and playdates, I've gotten to spend time with most of my favorites -- the locals, anyway -- with a couple of notable exceptions (LMG!). I -- make that we, because Matt's even worse than I am -- can be introverted and antisocial and lazy, but it's true that friendships are worth the effort, and I'm very thankful for our peeps.

And NOW I will go take a shower and read.

P.S. I almost forgot! Amanda inspired me, in this post, to call Time Warner Cable today and request a discount. They cut our monthly bill by $30, just for asking. Again, should have done it forever ago, but better late than never.

I'll be back

I don't consider myself a snob about customer service but I do hate when it's bad (click here and here) and love when it's good (click here and here). Last week, the Nordstrom at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta raised the bar.

First, to review, I am a little bit in love with 7 for All Mankind jeans. Most of my clothes come from thrift stores, outlet stores and TJ Maxx, but all my life I have had trouble finding jeans that fit me well, and 7s are they. I have three pairs, and I justify their expense because they cost me pennies on a per-wear basis. I wear these jeans to death.

My favorite pair has become threadbare with wear over the years. There are no actual holes yet, but if you hold them up to the light you can see through them. I was bemoaning this to someone who told me she'd heard you could trade in holely 7s for a new pair.

Clearly, that sounded too good to be true. But I knew we'd have access to a Nordstrom while in Atlanta, so I brought along the jeans (bought at Nordstrom.com) in case we had a chance to check out that claim.

We did. Long story short, the salespeople politely told me there was no such policy for 7 jeans, that my jeans' condition was considered normal wear and tear. I told them I completely agreed, there was no defect with the jeans, but I thought it was worth asking. (This is where it gets good.)

They asked if I had my original receipt. I did not. They asked if I had the credit card I had used to pay for the jeans. I did.

Somehow, they searched month by month through the last four years of my credit card transactions and found my purchase of these jeans. And then ... they refunded my money. $153. Cash.

I could not believe it.

Sadly, this story does not end with a picture of my awesome new replacement jeans. We had both kids with us, one of whom was melting down because it was her naptime, and it just wasn't good timing for trying on a bunch of pairs of pants. Also, I'm still carrying a little post-pregnancy-and-holidays weight, and I'd rather be back at my normal size and shape before spending that kind of money on jeans. So I walked out with the cash. But when I do replace them, it will be at Nordstrom.

I have told this story to everyone who will listen. This is why good customer service is good for the customer and for the company.

Are you listening, Walgreens?

Subs, etc.

The first time I tried Quiznos I ordered an untoasted veggie sub. It was awful so I have been walking around for the past three or four years thinking I hate Quiznos. A couple of weeks ago Matt and Stephen pretty much forced me to try it again and this time I got a toasted Italian sub and it was incredible! I am a convert. I think we've been three times in the past two weeks.

As fast food goes, it's pretty pricey normally, but there is a great coupon floating around for a regular sub, chips and drink for $5. I had one coupon from Mom but after I used it we found the same deal at retailmenot.com. Love it!

I also love retailmenot.com, which posts discount codes and coupons for a ton of stores and restaurants. For example, when we made books for Riley and Bri for Christmas last year at Shutterfly, we checked retailmenot.com before ordering and got a code for free shipping as well as something like 40 percent off the total order. Check it out.

Matt had a great time camping last weekend and I didn't go into labor while he was deep in the Uwharrie Mountains and out of cell phone range, so that's good. I accidentally stayed up until 2 a.m. both nights, which I paid for when Claire woke up five hours later both times, but it was worth it to finish two more stories.

I keep saying I'm almost done with pre-baby writing, but I finally mean it. I have only one more to write before he's born, and it will be an easy and fun one, about Amy's great cupcake-catering business. Matt has flag football tonight so I'm going to try to get it done while he's there and Claire's asleep.

I'm excited for possibly a couple of weeks to kind of take it easy before Evan's born. I have several good library books I've been waiting to start, and there's always more deep-cleaning and touch-painting to be done around the house, and more coupon-clipping than I will ever catch up on, and with any luck I might even start napping while Claire naps occasionally.

