Been a pretty lazy weekend for me for the most part. On Friday dad and I went to Albie's to take advantadge of the double to $2 cpn sale. I had a whole fistfull of coupons and a list. We picked up one of the shop and scan things (both of our first times using one) and were off. As we were going along, and the total kept going up and up, my dad was starting to get nervous. So I told him that I would pay for anything over $50. In the end, we bought 49 items, and the total after coupons came to $48.95 - we saved over $50.

This morning I asked the bus driver if she wanted her coupon inserts, and she let me have them. Then after work I stopped at Kroger's to pick up a newspaper. There was only one Ft Worth paper left, and it was missing half the sections - but had all the coupon inserts (plus one extra!). So I bought a Dallas paper, then got the Ft Worth paper for only $.50 (I asked for a discount since the paper was in such shambles - hee, like I really cared - all I wanted were the cpn inserts!) Then I went out to my car and clipped the coupons I needed for this week (yes, I do keep scissors in my car.) Ended up buying 26 items for less than $13!! Some things I bought - Campbell's Soup, GG Frozen Boxed Veggies, Jello Pudding, Smart Balance butter, cooking spray, green cabbage, Uncle Ben's Flavorful Rice, Pioneer gravy packets, Listerine pocket pals, etc.

Yesterday I spent many hours researching for the best deal I could find on a piece of exercise equipment. I used froogle.com as well as just searching normally. I also read numerous reviews on various machines. I finally realized that for the amount of money I was willing to spend, probably the best thing I could get would be the Tony Little Gazzelle (yes, the one advertised on tv.) Then I started trying to figure out if I could get it through mypoints and so recoup some of the money I spent. -- I could!! At Target they have the Gazelle for ~$99.xx plus ~$20 shipping, so ~$120. Target is a Mypoints.com store, and is offering 6 pts per dollar. - so either 600 pts or 720 pts if they include shipping dollars. But then I thought, couldn't I sweeten the deal? I could buy a Target giftcard, and then use that same gift card to buy the Gazzelle. If I had a Mypoints credit card, the deal would be even better, but alas, I don't. I'd really like to get my Gazelle fairly quickly - and, lo and behold, what does Target have? Internet Gift Cards!!!! Does this sound like a feasiable plan?

I really wish mypoints.com had walmart as a store partner (they are a redeem card partner.) That way I could buy gift cards from them - earning points - and use it at WM gas stations for the $.3 discount - as well as when I download songs for my MP3 player I could earn points. Maybe I should email customer service with that idea. I've pretty much exhausted all the free trial and surveys they have for earning points, so I'm not sure how I'm going to get back up to the 10k level again to be able to get good gift cards for Christmas gifts.

I can't believe how tired I am! I tried going to bed by 10 pm last night, but my mind got whirling with the mypoints idea - so finally I got up to check it out. Then when I got back to bed I still couldn't get to sleep. My alarm went off WAY too early for my taste (5:30 a.m.) and could barely get myself out of bed. I just kept telling myself that today's assignment was worth ~$45 (after taxes) and that's almost enough to pay either the electric or water bill!

I think I'm going to talk to Lynn at the agency about finding something for me at least 3 days a week till this project is over - even if it paid a little less, it would possibly be more than 30 hours so it would even out, and then I wouldn't have to worry whether or not Geostats will actually have something for me to do to make 30 hours a week after this coming week is over.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura