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.