Yummy Saves

.. before the renovation!

They renovated. They took out most of the produce area and replaced it with a deli counter that sells lots of hot foods.

The veggies are now scarce. And the ones that are there are very expensive and most of them are shrink wrapped (why on earth does broccoli and cauliflower need to be shrinked wrapped anyways?)

I went to this place tonight - probably for the last time. Good deals on meat, but what point is a store where you can't find reasonably priced produce? That and a lot of the prices seemed to have gone up. Amazing how the cost of a renovation gets passed along.

The worst part of this? I'm not done with my grocery shopping. I have to go out again tomrrow for groceries.

With a boyfriend in the US and living in Canada I am quite aware of many of the differences between the US and Canada. Heck I'm in the US at least once a month, have many American friends etc. But every once in a while a difference in culture between the two countries hits me in the face.

Hearing all the US hype about Black Friday just hit me as "weird". Ready, steady, go shop! Here the Xmas season gradually comes upon us once Halloween is over with a Christmas parade (at least in my town) that really gets things ramped up. We just don't have that go nuts and shop day before Christmas. Well, unless you consider that to be Christmas Eve when all the procrastinators are in full panic!

However we do have the go nuts and shop day after Christmas. We don't have Black Friday Sales, we have Boxing Day Sales. Boxing day is the day after Christmas. Its the same thing as Black Friday to the deal happy consumer. The best deals, special sales, line ups, electronic stores with only 3 of that really great deal item, early openings, stampedes and craziness.

I didn't do the black friday shopping not being in the US that day. I think I'll balance that by skipping the boxing day sales too.

No deals, but I'll keep my sanity.



Cartoon from www.statehousereport.com by Bill McLemore

Ever buy something that seems to make sense as a purchase. And then realise that it wasn't that brainy?

I bought some precooked frozen organic rice from Trader Joes. Healthy, and convenient suckered me in. It has 3 packages of rice in there that just needed to be slit and then microwaved for 3 minutes to reheat. We had one and it was good and tasty, and oh so easy.

I saw it in the freezer last night and it dawned on me that I could just make up some rice, portion it out into zip lock bags and freeze it for quite a bit cheaper than I bought that rice for.

I only buy brown rice anyways so that isn't an issue. And I'm sure a bag of organic brown uncooked rice is a much better value than the precooked. And just as easy (its hardly difficult to make rice).

A lesson learnt.

A friend and I went to a cookie baking class tonight. It was a hands on class and we made a total of a dozen types of cookies.

Good Points: The instructor/leader was excellent. The recipes were varied and different but variations on old favourites - so nothing too weird. We came away with recipes and with suggestions for adaptions what to make ahead etc. We were taught a method for making dulce de leche that is oh so easy! Staff at the school did all the dishes - yeah, and all ingredients were measured out before we got there

Main Complaint: The equipment was lousy. The oven temperamental, the food processor was in the process of dying from old age and the hand mixer wasn't the greatest. A spatula fell part on us. My equipment at home, while not top of the line, is better than their equipment.

Disappointment: We got some cookies to take home but not as many as I was hoping we would get to take home.

Verdict. A fun three hours. A bit expensive but nice to do. Would definitely take another class by this instructor but would not take it at this cooking school unless they upgrade the equipment.

Wishing all of you in the US a Happy Thanksgiving. It is a regular work day here as we had our Thanksgiving back in October.

So in a few minutes I get myself ready for work and head out! I have a nice evening planned. Rather than make Christmas cookies at home a friend and I signed up for cooking "class" where we go to a professional kitchen and make cookies with other people. Then we bring home a share of what we all made. I'm looking forward to have good cookies without having my kitchen all messed up!

I wrote this post about my experience at Kmart a few days ago.

Went out to dinner tonight with one of the sales reps I work with, a client and broker. We went to this wonderful steak house. The food was wonderful and cost the earth. Salads $12, Steaks around $50 (and up), sides extra, and who even knows what dessert cost. The wine I drank was $15 a glass. This is way out of my normal league for restaurants.

With tip the dinner totalled over $700 - for 5 of us!

Wow! Glad I didn't have to pay!

I drove and shopped and drove and shopped today.

