Using Double and Triple Coupons at Grocery Store

Today was my big grocery shopping trip that I had been planning for. Here is everything I bought - and the total was $177.23 (If you click on the pic above, you can see a larger picture of my stuff.) I am not the kind of grocery shopper that gets a full cart load every week. So it was a little strange to push a full cart around and see my total go over $50. Really....I go grocery shopping a lot but since I am always stocking up on things, my total is rarely over $30 or $40. I normally just see what the best sales are for the week and make sure I don't run out of diet pepsi.

So I did buy some things I normally wouldn't have bought if I didn't have coupons, but I did show some restraint and didn't buy some goodies that were tempting to buy even though with coupons I would have gotten it cheap (example: small packages of Dove ice cream was $3.33 and I had some $1 coupons for it which would have been doubled so it would have been $1.33 each.) But I know I bought regular gallon sized containers of Breyer's ice cream for $1.99 (on sale) yesterday - so I skipped the Dove ice cream.

And I could have bought more stuff, but the grocery store didn't have some brands that I had coupons for. I could have gotten containers of sour cream but the store doesn't sell Friendship brand sour cream. Also had $1 coupons for Hot Pocket Panini's but that is a new product and they didn't have them either.

But what really irks me is that I made a rookie mistake. When I was setting up the picture above, I saw that I bought 5 packages of dog treats. Ugh. So that means for that 5th package I paid full price (gasp!) of $2.69 for it. You were limited to 4 of the same coupon. So I know I gave the cashier four $1.00 dog treat coupons (so after doubling, they were only .69 each). But I mis-counted when I was throwing them in the cart and bought that @#$%%^! fifth package. Oh well.

I bought so many Poptarts because Kelloggs has a $10 rebate when you buy 10 packages of Kelloggs products at one time. Plus I had coupons for the 'tarts.

As I said, the total was $177.23 and after coupons it was....drum roll please.... $63.58 plus I'll send in that $10 rebate from Kelloggs. But it would have been $60.89 if I knew how to count dog treat packages. Below is a pic of the receipt. I didn't mark on it since I have to mail it to Kelloggs for the rebate. Only thing that I didn't have a coupon for was the Wonder Kids bread ($2.49) and the Milk Duds - that were on clearance for .25 cuz of the squished box. And now that I think about it, my total would have been even less had I remembered to buy the Wonder Bread when I was at Walmart earlier in the day (they sell it for $2.17).


p.s. Yes, I know that is a sh*tload of Ballpark Franks but after coupons they were only .64 a package. I figure I can always give them to the Whiskey dog as a treat if I get tired of them.

Dodged a bullet today

Tomorrow was supposed to be my first day of actual jury duty. Last week I started to freak out a little about it since I am supposed to be at the courthouse at 8:30am. Yikes. No way could I put Jacob on the bus and make it to the courthouse at 8:30 which is a good 15 miles away, park, go thru Security etc. So when I called and told them that, they said 9 am would be fine. But that would still be some rushing around on my part and maybe exceeding the 55 MPH speed limit to get there. Because of some activity at the nuke plant tomorrow, DH wouldn't be able to use his flex schedule to go late and get Jacob on the bus. So I knew I would have to.

I know this is way too boring, so I will try to cut it short. I called today to make sure my jury # was still needed for tomorrow - and yippee - it's not! Other potential jurors have to go in, but I have a lucky number that is not needed for tomorrow. You know what that means, don't you? That means I'll have more time tomorrow to shop. Errrr...I mean I'll have more time to declutter and clean my house and get organized. Afterall, it is the beginning of a new school year, sorta like a fresh start to make this the school year that I declutter and clean my house while Jacob is at school.

Well it will have to wait. Today I went to Smile, Walgreens, CVS, Food Lion and to the cheap $30 Mani/Pedi nail place to splurge a little on me.

At Smile, I didn't buy anything too interesting. Did buy this Martha Stewart book, Good Things from Tag Sales and Flea Markets in hardcover for $1


I am looking foward to a big couponing extravaganza later this week (yes, I know it's weird to get excited about grocery shopping). Remember how I said one of the local grocery stores is going to triple coupons this week up to .50? Well it gets better....in their ad today I see that they are still doing the triple coupons BUT added that coupons with a face value of .51 - $1.00 will be doubled. I got a zillion coupons for $1 off stuff. Well not a zillion, but a lot.

Update: Socks the (former White House) Cat

I know many of you are waiting anxiously to hear about my experience with meeting Socks the cat since I briefly mentioned it a while ago. Well unfortunately, it ain't gonna happen. No, Socks didn't go to the big litterbox in the sky, it's that the animal event he (or she) was to attend got cancelled. So I won't be meeting the feline or the World's Ugliest Dog. But the cat does only live in the next county over so maybe our paths will cross some other time (hey, it could happen. Maybe Betty Currie - former presidential secretary and current owner of Socks - will have a yardsale someday).

Went to Baltimore today with Jacob

And the Inner Harbor and the Aquarium were mobbed with Red Sox people in town to attend tonight's game at Camden Yards. So....the aquarium was crowded and I had to look at all those stupid Red Sox shirts. I mean really, why would a team have clothes as a mascot? What's next - the Beige Girdles? Well at least maybe those Red Sox people ate and drank and spent a lot of money when they were here. But I just think how nice it would have been without all of them clogging up my Aquarium. (I don't need to hear from any Red Sox people - I have family members who are fans, so I will just complain and debate further with them personally - haha).

Today was my final trip to the Aquarium for a long time. One last little trip for Jacob before school starts. In June of 2007, we bought a family membership (it was a special deal - so it was good for 15 months, not just 12) for about $100. You just needed to use it twice in that timeframe to make it worthwhile. If Jacob and I paid today - we would have had to spend $40.95 just for today ($25.95 for me and $14.95 for Jacob) and wait in a long line with the masses. There is a special entrance just for members. I know I took him there twice by myself, and we went at least 2 or 3 times as a family (both Jacob and DH too). And I went there with my sister and her family in April. So we definitely got our money's worth. The pass expires at the end of the month.

Each time, we've gone to the dolphin show - which is basically the same every time. But today was different. One of the dolphins had a baby last month so before the show started they asked everyone to remain quiet for the entire show so the mother and baby could bond back in the back pool. No clapping. It definitely made for a different experience.

Yardsale buys, back to school, jury duty etc

So yesterday I got up early and decided to check out a yardsale that was advertised in a touristy area. I got there and realized it was gonna be a bust (haha). The "yardsale" was going to be at a souvenir shop that recently decided to open up a thrift store portion of the store. Not worth my time to wait around since I knew *real* yardsales were going on. But in leaving, I saw that a restaurant/bar is having some sort of new promotion.

My favorite buy of the day was a disco ball for $3 with a little motor thing to rotate it.

School starts later this week. Pretty early this year. Usually it's around the 23 or 25th. So anyway, I got a notice for jury duty and returned it like a good patiotic citizen that I am. Oh yeah, of course I believe serving on jury duty is a service to the community and I'd be playing a crucial role in America's great justice system and all that. But all I'm saying is that I better be excused. The people in a jury are a jury of "your peers". So what are the chances that there are other yardsale queens being accused of crimes that they need me for? I doubt it.

In the local news I read how some 18 year olds were drinking beer in the woods of a high school and they, not being the smartest people in the world, decide to break into the school and steal Fruit Rollups out of a vending machine. Idiots. They are not my peers, but I would say lock 'em up just on the general principle of being stupid.

Happiness is.....triple coupons!

I'm a day behind in reading newspapers and ads. But today I saw that a nearby grocery store Shoppers Food Warehouse (probably 15 miles away) was having their first ever triple coupon event - just 4 days long (Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun). So since DH was home early from work today - I set off with my coupon holder to do bargain hunting. Afterwards I also stopped at Walgreens and got a good deal too.

At the grocery store they only tripled coupons that were .50 or lower. And you could only do a maximum of 4 identical coupons. For instance, I have all those .40 off of French's Potato sticks. But I would only be allowed to use 4 coupons max, not 20. (Bad thing was was that they only had 2 cans of the potato sticks anyway). But the good thing is that say if the item only cost $1.25 and you had a .50 coupon for it - you would get the entire $1.50 off.

I stopped by the customer service desk and asked if they had planned on doing it again and they came right out and said that yes, they would be doing the same promotion next week. But after that, who knows. So now I have a week to get my coupons really organized.

My total before coupons was $66.88 and after coupons it was $28.68. I would take a pic of the receipt but the ink was very faint and it won't take a good pic. As you see, we don't eat the heathiest diet, but hey, if we get sick at least we'll have lots of tissue.

Then at Walgreens I had a coupon to save up to $20 on a OneTouch Glucose Monitor. I saw in their ad they are on sale for $14.99. I bought some other stuff with coupons and clearance items and my total came to $7.92 The bagel crisps were on clearance for .74 each. My receipt says my total savings were $31.09. The cashier got confused at the $20 coupon and called over a manager, who looked at the receipt and looked at the coupon and took the full $20 off, not just $14.99. Who am I to tell them how to do their job. Thankfully I do not need a glucose monitor but will probably sell at my next yardsale.

JC Penneys deal (and where to find coupons)

Over there in the talkbox to the left someone asked where to find coupons. Well a lot of coupons come right in your mailbox - and they just get thrown out.

While I was in NY, in the mail I got two JC Penney ads/flyers. One had a coupon to save $10 off a $10 purchase and the other had a coupon to save $10 off a $25 purchase.

On our JC Penney receipts, there is a blurb to save 15% off your next purchase by filling out the survey at JCPsurvey.com - so I always do that when I get a receipt. So at Penneys yesterday, I had my 15% off coupon AND my two coupons from the mail.

With my $10 coupon I bought a pair of PJ's for myself (normally $30, clearance $7.49) and for Jacob I got a package of 10 pairs of socks (original price $10.99, clearance $4.99) for a grand total of $2.63

My DH found a pair of pants he wanted for work - originally $60 - on sale for $30. So he used the $10 off $25 coupon PLUS the 15% off coupon for a total (with tax) of $16.42

As far as food coupons, I subscribe to several newspapers (I actually like to read the newspaper). Then if I see a coupon in Sunday's paper that I know I can use more of, I see how much they are going for on ebay. Every week there are ebay sellers who have the coupons listed. There was a recent coupon for .40 off a French's potato sticks (which Jacob likes). They are .99 for a small can at my grocery store (which doubles coupons). So for $1.94 (including shipping) - I got twenty .40 coupons. So instead of paying .99 a can at the grocery store, after the store doubles the coupons, they will only be .19 a can. And my grocery store (Giant) just sent me out a flyer which is good for the next 4 weeks. Each week I have a coupon to save 5% off my total purchase along with a coupon for a "free" item of the week. Yesterday I got a free half gallon of Edy's ice cream. Next week I'll get a free Hellman's mayonnaise or something.

