260 - The things I do for fun...

So today's haul (that's the official term "haul") was awesome. Between Walgreens and CVS, I spent $8.54 and saved $250, I have $72 to spend next time.

It takes work. ABAO asked how long it takes me to hunt down all these deals... there are three parts to the answer:

1) It takes me about 3 hours to cut out the coupons from my Sunday paper (I now buy 3 copies because I've noticed that many deals say, 'buy $x of brand X and get $x in rewards', and it takes about 3 items to meet that quota). I could pare that time down by doing a variety of things, not the least of which is to not be so anal retentive about actually cutting along the dotted lines, but... oddly, I enjoy cutting coupons out, and white space bothers me (thus the writing). I do get up from time to time and do other things, otherwise my legs would cramp, but yeah... as I watch crappy SyFy movies, I clip.

2) Once I have all my new coupons clipped , I browse the circulars and see what I want, and match it with my coupons; those I remember having just clipped, and those I have filed in my fancy-schmancy modified box. Then I consult SouthernSavers.com to see if I missed anything. Then I start scrolling down the rest of the blogs on my sidebar, because sometimes they are even more deals to be had (I think this time I found about 6 more awesome deals).

3) Next, I chart it out on a spreadsheet to see how much it's going to cost me after coupons, dollars I earned last time, and determine how many rewards dollars I'll earn this time. Have I mentioned the anal retentiveness? Also, because of Walgreens wonky policy about counting Register Rewards as a manufacturer's coupon, and only being allowed one manufacurer's coupon per item, I have to figure out 'filler' items, like this week's $0.39 candy bars, so that I can use alllllllllllll of my many RR's. It's slightly complicated... (btw, you can use a Walgreens store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon, and it doesn't count in the coupon tally)

Then on Sunday, I go to Walgreens and CVS and buy, buy, buy.

This week I started setting aside things to donate, and tomorrow I'll stop by a shelter dropoff site on my way home. I have it pretty good, I know a lot of people don't. As I said before, I've got all the razors and toothpaste I need for... years. I am having too much fun to stop, but there's no more room in my medicine cabinet, so donating not only makes me feel good, but I can also continue my hobby. (I'm donating things other than razors and toothpaste, but ceratin brands are on sale all the time)

So one of the many neat things I bought this week was a Neti Pot. I've been intrigued by them since I saw Carol Burnett demonstrate one on a talk show years ago, and just recently I've been wanting one... well, maybe that's whole 'thinking about something and bringing it about' theory works, because there in the clearance pile was a Neti Pot for $5 (down from $19.99). This isn't the first time it's happened. Wish it would work with weight loss and finding Mr. Right... but I guess I have to start small...

It was... a strange experience... Did you know -- people, more often than not, breathe through their noses? So... it's hard to remember not to breathe through your nose, even though you have a spout inserted into your nostril (as a gentle reminder), and water is flowing through it. And it's a weird sensation to have water (and salt and baking soda) going up your nose, around the top of your nose and back down through the other nostril. It doesn't seem like it should happen. My nose was a little upset about it, actually. Started to really run afterward, which I assume is normal, and then one of my nostrils even bled a little... which I read is rare. Bully for me. I'll give it another go. Now that the burning has subsided, my allergies do seem a bit lessened. I think. And if that's the case, the Neti Pot is a very good thing, because here lately, it looks like someone picked up a ball of pollen and threw it hard at the ground... or my car. I've never seen so much pollen... and so few honey bees.

I've been leaving the buttercups, and the little white flowers on my hedges, in the hopes that the honey bees will come (but NOT the wasps or bumblebees). I haven't seen even one honey bee. In fact, I wonder if the lack of honey bees has something to do with the grotesque amount of pollen, like maybe they usually harvest it and take it elsewhere, but without them... It's not good. For many reasons.