Frugal Friday....the August 12th Edition

                 I stole this from Lisa R. on Facebook.  So true! lololz

**Last week's anonymous creeper can come visit me turned out to be Anne in the Kitchen, who is by no means a creeper.  Well at least not to ME. 8-)))

Here's what went on this past week at Chez Sluggy........

*  Last week's antique sewing machine person cancelled at the last minute on Sunday so I took the posting down(why would I want to deal with strangers at this point?)and decided to give said item to Salvation Army.  BUT one of my Rite-Aid buddies has a daughter in-law who wants it so they came yesterday and picked it up.  They also took the almost new deck swing and the collectible Noah's Ark cookie jar.  Still need to donate a chair and 2 area rugs to Sallie's at least.

*  4 more bags of food/toiletries for the Food Bank went out this morning.

*  Another load went to Salvation Army Thursday.

*  The power washer was rented and we got the house scrubbed clean.....

*  I've been using frozen foods for meals and trying my best to eat down the freezer.  The dogs are eating as well as we are because of it. lolz

*  Signed with a realtor on Thursday.  So many papers to sign.....

*  I spent a whopping $3.19 on food this past week so far(needed to make pickles).

*  Trying to use up all my R-A bonus cash.  Most of what I've gotten there lately has gone to the food bank but I'll spend the rest down by buying some needs.

*  I forgot a coupon last Friday so I took it in this week and did a "post coupon".

*  Took a bunch of toiletries to R-A to give to my buddies who work there.  Along with a bunch of tomatoes.  My garden is finally recovered from the BER disease stuff.

*  I found money this past week!  

                

Tuesday I found this quarter at Rite-Aid under the candy rack.

Then I went to pay the home insurance and spied this penny in the parking lot.

Then I went back to R-A that evening and found another penny behind the drink cooler by the front door.

Another very blurry penny also found at R-A on Wednesday where else? under the candy rack again.

Total Found in last Week.... .28¢
Total Found This Year.....$14.24

*  Still making a daily to-do list to keep me on track and to make sure I get sh*t done.  Some days it goes well, other days not so much.  But it's helping.  There has been lots of packing and decision making on what goes with us, what goes to Sallie's or friends/family and what gets pitched out.

I'll be focusing on the toiletries/guest room today.  All my shoes are packed and I'll pack the clothing I won't be needed anytime soon later today.

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

And have a good weekend!  And stay cool.

Sluggy  

Getting Rid of Stuff.......One Way or Another....It's Still DeCluttering P*rn!

Since the Great Toy Sale of 2011 didn't happen, I have had to come up with other ways to try to A-get rid of things while B-getting back of few of our hard earned dollars as well.

So I listed about 40 items on the local Yahoo Tag Sale site and threw photos of it all in the online photo album for the site last Friday.  I sold 11 dolls of the 12 I had listed before Saturday was over!  Of course, 1 person crapped out and didn't take 2 of the dolls she asked for and then I held for her for 3 days. Grrrrr
None of the toys or collectibles I listed sold, just the dolls. Weird....
I made $89 on the ones I sold and I'll relist the 2 that person didn't take.  I'll list some more items this weekend and see what else I can sell....or maybe I'll wait until Halloween is over and people might be more in the mood for spending on Christmas presents.

A lot of this stuff  from the Toy Sale will end up going to Salvation Army as well as the local Yahoo Group Christmas List for helping the needy.

Another group I give to is a local volunteer fire department.  They hold a fundraiser each fall, usually Oct. or Nov.  It's what they call a Chinese Auction around here.  You may know it as a Penny Auction, or a Tricky Tray or a Silent Auction or some other name.
Basically, you buy sheets of tickets at the door, as many or as few as you want.  There is a master stub and about 25 other smaller tickets on each sheet.  All tickets have the same number.  You keep the master stub and you deposit your smaller tickets into buckets that sit next to prizes in the hall....one bucket per prize.  You can put 1 or you can put 1000 tickets in the bucket of something you want to win...or you can skip buckets and put nothing in, it's all up to you.
After a couple of hours of ticket dropping, they call time and you sit down.  The folks running the auction then pull a ticket from each bucket and if it has your number on it, you win the prize.