I know I'm not saving a ton of money doing that, but I do save. That was just one example. There are also websites full of couponers who are always looking to sell or trade their excess coupons. One that comes to mind is Refund Sweepers

For coupons for dining out etc, I always sign up for email newsletters at the chain restaurants we eat at. Red Robin sends out a email coupon for a free hamburger on your birthday and so on.

Some Upstate New York Vacation Pics

Just another glorious day in New York:



Downtown Albany:



Up in the observatory again (went there back in March). I think I've mentioned that back when I worked a real job I worked downtown and my office was affiliated with that big gothic building.



When we were walking around Saratoga, my sister had to stop into this old-timey drugstore for a prescription. I paid a penny to see how much Jacob weighed.



I told you we went swimming, right?



Stopped at the Polish deli with my mom. I am regretting not buying some Polish ketchup. I like to think of myself as a ketchup connoisseur. Maybe I will go back and get some....anyone know where to find coupons for Polish ketchup????

Garage Sale Buys from last week

I had two mornings of garage sales while in NY. They have a lot of Friday sales, which I'm not used to here in Maryland. And of course, I tend to come across stuff that I don't normally see. Like skis. And 20' long tobaggans. I should have taken a picture of it, it was the longest tobaggan I had ever seen and it was $20. No, I didn't buy it, but in the right house, it would have made for an awesome shelf or something.

Above pic if of my Friday's stash. Came across one sale where a woman was selling all kinds of lotions and stuff for $1 each. The brand new reed difuser thing was also $1 at the same sale. Hats were $1 each so was the Mickey Mouse ear Salt & Pepper shakers. A lot of the lotions/perfumes weren't cheap to buy new - Daisy Fuentes, Banana Republic, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein etc. Car radio was free. Will see if anyone wants it on eBay. Also bought a plastic thing that goes on the floor under your computer chair (whatever it's called). It was $1. So was Dora Video (its one that we don't have). Vintage Christmas Salt & Pepper shakers were $.50

I didn't take a pic of my buys on Saturday. Some of the more intersting items were a Texas Instruments Speak & Say for $1. Several Super Nintendo Games for .25 each and two bottles of champagne for $2 each. I am a sucker for yardsale liquor. If I see it, I gotta have it. Oh, I also bought 9 kid's backpacks for $1 each (each backpack contains a beach towel, water bottle, frisbee. Will probably resell at my next yardsale. Also bought a nice big fish windsock for .50

I usually find more "vintage" stuff when I garage sale in NY. Only vintagy thing I got was 4 depression glasses for .25 each (2 green, 2 pink). Also bought a Arkansas Gothic puzzle (spoof of Grant Wood's American Gothic painting) - it features Bill & Hilary Clinton. It was .25

New York Vacation Re-cap

In case you didn't get the clue I left, I've been away in New York. Not NYC though, just upstate where I am originally from. I always manage to hear the Billy Joel's New York State of Mind song whenever I am in New York. I usually spend a week every summer there with Jacob and leave the husband at home.

Here's a short version of my itinerary:

Last Wednesday - drove 500 miles to my mom's house. Visited a cousin and her family in the evening.

Thursday - spent the morning at Chuck E. Cheese. We spent the afternoon at my sister's and walking around Saratoga Springs (afterall, it is "The August Place to Be")

Friday - yardsales in the morning (of course), then Jeepers in the afternoon. Then hit a big Kohl's sale at 10pm at night (they were open til midnight so I was able to put Jacob to bed at my mom's and run to Kohls.) I spent $34 and bought myself 3 pairs of capris, 2 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts for Jacob.

Saturday - yardsales in the morning (of course), then visited my brother and wife and went swimming. Then quickly shopped at a Christmas Tree shop afterwards. Jacob is not a shopper so I had to be quick.

Sunday - took Jacob to New York State museum (free) and then went to the observatory the tallest building in Albany (also free admission). In the afternoon we went to my sister's house with the intention of going swimming, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Matter of fact, Saturday was the only day I saw the sun I think! But did get to see all 3 of my nieces and hear wedding plans for my oldest niece.

Monday - in the morning just did some shopping and errands (like getting my mom's car washed etc). In the afternoon went back to Jeepers. Of course I had printed off the $10 for one hour coupons ahead of time. Then afterwards visited one of my high school friends (the one who makes me the extremely embellished Christmas cards every year). She gave me a bunch of Stampin Up supplies to sell for her on eBay. Then rushed back to my mom's house at 7:15pm and just in time to have my friend Beverly come over for a visit at 7:30.

Tuesday - packed up the car and drove home.

It's a 500 mile drive (one way) to my mom's house. When I got there, I re-set the odometer to see how many miles I would put on during the week. It's pretty amazing but I put on a whopping 600+ miles doing all the running around for the week. And the furthest I drove to any one place was 25 miles away.

Also in my itinerary, I left off stops at a few thrifts, linens n things (for their going out of business sale. I bought a new comforter set for $71 - originally $199. It's nearly impossible to FIND a California King comforter in a regular store so I bought it. Also made a stop at the Wine and Liquor Warehouse and may have bought a little something something.

