Christmas Shopping Coup

Someone got taken to see Thor tonight, and got a slushie. It was thor excthiting! 

Y'all! I have to tell you about my shopping caper. OMG. So if you have a little boy, you have probably heard of Skylanders Swap Force. It is the latest iteration of the Skylanders game, and it's coming to rule us all. For those not in the know, Skylanders is a game that comes with a little portal that plugs into your xbox or whatever, and you put real actual toy Skylanders guys on the portal, and then they appear in your game and you can run them around the virtual world. The people behind this are evil geniuses, because they get you to buy the game and the portal, and then they get you to buy all the different guys. Which causes me to become best friends with the twenty year-old down at Game Stop, because only he can get me the Super Rare and Unobtainable Eye Brawl guy. Thanks Josh.

Whatever. Bear with me.

Okay, so Swap Force necessitates a whole new portal set up. Of course it does. So the "starter kit," which comes with the game, the portal, and a few guys, is $65 or $70 on Amazon. Only lately did Hank start talking about wanting it, and I thought I'd keep an eye out for a deal sometime in December. Then today I was perusing Want Not, and she mentioned that the Starter Kit is $37 on Target's website. They were sold out on there, but I checked store inventory and thought, okay, maybe my local store will price match the website. I left the kids to watch each other and went up there.

The kit was $49.99 on the store shelf. Which if I hadn't known better, I would have thought was a great deal. The kid working in the electronics section seemed frightened to be spoken to. So I carried the box with me up to customer service. Will you price match your website? Sure Ma'am! Oh, but wait...this item is out of stock on the website so we won't price match.

Did you get that? They will match a target.com price only if the item you're holding is still available on target.com. I said, "But, I could go into Walmart and THEY would match the price on Target.com, in stock or not. Why don't you sell it to me here?" I mean, these people don't know that I don't shop at Walmart.

I thought this was so strange and annoying. It's that weird thing where you're holding out money to someone and they can't figure out how to take it. But a manager came over and confirmed, no, the kit is $49.99 because it's sold out online. I thanked them and walked away, but then realized that with my Target debit card, which gives 5% off every purchase, and the little extra 5% off coupon I got from the pharmacy rewards program, the thing would be $40, so okay. Not $37 but close. I went through the checkout and bought it.

Then, THEN, I was home and had stashed the Skylanders in the gift closet. (God forbid the kids ever figure out I don't just keep birthday gifts for other kids in there.) So I'm doing my thing at home, and Hank, who is a natural-born fixer, comes to me with this coupon he has unearthed. It's a coupon for $10 off the very starter kit I'd just bought. He goes, "Hey mom, maybe we can use this!" Then he nudged it onto the edge of the dining room table and backed out of the room. Let me underline: He had no idea I had just made that purchase. It was a total coincidence, or else part of the weird matrix of synchronicity that conditions all of our actions. I vaguely remembered seeing this coupon come out of the multipack of chips I bought for school lunches. Hank probably had it in his tickler file. I swear.

So I thought, "Yes, I would absolutely drive up there and return the kit I just bought and re-buy it with this coupon." I would still have my ten percent off that I'd used earlier, so by the power of Maths I figured the kit would be $32. Then I got busy and made dinner and stuff, and then Hank reminded me that I'd said we could go to a movie, so off we went. Matt met us at Thor, and took Hank away afterwards, so I could do my errand.

Oh my lord, you're not still reading this!

So I roll back into Target at 9:30. I get another starter kit off the shelf and take both up to customer service. I tell the now-different clerk what I'm doing. She says she can take care of it all in one go. So she returns the one I bought. Then she looks it up online, for some reason, and she goes, "Look, it's $37!" I'm like, "Ah KNOW! OMG!" Actually I said, "That's even better!" So she rung it up for $37 and then scanned my $10-off coupon, and then I had my little percentage-off cards, and with tax and junk that thing was $26. When there was a good chance I would have eventually paid $65 for it. An absolute HEIST.

I didn't even ask her to match the online price, she did that all herself. And a woman behind me was there to pull some maneuver involving the same game--I think she was there to see if they would match the online price, and she goes, "I wish I hadn't met you, because then I wouldn't know there was a coupon!" And I was like, "It's from a bag of chips."

Then I went to the back of the store to get some beer and as I walked back by, that woman was kneeling down rifling the chips. So I strolled over to her and pointed her to the right ones. And I considered that a good night's work. Sisterhood is powerful.

Then I came home and explained it all to Matt in a hushed voice, and I said, "Give me the highest of fives!" And we very solemnly clasped hands over our heads.

And, scene.

Probably Not Worth It

The other day, I sorted through a massive amount of Laura's outgrown clothing, and separated them into three piles: Donate, Consign, Ebay. Actually there were two ebay piles, one for spring/summer and one for now. I've kept a lot of this stuff around for too long because I thought I could sell some of her outfits and make more money than I would from consignment, but as you may know, selling clothes on ebay is kind of a pain, because it involves a whole lot of washing and neatening and photographing for pretty small amounts of money. She has some of the cutest things, though, and some still with tags or never worn.

Back in the day--even a few years ago--you could do pretty well with better children's clothes in very good condition. Or "excellent used condition (EUC)," in the ebay lingo. I happily dressed Laura in a lot of of gymbo and Hanna, then resold it, and I remember it seems like you could get up to half of what you'd paid for the things new. It was a nice biz. Dressing her was a hobby, and ebay was too. Then I took a long break from reselling anything. Laura stopped wanting to dress in matching outfits. I started a blog. The world moved along.

So lately I've stuck a toe back into ebay and it looks like that market--children's clothing both new and used--has gotten super saturated. Like, lots of auctions ending without bids or with only an opening bid. I think there's just so many people reselling, and retail stores are basically giving things away in the first place. I did manage to sell a bunch of Hanna thick cotton tights--like seven pairs--for thirty-something bucks, so I thought I would list a few more things, but it's not looking too good.

The other day I sold a Gymboree velour jacket and yoga pants set, size 10. It was barely worn, and it sold for $7.49. I remember selling a similar set for $20 a few years ago, but okay. It's better than the zero dollars it was earning sitting in a basket. So I shipped it out last week. Tonight I got this message from the buyer via the little automated ebay messaging system:

Was a little disappointed to find out the pants are a size 12 and not a size 10 to match the coat, but they both look to be in EUC. Hodge Podge sizes are hard to resale :( 

Okay, whoops! I did sometimes buy L different sizes in bottoms and tops because she's always been so tall. I'd looked at the size tag in the jacket and not thought to check the pants. My fault, but I was a little annoyed by this note, though, because there is no question or request about it, it's just a complaint. It is unclear what would make her happy. And yes I know it is in EUC, I said it was. Also, I was surprised she was buying it to resell again and not for a child to wear. But I dunno. And the little frownie face. Please. So I sent back, "Hi, I'm sorry, my daughter must have worn those at the same time and I forgot there was a size discrepancy. Do you want to return?"

