Classy Chassis

Since changing our television package we are having a hard time adjusting to our more limited viewing options. We don’t get very many channels that are geared towards adults. Last night we sat and watched a program about people looking for Santa Barbara homes for sale. It was interesting from the standpoint that homes similar to ours cost about 6 times at much in that part of the world. It made me wonder what type of jobs people have that enable them to meet their mortgage obligations. We would love to live in a warmer climate but there is no way we could live the same lifestyle from the way it looks on television and keep our current professions. I really wish they would provide more details on those shows about the people who are house hunting such as what their occupations are and information of that sort.

I love to talk about books and would love to know what other people are reading out there in the wide wide world. Some of my recent reads are:

Wild Swans- a TRUE story about living in China under the dictator Mao- the book is actually banned in China.

“Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hossein.

“Alchemist and The Devil and Miss Primm” by Paulo Cohelo. I really like his writing style.

Little Women- Louisa May Alcott.

“March”- I can’t remember the author’s name but it’s written from the Father’s (the Father from Little women) point of view. Really good.

I just finished a great read- “Picking Cotton” which is the true story about a women who accidentally picks a man out of a line up for committing her rape. He spends 11 years in jail and DNA proves his innocence. He forgives her and they are actually friends. They travel around the country speaking about their experience.

One more……Same kind of Different as Me- true story and very very good!

We have decided to enroll our preschool aged son in an online virtual charter school next year that offers preschool. It ultimately made the most sense since we are already schooling our older son via a virtual school. I will be interested to find out if they provide preschool children with the same sort of technology as the older kids are given. I am wondering how my preschooler will handle having one of those netbooks that I have read the school offers. He is somewhat familiar with a computer but not necessarily with the use of a laptop. I think that the touch pad will take a bit of work for him to get used to using. He is really excited about going to school and loves to sit next to his big brother and color right now. I believe it will be a pretty easy transition for him. I only hope the curriculum is somewhat relaxed for the little kids. I appreciate an intense curriculum for older children but am not wanting that for our first school experience.

Lately my husband has take to teasing me about the amount of coffee I drink in the morning. I drink about 32 ounces of coffee each day with stevia and a little half and half. This is my treat for the day because I don’t eat starch and sugar. I have repeatedly told him that if I took away flour and sugar from his diet he would turn to coffee as well. I adore my morning coffee and can’t imagine a day without it. My current favorite is Cameron’s Organic Whole bean. I bought the coffee originally because i liked the idea of an organic coffee that was french roasted. I prefer a strong cup of coffee and this coffee provides that. I have noticed that it has one of the best aromas and tastes of any cup of coffee that I have used in the past. I use this coffee with an inexpensive grinder and a nice percolator for a delicious morning treat that doesn’t leave me feeling deprived. As far as I am concerned 32 ounces of coffee is nothing compared to the damage that flour and sugar is doing to a person’s body.

When I go to the store I am not someone who likes to spend a great deal of time roaming aimlessly about. I prefer to get in and get what I need and leave. I realize that this is not the case for many people. It doesn’t stop me from wanting to shake some of the people I run into at the store. This morning for example I needed to run to the store for some light bulbs for our new lighting fixture. I made sure to get up and leave early enough to beat the crowds. Needless to say there was this family with several children who seemed to be following me around the store. Every time I turned around they were there blocking the isle. One of the kids was laying in the isle and one was trying to ride underneath the cart. I must have said excuse me to them a dozen times as I tried to navigate the store. Finally there came a point when I just stopped trying to be polite and just worked my way past them and exited the store as quickly as I could.

Since watching Food Inc I am sold on trying to eat as organically as possible. I know that some of the best organic pricing comes right from the farms–CSAs, farm markets and such. But since most of those aren’t selling during the winter, I’m trying to figure out some of the best prices on organic products out there. I’m tending to think of vegetables that are $1-2 a pound and meats that are around $3-4 a pound.

