I Won't Be Posting Anymore

Since I'm not doing extreme couponing anymore, all I'm doing is just gibbering. You have better things to do. I appreciate all my readers, but, I don't think you'll be too disappointed that I'm ending this blog. Work is good. We are relatively happy as far as being mid-50's can be. Molly, the MinPin, has found a new babysitter so that we can go out of town more often. We are going to Key West in January. Nice time to be in the sub-tropics. I'm all in! Funny, I won a sweepstakes prize a few weeks ago of some very expensive sunscreen. Last month, I won a case of tea, 4 bags of popcorn, 2 bags of pretzels, and some other stuff I've since forgotten. I would like to spend more time entering sweepstakes. In the past, I have won 3 really good trips. Over the years, I've won lots of stuff. The one I think of most was a $250 GC to an art website. I ordered a Georgia O'Keefe print and several "artsy" switchplates for my wall light switches and electrical outlets. One Monet, one Any Warhol, and some others I don't know about. I also won a $100 GC to an outdoors website and I received a wonderful hammock swing. I love that thing in spring and fall. Summer is just too hot here to be outdoors for no reason. It's a bit of a thrill to come home and find a FedEx or UPS package or envelope at the door. Thank you all for your patience over the years. This started out as a good idea, but, I just think it's time to end. Peace to all of you and HAPPY COUPONING!!

Still Hangin' In

Work has been a bit crazy lately. I'm not complaining. Oh, no, far from it. We enjoy being busy, but, we just aren't used to such activity. Rick has worked really hard in securing new clients. In the past, I have had orders to take a child away from the parent on two different occasions. I had talked to Rick about it. He was somewhat dismissive, thinking, I later learned, that I didn't really do it because I didn't have police authority to do so. Well, last month, we had another one. I let Rick take the lead in taking the child away. We had police back-up, but, they never got out of their cars nor did they assist in any way. Rick spent 40 minutes talking the woman into giving him the child with no further consequences. Of course, she could have been arrested for contempt of court if she didn't comply. Anyway, afterwards, Rick said,"Give me a cocktail!" He says he'll never do it again, but, in our line of work, we can't really rule out any particular kind of paper that we will or will not serve.

Well, A Lot Has Changed!

We kept this woman for 3 weeks. We fed, clothed, and housed her. We bought a bed for her. We bought a TV so that she would have one in her room. We got her a job with our friends. She lasted at the job 4 days before exploding to me, "None of this is working out!" She then proceeded to berate Rick and call him a scam artist (he's not), a drug addict (he's not), an alcoholic (well, that's up for debate), and a schiester. During this tirade, she called him Steve. That's the man who brought her here. We had to call the police to get her out. We paid for a taxi to a hotel, one night at the hotel, and said, good riddance. I bought her over $50 in clothing to go to work in uniform. Rick bought all her cigarettes, and she was smoking like it would never end. I know we did the right thing at first, but, she wanted chaos and we are calm people. My therapist almost laughed when I told him about her. He said a grad student could write a whole thesis based on her alone. OK. Waiting for all of my readers to chime in and tell me I was an idiot. I couldn't leave her on the side of the road when Steve left. We did the right thing. She just wouldn't accept it. We talked to her dad after she left. He said, "Well, that didn't take long. I told you so." Her parents will have nothing to do with her. We are still recovering from the trauma. Hopefully, we can get back to work tomorrow and put this episode behind us.

