One Frugal Little Blossom

Well, I tried.

And I tried.

And now, I'm not trying anymore.

They even stole my metal envelope with all the coupons in it. It's sad. I can't do that anymore. I even spent $12 to buy that envelope. /sigh

The good news is that I bought the couponmom book and I have used some coupons and methods and wisdom and I saved 10.00 on an originally 18.00 bill! Cut it right in half! Thank you!

More good news: God's taking good care of me. Thank you God.

Alright. I've got permission to post the tin box, I've got the coupons, and I've got worries.

Putting out the coupons is a nice fun idea, and I intend to keep with it. But also, we're moving in April. I'd need someone to be the main "manager" of the tin and check up on it.

So...I don't what I'll do about that time.

OK, so we're back.

Last time someone took down my Coupon envelope. For what reason, I'll never know. This time I have a strategy.

I'm going down to the main office and speaking to the person who is in charge of managing the laundry rooms, and this the fliers boards. I'm going to ask permission to "install" a permanent enevelope, the tin one I've been looking at. The last one I did in fact order I gace to my neighbors to use as an outgoing mail holder. Works great. Anyways.

Going down there and asking to install it permanently and hopefully next to the board instead of on it. I'm getting permission so that I can then do this: ask for a note that can be photocopied and posted NEXT to the envelope to let everyone know that I am allowed to have it there, and no, they may not simply remove it since it's made of paper and I paid for it. I'll prolly post a paper explaining how to use the envelope and some coupons.

I've partially put this motion in plan by going next door to my neighbors and gathering all the ads they don't need or use, to cut the coupons out. I also happened to get some from my friends mom, a nice good batch too. Overall, I've cut them and I have a LOT of coupons. I mean a lot. Basically, so many that I had to get a mini box to hold them all, and I'm still cutting.

Of course afterwards I purge them to make sure they are all valid and if there's any I might use. This is where a lot of science comes in, involving getting the coupons and applying them to personal use.

After I cut them, I trim them because no one needs access blockage. Then I purge them to make sure that they are all valid. Anything still good even two days from cutting day gets put in. Anything still good only for one day is not worth the time. I check the validity while cutting, and again after cutting.

When I'm done, I go through them to see if there's any I could use and this is where it actually got complicated.

First, you have retailer coupons, and then you have manufacturer coupons. Retailer coupons can only be used a certain store. Manufacturer coupons can be used anywhere that product is sold, for the most part.

Coupons are completely useless unless you know how to use them skillfully. (Yes, it is an art.)

Let's say I have a coupon for product Planet. But actually, I usually buy product Starfish. If product Planet isn't equal to or less than in price value compared to Starfish, I'm not really not saving any money. For example:

Planet: $3.00
Starfish: $3.60
Coupon: $0.50

I'd still be paying $3.10, so, I'm not saving anything.

Unless I intend to sample product Starfish.

So we have that. Next, I had some coupons for meal deals at various restaurants. This became pretty tricky since I can't just go eating all whenever I want, so I have to factor various things to determine which coupon is best to use:

When I'm going out.
The area I'll be going to.
Am I going out with another person?
Which location might be closer
Which location regularly has cheaper meals?
Do I want to try going to a different place anyways?
Can this coupon be applied to me and my friend if we eat out? (That way, we both might as well get a decent deal, since we can split the bill anyways. Many meal coupons require an extra entree or beverage to be purchase to get any value out of it.)

Wow, complex. Coupon moms, you should be teaching a class on this! American college kids NEED you.

I'm still working out it.
Howeve,r i nthe midst of all this, I did notice something. I personally think that instead of constantly making consumers keep up with various sales, deals and advertisements (and wasting SO many trees), it would be so much easier if Sears, and Best Buy and others could just put out COUPONS instead. But that's just me. I'm sure there's another side to it I'm not seeing, yet.

Happy Coupon Cutting!

It looks like my budgeting is getting off to a bad start. I was going ot go out shopping thinking I still had my 60$ but it turns out I only had 12$ to my name! Yikes!