For example, here are some things that didn’t seem terribly expensive for organics in my first foray into organic shopping:

large bags of organic carrots at Costco (suddenly forgetting price, but it seemed good)
Macey’s $1.29 baby carrots for 1 pound
Costco’s 5 pound organic frozen beans and peas (these were about $6, which seemed really cheap per pound for organic)
Costco’s 4 pack of organic Treetop applesauce (about $9)
Sunflower Markets $1.49 organic spinach (I think this ends today–Wed. Jan 27)
Costco’s organic salad greens for $4 or so (possibly the spinach too, but I can’t remember how many ounces it was)
Costco’s 10 pound bags of red delicious apples for $7.99

(From Candi)Sunflower Market has the following organic produce on sale this week (January 27-Feb. 3):

jewel and garnet yams, .99/lb
kiwi fruit, .34 ea
mangos, .99 ea
hothouse tomatoes, 1.99/lb
green or red leaf lettuce, .99 ea (a good price even for non-organic in the winter, so even better for organic)

Can you all share other organic items that are a good value? I’d really like to buy more organic, but I need to find the least expensive I can. Thanks!

As I speak my husband is on the way to the home improvement store to buy supplies. I know that he is not very happy about the task and I feel a little bit guilty. He works a full-time job and it takes a great deal out of him. The problem is that there are things around the house that need to get done and he is the only one with the know how to do them. I have never installed ceramic tiles and don’t have a clue where to begin this type of project. We bought a bunch of stuff to remodel our bathroom last year and it is still sitting in the basement. I finally insisted today that he do something productive besides sit on the computer and read about wrestling. He didn’t like being told this but I really feel he needed to hear it. When we bought all the stuff for the bathroom he said he was more than happy to do the work. I gently reminded him that it was silly to spend the money for the supplies to just sit there. He is now on his way to get the rest of the stuff to finish the project. I only hope these aren’t more supplies that will just sit with the other ones in the basement.

Ok, here’s the scoop:
I might be hosting a Mary Kay party and the rep. wants me to give her the phone numbers of those I am inviting so she can call and touch base with them before and probably after. I don’t like giving out my OWN phone number and don’t feel comfortable giving out other people’s phone number without their permission. I told her my reservations in an email but she didn’t really address it. Instead she went on and on about how the party will be more successful if she calls them and on and on. Am I just being weird? I just want to be sensitive to those I am inviting. Thoughts??? I don’t normally consent to this type of stuff and am not a party thrower but felt obligated to in this situation. I am now regretting the decision and the party hasn’t even taken place yet.

My husband is a fabulous guy. He works very hard and helps me around the house on a regular basis. There are many things around the house that wouldn’t get done if he didn’t do them. There is one thing I do not want him to help me with but he does anyways. He tries to help with the laundry and I wish that he wouldn’t. The reason I hate when he helps with laundry is because everything comes out of the laundry basket a wrinkly mess. There is no wrinkle remover in the world that can help our laundry once he is done with it. Aside from the wrinkles he also doesn’t sort the clothes before washing them. This means that towels get washed with sweaters and dark clothes with light clothes. You can imagine how pretty things look when he is done with them. Some of my favorite sweaters are not only wrinkled beyond compare but they are now covered in fuzz balls. I have no idea how to make him stop helping. I need to just ask him not to help but I don’t want him to think I don’t want help with other things in the house.

All of this winter weather has me thinking. Every part of the country can be/is affected by bad weather. Whether it’s snow storms, ice storms, hurricanes, tornado, earthquake, something can strike all of us.

What kind of bad weather do you get and how prepared are you for it? Maybe we can help someone become prepared or just add something to a list that someone hadn’t thought of.

We get snowstorms, blizzards and ice storms. I’ve been without power for 9 days and without town water for 6 weeks.

The most important thing I did was sit down and make a list. I tried to list all the things we might need in an emergency. Food, water, a way to cook, a way to heat the house, what to do about the pets, etc.

Here is my plan……..

I stockpile! This is the best defense against bad weather I think. And I think it’s also very important to NOT depend on a freezer for your stockpile. That’s not to say that I don’t have two freezers full of stuff because I do, but I make sure to have a stockpile of food items that won’t go bad! I keep canned veggies and fruit, beans, meats, peanut butter, soups, etc. Things that I can easily fix with no power. And of course, you need a hand operated can opener!

