Friday, June 21, 2013

NOW

This is the latest picture of our GRAND son, Riley.  He is playing with his Uncle Jared's Hot Wheels cars.  Yeah, he's being cool while wearing the same Uncle's shades from days gone by years ago.

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

MONEY TIP

Yes, I know it is not Tuesday.  Our GRAND son was here and I had things to do....visiting the Splashpad, going to a museum, eating at Dairy Queen, going to Dollar Tree....the list goes on.....playing with his 26 year old Uncle Jared's Hot Wheels.....going to the library, reading the books from that library, eating at Hardee's, yeah, fun stuff.
 
It's a good excuse to not blog because it's more fun to party with him.
 
So, here is the tip.
 
Years ago, in our first house, we purchased a model home.  It was a small house, just big enough for the four of us.  It was decorated with pewter gray carpet, wallpaper in the kitchen and both bathrooms, a brick fire place, split floor plan, deck, ceiling fan, great room, parquet entrance, garden tub, etc.  We loved it.  We lived there for 13 years. 
 
All of the walls were white, yep white, except for the entrance that I painted a gray, then stenciled white hearts/country design on the gray walls at the top of the walls, near the ceiling. 
 
Here is the money saving hint:
 
Buy paint that can be touched up without repainting the entire wall!  It worked great for us.  We had extra matching paint and an extra roller.  When the finger prints, scuffs on the walls were 'showing' one of us, me or The Hubbie would drag out the paint, extra roller and the paint pan and make them all disappear by rolling over the marks.  It saved us hundreds of dollars.  Rather than repainting the entire room, hiring someone to do it, we rolled it ourselves and it looked great.
 
About 3 years after we moved into our little house, our last baby boy, yes, the above mentioned Uncle Jared, arrived.  There were multiple levels of fingerprints, scuffs, from the five of us, so we rolled them all!  The room looked fresh and clean.
 
So, next time you paint a room, make sure you have extra paint leftover AND it is a brand that you can do the same thing.  Painting is work plus it is expensive.  Why bother?!
 
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Monday, June 17, 2013

RILEY

The GRAND son is visiting for a few days.  Lots of fun  stuff to do!  No time for blogging!  Yippee.  This is him at 2.  Hard to believe he will be five his next birthday!

 
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Friday, June 14, 2013

CLEANING HOUSE

I use to enjoy cleaning my house.  I did it every week without fail.  I even cleaned with a toothpick and an old toothbrush, even scrubbed my floors on my hands and knees, really,   I was that picky.  Now, it is boring to me and I have to 'force' myself to get it done.
 
Years ago, this was my schedule:
 
Sunday was Sunday.
 
Monday was laundry day and regroup from the weekend, clean the house.
 
Tuesday was ironing day and scrub the bathrooms day.
 
Wednesday was whatever day.
 
Thursday was grocery store day.
 
Friday the Hubbie was off so we chilled, ran errands, ate at the local K&W, veggie plate, everyone drinks water, day.
 
Saturday was the kids home day, also freshen up the bathrooms day.
 
Everyday was laundry day if there was a full load, normally, I had 3 to 5 loads a day, depending on if sheets were washed, etc.

For years, I cleaned on Friday.  One day it dawned on me that it was all undone by Monday so I switched to cleaning on Monday because it seemed to last longer.  Smart move.
 
Now, at my age, I am doing well to accomplish one thing a day, other than laundry, loading the dishwasher, making the bed. 
 
I dust one day, vacuum all of the floors another day and finally mop the floors.  The bathrooms are/should be done twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Saturday.  It's not really because I am old but it's because I have the don't wanna be-s.
 
Snickering.
 
So, better get up and vacuum because it's Friday and I am bee-hind!
 
Enjoy the weekend, Everyone!
 
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Thursday, June 13, 2013

CONSIGNMENT CASH

Yeah, yeah, it's not Tip Tuesday but here is a money saving/making tip for you.
 
Put your unused items in a consignment store.  Most of them will split the money the item sells for with you 50/50. 
 
BUT!!!!
 
There is a warning.  I have had some bad, bad experiences with consignment stores.
 
The first one I used, I ended up loosing everything I had put into the store.  Why?  Because the owner picked up the cash register, all of the money, and skipped town, taking many items with him.  He even skipped without paying his rent.  Bad experience, numero uno.
 
Then years later, I put several items into a local store.  I never heard from the owner saying I had items that were sold even though when I was in the store, I could not find any of the items!!  She had no record of my ever giving things to sell.  This was my mistake because I trusted the owner and I had no proof, no receipt that I had even been in the store.  She did remember the antique pictures, yes, they had sold, she gave me $20.  I never heard from her again.
 
Well, I've tried the consignment store route one more time.  The owner is nice, trustworthy, puts everything into a computer as I am standing there and prints out a copy, which is then signed.  Now, that's professional!
 
Yes, I've made some cash, not much, but it's cash I would not have otherwise.
 
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

WEDNESDAY, TODAY


My faith in mankind was restored today, well, at least in an employee at Publix, Decatur store. 

I went into the store with coupons in hand, did not take my big orange binder because, honestly, coupons lately have not been worth the trouble.  So, I checked the BOGO free deals, picked out coupons that would go with them and a couple of other things I needed, and stepped out of the little zoom zoom.

In my hand I had the coupons, my list, a twenty dollar bill and two one dollar bills, my purse, keys and what was left of the Diet Coke from ChickFilA.

My plan of action is always to look at the CS desk, find out what the penny item is and head to it first, which I did.  Then I start my shopping by checking the end caps for the deals, etc.   Hebrew National Hot Dogs, my favorite, were on special but the regular dogs were out.  The employee said she would check in the back but it might take her a while.  I said, I'll be back.   My cart and I went to the milk cooler and picked up the milk.  Then onward to finish before circling back for the dogs.

When I had all of my items in cart, I noticed I had lost the twenty dollar bill.  It was the Christmas and KFC money for the week.  I quickly circled the store, searching, left my cart at the CS, headed outside, searching, no dough.

I thought, okay, someone else may have needed it more than I did, bummer, yes, bummer.  Sigh, too.  Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

On the way out, I noticed a discontinued item that was 2 for 7.99 instead of the regular price of one for 7.99 plus I had 2 two dollars off coupons.  I went back to my car, retrieved the new coupons, purchased the items and some muffin mix, which I also found a coupon for in the store circular, and reluctantly stopped at the CS desk, just in case someone turned it in.

Well, hallelujah, some one did!!!   The twenty was mine once again.  An employee had turned it into the CS desk.

I left almost whistling!  No, I didn't tip the employee, no tipping allowed at Publix, but it did leave a good impression of the store personnel and I was glad that I went out of my comfort zone and asked!

Wednesday, today, was a hot, muggy day in Dixie but an upper day for this ol girl!!  Twenty bucks is twenty bucks!  Grin.
 
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Friday, June 7, 2013

REAR VIEW

 



 
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