Returning something that you paid seven dollars for is a super duper PITA, so I am guessing she will say no, she'll keep it. Which then, am I supposed to apologize some more? Give her a partial refund? I have always shunned the way of the partial refund, and it's never really been an issue before. But that's what I think her message is angling for. She didn't say, "Your listing was wrong, I'm sending it back." She said she was "disappointed," to which I'm supposed to say...? Gah!

I know it is not cool to sell something as one size and have it turn out to be another, but this is my blog and I'm complaining to you anyway. Argle bargle! Details! I think my lifeforce may be too drained by the whole ebay enterprise, and given that the bottom has fallen out of the market, I'm going to take it all to consignment.

Anyway, 99 problems. Any of y'all still doing the ebay thing?

Is Mother's Day Monday Not A Holiday, Really?

Hank and the beloved Annabelle.

Hey y'all, Happy Mother's Day Monday! (It's a thing.) I spent the morning at Hank's end-of-preschool class bowling party. It was fun but if we are being honest, it must be noted that five year-olds cannot bowl for crap.

Then, because I was down in its vicinity, I went to the Goodwill to look for jeans for myself and Matt. I went to the Goodwill not even because it is cheaper, but because it is closer, and if I have to go all the way over to the Gap at the mall, just no. Like I should spend my precious life force doing that.

So I went to the Goodwill and one of the benefits of being my new smaller size (single digits, OMG I'm telling everyone!) is that there are lots of cast-off jeans that fit me. I think that most women must be a size 12, because that's what I used to be and I could hardly never find good jeans that fit me at that size. Actually I was a 12 for a long time, and then I was a 14 for a while and then maybe I was kind of a large 14, I don't know. So today I had a choice of three good pairs of nearly new Gap jeans, and Hank sat patiently while I tried them on. Then I bought one of the pairs for seven dollars and got Hank a vanilla milkshake to reward his patience. Really, I complain sometimes but he is good as gold. Oh, and I found a pair of new boy's Sorel snowboots for ten bucks. They will fit Hank in a couple of years, so score.

I couldn't find any cheap jeans for Matt because of his inseam.

....

Yesterday morning, Mother's Day, it was raining, making for nice sleeping-in weather. At a perfect hour, not too early but before Matt or I was up, Laura appeared at my bedside with a cup of coffee and some buttered toast. She doesn't know how to brew coffee, but she had very enterprisingly microwaved a cup from the day before.

She climbed into bed with me. Then Hank appeared, proudly bringing me a carrot and the jar of peanut butter.

Breakfast in bed, from each according to his abilities. I ate the toast and the carrot and the peanut butter and it was the perfect amount of food.

Bedside coffee is awesome and I told Laura I want it to be a new Sunday tradition. Though I might teach her how to make a fresh pot.

Then I sat up against my pillows and read my book, and had Laura bring me a refill of reheated coffee. Reader, I did not leave my bedroom until it was time for us all to go to lunch. Then we ate and went to see The Avengers.  


Did you mothers have a nice day? I hope you got some R&R time. Oh and every moment of the day, I had that song "Motherlover" lodged in my head. Nice.

xoxo

Other Important Things Besides Our Basement

School starts on Thursday and Laura will be in the fifth grade. I took her to get a back-to-school haircut today. I know that as a mother, there is no greater gift I can give her than the confidence that comes from a salon blowout.

Can you tell in this picture we are a tiny bit in love with ourselves? Tonight was her school's open house, and she joked about how she'd introduce herself to her teacher: "Hi, I'm Laura, and this is my blowout. Where is our desk please?" She even stayed home from the pool this afternoon to keep it nice. I mean, the girl loves the pool, but that is the smooth blonde hair of dreams. She'll probably sleep sitting up until Thursday.

You should see my hair right now. I am like a tawny lion. Here.

That's mah hair pushed back with a little headband. When I've just washed it, like I did today, the curls cannot be tamed. Forgive the low light and Michelle Bachmann crazy eyes. Lion! Rawrr!

Hank is not so concerned as Laura with his coiffure.

Yesterday I was out with Hank, and he climbed down from the car and stood in the parking lot. "It is hot as HELL out here," he said. He made this pronouncement not at all like he thought he was swearing, just exactly like I would say it. I couldn't even come up with a correction, because he was perfectly right. It was absolutely mothereffing hot as the hinges of hell and it was the perfect moment to remark such. I just said, "Mm hmm. Now hold my hand in the parking lot."

Then, THEN, I walked Hank and his buddy into Kangazoom, one of those bounce house places. A while back, they had a Groupon that offered a 10-visit punch card for $20 or $30. I can't remember which, but it was a really good price. We had gone once, in the spring, right after the Groupon, but I was waiting until a day when it was, you know, hot as hell to come back. So Hank and his bud and I all walked into Kangazoom, all wearing the all-important socks and ready to rock. I signed the little waivers for the boys. And the girl behind the counter told me that would be $18.50. Yes, a walk-in visit to this place costs $9.25, choke. I remembered I hadn't shown her my punch card, so I pulled it out of my wallet.

She pointed to our little friend, "Is he related to you?" No, I told her, he's our friend. She said, "Well you can't use the punch card for him, it's just a family pass." I studied the punch card. "When did that start?" I asked. "It's been that way from the beginning," she said. Hmm, I thought. She said, "Did you get that from the Groupon?" And I said I had. "It was on the Groupon," she said. Hmm. I didn't remember any provision that the pass was only good for one's own children, but I supposed it was just possible. I didn't want to make a huge thing. "Okay," I said. While I was looking in my wallet, she had a sudden change of heart, punched the card twice, and handed it to me. "Here," she said, "I've had a really bad day." I didn't know what to make of that so I thanked her and joked, "Is all the screaming getting to you?" "No," she said, "It's the moms." Whoa. So I smiled and we went on in and the boys jumped.

And I looked up my Groupons right there on my handy Groupon app. I could still read the fine print for the Kangazoom deal. There was nothing anywhere that indicated it was to only be used for one's own family. That wouldn't even make sense. How would that even be worded? It just said that it was valid for one punch per child per day. It annoyed me because it seems like a clear instance of the merchant, in this case Kangazoom, thinking better of the whole Groupon thing and wanting to have backsies on the deal, at the expense of the customer. Which will do nothing but tick people off, because even if I'd had to pay for our friend right then, I am gonna get my ten free jumps sometime. I would have complained to Groupon if the girl hadn't gone ahead and honored the punch card. I still might. Heck, I am now. If the point of participating in Groupon is to build goodwill among customers who have a choice of a million other bounce places, this won't do it.

