Layout:
Home > Archive: August, 2010

Archive for August, 2010

Eat, Pray, Love. Do we really have to?

August 23rd, 2010 at 12:06 am

Before I get onto the theme for today, let me pass along my latest utility bills (read savings): $16.85 for nat. gas, under $50 for my electric, and my quarterly water bill (for 2nd quarter) was $12. I also spent some time today repairing some items around the house, so this was a good weekend.

OK, remainder of this is very unfinancial ... you have been warned.

Friday night I went to one of these singles dinners, where we had 4 guys, 4 gals, at a table. Evening didn't start too bad, we got our food (and as none of us had eaten there before we were kinda clueless on how to eat this type of ethnic food which was amusing), and started with various chatting. About 30 minutes into the meal one of the women brings up the movie. A quick discussion starts to see who saw it (4 women, 0 men - big surprise), and one woman says of course this is a chick flick, you can't expect the guys to have seen it. OK, fair enough.

No big deal right? Well not so fast. Instead of trying to talk with the men, the 3 women to my left continue on discussing the finer points of the movie, while the guys just sit there and eat and listen. The other woman talks with me on various things, but while we talk I can hear this conversion about the movie going non-stop between the three women. Just after it finally ends (20 minutes? Maybe more?) I decide to test the woman to my right. "Oh wow, the other women just finished a discussion about Eat Pray Love." "Really, Oh wow, I should have been talking with them, I so wanted to discuss the movie with others." Hmmm, make that "failed test".

About another 20-30 minutes later they had the guys swap tables so we could meet other women. But at the end of the movie discussion I had already "checked out" from this group of women. Good Lawd, WTF are they thinking? Go to a dinner designed to get you to know and maybe meet someone of the opposite sex, and then just go on about something the others don't care about, and you know they don't care about? Maybe us guys should have started a round robin discussion about the NFL for the upcoming year. At least we knew enough not to do something that dumb. "Oh they're single you say? At this rate they're going to stay that way."

I left that table and didn't look back. The other women were better, though that's faint praise in this case. Nothing sparked with them, but at least they knew why they came. Still, what a waste of time and money. After this I am going to change my way of trying to get with women, because after this third time its obvious the women at these dinners are single for a reason.

Sometimes a plan just comes together.

August 18th, 2010 at 03:21 am

I had not been going to any grocery stores lately ('cept Aldi's) but yesterday I ran out of the last of my almond milk I've been using now to get in shape. Aldi's doesn't carry this type of thing, so before I head to Safeway (and spend $3 on a single carton) I decide to check online to see if there are any deals I should try to get while I'm there. And what do you know, there is a great special on the stuff. Buy a carton and box of cereal, and get $3 off your next purchase. As I look I see there are other specials like that, such as the Nature Valley Granola bars are $1.49 each when you buy 4 boxes, and if you buy five, you get $3.50 off your next purchase. (I think you can see the coupon rolling possibilities here!)

Ok, so far so good. Then I am directed to sites online (coupons.com, ecentives.com, target.com) where I can get great coupons on the granola bars. Same for Multigrain cheerios which are on special too (needed for the milk offer). I just happen to have some coupons for the milk as well (I got them from a blinkie a month ago, and almost lost them). I went to the nearer store (1 mile) and got the last of the cereal they had, and used up my milk coupons, but now I had two gallons of the milk (say hello freezer!). As I started to look for coupons to get some things at Rite Aid, I found more granola bar coupons. As well I was able to find more online Cheerios coupons. Time to reload!

OK, now to store number two (better stocked) 5 miles in the other direction tonight. Here they had milk with coupons stuck onto the milk cartons! Jackpot. More cereal, more milk, more granola bars. And about $1 out of pocket tonight.

Now I have 3.5 gallons of the milk, 10 boxes of the granola bars, enough cereal to last me until Thanksgiving (at least), I have 6 dollars in coupons to use on anything at Safeway, and my out of pocket was about $10.

I love it when a plan comes together. Smile

Nice trip to Walgreens tonight

August 5th, 2010 at 02:55 am

Retire @ 50 had a posting about how using coupons through Wednesday could be very good money makers, so last night I looked up where the coupons were, and went there after work tonight. I used the coupons, and did strategic purchases to minimize the out of pocket costs.

Here is the outcome:
Total spent on credit cards (which give 5% back too!): $11.04

What I got:
2 bottles of men's multivitamins
2 boxes of Special K cereal
Fusion razor
Big bottle contact lens fluid
2 boxes of crayons
Bag of 20 washable markers
Birthday card I needed to buy for co-worker birthday

Other benefits of purchases:
$9 in register rewards are remaining
$3 mail in rebate for the washable markers
$2.40 reimbursement for the birthday card

After rebate/reimbursement, the cost out of pocket will be $5.64.

Even more benefits:
$0.55 in cash back from credit card
$3 is my usual yard sale price for the razor (and they sell well at that price.)
$2.50 is my usual yard sale price for the contact lens solution (again, I have sold out at that price)
Crayons & markers go to cousin for his children (good will never hurts)

So in the end if I get the money back from all my sources, that will pay 100% of the costs of today, and I will have 2 bottles of multivitamins, 2 boxes of cereal, and $9 in register rewards. Too bad these types of deals only come by once in a great while.