Pics to follow.

I'm in a New York State of Mind

Another update: Rowlesburg WV IS A BIG LOTS WINNER!

A BIG thank you to all who helped Rowlesburg School win First Prize in the Big Lots Lots 2 Give contest. They won one of the First Prize awards of $5,000. Yippee!!!! My friend Jenn is thrilled that her local school won $5,000 courtesy of Big Lots. $5,000 is a nice chunk of change, but the school still needs lots of help. One thing she said the school does to help is they collect the Boxtops For Education points I've been sending them to Jacob's school for several years now but I think this year, I'm going to send a big bundle to Rowlesburg. If you collect the Boxtops for Education points and don't know of a school that takes them, you can send them to:

Rowlesburg School
RR1 Box 255
Rowlesburg WV 26425

And of course if you aren't a Boxtops for Education cutter-outer but still want to help somehow, I'm sure they'd appreciate a cash donation.

If you've been around the Yardsalequeen.com site for a while, you may remember that years ago I asked for Boxtops for Jacob's school (his school had a contest on who can turn in the most - and he ended up winning!) So I know there are tons of people out there who collect the Boxtops but don't know of a school who wants them. Rowlesburg wants them. Keep in mind, the boxtops do have an expiration date printed on them in small print, so expired ones are no good.

On the Big Lots website you can see the videos of all the winners.

Update on Kenny Loggins Edwin McCain Concert

Finally here are some pics and a few Youtube videos:






Me and my new boyfriend Edwin McCain. I was trying to blend in with the crowd (and not call attention to myself) so I dressed like a commoner and left the crown at home. And to top it off, I wore glasses as a disguise.



My little digital camera doesn't take the best videos but whattdaya want with a digital camera held together with masking tape. At first I noticed the guitarist on the right did a kick at the end of the song and then when I watched it again, noticed that Kenny did a little kick too.

I feel so Martha Stewarty

I now own a Kitchenaid mixer. I've always sorta regretted passing one up at a yardsale a few years back - it was practically brand new and it was red. The owner changed her mind and wanted a black one instead and was selling it for $125. Anyhow, now I have a vintage avocado green one and it was only $8. It needs some detailing, but I think it will clean up nicely.



Here's a pic of some of my buys from last Saturday's yardsales. The pink Mary Kay phone ($3) will go up on ebay eventually. So will the vintage Yamaha amplifier ($5) in a wooden case. Also bought this Motley Crue picture album for $3



Tonight I took Jacob to a new local art gallery. It just opened in May but we haven't been to it - since they charge admission. But tonight they were having a "free Friday" event, so there was no charge.



He finished up summer camp so there goes my almost daily shopping trips to Giant (grocery store) and Walgreens. After dropping him off at the school, I got in the habit of stopping at both places to check out what was *new* on clearance. My Walgreens seems to clearance a lot of stuff which I think is pretty strange for a store that's only been opened a short while. I plan on visiting family and friends in New York during August. So I will check out the Walgreens near my sister's house to see if her's is like mine as far as clearance goes.

Overheard at the the thrift store today....

a little girl telling her mom "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a cowgirl who is also a witch".

Organized Chaos

I feel like lately all I've been doing is trying to play "catch up". Still haven't put any of my Kenny Loggins/McCain videos on Youtube. And still haven't shown the rest of the pics from the concert. And I haven't shared the first picture of me and my new boyfriend Edwin McCain (he just doesn't know it yet. But I know we shared a special moment together when he was autographing my concert program and he seductively asked me "Chris....is that with a C or a K?" You wanna know what the funny thing is? I think getting autographs is stupid. LOL. (And I have an extra special pet peeve about collecting autographs from theme park characters). The next time I am face to face with a famous person, I am going to screw the autograph and just say "Thanks for coming to rinky dink Southern Maryland. Enough about you. Let's talk about me".

The next celebrity I think I will be meeting is Socks the Cat (in August). Bill Clinton's old (real old) cat. I wonder if I'll be able to get the cat's pawprint? Oh I hope so. (just kidding).

Still working on the mountain of laundry. I have countless emails to answer, "I'm having a yardsale this Saturday, how much should I charge for my fill-in-the-blank?" I hate trying to answer those type of questions since there are too many variables.

Today I tried to whip the garage into some sort of order. I wish I could say the above is the "before" pic, but it's really an "after" pic. Too bad I didn't take a pic before I started organized it, cuz you would be impressed. Well anyway, I am proud of my somewhat organized (but still a tad cluttered) mess. My DH better get on the stick and start eatting that damn soup. (I am not a soup eater).

ps. If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you may see the "I brake for Junk" bumpersticker that I have on our extra freezer. I got it from Mary Randolph Carter who has written a series of books on junk. She sells the bumperstickers for $5 on her website Carter Junk

Edwin McCain and Kenny Loggins

As I mentioned earlier, tonight was the Edwin McCain and Kenny Loggins concert. I love a concert that has a photo line! Although the photo line wasn't open during the Edwin McCain part of the concert, he did do a meet and greet for anyone who wanted to wait in line. Which I thought was cool.

Here are a few pics...the rest will have to wait. I have a busy day tomorrow and have to get some shuteye.

Shopping in Historic Annapolis

I spent yesterday shopping in historic Annapolis, Maryland. Annapolis is a quaint old city, chockfull of historic landmarks such as this red and white lighthouse. It's also a quaint old city chockfull of Lexus's, Range Rovers and Jaguars.