I must say these are very enjoyable events and I go to them whenever I get the chance.  It doesn't have to cost you much money and besides the social aspect of the event there is the thrill of maybe winning stuff so it satisfies the gambling addiction in me....such that it is.lol

Mostly the folks running one of these will solicit local businesses for prizes.  The organizations members also will donate items to make it more successful.
And then there are crazy people, like me, who donate brand new stuff from my hoard of crap.lol

About a week ago a local volunteer fire dept. that I have donated TONS of items to for their auction contacted me.  I have been a very generous donator of crap there for the last 6 or so years so they plan on me giving them stuff at this point.
Since we were out of town for a few days I didn't have a chance to call her back yet.
Well she called again while I was out at the grocery store yesterday.  The event is a week from tomorrow so the fire dept. ladies are getting antsy.  Hubs, who took the call, said that the fire dept. lady(who is in charge)is tired of hearing the other ladies nag at her about getting stuff from me.  She feels like she's stalking me.lol

So I went out in the garage this morning and here is what I've got together to donate to their Fundraiser....

3 ceramic Cookie Jars (Ronald McDonald, Boyds Bears Xmas, Nightmare Before Xmas)
2 sets of ceramic Salt & Pepper Shakers (Wedding Set, Xmas set that matches cookie jar)

Dept. 56 Old Globe Theater ceramic set
Maxine Snow Globe

1 Original Furby
1 Curious George Bank/Gumball Machine
1 Spider-man Clock

 3 Boyd's Bears Critters

1 Cat in the Hat Clock
3 assorted Boyds Bears Resin Figures (Ike & Libby, Edward the Elf, Jeremy as Noah)

That's $365.00 worth of good, new in the box, decluttering crap leaving the house on Monday, making 2 nice big fat donations to charity for October.

Yay me!! ;-)

Sluggy

More September Decluttering P*rn......Ooooh Baby!

For your decluttering viewing pleasure, here's another installment of Salvation Army worthy P*rn.

Most of today's haul is courtesy of #2 son from The Great Dig Out of 2011.  Along with all the trash we pitched, we also salvaged stuff worthy of a Sallie's donation.  A few things are courtesy of Hubs as he spent part of Sunday cleaning off his dresser. (Bonus points if you can spot which items were part of his donation to the effort.)  The rest is from my boxes of merchandise I have begun to go through from storage.

  September Donation #2

15 young adult books
2 Cube World cubes
2 Gamecube Game Books
1 Get Smart beanbag doll
1 hand massager
1 collectible tin box
1 Crayola Xmas ornament
1 quartz hand carved turtle
1 set of Speed Stacking cups
1 pair of safety goggles

1 pair of Designer Sneakers(hardly worn)
1 Power Rangers Lunchbox
1 LL Bean Lunchbox
1 over the door bathroom rack
1 roll of wallpaper border
1 package of stationary

1 GI Joe Footlocker
1 Star Wars Figure Maker toy
1 Sylvester the Cat Pen
3 Star Wars Pez Dispensers
1 Matchbox helicopter
1 Cat in the Hat Watch
1 Pokemon cards Booklet and collection of cards
1 collectible Mets die-cast car
2 Legos Bionicle comic books
1 Star Wars boxes and figures Set

More Decluttering coming soon to a blog near you!

Sluggy

Decluttering P*rn....The June Edition

Who's up for some P*rn this morning?

The Decluttering kind of course!

Various Beanie type dolls
1 Pee Wee's Playhouse VHS tape
2 Books on Healing Foods
7 Bath Poofs
a buttload of Stickers
1 Refrigerator Magnet
1 Fisher-Price toy(vintage)
2 Silver plated Swan Candle and Flower Holders

Here's a close-up of those.  I picked them up at Sallie's years ago and thought when we entertained I could make use of them.....