Always ALWAYS check your balance before you go out.

...is when the store you want to shop at that night is closed. I seriously wanted to buy at least $10 worth of stuff at the Asian Depot but they were totally closed.


It's a perfectly good way to save money. Hard to buy stuff when the stuff isn't there...


So I went to Publix and bought $10 worth of birthday gifts for my brother.


I really really like the Asian store because they always have wierd imported foods that you can't read since it's written in Chinese. It's fun to pick it up and go "Let's see if I can finish this one!" so sometimes it's like going into a theme park for me. You never know what will be there. I buy the stuff just to try it. (Maybe if I start a really really good food blog on it, I'll get paid and be able to afford to buy the stuff =/ )

The Asian Store has a nice trick though, which isn't posted anywhere in the store. If you pay with a card, there's a minimum of $10 you have to buy, or they won't accept the purchase or transaction. It really makes me go gurr.

It's pretty expensive. When a box of Pocky costs like 2.99 to 4.99, yeah.

/sigh Oh Asian Store.

Working on a plane, people often seem to leave perfectly good things they pay for behind. Full bottles of water, whole meals. I find TONS of perfectly full water bottles (and I mean FULL, way more full than American water bottles) just left sitting there. And whole sandwiches with condiments in their plastic trays still wrapped in plastic.

I don't know if the meals are complimentary. Based on the services I have seen that BA provides to travelers, I would guess so.

Nonetheless, it's a shame to see people just leave it there. Especially if it's free. I don't care if it's an eight hour flight, you still have it, and it's still good. Take it home, stick it in the fridge, it'll still be good after 2 days. What a waste, wealthy or not.

OK, admittedly, I have a similar problem at home. Such as the potatoes Dad cooked tonight. I was thankful for the potatoes and the chicken and the veggies. I didn't finish my portion of the potatoes; I should have even if they were soggy. So...I...threw them away. But it's still something to work on. It's just more noticable when it's your job to literally find it.

According to one woman who I know very well who works in the BA's Club area (a.k.a The Lounge) some people do similar things. Now, the things in the the BA Club Lounge, ARE in fact free. All the accodomation and food and drinks there are free with membership. People take whole bottles of wine, pour one glass, take one sip, and leave it. Or the same with whatever other foods and drinks. One woman even took her purse and put all the lounges chip bags in it.


Wealthy or not, it's good to not waste, even if it isn't at your expense. It's simply good not to. Even if it's free. (Or especially if it's free!).

It's something I want to work on too, and am. Ironically, I can always clear my plate at anyone else's home. But I didn't finish my tatters.

My goal for 2010 Financially: Budgeting. I want to get it down to some sort of art if only for a year. I have a car bill, and a medical bill, and a car insurance bill (shared with Dad) to pay. I'm also considering the birthday gifts I need to buy. Sometimes I but them early so I'll be ready, but I can't buy too much, and I won't be buying ANY Christmas gifts again. So, things included in budgeting:

Medical Bill
Car Insurance
Money That Goes To Dad For Whatever Else
Car Repair Bill
Yearly Birthday Gifts
Random Needs
Occasional Wants
Tithe
Estimated Gas


*sigh*
I do need to spend it wisely. Let's see...there's not much I really want except for Makoto Shinkai's Sora no Kioku book, because I like his art. And I need about 2 to 3 new pillows because somehow they got soaked with only God knows what or how, and it's a health need for real. I may need a new photo album. I may need to get a new monitor, because my current one is actin' funny.
I also need to totally get my PC redone. But if it costs too much, I might as well save up for a new one, and God-willing I'll be able and it might even be a Mac, not that I need one or deserve one. But I'm a tech junkie and I haven't had a Mac to work on. On the other hand, I really think Safari is the ugliest browser in the world, but it happens to display things actually beautifully.

So, budgeting. Tomorrow in fact I'm going to start buying some early birthday gifts. (I'm one of those currently).

