Weekly Penny-Squeeze

This week's shopping trip was pretty exciting :) Check it out.

CVS:

I started out with $4.99 in Extra Care Bucks
Daniel said yesterday that he was almost out of Zyrtec (CVS brand). Thanks to having to buy more, I was really able to do some great ECB rollin'.

2 Fluoride Rinse
1 Shampoo
2 Palmolive
1 Intuition Plus Razor
2 Crest
1 pkg. Band Aids
Zyrtec ($18.99 before coupon & ECB that I used on it)

Total OOP: $13.83*
Total Saved: $43.91 or 76% ($57.74 before savings)
Ended up with $7.00 in ECB's in the end :)
*really only $3.83 for everything but the Zyrtec

Kroger:
I had coupons for everything but Lays, Parmesan Cheese & the Sugar Peas.

2 Pringles
1 Lays
3 Kitten Chow
4 Yogurt
ETA: I meant to put this in originally, but the yogurt was a markdown + coupon = almost free!
1 Sour Cream
1 Parmesan Cheese
1 Sugar Peas
4 Deodorant
2 Handsoap

Total OOP: $12.13
Total Saved: $19.94 or 62% ($32.07 before savings)

Whole Trip OOP: $25.96*
Whole Trip Savings: $63.85 or 71%
*only $15.96 will come out of the grocery budget

Lesson Time!

I doubt many single women read my blog, but this could apply to any situation, really, and not just weddings.

I just found out today, Tuesday, that I am NOT supposed to make 100-ish cupcakes and a birthday cake for a girl's wedding on Saturday. Today is Tuesday, wedding is Saturday - that is a whole THREE days from now.

Matilda* called me back around the beginning of March and we talked and she wanted me to make about 100 cupcakes in 3 different flavors (30-some each flavor) for her wedding May 2nd. She also wanted me to make a small birthday cake for her nephew who's birthday is the same day. We figured out what 3 flavors she wanted, how to decorate the birthday cake, all that stuff. I got her phone number, she had mine, and that was all good.

The only other information we needed to exchange was the final count of cupcakes she needed, and I needed to give her a final total for the bill.

I was thinking... ok, final headcount should be in mid-April, she should be calling me soon. I kept this all in the back of my head the whole time we were getting ready to show our house but I really didn't have time to call her. The middle of last week I started calling the number she gave me. I only ever got an answering machine.

The first message was all nice and stuff "Hi, this is Miriam, I'm just calling about the cupcakes for your wedding, to get the final count and to let you know the price, call me back at XXXXXXX, thanks! :) ".

Two days go by and I haven't heard anything. I tried again. This time it was something like "Hi, I'm trying to get in touch with Matilda about the cupcakes for her wedding. I really need to talk to her, if she could please call me back at...."

Still zero in the "hearing from her department". Yesterday I called and really, really stated the importance of getting in touch with Matilda. (You guessed it, the answering machine was one with the prerecorded "We're sorry, but the person you have dialed is unavailable"... so I really didn't even have any clue who's answering machine this number was connected to!)

Today, I called and said "I MUST get in touch with Matilda as soon as possible....". Then I started trying other avenues. I called the place I used to work a long time ago, I thought this girl was the niece of a lady that used to work there. I got the lady's number and called her - she doesn't have a niece named Matilda and doesn't know anyone named Matilda. Great. Now what. I'm sitting her racking my brain, trying to decide what to do.

Do I make the 100 cupcakes and show up with them and charge double? Do I not make cupcakes and her wind up not having any cake for the guests? Do I not make the cupcakes and still charge double?

Then I remembered that Matilda had mentioned knowing Daniel's aunt in some round about fashion. So I call her and get her answering machine. I left probably the weirdest sounding message ever, out of desperation trying to get a phone number for someone I wasn't even sure she knew!

Then I called my Mother-in-law to see if she had another # for Daniel's aunt. She didn't, but she did give me the number for the man that owns the farm where the wedding is being held. I called there and left another crazy-sounding-person message.

Then Daniel's aunt called me back. She had no idea who Matilda might be and didn't even know anyone by that name. But she knew the niece of the man who owns the farm that had the rat that ate the cheese that was in the house that Jack built. (sorry, I had to find humor in here somewhere! :P ), so she was going to call her and see if she knew anything. Auntie called me back with the phone number of the lady catering all the other food.

FINALLY! I might be getting somewhere! I called the lady up and told her who I was and that I was trying to get in touch with Matilda about making the cupcakes. I promise you, I heard her jaw hit the floor, the blood rush to her face and her temperature rise! As it turns out, Matilda has been driving everyone crazy with lack of responsibility. Matilda's husband-to-be works for a local bakery that is supplying all the cake stuff for free. The caterer said she asked Matilda TWICE if she'd called to let me know that I didn't need to make anything, and Matilda assured her that she'd called and left a message for me.

I never got any message. Matilda never called to make sure I got the message. I never had any clue, idea, one iota of any hint, that Matilda cancelled the order. I assured the caterer that I hadn't bought anything (thus my frantic-ness trying to get ahold of Matilda so I could know how much stuff to buy!) and that I hadn't made anything, and that it was not a problem, but yes it would have been nice to know sooner. (The poor caterer was embarrassed out of her skin to have to tell me, frustrated at the bride for not having told me, and so on.)