Well we never entertain so out they go!

1 willow basket
1 bamboo box
3 women's jackets/coats
1 set of men's thermals

A pile of toys......

93 assorted Kid's Meal toys still in the packages.  It may not look like much in the photo but they fill a Hammermill  paper box.
Now I know you are sitting there thinking, "Gee, she is the meanest mommy in the world, not letting her kids open/play with their Happy Meal toys."
Or
"Gee, she let her kids eat waaaay too much fast food!"

Considering this is a pile of Kid Meal toys from 3 kids and it spans all the fast food they ate over a 15 year period, they really didn't eat chicken-like nugget food that often.
Ok, it's not ALL the kid meal toys they got growing up since they did open and play with more of these things than I would care to recall....especially after stepping on way too many of them as I ran the obstacle course of toys left on the floors of their rooms over the years.

And yes, I did withhold the toys as a rule when they ordered a Happy type Meal.  Since I didn't want them having me buy food they didn't really want to eat, just to get a toy, this policy kept them from asking for food when they weren't really hungry.  We weren't throwing out/wasting food or money.
(Let's not talk about all the kids' meals "I" bought to get teenie beanie babies or pokemon toys.....lol)

I'd keep the toys and we'd dole them out at a later date.....say, when they were bored, on long car trips, as prizes for birthday party games, or when they did something to deserve a 'reward'.  So over the years, a large number of these toys didn't get claimed.

Anyway, moving on.....

2 women's bathing suits
1 sweatshirt(new)
1 pair Joe Boxer shorts
7 skateboarding themed t-shirts

And finally.....

6 pieces of Cape Cod Cranberry Glass
Before these hit Salvation Army I'm going to try to sell them locally.
Either way, they will be gone by the end of this month.


So that's my 1st June decluttering booty.
Are you getting rid of junk this month too?
Tell us about your efforts to pare down and declutter!

Sluggy

May Decluttering P*rn....Part 3

Here is my latest decluttering/donation efforts this month.....

A set of plastic Cowboys and Indians that belonged to #1 son when he was 4 or 5.  While I might be tempted to hang onto them forever, #1 son doesn't have nearly as many sentimental bones in his body.

The 3 boxes(is that one of my plastic rubbermaid bins I see!?!)are filled with clothing from #1 son as well.  I guess most of this decluttering edition belongs to #1 son.  I asked him to go through his old stuff in the spare room and he done good. 8-)

Assorted cookie cutters and teenie beanie babies.  Also a tiny dog bandana for some poor nekkid tiny dog out there.

Some more piles of Daughter's outgrown clothing and 1 shirt from #2 son.
8 Christmas ornaments....5 Hallmark ones and 3 other ones.....all new in the boxes and unused.

17 yards of cotton fabric with assorted fishing and hiking themes.  Would be great to make a quilt for someone who is outdoorsy....that person does NOT live here.
My brain was not switched on the day I bought all this.  ;-)

More clutter to come later this weekend when I get back online.
Let's see if I can come up with FOUR full donations before May is over!

Sluggy

Here's the April Salvation Army Donation....Better Late Than Never!

So we finally got the April donation together.
Since he's been out of town, Hubs will be dropping it off later today at Sallie's.
Yes, it's May now, but I'm counting this all as April's booty.
Most of this is stuff I bought(for very cheap)to sell on eBay but because of one reason or another, it never left my house(or more accurately, my storage unit).
I haven't found the time to arrange it all nicely for a photo shoot so it's just random shots of boxes of crap basically.
Enjoy!lol

 That Hallmark collectible(the big blue box)never sold.  The fabric pieces are going too.  The white one has huge bright colored circus animals on it...the fabric is nylon, like underslip or nightgown nylon.  There are 5 yards of it.
Whatever was I thinking when I bought that?