Punk

Just got back from my next-to-last round of triple coupons at Harris Teeter. A high school guy checked me out. I was about to walk away with my bags when ...

Cashier: Wait!
Me: Oh, I forgot to sign. But I don't have to sign ... [because the total was under $25]
Cashier: No, you forgot to pay.
Me: I did pay. I hit "I accept" and everything.
Cashier: Well, you need to do it again.
Me: OK ... I just don't want it to go through twice.
Cashier: It won't. And if it does, you can bring in your receipt and they'll be happy to give you your [checks receipt] $3.39 back [definitely making fun of me].

P.S. Thank you to Renee for giving me a bunch of great coupons yesterday at church! It is so much easier, cleaner and more civilized to be given coupons than to go Dumpster-diving for them.

Procrastinating

I don't know what is wrong with me but I am so uninspired to write right now! I have an article due that I've been procrastinating for a month and now I really need to get going on it, and not only is Claire asleep but Mom and Dad are here just waiting for her to wake up so they can play with her, and what am I doing? Blogging! No one pays me to blog! I wonder what it says about me that I don't work well without a deadline. Probably nothing good. Anyway, since I'm here ...

Yesterday I went Dumpster diving. (Did you know Dumpster's a proper noun, just like Kleenex and Band-Aid and SheetRock? Technically I should refer to these as trash bin and facial tissue and adhesive bandage and gypsum wallboard. But trash bin diving isn't half as catchy.)

I have, of course, done this before, but always for free magazines to read. Yesterday I was in search of coupons and I was really happy to find a decent amount. About half of them were ones I'd heard about but didn't have because last month my Sunday paper wasn't delivered for three weeks in a row.

On an unrelated topic, I have had the best luck with books this month, after quite a disappointing dry spell. I'm reading them very slowly because usually the only chance I have to read for fun is during my nightly breast pumping session (lovely). I highly recommend "A Praying Life," "Olive Kitteridge" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." I also read "Resilience" by Elizabeth Edwards and liked it but I don't know if I believe any of it -- I have been so disillusioned by the Edwardses. Ugh.

OK, I think I'll try to work on my real work now.

This weekend ...

1. We finally took down our Christmas decorations. I hate the "after" part of chores -- folding laundry, unloading the dishwasher, matching every snowglobe to the right box -- the front end of chores is so much more gratifying. Our tree was dead as a doornail and I'm going to be finding pine needles around the house until March.

2. The undecorating came not a moment too soon as our house was shown for the first time since Thanksgiving (sadly, that's not an exaggeration). I threw out the geraniums that had been languishing, dead and frozen, on our front stoop since summer, but now the entrance looks empty and boring and I don't know what to put there. I want something that is alive and will stay alive until spring without maintenance. Any ideas? Does such a thing exist?

3. We gave Claire her first solid food -- pureed squash. Yum. Inspired by Amanda, I spent some time on wholesomebabyfood.com and cooked, blended and froze the squash (and some sweet potatoes) for her pureed enjoyment. I'm going to stock up on store-bought baby food when I can find it at a good price (this week at Harris Teeter 4-ounce jars of BeechNut were $.11 each after VIC and coupons), but a lot of foods are simple and dirt-cheap to make yourself. The sweet potatoes, for example, worked out to less than 3 cents per ounce. Squash is not quite that cheap, but any way you look at it, homemade baby food does not add up to the $.25 per ounce that it's easy to pay in the store.

4. I was very excited to learn that Betsy has started a blog! So from now on her name will be underlined when I mention her. :) Meg, you're up.

101 things update

I've knocked off some good ones recently in my 101-things quest:

5. Learn how to apply eye makeup. I guess what I had in mind when I wrote this was to get lessons at the Clinique counter or something, but instead I've just been paying attention to the blurbs in Real Simple where they give you eye makeup tips. I've collected a few eye shadows and eye liners when I've been shopping and spotted a sale, and I've been practicing wearing them when I'm in the mood.

Last week Amanda complimented my eye makeup and told me I should check it off my list, so I am. I doubt I'll ever wear much more than mascara on a daily basis, but it's nice to know I can kick it up a notch if I want to.