What A Monkey Wrench In Our Lives

Long story. Bear with me. Rick has a friend, or should I say, as of yesterday, an ex-friend, from the Atlanta area. They go back more than 25 years. Golf is the thing with them. Anyway, Steve called on Monday and said, "You need to get me a hotel room in Chattanooga for a couple or three nights. I'm coming up to play golf." So, since I work the hotel points game, I booked him into a very nice, new, Holiday Inn for 3 nights. He called back a bit later and said, "Is it OK if I bring a friend?" Well, Steve is married, but, we didn't object. He showed up Tuesday with Stacey in tow. He had just "rescued her" from Myrtle Beach, SC. We went to dinner, we treated, and put them up in the hotel. Rick and Steve went out before 8 AM the next day to play a round of golf. When they finished, Rick called and asked me to pick him up from Steve's hotel. I was waiting when they pulled up. Steve got out of his truck with a pillow and a shoe box in his hands. He shoves them into Rick's hands and says, "I really have to go to the bathroom. I'll just go here in the lobby." So, he disappears down a hallway. Rick found me at the computer, checking emails. We chatted. He had this pillow and shoe box and put them down on a chair. We waited for Steve to come back from the bathroom. Remember, his female friend is upstairs waiting for him. Ten minutes go by and Steve doesn't come back from the bathroom. Rick went to check on him. The restroom was empty. Rick went outside and Steve's truck was GONE!! He immediately called him and found that his phone had been turned off. He brought this woman from SC to Chattanooga and just dumped her! He hasn't been heard from since. She has no home, no place to go, and she's in our hotel room. Nice, huh? So, Rick and I have decided that the only thing we can do is to take her into our home for a period of time. We went out and bought her a bed today. She's still in the hotel tonight by herself. We'll go get her and all her worldly goods she brought from SC to our house. We don't know her. She admitted that she has been clean and sober for two weeks. TWO WEEKS!! What are we doing? Anyway, she is going to move into our tiny little house tomorrow. I can't even pronounce her last name. My heart goes out to her as she has no support system at all. Her parents live in NC and they say, no, you cannot come here. She has 2 ex-husbands and two children who live with their dads. Nobody wants her. Nobody wants to help her. She's all alone with $8 in her pocket, no car, no place to go. I can't stand the thoughts of her going back on the streets and making it that way. No, I won't stand for that. We are doing the right thing, although, I feel a bit scared. I just think that for the grace of God, I should be in her shoes. I'll be in touch more often for the next little while to let you know how this drama unfolds. Rick is ripe to talk to Steve if he ever answers his phone or calls. I don't think Rick will ever hear from him in his life. This is just too extreme to ever recover from in their relationship.

Still Kicking

Snagged a new client this week. We have 10 papers from them to serve this week or next. That's about $600 for the week. We usually work about 3 hours per day at this. I would like to work 6 hours a day. Need more clients. Rick has been out pounding the pavement for new clients. He's really good. I have a stack of coupons on my desk from the past 2-3 weeks I've clipped, but, gotten no farther with them. I need to enter them in the HCW database for trading, file them in the binder, and USE some of them! I guess I need another golf trip to get caught up. I had to break down and buy reading glasses a couple of weeks ago. I could no longer read the exp dates on coupons. I wear bi-focals anyway as I can't see anything farther away than my hand in front of my face. Now, the near vision is almost gone. I'm telling you, gettin' old ain't for sissies! Summer is only about 3 weeks old and we've had 100+ weather for days and days on end. I'm just in Tennessee, for goodness sakes. It's not like I'm in Florida. Step-mother got out of the nursing home on July 4th. She's still in a cast. Her leg just won't heal. She will probably never walk again. I don't know how she's going to care for herself and her brother. I just stay away. I can't take it. Rick promised that he would have the boat repaired, checked out, and in the paper for sale by Sunday. This boat has been a boondoggle from the very beginning. I'm sick of fixing it, looking at it. I just want it gone. It's a classic; 1978 Glastron-Carlson 17 ft. power boat. Original Mercury outboard. Rick's in love with the piece of junk, but, I'm serious, it's going! Anyone want a really cool boat?

Business Is Looking Up!