While shopping, I ventured into a Whole Foods grocery store for a the first time. Loved it. I am not a particularly healthy eater, but I do love a store that gives away lots of free samples. It's not a store I can routinely shop at (since its too far). Did buy some organic Santa Cruz lemonade for $.99 a bottle and today at Food Lion saw the exact same item for $1.50 a bottle on sale.

Also did some clearance shopping at Toys R Us (since Jacob got a gift card for his birthday). And also went to Bed Bath & Beyond and used a 20% off coupon.

Had lunch at Red Robin. I had signed my DH up for their email club so we used the coupon he received for a free birthday burger. His birthday is coming up.

Well I am looking forward to the Kenny Loggins & Edwin McCain concert tonight. At least the temps have cooled a little (in the 80's, not 90's) so that is good. I stopped by the concert venue today and scoped out where my seat is.

p.s. When I said the lighthouse was historic...I meant freshly historic. Like from 1990 or so. It's a fake lighthouse in a shopping plaza. Gotcha!

I like free money, especially cash in my mailbox

Me gusta dinero gratis. Tengo un corto espacio de atención para que no me siento como el tiempo que dedica a traducir la carta que venía con él.

Bargains bargains everywhere...

Did some regular store bargain hunting today. Stopped at Walgreens after dropping Jacob off to catch the bus for summer (day) camp. I found that they marked a bunch of stuff down. I want to go back tomorrow. I cleared them out of their supply of discounted tape ($2.50 for 4 rolls of 3M brand tape). Original price was $10 per 4-pack.

Then stopped at Food Lion for a few items. I saw that some of their summer stuff was 75% off and bought two pairs of these flip-flops for $1.75 each (regular price was $6.99) and two big plastic outdoor planters also for $1.75 each. I had already removed the tag on the green pair before I took the pic.

I am really not a flip-flop wearer. These are my firsts. I prefer a regular sandal with a back and no thingy between the toes. But change is good. So I will give these a try (plus they will be good to wear when I get my $30 mani-pedi.



DH was off work today and he was getting new tires for his truck so I followed him and while the truck was getting worked on, we went out to lunch at Lonestar and used one of our free lunch coupons ($9.99 value). They punch a card everytime you eat lunch and once the card is full, it's good for a free lunch. We've had some generous servers who punched it twice at a time (instead of once) so the card filled up quickly.

I also went to Staples and spent .08 They don't give out the $3 inket coupons anymore, but instead when you recycle cartridges the $3 gets credited to your Staples Rewards card and they send you a check once a quarter based on how many inkjets you recycled. Well I got my check yesterday, for a whopping $3. Used it today.



I bought a package of .99 pens, $1.99 Cadoozles (mechanical pencils) and two packages of erasers at .05 each. And to top it off, I'll get a $1.99 rebate check back from Staples for the Cadoozles.

Last week when Office Depot had their penny deals, I stopped in (since I was driving right past it) and bought the penny rules, erasers, folders and protractors. Then when I was looking around I found a clearance area that had a whole bunch of shipping supplies discounted (like rolls of tape for .50, mailing labels etc - I cleaned them out too).

p.s. I forgot to mention, when I won the Kenny Loggins tickets, I also got a certificate good for a free oil change at Jiffy Lube. Will have to call Mr. Tire and find out when my last oil change was. Yes, I know, I need to get organized and keep better records.

p.s.s. And my passport came yesterday so now I am ready to do worldwide yardsailing, bargain hunting, and thrift store shopping.

Update last week or so

My guests left today, so I'm just catching up on email, blog, message board, yadda yadda. Oh, and I need to do laundry. I kinda took a vacation from doing laundry over the past week, so needless to say, I have a mountain of dirty clothes to tackle.

Remember how I said I tried to win Huey Lewis & the News tickets last month from the radio station with no success? Well last week the same radio station was giving away Kenny Loggins tickets (with opening act Edwin McCain) for a concert that will take place later this week. I was hoping they'd do another "be caller #9 for a pair of Kenny Loggins tickets". No, this time they decided to do trivia. Uggh. My computer is not near the radio so when the DJ announced they were taking callers for a trivia contest I ran to my computer and started dialing the phone and googling "wiki kenny loggins". I just knew they'd have some obscure Kenny Loggins trivia such as what was his 3rd grade teacher's name was or something.

The winning person had to answer 3 trivia questions correctly by answering true or false. The first two people got answers wrong. (They asked different trivia for each person). My call got thru - finally. Yeah...now I just needed to answer these three questions right and I'd be sitting pretty at Kenny Loggins.

1. A catfish has no sense of taste. (true/false)
2. A cat's hearing is more sensitive than a dog's (true/false)
3. Jimmy Hoffa's middle name is "Riddle" (true/false)

And being the brainiac that I am......I AM GOING TO KENNY LOGGINS!!!!! Yepper, I won a pair of $48.50 tickets. I sorta cheated though. Well I did guess at the first two questions (both true). Then when the DJ read the third question, I knew I couldn't mess it up and said "I'm ...... sorry ........ can ........ you ........ repeat ........... the ........ question? I ...... did ...... not ...... hear ......... it" As I am saying that I am furiously googling wiki Jimmy Hoffa. Another true answer.