So, lesson to anyone out there that orders anything:
-Leave correct phone numberS for where you can be reached. I don't know who's number I had, but it obviously wasn't one where Matilda was! (I'd called her other times at that number, so I don't know what the deal was.) Either that or she ignored my messages.
- If you call and leave a message cancelling your order, call back again until you speak with a live person to verify that your message was received.

Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm gonna do Thursday and Friday now that I won't be elbow deep in cupcakes and icing :) Yippeee!! Maybe I'll go hire on with The Wedding Crashers.

*name changed to prevent her from further embarrassment.

And PS: I have seen the cakes that the "local bakery" does - they look like something a 5 year old decorated, and I'm sure they taste even worse. Her guests would be happier eating mine, I know. And I'm not joking or puffing up the quality of my work. I'm being totally serious.

Waffeling

So the thing in my mind all day today has been "why not stay here instead of moving?"

When I think about where we would most likely be moving: to the city
When I think about how much I like my kitchen here: the kitchen in a "new" house will probably not be as big or user friendly
When I think about the 2.5 acres here: we probably wouldn't get much more than an acre, if that much
When I think about the garden space I have here: new place probably wouldn't have one
Hanging the laundry outside: possibly HOA rules that wouldn't allow it

.... and all those kind of things. While I really don't want to live the next 5 years with all my stuff packed away in boxes just so this house feels bigger, I'm tempted to ask Daniel if we can really and truly check into how much it would take to add on to this house and what our options are for adding on. Daniel knows he doesn't want to add on to the bedroom end because it would most likely end up killing "the mighty oak" that he likes so much. That leaves the living room/dining room end of the house, but we can't figure out a floor plan that would give us another bedroom without it being funky. Then we think about doing a 2 story addition, making bigger living/dining rooms downstairs and a master suite upstairs.... and that's where the money ends: on the first floor. We wouldn't have enough to finish both floors.

We have free trusses and sheathing from the garage that he took down a couple summers ago that would double the footprint of this house if we used them for an addition. I suggested that we could leave the 2nd floor unfinished and finish it as we'd have the money, but he said the county wouldn't like that.

Then I think about the whole debt free horse I've been riding the past several months and wonder if I should still be riding it and just close my eyes and deal with a possibly not-exactly-where/something-I-like house for a little while and have less debt, or should we refinance, add on here, have the same amount of debt and at least like the house and have 2.5 acres to run and "be free" on? If we would add on another bedroom at least, we could easily stay here for awhile, really whittle down the mortgage and hopefully the market would be booming business whenever we'd decide to sell.

*sigh* I was also really missing my garden today. It's the time of year when I should be able to go look at the garden and see how my seeds are popping out of the ground, planting new things, watering my tomato plants, putting the pea fences up... and instead I see a garden that nothing has been done to it yet this year.

If we would move, how many years would it be until I could look out my kitchen sink window and not be staring into the neighbors window again? Right now I look out over our back yard and see nothing but the yard, trees and the dog. No neighbors. Right now I would feel very comfortable letting our kids run loose in the yard by themselves (uh, whenever we have kids and they would be old enough to play by themselves of course)... I don't know if I would feel that way in a subdivision somewhere. At least the kind that our budget allows. I don't know. Maybe I just have a weird "neighbor-phobia" and that's why I don't like neighbors and would question any that lived any closer than what we have now.

So yeah, that's what I've been thinking about today. I haven't figured out if it's me thinking or God talking.

On another topic, I got everything done on my list today :) I even made 2 loaves of bread and washed the kitchen and back door windows! I didn't do the whole wipe out the cracks and crannies and space between the window and screen thing... those places are pretty dirty, but until the pollen stops raining, it would just be filthy again tomorrow. I'll get around to that part later. For now, I'm happy with my crystal clear windows :)

Deals for the Week 4/26

Kroger

Here are the decent - great deals I see in the Kroger sale-paper for this week. I don't post all of the sales/coupon matches since I don't consider everything to be a "deal". Sale prices may vary by region. I base my prices off of the Central Va. sales fliers. Our Kroger doubles coupons up to and including $.50, but it does vary by region. Contact your local store to learn their coupon policies.

Chuck Roast - $1.99/lb

Moist & Tender Half Boneless Pork Loin - $1.99/lb

1/2 Gal. Kroger Milk - $1.25

Lay's Potato Chips - $1.99
$1/2 Lay's Kettle Cooked = $1.49 ea. Final Price

General Mills Cereal, Select Varieties - $2.00
$1/3 coupon = $1.67 ea. Final Price
$.50 Honey Kix (expires Saturday) = $1.00 Final Price
$.75 Banana Nut Cheerios - $1.24 Fina Price

Ortega Products - 33% off
$.75/2 coupon - Final Price varies

Red Ripe Slicing Tomatoes - $.98/lb

Sweet Corn - $.29

Cantaloupe - $1.50

Jumbo Cameo & Red Delicious Apples - $1.00/lb

Fresh, Sweet Mangoes - $.50

Organic Red Delicious Apples - $1.00/lb

Betty Crocker Muffins or Brownies - $2.00
$.40 coupon (muffins) = $1.20 Final Price

Chef Boyardee - $1.00
$1/5 (expires Thursday) = $.80/ea Final Price

Colgate Toothpaste - $1.50
$.75 coupon - $.75 Final Price
$1 (Max Fresh or Max White) coupon = $.50 Final Price
$1 coupon = $.50 Final Price

Colgate Wave or Total Toothbrush - $1.50
$1 coupon = $.50 Final Price

If you see anything that I missed or find a great deal, leave a comment :)