As you know, we are civil process servers. We are hired by local, and sometimes out of town, attorneys to serve papers on defendants, witnesses, things such as that. It's a roller coaster ride. One month we may have very little business, the next month we are covered up. We've gotten a couple of new clients lately. They've been keeping us pretty busy. It's a great mental challenge at times. We have to figure out how to find someone by various means. We also have to time our attempts to serve with what we think might be their schedules. It can be a daunting task, but, we love it. Oops! I made a mistake today after lunch. I let Rick go in the grocery by himself. He has no self control whatsoever. He bought 20 pork tenderloin cutlets. We won't eat that in a year. And, he won't let me wrap them in freezer paper. He says we'll eat them soon enough. As you know, the wrap from the butcher shop is porous and won't keep out the freezer burn. I'll have to step in and do this the right way. Oops! Tried that. He adamantly refuses to wrap them in ziploc or freezer paper. So, let's just toss out 10 of them now and be done with it. I haven't been "coupon shopping" in quite a while. I am truly trying to use stockpile. I don't do much of the shopping, so, most of my efforts are for naught. We are planning a big trip to Key West for next March. I have the points and frequent flyer and all that to do a thrifty trip. We will have to rent a car for a week, but, other than that, just food and drink. Rick has wanted to do this for a long time. I'll make the arrangements now so that we can get premium seats, hotel rooms, etc. by booking so far out. I guess we'll board Molly for a week or so. That's "only" $25 a day. Dogs are expensive, aren't they?

Had a nice little mini-vacation

We went to Stockbridge, GA, for 4 nights. Rick played golf with a friend a couple of days. I was able to get completely caught up with my coupons. That's a big job! I found a great deal on olive oil at my local Bi-Lo, but, the deal goes off tonight and I just got back from GA and don't want to get dressed and go to Bi-Lo. That's OK, just grab it the next time it comes around. We took our little Miniature Pincer, Molly, with us on this trip. The hotel doesn't charge extra for a pet. Many charge $20 per night for one. It was a nice break, but, back to reality tomorrow morning. In my mind, I'm still on vacation 'til 8 AM on Wednesday! Since I was in the Atlanta area, I bought 4 Sunday papers. Better coupons than at home. Also, found some inserts in a weekly local paper at a restaurant. Rick wouldn't let me go through all the papers and take the inserts. I only got away with one extra. He's such a wet blanket! I'm really trying to get back in the coupon game and find some deals. I'm somewhat limited in that. Bi-Lo is the biggest grocery chain here aside from WM. Won't shop WM. It's a moral issue with me. Food Lion closed all their stores here. There's a couple of Publix, but, way out of the way for me. Luckily, Bi-Lo doubles up to .60, so I can get some pretty good deals there from time to time. I still have a healthy pantry. Rick didn't make me get rid of everything! We took over $800 in goods to the local rescue mission last week. It runs the gamut. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash, towels, clothes, music, household goods. It was a load. Took 3 days to get it all there. Good things happen when you give. We received $70 in free Chili's GC since we gave all that. We like to eat out a lot. Bad for the budget, good for us. What can I say? The bad news. Since we left last Friday, 5 credit card bills came in the mail. Bummer! We play the points game with every purchase. Use X credit card, earn airline miles. Use Y credit card, earn hotel points. Use Z credit card, earn cash back. We play them all. The trick is to pay them off every month so we don't pay interest. Trying, trying. Usually pretty good at it.

Just an update on my life, such as it is. Last week, I bailed on my step-mother and left her brother to his own devices. Other family members, my dad's family, not hers, have stepped in to pick up the slack. My doctor told me last week that I was in the midst of a mental breakdown and that I was not to take care of anyone but myself for the next 2 months. Rick had a scare last week. I thought he was having a stroke and took him to the ER. No stroke, but, lots of stuff wrong with him. We are trying to address those issues. We are going out of town tomorrow for some R&R for a few days. Rick will be playing golf and I will be catching up on my coupons. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? It's about 160 miles from home, just far enough to say, "Sorry, can't get there today." Received an email from CVS this week for a free body wash. It had a short date on it, so, I went by today and got it. It was $2.37. Not much, but, every little bit helps. We had a serious problem at Chili's about 3 weeks ago. Sent 3 emails, nothing. Talked to the area manager yesterday. He was very interested in our take on things. Gave us $40 in GC to use later. He also gave us a "mystery shop" form to send him on all our visits. I've told you about the SBKC thing before. You send in your junk emails and mail and credit card bills and such. I earned $40 from last month's submissions. I'm going to redeem for $20 CVS GC and $20 Chili's GC. I'd love to have more, but, I'm thankful that by sending some junk to them, I'm earning $40 for a month of participation. I am on the lookout for ANY coupons for a free GC to a pharmacy for NEW prescriptions. There's plenty for a transfer, but, I have 3 scripts not in my Medicare formulary that I have to pay for. GC are just sweet! Our regional store, Bi-Lo, out of SC and in my area, have a free coupon every time you send in your survey from your receipt. We now have enough bagels and spaghetti to feed an army. Rick has a fit when I bring more in. Hey! Free is good! What can't he understand about that? My great-nieces scored 16 packs of pudding cups last month. I'm sure their parents aren't thrilled about the sugar high I gave them, but, hey, I don't have to live with them! Sorry about my absence lately. I've been overwhelmed with family responsibilities for quite a while. I'm trying to get back to normal.

