4/23 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the day: Must be competition time for department stores. So far, I have received $10 off $10 coupons from JCPenneys and Kohls and I just printed one for Aeropostale. Lucky me, I got a 3% longevity pay increase today. Every bit comes in handy. Unluckily, our garage door had a problem, $179, and a small repair job on a rental property - another $40. Apparently one of the rental unit's fireplace flashing is a problem - and the property manager gave us a quote. We asked for a second. You would have thought they would have done it automatically - but they didn't.

4/17 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the day: Today I got my hair "done" at the local beauty school. We had dinner at a very nice restaurant with a 1/2 priced gift certificate. On our way home, we stopped at Publix for dessert and a few other items - saved over 50% with coupons - our Publix is now taking "Competitor" coupons including the $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon (although they told me they will quit taking pharmacy coupons starting 1 May). When we came home, Kohl's sent me a $10 off $10 GC I can use next weekend. Great for socks, etc. Tomorrow I will try to make time to plant veggie seeds - mainly lettuce. I have also been sewing pillow cases - 2 more to go and that project is done. I did take 17 items to the consignment store this week and hope to take more next week.

4/16 Expressions

Yesterday, my daughter and I took part in some of the "Tax Day" deals. We stopped at Maggie Moos and were given a "sample size" of the ice cream pizza plus a scoop of any ice cream we wanted - what a great company - and we love their ice cream too. Then on to PF Changs where we enjoyed a meal with 15% and brought home enough for tonight's dinner. Got 9 tomato plants and 9 green pepper plants planted. Hope to get some seeds in the ground shortly.

4/9 Expressions

It pays to ask questions. I have not paid much attention to our stock statements. Well, I got a quarterly statement of the stocks we have at one of the trading companies. I purchased a handful of stocks a few years ago when they were giving bonuses, free trades, etc. Well, I noticed my sweep account was building up with dividends - and of course earning a paltry interest rate. In the meantime, "my" brokerage firm had merged with another one. I called about signing up for dividend reinvestment plans for the stock that we held - yup, they are all eligible - and no fees associated. Then the customer service rep stated that if I discontinue receiving the paper statements - I could save $2 per quarter - paper statements are now gone. Then I asked about my sweep account - can I just withdraw the funds - yup, can I use them to trade, yup. Okay, I forgot my log-in and password. Turns out I never had one since the companies merged. So, I set-up and the rep. gave me free trade credits too. That was one nice customer service dealing - I guess since it was so nice and easy - I will reveal the name: TD - Ameritrade. Yippe, no "customer service" headache today :) I will be mailing out the taxes tomorrow - another yippee! One rent check early - triple yippee! My bonus actually paid out yesterday. So money-wise, this has been another nice week. And the weather was fabulous! Very tempted to pull weeds and plant something tomorrow too - doing my own yard-work and planting edibles - that's frugal :) Oh, and Purple Heart picked-up 2 boxes yesterday - more clutter gone! I have a box ready to go to the consignment store too - but they were not accepting consignments this week - so, I am ready for next week.

4/5 Expressions

When it rains, it pours. At least that is the way I feel today - in a very good way. I won a $25 Gift card from a Almost Frugal's Facebook contest. I joined Listia a day or so ago, did a few things to earn free credits - and just now, I was notified that I won the 3,000 wildflower seed (I was just informed it is really 6,000) for most of my points and it included free shipping. Then I loaded a few more bonus points at Disney rewards, and "cashed in" for Mickey shaped cut-outs with wildflower seeds imbeded into the paper. I hope that bare area in the back yard will be filled with wildflowers instead of just weeds since it is difficult to mow. And in the mail, I received the last gift card I ordered from mypoints and a survey check. Oh, and I went to my first yoga class today - the instructor did not show - but the VP of the company did and hand wrote each of us a free pass to 1 class - I will give it to my daughter to try one of the classes out.