Stuff Shopping Frenzy, Meal Plan Tuesday & ArmaCUKEgedon!

If you recall, here is what I planned on the fly to eat last week....

SUNDAY--Ravioli, Garden Salad
MONDAY--leftover Pork Loin slices, Fried Yellow Squash, Mashed Potatoes
*Then things got rejiggered with the additional of the Nephew at meals.*
TUESAY--Rueben Sandwiches
WEDNESDAY--Chicken Fajitas
THURSDAY--Chicken Cheese Broccoli Rice Casserole
FRIDAY--Boston Baked Beans, Cornbread, Pickles
SATURDAY--Leftovers


This plan happened until Friday.
I didn't get the beans soaking in time so I substituted some good old "Breakfast for Dinner".....Buckwheat Pancakes and Bacon.  No one was interested in a fruit side dish, so I saved it for Saturday.

The Nephew got packed up and returned on Saturday.  Not before a big long talk about Senior year and what he needs to do to get on the ball about college.  Hopefully he'll get his head out of Jersey Shore and his social life drama.

Since then we've been spending actual money all willy-nilly around here!  This is so strange since we never spend money on stuff anymore, just food and experiences.

My knees has been acting up so Hubs went out Sat. without me and bought socks and shoes for work.
Yes, I let him pick them out alone. 
I was cautiously optimistic we wouldn't A-overspend and B-he'd come home with lime green Converse sneakers and rainbow striped toe shoes.  This would be a bad thing since he is NOT a professional Rodeo Clown....

He done good and toted home a pair of black loafers, 4 pairs of black sox and 4 pairs of muted dark
heather-toned sox in earth shades.
And he only spent $50.99 and he got $10 in Kohl's cash that I can use to get Daughter or #2 Son something this weekend for school duds.

Then Monday was the convergence of 3 deals aligning for me that made me part with some moola.
My favorite bras at Just My Size go on sale 2 x a year for half-price
On Monday they offered a one day deal to take an additional 25% off your total order, even sale items.
And if you spent $70 the shipping was free.

I hadn't bought myself a bra in over a year.
Hubs needed new boxers and undershirts.
I got to $70 easily even with all my purchases being on sale(the Hubs stuff was BOGO50% too + 25% off of that price).
Jackpot!
Hubs and I will be good for unmentionables for another year or so.

Then I had to order #1 Son's books for his upcoming semester.
The college bookstore changed the website/process a bit from last winter so I only ordered the books they had in stock that were used.  If we can't get them used, I'll just let #1 Son pick them up new in person at the bookstore once he gets back to college.
I was only able to order half of his books used.  Getting used textbooks, it came to $271.25.  But we still run the risk of the bookstore sending us new books because of the stupid way they set up the ordering process online....so we could be on the hook for $397.45 + shipping instead!  Even though I stated I ONLY want USED books.
Ugh.

If you end up having to get new on the other 6 books, that's $165 + more(1 book isn't in stock yet and has no price indicated).
If we end up with all new books, it comes to $562.45 + the one book we can't price out yet.
I will refrain from going off on a "textbook rip-off" rant at this time. 8-(

I wish Hubs and #1 Son would let me rent textbooks again but after our CHEGG fiasco 1st semester of his freshman year, renting is NOT an option no matter what I say.
His school's bookstore is looking into offering book rentals through them either next semester or next fall.  I might have a chance convincing them to do that deal. ;-)

I am just beginning to check on options for Daughter.  I was hoping her school would go digital books before the upcoming semester so we could entertain the possibility of a Kindle purchase and renting ebooks for it...IF that was the least expensive option.  I don't like the idea of pushing using another electronic device unless it's cost effective.

I also bought some items on Target.com recently and they arrived last week.
They offered Free Shipping on purchases of $50+.
I found a tabletop ironing board(for Daughter's dorm room), 2 purses(for me who hasn't had a new purse in 5 years) and 4 pair of designer rainboots.  Everything was on clearance....the boots were $7.48 a pr!  I'll give Daughter one pair and tuck another back for Xmas.  I can also take any of this and return it to the local Target for a refund.  Since I didn't pay shipping to begin with, that's a great deal.

If the bookstore ships us the used textbooks, I'll be $398.68 poorer after all this shopping.

As for this week's Meal Plan.....

I got the smoker out again on Sunday and smoked up one of those London Broils I got at Weis Markets 2 weeks ago on a BOGO sale.
I served Creamed Spinach with it(and my homemade pickles).
Here's a photo to make you drool....

And here's a close-up.
See that awesome smoke ring?

 Some of us ate it straight and some made sandwiches on Steak Rolls.

Monday's dinner was Chicken Breast Patties pan sauted crispy with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese melted on top....a stove top Chicken Parmesan.
No heating up the house with running the oven.
Hubs and I put it on Kaiser rolls for yummy chicken parm sammiches.