I am glad because I had planned on volunteering at the concert. But then DH said he'd have to work late - really late - on the night of the concert. I thought it wouldn't really be worthwhile to hire a babysitter so I could be a volunteer there. But then DH said his work schedule changed and he'd be off that day BUT he may go away to a motorcycle show so it still wouldn't work out for me to volunteer.

But now it all has worked out....he is not going to the motorcycle show, and doesn't really care to see Kenny Loggins so I will get to go with a friend.

p.s. Yes, the three people who guessed a part of a vertebrae in the last post are correct. I guess I've led a sheltered left and am not used to seeing skeletal remains/bone pieces like the majority of my blog readers have. haha. We found the rest of the skeletal remains on the beach.

p.s.s I am really looking forward to the concert. I just know Edwin McCain will sing this song, which I love

Beach Junk

As I said previously, I have vistors staying here at the Queen's Castle. Last night, Jacob, myself and my niece Kelly took a walk on the beach. Jacob busied himself cleaning up the beach by throwing sticks and timber into the water. I thought Kelly would want to go and collect some interesting shells, etc. Well she got some "etc." She picked up this odd looking piece and we couldn't figure out what it was. Ewww....then we found out what it was. She still wanted it anyway. Nope, it's not a weird small smoking device (but that's what it looks like). Want to guess what it is? It's only about 1.5" long.



I will try to post the answer on Monday.

Been Busy

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. Well first I had to try to clean the house a little bit for family who is visiting from New York. Then I had to go get them at the airport. We live pretty far from the airport so I wanted to go back to that mall place to buy something I regretted not buying when we went on the 4th of July.

Yes, newflash, I paid $18.99 plus tax for a t-shirt.



I wore it yesterday and got two compliments on it. (One from the cashier at Vintage Value). Yes, I went to VV yesterday and took my guests. It's pretty much a given that if you come to visit me, you are going to a thrift store. Today I am taking them to Smile.

Lots of Yardsales Today

There were a lot of yardsales today - I guess it was to make up for the total lack of yardsales last weekend (Fourth of July weekend).

It seemed today many people were trying to unload those decorative bottles with the fruit and oil jammed into them. I'm sure there is some sort of name for them. Saw them at several yardsales which I thought was an odd coincidence.

My DH bought a Playstation 3 a little while ago. The model that you can play old Playstation 2 games on. We've never had a gaming system before (no playstation, no Xbox's etc). Except for a Super Nintendo that Jacob plays on. Well I should say "used to play on". I think the Playstation 3 has put an end to his Super Nintendo playing ways. Anyhow, now I have something *new* to look for at yardsales - Playstation 2 games. I bought a Grand Theft Auto game today ($4). But I'm not looking for games to me to play - I don't get into playing games like that. I have enough things that I do that are time-wasters, I don't need to add another. If I want to waste some time playing a game, there's always brain dead Dots to play. But really, it's not a totally brain dead game.....I just kicked the computer's butt with a score of 45 to 4.

But my fav buy of the day was a Cosco folding 2-step step ladder. Sorta like the one pictured above. I was too lazy to take a pic of the one I got today. But it looks very similar. It was at a small yardsale and nothing was priced. I asked how much it was, and they said to make an offer. I offered $2 and they said yes.

Gotta get to cleaning. Having out of town guests here soon. Luckily, they are people who have seen my clutter before.

More Cheap Meat

I took this meat picture with my cellphone at the grocery store to show the difference in prices. All the hamburger patties that had a sell by date of 7/10/08 had a $2 off sticker on them. But some had a "special" price on them and some didn't. I checked and they all had the same "sell date" on them. That's why it's important to really look at stuff while shopping. I bought the packages of 8 patties that were on special for $5.31 and then took an addtional $2 off. For a total of $3.31 for 8 patties. I bought two packages of them - 16 patties for around $6.60 (there is no sales tax on food in Maryland). If someone wasn't paying attention, they could have easily grabbed the packages marked $10.61 and only gotten the $2 off.

If you can't see the prices in the picture above, just click on it and it will enlarge and open up into a new window.

Oh the Places You'll Go! (Dr. Seuss quote)

But first I need a passport. And here in this trailer is where all the magic will begin. It's the nearest post office to me that is a passport facility. I filled out the paperwork yesterday and they said the turnaround time on passports has gotten really short so hopefully I'll get it soon.

I then had lunch. Shrimp with cocktail sauce followed up with chocolate chip cookies. Yes both yummy in their own right, but not a good combination. Usually am strong like ox and don't get sick often. But yesterday I am blaming my lunch combo on a bad headache I got. I couldn't blog with a headache.

Oh, I think I mistakenly said in my Redbox post that InsideRedbox sends out codes on Monday and Wed. Well its Monday only. I don't know why I thought it was on Wednesday too. Anyhow, on the Inside Redbox site, there is a list of promo codes that may work at anytime.

Tower of Toys

Well really, I made a tower of games, but tower of toys sounds better. I forgot to mention this purchase from yesterday...made at the grocery store. When the new grocery store opened a few months ago and I saw the huge aisle of toys, I thought "WHO in their right mind buys TOYS at the grocery store???? I guess I do now. I mean, unless your kid got invited to a birthday party last minute or something. I can remember grocery stores always have had a small 6' x 6' area of the store devoted to cheaply made toys meant to shut a kid up while shopping. But not an aisle devoted to Dora the Explorer, Play Doh, Fisher Price and Milton Bradley.

