The Passion Has Died

Its been slow, gradually over time, but yesterday marked the end.

I walked into CVS and used my last $2 in extra care bucks to by household necessities that would give me no more ECBs back in return. Just a straight transaction. $0.88 cereal and two boxes of $0.87 tissues.

Beyond yesterday, I haven't been in a CVS store or a Walgreens in about a month or so. The proof of which is the $3 in ECBs I had to throw away yesterday because they were expired.

When I first started playing the drug store game, I thought it was great fun. I'd bring home my purchases and make Jay guess how much I'd paid for the merchandise in front of him. Sorta like an at home Price Is Right.

You know you have an addiction when you have a room in your house named after your passion. Please meet my CVS closet.



The closet extends about 6 inches on either side of the door frame, so the picture is missing a row of tampons, a row of Mr. Clean wipes below that...etc.

So when the CVS deals started to go south, I justified my lack of shopping. Who wants to pay $0.50 for a tube of toothpaste when you've got at least 10 tubes at home that you got for free?

Then Walgreens discontinued their EasySaver program. I played their "Register Rewards" game for a week before decided that it was just too much effort and typically I still had to spend some money out of pocket.

So now its back to just Krogering for me. I'm still gonna clip coupons (my Kroger doubles coupons $0.50 or less so i get stuff for free there too) and keep and eye on the sale ads.

But for now, I'm in retirement.

Funny thing happened this morning. I finished the bottle of shampoo I have in the shower, restocked with a new one and discovered beyond that I only have one more bottle in the closet. Guess I'm gonna have to keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on shampoo. Even if I have to pay for it.

The night the lights went out...and the morning after breakfast

Last night, as Mr. Right and i sat reading by candle light, I knew exactly what my TILT post would be - I love electricity!

Only this morning, I got free chic-fil-a for breakfast, so I was a little conflicted.

So I decided to sing both of their praises!

Due to the wind/rain storm that came through last night, mr. right and I had no power until about 9:30 last night (which means no lost for me - don't spoil me please!)

We lose power in our area frequently, so I took home Taco Bell for dinner just in case. I had visions of getting 1/2 way through cooking dinner only to have the power go out and us left with out food and no way to clean up the mess.

It was a good thing that I did, because the power was already out by the time I got home. I gathered the candles and the flash lights while there was still daylight to see, and Mr. Right and I made sure the pathways were clear.

Our house is junkie because i'm a good wife. Yeah, that's it. I'm such a sweet wife, I don't complain when he leaves his crap laying everywhere. Seriously, for my own sanity I'd pickup after him if it stayed picked up. But he'll go looking for the item and then drag it right back out. But I digress.

Once it got dark we went to bed...

and read by candle light. Don't worry, once I finished my Marie Claire magazine, we worked on the Challenge. ;-)

He and I even discussed having an "electricity free" day once a month, just as a way to step back and appreciate what we have, and how blessed we truly are. Not sure that I'll be up to that come summer and 90 degree temperatures though!

Oooh, I just thought of another thing I love - City water! I hate the taste and I hate that we have a water bill every month. But it sure was nice to be able to freely flush toilets, wash our hands, and wash my makeup off. With wells, if the electricity goes off, you have no water because the pump can't run.

So what does any of this have to do with Chic-fil-a?



Nothing, but this month (at least in my area) they are giving away free biscuits. The chicken mini's to be exact. So while technically they didn't give me a free product to review, I did get a free product out of the deal.

Just because they are super cool like that. :) As a matter of fact they are giving away a free breakfast sandwich every Thursday in the month of February (in my area at least). All you have to do is take in a cereal box top.

I just walked up to the counter, handed my box top (that I'd gotten free at Walgreen's ages ago) and said "can I trade my corn pops for a biscuit?"

"Sure."

I walked out with 3 chicken minis in my hand and it cost me nothing but the gas to the store. Oh and 280 calories, but my corn pops would have been 220 any way.

For more great companies and products, check out Things I Love Thursdays, over at the Diaper Diaries

Suze Orman Ebook

For a free download of Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan, say a big "thank you" to Oprah. I'm not Oprah's biggest fan, but I do enjoy Suze Orman (is it sad that her Saturday night call in show is one of the things I miss about cable) and look forward to reading this book.