A Good Deed Today

There's a spay and neuter clinic in my city that helps low income people have their animals altered. I think it's around $40 for a cat and $8 for a rabies shot. Dogs cost a little more. I have been deluged with the Qs for free Friskies cat treats lately. I took a sackful of 10 packages to the clinic today. Eileen, the director, said, "Why? Where did you get them?" It seemed to me like she's not used to having people donate things to the clinic. I just said, "Oh, I had some coupons." She thanked me warmly. I've had several animals altered there. It's the only way I can afford to have so many kitties.

I'm away from home on business tonight. I stopped off at a grocery, redeemed one of my free Michael Angelo's entree Qs, and took off. Luckily, I have a fridge and micro in the room. I guess I was assuming a lot there, you think? Maybe they wouldn't have that in the rooms. I knew, though, that they offered a continental breakfast and there's always a micro in the lobby with the breakfast area, so, I figured I could fix my dinner somehow. I paid .28 tax for the entree. I'm telling you, tax on food is a killer. Here, it's 7.75% on edibles and 9.25% on non-food items. I guess it's a trade-off. My state does not have an income tax and the property taxes are very reasonable. I was in Boston earlier this year and was told that their property tax rate was so high that they received their tax bills every QUARTER!! EEK! Can you imagine?

I have a bet going with a coupon friend for the World Series. I'm rooting for the Phillies and she's a die-hard Yankees fan. The bet? A 2 ounce envie of Qs to the winner. Ahem. If you've read the sports page lately, you'll understand that I'm working on pulling Qs out of my binder tonight! I have a funny feeling I'm going to lose this bet. Thank goodness it's not for real money. Oh, wait! Coupons ARE real money! What have I done?

I realize that it is only the 2nd day of the month, but, I'm feeling very confident that I can make it through November on $50. Truly, I'm going to have to do it to ever dream of making goal this year.

You know, I've been looking over my stockpile lately and I'm thinking that I may continue my challenge for 2010. I'm even thinking of cutting it from $1,200 to an even $1,000 for the year. That would be for one adult and 6-10 cats per day. Someone told me that if I knew how many cats I actually had, that I didn't have enough. There's no telling how few or how many show up for breakfast every day.

I'm still ticked off about losing that $5 rebate at CVS yesterday. It's a hard feeling to shake. Hopefully, in a few days, I won't be so hard on myself and can get over it. Gee! Five dollars! How could I have been so careless? Take a lesson from me, ladies and gentlemen. Make a list. Make notes. Follow notes. Don't make the same mistake I made. If only one of you learns the lesson, it will be worth telling you that I really messed up.

One rather big purchase on the horizon, but, it's gifts, not groceries. I make baskets for my clients and paralegals at Christmas. I always put in the Millstone coffee packets and hot chocolate envelopes. I'm going to have to spend about $40 on that to get my baskets done this year. Food items, yes, grocery spending, no. They are gifts. Do you agree?

Totally off topic, but, I am going to Orlando for my birthday in December. This year, Disney was giving a free ticket to any park on your birthday if you signed up. My birthday is within a week of Christmas and I've decided to go to Epcot Center. I don't have children, so, I've never had any real reason to go to Disneyworld or any of the other parks. I realize that the "free" ticket is going to cost me $500-$600 for travel, hotel, eating, but, you know, I'm getting old and there's things I should have done years ago that I'm just now getting around to. I'll be staying in a hotel with a full kitchen, so, I'm sure I'll be using free Qs for my dinners while I'm there. I can have a lot of fun on a small amount of money. Never had much money, always wanted to have fun, so, I learned how to do it on a shoestring without feeling deprived.