So yesterday I just happened to spot that the travel games were 75% off so I practically bought the store out of travel games. They were $1.50 each. I figured they can also make inexpensive gifts. And I will put a grouping up on ebay and see how they do.

Thanks for the nice comments over there in the YSQ Talk Box.

No Longer a Redbox Virgin

Jacob started a summer day camp (for the first time ever) so I had some free time today. I know what you're thinking - "She probably ran straight to Vintage Value". Ha - you would be wrong.

I went straight to Staples and THEN to Vintage Value, so there. I would have ran to Smile, but they aren't open on Mondays. I spent .14 at Staples. Got the two teeny tiny .01 Purell bottles on sale this week along with the 2 packages of pencils (.01 per package) and ten .01 folders. For a whopping .14 total. And no sales tax since the total didn't get high enough for any sales tax.

Bought a few .35 shirts at VV. For Jacob I bought a Nautica polo type shirt, a never used plain white dress shirt, and an Old Navy sweater that had a dry cleaning ticket stapled to the label. Do some people really dry clean Old Navy brand stuff for kids??? Apparently some do. Needless to say, the sweater was in great condition. I haven't been to the dry cleaners in years. When I am thrift shopping for clothes, if I see a "dry clean only" label on it, I put it back. This was just a regular machine wash sweater but was dry cleaned instead.

And as the title says above, I am no longer a Redbox virgin. In case you don't know what Redbox is - it's a vending machine for cheap $1-a-day DVD rentals. I saw them years ago and wished we would have one nearby. Now we do. A few months ago, a new grocery store opened in our town and they have Redbox.

A buck per rental is cheap, but free is better. Months ago, I signed up at Inside Redbox and every Monday and Wednesday they email you a code to use for a free rental. But since I didn't get the emails until early afternoon, I never had a chance to use them since I normally don't go to that grocery store in the afternoon.

Until now. Now that I have to pick up Jacob in the afternoon at the end of day camp, I can swing by on Monday and Wednesday and pick out a movie for free using the codes.

And remember the other day when I mentioned how some people just toss aside those computer generated coupons that the grocery store cashier hands you? Well when I went to the grocery store where the Redbox is today, I chose a cart that had some papers/receipts laying in the bottom. One coupon was to save $2 off any soap, and the other coupon was to save $2 off any shampoo. I bought a bottle of shampoo on sale for 2.29 (.29 after coupon) and a bottle of men's body wash for $2.50 (.50 after coupon).

Big Lots Lots2Give Contest Reminder - Vote Rowlesburg WV

Just a quick reminder to keep voting for the Rowlesburg WV school to win the Big Lots Lots2Give contest

Rowlesburg WV School

To learn more about the flood in Rowlesburg that devastated the school in 1985, here is some old news footage:

About yesterday, I forgot to mention

We stopped at Chuck E. Cheese on the way home. Sometimes being disorganized comes in handy - I still had a cup of Chuck E. Cheese money in the car from last time. Here's a picture of some weird woman who happened to be there yesterday.

Oh and one thing I found out. You know how at places like Chuck E. Cheese they have a second exit - one that says in big letters "Emergency Exit Only. Do not open - alarm will sound"? Well I found out that those alarms really do work and they are loud. Hopefully Jacob learned his lesson.

Unusual Shopping Experience for Me

Yesterday I went to this place where many retail stores were centrally located and they had one roof covering them all. I heard the name....trying to remember...oh yes, I heard it was called a "shopping mall". Apparently they are hugely popular since there were many people there. The one I went to is called Arundel Mills Mall

It was a weird experience since I felt like I had deja vu. Like I had done shopping at a mall in a previous life or something. Maybe it was a dream or something but I recall shopping at a place similar but bigger...what was it's name? Something like the United States Mall or American Mall...no wait, it's all coming back to me now - The Mall of America. Yep, been there done that. Twice. ;)

I spent $16.09 and "saved" $89.80. But saying I saved $89.80 is pretty stupid since I would never pay full price. The original price of the purse was $54.99 and the kids shoes were $49.99. Both were on sale for 70% off. My DH had joined the store's shopper club previously and had a $10 off $15 purchase coupon and also a 20% off one item coupon. Well anyway, the cashier took 20% off both items and also had the $10 coupon taken off too. Jacob doesn't like shoes with shoelaces so these will be perfect.

Speaking of Flags....Upside Down Maryland Flag

Maryland flags were ordered at half-staff this week to honor a police officer who was recently killed in action. Jacob had a doctor's appointment the other day - and his doctor's office is located next the hospital. I am not even from Maryland but noticed the flag was flying upside down.

Happy 4th of July

Hope you all have a safe and relaxing 4th of July.

And don't forget to vote - for the Rowlesburg video I posted about the other day.

Thrift Buy on Wednesday

Doesn't this Made in the USA by Snow River Wood Products Over the Kitchen Sink cutting board look nice? Well it should since the average non-bargain shopping person would pay $34.99 plus shipping for it. I purchased the exact same thing yesterday (made by the same company etc). The difference is that mine cost $3 and is missing the bowl but I'm sure I can come up with a suitable replacement.

As I said before, I normally don't take Jacob thrift shopping but I had an hour to myself in the afternoon so I was able to hit Smile.

Here's my $3 Snow River Wood Products board (Jacob starting ripping the cellophane off)



p.s. I think you should buy one or more of the cutting boards from Amazon that I have linked above....$34.95 plus shipping for a quality cutting board is a steal. Have I mentioned I'm an Amazon.com affiliate ;) ?

