5/17 Expressions

I got my 5 coupons for a free box of Michael Angelo frozen meals in the mail today. How exciting is that? My husband got a free Shick Quattro Titanium razor too. How nice is that? That's no cheap freebie. I am already planning on getting groceries at Publix as close to free as possible. My daughter and a friend won very nice prizes at the fishing tournament. They each won jewelry and bath and body products. A big deal for 'tweens. And the best part of it all - they didn't even catch a fish :) Now they are at the freebie baseball game. Hope they each get a freebie commemorative baseball. (This year's freebie was not a commemorative baseball - it was a box of 6 packages of microwavable popcorn. Nice too.) They were a little late in leaving.

More 5/16 Expressions

About the only excitement in the mail was a magazine from Kraft Foods. The recipes always sound wonderful - but his month's magazine had a coupon for a free salad dressing and there were other cents off coupons in there too. I baked several batches of chocolate chip cookies - using a .99 bag of chips from Aldi. I also wanted to mention that avacados were .33 each - not the ultra small one's either. Also, last night, I was reading a good deals site and a code for $20 off plants was posted. I ordered a dwarf lemon tree for shipping only - just under $8. Hope it comes. Anyway, I spotted in the paper that county is sponsoring a fishing derby for those under 18 years of age. They always give out nice prizes (whether you catch anything or not). So, I plan to pack some cookies and drinks for the fishing party tomorrow morning. The afternoon will be spent at the free ball game. I am in the second month of daily papers at the "Sundays only" price. I have to say, there's lots of information about cheap/free entertainment and even coupons that are printed during the week. I just may be hooked. The other day I saw an opportunity to e-mail in for free tickets to a preview of the latest Narnia movie. All that was required - was to write a short review of the movie. Of course - the preview was on a school night - and started close to midnight. But, if you keep your eyes peeled, there are opportunities for free entertainment. I event noted that the Botanical Gardens where we have a membership is sponsoring a picnic (bring your own or buy there) with fun activities tomorrow - free to members. I don't even remember them sending a flyer - or did I toss it. But just a few examples of entaining the family for "cheap".

5/16 Expressions

I answered the phone on a whim last night. The new marketing tactics by companies is just amazing. The lady on the phone said something to the effect of, "you are such a great customer of XYZ (Big Box Retailer). With this recession, we wanted to help our customers such as yourself. We'd like to inform you of our new hospitalization program that you can add to your XYZ (store brand) credit card." That's as far as she got - before I said "no thank-you", and hung up. I thought it was interesting that she used the word "recession" in her spiel. I am sure she was reading something. So, even though there is much discussion as to whether we are really or technically in a recession or not, the big boxes must think so.

5/15 Expressions

Mail was good - rent checks. I went to the dr. On the way home, we stopped at Aldi. It is great they are trying to keep customers by lowering the price on items that are popular and everyone knows are high elsewhere. A gallon of milk? $1.99! A dozen eggs? $1.29! Then, we stopped at McDonalds for free Southwestern Chicken Sandwiches. We paid for 3 medium drinks - the convenience was worth it. We planned our vacation for next month. We are going to combine business/fun to save a bit on costs. Tomorrow, we are shopping for discount theme park tickets.

5/14 Expressions

Mail was zzz today. My husband got the sewing machine out for me and I finished my daughter's hoodie - a project we started about a month ago whee we cut the pieces from 2 old t-shirts. Came out to look quite cute. My husband has been able to get a few strawberries out of our "garden". Lettuce looks like it may make a nice salad in a day or two. Flowers are blooming away. Clematis - Red and Purple, Asiatic Lillies, and Roses so far.

5/13 Expressions

In the mail was a small rebate check - always nice. I asked my husband if the county/city refunds any "unused" portion of the tag fee - we just got a new tag for my totalled car just over a month ago. He said he didn't think so. Sure enough, with some paperwork - we can get it as a credit when we renew our current tags next year. Every little bit helps.

5/12 Expressions

Mail today was nice. Beach condo rent check, a check from the mail decoy service (this was a nice surprise - as they usually "pay" us in stamps), and the $10 Papa Johns Gift Certificate from Mypoints. Well, my husband checked on our insurance and being "frugal" - I had declined car rental priveleges. So, we started researching buying a car asap. Yes, we know many say buy used and avoid depreciation. But neither of us are auto mechanics - so, we usually buy new, for reliability, reasonably priced, in cash and drive them until repair bills are more than the car is worth. So, now that gas prices are a concern, we wanted something with reasonable gas mileage also. I had a 2004 Saturn Vue - manual - that got decent gas mileage. Tomorrow, my husband will be picking up my 2008 Honda Civic LX - automatic - now that my arm/shoulder hurts - I really don't want to have to shift (I know - the hurt will go away - but I'll take the convenience for now). We got it for invoice plus taxes/tags. I am sure they got some sort of "incentive". We checked around for used Honda Civics in the paper and on line - it was hard to find a 4 door - and when we did, they were priced pretty close to new or had lots of miles on them (I know - people say this car lasts forever). So, I would say, we searched for around 2 hours into pricing and are happy with what we got. We put $500down on the the credit card (more hotel points) - the rest will be paid by check tomorrow when my husband and father pick it up. Now, I am hoping the adjuster sends us a check for my totalled car quickly, as our emergency account is now pretty much wiped out. I was going to save that Papa John's giftcard for my husband's birthday. But, since I don't feel like cooking much, we will be getting BOGO Pizza's and they should last for dinner, lunch and dinner tomorrow.