Anybody had a similarly icky situation with a Groupon? I've heard mixed things. I've always been happy with the ones I've bought, but I'm pretty selective. Like, only buying Groupons for restaurants we already go to, stuff like that.

ANYHOO. I bought the boys each a drink and snack from their snack bar because she'd made me feel like a freeloader. And a good time was had by all.

And now Matt is down in the basement poking around. I better go see what he is doing! And offer my opinion!!

This Day I Am An Adult

Because I was at Costco this afternoon, and I purchased 100 postage stamps.  Yes, just like that.  "Madam, here is my 43 dollars and change, I would like to purchase the power to mail one hundred things, please."  All through my twenties and early (okay and mid) thirties, it was a hand-to-mouth, devil-may-care, one book of stamps at a time existence.  Honestly, I never knew where my next 20 stamps was coming from.  Sometimes I bummed them from people.  I did whatever I had to do, piecing together the postage from random old sheets of stamps, two-cent ones, thirty-seven cent ones, I didn't care. Then online bill payment came along and I practically never needed stamps at all.  But the good times don't last, do they?

Actually, I still don't need stamps that often, so what I've purchased is basically a lifetime's supply of franking.

Franking.  That's really what it's called.

And they're those Forever stamps (in a lovely holiday evergreen pattern), so I expect to make money off of this deal as postal rates climb.  I am all about the long play.

Also at Costco: I had it in my head that I needed to get Laura some of those off-brand Uggs they have there. Now, she hadn't asked for them, but when the weather turns chilly, I want to cover the world in Uggs.  Everything I see looks like a foot needing a boot to me, like when Sylvester looks at Tweety and sees him browning on a tiny rotisserie.

You see, the weather has only just gotten coldish here.  Every year I set a goal of waiting until November 1 to turn on the heat in our house, but I've never made it.  Until this year.  We haven't needed the heat yet, I'm pretty sure because of something that Al Gore did, but the last few mornings, I am weakening as it hovers around 60 in the house.  The family has already gathered around for Ugg Day, the ritual encasing of my feet in shearling boots.  We shall not see those feet until late March.  So my thoughts have turned to warm things and making warmness, and Laura's possibly chilly feet seemed like a perfectly good reason to drive over to Costco, and Hank and I set off.

Their selection was somewhat picked over, but Hank, my shopping wing man, held my purse as I crawled inside the tower of boxes looking for the right size.  I had to re engineer the pile so it wouldn't topple onto us, and every box had to be turned a different way.  Hank kept offering to move or lift things for me.  Then I went around to the other side of the aisle--you know how they have everything stacked warehouse style--and tunneled through a bunch of Fruit-by-the-Foot cases to get to the back of the boot stack.  Hank said, "I'll move those foot snacks for you Mom."  I swear, I see in him the beginnings of gallantry.  He always wants to be my strong helper.

So I was very occupied with helping him help me, bending down, and examining every frankin' box of boots, and realized, too late, that I was treating all of the other patrons to some major coin slot.

Oh well.

What else went on since we last spoke?  Just matronly things.  I've taken Laura to her new swim team practice thrice, I have prepared a number of adequate meals, and I have generally done the things necessary for basic family survival.  Also I had a rich inner life.

Tomorrow morning we are going to dash up to NC to meet some friends and stay Saturday night at the mountain house.  Should be freezing at night up there.  But that won't bother us, because of our ugg feet. Yes I got Laura some and I got myself another pair too. Yes I already have some, oh stop it. I am a grown woman with much postage.

Back in a flash, lovers.

Pottery Blogging, or "Plogging"

Back in the winter I griped at length about the inept shipping practices of pottery sellers on ebay, and then I had another bad experience and griped some more with the griping. Then I announced that I was done. I believe my words were, "Done. Crocodile Dun-dee."

Well, I wasn't all that done.

That's my new yellow friend there in the middle. The pictures don't do it justice, because pictures of my dining room taken at night always wind up looking like clown ass. But it's a very pretty yellow with a celadon underside.

And, it was very nicely packed and it arrived unbroken. The only slight problemette is that it has a small chip that wasn't disclosed in the auction. Very small, and I don't even care because get this:

I won the auction for one cent. A PENNY. So I paid the shipping, which was ten bucks. Still a total score. And doesn't it look nice with its two friends!

Why did this auction end at one cent? (I didn't even know they could start that low--I think I thought I was bidding a dollar.) Seller dude had it listed as a "Red Wing Veggie Tray." Um, no. So the words "console bowl" didn't appear in the auction anywhere, which may have had something to do with the lack of bids.

Now I need to be done. But there are so many nice things in the world that need a good home, how am I to deny them? I thought I better show y'all, because I am still trying to get a good grade in show-and-tell.

Oh For the Love

Well. Remember my awesome 99 cent Red Wing find and its attendant negotiations? It arrived today.

Yes, pre-broken for my enjoyment. Really. When I was engaging in all my clever and delicate negotiations with the seller about honoring the auction price, I should have also said, "Now, don't forget to take the bowl out in your backyard and throw it at a tree! Thanks!" 'Cause she might as well have.

Y'all, I just don't know why people don't understand the laws governing How Stuff Does and Does Not Get Broken. All that bubble wrap so lovingly taped around the dish would be great for a crosstown move. But wrapping a brittle object in bubbles and then putting it in a small flat box does not protect it from the slamming and jarring that is part of the concept we call "shipping." Slamming and jarring are why shipping is not called "gentle cradling."

So this is me being done with buying pottery on ebay. Done. Crocodile Dun-dee. Because you know, I am now posing a threat to the world's supply of vintage pottery. One day it will run out--they ain't makin' any more of it. By winning these auctions and inciting inept people to "ship" me things, I am hastening the demise of perfectly nice ceramics. So from now on they can all stay right where they are at the sellers' houses, probably wrapped in Kleenex and stored safely under bricks.

I have a feeling that this seller may be difficult about this refund. Lifeforce . . . dwindling.

Let's be careful out there.

Continuing Ebay Adventures

Remember the other day I was griping about shoddy shipping practices? Well, I got my irritation out of my system on this here blog, then I wrote the seller of my broken bowl a nice note. It said something like:

"The bowls arrived quickly, thanks, but one of them was broken in half." Then I favored her with an emoticon.

"The other one is in perfect shape, so of course I want to pay for that one. Would you consider a partial refund for the broken bowl and its shipping?"