 The candle shaped Christmas lights are from when Hubs and I first set up housekeeping.  They never stayed upright on the Christmas tree....plus they are ugly.lol
There's some more nylon fabric...who buys this stuff besides me?
The trout shower curtain hooks were another momentary lapse in judegement....who does there bathroom in a trout theme?  Well, this IS Pennsyltucky.....
Lastly in that shot are some old unused school folders.  Pokemon or Beetleborgs anyone?lol

 In this shot, among the free toiletries they are sitting on, are some kid's books I won at a Chinese Auction years ago.  Mary Kate and Ashley books.  No wonder no one here ever read them.....
Also a couple of other picture type books and a set of Pokemon cards still in sheets from Burger King.

 Here is some really random stuff.....a Disney beanie, a Batman birthday candle, a Batman Spin Pop thingy, some assorted Happy Meal toys still in the packages and an Aaron Carter book underneath it all.
My daughter was obsessed with Aaron Carter when she was a preteen.  At 18, her taste in men has improved.....I think.

 Here is a shot of 4 vinatge board games I bought at a country auction over 10 years ago.  See what I mean about how I am good at acquiring but not so fast about getting rid of(one way or another)?
1 of these games is older than me!  Like me though, nobody wants this vintage stuff.

 A cat in the hat plush doll still in it's box.  It's suppose to talk when you pull the string...not so much.
3 bobblehead dolls of Kim Possible characters.  It was a Disney cartoon show.  I don't even remember it...I guess my kids didn't watch/like it.  Yes, even they have standards. ;-)  The one good thing about this show is alot of kids finally learned what a Naked Mole Rat is.
There is also a Hot Wheels calendar from 2003....wtf?
A Jimmy Neutron action figure....again with the Disney junk.  And a Star Wars Micro Machines toy I can't give away.....go figure.....

 Sharoooooooon!
#2 son is "into" Ozzy now.  He calls his bass Sharon.lol  He would kill me if he knew I was sending 3 Ozzy Dolls off to Sallies.  Please don't rat me out.

 4 sets of Nesting Dolls.....3 The Muppets themed ones and a set of Cheech & Chong dolls.  Too bad I knew hooked up with a pothead on eBay.....
There are also 2 Johnny Lightning brand cars in this box.  2 cars decorated with an "eBay" theme.  For awhile eBay wouldn't allow you to sell these on eBay.  eBay is schizophrenic like that sometimes.

But here is the best photo......

A collection of 8 Track tapes.
No, these are not mine.
Daughter's old boss from a couple of jobs ago gave them to her.
He was obviously decluttering HIS garage.
So Daughter brought them home to clutter OUR garage.
Some are broken(but could be fixed if you know what you are doing), some are missing labels.
They have sat in the garage for over a year now.
I question my daughter's judgement sometimes.....she brought these home and she doesn't have an 8-track player.
She's had a full year to find one and hasn't found the time or 'umph' to do so....so out these babies go.

I am slowly reclaiming my garage.
How about you?

Sluggy

2010 Donations....And Looking Ahead to 2011

Last year, thanks partly to coupon usage, rebating and stockpiling items when at rock bottom prices, I was able to feed my family of 4-5 on a total of  $2,291.67 for a retail value of $18,932.69 worth of groceries/toiletries.

Ok....so my 'actual' costs are really higher than $2,291.67 when you add in the gas for the car to go buy the food, the cost of Sunday newspapers or eBay purchases to get coupons, the cost of printer ink and paper to make my own internet coupons, etc.  But let's use that number for arguments sake. ;-)

And not only did we feed our family on this amount, we donated over $700 worth of food to our local food bank.  That's 366 items over the course of a year.  It worked out to just about 1 item per day for a whole year.
I kept track of it all on the blog.

Here are the photos--

April's haul....

May's lot...

July's contribution....