10. Establish a grocery-shopping, coupon-clipping system that works for me. My accomplishing this is all thanks to Amanda, who really knows how to save money and freely shares her knowledge. In a nutshell, my "system" consists of: a) alphabetizing coupons in a three-ring binder and b) every week shopping at two or three grocery stores and one or two drug stores (after perusing their sales papers) for the best store sale/coupon/rebate matchups.

When I find a fantastic deal I stock up, and I keep a close eye on our food/toiletries/household inventory to avoid paying full price for anything. I now save more than I spend on virtually every shopping trip, I'm learning the "market" for the products we buy most frequently, and we have tons of excess to donate.

22. Write an opinion letter to our local newspaper. I actually did this in June 2008 and just realized I never checked it off my list.

43. Figure out a way to get paid for blogging that doesn't involve ads. I just signed on to be a Thomas Nelson book review blogger. Basically, they send me a book "of my choosing" (the selection can be VERY limited -- which is the only reason in this world that I'm reading about Diamond Rio right now), I read it and write a 200-word review on this blog and Amazon. The book is my payment. I'm hoping to enjoy most of the books enough to keep them, and the others (like the Diamond Rio one) I'll sell.

87. Become more intentional about observing Advent. Our church is emphasizing Advent more this year than it has in the past, which has been helpful and good. We had a churchwide Advent dinner a couple of weeks ago, and everyone got a handout with scriptures to read every day of Advent. Lighting Advent candles, making Advent wreaths, etc., is fine, but for me, these daily readings have been the biggest help in observing Advent.

A second chance

Today I gave Walgreens another chance.

I have been boycotting them ever since my horrible flu shot experience*, but this week I had two coupons that would let me get three Nivea chapsticks (what's the generic term for that?) and a bottle of Nivea's extra-dry skin lotion, my all-time favorite, for about $2 total when combined with store sales. I reasoned that they probably would actually prefer not to get that kind of business, so I could give it in good conscience.

But when I got there they were out of the chapstick AND the lotion I wanted, the bottle with the blue cap, which works the best and smells the best. So I had to scrap my plan.

As I headed toward the door, I watched a woman come in from the parking lot, march to the cash register, wave a receipt and demand "Where's my $4 register rewards?"

I immediately thought of Amanda's ongoing battles with Walgreens' register rewards program (and employees who don't know how it works), smiled to myself and walked out glad that, despite a moment of weakness, I'm still boycotting Walgreens and their poor organization and management.

*I never got a response to my letter.

Done

For the first time in two years I actually achieved a solid month of blog posts. Maybe "achieved" is too strong a word. But I'm done with NaBloPoMo.

The December theme is "mitzvah" and you're supposed to give something to someone every day and then blog about it. I kind of like this idea, so while I'm not going to commit to another whole month of 11th-hour blogging, it might get some play.

Today was mostly mundane (oil change, grocery store, post office, RiteAid for rebate goodies) but one great part was Amanda and I got to introduce our babies to Rachel and her kids. (I don't have any pictures but Dad took some and you can click here to see them.) A month or so ago we did the same thing with Grace and Sally and their babes, so that's three out of four Taylor girls ... now we just need to get Jane caught up! A visit with Rachel is a rare treat so we were really glad it worked out to see them before they headed back to Utah.

At the end of the day Matt and I went to CrossFit and let's just say neither of us is walking normally now. If it's this bad after five hours, I don't want to think about two days from now. I'm glad we're doing it, though -- it feels good to be climbing ropes and making sure I know where the puke bucket is again.

Hooray for December! Don't forget to say "rabbit" first thing tomorrow.

P.S. If you're not doing RiteAid rebates, I HIGHLY encourage you to start! It's way, way less trouble than triple coupons and you don't even have to use coupons to get good deals (though the deals are better if you do). It takes 10 seconds to enter your receipt online when you get home, and at the end of the month you get a big check (sometimes, like right now with their holiday savings program, two checks).