She wrote right back and was all, "Oh I'm so sorry, I've just issued you a full refund, we hope you'll shop with us again," etc. Then I thanked her for being so responsive and we were done. I'm glad she gave me my money back. And I think I see why she has 100% positive feedback despite her poor packing and shipping. She bought my silence.

So, then (you didn't think I was finished shopping for Red Wing, did you?), I saw another leaf-shaped bowl like the green one in the post I linked to. This one is is all one color, a gorgeous celadon. And, nobody had found the auction yet and I won it for 99 cents. Good Lord! The shipping was $16 for one of the larger Priority flat-rate boxes, but I thought, well, that's about right, and maybe this one will be properly packed. So I was surprised, when I got the invoice, to see that the seller had added a $16.99 charge in addition to the shipping. Hmm. I looked closely at the auction page to see if this was some kind of bogus "handling" charge, but there was no mention of it. So I sent a note to the seller:

Hi, would you please reissue this invoice? It seems to have an extra $16.99 charge on it. Thanks!

Here was her response:

Yes, I added that because the auction ended so low. You couldn't of expected to get that dish for a dollar did you!

Oh ho! Oh ho ho ho! Let's dig in, shall we? First, I can't even talk about the "couldn't of" because it gives me hives all over my body. Let's just note that this person, despite a lot of history on ebay, it seems, does not understand how an auction works. Her opening bid was 99 cents, I bid that and nobody else did, ergo I get it for 99 cents. There was no reserve price. This is why, when I've sold stuff on ebay, I always always list it at an opening price that I would feel okay with. If I wouldn't want to let an item go for its opening bid, the opening price should be higher. I know many people believe in and use the 99 cent opening price to avoid listing fees and to elicit interest in their auctions--people argue it drives the final price even higher than it otherwise would have been by pulling in bidders and watchers--but that only works if you have a hot item. An auction for obscure mass-produced American art pottery will not work the same as an auction for the next-gen iPod nano. Anyway, yeah, 99 cents is crazy for that dish. I would have paid 20 bucks for it. I paid forty for the one I have now, but it is a better color scheme and had matching candle holders. But that is the way the ebay cookie crumbles. So I wrote back:

Well, I didn't expect to get it for a dollar, to be honest. And I know that it's frustrating to only have one bid on an auction. But if you add the extra charge to your invoice, I'm afraid ebay will see that as fee avoidance, you know? They're tough on that stuff. So I'll keep an eye out for the invoice, thanks!

Then, without responding back, she invoiced me for just the 99 cents plus her original shipping. I'm glad we didn't have to get ugly, 'cause hell hath no fury like a bargain hunter scorned. Also, it is amazing to me how many people are selling stuff on ebay--high volumes of stuff it seems--without knowing the rules of ebay. You see it all the time: people charging excessive handling fees after their auctions end low, people adding surcharges for payment with credit cards rather than paypal funds, on and on. To quote my favorite Monica line from "Friends," people, the rules control the fun.

So yeah, I might have enough Red Wing for right now, unless something absolutely great comes along. I still haven't managed to find a bowl in the same design that Fabienne broke. That one had little feet. They were so elegant. Sigh, it's hard out here for a pimp.

Free Wrapping Stuff at CVS If You Hurry

I'm a little late to the party on this one. For the rest of today (Tuesday), CVS has three different wrapping supplies that are free-after-ecb's. My involvement with CVS these days is limited to plucking the very, very low-hanging fruit, and that's what this is: Green and red tissue paper is $1.99, get $1.99 back; a bag of bows is $2.99, get $2.99 back, and adhesive gift tags are $1.99, get $1.99 back. You can do each of those deals twice. Sometimes the CVS freebies are kinda meh, but these are handy. This is a good time to rack up some Extra Care Bucks, if you've been meaning to get into the CVS thang. Here is an explanation of how that program works.

I was quite pleased with my transaction. I got two bags of bows, two packs of tissue paper, one pack of labels, and a pack of Bic Soleil razors, which are $4.99 and get $4.00 back. (Somewhere there is a coupon that makes those totally free, but what am I, Nancy Drew?) The helpful scanner machine at the front of the store gave me a $5 off a $15 purchase coupon for me to use right away. Sweet! I don't see those very much.

My total out-of-pocket in cash was $12.78, and I got $16 in extra care bucks. Or really like $15.94. So I came out ahead with a nice stash of ecb's, plus all the junk. CVS, I try to get out, and you pull me back in. Actually, I don't know that I'm back in--like, I'm not gonna start studying the CVS ads again--but I will certainly spend those $16 on stuff that goes on sale at CVS, like toilet paper and baby wipes. I've told myself that I will not buy any more skin care products until I've used the ones I have, which will take until never.

So skadoodle down there if you have a notion.

I Didn't Hear of Anyone Being Trampled To Death, At Least

When I got up Friday morning, at the mountain house, I was told that a small party had set out to Wal-Mart. Apparently my dad had said he needed to buy birdseed. I couldn't believe that he was going to Wal-Mart on Black Friday. I called him. He was down off the mountain. I said, "Are you really going to Wal-Mart?" And he said, "Well yeah. . .hey, wait a minute. It's that Hell Day thing isn't it."

Hell Day. He is so adorable. So I said, "If you're really going, would you check the price of the Xbox Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues"? He said he would. As it happened, they missed the terrible crush of humanity by a couple of hours, and the Xbox game wasn't even on sale (WTF Wal-Mart?), but they did get the birdseed.

Did you guys shop? In the store? Online? I never shop this weekend--I can't stand getting up early, and I think the whole Black Friday sale thing is overdetermined. But I do like to hear the war stories of others.

We are still in the mountains, until tomorrow. Which means, yes, I'm sitting in the Arby's enjoying the free wifi. 'Tis the season!

Paid Consumer Opinion Surveys, I Am on to You

Back when I got into hardcore couponing (I would say these days I'm softcore, about like Playboy or even those "boudoir" pictures with the soft focus and feathers), I read on several frugal blogs about getting paid to take consumer surveys. The way this works, basically, is you sign up with a survey company, and they send you emails every now and then that link to "screening questions," and if you answer those questions and get picked, you take a longer survey online, and get paid 4 or 5 bucks to do it. In the frugal blogiverse, it's all about how small amounts of money add up, and four dollars is nothing to sneeze at, etc. So I signed up, and I responded to every email that came my way. I thought, "Well shoot, I have tons of opinions, you mean I can get paid for these? Great!"