The rest of this week.....in no particular order, depending on what I 'feel' like making each night.
* Leftovers, Pasta Salad
* Quiche Lorraine, Green Salad
* Tuna Noodle Casserole
* Leftovers Again

And on Saturday Hubs is off for a Chess Tournament so I'll get Chinese for lunch for #2 Son and I and we'll just raid the fridge/freezer for something for dinner.

I'll need more milk for #2 Son.  I also need a bit of swiss cheese and maybe I'll buy a cheat crust for the quiche since pie crust is on sale this week.  I need to pick up some fruit and veggies.  I'll hit the local farm tomorrow I think.

And here is what the garden is giving up lately......

Yes, it's ArmaCUKEgedon!!!
After the rain on Saturday, these bad boys went from baby dill sized to GIGANTOR "you could hollow these out and paddle about the lake in them" size!
This is what is left this morning after BIL took one and Hubs took 4 to work.
I am scared to even go look outside.
The cukes will be crawling up on the deck and knocking on the door soon.
Seriously.
I need to find some cheap lamb(cheap-hahaha) and make some Gyros.
*Hey!  Inspiration just hit....I'll get some pitas and make the smoked London Broil leftovers into some ersatz Beef Gyros.
Genius!....well maybe for a lazy woman......

In other garden news--I am not-so-patiently waiting and eying the 4 tomatoes that are turning red.
One is bound to hit "critical mass red" any day now.
I'm off to defrost a lb. of bacon in anticipation.....

What's happening in your garden and in your wallet lately?

Sluggy

Renting College Textbooks....A Great Idea in Theory

In theory I am all for renting college textbooks as opposed to buying them.
This is especially a good idea if the books are for your students classes that they don't think they will need ever again as a reference material in their college career or out in the working world.

College textbooks are insanely expensive today!   I haven't bought a college textbook since 1981, and I about dropped a rectal plate when #1 son handed me the price list of the books he needed last fall for his freshman courses.
So we explored buying used textbooks and even buying them used, can cost a whole lot of money.

And they go out of date so quickly too.  Companies will release new editions of a book after changing small amounts of information in them.  This makes the last edition of the book basically worthless and most college bookstores will NOT even buyback the book.  You are stuck with a heavy, expensive paperweight in these cases.  All those newer editions just so publishing companies can produce/sell more books.  It keeps students from recycling their books and gobbles up natural resources to print more and more books and we are left with a growing problem of what to do with all those old textbooks.

So when I heard about renting college textbooks as opposed to buying them, I was all over that concept!
It's brilliant really.....rent your books for cheap & turn them in to be re-rented by someone else for the next semester.
Lower amount of money out of pocket and no books to have to resell or otherwise dispose of when you are done with them!

So we decided to rent #1 son's college books his first semester in college.
That was a good thing.

We decided to rent them from a company called CHEGG.
That was a very bad thing!

I began dealing with this Nightmare of a Company in August of 2009!
I was so glad when it finally came to a close in March of 2010.
Please, do NOT use them.  Use anybody else, just not this one!

They sent 3 shipments total, because of books that never arrived the 1st time or in some cases even the 2nd time.  We live in eastern PA and had the books delivered to #1 son's dorm in western PA.  I spent hours on the phone trying to trace these book shipments over the course of a month.  1 shipment of books was delivered finally....to an address in eastern NEW JERSEY!  Another shipment of a book was mailed for delivery with NO STREET ADDRESS.....just #1 son's name, the town, state and zip code.

I come to find out later that this company does not always have the books you order so they buy them off of other sellers, like from private sellers on Amazon.com.  So not only are you at the mercy of the company(a middleman really)you are renting the book from, but you are at the mercy of the seller who is supplying the book for Chegg to you.  If that seller Chegg buys your book from is clueless about how to properly ship something(the guy who shipped a book with no street address), YOU bear the brunt of it.

I fought with this company over a book that was ordered 3 times and was NEVER delivered.  They claim it was delivered.  Yes, it arrived at the University(to their mail room were somebody signed for it and then either misdelivered it or never delivered it via the on-campus mail system)but in the end, my son never got the book.  The incompetence of college mail systems is yet another problem and a reason not to have rented books sent directly to your school, especially a large public university.  But I digress....

So I paid over $55 to rent a book that never arrived, plus #1 son had to go out and buy this book for $65+.  Then Chegg expected me to return said book-which #1 son never got-when I returned the rest of the books at the end of the semester.  Since we don't have said book, they said I had to buy the book and tried to charge me for the cost of the book.
I don't think so!
In the end, this company did me the favor of dropping the charges that I owed them for the book that never arrived.
So nice of them, wasn't it?

Perhaps I should have sent them the bill for the blood pressure pills I needed after I started dealing with them....

After this fiasco Hubs is dead set against renting textbooks again...EVER!...from Anyone!  So we are stuck with buying...used at least, whenever possible.
Unless of course the college goes to in-house rentals or eBooks or Kindle books.
I think that would be a good thing.

Do you have a college student?
What are your textbooks costs like?  We got off easy this semester for ONLY $515!
Have you rented textbooks?  Who did you use and what was your experience like?
Leave a comment!

Sluggy