Frugal Deals

Yesterday was strangely cold. And rainy. Yet I headed out in my shorts and tee shirt to run a few errands.


It isn't lost on me that most everyone is bundled up in a winter coat. 

I hate layers of clothing. And I run hot. If I'm sitting I might get cold. But moving around? I just really don't feel the cold. Been that way all my life.

I do get strange looks.

One errand was to stop at Lowes in Tulsa Hills, where I picked up a cleaning brush to clean my shower tiles. 

They had empty spray bottles on sale for $2.95 each, so I grabbed two. I'll use one for a vinegar recipe to clean those bathtub tiles. And the other to mix up a recipe for garden bugs.

Then as I'm driving down the parking lot to Target and come to a stop sign, I pause to look at my receipt. I was charged full price for the spray bottles. Shoot.

I warred with myself. It was less than two dollars. Still I turned around and went back. 

I hate the customer service area in stores. It is there that you find aggravated people who didn't get what they thought they purchased. Or it broke and they want their money back. 

Not a happy place. 

The guy had me go find the actual price for the spray bottles, and then after that I had to stand behind a woman while she got her refund for something. 

Which had me kicking myself. Here I was standing on my ankle in pain over less than two bucks. Live and learn. Sometimes getting the deal just isn't worth it.

The golden pennies came back in the driftwood from last year.

I didn't make it to Target. I knew I didn't have much standing/walking time left in me, and I needed some things at the grocery store. 

I love my grocery store. It's called Reasors. It has a section of freshly cooked foods. I can buy three days worth of very tasty brisket for $9 or under. 

I heat it up in my Breville Smart oven and it is mighty good. I figure three bucks for the main part of my meal is pretty good. 

I will cook some potatoes and some other veggie to have with it and that will last me three days as well.

I figure it's a good deal for someone like me who can't stand an inordinate amount of time on my feet cooking. 

No matter how my day goes, I know the main part of the meal only needs heating up at the end of the day. 

Another thing I've been buying are the Pepperidge Farm frozen cakes. They come in chocolate and lemon and coconut and a few other versions. But I prefer the chocolate.  

They're usually in the the $3 range, but lately they've been on sale for under $3. 

Sorry about the photo being blurry. It's dark in here due to the rainy and overcast weather.

Anyway, I cut off one frozen slice half an hour before I want to eat it, and it's as good a piece of chocolate cake as I've ever eaten. Consistently.

Plus it will give me a good ten days of nightly snacking.

I've also been eating a lot of veggie burgers. They're in the frozen food aisle too, and are quite good with a couple of slices of fresh tomato, mustard and pickles. Yum! Oh, and baked beans.

A funny thing happened on the frozen food aisle in the grocery store. An elderly woman was fussing about finding something and a clerk was helping her. 

Finally they located it. The clerk walked away. And the woman looked at me and said: "I'm so relieved! I was so afraid my dog wasn't going to have his ice cream."

I did not realize there was dog ice cream in there. I said: "No, we wouldn't want that to happen."

Another frugal and easy alternative to shopping and standing in line is shopping Walmart.com. Here's one shipment that just came.

Walmart gives you free two day shipping over $35. And no standing in line. A good alternative to the brick and mortar store.

I wish I was brave enough to go green and not buy paper towels. I thought about going that route. 

But paper towels just make my life so much easier. 

Here's a tip a plumber gave me about five years ago. He was cleaning out my septic line, and asked me what kind of toilet paper I used. 

I told him I liked Charmin. 

He said: "Buy Cottonelle. Charmin stops up toilets."

I've bought Cottonelle ever since and I haven't had to call any more plumbers out to unstop a toilet. 

That's a frugal tip too. Plumbers aren't cheap!

I'm still tired from planting earlier in the week. Once I get going it's hard to stop. I just want it done.

As I've mentioned, I like to go out multiple times a day, usually with the pupsters, and stare at every single flower and plant. It gives me great joy. 

Until I see Abi jump into a container and break a few flowers off. Then Charlie follows her and there go a few more. 

This didn't seem to happen last year, so I don't know what's going on in their little doggie minds. But it's pure aggravation. 

Every time a bloom bites the dust, I see dollar signs in my head headed into a virtual trash can.

In summation, think long and hard before you go back inside a store to save a dollar and change if it increases your pain level. 

It just isn't worth the aggravation.