The first problem is that the opinions they want from you are like, really boring opinions. They're not asking you who is more attractive, Mike Rowe or Jon Hamm (Matt asked me that yesterday, it's a toughie), or which Jane Austen novel is the best (Persuasion, and I will fight you). Nope, people who pay marketing companies to do surveys for them want to know things like this:

When was the last time you bought lawn care equipment such as a rake, shovel, pruning equipment, an edger, wheel pump sprayer, grass seed, or fertilizer?

Me: I don't know what some of those things are.

Where did you purchase your lawn care equipment?

Me: It must have been at Home Depot, or Lowes, or maybe somewhere else. Are you sure this is the survey you want me to take?

Did store sales associates help you select your lawn care equipment, or did you select it yourself?

Me: I'm bored.

How much did your lawn care equipment cost?

Me: Honey, how much did, like, our rake cost?

Matt: Please ask yourself if you really want to be doing that.

So it's not a bucket of yuks, and this can go on for 15 or 20 minutes, easy. But the real issue with these surveys, I've decided, is that the "screening" questions that you answer--that they don't pay you for because they're not the actual survey itself--are actually in themselves a valuable source of marketing data. I wouldn't go so far as to say that in some cases there IS no "real" survey that you're getting screened for, but it does seem that the screening questions go on a long time (5-10 minutes sometimes) and elicit very detailed information about your consumption and habits. Another way to say this: I have answered so many questions about my menstrual cycle, its regularity, and my ways of managing it that you would not believe. Then I don't meet the criteria for the real actual survey, and I'm left wondering what else that survey could possibly have found out about My Uterine Lining and Me.

So I'm over it. I mean, it wasn't a scam in that when I did complete the longer surveys, they paid. The money would accumulate and I'd get a check for like $9. Like a birthday card from your great great aunt. And if you want to try it, Money Saving Mom's awesomely comprehensive blog, linked in my sidebar, has deets on it. This is a really popular activity among the froogies. There is even a survey company that is seen as the "exclusive" one to get in with. Like, they don't have their sign-ups open all the time, but every now and then, somewhere on the interwebs, a link will appear that takes you to their sign-up process. It's like Brigadoon, and it creates a lot of excitement in the shimmering moment it appears.

I won't say that all the surveys are totally boring. One I actually liked was watching a trailer for Prince Caspian a few times and giving feedback. I told them that the trailer had too much Reepicheep. And you know that Lowes commercial where the woman works at a fancy lamp store, but at lunch she runs to Lowes and buys the exact same lamp for less, while Gene Hackman caresses us with a voiceover? I watched that and gave feedback. Let me tell you, if my survey experience is any indication, a LOT of marketing money is being spent to study how women interact with big box hardware stores. I predict that soon there will be mani pedi kiosks in Home Depot.

And just as much is being spent studying the television habits of children. I've answered lots of questions about my kids and their viewing. Usually I say that they start the morning with Regis and Kelly, watch through the day, and then at bedtime we have to drag them away from "Cheaters" on The CW. So I always get picked for those surveys. Back in the summer I got picked to preview these episodes of some kids' show about bears. They sent me actual DVDs in the actual mail. Then they wanted me to watch the episodes with Hank, then sit with him as I answered questions online. We were trying to get ready to go to Australia, and I thought of Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock: "I'm not gonna do ANY of that!" And then I didn't even send their DVDs back. I thought this would effectively sever my relations with Amalgamated Consumer Desire or whoever they are, but nope, they still email me "screening" questions. Just the other day I didn't get picked to talk about the grooming products I use on my pet.

So check into it if that's your bag, but I am dunzo.

Publix Has Hung Their Giant Wreaths, So I Guess Christ Is Born, Everybody

I know it's like a thing to be all like, "Wah! Stores stock holiday stuff earlier every year! Why can't we go back to the days when all we wanted for Christmas was a corncob doll and a shiny penny?" I know. Like we're all just pining for homespun authenticity and slow time, which we could have if it weren't for all this shopping! But somebody's gotta do it! And get your hands off that Spode Christmas ladle or I will end you.

So it's a thing. But seriously, I noticed today that my Publix has bedecked itself with huge evergreen wreaths, and hung tinsel candle things from all the lights in the parking lot. Inside there are more swags and furbelows over the display cases. What with Halloween stuff appearing as soon as back-to-school is out of the way, and then Christmas things right at the stroke of 12 on Halloween night, and then Valentine's Day is everywhere on January 1, which will cede shelf space to Easter on February 15, I'm starting to feel a little whipped from pillar to post. Like we're on a forced march. I know we don't have to buy what they're selling, but there is a way that seeing all that stuff in every store seeps into your consciousness and makes you think you're insufficiently festive if you're not feeling their calendar. Their tail is wagging my dog..

I would just like to stand up for November, and for Thanksgiving, which seems to have no presence in our mass retail culture, which I fear will cause it to lose ground in our shared emotional culture. Thanksgiving has always been destined to lose to Halloween and Christmas, because it's not really monetizable. People don't buy things for Thanksgiving, except food and maybe plane tickets. It also sells magazines, I guess. (Sidebar: the other night Matt said, "The dog vomited at the top of the stairs. It was bad. I had to use the Martha Stewart Living to clean it up. I thought that was funny." I said, "But I hadn't read that one yet!" And he said, "I think you could still go fish it out of the trash." Hmmph. So now I'll never know what all Martha is going to do with pomegranate seeds this month.) So it's not that I want stores to come up with a whole bunch of Turkey merchandise to sell us. I would just like for them to wait a mo' with the outdoor decorations. I want to take a breath and enjoy November for what it is.

Publix redeemed itself for me tonight, because I ran in there to get Matt some popcorn, and there were coupons hanging on some of the bottles of Perrier. Now, last year, in the summer of '08, those of us who were hard core couponnieres had a nice little Perrier racket going. Publix had $1 off Perrier coupons on the shelves, which you could take across the street to CVS, where if you bought two bottles of Perrier (for a dollar each) you got $1 in CVS Extracare Bucks. You could lather, rinse, and repeat that deal as much as you wanted, if I recall. I do remember that I practically bathed in the stuff and I loved it. So right now, the big bottles of Perrier, which are $1.59 at my store, have 55 cent coupons hanging on the necks. It's only the pink grapefruit variety. A dollar for the big bottle seemed reasonable to me, so I struck hard. Check your Publix if you're needing a classier chug-a-lug. And Joyeux Noël!

That Was Some Expensive Magicalness

First let me say:

Disney on Ice tickets for 4: $44

Parking: $15

Pizza for 4: $22

Hank shouting, "Mama, when will they stop SKATING?": Priceless

So I scored these $11 tickets, thanks to a deal that Carrie at Frugalista told about, and the seats were really great.  I was close enough to notice that the same skater played both Aladdin and David from Lilo and Stitch, and that his rippling abs were real and not special effects.  Though they had a very special effect.  Oh, I crack myself up.  Anyway, good seats.  And I was not that surprised by the cost of parking and snacks, 'cause that's how they getcha, right?

