my husband's quirks

i figured now's as good a time as any for updating you on some of mark's quirks.

whenever he does laundry he sorts like items together even if they don't actually go together. for example, towels. there are bath towels and kitchen towels. he puts them all together, and whichever there are more of, that's where he puts them away. so i frequently find our bath towels and washcloths in one of our kitchen drawers. and i find our kitchen towels in our linen closet with our bath towels. i have learned to be okay with this.

so he also puts all white socks together. mine AND his. everytime i go to my sock drawer and can't find my white socks, i remember, oh right, he puts all the white socks in his drawer. i cannot figure out why he does this.

he is a man of extremes. for example, somewhat recently he decided he wanted to eat healthier. i said, okay, and made some recommendations, such as not eating two bowls of ice cream every day, not ordering chicken alfredo when he's out to lunch, etc. he said, "no, i need something harder than that." so he decided to go vegetarian and went and bought a bunch of vegetables to start making "vegetable smoothies." i consider myself a healthy eater, but his "smoothies" were disgusting. they looked like puke. (by the way, this phase lasted about 2 weeks.)

another extremes example - last night he thought he was starting to get sick, had a stuffy nose, etc. I recommended nyquil. He was like, no, I'll just eat some garlic cloves. So he ate three garlic cloves. PLAIN. that was his remedy.

he surprised me the other day though at his attention to detail in one case. i recently ran out of my usual shampoo, and bought a different kind (pantene pro-v) that i used to buy all the time. literally, the first day i used it, he says to me, "did you change shampoos? you're hair smells like what it used to smell like when you lived at the fountain." and yes, he was correct. after one day of the shampoo he could remember that the last time he smelled it was FOUR years ago.

how to shop at CVS

so i have gotten completely sucked in to the world of saving money. maybe i have been influenced by my money-saving husband. i'll let you know when i come up with my own business idea; then i'll REALLY be mark flanders' wife.

anyway, i want to tell you how to shop at CVS because some of you have expressed interest. basically, you can shop at CVS for all of your household items and toiletries and get most of them for FREE or extremely discounted.

here's how it works:

CVS has a loyalty card, like a VIC card at Harris Teeter. It's called an Extra Care card. Go into CVS and get one. You have to scan your EC card when you shop.

Every week CVS puts various items on sale and offers Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back when you buy them. for example, this week, Oral B toothbrushes are on sale for $4 and when you buy one, you get $4 in ECB. This is basically store credit that prints out at the bottom of your receipt. You can then use the ECB to buy whatever you want, even another Oral B toothbrush to get you more ECB.

So you walk into CVS, pay $4 for a toothbrush. Get a receipt for 4 ECB. Walk back and get another toothbrush, use your 4 ECB to pay for it and then ANOTHER 4 ECB will print out at the bottom of your receipt.

So the idea is to combine coupons and ECBS to make things free.

Here is what my trip to CVS this week looked like:

I started with 7 ECB from the previous week.
Transaction #1
I bought:
(1) Oral B Cross Action toothbrush $4
(2) Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner $3.49 ea
Coupons I used:
-.75/1 Oral B Cross Action PG 2/21
-$3/2 Pantene Products PG 3/07
-$7 ECB
Total Due: $1.21
Get Back $6 ECB ($4 from Oral B, $2 from Pantene)

Transaction #2
I bought:
(1) Gillette Fusion Razor $8.99
(1) Tide Detergent $5.97
(1) Tide Stain Release $3.99
Coupons I used:
-$4 off Gillette PG 2/07
-$1 off Tide PG 2/07
- $3.99 (free Tide stain release when you buy Tide detergent)
-$6 ECB
Total Due: $3.96
Get Back: $5 ECB ($4 from razor, $1 from Tide)

Transaction #3:
I bought:
(2) Pantene shampoo and Conditioner $3.49 ea
(1) Dawn dish soap $0.99
Coupons I used:
-$3/2 Pantene Products PG 3/07
-$5 ECB
Total Due: $0.56
Get Back: $2 ECB (from Pantene)

After tax the amount I spent was about $6.50 and I ended up w/ 2 ECBs to use next week.
Value of the items: $37.92
That is about 80% off.

AND here's the really good part: I am still learning how to do this, so it will get even better. I want to get to the point where I don't pay for anything. I am learning how to do this through Jenny, the lady who writes www.southernsavers.com and she notes on her website that in the Spring 2008, her Current CVS savings was – $757.89. Total spent in cash for Spring 2008 - $15.68. I mean, are you kidding me?

Go to her CVS-ing guide here: http://www.southernsavers.com/getting-started-guides/how-to-cvs/.

get your groceries 70% off

here's how:

super double coupons at harris teeter. they are my new favorite thing/addiction. normally ht doubles coupons up to .99 but this week, during "super doubles" they double coupons up to 1.98. Thus, if you have a coupon for 1.98 off of something, you actually have a coupon for 3.96 off of something. i know.

let me share what i walked away from harris teeter with on wednesday:

soft scrub cleaner (free)

soft scrub extra strength cleaner (.99)

2 cans planters mixed nuts (2.50 ea)

quaker oats (.45)

smart start cereal (.09)

2 glade plug-ins (both free)

diced tomatoes 28oz (.99)

suave lotion (1.14)

2 suave deodorants (both free)

italian sausage (2.95)

4 bunches of asparagus (2.50 total)

3 bell peppers (1.25 total)

bag of spinach (1.99)

16oz mushrooms (1.49)

whole grain bread (1.85)

borden cheese singles (.19)

6 dannon yogurts (.33 each)

2 johnsonville summer sausage (1.27 each)

the retail value of all of this was $96.28. and i paid....drumroll please...$25.96. if you have not taken up coupon-ing, please, i beg you- join me. (see www.southernsavers.com for how to do it.)

later on in the week i also got these items completely FREE: aquafresh toothpaste, 2 wholy guacamoles, 16oz sour cream and 2 bottles hot sauce. and 3 lbs of ground chicken for 50 cents.