 December's donation....

December's load was mostly toiletries but I had some other food that I didn't get a picture of....I was sort of rushed to get it all up to the food bank before the month ended, so no pictures of nice neatly laid out stuff this trip. 8-)

Add in the cash donation we made as part of participating in the June Food Stamp Challenge over at the Non-Consumer Advocate Blog as well as the food I gave to family members which we estimated to be in the $500 regular retail ballpark and we were able to make our $2,291.67 out of pocket expenditure stretch quite far!

I'll be taking up another load of food and toiletries on Friday to our local food bank.  I'm hoping that this will be just the first of many trips my strategic way of shopping will allow me to share with my local community in 2011.

So what is the point of this post?
It's not to show-off what we did last year to give back....though y'all know I am not above showing-off sometimes. ;-)
It's to show that everyone is capable of finding ways to help in their own community.  And that ALL donations are appreciated....from the largest to the smallest.
And to bring awareness that many Food Banks struggle with lack of donations, especially in-between the Holidays.  People get all compassionate and giving around the Holidays but the donations tend to dry up at other times of the year.

I often get items for free at Rite-Aid.  Ok, so I don't necessarily NEED that item for my family.
But I get it anyway because I know there is someone in my community who doesn't know to or care about taking the time to get it for free even though they really could use it.
So I get it and donate it at the food bank.
Someone who needs it and can't afford to pay for it gets the item and I get Karma points, Brownie points, Credit with the Man Upstairs, a good feeling in the pitt of my stomach, et cetera knowing I did something to help someone else.

If your soul is feeling out of whack, try a little giving and see how much better you feel!
It's better than Crack!!....or so I've heard.....


I'd like to Challenge all of you dear readers to make 2011  the Year you GIVE!

*If the Boy Scouts or some other Service Organization comes around door-to-door asking for food, open your pantry & give if you have something to spare. 
*If the local drug store chain has some freebie available, go get it and start a donation pile for your local homeless group, domestic abuse shelter, church food pantry.
*If you have a few extra coupons, clip them and pair with some sales at your grocery store to get a few extra items of food for a neighbor who is struggling to feed their family due to an unexpected job loss.
*If you don't have a pet but get great pet food coupons in your paper, pair those with a sale/deal at your local store to get items to donate to your local animal shelter....or pass along those coupons to the shelter if they can use them.

So let's hear some ways you plan to give back to your community in 2011.

Sluggy

Shopping & Decluttering & Donating....Oh My!

We had a busy Tuesday here.
First off I had to go have blood drawn.  The nurse couldn't find my vein so I got stuck in both arms...ugh.

Then I finally hauled this off to the local Food Bank....

7 x Feminine Pads
4 x Kids Soap
14 x Cat Treats *Not pictured
1 x Cat Litter *Not pictured
12 x Hot Sauce
2 x Pasta Noodles
2 x Pasta Sauce
4 x Peanut Butter
10 x Canned Peas
2 x Canned Pasta
3 x Barbecue Sauce *Not pictured

Donation Total....61 Items
Plus I gave them a check for $100 per my JUNE FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE pledge.

Yearly Food Bank Donation Total....227 + $100
April....78
May....88
July....61

I didn't get a chance to lay it all out nice on the table this time before it went into the car but here is what Hubs hauled up to Salvation Army....

And more on the backseat....

ALL NEW ITEMS
9 Cube World Toys
3 packs Halloween Make-up
2 Lamps
1 Set of 4 Glass Goblets
2 Boyds Glass Xmas Ornaments
2 Boxes of Beanie Baby Cards
1 Book on Tape/Audio Book
2 Matted Art Prints
1 Homer Simpson Talking Cookie Jar
1 Small Soldiers Animated Bank

USED ITEMS
5 Halloween Costumes
Metal Folding Plant Shelf
Gettysburg Army Men Set
Baseball Glove
Dog Dish
10 Theater Books
Fisher Price Pirate Ship and Accessories
8 Stuffed Animals
10 Mark Twain Books

Total Items for this Donation....62

April Total....96
May Total....72
June Total....45
July Total....107
Yearly Total to Date....320 Items.