What I was surprised by were the prices for Disney souvenirs.  Talk about JACKED UP.  Of course they were hawking all manner of gewgaw and gimcrack, and you had to run a gauntlet of the stuff to get to your seats, but I could not believe the prices.  Little beanie baby-sized plush toys were $12.  A lemonade in a souvenir cup was $10.  Even Laura was like, "That is a lot of money for that."  God knows what the fancy-shaped cups of snow cone cost.  A plastic sword was $22.  You know those balloons that are shaped like Mickey's head?  They had a bunch of them on sticks.  They were $15, I shit you not.

Everything was about 3x what you would expect the "already-overpriced amusement" rate to be.  Like, it's been a while since I've been to Disneyland/world, but the crap in the parks doesn't cost that much, does it?  I mean, I'm not against souvenirs.  And I'm all in favor of indulgences. But buying that stuff would have been like helping someone mug you.  After Laura said, "Are those fish hats free?" and I said, "Ha, nope," she didn't even ask for anything, and Hank wasn't really aware of the stuff.  

Yet people were buying things right and left, it was totally amazing.  I thought,  "Does anyone's kid not have enough of this stuff at home?"  Maybe not.  I know that we have every species of light-up Disney princess barbie, and they did not cost $22 apiece.  So now I've decided that the ticket sales are probably nothing to the tour company.  The stuff is how they getcha. 

That said, we had fun.  Laura and her friend were really into it.  Laura said, "I feel bad for all the kids who didn't get to see this."  And Hank was certainly spellbound, even if he wanted them to be still for a minute, and he said, "This makes me a little nervous."  I think it may have been the lights and the screaming, oh my lord the screaming.  He loved when the toys from Toy Story came out, though I felt for the person in that piggy bank costume, skating on all fours.

Has everyone already been to a Something on Ice?  This was a new one for me.  I was going to title this post "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," in homage to the late great David Foster Wallace.  But I would totally do it again, only next time I'll take the Marta train down there.  

Jelly Wars

As someone who is concerned with both healthy-ish eating and frugal grocery shopping, I admit this whole jelly situation has me stumped. I would like to buy jelly or jam with no high fructose corn syrup. Not so much because I think that stuff is actual poison, but because, lord, HFCS is everywhere, and can't we just eat something sweet, like jelly, that's made with sugar? Okay. So recently I scored 20 jars of Skippy Natural peanut butter for about 45 cents a jar, instead of the $2.49 it usually costs, due to hitting it while it was buy-one-get-one at Publix, and having 20 coupons for it. Bren tipped me off and I landed on it with both feet. Great, but these people who live here, they love their PB&J's, and now jelly supply is not keeping up with jelly demand. And there don't seem to be very many good sales for jelly, and we're faced with a growing jelly gap. Yes, a jelly gap, and I'm throwing every trick I got at it, but I need your help. This handy diagram sums up the jelly sitch:

What the heck is the jelly/jam product, and where is it, that is bargain-ish, HFCS-free, and tasty? What are y'all buying? For a while, I was getting those Polaner jellies, because they seem to go on sale, and they have a low-sugar version that is HFCS-free, and a sugar-free version with Splenda. Hank and Laura will eat it. But when Matt got ready to make himself a sandwich, he acted like I'd handed him a jar of live bees. The texture just isn't agreeable to his inner child. You never know what that guy is going to be particular about. I am not choosing this battle with him, or with his inner child. The other day I was heading to Publix, and he said, "Please get a jar of strawberry jelly and don't get that weird stuff." So I got there and spent twenty minutes perusing the jelly options. Twelve Publix employees greeted me and offered their assistance during what was obviously a difficult time, but I just needed to read every single jar. It ended with me buying a SMALL jar of Organic Smuckers for $3.49. OMG. Once you start down the couponing path, $3.49 seems like a lot to pay for jelly. But I guess it's cheaper than marriage counseling. Still, for that price, I want to recline on a couch like the ancient Romans, and eat it smeared on a whole nightingale.

I usually shop at Publix and SuperTarget, but I'm willing to drive down to Trader Joes and stock up if y'all know of anything there. And I know buying a pressure cooker and making my own jelly would be a delicious option, but I would probably explode myself, so any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated. This is what's on my mind tonight. I hope y'all had a great weekend.

You Cannot Beat That With a Stick

While waiting for the dog to get bathed and have her anal glands attended to--Happy Thanksgiving, Percy!--the kids and I took a spin through the dollar section up in the front of Target. Target, I have often said, is my safe place. It only makes me feel good, and never makes me feel bad, and today was no exception. In their section of junky holiday decor, they had two different felt garlands. You know how suddenly we're seeing these homemade letter garlands all around? Here's one example. Anyway, at Target they have felt garlands for $2.50. One says, "Happy Holidays," and there's this one that I got.

It's all felt. Each snowman is really cute. Not bad for $2.50, so go getcha one. While I haven't started decorating for Christmas yet, I went ahead and stuck this on the mantel. I'm calling it a transitional piece, I guess. When we break out the Christmas decorations, I'll move it, because I've got a different garland I like to put up there with the stockings. I have snow on the brain because my mom told me it's snowing at the mountain house, which is where we're going on Wednesday. Fun! First, though, we're having Pre-Thanksgiving here. And the dog is clean, Praisallujah!

I also swept through Publix with a sheaf of coupons in hand. Scored lots and lots of canned broth, canned veggies, French's onions (green bean casserole, oh yeah baby), bogo Hellman's, Club crackers, raisins, cake mixes, and I don't know what all. Spent about $52 and saved $57. CVS was a little meh. I got the free Maybelline make-up and some much-needed bogo All. Cassie had sent me a $3 off $15 coupon, for which I truly give thanks. I haven't really figured out all the Black Friday stuff happening at CVS. I usually don't shop at all around Thanksgiving. Is anyone taking the time to do that? I love to go to the movies on Thanksgiving night, but we'll be in the wilderness, so I don't think it will happen.

As always, thanks to Fiddledeedee for help in figuring out the Publix deals. Check over there to see what the Supersavers are doing. Sorry to be so brief, but I'm still cleaning house. Have a good night, y'all.

Par-tay! Free Christmas Music from Amazon

Harken, my peeps! One of Amazon's FREE mp3 downloads right now is a Holiday Sampler with five great songs. It is really fun, especially the Les Brown "Nutcracker Suite." I've been listening to it while tearing apart a chicken carcass (for stock) with my bare hands. I feel a little Clan of the Cave Bear here, but more festive.