In less than three months of doing RiteAid rebates, I already have more toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, lotion, shampoo, mouthwash, cold medicine, tampons, chapstick, etc. than I know what to do with -- and it was all free or almost free. If you are capable of reading this blog, you can never again pay for toothpaste. Click here. (And if you do get hooked, consider donating your excess to Fed By Faith or a similar charity!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was the least rushed Thanksgiving we've had in quite awhile, despite the fact that it was our first one with a baby. My family's Thanksgiving meal was at 12:30(ish) and Matt's family's, which is usually in the early afternoon, wasn't until 4 p.m. Usually we leave mine a little early and are a little late for his, but today we got to stay all the way through both of them. We even had time in between to sneak in a much-needed nap for Claire at home.

Our Sunday-only newspaper subscription merited us the special Thanksgiving paper and after I read it I glanced through the Black Friday sales papers. There are some spectacular deals, but I have zero desire to be among the crowds of crazies at 3 a.m. I like a bargain as much as anyone, but I also value sleep and sanity, and I don't need a new laptop, even for $198, or digital camera, even for $29, or toaster, even for $3.

So I'll be staying out of the stores tomorrow, with the possible exception of Rite Aid (toothpaste, shampoo, razors, deodorant and more for about a quarter after rebates and coupons, plus some free-after-rebate deals for Amanda's incredible Fed By Faith venture).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Road trip

Claire and I had a great time with Lib and Ruthie today! I was a little nervous about the car ride since I knew I couldn't drive all the way to Charlotte with one hand on the wheel and the other forcing Claire's pacifier to stay in her mouth. Fortunately, she fell asleep around Pinebluff and stayed out until we arrived.

After the girls charmed each other, we went to lunch, and afterward both girls napped while Lib and I got two hours of uninterrupted conversation. Heaven! Lib had to work tonight so Claire and I headed out around 4 p.m.

I felt bad that Claire had spent so much time strapped into a car seat and/or asleep today, so we stopped in Monroe to go shoe shopping at a Target, Ross and TJ Maxx that were conveniently located right in a row in a shopping center. I got two pairs of really cute flats for $12, one at Target and one at Ross.

A little later we passed a Harris Teeter so I decided to stop and see if I could use some of my coupons on things our Harris Teeter has consistently been out of since triples started. I was able to get two more $.34 Windexes but they were out of a few of the other deals that have eluded me. I'll check the local store one more time tomorrow and just get rainchecks for whatever's still out of stock.

The one that's driving me most crazy is Scrubbing Bubbles. I have two $.75 coupons plus a coupon for $2 off two, so they'll be free (or extremely close) if Harris Teeter allows me to use two coupons on one product. We use Scrubbing Bubbles all the time. It's nothing special, really, but it reminds me of cleaning Matt's bathroom during college. Ah, those were the days. :) I know Maegan can relate. I have no idea why, but he always had a can of Scrubbing Bubbles around.

I got sick of posting about triple coupons but I've done about seven rounds, saving a lot of money and getting so much free/almost free stuff that I had to reorganize our laundry room shelves to make room for it all. It's pretty incredible. I need to add up my receipts and see how much I spent and saved this week. Matt came with me one night and we wound up buying pork tenderloin, beer and hot dogs that I wouldn't have bought without him, which threw off my numbers, but they were at least all on VIC special.

If you haven't read Amanda's blog today, you need to go there right now and read about what she's doing with her massive amounts of freebies. Amanda, I love you and your frugal ways and your generous heart!

Rounds 2.5 and 3

Last night after dinner we ran by Harris Teeter so I could use seven more coupons for my daily total of 20. He stayed in the car with Claire while I got:

Viva Big Roll paper towels, three rolls FREE
Clorox toilet-bowl cleaner, $.79
Skippy peanut butter, two at $1.59 each
Comet cleaner, $.14

Spent $4.53, saved $12.42.