I have a gas grill with a side burner that I can use to cook on. I also have a fire pit in my backyard with a cooking grate. I can cook or heat large amounts of water there.

I have water even when the power is out. If need be, I can boil it on a fire to make sure it’s safe for use. I also live near a creek and several ponds and lakes that I can get to if I need to for water. We also keep several gallons of store bought water here.

I try to be sure and not run out of pet food. Sometimes ds doesn’t warn me ahead of time. But I can feed them all food scraps if I need to.

I also keep a first aid kit and plenty of meds on hand. I always have store brand Tylenol and Advil, benadryl, dayquil and nyquil, etc. plus lots of bandaids, first aid cream, etc.

We heat with an outdoor woodstove so if the power is out we have no heat. We have a generator and we keep extra gas on hand for the winter months. I also keep flashlights and batteries, candles and matches/firestarters, etc.

And we have board games, puzzles,books, art supplies, legos, gameboys, etc. to keep everyone occupied.

So, how prepared are you? How long could you make it if you were stranded at home?

It is odd how certain events motivate people to want to change themselves. For example my mother has never shown an interest in loosing weight or eating healthy. For some reason last week she was talking to me about diets for quick weight loss. This struck me as odd because she has never mentioned this before. It turned out that she and my father have planned a trip and she wants to loose weight before going on it. The more I thought about it the stranger I found a trip as a motivation for loosing weight. Why would be around nothing but strangers that you will never see again cause you to want to loose weight? I could care less what strangers think of me. You would think a person would be motivated to loose weight when their doctor says they need to do so or to improve their health. Instead of wanting to live a longer life for family and friends it is instead strangers that motivate us? I have noticed this is true with many people. We are motivated by public occasions rather than personal connections. Am I the only one that finds this odd?

I have received many nice presents but the highlight of this holiday season was seeing how excited DH was about his insulated mug that I got him. I had it made through Sam’s Club photo dept and it is a mug with a lid and its covered in pictures of DH with his deer he shot this year. I think I paid $12 for the whole thing and he keeps showing everyone. Its a nice feeling to know someone really likes what you got them… We also got my nephew a build your own engine kit made by the Smithsonian institute and that was a big hit on Christmas eve. He is one of those kids who has everything and I never know what to get him. I think my favorite gift was having the kids home and healthy AND my perfume from Victoria Secret that DH got me. I never splurge on stuff like that for myself often enough. What about you? Did you get or give a gift that was really awesome this year?

When I started eating fewer processed foods I really had no idea what it would do to our grocery budget. It has been quite an eye opening experience. Between looking for products with few artificial ingredients and budgeting for the added cost of healthy foods I really hate grocery shopping now. I would love to have a store in our area that sells weight loss products and natural foods because it would at least make the shopping aspect easier. In our rural area we only have two grocery stores. This not only limits my choices but also doesn’t really force stores to lower their prices. The prices for many items here are so high it is almost worth it to drive 40 miles to the nearest superstore to save money. I guess this is the price we pay for eating well and living in the middle of nowhere.

I was shopping yesterday. I had my 10 items on the belt. 8 of them were buy one get one free. I had the items laid out in pairs , with the coupon on the free item so that the clerk could instantly write the amount of the free item on the coupon. The clerk took one look at the belt, and in a loud voice said something really nasty. I was stunned and I didn’t say anything, but as soon as I was done, I went right to the manager to complain. She was getting talked to as soon as I left the store. The manager was walking over there immediately but I asked her to wait since I had to walk past her again.

Did I do the right thing, or was there something I should have done different? Have you ever had to report a clerk for something like this?

A friend of mine is always talking about how she wants to loose weight. She keeps telling me how miserable she is her own body. The thing that drives me crazy is she doesn’t do anything to change her situation. She tells me all this while holding a super size box of french fries in her hand. I understand being miserable when you are overweight. What I don’t understand is not even making simple changes. I am not saying she needs to run out and get phentermine without prescription but at least eat a salad instead of a bucket of french fries. So many people it seems want to loose weight but just can’t bring themselves to make good choices. I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who won’t even take the first step. All I can do at this point is listen and hope she finds the strength inside herself to make a move forward to change her life.