When you're on that Amazon page, down below you'll see several other free albums. The Celebrating 10 Years of Music is great if you like classical. I don't have an iPod, but one of our computers has big speakers, and I play music on it all the time. I think the Holiday Sampler mixed with the classical stuff would make a nice little playlist if you're having people over for some 'nogg. Or wassail. Do people still do wassail?

The excellent Southern Savers tipped me off to this and I wanted to pass it along. Free Christmas music makes a Works for Me Wednesday!

Feats of Daring Do, and Also Shopping

So what's the policy on tree-climbing? Perfectly fine, or dangerous and forbidden? Does the answer depend on how high up the tree the kid can climb? Because Laura has only now gotten to the age and strength where she can get way up a tree. This, today, is the tree that was pictured in this post last week.


That's Pretty Neighbor's daughter up there. I am not used to looking out my sunroom window (our sunroom is high off the ground) and seeing a child level with the window. So first I took their picture, then I yelled, "Get down! If you fall and break your neck, your mom will kill me!" Only it sounded so, so genteel the way I yelled it, and not at all like shrill, crazy backyard mom-screaming.

Then Hank and I went on our appointed rounds to CVS and Publix. Now, Cassie over at Envirosavings had outlined an ambitious three-transaction plan, and I was going to try to emulate her. But my lame CVS didn't have the L'Oreal Pro-Calcium whatchamathing (the second store I've checked), so I just did the part of the plan I really wanted anyway: the battery deal. The store had some Crest Pro-Health toothpaste back in, and I remembered that the secret limit was 4, so I got:

• two Crests, $3.49 each
• 4 packs of Duracells at $5.29 each
• a pack of barrettes clearanced to $.99
• two big double boxes of Airborne that were 90% off, making them $1.30 apiece (AND, AND I had been saving and nurturing an Airborne coupon for $2 off, so that was some really, really cheap Airborne. Even if it doesn't work as advertised, there are still some vitamins in there.

And I paid with:

• 3 coupons for $.75/off Duracell
• 2 coupons for $1/off Crest
• 1 coupon for $2/off Airborne
• $11.99 in ecb's (from the Revitalift last week)
• $14.87 out of pocket

Got back $21.98 in ecb's, 15 for the batteries and $6.98 for the Crest. Good times!

My Publix run was modest: highlights were more of the bogo Ritz crackers, even though I'd already used the coupons I had. I can't quit you, Ritz. Also, there is a little "Holiday Planning" booklet on the Ritz display at my store. In the back are two coupons: one is $3 off wyb three boxes of Nabisco crackers and three 2-liter Coke products. With the Ritz being bogo, that's a pretty good deal if you drink Coke.

Fresh Express salad is bogo, AND in the Advantage Buy flyer, there's a coup for $2 off produce wyb two Fresh Express salads. Sweet! And the penny item was Publix cheese singles. I loaded up on more of the fifty cent mac and cheeses, but the rest of my stuff wasn't that couponable--a whole Greenwise chicken for $1.99 a pound, eggs, pears and bananas, more cheese, tortillas, milk, etc. When it was all said and done, I spent $32.61 and saved $27.88, which I think is 46%, but I'm not such a whiz with the maths. And Hank got to ride in car buggies at both places, and the Publix man at the bakery gave him a cookie.

The smarties at Fiddledeedee's Supersavers have racked up some impressive savings too, so check into it.

Coupon Shopping: Publix? Consider It Rocked

Hi friends. This NaBloPoMo 30 posts in 30 days thing is really something. I feel like I was just here. Are you sick of me yet? Don't answer that.

I wanted to share my fantabulous Publix trip from yesterday. I got more systematic about my couponing, and it made a big difference. A couple of things clicked for me. For several months now, I've been a more frugal shopper, but I've been kind of hit-and-miss with using coupons. I would plan grocery trips using Fiddledeedee and Bren and others, but if a coupon wasn't an internet printable, I was sometimes too lazy to go and find the right newspaper insert and cut out the coupon. Even though I might have the insert crammed in a drawer. I obviously need the remedial coupon class. I had not discovered Sharpie technology, and the fact that writing the date of the newspaper on the front of the insert makes this all much easier.

So yesterday I stood in my kitchen and went through about a bushel of coupon inserts that I had magically been storing in a tiny drawer. I wrote the date on each one, and made a pile of Redplums and a pile of Smartsource. Then I put each pile in a folder, and I sat down in front of the computer and spent just a few minutes with Fiddledeedee and Southern Savers. I remembered that my Publix doubles coupons of fifty cents or less. That means, I realized, that a newspaper coupon for fifty cents is just as good as an internet printable for $1. (Duh! I told you I need the remedial class.) So when an item is bogo, and I have 2 fifty cent coupons, that is a big savings. I knew my Publix doubled, but it never really hit me before.

Then I went on a delightfully child-free trip to Publix, and I spent $42.15 and saved $60.15. It was fun--lots of good match-ups. My store actually had those winter savings coupon booklets. Grab those and get the College Inn broth coupon and the Hunt's tomatoes coupon out of there. With coups, those 32 ounce cartons of broth were 40 cents each. Score! I got one of the Thai curry ones to try in addition to the regular chicken. Other highlights included those Bertolli pasta meals for $1.25 apiece. The bogo Nabisco crackers with coupons were like 40 cents each too. And I picked up some non-dairy creamer, the bogo canned tomatoes, and the Lysol wipes, among other things. The Last Tango peaches were 69 cents a pound at my store too. Ooh, and with the printable coups, the Stonyfield yogurt cups were like 16 cents apiece. Love it.

At CVS, I only did one transaction. Cassie at Envirosavings had custom-built a great CVS scenario for me, and I did the first half of it. I was pleased that my store had the Revitalift that paid $11.98 in ecb's. I basically rolled 10 ecbs into that. Joke's on you, L'Oreal! I am in a committed and serious relationship with Origins. Then, that store didn't have several of the things I needed to do my wonderful second transaction, so I panicked and bailed. I considered going to the other CVS, but to do that I had to actually drive by my house, and I realized I would only be going so I could use my $5/25 coupon that was expiring, and that it didn't really matter that much. So CVS was short and sweet.

Then, when Laura and I took a ton of clothes to Goodwill, we browsed around their kitchen section, and I found two Denby mugs and a creamer in the Potter's Wheel pattern, for fifty-five cents each. Like this:
The pic doesn't do it justice. I've been drinking my coffee from one of them today and loving the gorgeous texture of the stoneware. So that was it for my getting and spending. Hop over to Supersavers to see what the coupon gurus are up to.

