Random Tuesday Thoughts

1. As you may know, my laptop's keyboard has seen better days. It had gotten to such a state that I was missing 3 keys and one wasn't on there right. I really hate laptop keyboards! The keys are extremely difficult to put back on and doing so is an exercise in patience. Friday night I decided to look up what could be done about my poor laptop and after doing some research, I decided to check out Ebay and see if I could find a new one. I found one where I could buy it right then and it was priced really well - $18 including tax and it had free shipping. So, I was sold.

When I got home from my class today, my husband had a surprise for me. He had installed the new keyboard (I was all prepared to spend some time doing this at some point this week). He figured he would surprise me since I was not here when it came. What a sweet husband I have. One less thing I have to do.

2. It is going to be a very busy evening. I got home a little after 3 from my class. Now we are all just getting around because I have an appointment at the library at 5 and at 5:15 baseball practice starts. I am going to be dropping hubby and the kids off a little before 5 and then running over to the library. Thank goodness it ended up being a decent day. In all likelihood we will be grabbing something at a fast food place after practice, as much as I don't want to.

3. My husband got a free week pass for a new local gym that's open twenty four hours a day (you use a card to get in). Well now he really wants a membership. Of course, he is on unemployment, so that isn't going to happen. I told him we could get rid of the extra cable (this would save us $40 a month) and then we could afford a gym membership. He wasn't too keen on that idea because then he would be missing his precious Mets!! lol. I would love to go to the gym too (believe me, I need to lose about 60 pounds) but I think I would rather pay the bills!!

4. I hate IE6 (internet explorer 6)! It doesn't like my signature because it doesn't like pngs. So all you out there need to upgrade to at least 7 or, better yet, use Firefox. just kidding. lol. But 7 does support these other graphic files, so it is better. I will be changing it to a jpg with the pages background behind it so those with IE6 will now be able to see it correctly.

I have a test in my Business Statistics class on Thursday, and this is some hard stuff. Let me tell ya. So, between now and then I will probably not be posting much. So I will wish you all a great Earth Day, one day in advance.

Contest over at Frugal Upstate

I just wanted to let you all know about a contest that Frugal Upstate is having on her blog. You can win a Little Bissell, Green Works products, White Cloud Green Earth products, Tide ColdWater, and a Brita water pitcher. This contest is in celebration of Earth Day. All you have to do is go over to her blog and leave a comment with an idea that is both frugal and good for the environment. Easy right? Go over and visit now, ok?

Beautiful weather and my crappy laptop!

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in upstate NY. 70 degrees, sun was shining. Beautiful!! We had the kids outside most of the afternoon and evening, until we went to the store. We went to to Tops and did REALLY well on sales.

Today is supposed to be just as nice. Dh will be gone for a while - he's at the mall taking the defensive driving course. This will save us some money on insurance. When he gets home we will be walking to Family Dollar to look at cell phone chargers for the car. They have LG ones that I think will fit our Net10 phones for $6. They come with 3 different tips so we will only have to buy one if it works with both phones.

Speaking of spending more money..... grrrrrr... I ordered a new keyboard for my laptop yesterday. My keyboard is just beyond repair. My pgDn button doesn't sit there right. Those little white pieces that go under the buttons are just a big pain in the butt. I'm missing one for down key and the one for my space bar broke. I found a new keyboard on Ebay for around $18 including tax (some other places wanted close to $30) and now I just have to wait to get it. Then the fun part will be trying to put it in, but at least I have a manual for that so I should be able to do it.

I've had this laptop a little over a year and it's a piece of crap. My husband bought a refurbished Gateway and it's awesome (it's what I am using right now because of my keyboard). Maybe it's because of all the stuff I added to mine. I don't know. I've tried to restore it several times and it never works. So, this summer, after my classes are done, my big project will be to get all the pictures on CD and copy everything. Then I will be restoring it back to factory standards. Putting it all back in will be a chore also. Then, hopefully, the laptop will work and run better (the thing is just so slow right now). Maybe then I will be able to put off getting a new laptop for several years!

Couponing 101 Part 2

This is the second part of my article on the basics of couponing. If you would like to read the first part, click here.

I personally save any coupon for a product that I will buy if I can get it dirt cheap or even free. For example, we don't usually use Land O'Lakes butter,but I will put it in my coupon holder just in case. So, this week I do have a coupon for it for $.55 and I found it on sale for $1.69. It can be doubled at this store so I will paying $.59 for a pound a butter. Pretty good price huh? You know those coupons they have near products in the stores (they are called blinkies), grab a couple of them if it is for a product you might possibly use. Usually the product is not on sale anyway, so just put it in your holder.