I lost my CVS virginity. LOL. Hadn't shopped there before. I stayed away from the Extra Care bucks deals (didn't need the items they were on) and combined coupons and 2 for 1 sales. So I'm happy. The store had a nice energy and the cashier was very helpful and friendly.

I've decided that Bath & Bodyworks is evil because it helps me lose my self control. Good news is I took advantage of a special there and got a small gift for each of my coworkers (the antibacterial scented soap) for an excellent price. The majority of my spending there was for stuff for me from their True Blue Spa line, and I did use a coupon to offset some of it *yeah yeah* I justfy really good don't I? I spent about $25 on me so I could have been way worse. One day I'd love to go in there and go nuts on that line...

No other real shopping highlights. A funny moment when I bought some intuition refills. The regular price was $9.99 on sale for $7.99 - they were in the check out aisle (I'm such a good well trained consumer noticing them). I grab them because I have a $2 off coupon making them $5.99. Of coruswe they ring up at $9.99.

The cashier says no problem, after I show him the tag (well it was right there no need a price check on aisle 21) and he says "oh I'll just do the coupon twice if that's okay". I said sure but won't you be off. Where upon he told me they get too many coupons to count them (huh?). I was sad there was no scanning code of practise. I really need to look into that to see if there is one in the US and how to know if the store participates and what to do when stuff rings in wrong.

A investigation for another day I think, LOL.

The border was easy but I didn't end up going into duty free - I was in the wrong lane and traffic was bad.

I'm toodling on home today - will be leaving here in an hour or so. I'm going to break up the driving with a healthy dose of shopping.




First on the agenda is my first CVS shopping trip ever. I am not yet up to the extra bucks deals and shenanigans some get up to but they have a couple of deals that look good that I want to nab.

Then I'm thinking of a stop at Joann's or Michaels. I'm knitting a "dish cloth" afgan and eventually I am going to have to go from the gross straight needles I'm using (they are the finest *ugh* quality bright green plastic 1970's vintage needles) to some round needles If the afgan is going to be of any usable size.

Another stop will be at a grocery store in NY to pick up milk and eggs. NY state has even lower milk and egg prices it seems than PA. And so much lower than at home.

Most likely the last stop before home will be at the duty free for some booze. I'll wait til I'm home though to start enjoying.

Its about a 6 hour drive home but with stops and traffic I'm planning on more like 8 hours.

I have been really slow getting into couponing when I've been in the US. I've clipped them in the past but not really used them.

Today I did use some! Yeah!

The first act. Spent $6.14 at Eckerd for about $15.50 worth of groceries. combined a store coupon, a manufacturers coupon and a buy one get one free coupon in order to get 2 items, and got a few other items with just manufacturers coupons.

The second act was at Giant Eagle was combining sale items with a buy X get this item free coupon, and using the we double coupons under $1 to get a free toothbrush. This doubling coupons thing is new to me so that was pretty exciting (I need to get out more I know).

The third act was using a "free coffee coupon" at my favourite coffee place on the way home. A girl has got to celebrate right?



http://www.physlink.com/Fun/McPherson.cfm

This makes quite an inexpensive and very tasty meal. I made it on friday when my boyfriend came home for lunch. This is definitely on the make again list and I'm putting it here so I can find it the next time I want to make it. Took about 25 minutes to cook. I always keep any wine that hasn't been sipped in a timely fashion for cooking and the rest of the ingredients were pantry items.

Pasta with Lentils,Wine and Tomatoes

INGREDIENTS

1 large onion, chopped
2 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed (minced)
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 cup red lentils, washed
15 oz can tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water - approximately
1/2 cup red wine (I used white wine) Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups pasta (we used whole wheat rotini)

METHOD

Fry the onion in 1 tablespoon of the oil until soft and then add the garlic, cinnamon, lentils, tomatoes, wine and water and bring to the boil. Let the mixture simmer gently for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

A little before the end of the cooking time for the sauce, bring a large panful of water to the boil. Add the pasta, stir, then let the pasta boil uncovered for 7-10 minutes or until just tender. Drain the pasta and return it to the still warm saucepan with some salt.

Either add the lentil and tomato mixture to the pasta and mix or just toss the pasta in the remaining tablespoon olive oil then serve it on warmed plates and spoon the sauce over it.