I've Been Absent Awhile. Here's The Reason.

Hello, all. I'm sorry that I've been absent for 2 months. Time flies when you're having fun! My step-mother fell and broke her leg in two places about 5 or 6 weeks ago. She is diabetic and has serious heart disease. She is currently in a nursing home, in a cast from thigh to foot. She has a 63 year old brother who can do nothing for himself. He, too, is diabetic and is really just a lump. He doesn't even know how to take his own blood sugar reading. She's always done it for him. Anyway, I have moved into her house to take care of him and Rick is at home keeping things going. I still have to work and I have responsibilities at my house as well. I'm stressed to the max right now. I have to be there early morning to prepare his "special" breakfast (can't just sling him a bowl of cereal with milk!), I leave him to his own devices for lunch, and I prepare his dinner at EXACTLY 4:45 PM because he says so. I usually stay overnight, although, I am staying in my own bed tonight. He'll just have to figure out how to put bread in the toaster and push the button. Deals? Coupons? I don't have a clue what's going on right now. We found a good home for the chocolate Lab. The lady who took her called that evening to report that she had bathed her and clipped her nails, treated her ear mites, and boiled a whole chicken and deboned it for the dog's supper. Where do I sign up for treatment like that?! When I dine out at Chili's, they make me PAY for the chicken! Anyway, she has a good home with a 3/4 acre fenced yard to run off her energy. You're going to love this story. The day after my step-mom broke her leg, her sister-in-law, my aunt, my dad's baby sister, called her and asked to borrow her car. She was on morphine and said OK. The next day, my aunt came by, driving that car, and I asked her if her car was in the shop. "Oh, no. It's going to cost $3,500 to fix it and I don't have any money or a job." Well, that told me, as I'm sure you will all agree, that she thought she had just lucked up on a new car for as long as she wanted. I put a stop to that in a hurry. I made her bring it back the next day. She hasn't spoken to me since. I told my step-mom that she thought it was a gift forever. She was upset about it, but, didn't want to rock the boat. All she has for a support group is my dad's family. Her family couldn't give a lesser hoot. Anyway, aunt had said she would bring food for brother and me from time to time. Haven't seen a single green bean out of her in 6 weeks since I took the car away from her. So much for "blood is thicker than water." I know just about now, you are all saying, "quitcherbitchin." I will. I don't ever get any tearpad coupons around here. The inserts have been crummy for a while. I'm living in a coupon desert and my store doubles up to .60. Publix doubles up to .50, but, it's way out of the way and I don't make the effort to go there as my close store does .60 coupons. Work is sporadic. Been working our tails off this week, might not have anything else for two weeks. You just never know. It's crazy. We've had some interesting cases lately. We start with nothing, have to find the person, gather all kinds of information, and figure out how to serve them. We're close to 100%, no matter how crappy the initial information is that we receive from the lawyer. I'm really proud of Rick. He's very good at this. He's getting better every day without me having to tell him what to do. He pulled off a very good one yesterday without any prompting or help from me. He's really, really good at this. Close for now. I will try to stay in touch with you a bit better in future.