One of the things I do to save money is to stock pile groceries. Many people laugh at this but I know it has saved my family a ton of money. I stock up on everything that we use on a regular basis. As things go on sale I buy extra to add to my stockpile. We could easily eat off my stockpile for 4 months or more.

I store meats and flour in the freezer. I have a rubber maid container that I store pastas, sugar, etc. in. Canned goods go under my bed at the moment LOL. I have a small room in my basement that I’m trying to get fixed up as a storeroom but I have so little time to work on it. I will be able to store water and canned goods down there. We have mice in winter so I won’t be able to put anything they can get into down there but it will be nice to get the canned goods out of my room.

I plan to take some of the tax check and stock up a good bit more. Prices are going up so much and so fast that I want to get things like flour, hamburger helper meals, canned goods, etc. while they are cheaper now and not have to pay a fortune for them in the near future. I’m hoping to catch some goods sales on these items along the way, but if not I will buy what I need to stock up anyway.

Part of my new diet is eating a great deal more protein. This has been an adjustment for me. I have never been a big meat eater. It has taken me quite a bit of research to figure out what my body needs to function and not gain weight. I have tried everything from fat burners for women to carb blockers over the years in order to loose weight. All of these worked for a while. My problem is that I can’t seem to eat carbohydrates. I have learned that carbs are just converted to fat by my body. As much as I love them I have come to the realization that I can’t eat a ton of them or else I am going to gain weight. This is not easy but slowly I am learning new ways of eating foods that give me the same satisfaction that I once found eating carbs. Meat is something I am growing to enjoy but it is still difficult to eat as much as I know my body needs.