Candy, Candy, Candy I Can't Let You Go

I bought groceries today, but I also sold some gold, so it was a net gain. There weren't many super deals that got me to the stores, but there was cheap candy to be had at both Publix and CVS. THIS time I'm going to actually save it for Halloween, not like the doomed M&M "fun size" bags of last week. They WERE a fun size. To be sure this batch lasts the week, I've hidden it somewhere in my stockpile in the garage. Now I'm going to try to forget where. But I keep reminding myself! Dang, I really need one of those lockboxes that Al Gore was always talking about. Cassie reminded me that there was Nestle candy on sale at CVS (the coupon is in her post), and Publix had their M&M's bogo, plus there's a $1/2 printable coupon floating around. Fiddledeedee is the place for that one and for all Publix lore.

A couple of other fun things at Publix: by the Sara Lee bread, there is a tear-off coupon for $3 off a pumpkin when you buy a pack of SL hotdog buns and a Hilshire farms sausage (the polish sausage thingies are 2 for $5). Publix's large pumpkins are $5.99 this week, so for $7.50, you can get buns, big sausage, and big pumpkin. Not free, but if you're in the market for some polska kielbasa anyway (I was), the $3 pumpkin is hard to turn down. The pumpkins are really accumulating on our porch.

Also, the Ritz crackers are bogo, which is good enough for me. Plus there are tear-offs for $1 off when you buy the Ritz and a chunk of Kraft cheese. The bigger chunks are marked down to $4.50. That stuff freezes, if you're into it. I also had the bogo Wholly Guacamole printable that expires 10/31, so I got two of those. I had a $1 off coup from the paper, so those were $1 each. As I type this, an entire guacamole is vanishing into my family's bellies, while we wait for the chili to simmer. Those were the highlights. So, spent $45.79, saved $28.68, but I feel good about the cheese and sausage I got for that.

This afternoon my neighbor called me and said that her tennis friend was having a gold party a couple streets over. Have you heard of this? I had only just been told of this phenomenon the other night. Basically it's like a Tupperware party, only instead of buying stuff, you bring your scrap gold to a dude who comes to sort it, weigh it, and offer you cash for it. The gold dudes pay the hostess 10% of what they pay out. Now, I am sure that you can go to a jeweler in your town and get a better price, and I've heard of some scammy gold parties where they weigh all the jewelry together and pay you the lowest carat rate, or they tell you you have 14k when you have 18k, or some such. So you should keep your eyes open. But the likelihood that I was going to gather up my scrap gold and go find a jeweler willing to buy it at a better rate was zero. And there is something to be said for the convenience of going to the next street to do this. One of the gold dudes told me that they are booked up for night parties every single night between now and the first of the year, so they're doing these afternoon parties in neighborhoods like ours, where a lot of women are home during the day.

So Normal Neighbor came over and watched Hank for a few minutes, and I went to the right house, and two dudes carefully untangled everything I had and looked it over. They had all the little tools, magnets, rubbing stone, magnifying glasses, etc. They sorted it by type of gold, then weighed each type. They paid me $110 cash for a few broken, tangled chains I got out of the bottom of Laura's jewelry box, and some little dented, ball earrings from the 80's. I didn't sell anything I actually wear, so it seemed like a little windfall. Plus there was food there. Maybe something to do if it comes your way.

Here's Hank, reminding me of a pumpkin with his orange shirt and pumpkin head. Yesterday he asked me to close the door and let him sit on the porch by himself.

Gotta go, my chili's ready. And be sure to check at Fiddledeedee's to see what the shopping experts are up to!

Free Soap, My Friends

I am not one of the frugal shopping ninjas like Bren, Sarah, or Carrie, but I do love a deal and I love the coupon game. My finest shopping hour this weekend was at CVS. First, I was thrilled to find the 99 cent bars of CVS soap that are paying $1 ecb each (they had the moisturizing ones at my store, but I think other types work too). This is good for the rest of October. Brenda clued me in to this deal, and I bought five, paid with ecb's and got all that money right back. And I did not take every bar that they had, because I am a proper lay-dee, I am. I left two bars. Then, THEN, I wandered back to the clearance shelf, and it was crammed with bags of Gold Emblem honey-wheat pretzel sticks--the thick kind. Now, I don't eat pretzels, but these were 13 cents a bag. THIRTEEN CENTS. I guess they were 90% off. So I took a few bags, and tried a pretzel right there in the store. It was delish! I bought 16 bags, STILL leaving several for my fellow shoppers. Go quick and see if your store has these on clearance. My kids love these, it turns out. Only Matt will not eat them, but he has a very specific snack ideology. I also got the two free-after-ecb's pumpkin pails. That was fun.

Then to Publix, where I could not resist the siren song of really cheap frozen chicken tenders. I had 5 coupons for $1 off the Fast Fixin's bogo, so I got six of those. They ended up being $2 each. I also got the bogo bags of candy, with coupons. The Mystery Penny Item was Publix toilet paper--woohoo! The sun will never set on my tp stockpile. Then I got a lot of produce and eggs and other non-coupon stuff. Spent $47.49, saved 39.18. The "spent" line was more than the "saved" line, which doesn't qualify me for the all-stars, but I was happy.

And Target, Target was delightful. I went at night with no kids, and I remembered that Target is my Safe Place. Nothing bad can happen to me there. So much great stuff is on clearance all over the store. I did some Xmas shopping--can't be too specific here--but go to the housewares/picture frame/kitchen section and look for some 75% off Thomas O'Brien kitchen stuff, and some really great accessories on the endcaps. Also, there is a Supertarget coupon for $1 off Archer Farms juice, and a lot of the AF juice is clearanced for $1.48 or so. Awesome selection of snack crackers at 50% off and cheaper. If you come to my house for cocktails in the next few months, I'll be serving CVS honey pretzels and Archer Farms Italian garlic crostini. I also bought a couple of lampshades, one of which works, but my lamp woes are the subject of a future post, no doubt. And if you are on my Christmas list, you are a lucky duck! Unless I decide to keep this stuff 'cause it's so CUTE.

Then, to round out the weekend of getting and spending, my excellent mother-in-law stopped at our house tonight, on her way home from a trip to Providence. For my December birthday, she gave me two of those Brooks Brothers Miracle shirts, one white and one black, to "beef up my professional wardrobe." I love her because she always gives presents early. And the shirts are really great--very flattering and classic. She came upon a buy-two-get-one sale at BB. It may be online too. That is her brand of frugality, and I love it.

And go check out Fiddledeedee to see some real Publix Super Duper shoppers.