EVOO for 50 cents

yesterday i bought this bottle of extra virgin olive oil at harris teeter for fifty cents. i thought i'd share how, so you can do it too. it is regularly $7.15 at harris teeter, but this week it was the e-vic item. (e-vic is a weekly email from HT telling you what the basically secret item is that's on sale for e-vic members. it's not advertised in the store. if you're not signed up, go to harristeeter.com and sign up.) so for e-vic members it's on sale for $1.99 this week. sunday's paper had a red plum coupon insert w/ a coupon for 75 cents off. HT doubles coupons, so whala- grand total was 51 cents exactly.

the e-vic sale ends today though, so you'd have to go today to get the deal. also, if you're not signed up for e-vic, once you sign up, you won't get the e-vic discount until next week's item.

thanks to my dear friend amy savage who introduced me to the new world of "coupon-ing." :-)

24 weeks

some updates. every time i tell someone i am 20-something weeks along, they say, "oh, you must be feeling great then! this is like the honeymoon period of pregnancy." false. that is not exactly how i'd describe it. basically the only thing i'm comfortable in is stretch pants and a sweatshirt. so i pretty much wear yoga pants and a hoodie whenever i'm not at work. i'm hungry all the time, so i carry various snacks with me at all times (grapefruit, almonds, yogurt). but i'm kind of going back to being nauseated by some things again. last night we had fajitas and half way through, i had to give mine to mark and eat cereal for dinner before i lost it. i'm pretty tired a lot of the time. and i have trouble concentrating on people talking to me for long periods of time. i can normally carry on a several-hour long conversation, but lately, i start to zone out after someone's been talking to me for like fifteen minutes. it's not that i don't want to pay attention to what they're saying, i just can't. mark probably appreciates this actually because he doesn't have to talk as much for me to be satisfied :-)

to report some funny things he's said lately:

mark: what are we doing for the superbowl?

me: going to brian and lauren's party, remember?

mark: oh yeah, when is it? saturday?

me: nope. it's sunday, just like all the other superbowls for the last fifty years

mark: please don't tell anyone i said that. 

mark: are we eating lunch with them?

me: yeah, i'm pretty sure we are

mark: well, should we prepare for the ulterior?

me: do you mean 'alternative'?

(this is actually from a while ago, but i laugh about it almost every day)

mark: (coldplay's viva la vida comes on the radio) i love this song. i just wish i knew what it was about.

aaron ohare: oh, it's about this guy who used to be like a king or someone really important, but then he lost everything. and now he's saying he sweeping the streets he used to own. 

mark: oh, cool. did you read about that online or something?

aaron: no, i just listened to the lyrics. 

pearl's new clothes

new clothes for pearl courtesy of aunt staci. notice the bird theme :-) (also, we haven't come close to naming her yet, pearl is kind of her pre-birth name.)

my big swing list

my dad and two uncles have something they call "the big swing list" or just "the list" for short. whoever irritates them enough, they add to the list. some people on The List include Richard Dreyfus, Bono, and a lot of infomercial stars. They all have to agree to put someone on the list. the other day my dad sees Steve Martin on tv and says, "we really oughta add that guy to the list." my uncle thought about it for a second and then says, "no, he really doesn't bother me that much." i think harrison ford is on the list. i asked my dad recently if there were any women on the list and he said something like, "no. but it's not because we're opposed to that. none of them have annoyed us enough yet i guess. but tyra's getting pretty close."

anyway- i have my own list. not people though. companies. and i would like to share them. these are in order of increasing dislike.

1st- Kinkos: Kinkos has been a nemesis of mine for a while. they are ridiculously overpriced and they make me feel like an idiot every time i go in there. "you mean you don't know how to use the laminating machine? you poor, pitiful, foolish girl."

2nd- Radio Shack: Radio Shack is a horrible place. Any time I go in there no associate can help me. Usually they are on their cell phone talking to a friend and don't care to assist customers. But even when not on the cell phone, they still just DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. Last time I was there, the employee could not help me find a cord to hook my digital camera into my computer. I think that should be a pretty basic request.

3rd- Flying Biscuit: I know I will have to defend this because probably all of you love this place. It went from being my favorite breakfast place to my least favorite. I went there after work recently b/c I am pregnant and was starving and craving a specific food item- a skillet meal. you know, potatoes on the bottom, then meat and veggies, then 2 eggs cracked on top. yum. they do not have a skillet meal there, but they were having one as the special, so i got it. it was awful. when the waitress asked me if it was good, i said, "not really." and she just looked at me, like, oh, i'm sorry. but that was it. Why did you ask me if it was good, if it doesn't matter to you either way? From now on it is OPH, Le Peep and Zada Jane's for me.

4th- HARRIS TEETER: Harris Teeter, I have loved you for a long time, but I have come to realize something in a drastic way. You are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced. Recently they had a great sale on chicken. Buy 1, get 2 free. It came out to $1.66/lb for chicken which is amazing. When I was leaving the store, the cashier says to me, "You saved 63 dollars with your VIC card today." And at first I was smiling, congratulating myself as I left. But then it hit me. That means that on any regular day, without this sale, Harris Teeter is overcharging me by about $63. I can't stand for it anymore. Yesterday I went in to HT to grab an apple for a snack b/c I was starving. Guess how much, for ONE apple? $1.31. Over a dollar. Apples are 50 cents each at Trader Joe's. But HT was more convenient for me, so I overpaid. Harris Teeter is basically charging an 80 cents convenience fee for apples. I can't take it anymore.