Yearly Total for all Donations(Salvation Army & Food Bank) so far.....547 items + $100


#2 son had a sleepover last night so I had to hit the grocery store for 'necessities' like chips, pepperoni for the pizzas I made them, milk, popcorn, to the tune of $12.20.  Add in the bag of healthy chips I wanted to try(I did have a coupon) and the bag of dog food for $1.99(again, with a coupon.lol)and the bill came to $16.42.

And a trip to Rite-Aid, probably the only one for this week's sales since we have packing and stuff to do before we leave for vacation.

2 x StayFree Pads on sale $3.00=$6.00
2 x Nivea Men's Body Wash on sale $1.99=$3.98
1 x Olay Total Effects Body Wash w/20% discount=$3.99
1 x Ivory Soap 4 pack w/20% discount=$2.63
1 x Colgate Total Toothpaste on sale $3 but 20% discount greater=$2.95
1 x Reach Dental Floss on sale=$.99
1 x Reach Toothbrush on sale $3.99 but 20% discount greater=$3.59
SubTotal....$24.13

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks(my only one! sniff)=$5.00
1 x BOGO StayFree ManuQ=$3.00
1 x $1/1 StayFree ManuQ(from some magazine I had)=$1.00
1 x $4/2 Nivea Body Wash IPQ=$4.00*
I x $4/1 Olay Total Effects ManuQ=$4.00
1 x Buy One OlayTF/Get One Ivory Product free ManuQ=$3.00**
1 x $1/1 Colgate Toothpaste ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Reach Floss or Toothbrush IPQ=$1.00*
1 x $1/1 Reach Toothbrush ManuQ=$1.00
Coupon Total....$23.00

$24.13-$23.00=$1.13 OOP put on free Rite-Aid Gift Card so ZERO out of pocket

I qualified for SCR#80 $2.99(Reach Toothbrush)=$2.99
The Reach Toothbrush, Colgate Paste and Reach Floss also qualify toward SCR #556, so I have $7.53 toward the $15 needed to earn a $5 Rite-Aid Gift Card.

I also earned +UPs in the amount of $8 for this transaction....2 x $1(Nivea), $1(Reach Tbrush), $3(Colgate), $2(J&J-StayFree).
Yes, each Nivea Body Wash triggered a separate +UP in the same transaction.

*Both the Nivea and the Reach IPQs beeped as the amount of the item was 1 cent below the coupon value. The cashier had to manually imput them into the register.
**The cashier insisted on marking the Ivory Soap Q for $3.00, even though I told her twice the soap only rang up $2.63 because of my Wellness discount.  Well you can't say I didn't try....lol

So $1.13 on gift card/oop and getting back $2.99 in rebates and $8 more in +UPs to spend.
It's a fine way to start the new SCR period for August.

MONTHLY TOTALS-AUGUST Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......1
Total Spent....$1.13--all put on free Gift Cards/Certificates 
Value of Items purchased....$37.21
SCR qualified for....$2.99 in cash and $0 in Gift Cards
Other Cash....$0
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0
+Up Rewards earned=$8.00

Total 'Spent'...$1.13(on gift cards)
Total Cash I'm getting Back=$2.99
Total Gift Cards I'm getting=$0
+Up Rewards left to spend=$24.00(including the $9 that didn't print last week)

Today, Wednesday, is more packing, cleaning the car EGADS!, gardening and making lists for the trip, for the kids chores and last minute checklists, cooking, cleaning, laundry and then a dip in the pool & probably a nap since nobody got much sleep here last night...hmmm, I wonder if 3 teenage boys tromping around until 3am had anything to do with that.....ya think??lol

So what do you have up on deck today?

Sluggy