Adapted from recipe at http://www.vegan-food.net/recipe/1216/Tagliatelle-Verde-with-Lentils-Red-Wine-and-Tomato-

We went to a really nice party last night. I had ended up going very simple and made a cheese ball (shredded sharp cheddar mixed with cream cheese) and a black bean dip (black beans, salsa, vegan mayo, Tabasco). Both ended up with rave reviews and were quick and easy to make ahead of time. We are at another party tonight and I have another cheese ball and the rest of the crackers for tonight.

The party was fun though we had more than a few geeks there. Conversation ranged from protractors, to iambic pentameter, monty python, movies, to science fiction from past decades (who wrote better Heinlein, Asimov.. etc).

The only thing about a party is that one gets home way too late. You know you are getting old when staying up late is more of a threat than a promise!

I think K-mart needs to look at how they provide customer service to customers.

The store near here is bright, clean and well staffed. Prices seem good.

Too bad the many staff members they have spend the time being bored and not serving customers.

One till open at 4:30 pm this evening. That is it for the entire store. I line up behind the 10 or so other people in line. The staff member wandering around ambles over to find the missing cashier - they were over in the corner having a chat. Finally a new cash opens up and the line gets a bit smaller.

This new cash that I end at has three staff members manning it. Granted one was new and other other was training. The third person there moping about was going on about being bored. I just looked at her and said "you won't be so bored if you work". She shut up after that and didn't look at me and quickly vanished.

It is pathetic. The store is almost empty and its not so that you are in and out of the cash-out area in like 2 minutes. If I knew Kmart wasn't crowded and had no lines I'd be shopping there more. I hate lines.

Senior management there need to spend less time hiring consultants and more time getting back to the nuts and bolts of how to run a successful retail operation. It isn't rocket science. Just make it easy for me to spend my money.

I was at aldi this afternoon to pick up a few groceries. Got the stuff I needed. Didn't go crazy - the total was $15.80. But I only had about $14.50 in my wallet. You know that frantic few minutes you get to spend searching for money while the line to check out grows?

I had the most amazing cashier. He finally said he would cover it. Can you believe that. I shamefacedly got my groceries packed and bundled and out to the car. Then went back in - I always have change in the car and brought him the money I owed him back. But he wasn't at the cash then so I gave it to one of the other cashiers to give to him. She made a fuss of it and told the other cashier so I'm pretty sure he will get him money back.

I haven't been here to my boyfriends in PA in a month. He doesn't mind me using his address. So I do. I get freebies sent here.

Today's haul is a huge one!

Empty Box meant to be Swiffer Duster Walmart
Folgers Gourmet Selections Coffee
Downy Simple Pleasures Detergent
Downy Simple Pleasures Fabric Softener
Cheer True Fit (Walmart)
Tampax
Gillette Fusion Razor
Playtex Sport Tampons
Sunsilk X2
John Frieda Brilliant Brunette
Coupon for free Weight Watchers Cereal
Olay Definity (Walmart)
Nicorete Gum (Walmart)

I'm amazed at the amount of stuff even though I'm bummed about the swiffer duster (hope it was the boyfriend who took that) because I really did want to try it.

Got up this morning early and dropped Mao off at the kennel. He really likes this kennel - the woman who owns it is real animal lover. He was eating and drinking before I left and was checking out the "facilities" when I left - this after being there about 10 minutes. I'm blessed to have found a place for him to stay he is so comfortable in. Right now he's in a room on his own (they aren't very busy) so his cage is open and he can roam around which is nice for him. At 23 and being blind he doesn't do much roaming but its nice he can if he decides too.

Went into work for half a day after this. Okay, so it was planned as half a day - it ended up being longer. My director called my team leader and I into a meeting that ended up being 2 hours. Which meant I had to stay later than planned. One of our sales team deciding to say an insurance product had a certain feature it didn't, didn't help either. I got to be ms bee-itch, and say "undo what you did cause its not in the contract". Even if I was ms nice I couldn't help because the client negotiated this coverage for their employees - so if we deviate we aren't payed for it. Insurance companies hate paying out money they aren't reimbursed for. We'll see how this plays out. Hopefully our sales people will fix it.

Anyways, the title of this post. I had planned to leave at noon. I didn't. My wallet (mistakenly) was in a bag in the car so I didn't have it at the office. So I borrowed $10 from a coworker for lunch.

