Girl Scout Crunch Bars

I'm going on the record here and saying that these things are good. I can't speak to the other flavors, but the Samoa flavor is rockin. It kinda has the same chewy texture as the cookie. So good!

Touch typing

I. Order to prove that I spend way you much time on the iPhone I am going to type this entire post without looking at the key pad. I am going to rely solely in my memorization. If the keyboard and largely the autocorrect feature of the phone. I am going to skip the punctuation however you will still see periods because double tapping the space button adds that in automatically. I am not going to edit this post at all from the original outcome. Unless I are a bad word during the preposterous reading   Wish me luck. 

McNickle & McDime

I was just charged 33 cents for an extra sauce at McDonald's. It's not the fault of the 17 year old kid behind the counter; he's just doing what he's told. It's a flaw in management, and I do mean flaw. 

This particular McD's is a hot spot for teens who love to load up on the (probably) MSG / high fructose corn syrup filled sauces at McDonald's. I'm sure they ask for enough extra condiments to run the business into the ground. As any business owner knows, the little things add up quickly. 

Does that mean that I should get 2 sauces for a total order of 16 nuggets and two orders of fries? That seems a little stingy. I waited until we had depleted our meager rations of sauce before asking for more, when I discovered that I was being charged extra for the third. 

Perhaps it would have made a difference if I had ordered a menu item that doesn't traditionally come with sauce? I doubt it. As a paying customer, I felt very unappreciated when I was charged for my extra sauce. And as any business owner will tell you, unappreciated customers add up quickly. 

I am sure that the pocketbook of McD's falls victim to diners who use their food only as a vessel for getting sauce into their face, but my family are moderate dunkers. Should we be punished because there are little BBQ sauce gluttons out there? How do you find a balance that allows you to treat everyone the same when everyone is not the same, yet has the same level of importance?

To add insult to injury, my son didn't even finish the sauce for which I paid. Evidence that he's not a sauce-hog. 

I Parked in a Loading Zone

Oops. I totally just parked in a loading zone. Fortunately the officer came to find me inside the business I was in before he wrote me a ticket! Yikes! Thanks for the good Samaritan police officer! 

Should I Start an In-Home Daycare

I thought about this for just about as long as it took me to type the words into google search and then I closed the internet window. It seems like a great home business. Start an in-home daycare, keep it under so many kids and you don't need a business license, stay home with your kids and make some money.

Then I remembered that for a short time my mother ran an in home daycare and I hated every second of it. Even though all the kids were friends of mine, it was a horrible experience. I had to share my space, my toys, my time, AND my MOTHER with neighborhood kids for several hours every single day. At a day care, kids get snacks, and so my mom purchased snacks especially for day care kids and gave them out at snack time and we were all included... except that I wasn't at daycare... I was at home. I wasn't free to grab a bag of chips and sit in front of the TV because then 5 other kids plus my 3 siblings would want the same thing. I remember it being really limiting.

Plus, there was nowhere to go to just be alone. If I went to my room and shut my door, my girlfriends who were being babysat would feel like I was shunning them and being unsocial. But the truth was, I didn't want to be social all of the time. Sometimes I wanted to take a nap, and I just couldn't.

My school work suffered because instead of spending time on my homework, I spent time playing with my friends in a forced social situation. My mom wasn't able to help me because she was too busy trying to clean up after a house of way too many kids for one person. The rebellious pre-teen loud-mouth anarchist from a couple of doors down would be disrespectful to her, I would lose my mind and we would fight, and then she would attempt to "run away" to her house to which she didn't have a key so she would try to break in. This being someone else's child, neither of my parents were allowed to discipline her in any effective way and so it caused drama and strain. And so to that idea I promptly say NO THANK YOU.

Asking for Coupons - Campbell's

I got another response to my coupon request. Campbell's soup company had emailed me and let me know that they are sending me a coupon in the mail. I'm not sure if it is more than one (the email made it sound like a single item) or if it will be for a discount of a free item. I will keep an eye on my mail box and let you know when I find out what kind of goodie they are sending me. In the meantime, I will continue to request coupons from different companies.

Building Credit

I have been working on building my credit for over 2 years and I think it's finally paying off.