Cheap Meat

Here's the receipt for my .23 sliced turkey breast. I had stopped at Food Lion for something else (which I didn't find) but remembered I had a $2 off any sliced meat coupon that was going to expire on the 5th. Kinda funny how I got the coupon. You know how sometimes the cashier hands you coupons based on what you purchased? Well a lot of people don't even look at them, they just sometimes get tossed aside etc. Well a few weeks ago, in the cart someone had left a "save $2 off any deli meat" coupon in the cart I was using, so I used it. Then when I used it, the cash register spit out another coupon to save $2 off sliced deli meats. So that was the coupon I used last night. I saw that turkey breast was on sale for $3.99/a pound, so that would make it $2.00 for a half pound. So I told the deli worker to give me a hair over a half pound. Well I didn't literally want any hair with it, but you know what I mean.

Need Your Votes!! Big Lots Contest

One of my long-time friends from the message board entered a contest at Big Lots and now needs everyone's help in getting votes. Big Lots is giving away $10,000 to a deserving school and the elementary school in Rowlesburg, WV could really use the money. For things a lot of us just take for granted - like paper.

Here is the link to vote Rowlesburg, WV

You can vote 3 times a day until July 22nd. And its very easy - no need to fill out a bunch of online forms etc. Please vote, vote, vote and then do it again tomorrow. And the next day and on and on. And tell your friends to vote, and their friends. THANKS!!

I remember getting the email from Big Lots about this contest - the video submissions had to be less than 2 minutes long and I think Jenn did a great job telling the story of the school and why it's so deserving.

Buying Rock Salt in July, Patio Umbrellas in January....

I've been pretty busy the last few days. Tonight I had to attend a meeting about summer camp for Jacob and I didn't want to bring him to the meeting so I got a babysitter. DH is playing in a summer golf league so he wasn't going to be home until later. I don't get babysitters very often since I've had some bad experiences with babysitters and if I find someone who is good, they are never available. But the babysitter I had tonight I think is going to work out really well - she's 18 so she can drive to my house and lives very closeby. And I'm friends with her mother. I think I need to get a babysitter more often - its sorta like when a relative visits, I get into a cleaning mode if I know someone is coming over. So yesterday and today I've been cleaning. It's the only time I feel like cleaning. Why clean if there is thrift store shopping that needs to get done? haha.

Before the meeting, I used coupon for a free smoothie at our new Smoothie King I had never heard of it before but it's a franchise in many states. The free coupon came from a Valpak coupon pak. I think the smoothie I got would have cost $3.99 if I was paying for it. And that was the "small". It was tasty, but if I had to choose between spending $3.99 on one smoothie or buying several 2-liters of Diet Pepsi, I'm going for the Diet Pepsi of course.

Anyhow after the meeting, I was able to do some shopping. I had already paid the babysitter until 8pm, and at 7:45 DH called me to say he was on his way home. So I didn't have to rush. I did a little grocery shopping at Safeway and some Walmart shopping. At Safeway, I bought the current issue of
Wondertime magazine since yardsalequeen.com is mentioned in it. $4.95 plus tax for a single magazine - oye. For $10 I could have bought a year subscription. But I like to believe that even if I subscribed today, they probably wouldn't send me the current edition. I had never heard or seen the magazine before until someone here on the blog commented that that was how they found my website.


Also at Safeway I bought a 25 lb. bag of rock salt for $1. It does snow occasionally where I live so it will be used. Gotta buy off-season to get the best deals. Like this past January (I think) when I bought the brand new patio umbrella at Food Lion. It had been a leftover from the previous summer and someone discovered it tucked away in the stockroom. So they took it out and put a $10 price tag on it and I bought it. (I know that's what happened because I asked if they had any more and they told me the stockroom story).

Then went to Walmart and saw they started to put out the back-to-school supplies. Hooray, it's almost back-to-school time! (not that I'm counting or anything...)

p.s. Oh and forgot to mention I also bought some sliced turkey breast at the deli at Food Lion for .23 for a half pound. Nope, that's not a typo and it wasn't a cashier mistake. Will post my receipt tomorrow.

Mini-Stalking of Huey Lewis and the News

On Monday (the day after the Huey Lewis & the News Concert), I happened to be driving by one of the nicer hotels in the area, and what do I see? The same tour bus and tractor-trailer I saw parked at the concert. I had made a mental note of what it looked like when I was at the concert. Not that I am a stalker or anything creepy. Maybe a little stalker-ish, but not a full blown stalker. Oh and maybe Jacob and I walked around the hotel a little and checked out who was at the swimming pools, exercise room and telecommunications room. And rode the elevator - Jacob likes elevators. Didn't see anyone interesting. In my car I found one of my business cards. Perhaps I may have written something crazy on it like "Can I have your baby?" or maybe something else, it's all a blur I can't remember exactly what I said. Then I stuck it in the latch of the tourbus. And took a picture. Objects in the mirror are larger than they appear. Sheesh - my svelte Size 2 body looks humongous in the chrome finish!

p.s. Huey, if you call and a man answers, just say you're conducting a survey and need to talk to the lady of the house. And Huey, if you don't call, I'll just assume it's because we had a massive rainstorm about a half hour after I stuck my card in the door and the rain washed it away.