I'll repay it back on Tuesday when I'm next in the office. I'll have to bring her a little something as an interest payment. I'll keep my eye out for something unique this weekend to bring as a thank you.

I gave away 4 of the 5 Schick Intuition Razors that I said I would give away (the other one got given away yesterday. I made one person very happy yesterday and 4 people very happy today. I'm glad I was generous with them and didn't keep them all so I had free refills. The warm fuzzies I got were worth more than the refills.

The mail brought me the Sonicare e5500 toothbrush that I signed up for as part of a Bzz Blast. I agree to fill out a couple of surveys and they give me this really rockin' toothbrush. Of course I did a quick search online - this retails for $88.99 at drugstore.com in the US. The cheapest Canadian price I saw was just under a $120, though $169 was mentioned as the regular price here. I'm blown away at the cost of the freebee. I hope it ends up being a great product!

A rant about the extra cost when buying in Canada is likely to be forthcoming at some point. I'm mellow about that right now as I'm heading to the US tomorrow for an extra long weekend so I'm able to take advantage of shopping opportunities (gotta love PA with no sales tax on clothes).

This morning I was musing about the blogs I read and what I get from the blogs I read. I get something from blogs that I have never got from articles on finance.

Articles on finance go on (and on) about the theoretical perfect way to do things. They are full of rules and methodologies. But to me it all comes across as academic. The theory works for me but I can't, just cause I read the article put it into place.

Blogs are full of people's real life experiences about what they are doing. About how they work with all the rules and methods in a real life setting. They talk about how things actually work on a practical level, and more importantly, how they cope when life happens. It is so easy to get on the bandwagon, but in reading people's blogs you learn how to get back on it.

So thank you all. You are all helping me in my path towards implementing the things I know I need to be implementing.

We are heading to two parties this weekend. I want to make dessert stuff to bring. But they want munchies/appetizers. That is one of the laws of the universe - that if you are in the mood to bring something that the host will prefer (I'm one of those guests who always ask) that you bring something else.

The boyfriend is vegan. I don't want to bring a fruit tray. I'm more thinking on the lines of hummus and guacamole. With something OTHER than tortilla chips. Last party we had people brought a total of 5 bags of tortillas. We had to give some back!

Frugal, vegan, delicious and wonderful. I think I'm off to recipezaar. I love my hummus but is there a statute of limitations on how often you can bring something to a gathering before you get known as the "hummus lady"?

A couple of freebees have made me think about my ethics.

Shick Intuition. There was a freebee offer for this product a while back. Agree to be an ambassador (or some such thing) and they'll send you razors to give out to your friends. I got them and thought about keeping them all for me. It would have saved me from buying refills for a while. However, I'm keeping one of them and giving the other 5 out (I didn't have one). I was feeling wrong about keeping them all. But this I think "works" me.

There was another freebee a while back that I heard about but decided not to ask for. A charity (health related) had a freebee of address labels. I gather that would do two things - get you on their list and give them the opportunity to hit you up for a donation. I hadn't planned to give to that charity so to take money from a worthy cause seemed wrong. I don't want to add to the overhead when money should be going to help fight the disease. It also made me wonder about the charity and how they used the funds they were given.

Slept really well again last night. Two nights in a row! This is unusual for me. I bought Melatonin on the weekend. Seems to be doing something.

While rested I'm still going to get my vat of coffee to take to work. I'm also going to take a larger lunch than I did yesterday so the bright shiney signs of the drive through are not so alluring.

Todays plans include sending off some coupon trains, more on the insurance paperwork I have, a massage (scheduled) and getting the oil in my car changed.

I don't know what got into me tonight.

Oh hang on. Yes I do know what got into me.




Calories and spending that is not getting me to my goals. Sigh.

I think, now I am trying to analyse it is that I didn't eat enough at lunch, and I didn't have a snack in the afternoon. So I stopped on the way home and again for slice of pizza after I did my civic duty tonight. I was hungry.

I'll bring bigger lunch tomorrow and see what that does to my willpower.

