Things Can Change At A Moment's Notice

Forget the post I planned for today.
I'm too shook up to write it.

Hey SonyaAnn!
I see your van's bumper and can raise you a totaled car......

Unfortunately my phone doesn't download photos to the internet so I'll show you a picture of a different wrecked Toyota.  Ours looks even worse at the moment.....

Some teenager plowed right into my daughter and me through a red light at the intersection in town.
She didn't even slow down....well, until she hit us doing 40 mph, then she had no choice.
We are ok, just a bit banged up, bruised and emotionally shook up.
The teenager is fine too.

Our car is totaled according to the towing guy.
This was the car #1 son was suppose to drive to his summer job next Friday.

It helped that we got hit within spitting distance of our car insurance agent's office.
It helped that a rescue squad guy was in the car behind us and immediately pulled his car into the intersection, put his flashing bar of lights on the roof on, donned his emergency reflective vest and started directing traffic....and that he witnessed the whole thing.

It's a good thing we were wearing seat belts too.

While I am thankful that we didn't become roadkill today, this does put a crimp into our lives.

Please drive safely!

Sluggy

Coming Clean with Another Frugal Life Hack

I hate to pay money for some things.....like liquid hand soap.
And since I can't always get it for free at Rite-Aid, I do weird things, like this.....
I buy clearanced gift sets after Christmas.
You know, those fragrancey shower gels and gift set stuff that go 50% off and even more off if they sit on the shelf long enough after the Holidays.....

Here's a bottle from a set of 8 shower gels I got for 75% off after Christmas 2 years ago.  The whole set of 8 had been $14.99 and was marked down to $3.75 or something equally ridiculous.
Comparing the ingredient labels, I found that the liquid hand soap and the shower gel were composed of the same stuff.

So I took this.....

An almost empty bottle of hand soap and did this......

Added the shower gel and left a little room to add about a 1/3 cup of water since the gel was thicker than the hand soap had been. Since the hand soap had a little left I couldn't use the whole bottle of gel so I put another 1/4 cup of water in the shower gel bottle and refilled the hand soap container later as it emptied.
By slowly tipping the container up and down, the water and old hand soap mixes with the shower gel without a mass of bubbles.  The old hand soap floated to the top but eventually it emulsified with the gel.

Voila!....you have a full bottle of liquid hand soap for far less than buying more hand soap, even a refill sized jug!
Those 8 bottles of shower gel were each 8 oz., so that's 64 oz.  Add 1/2 cup of water per bottle to thin to hand soap consistency is 32 oz. more, so a total of 96 oz. of new hand soap for $3.75.
That's about 10-12 bottles of hand soap for under .40¢ each.

Sluggy

Looking for Some Help for a Fellow Blogger in Alabama

I met Linda on the Compact list a few years ago.  She started her own blog about a year ago(ok, I could be wrong about that).  It's called Practical Parsimony and she's all about frugality, simple living, etc.
Recently a tornado ripped through her small town outside of Birmingham Alabama.  You've all heard about the devastation to this area of the South by now.  The photo above is an ariel view of a part of her town.

Linda doesn't know I am doing this and she'll probably kill me, but here I go anyway.......

Linda has limited means and is a woman of "a certain age" with no steady income.  Without going into details, she has made due for years now.  However her home has some problems which she has recounted in her blog over the past year.  Due to various reasons she hasn't had the resources (financial and physical)to make adequate repairs to her house.  Most tenuous is the condition of her roof.  It's disrepair has also caused additional damage to the interior of her abode and continues to do so.

Then the tornado came through last month and caused further damage to the roof....not alot but some.

Since her roof was already in a sad state pre-tornado, FEMA will not help her with repairing any of the damage-either with labor or monies. Nor will any of the local church or non-profit organizations in her town help her.
Now the situation has gotten to a desperate point.  Her local officials have served her with a condemnation notice unless she fixes her home(the roof seems to be the sticking point).
You can read the post specific to this event HERE

I am sad for my blogging friend.
Sad that I don't live nearby so I can hold her hand as she goes through this.
Sad that I can't pick up a hammer and put some nails into new shingles for her.
Sad that I don't know anyone who could assist her so she can keep her home.

So I am doing the only thing I know how to do.....blogging about this problem and hoping that there is someone out there--

*Someone who has the home repair skills and compassion who lives in her area or will be traveling to her area(possibly to help with tornado victims repair needs through their Church?).
*Someone who knows someone who will be in this area of Alabama soon who can repair a roof for her.
*Someone who knows how she can find the funds to get the supplies for the roof repair.
*Someone who knows what governmental channels she can go through to get help to repair &/or pay for the supplies.

If you are reading this and you have any ideas, or you can blog about this situation to spread the word so that we can reach someone, ANYONE out in cyberspace who would be a resource, please pass this message along.
Linda can be contacted directly on her blog.
Or feel free to email me and I'll pass along any help you can give or find for her.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this.