I'll prolly need to cut back on Starbucks. I don't buy too often but it CAN be addicting, only because Starbucks is like the only cafe we all know off the top of our heads anywhere even though all coffee you buy tastes the same anywhere.

So, budgeting for the third time is my goal.

Coupon Update: Somebody tore down my wonderfully cheaply made paper coupon envelope....which is why I've ordered a galavanized tin one I can screw it into the wall ^_________^. Or board.

I also need new clothes. Oh boy.

I got tons of them this year. At least 4 I think. I love gift cards. Free money. You can buy things you like, things you want, things you might possibly be able to use, things you actually could use, things you seriously NEED.

Or, alternatively, use them to buy gifts for other people who you couldn't afford gifts for in the first place. (Guilty).

But as I went out yesterday to spend my gift cards I found that...

I didn't want anything or need anything. I actually stood for a full 3 minutes in the middle of Walmart thinking to myself "Well...what should I use this for?".

I love doing mail art, but I have plenty of material. I love fishing but I don't really fish though. I like books but Walmart isn't exactly Walden Books. I like my garden but they only had Christmas Garden stuff anyways. I'd like to have a goldfish but I already have a cat and a bird and my life isn't organized enough to change the water everyday. I'd feel a lot more nice buying some feminine products like make-up or some cool new skin item. But I'm lazy and my life still isn't organized enough to fit it into my 5 minute bathroom time schedule. I refuse to buy food with it. I already have a nice flash drive. They didn't have any Crocs I could buy, which are good for wearing in the rain.

In the end I couldn't decide on anything. I simply used it to get two deodorants since I use those everyday.

That doesn't mean I won't use them. But this is what being Frugal does to you.

I found some galvanized tin envelopes to use as official coupon envelope holders. This will be good. I can just nail it to the wall. Mwah!

Also, they took away our postal mail box awhile ago, so anyone can buy these and use them to hold the outgoing mail which makes the mailman happy I think. Which was the whole point.


http://shop.scrapbooks.com/sbc-kw2592.html

http://shop.scrapbooks.com/sbc-kw2592.html

So, if you live in a community apartment area-like place you can use these tinvelopes to hold coupons, fliers, or outgoing mail.

Looking at a Japanese fashion site, I am reminded of one time when I strolled into Nordstrom's which had recently opened at a new mall nearby. I had never heard of Nordstrom's before, and strolled in to get a look.

Seeing the price tag of the first clothing item I admired, my face dropped. It was a beautiful $250 chocolate and cream wooly sweater like shirt.

I didn't have the money to buy that of course. I could have saved up for it. But why? So I could get coffee or chocolate on it the first time I wear it? Would I impress anyone with it, as though I'd leave the price tag on it for others to come up and check out?

People often have a negative view on high fashion items. I have to admit that I rather do too, only because as I am, I view it as pointless to have an item so highly priced.

Instead, I'd truly like to understand what's involved in that price other than a name, and a possible faux glamor feel for some. What materials are used? How much of that material? Where are they ordered from? How much do they cost? The economics of the price are much more interesting to me, but only out of curiousity.


Furthermore, I'd like to ask the creators of these items how they feel, sincerely, about having such a lot of money and what it means to them as designers and artists. How do they feel about creating an article of clothing for a sometimes very limited market? How would they feel knowing that to a vast majority of us, it's meaningless? How do they feel about people paying for their name?

I'm a sticker freak. When I write letters, I smother, splatter and strangle them with stickers. I'm a sticker connoseiur.

But I ran out of stickers. And I didn't have the money for more. Well, I decided NOT to spend the money on more.

Instead I decided to strictly use what I already have. I have markers, pencils, color pencils, stencils, glue, misc gluable things, scrapbook paper. I decided that instead of buying stickers I'm going to use what I already have. Sticker industry, I'm on strike! (Nothing personal).

Ok, so it won't save me a lot of money in the long run. Most stickers around here (FL) cost anywhere from $0.99 to $2.99 and up for the expensive fancy stuff.