*not sure where the kitty picture is from (which is what I see when I go to the all blogs page) but it is cute. Its is not the picture I see on my entry page, however its pre-coffee and the is no way I'm going to win the cat is determined*

Heading to work in a few minutes. It will be interesting to see what mess is left on my desk after a very busy few weeks of working on a panic project.

A few odds and ends on my personal agenda too. We vote today for municipal candidates. So I need to do that as there is a candidate or two I prefer and a couple that I don't want to win too!

The other odds and ends are buying stamps, and some deposits to make (didn't get done on the weekend). Nothing too difficult.

I'm not fully on my frugal game (sleeping in won, LOL) so its off to the Timmies for a cuppa and some breakfast - I do have a lunch so I'm not doing too badly.

I hope this won't apply to any of us.

Another saturday! Woo Hoo!

I have number of plans today most of them involve spending some money.

* slow wind up with coffee (I love just being able to relax). This part is free, woo hoo!

*sign up for the Missus Smarty Pants service. I need clothes, I want stuff that looks nice but these days I get into the clothing store and freeze. Hopefully a $10 investment will pay off into some better purchases.

*Lunch out with friends.

*Buy Christmas gifts for some people on my list. Stores I want to go to are in a power centre mall beside each other.

*Deposit 2 cheques.

*put together chili to cook in the slow cooker

*relax and maybe do some quilting.

A doable list. Now I'm off to catch up on my blog reading

I went into the grocery store today for one thing. A special on the last day of sale that I had coupons for. Of course it was no where to be found. One of the "meat guys" looked for me - even looked in the back. None! He went above and beyond.

I go to customer service to get a raincheck. The young lady at the desk was friendly and polite enough but seems their policy is that they have to call the department to see how many rain checks they are supposed to give you. I asked if I could get 4 on raincheck. That's not so greedy. But no she couldn't write me out one without checking.

The meat guy - likely the one who helped me said okay.

Did they know how tired I was? How I just wanted to get home? Do they realise how not fun it is to stand around while an employee of a huge chain decides to call to see if they can give you 2 or 3 or 4 as the number of items you are allowed to purchase with your raincheck? Do they have to make it this difficult to get a good deal?

The big project (our companies response to a request for proposal) that I've been working on got sent out today. So its done. It might come back - with questions and the like. Worst (or perhaps best case) we might actually sell it.

I'm totally wiped. A coworker had a huge project similar to mine due out today also, and she reminded me of the necessary way to deal with the completion of these sorts of projects.

We grabbed our boss and another coworker and headed out to for a late lunch. A few beers were consumed. I had some delicious chicken wings. And we were good - we did headed back to the office and made an appearance before we left for the day.

I have ton of stuff at work but that will wait for me until Monday. Not like any "work elves" are going to rush in this weekend and do it for me.

A lazy evening is planned - well what is left of it. Tomorrow is soon enough to sit down and make some preliminary decisions with respect to Christmas Shopping. My goal is to have most of it done by the beginning of December. I say this every year, LOL.

I hate when they call them BOGO (buy one get one) sales when they aren't.

I got this online ad in my email box.

Dumping the two cold cups of coffee at your desk into one cup so you can go to the microwave to heat it up.

True motivation was not frugalness. Rather the knowledge that there is no fresh hot coffee to be had in this building. The cafeteria closes at 5 and the vending machines dispense a beverage called coffee that really does not resemble any coffee you have ever had (other than perhaps from a vending machine at your place of employement or a hospital). My nuked reheated coffee is better than that stuff.

The real motivation was that I need to stay to work and if I leave I'm not coming back here tonight.

Lets not go into why I'm blogging rather than working, okay?

I've been blogging lately about my stresses at work. Change in management and new management philosophies have made work very difficult, and at times, too political. I'm in a job where the political mood of senior managmenet affects some of my day to day work. Because of that I can't totally hide from what is happening. Too bad. It would be nice to be able to just do my stuff and let it settle around me.

The last couple of weeks have seen a lot of changes at work. One of the things keeping me focussed, and not walking out the door, is the knowledge that my emergency fund is not where I want it to be to survive a period of unemployement.

I'm not likely to be fired, and my job is secure for the immediate future. Who can say what will happen 3 or 5 years down the road - no one is guaranteed lifetime employment these days.

The lesson in all of this. Having a better funded emergency fund would reduce my stress level. So, I better get really serious about that.