Reason number 568 I love working at a middle school..

About once a year, the female teachers on campus get a bunch of coupons for pads and tampons in our mailboxes. My best guess is that they are from the Health teacher, leftover from info given to the 7th grade girls. This is my guess because the back of the coupon is part of some sort of brochure with the phrase, "How do I put this thing in?" in girly font on the back.

But I digress.

This year I scored a few extra from a friend and ended up getting this...

...for only the price of tax. YAHOO!!

First I used two coupons at Walgreens. Then I stopped by Rite Aid and used four of the coupons, pressing my luck, since it says one coupon per transaction. That time, the guy didn't say anything about that AND when I was counting change to pay the tax I came up 37 cents short. I reached for my debit card and he told me not to worry about it. Then, I really pushed my luck at Ralphs, where I pulled out five coupons. The woman at first said I couldn't use them all, and I immediately said I would go put the others back and apologized (see previous post about not being a coupon jerk), but she then proceeded to run them all through and let me use them. :) At Ralphs I also earned 31 rewards points for the pre-coupon price.

So, to recap I spent a total of $6.03, visited three stores, all of whom let me use more than the one coupon it said I can use, and saved a grand total of $63.89!!

Yes, you read that correctly. This seems a little hoarderish, but I will get through these eventually, and the coupons expired in June. And yes, they are displayed in a pyramid on my dining room table. Which will elicit the "you're crazy" look from BF. But for now I am admiring my savings.

I Heart Fresh & Easy

Today after work I stopped by Fresh & Easy because I needed black beans and sun dried tomatoes, both of which are cheapest there. I also perused the clearance section and scored some pretty awesome deals.

First, I got BF a sandwich for $2 and myself a veggie-hummus wrap for $1.75. I took those to his work and we sat in the car and ate them for dinner during his break. That's how I keep the romance alive...clearance sandwiches.

Cue the romantic music...

I also picked up hummus for $1, a coconut lime fish and pasta dish for $2.99 (lunch tomorrow), and a package of eight rosemary rolls for $1.

Not on clearance, I bought two cans of black beans (79 cents each), sun-dried tomatoes ($2.29), and some sugar snap peas ($2.99) to dip in the hummus.

Total damage: $15.60

The rest of the goods

Not bad for a few meals, some snacks, and some necessities.

Coupon Success!

Remember how I said I was going to use my Ralphs $12 in rewards to try to score as much merchandise as I could? I actually ended up buying popsicles for one of my classes who earned them, along with an avocado one day. BUT, I did have a big couponing success, thanks to Sarah.

Following her directions, I was able to get 8 boxes of pasta and two cans of ragu sauce for $2.90. Since they deducted the total without coupons, they actually gave me $3.40 in cash back from my rewards card. Sweet! If I were more organized, I would have taken a picture of the boxes...but I didn't. Just imagine them in all their cheap glory.

I also used a $1/2 boxes of Rice Crispies combined with a store sale of $1.98/box to get two boxes for $3. I used one box this weekend to make Rice Crispie treats to bring to my mom's house for Mother's Day. I also used some of the pasta to make a pasta salad I brought over, which was a big hit. I combined a Snapple coupon with a sale to get a six back of bottles for $4.50. I don't usually buy these, but it was nice to have them around last week. In general, I just took advantage of sales to stock up on some items. I don't feel like I am a couponing expert, but I did finally load coupons onto my rewards card and actually use them for once so that was a success.

Use Your Coupons, But Don't be a Jerk

I was talking to the BF at dinner tonight about couponing. I looked through his Sunday paper to snag some coupons to try to work on getting some deals this week. He works at Walgreens as an assistant manager, and I mentioned that a lot of the extreme couponers blog about deals there. His response:

"Yeah, those people are rude and annoying."

At first I thought he was annoyed because they were working the system. But he explained that the manufacturer reimburses them for the coupons, so he couldn't care less. He takes advantage of deals too, so he doesn't have a problem with that.

He explained that people who are coupon-pros come in daily, and that most of them are entitled, argue with him, and "freak out about saving $2." He even mentioned that there was actually a nice lady yesterday...and that it was rare.

I've used coupons to get some deals, and I have sometimes asked questions or tried to make sure I get a what I can...but he pointed out, "I've worked in retail for a long time, and I know how the coupons work."

I guess the point of my post is this: make sure you know the rules of your coupons so you're not arguing for something that's not in the rules. And, enjoy your deals but be polite to the employees of the store. You're not conning them out of anything, so save your smugness for your blog posts where we can all enjoy it. :)

That is all. Over and out.