No New Deals Here

I have no new deals for you. I did go back to Bi-Lo and got the onions for .79. It's up to Rick to plug them into the menu somehow. The 30 boxes of veggies? Rick, at first, told me he was going to take them to the food kitchen downtown and donate them. I put my foot down. We still have them. Luckily, I bought a few boxes of brussel sprouts. He loves those nasty little things. That mollified him a bit.

We found a dog a couple of weeks ago, wearing a collar but no tags or I.D. We advertised everywhere we could think of and no one has come forward to claim her. So, we put an ad in the paper to sell her. Rick doesn't want any money for her, but, he says that by putting a price tag on her, it will only attract people who really want a chocolate Labrador. He says that if he finds the right person, he will tell them, "Put your money away. I only wanted to know that you were serious." Anyway, I received a phone call this morning before 7:30 from a hearing impaired person. The operator read what the caller wrote on their device, then, typed in my response to the caller. She gave me an email address to contact her. I did that. I received an email back from her wanting to know where to send the check, as this was the only way she had to pay for the dog. She said she was going to send more than the asking price and asked that I keep my portion and send the rest by Western Union to the shipping company for picking up the dog and shipping to her. Sounds like some kind of scam to me. This dog is only going to someone with whom I can have a face to face discussion of how they are going to treat her. I don't know, but, her email just creeped me out.

Somebody Just Beat Me!

I usually shop at Bi-Lo and I just learned recently that they have e-coupons. You can use these in addition to man.q's. So, I had a big shopping trip planned this morning while Rick was asleep. I went to Bi-Lo, shopped my little heart out, and FORGOT about the things I was going to get with e-coupons. They have a 3-pound bag of yellow onions for $2.79 with a $2 e-coupon. I just walked right by them. I know, I need to make a list and stick to it. Did I mention I am a freestyle shopper? When I am alone, I just walk up and down the aisles and see what's going on. Also, couldn't find a single blinkie coupon. Worse, I didn't get any catalinas when I checked out. You know what I blame for the lack of coupons? The TV show, Extreme Couponing. I think that show has ruined it for everyone who tries to keep their costs low with coupons. I watched about 3 minutes of the show some time back. Didn't want to see anymore. Won't go out of my way to find it on TV. It's just not right. What do you think about the show? Do you watch it? Do you try to emulate the people on the show? How well do you do on your own at your local stores? I'd like to hear your stories.

A Major Savings

I think I'm getting back into the couponing game. A few days ago, my local store had Green Giant boxed veggies for $1 a box, usually $1.76 each. I was able to trade for some .60/3 coupons. I ended up buying 30 boxes of GG veggies for $18 total. Rick was playing golf that day and you would not believe how he roared when he opened the freezer for some ice and was greeted by 30 boxes of veggies! He totally freaked. I tried to explain that I only paid $18 for about $53 worth of groceries. Some guys just don't get the grocery game, do they? This week, the 8 ct. tube of Pillsbury Grands biscuits, regularly $2.19, I think, are $1. I'm trading for some more coupons. Wait 'til he sees a refrigerator full of biscuits. Oh, yeah, when I buy 5 of them, I earn an extra .20 in fuelperks. Yes, I'm back in the game!

Yeah, What A Deal!

I only learned yesterday that my local store has Green Giant boxed veggies for $1 each, usually $1.79. I was able to get someone in FL to send me 10 of the 3/.60 coupons for use by next Tuesday. I just KNOW they will arrive by Tuesday. She's super. Rick is going to have a fit when I bring in 30 boxes of veggies, but, he'll be glad during the lean months. Men are like dogs; you just train them and train them and then they respond to your commands. I'm hoping Rick is just like a dog!

I received (3) free 12-pack Coke coupons yesterday. I'm O.K. with cokes, but, the price has risen precipitously. You used to be able to get 4/$10 and now you're lucky if you get 4/$13 or so. Thankfully, I drink more wine than coke!

I have about 6 Redwood Creek wine posters. I'm thinking of approaching the manager of the local liquor store and see if she wants to buy them. I'd trade for a box of wine. Five litres, of course!