Sluggy

What I Bought At Rite-Aid So Far This Week

I've got $40+ in +Ups to roll/convert/burn this week.
I managed to convert $6 worth on Wednesday.  You can totally duplicate this transaction if your Rite-Aid has the Dental items Q booklet(it's hexagonal shaped), you have 2 copies of the 5/1 SS insert with the Colgate toothbrush Q in it and you have 2 Adperks/VV accounts set up.  If not, you can do something not quite as advantageous....

2 x Colgate 360 Toothbrushes on sale $2.99=$5.98 *the limit for +Ups is 2*
2 x Biotene Mouthwash on sale $5.99=$11.98
2 x Aquafresh Toothpaste on sale $2.50=$5.00
1 x Easter Peeps on 90% clearance=$.19
SubTotal....$23.15

Coupons Used
1 x $3/$15 Customer Survey Q=$3.00
2 x $1/1 Colgate 360 Toothbrush ManuQ=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Biotene Q from instore booklet in Dental aisle=$2.00
1 x $5/2 Biotene items AdPerks/VV IPQ=$5.00
2 x $1/1 Aquafresh premium Toothpaste Q from instore booklet in Dental aisle=$2.00
2 x $1.50/1 Aquafresh prem. Toothpaste AdPerks/VV IPQ=$3.00
Coupon Total....$17.00

$23.15-$17.00=$6.15
I used $6 in +Up Rewards and put the .15¢ on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received back $9 in +Up Rewards(2 x $2 Colgate 360 Toothbrush, $5 WYB $15 in select dental items-Aquafresh/Biotene).

THIS TRIP
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.15 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$42.13
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$9.00
+Up Rewards spent.....$6.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$87.00  And I have $39.71 left on my gift card.


Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--MAY Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......15
Total Spent....$7.79 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$706.42
SCR qualified for....$12.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for May SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 5/14.....$84.00
+Up Rewards spent....$63.52
+Up Rewards earned....$99.52
+Up Rewards left....$87.00  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period



I've got $30+ left in +Ups to use up by Saturday so I'll be going back to Rite-Aid this week.  Not sure what I'll get yet.  Maybe I'll do the Pepsi deal for the kids hanging out here this summer. 

What is everyone else getting at Rite-Aid this week??
Give me some ideas people, ok? ;-)


Sluggy

More Decluttering P*rn......Toys for Days!

The first photo, to get you to your decluttering "happy place", is of a couple of bags of clothes Hubs and I purged from our closet.  I found skirt/top sets I hadn't worn in 10 years!  Also some heavier fabric tops I never wore.....ugh.  And some really ugly colored pants....

Now onward to the toys.....yes, toys for days and days and days.
Again, if anyone wants/needs any of this stuff and wants to make me an offer(barter is good and cash is even better!lol), just shout out.

Would you believe Get Smart action figures? *said in my best Don Adams voice*

Original Toy Story and The Mask sticker books with packs of stickers and vintage My Little Ponies in need of a good comb thru....

More vintage MLPs, along with Johnny Lightning brand Hot Wheels type cars, Furby and M&M ornaments and Power Ranger stickers.....

Power Rangers in Space Astro Megazord......

The Smurf Tree-Go-Round and Power Ranger Quasar Launcher weapon.  I wonder how many shots from the launcher would it take to obliterate the Smurfs?

Bendable Jar Jar Binks and Wattoo dolls.  The Bert and Ernie of outer space......

A Star Wars puzzle and a couple of Power Rangers on Galaxy Gliders...

A Curious George Gumball Bank and another Smurf.   Where's my Quasar Launcher when I need it?!?

Behold, the Power Rangers Galaxy Megazord....the tiny 6" action figure sized one.....
and a couple of fake shoes....tiny collectible fake shoes for tiny fake feet.

A couple of Doughboy ornaments because nothing says the birth of Jesus like baked goods, right?
And if baked goods don't do it for ya, you could hang the John Glenn Hot Wheels action pack figures on your tree instead because nothing says Christmas like jet fueled rockets and astronauts who Dance with the Stars!

a large The Dog brand stuffed dog.....a beagle wearing reindeer antles because nothing says Christmas, well you know the rest.....
Ignore the Precious Moments box, that isn't going to Sallie's.  I can sell that shit even though it weighs a TON! 8-)

And a baggie with an ANNIE book, tape and a couple of Annie dolls.  I think my mother picked this stuff up at a yard sale ages ago for my Daughter.  Mom never gave the stuff to my Daughter however and I found this among her things after she died.  After she found out that the Daughter undressed her Barbie dolls to use the clothes to put on her stuffed animals and left the dolls mangled in a heap under her bed or something, she prolly decided to spare the twin Annies from that nekkid and unloved fate.
So now I get to dispose of them.  Yay me! ;-)

More to come, maybe later this week!


Sluggy