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Book Fair is Over!

October 26th, 2013 at 09:10 pm

Despite my despair over having at least 30% less product than the previous two years, we still managed to make a similar amount to last year's profits! Of course, Schl is I guess trying to cut corners - which I found out when filling out the financial forms. The past two years I received Schl dollars for Principal Involvement, having a Middle School Crew, attending a Webinar, and having a Parent Event. This totaled around $150. This year I didn't read through the promotional materials because I thought I knew what I was doing (and was kind of distracted ...) so assumed I'd be able to earn for those things again. Nope. I only got $25 for attending a Webinar.

Since I used $35 Schl$ to pay my student crew (7 kids who helped me out on Tuesday - P/T Conference day), as well as spending $200 Schl$ on books from the fair ... this meant that I had to take some of our profits as Schl$. Thankfully it only reduced our cash profit by about $100. One of our teachers has said that he plans on using the Online link to purchase some items as well, so if that really happens, then we'll see a little bit more from that too.

It was an exhausting and stressful week (and Friday morning was the busiest four hours of the whole week for the third year in a row,) but in the end it was a successful run. One of my 8th graders who helped me with the clean up commented, "I miss the book fair already." Smile

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A few weeks ago NE told me about this website he stumbled across called go*fund*me * org. I didn't really have a chance to look into it until today. I had been thinking about maybe setting up a page to get donations to fund 20 new computers for our lab, but thought that might be overly ambitious. So what I did do today was set up a donation page to fund the purchase of 5 new digital cameras/cards. I found out yesterday that instead of my usual 5 or 6 Journalism kids, I'm going to have 8. We have 5 digital cameras right now (actually 4 ... one seems to have gone missing, but I just purchased one mostly using funds earned through Swagbucks, to replace it,) however, it can get kind of tricky when I need the cameras for my students to use AND teachers are asking to borrow a camera for taking pictures of various activities. If we had ten cameras, then there'd be enough for all 8 students, as well as two extra for teacher/staff use.

(I'd post a link to my page here, but it required me to use my real name/location and link to my FB account. It also seems to post the full name/location of donors - although I don't know if there is an anonymous option.) Tonight I might post a link to it on my FB page.

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I don't know why, but I seem to really enjoy time travel stories set in medevil(sp?) times. I remember this one book I read maybe 12 years ago that was like that, then a few years later when my car was broken into and I needed a distraction - lo and behold there was a movie based on that book in the dollar theater! (wish I could remember the name of it!!)

So anyway, a few weeks ago I came across a free ebook with the same idea - time travel/medevil(sp?) time period. It's called "Daughter of Time." I really, really enjoyed. So much so, that I spent $7 to buy the next two books in the series. (ebooks) That's the first time I've spent money on books for myself in I don't know how long.

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The dog I'm watching seems to have finally settled down. I've been letting her roam free both at night and during the day, and for the most part that has been without problems. (although yesterday I found out she'd had a #2 accident in my living room - yuck!) Her owners should be picking her up either Thursday or Friday. This has shown me that maybe it would be possible to have a dog - even with my schedule. I'd just have to get it in the summertime when I could make sure it was well trained before my school schedule started. Something to ponder for two summers from now (this coming summer will be too crazy with moving and job hunting to even think about adding dog training!)

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On Thursday I had a visit from a representative of a book donation organization I found out about a few years ago. I was able to show him where many of the books they've donated to us have been put, and let him know how much use they've gotten. (lots!) He told me that there should be another shipment coming for us in a few weeks. Cool! Hopefully there'll be lots of non-fiction titles!! Big Grin

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I have gone almost three weeks now without soda or fast food visits! Yesterday I was in big G doing my grocery shopping and almost stopped at TB, but resisted. As NE says - I could live for several months off of what I have in my cupboards ... Smile

Last night NE actually brought up how much he could save if he cooked more at home. He spends a lot at fast food places, and a considerable amount at restaurants. I've never said anything to him about it, but it certainly was something I'd thought. So I'm glad he's thinking about it at least. -- I mentioned that cooking at home could also be more healthy - that kind of got NE off on a tangent though about healthy food not being less expensive .. which wasn't really what I was talking about. If he and I end up getting married eventually, it'll be really interesting figuring out how to merge our two eating lifestyles. I'm a hoarder when it comes to food (grew up with a dad who believed that having a full pantry/fridge/freezer was of upmost importance) and NE is someone who only buys enough for one days meals (if he's going to eat at home..) For him though, it isn't because he doesn't believe in having food supplies, its more that he has a bit of a food addiction - if it's there, he'll eat it. I have that problem with chocolate, but not really anything else. His is more encompassing.

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Question -- About five weeks ago I impulse purchased a toaster oven from Walmart. I have since misplaced the receipt. Is there any chance they'd take it back and refund my money? I've not even taken it in from the car ...

10 Responses to “Book Fair is Over!”

  1. snafu Says:
    1382825091

    Congratulations on another successful book sale. W/Mart: is there any possibility the receipt is still in the trunk of the car?

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1382825248

    Thanks Snafu.

    It would be pretty unlikely - I almost always put the receipt in my purse. I'd cleaned out my purse shortly after the purchase, but am not sure what I did with some of the stuff I cleaned out of my purse ...

  3. Looking Forward Says:
    1382826462

    WTG with the book fair! Even with all the rough spots.
    WMart will take the return no prob, but without the receipt they will issue store credit.

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    1382827071

    Great job on a successful book fair!!

  5. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1382827585

    Thanks LF and CCF!

    LF, I will just go ahead and try to return it the next time I'm in town. I just remember with Kari's cat castle - the first time I returned the broken one I had the receipt and they traded it no problem - the second time I brought it to trade for another one, I didn't have a receipt and they wouldn't do anything for me. That's when I got the cat tower for her instead - 8 months and going strong (unlike the cat castle's which barely lasted a few months each due to her claws...)

  6. baselle Says:
    1382845560

    Congrats on the successful book fair. Re: the food ... I share NE's problem (if its visible I'll eat it) and don't have a lot in my pantry. I do have enough for a few days though and I know how to cook. Just not how to cook for 1 Smile. Any thoughts about sharing a cooking class with NE? College extension, big brand grocery stores sometimes hold them.

  7. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1382845741

    Thanks Baselle. NE does know how to cook, he just got out of the habit. However, taking a cooking class or two together once I'm out there this summer - that would probably be good for both of us. Smile

  8. Kiki Says:
    1382850258

    I am looking to buy some books for my niece for Christmas, any chance I can order through your website so that you can earn some money for your school? Or do you have to be associated with it already to be able to purchase?

  9. Thrifty Ray Says:
    1382896328

    Recently, I made a go "fund' me donation for my friend that lost her 3 week old son. There was an anonymous option for donors. It was a super easy way to donate too.

  10. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1382929593

    Hi Kiki - I sent you an email last night - but forgot to tell you that books ordered from our online book fair are sent directly to our school. I'd be happy to ship them on to you though if you still would like to do that.

    Thanks Ray! I haven't posted it to my FB page yet because I am not sure I really want to do that. But I'm not sure of another way to get the word out about it either ... I'm glad to know that there is an anonymous option.

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