It saves me from buying the unnecassry and afterwards it's fresh to start over once I really have used everything up. I've had these pencils and markers and pens for YEARS now. It's time to use them.

Also with my beloved stickers to provide the pretty prety colors and pretty pictures, I'm forced to be more creative. (Or, in more recent cases, just to deviantart.com for ideas.)

And I've decided to this with everything. My papers, food, body lotions (thanks to my friends over the years, I have a 4 year supply at least), and tons more.

Saved me from buying more crap and wasting money!

USE it or WASTE it.

That's what I find on airplanes all the time. Books, BA pencil cases with pens in them, free black socks, toothbrushes, packets of lotions more books...

It's really interesting to find and nice to know that if I ever run out of pens at home, I know where to go some at no cost but...

I still wonder if keeping the books is ok. Shouldn't we turn them in? People leave shawls and such. But there's always so many books.

What I do with them is take them home and post them online, trade them, and order more books for free. I still don't know if it's wrong. I hope it's not.

/sigh

Who knew free stuff on airplanes could be so confusing?

Well, that might the only really "free" stuff considering they'll be charging us for air anytime soon to make up for our national deficit. >.>

Because I am a fox. And I like chicken.
In the the grocery store where this fox used to work, the deli sadly throughout tons of chicken. It was sad. Fox could only shed tear after tear as all her beloved poultry was thrown into the trash night after night.


Fox still wonders why al lthat chicken had to go to waste, when it could have been in her tummy. She also wonders if something could be done so that the chickens and the money they represents don't go to waste.

She doesn't understand how that entire process works, buying the chicken, forecasting sales and such- she just wants the chickens to stop being thrown away!


Do any other animals of the wild know what happens to their deli chickens when they aren't eaten?

I've worked in a few jobs where bad training had it's financial consequences. In the second job I ever worked out, a nameless restuarant, a group of veteran employees was flown in to train us in groups for the specific positions. Most of them were just happy to take the test that would accompany this new project for them, because this meant they would get a raise, and that was the ONLY way to get a raise in the company. You had to train someones AND take a test, and pass the test. The training was not very one on one at all, or organized. They might as well had just thrown me in on the first day of opening and said Go for it. I don't support George Carlin, but as he would say, "You got a pencil? Well, get in there it's physics!".

I ran the salad and it went on for months for that no one told me you we're supposed to SAVE the the lettuce that was on top, still chilled and fresh throughout the day. My thinking was that lettuce had been out all day and should be thrown away. But I should have been saving this lettuce instead of throwing it out every night for the next month or so, which even went unnoticed. That was hundreds of dollars worth of lettuce being thrown away, by me. Granted I should have asked to make it clear perhaps but nonetheless it should have been stressed as well.

At my current job, no one stressed NOT to throw away head phone sets that we're still good. So I was mindlessly throwing those away until I recalled the above story, and did the sensible thing.

This was a good lesson and taught me that I shouldn't throw away office supplies because I dislike my boss. Because in saving his money, I'm saving my pay check and everyone elses too.

This year for Christmas, I wanted to go all out. I mean, ALL OUT. I wanted to buy practically EVERYONE I knew on the planet a gift this year. I still didn't have a lot of money but I thought "Well, if I make a plan, then maybe..."

The plan?


No more than $3 per person, gift wise. Factor in FL tax, and that means any gift wouldn't cost more than $3.21.

Which would mean the following as well:


5 persons: $16.05
10 persons: $32.10
15 persons: $48.15
20 persons: $64.20
25 persons: $80.25
ect.

Ok, so...it didn't work out. However, the three dollar plan does work in some cases, and it's reasonable since you won't be able to find anything for $2 where I at least live. But I did still decide that if I ever want to splurge on someone to my money's content I'm doing it on their birthday.

When you book a flight on BA, each passenger gets a free packet which contains a toothbrush, a pair of thin black socks, headphones, and a small donation envelope for UNICEF.

Sadly, I don't find many donations at all. Only about 5 packets have been found since I've been there. This is still good, no matter how much the amount is. But there's two problems, which pretty much make these donations near pointless.

