happily random

Granola Deal

This is what 50 boxes of Quaker Chewy Granola Bars looks like. Regular price on these is $3.69 at Albertsons, totalling $184.50 for 50 boxes before tax.

I paid $5 for 50 boxes!!! That's 10 cents a box and 1 cent for each granola bar!

"How?" you may ask. Well, I will tell you, with pleasure (actually, with glee).

Albertsons has Quaker Chewy Granola Bars on sale 10 for $15. But when you buy 10 boxes, they take $3 off, making it 10 for $12.

Here's where it gets a little tricky. Albertsons accepts other stores coupons. Did you know that? They with take coupons from any of their local competitors. This month Fred Meyer, another of my local grocery stores, has a coupon for $3 off 5 boxes of Quaker Granola Bars in their monthly ads. I had one of these coupons for every 5 boxes of granola bars I bought, taking the price down to 10 for $6. That's pretty good, but it gets even better.

Not everyone knows this, but you can stack coupons. This means you can use a store's coupon with a manufacturer's coupon for the same item. Well, I had 25 coupons for $1 off 2 boxes of Quaker Granola Bars. That means for every 10 boxes, I got to take $5 off. That's how I got down to 10 for $1, or 50 for $5.

If I had realized that their was going to be a sale on granola bars that was this good, I would have gotten even more coupons. Unfortunately, the coupons expire on Saturday so even if I ordered some online, I don't know that I would get them in time to use them. But I know that that we will enjoy every bite of those 1 cent granola bars!

Dare I hope?

Spring is finally making an appearance. We awoke to bright, happy, blue skies and warm sunshine. At 7 a.m. the kids were already dressed and out the door, where they have been all day so far except for lunch. You would think it was 85 degrees mid-summer by the way they're dressed: capris, short sleeves and sandals (which they really had to hunt for since 95% of that stuff is still stored in the attic). The boys were even running around shirtless for awhile. At 12:30 though it's still only 59 degrees, but the sun is blazing making you think it's warmer than that. They're definitely Idaho kids. I overheard Beka commenting outside, "It's so hot..." LOL. From the reports I've heard, this is the second longest winter on record for our area. It may have been spring for 3 weeks now, but today has been the first really evidence of that. Our lawn still has about a foot of rock-solid snow covering it, and there are still small patches on the roof that are slowly shrinking as I write this. But we have seen butterflies floating by through the day which must mean that spring has come at last!

Conscience Decision

Yesterday I bought groceries at Safeway using my debit card. I usually use cash for my purchases, but I was out at the time (I had meant to stop at the bank before the store, but forgot until after I had the kids out of the car... of course!). Anyway, I decided to take $20 out while I was using my debit card for my purchase. Well, when my transaction was complete, there was some chaos with the children (as usual at the store) and I wasn't paying a lot of attention. When I got to the car and got the kids in, I checked my wallet and realized that I hadn't gotten my $20 (of course this was after I had buckle the kiddos into their carseats). So back in we went. The cashier was very kind and gave me my $20.

That evening when I was undressing, I emptied out the pockets of my pants and lo and behold: TWENTY DOLLARS! I checked my wallet and there was $20 there too. Uh-oh!

The things that ran through my head when I realized it! Thoughts of "I just made 20 bucks" mixed with thoughts of going back to the store and returning the overage. Money is tight right now and an extra $20 now & then would sure be nice. "No one would ever know," right? Wrong! I would know. God would know. How could I claim to be a Christ-follower and be dishonest like that? How could I tell my kids not to steal and then steal money from the store that wasn't mine? I have no problem saving money, but not in that way.

So of course, I went back today, kids in tow. I explained the mistake to Customer Service Attendant who gladly took the money back, although she looked a little surprise. It wasn't the easy thing to do, to give back $20 that I could have easily kept as my own. I was actually a little embarassed by my silly mix up.

But it was the right thing to do.

Toilet Paper Tower

This is what started it all, my couponing fanaticism: free toilet paper. It was the first free thing I got couponing back in November. Pair a 10/$10 Scott Toilet Paper deal at Albertson's with a $1/1 Scott coupon = 6 cents a roll (that's tax!). Today I got 25 free packages of toilet paper and I'm grinning like a fool. This is just 11 of my haul. So anyone interested in taking advantage of this deal that has an Albertson's near by, it's not too late. The sale just started today and goes through next Tuesday. Those of you that don't have the coupons from the paper in hand, you can print 2 coupons at Scott's website and get 2 free packages. Who knew that toilet paper could make me so happy?

Spring has not yet sprung here in North Idaho. Hopes are high with a forcast of a 65 degree Saturday this weekend, but call me a Doubting Thomas but I'm not holding my breath. As I write this tiny snowflakes drift down from the sky. It's been winter so long it's hard to believe that it'll ever be warm again...