January Has Given Me A Real Bump

I only spent $48 in January and used $250 in store cards, store-specific GC, and Qs. I feel really good about my progress. If I can average $83 a month oop, I can come in under my $1,000 budget.

I haven't given away much stuff this year; about a dozen 2-litre bottles of soda for my great-nieces and several jars of peanut butter to my parents. Last year, in one day I gave about $1,000 of stuff to my favorite local charity, the Chattanooga Rescue Mission. I don't necessarily think that you should make the homeless sit through a sermon every single night to get a "hot and a cot," but, other than that, I feel pretty good about what they do there. I'm ashamed to admit it, but, I don't think I could work with the chronically homeless on a daily basis. I think you need a very special talent to do that. I'm glad there's someone out there doing what I cannot do.

There's an entry over on HCW to get a Q for a free dozen of Eggland's Best eggs. I got the envie today, but, it didn't have a free Q, only 2 .50 Qs. This week, this brand is on sale for $2.72 at my double coupon store. The store brand of eggs is about $1.70 this week, so, I was able to get a couple of dozen of the premium brand for the price of the store brand. Maybe by spring, the "egg man" will show up at the flea market and I can trade my egg cartons.

My dad has already planted his tomato seeds. They should be poking up through the dirt in a couple of days. He will put them under the grow lights in the basement until time to put them in the ground in the spring. That means that he has about a 6-week jump on anyone else at the flea market with ripe tomatoes. He's the eternal optimist; we are already planning our flea market selling this summer. I guess I'm going to have to start going through my stockpile for things to sell. You wouldn't believe all he "taught" me about marketing last summer. He thinks he's the only one who knows how to present product. I just went along. It was fun anyway.

I made some taco seasoned meat this morning. I have sour cream and salsa. I have shredded cheese. I think I have a jar of petite diced tomatoes. You know what that means; the taco train is about to pull out of the station! I have boxes and boxes of taco shells, several bags of tortilla chips, and some flour tortillas. I always think of the cartoon character, Speedy Gonzalez, when I start up the taco train. How many of you are old enough to remember Speedy? Ariba! Ariba! Or something like that.