First, the donation needs to be given to the cabin crew, but during flight. This is a must, and it would seem that most of them or a portion of them aren't. It seems most people just put them in the seat pocket, which is fine, but the cabin crew are not the ones who actually see any of this, and they will not find the packets at all.

Now, all I have to do is take the packet and give it to someone for BA, and it gets stored and that should be simple enough.

The second problem is I can't trust my immediate supervisor with it, and there's no other designated person to give them to. These are donations, not free-for-finding coins, which are first find, first keep. But my boss won't turn them in, he'll pile them up and exchange them later. So I end up taking them home and storing them up until I have enough worth sending to unicef. It's rather tiring.

Please give your slips to the cabin crew to make sure they get to the organization!



/sigh

Cleaning airplanes, you find a lot of coins. On BA, I always find British coins (of course), Carribean coins, Australian coins, Canadian coins and some English ones. I collect them when ever possible but recently I decided not to keep all the ones I have. There's no use hoarding them all, as though the 1.34 pounds I've managed to save so far will come in handy anytime soon. If He ever sends me to one of those places, I'm sure I'll have what I need. Instead, I take the extras and send them to my friends over seas with letters. 5cents outa help you get a soda at least =/

Furthermore, I really thought those coins, a saved up chunk would amount to a lot in American dollars. You can get them exchanged at the airport, but they won't give you much for it. Oh well.

I don't know about all of us, but have you noticed that when you pay for gas in cash or with your card inside the store, you actually get less gas than when you pay as you go at the pump with your card? Try it next time.


Around the last dollar amount, it always slows down. It reduces to a trickle, so you're not really getting as much as you could.


Something to think about. It always annoys me.

I work for a company that cleans airplanes for British Airways. Our job is to trash (meaning, to PICK UP the trash) the plane floor, overheads and especially the seat pockets. Oh, the seat pockets.

You know. The ones that hold the magazines, survey cards and waste bags. Yes, the waste bags.

British Airways, we have a problem, which is NOT over.You're wasting your money on those waste bags because...no one is using them. I clean your airplanes. I know this.

Those waste bags are there for those of us who have weak stomachs, are sick or have a little bit of stuff to throw away.

In all the 5 months I've been working there, I have only found 2 bags that were used.

BA, it seems your wasting your money because no one is using your waste bags...they simply stuff it into the pockets without looking. And sometimes, I end up throwing them away anyways when they become too crinkled or torn or mixed in with all the garbage in the seat pocket which wasn't put into it.

So, for all us frugalites and financially savvy people, if you'd like to put your airlines money to good use, please use the waste bags for your candy wrappers, napkins, utensils, miniature coke bottles and diapers please. Also, it'll help us cleaners to make your flights prettier, and more organized.

You are now free move about the seat pocket.

After spending some times on SA, I was suddenly struck by an idea which I thought might help people, and was something (novel) to my life. I live in an apartment complex and we have a laundry room. I'm constantly taking mindless trips down there for no apparent reason, and I figured I might as well make myself useful. Why not start a community coupon bin? It could be hung up on the wall and people could add and take coupons as they needed, and should someone find an expired one, we can put a note on it asking everyone to throw away the coupon. (You have time to kill at the laundry matt anyways).

The benefits I figured would be that people tend not to take advantage of things not easily accessible, and for those who don't have computers to visit Coupons.com, having some sort of option would still be nice.

But where was I going to enough coupons to kick this thing off? I went next door to my neighbor who regularly gets the paper. Our apartment complex has just started a recycling center and I knew he'd have some batches of newspaper, and their shiny glossy ads with them. I was right. Two whole batches and 3 hours later I had over 40 coupons and offers valid, cut, and ready to be used!

I grabbed on envelope, wrote a nice message on the front (including Do Not Throw Away Please!) snuck out (at 3.am) and posted it in the laundry.

I climbed out the next night, and discovered the papers ruffled, which meant someone has at least looked at them.

Mission accomplished.