I Don't Know How To Get Rid Of That Ad for "Paybox."

Forget paybox. It changed names, is a complete dud. I just don't know how to get that ad off my blog. I'll try harder.

I sometimes repeat myself, so, bear with me. I participate in a program with Small Business Knowledge Center in Chicago. In this program, you send them your junk emails and snail mails on certain topics, mostly credit card, banking, financial, travel. Other stuff, they send you a list of what they are looking for. You earn points for all the junk you send them. For every 2,000 points, which you could probably do every month, you earn a $20 GC of your choice. I've been doing this for about, I think, 4 years. I just learned that they also accept your credit card bills. I'll go first and see if they hijack my accounts to steal from me. I doubt it. They have always been upfront and honest with me. I get a credit report update every 3 months and nothing bad has ever happened to me for participating in this program. I'll be happy to sign you up, if you wish. Just send your name, address, and email address and I can get them to shoot you an invite. I'll tell you this; once, I accidentally sent them a new credit card I had just gotten. They sent it back in a few days with a note that it looked too important for them to have. Nothing bad happened. I do earn a few points for referring you. I will give you that. I don't want to be dishonest about my motives. Having a $20 GC to Chili's or Ruby Tuesday's comes in handy sometimes. I gave my nephew a $20 Red Lobster card for Christmas that I earned from SBKC.

Foo! Food Lion is going out of business in my city. My step-mom and I are going tomorrow. I think what's left will be 75% off. Looking for coffee and canned goods. I never really shopped FL, so, I won't miss them too much. My only concern is that it's going to increase WalMart's business, and, have I ever mentioned this before, I HATE WALMART!!! The Walton's are morally bankrupt and treat their employees poorly. Get off your soapbox, Vicki. Sorry.

Well, if you want to sign up for the free GC, let me know. It's a great program.

I'm Probably The Last To Know

Did you know that you can turn in your empty Starbucks coffee bag for a free tall brewed coffee? How many bags has I thrown away? Too many. Just learned this. It's on the side of the bag, but, who reads that stuff, anyway?

Do You Mystery Shop?

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but, I am a mystery shopper. I'm pretty picky about the shops I will take. If I have to drive 30 mile round trip to do an $8 shop, no way. I prefer hotel and some restaurant shops. Rick and I just got back from a 5 day trip of hotel mystery shopping within 100 miles of home. We have 4 more this month. I hate to admit it, but, I do the "cheap" stays. To balance that, we sometimes do "high dollar" shops. This month, I will earn enough frequent stay points to go to Destin, FL for 3 nights free. I have about 150K of Hilton points that we are saving to go to Key West this fall. By working the points programs, I have gone to Hawaii with my aunt 4 1/2 years ago, Manchester, NH, for a week 3 years ago, and another single trip to Hawaii about a year and a half ago. That time, I went first class on the air, stayed 7 nights at the Hilton Hawaiian Waikiki. I'm telling you, if you have the time or inclination to do mystery shops and you are a member of the hotel's frequent stay program, you can get a free vacation. I admit that I have some CC that are attached to my frequent stay memberships, but, mostly, I earn from staying at hotels on someone else's dime. It's nice to get away from home for a few days. I guess if you have a few children, it would be harder to do. I'm pretty much foot loose and fancy free. I can pick them up at the drop of a hat and go.

I don't have any really great coupon deals to pass along to you right now, so, I thought I would plant the seed for mystery shopping. Doesn't pay anything, but, you get a nice night out and earn some points, if you sign up with their programs.

If you are interested in mystery shopping, go to www.volition.com and see the listings for mystery shopping. There are over 200 companies in North America that you can sign up with. I know, it's a drag signing up with each one individually, but, it might be worth the work for you.

Happy shopping!

