Whenever I get a tax refund, I try to spend it on some necessary upkeep. Two years ago, it went toward eye surgery, a year ago, to doctors examining my injured knee and for some dental work. This year, with nothing much wrong with me, I could use the money on the house. When I received my state tax refund two days ago, I set $150 aside to replace ceiling tiles in the living room.
This week, the tiles went on sale at my favorite home improvement store, plus there was a $2.00 rebate on each of the thirty tiles I needed for a total of $60 back. Because I waited to make my purchase until today, I could get an additional eleven percent off on anything I bought, and another 2 percent if I used the store credit card. I fished that card out of my carefully stashed pile of never used cards and off I went.
While I was at it, I bought more sale/refund items: toilet paper, facial tissue, extension cords, candles, laundry detergent, and reading glasses. In all, I spent $157 and will get $105 refund back in the form of store credits. The refund should arrive by mid-April, when I will go the garden center for all my seeds, seedlings, and plants. I usually budget about $100 for the spring planting, so that works out perfectly.
I've already made out a check for $157 to pay for today's purchases to make sure the money doesn't slide through my fingers before the bill is paid. Interest is never part of my figuring.
Gary is putting the new ceiling in as I type. I love bargains almost as much as I love having a resident handyman.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
A bargain
Being in the arts requires watching every penny. Certainly, someone like me never gets rich at their craft. I'm not complaining, I've had a full and rich life, but it has meant watching for bargains.
About two weeks ago I went to the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, to take a walk. With sub-zero outdoor temperatures, the malls are about the only place to take long walks. Each circuit of this mall is a mile. I walked three.
As I was ending my walk, I went past the Sears store and noticed a rack of clothes on clearance. Leggings, the kind word under tunics, were marked down to around $5. I bought one, thinking they would be perfect for yoga because of the gathered material around the ankle. I figured the legs wouldn't ride up.
That proved to be true of yoga, but the leggings also worked as pajama bottoms and long underwear. They were perfect for a Wisconsin winter.
Last Friday I was back walking in the mall. The rack was gone but I hunted down the leggings and picked out two more pairs. When I went to the checkout desk, the clerk told me that if I applied for a Sears credit card, I would get $10.00 off my purchase. I signed up and with all the markdowns, my total bill was six cents.
I've applied for cards like that before, and now I have to tell you that I never use them. I don't like to run up charges. The credit cards go to a safe place and in a year, I cut them up and cancel the account. Then a year or two later, I'll open another account when there's a good deal.
Gary says I am singlehandedly wrecking the economy.
About two weeks ago I went to the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, to take a walk. With sub-zero outdoor temperatures, the malls are about the only place to take long walks. Each circuit of this mall is a mile. I walked three.
As I was ending my walk, I went past the Sears store and noticed a rack of clothes on clearance. Leggings, the kind word under tunics, were marked down to around $5. I bought one, thinking they would be perfect for yoga because of the gathered material around the ankle. I figured the legs wouldn't ride up.
That proved to be true of yoga, but the leggings also worked as pajama bottoms and long underwear. They were perfect for a Wisconsin winter.
Last Friday I was back walking in the mall. The rack was gone but I hunted down the leggings and picked out two more pairs. When I went to the checkout desk, the clerk told me that if I applied for a Sears credit card, I would get $10.00 off my purchase. I signed up and with all the markdowns, my total bill was six cents.
I've applied for cards like that before, and now I have to tell you that I never use them. I don't like to run up charges. The credit cards go to a safe place and in a year, I cut them up and cancel the account. Then a year or two later, I'll open another account when there's a good deal.
Gary says I am singlehandedly wrecking the economy.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monetizing -- NOT!
"Monetizing" is allowing ads on your blog. It seemed to be a way to earn some additional income, so I decided to give it a try, making sure that I marked the "no pornography" in the directions. An hour later I had an ad for "Filipina girls". Immediately disconnected the system. There will be no more ads on this blog.
My apologies for anyone who signed in during that hour.
My apologies for anyone who signed in during that hour.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Counting
Wow, 3,000 hits on this blog since I began it last November at a Fox Valley Technical College half day course. The internet continues to amaze me.
When I was a child, I would sit in the back seat of my parents' car late at night, returning from some outing. I looked out at the lights in the windows of houses we passed and wondered who all those people were that didn't know I existed. What were they doing out there? I thought some day we will have to meet.
Now I wonder about the people who wander into this blog and leave without comment, without letting me know who they are. Will we ever meet?