Most store ads come out on Sunday. What I do to prepare on Saturday night is go through my coupons and throw out expired coupons. Besides getting rid of bad coupons, I am also refreshing my mind on what coupons I have. I also personally have a spreadsheet where I keep track of what coupons I have, when they expired and the quantity. I can easily delete and add more coupons and when I want to find a coupon I just click on control-f. I can also print this off and take it with me when I have a lot of coupons in my holder (which is the current state).

Many store ads are online, but you may have a local store that is not. I find it easier to look at a paper ad anyways, plus I am buying a paper for the coupons so why not make my life easier. The front page of the ad is where you will mostly find the best deals, these are commonly referred to as loss leaders. These are meant to lure you to the store and get you to spend money on other things that aren't on sale. Don't fall for this trick. Only buy things that are on sale!

Look through the ad and write down anything that seems like a good deal. You may want to start keeping a price book or a spreadsheet where you can write down who has the best regular prices on things. Be careful, because sometimes they may say it is on sale, but you're only saving pennies. Make sure you only write down things that you may use or eat. Buying stuff to only throw them away is wasteful and you are throwing your money in the garbage.

After looking through the ad, look through your coupons and see if any of them match the sale price. A $.40 coupon may not seem like a lot but if your store doubles coupons then that is really $.80 off that item, which may end up making it a pretty good price. Check with your store about their coupon policy. After looking through your coupons, go online to A Full Cup or CouponMom and see what printable coupons are out there that match your sale prices. Again, check with your individual store to see if they accept Internet coupons (Some Walmarts do and some don't).

Don't forget to look at ads for CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid if you have any of these near you. Many times you can get products for really cheap or even free. Walgreens has Register Rewards where if you buy a certain product or products you can get money off your next purchase at Walgreens. CVS also has a similar program, although I do not know the name of it since there is none around here. Rite Aid has rebates where you can get a certain amount back or you can even get it for free. Walgreens has rebates also, but they are ending and this will be the last month.

Put all your coupons that you plan to use in one spot. I usually paperclip mine together by store and place in the front pouch of my coupon holder. An envelope labeled with the store would also work really well. As you're walking through the store, don't forget to look at clearance items and other unadvertised sales while you are picking up the things on your list. You can really save some money if you can combine these with a coupon. This is really why I cut out any coupons I could possibly use. If I find something on clearance and have a coupon in my holder, I can usually get somethings for cheap. Plus you really never know what you will find on clearance where.

What I usually do as I am putting my items on the conveyor belt is keep a running total in my head. So then I know about how much my total is going to be. I can't always do this, because of the kids or whatever else, but I like to when I can. Make sure you give the cashier your store bonus card if there is one for that store before ringing up. Try to watch the prices as they are ringing up. It's a lot easier for the cashier to fix them at that point, then for you to have to wait at customer service for them to do it. After everything has been rung in correctly, hand the cashier your coupons and watch your total go down.

You may not pay $5 for $100 worth of products, but you will save. The more you use coupons and sales, the better you will get at it. Usually at grocery stores I can save about 50%. At drugstores, it is usually 60%-80%! Your savings will also depend on how good the sales are and what coupons are out at that time. Sometimes, you are just not going to find that good of deals and other times there will be tons. Make couponing and saving money a challenge and it will make it more fun. Shop several different stores as long as you are not going out of your way.

Happy couponing!

Please leave me any questions or comments.

Banana Bread

We have 2 overly ripe bananas. What do you do with brown bananas? Yep, it is time for some more banana bread!! YUMMY!! Making banana bread is pretty easy and very frugal. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare the batter and throw it in the oven. Then it's all about just waiting for it to bake. You can find a delicious banana bread recipe over at allrecipes.com if you don't already have one.

I am off to bake.

Don't Forget - coupon giveaway

I just wanted to remind everyone to come over to my frugal site - www.couponqueenofcorning.com - and help me celebrate getting my own domain. I am giving away over $100 in coupons, so come on over and visit.

Cake in a Mug

I posted this on my Coupon Queen of Corning blog, but I also wanted to share with my readers here, because it is so awesome.

Have you ever bought those single serve microwaveable treats? I believe they are from Betty Crocker. Anyway, I thought I would share with you a recipe I got from my husband's grandmother. It makes one serving, so no risk of overeating, and it's very frugal!

1 coffee mug
4 tbl. flour|
2 tbl. sugar
2 tbl. baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tbl. milk
3 tbl. oil
3 tbl. chocolate chips (optional)
small splash of vanilla extract

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, if using, and vanilla and mix well again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 min. at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip onto a plate if desired.

This is called the most dangerous cake recipe in the world because we are only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!