Vicki

O.K. A New Year, A New Me

I have determined that we need to clean out the freezer before we buy any more groceries. We have more than 20 meals in the freezer, plus vegetables and such to boot. I will not allow Rick to go to the store before it is done. Today, I defrosted some of his "slumgulliom", which is German for "what's in the pot." Something like that. Anyway, we ate 6 month old soup today. I took a pack of beef kabobs out tonight for dinner tomorrow. Rick will have to figure out what to do with it. I'm really going to bear down on him to use what we have instead of filling up the freezer again. A good selection is all well and good,but, you have to prove that you know what to do with the old stuff before embarking on a new shopping trip. We have rice, potatoes, and mac & cheese to kill a horse. I think we should live off of stockpile for awhile. I don't know if I can Rick on board, but, I think I can. What advise would you give in my situation? Rick is the chef. He is mostly in charge of dinner, however, I make the best scrambled eggs for breakfast, so, he has to stand back. We have sausage and bacon galore for breakfast. I can do a pretty mean meal out of that. I also know how to make southern biscuits and gravy, if called upon. Oh, man, a breakfast of biscuits and gravy I can do. It's high in cholesterol, fat, and such. Kicks up the blood pressure quite a bit. Puts pounds on the hips. So, sue me!

Are Any Of You Frequent Flyers?

Over the past few years, I have earned enough mileage and hotel points to get 3 great vacations. Four and a half years ago, I took my aunt to Hawaii. A couple of years later, I had enough flight and hotel points for a week in New Hampshire. Last year, or should I say, in 2010, I went back to Hawaii at no cost for hotel and flight. I have enough points (almost, I'm working on it) for a free week in Key West and enough points for 2 free air tickets. If you have the right co-branded credit cards, and spend on your credit cards, you can do this, too. I don't pay cash for anything. Not even a $1 for a cup of coffee at McDonalds. I pay the balance each month and earn scads of points for these things. I know it goes against conventional wisdom to use a credit card for everything, but, if you don't overspend, you can pay the balance and not incur any interest charges. The points just keep rolling in. If you sign up now for the right credit cards, you get a bonus of points good for air or hotels. I use American Express Hilton Hhonors, American Express Delta Skymiles, and Marriott Rewards Visa. I have a few others, but, I don't use them too much. These are my main ones. I should say that if I refer you to Hilton Hhonors American Express, I earn a few points. I don't think I earn anything on the others. This is just to let you know that you can earn vacations with your regular spending.

I'm Trying To Get Back In The Swing Of Things.

I hope to have some deals and things for you in the future. I'm trying to get back into the couponing mode. Rick has made me stop and think about stuff I am buying. We just recently gave away 20 boxes of a baking or frying mix. I forgot the name brand. He's trying to get me in line with his thinking and i am revolting as much as I can! We are regularly giving to the rescue mission and the homeless day shelter. I can finally see the walls of my pantry.

My local store, Bi-Lo, had, for a few months, been spitting out great coupons on the register. Haven't seen anything in a while. I was getting paper towels and plastic cups free for a while. I have to guess that they are just not being so generous now as I am buying about the same things.

Woo-hoo! Firefox is my savior. I'm not getting the crash anymore like I was with IE. Who knows how this stuff works? I'm just glad to have found a platform to interact with you.

Are you interested in mystery shopping? Please leave me a note and I will tell you all I know about it. (Well, that wouldn't be much,but, I'll try.)

I don't get any in-store tearpads for coupons around here. They just don't exist. All I know about is the insert coupons and the few I trade for to get non-insert coupons. I don't know what is wrong with this city, but, NOBODY puts out the tearpads. I would complain, but, I don't know where to start.

We have a freezer full of meat to consume. Rick is kind of the "I'm bored, I'll cook," or "I'm sick of cooking, let's go out." I'd like very much to clean out the freezer before we buy more.

Before Christmas, we bought a few gift cards with extras. They give $5 or $10 when you buy a $25 GC. We are enjoying the benefits.

Have you tried Logan's Roadhouse lately? They have some great meals for about $11 or $12 and they will feed 2. We got the meatloaf with 2 sides and it was more than we could eat between the two of us. Of course, we drink our weight in liquor, so, it balances out.

I'll try to keep you up to date with specials and such. I've made a New Year's resolution to do better for you.