Today at work I decided that I probably should go ahead and start finding my textbooks for next semester in order to find the best possible deals. So, I entered either the ISBN#'s or the title (to find the ISBN) into Google and searched through a number of different comparison sites. Most of the books I was able to save between 29% - 50% off of retail. Even the one with a copyright date of 2010!

Even so, it was a LOT of money going out! I found a coupon for half.com ($5 off $50) and that helped a *little*. I ended up buying 3 books from half.com; one book from Barnes & Noble; and one from textbooks.com.

List price at half.com: $225
Paid (well, will pay)*: $140.97

List price at textbooks.com: $43
Paid: $31.93

List price at Barnes & Noble: $60
Paid: $29.47

Total List Price: $328
Total Paid: $202.37

The 2010 book comes with a DVD -it's list price alone was $108. I just about choked when I saw that.

*I thought my address was changed with my Chase cc. I guess I was wrong. When I tried to pay at half.com it would not take my card. I thought maybe a fraud alert had been put on (due to unusual amount of spending activity.) But it turned out they had my old address still!
I will have to wait til tomorrow to purchase the items, because their system won't "fully update" until tonight. Ugh.

These all should arrive before I leave for California, so it will be nice to be sure that I have them ready and waiting for me to start class in January.

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I went grocery shopping at Walmart after work.

I'd been making a list all week - anticipating both getting cottage cheese (to replace the rotten one I found last Sunday!) and a Terry's Chocolate Orange.

I had a coupon from the All You magazine (freebie the gym gets) for Peter Pan pb. I needed more pb, so that was good timing.

So, I got: sweet potatoes, bananas, sour cream, cottage cheese, swiss cheese, Terry's C.O., Peter Pan PB, and 8 pkgs of frozen veggies.

Total cost: $20.60

You may be wondering why I bought 8 packages of frozen veggies. The large bag of mixed veggies is $2.06. The bag that is exactly half its size is normally $.98.
Today, they were marked $.75. I won't have to buy frozen veggies again until probably late January or perhaps February.

The coupon was a bit of a pain though. It was for a 28 oz container. I prefer crunchy pb to creamy, so I picked up a crunchy. When I got to the register, the coupon wouldn't take. Come to find out the coupon is only for creamy. So I went back and exchanged it for a creamy. Stand in a different line. Coupon won't ring up again. Cashier takes pity on me and just goes ahead and takes the $1 off. Whooh!

Before I'd gotten to my first cashier, I had the displeasure to witness a woman being extremely unpleasant to the cashier. The cashier had placed a number of items in a bag, and the lady was upset that it wasn't double bagged. Instead of politely saying "please double bag these items" she *very* snidely/angrily/rudely/condescendingly told the cashier she didn't know what she was doing and that she didn't want the bag to break. (The words themselves were fine - it was the tone of voice and look on her face - her whole attitude about it.)

When I got to the cashier I asked her if she'd had a long day. She told me that her shift had just started. And that she doesn't let people like that bother her. Most people don't want there items double bagged - so she doesn't do it automatically. Those that do, usually ask much more nicely.

As I left I told her that I hoped the rest of her shift went better.

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It was *freezing* cold *all day* at work today. Thankfully I had the gloves I picked up yesterday at Dollar General. I cut off the fingertips of the thumb and forefinger, and it worked *perfectly*!!

Then today when I took the dogs for a walk, I put my other gloves on top of the other pair. A double layer of gloves made for toasty warm hands.

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The potential roommate who was supposed to stop by on Wednesday flaked. But we have another very likely one. A male.

My landlady said that she hasn't rented to a man before, but she picked up good vibes from him. Like he seemed to be a good person.

He may be moving in as soon as this coming week, because the lady who'd been renting the other room moved out completely today.

This will be interesting.

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Oh, almost forgot. I made my annual required Snapfish purchase. (To keep my "free" photo storage on their site, I have to make one purchase per year.)

So, I chose a picture, and had one copy made - sent to Wal-Mart. $.21

I can live with that.