I am an avid coupon user and constantly have people asking me how I use coupons so successfully. It takes some time to get a system going that allows you to maximize your savings with coupons. The first step is to read everything you can on various coupon forums. It helps to understand coupon lingo in advance of reading. These are terms you will run across on most coupon forums:
AC – store Coupons found in weekly store ads.
AY – All You magazine coupons (buy it at Walmart)
Blinkies – instore smartsource coupon dispensed near product, usually from red blinking box
B1G1F – buy 1 get 1 free
B1G* – buy one product, get * something else
BOGO or B1G1 – Buy one get one free
BRU – Babies-R-Us coupon
BTFE = Box Tops for Education certificate on packages
CGS – Carnation Good Start formula coupon
Catalina – coupon dispensed at register after purchase, usually has a red border
Cherry – Cherry pickers – Cherry picking – only buying the lowest priced deals
C/O – cents off coupon
Codes – Refunds that require only a UPC# written on a CRT
Coufund – for coupons that need some proof of purchase such as UPC’s attached
CPN – coupon
Cpns- manufacturer’s coupons
CRT – Cash register tape
DCRT- Dated cash register tape
DCRTC – Dated cash register tape with the price circled
DND – Do Not Double (the coupon is not supposed to be doubled)
Double coupon- coupon that a grocery store doubles in value
Free Item Coupon – A coupon that allows you to get the product completely free
FS – for sale
FSI – Free Standing inserts. These are the actual term to the coupons you get in your Sunday newspaper. Also referred to as SS coupons or insert coupons.
FSOT – for sale or trade
FT – for trade
G/C – gift card or gift certificate
(H) have
HBA – The health and beauty aid section in the grocery store
HDA – Hot Deal Alert or Home Delivered Ad
HT or HgT- Hang tags for refunds or coupons hanging on a product
HTH – Hope this helps
IDNO – in desperate need of this coupon
IDSO – In desperate search of
IMO – in my opinion
IMHO – in my honest opinion
IP or IPC – internet printable coupon
ISO – In search of (ISO) = in search of this coupon
IVDSO – In very desperate search of
KLG – Kellogg’s coupons or separate inserts
KRU – Kids-R-Us coupon
KWIM – know what I mean?
LED – long expiration date
LMK – let me know
LOL – Laugh out Loud
LTD – Limited, as on a refund form it will say you’re limited to a certain number of purchases
MFG – Manufacturer
MFR – Manufacturer
MHO – my honest opinion
MIR – Mail-in Refund or Rebate
Mod – moderator
Money + – Premiums that require money in addition to a proof of purchase
(N) = Need this coupon
N/A – not applicable
NAZ – Name, address, zip code
NB – National Brand
NBQ – National Brand Qualifier
NED – No expiration date
Nfp – refund form found in a newspaper
NT WT – net weight
OAS – a coupon that is good on one purchase, any size
OP – Original post
OSI – On a single item
OYNSO – On Your Next Shopping Order
PLMK – please let me know
PM – sending a Private Message to another on a forum.
Post – when you type a comment to add to PYP threads – you post it.
PP – purchase price
PPHF – Paypal handling fee
Printables – coupons you can print off the internet
PTS – points off of packages
Q or Qualifier- The POP required for a refund offer that is physically taken from that package
RAOK – Random act of kindness, give without asking for something in return
RP – Red Plum (was Valassis) coupon inserts from Sunday newspapers
ROFL – Rolling on floor laughing
SASE – Self Addressed Stamped Envelope
SCR – single check rebate – offered by RiteAid and Walgreen’s
SF – Store form
SMP – specially marked packages
SS – Smart Source coupon inserts from Sunday newspapers
Super doubles – coupons that are doubled $1 + in value (ie, a $1 coupon = $2, etc)
SWEEPS – sweepstakes form
T/L – tradelist, things you have for trade
Tear pad – A pad of refund forms found hanging from a store shelf or display
Thread – #1 post of a specific topic, other PYPers can post their comments.
TIA – Thanks in Advance
TMF – Try Me Free rebate offer
Triple coupon – a coupon that a grocery store triples in value
TRU – Toys-R-Us
UPC – Universal Product Code
(W) want
W/C – With Coupon
W/L – wishlist, things you’re looking for
WB – Welcome Back -
Winetag – A winetag is a coupon found on the neck of a bottle of wine.
WPN – wine purchase necessary -in reference to winetag coupons
WSL – while supplies last
WYB – when you buy
V – Valassis (now RedPlum) coupon inserts from Sunday newspapers
YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary (Success of offer is variable.

Grocery Coupon Lingo:

Lmt – the limit is the number of products that may be purchased at the sale price.

NC – newspaper coupons found in booklets in your Sunday paper.
AC-M – manufacturer coupons that are found in weekly ads
W – the week number the coupon booklets came in your paper
ISC – in-store coupons that are found only in the store
ISC-M – manufacturer coupons that are only found in the stores
+ A – a plus sign next to the rating indicates that a newspaper coupon is available

This week I ran into a friend I had not seen in a long time. The last time she saw me I weighed considerably more. The first question she asked me was if I had found the best weight loss diet pill? I couldn’t help it but I took a bit of offense to this comment. Why couldn’t she have just said that I looked good? It is funny how if you loose weight people automatically assume that you must have found some magic bullet. It seems as if we have been conditioned to believe that we must take or use some sort of weight loss pill in order to change our bodies. I didn’t know how to respond to her comment and simply said that I had indeed found a magic formula for weight loss and left it at that. I then proceeded to make my exit as soon as it was possible. I know there are many great diet products out there but I just happen to be not be using any of them right now.

A friend of mine had never heard of price matching. I use it all the time to get the best price on the things we need. This is how I explained it to her:

Price matching is when you find an item in a competitor’s printed ad that is priced lower than it is at Wal-Mart or Target store, Wal-Mart or Target will match the price. The competitor’s ad must be local and current, and the product must be the identical item, brand name, quantity and model number. Target.com is excluded from our price matching policy. At Target- Competitor catalogs can also be ad matched as long as the catalog displays a valid date and meets all other qualifications.

What if you have already made the purchase at Target- No problem. Within seven days of purchase, bring your Target receipt and the competitor ’s current printed ad. We will reimburse the savings to you.

Walgreens does not price match!