Claire and I went back this morning and everything except the Suave deodorant and lotion and the Hormel pepperoni was restocked. Today we got:

Heinz ketchup (finally!), two FREE
Betty Crocker pouch potatoes, FREE
Windex, $.34
Joy dish soap, two for $.09
Clorox toilet-bowl cleaner, two at $.79 each
Comet cleaner, two at $.14 each
Argo baking powder, $.69
Harris Teeter sugar, 5 pounds, $.99

I just realized the numbers don't add up -- this should have been $4.06 plus tax, but according to my receipt, after tax I paid $5.65 and saved $18.44. Maybe I missed a coupon or got the wrong size of something. Or maybe my math's just bad (I haven't had my coffee yet). Anyway, no complaints here.

Triple coupons, day 2

For some unknown reason Claire decided to greet the day just after 6 a.m. today. She's done that a couple of times, so I knew it was futile to fight it. She got a bath, I took a shower, I gathered my coupons and we headed back to Harris Teeter.

Today wasn't even as good as yesterday, which wasn't stellar. They were out of Heinz ketchup, again (free), Betty Crocker pouch potatoes (free), Suave men's deodorant ($.24), Skippy peanut butter 40-ounce ($.74), Suave lotion (free after rebate), and Windex 26-ounce ($.34). However, there were some bright spots. Here's how we made out:

* Betty Crocker frosting, $.49
* Pepperidge Farm frozen garlic bread, $1.45
* 16-ounce Newman's Own salad dressing, $1.50
* Tetley tea bags, $.34
* Nestle chocolate chips, $1
** Mrs. Dash lemon-pepper, two for $1.89 each
*** Jolly Time microwave popcorn, FREE
***** 16-ounce Nestle Coffee-Mate liquid creamer, $.89
**** 15-ounce Country Crock spread, $.24
Tony's Crispy Pizza, FREE

Now for the disclaimers:

* The frosting, garlic bread, salad dressing, tea bags and chocolate chips were good deals -- not phenomenal -- but I'm glad I got them because we use all of them regularly. If you've known me any length of time you know I am prone to occasional chocolate cake cravings around the time we should be going to bed, and when that happens it's convenient to have the ingredients in the pantry. (Or inconvenient, depending on how strictly you watch your calorie intake. We usually choose cake over diet discipline.)

The point of triple coupons (and any frugal efforts), in my opinion, is not simply to save money but to save money on things you would have bought anyway. The exception, of course, is free things. Free is free. That's how I ended up with $76 worth of random cold and allergy medicines from Rite Aid last week ... but I digress.

** We just ran out of lemon-pepper and we use it all the time, or I might have skipped the seasoning because I don't think it was THAT cheap. Although $1.89 per jar might be cheaper than buying generics in bulk, etc. -- I haven't comparison shopped that yet.

*** We never buy microwave popcorn; popping it on the stove is healthier and basically free. Still, sometimes it would be nice to stick a bag in the microwave and have it cook itself. Plus, this was free.

**** I didn't really need the vegetable oil spread -- we buy the big tubs of generic and they last us forever, even though I feel like we use it all the time -- but it was a good price, won't go bad for a long time and eventually we will need it, so I bought it anyway.

***** My buying flavored creamer flies in the face of what I said four paragraphs ago. It is something I definitely would not have bought without a coupon; regular store-brand half-and-half is all we need. And this wasn't a particularly great price, even with the tripled coupon. I had some with my coffee when we got home. I wouldn't pay more than $.89 for it. Still, it's nice to mix things up sometimes.

The best thing that happened is I ran into the same people from church I saw yesterday and they insisted on giving me three $.85 coupons for the paper towels I bought yesterday, meaning I can return the ones I bought for $1.29 and get three rolls free instead. Apparently these people are pretty much pros at the coupon game and have about 100 rolls of paper towels in their garage, so I guess you could say they don't need anymore right now.

The store was out of these paper towels today, but I'm going to check back tomorrow for them and the rest of the out-of-stock freebies. Worst case, I guess I'll get a raincheck for these items so at least I can get them for the sale price plus doubled coupons after the tripling madness is over and the shelves are restocked.

Today I also bought about five pounds of 80/20 ground beef because it was on sale for $1.59/pound. I also used a $.50 coupon that printed out with my receipt yesterday (but it didn't triple). All told, I spent $14.86 and saved $26.76 today.