April Goals Recap

I just remembered that I did April goals and I'm actually doing a post with my progress. And I didn't do terribly!

1. Go to DMV and get my address changed. I also need to ask if they already sent the bill for my registration to my old address. It doesn't expire 'til August, but I don't want to have any problems there.

CHECK! I did this during Spring Break and took care of both my address change ticket and my car registration in one delightful trip to the DMV.
2. Start recycling for cash again. I stopped largely because I didn't have anywhere to store cans and bottles and it annoyed me to have them in my car. But, I want to start up again now that I have a back porch where I can put them.
CHECK-ish! I have started saving the recycling again, but haven't taken it because I want to get a good collection before I go. But I have one full bag on my balcony right now.

3. Go through bookshelves, DVD's and CD's again to see if I have anything worth selling.
CHECK! Just sold two more books last night.

4. Finish and ship National Boards portfolio!! This is not optional, it HAS to happen!
CHECK. It feels good to be done with that...hopefully I pass and hopefully I still have a job when I get the results. :/
5. Plan and start finance lessons in my yearbook class after our deadline at the end of the month.
FAIL. My yearbook deadline was Friday though, and it was stressful enough getting the book done. I'm going to work on those lesson plans this week.

I'm Becoming a Hoarder...

...not of stuff though. In fact, I just cleaned out my bookshelf yet again and found eight or nine more books I'm willing to part with. I cleaned out my closet and found a few more things to get rid of. And while I could stand to clean out my fridge, it's not out of a compulsion to keep everything that I don't (it's out of laziness). No my friends, I am becoming a hoarder of my Swagbucks.

I just crossed the 7,000 mark. Which is great! I've been thinking of saving for some bigger items or maybe buying some necessities later on if I need to. But, I also thought about cashing in 1,800 of them to buy BF $20 in Amazon gift cards to go with the used Kindle I bought him for his birthday next week.* Which would be a great idea, so he can buy new books for it without going into his budget. And it doesn't actually cost me anything, so I am not going over on my budget for his birthday (well, more than I already did. I went about $25 over, but I worked it out.) All signs point to go for it, so I can tell him they're in my account and print out the gift card codes for him to use. 

But I don't want to. I don't want to see that balance go down, now that it's at 7,000. Partly because I want to use them later on other things, but I think part of it is a hoarder mentality. I just want to save them and see the number get bigger. Which is funny, because before as soon as I got to 450, I'd cash them in for a gift card. But now, I like my big total and I don't want to give it up. I'm sort of motivated to shoot for the moon to get the $300 Apple gift card....if I start using them, that probably won't happen.

What do you think, readers? Am I being silly? Should I just get him the gift cards, and be a generous girlfriend? Or should I let him use his own Swagbucks for that (he's got about 1,300) and save mine for a bigger purchase?

*(He claims he's never read my blog and I believe him. So, Freddie, if you're reading this...it's your fault your surprise is ruined!)

Why I Love my Credit Union

On Friday after work I went with the BF to the store so we could each do a little grocery shopping for the weekend. I picked up about $25 worth of stuff, and we headed to the self checkout. When I went to pay, the screen said my debit card was expired. Nope. It doesn't expire until September 2012. I tried a few times and then asked for some help. The woman tried a few things but nothing worked. I was annoyed and confused, since I had used my card that morning on the way to work. BF paid for my groceries, and as we walked out I remembered seeing a missed call from a 714 area code, which is where my bank is located.

Sure enough, I had a voicemail asking to call them. It was after five, but they are available until 9:00pm. So, I called back and sure enough, someone from Galveston, Texas had charged $500 to Walmart on my card. The bank noticed it, cancelled the card, and called me.

All the charges will be refunded and they've mailed out my new debit card already. They said it takes two days once it posts to do the refund, which isn't a problem. Here's why I love my credit union though: those charges wouldn't have shown up until Monday at the earliest. I would have called, but a LOT of damage could have been done by then, causing overdraw on my account if checks went through. But, they noticed right away and called me to take care of it. I'm not paying for the charges, and I should have my new card in the next few days.

Now, the annoying thing is fixing all the places I have auto-debit, since my card is now cancelled. Netflix already emailed me, and T-Mobile should be next. This is also the reason I'm glad I kept one credit card-I can make sure the bills are paid on time, and then pay off the credit card as soon as everything is back in order by the end of the week. So sorry Dave Ramsey; I won't be cutting up that last credit card.