Two years ago I bought a car and financed it. I had a down payment of almost 30% and I still had a heck of a time finding a bank that would finance me! I have been paying on time on my car this entire time and it is only just barely starting to pay off.

When I got my car, the only credit card I qualified for was a secure one. I had to make a payment toward the collateral of my account in order to open a credit card. I was using the card to the max and paying it off in full every month. Little did I know this was NOT helping me. Apparently you only want to use 30% of your card every month and pay the entire balance. Since then, I have stopped using my card for purchases. Instead, I signed up with International Children's Fund and set up my donations to automatically come off of my credit card. That way, I know exactly how much will be on my card statement every month (although I still look it over), and I know that it is right around 30% of my limit.

About 6 months ago I was approved for a very high rated and very pricey credit card through a very high risk lender. I politely declined. They called, emailed, and sent letters every two weeks until the offer ran out. It was nice to be wanted, but I really didn't need their services. I had also applied at a couple of department stores because I heard it was easier to get approved through some stores than through banks. No luck.

Today I decided to try my luck at a department store credit card and I did get approved. And it is probably something I will use here and there so I decided to go with it.

I'm excited that I am able to get credit again, but I MUST SAY THIS: This is not a great way of CHECKING your credit because when you apply for credit it can LOOK BAD on your credit report. I was actively seeking credit at particular places as a way to begin building my credit which was a good plan for ME, but maybe (and probably) not you. The best way to fix your credit is to pay off your old balances. That was out of the way for me and so I needed to rebuild. Since I didn't have old cards to use (old accounts were charged off and closed) I needed new ones. Anyway, it is working for me and I am happy about it!

Asking for Coupons - Lysol & Clorox

I got my first answer back!

Lysol told me to check the local paper and magazine ads for coupons.

Nice, Lysol. Thanks a lot. I use Clorox anyway.

Oh, and about Clorox... Their "contact us" web page has a broken link to their email so I wasn't even able to ask them for coupons.

So, I appears that my fist attempt at asking for coupons is a bust, but I think that I will keep trying. Can't hurt, and it only takes a moment of time.

Asking for Coupons

In an effort to be frugal and save for our wedding / lives together, Travis and I have decided to use more coupons. The problem with coupons is that they are not very often for things you were going to the store for anyway. In fact, I have spent more on groceries in the past when trying to use coupons than I did when I just stuck to my normal shopping routine. Recently, I have started using coupons ONLY for things I was going to buy anyway, and only using them if any brand switches to accommodate the coupon still prove worth the savings. so far, I have saved $5 over 2 shopping trips. Not bad, as every little bit adds up, but Travis was hoping for more.

Travis has encouraged me to start extreme couponing. First of all I don't think I have the time, nor the resources to take on such an endeavor, secondly, those people rarely seem to come away with anything you can really use to feed your family for a week. What would I do with seven thousand cans of tuna and half a ton of mustard?

"Yeah but you get it for like $17.00" Says Travis.

$17.00 for a lifetime supply of tuna and mustard still doesn't get us very far in life, if my argument.

I've noticed that my grocery bills are higher when I have to restock on cleaning supplies and household items than when I simply buy food. I've decided that in order to try to cut costs I am going to ask for coupons.

I am going to write letters to the companies from which I buy my cleaning supplies and groceries and ask them for coupons to help me in this troubling economic time. The worst that can happen is that they say no. The best that can happen is that I get a crate of bleach on my doorstep - which I will most certainly use faster than half a ton of mustard. I'll keep you updated on what happens next.

Wedding in less than 2 months

Can I just say how flipping sick I am of trying find solutions for all the things I need for my wedding and the only thing out there are pictures of $250,000.00 weddings?! How is that helpful to me at all? It seems like every wedding site on the internet is very eager to be liberal with MY money. Watching those wedding TV shows isn't any help either. I just watched an episode where there WAS NO BUDGET. Hello! I'm planning a wedding with a guy who's original budget was FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. I think I need it reigned in a little.

Last night I got some catalogue called "Exclusively Weddings" which might as well be titled, "Nothing you actually NEED.' Do I NEED 7 kinds of frosted beer mugs and 23 kinds of totes for my wedding party? DO I NEED IT!?

I'm freaking out here.