When I was a child, I would sit in the back seat of my parents' car late at night, returning from some outing. I looked out at the lights in the windows of houses we passed and wondered who all those people were that didn't know I existed. What were they doing out there? I thought some day we will have to meet.
Now I wonder about the people who wander into this blog and leave without comment, without letting me know who they are. Will we ever meet?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Valiant Struggle
It's still 41 days until spring. I fight Seasonal Affective Disorder with all my might, with light and exercise the key. The best thing is to take long walks in the sunshine, but sunshine in the winter is usually accompanied by bitter cold made worse by wind and today is no exception.
I spent almost an hour at the swimming pool doing laps and followed that with a long walk in the high school halls. The administration opens the school to walkers in the worst weather. We have no big mall in Seymour so that is the only option we have.
Still, I am likely to get either cranky or teary these days and Gary avoids me during the worst episodes. He told me that if I didn't make it, my obituary would read: "Colleen was laid to rest after a valiant struggle with February."
I spent almost an hour at the swimming pool doing laps and followed that with a long walk in the high school halls. The administration opens the school to walkers in the worst weather. We have no big mall in Seymour so that is the only option we have.
Still, I am likely to get either cranky or teary these days and Gary avoids me during the worst episodes. He told me that if I didn't make it, my obituary would read: "Colleen was laid to rest after a valiant struggle with February."
Monday, February 7, 2011
It Keeps Getting Better
Yesterday morning, just before church, I remembered I needed a piece of music in the choir room. I had to get it before the pastor arrived, so I ran down the hall, grabbed the sheet music off the piano, and tore back into the church. That's when I remembered that I hadn't been able to run since I injured my knee over a year ago.
The improvement has been so gradual, I almost didn't notice it.
I give the credit to Farah, my yoga instructor, and the staff at the arthritis pool at the aquatic center. A year ago, my doctor thought I would have to have knee surgery. He was wrong. I kept exercising and now I am walking with only a slight limp and even that will go away soon.
The improvement has been so gradual, I almost didn't notice it.
I give the credit to Farah, my yoga instructor, and the staff at the arthritis pool at the aquatic center. A year ago, my doctor thought I would have to have knee surgery. He was wrong. I kept exercising and now I am walking with only a slight limp and even that will go away soon.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Super Bowl Sunday
The town has gone Super Bowl crazy. That is the sole topic of conversation around here which leaves me out in the cold since I never watch football.
Football, like baseball, is a really slow game, with long periods where nothing happens. I prefer the fast moving pace of games like basketball, hockey, rugby and soccer. Even there, I would rather see them in person instead of sitting in front of a TV set with beer and fattening foods. Even better is actual participation in a sport. I like the exercise.
It seems that football fanatics find their self worth in the fortunes of some team. If the Packers are defeated today, the fans will take it personally, feeling that the team let them down. They will obsess about this for weeks, blaming the coach, blaming the quarterback, blaming the defense. If they win, credit goes to the fans who cheered them on.
I escaped this obsession because of my mother. She was the primo uno sports fan. Early on, she noticed that if I watched a game, her team would lose, so she would send me out of the room....to my great relief. Even years later, I would get pathetic phones calls from her on weekends asking if by some chance I had the TV on, thereby jinxing the team.. I could tell her team was losing. She couldn't bring herself to blame the home team, so she laid it on me. I still tell people around here about that, and they, too, think it a fine idea that I not get involved.
So no football for me this evening. Hallelujah! It's just a game.
Football, like baseball, is a really slow game, with long periods where nothing happens. I prefer the fast moving pace of games like basketball, hockey, rugby and soccer. Even there, I would rather see them in person instead of sitting in front of a TV set with beer and fattening foods. Even better is actual participation in a sport. I like the exercise.
It seems that football fanatics find their self worth in the fortunes of some team. If the Packers are defeated today, the fans will take it personally, feeling that the team let them down. They will obsess about this for weeks, blaming the coach, blaming the quarterback, blaming the defense. If they win, credit goes to the fans who cheered them on.
I escaped this obsession because of my mother. She was the primo uno sports fan. Early on, she noticed that if I watched a game, her team would lose, so she would send me out of the room....to my great relief. Even years later, I would get pathetic phones calls from her on weekends asking if by some chance I had the TV on, thereby jinxing the team.. I could tell her team was losing. She couldn't bring herself to blame the home team, so she laid it on me. I still tell people around here about that, and they, too, think it a fine idea that I not get involved.
So no football for me this evening. Hallelujah! It's just a game.
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