Savings Summary Saturday - May 12, 2012

Grocery Shopping (and other savings) this week:

• Saved 37% this week ($69.28 saved).  Some highlights:
• Texas Toast  Croutons - on sale for $1.  Used 50 cent/1 which was doubled = FREE!
• Colgate Toothpaste - on sale for $3.  Used $1/1 = $2 paid
• Cheerios - on sale for $3.  used 50 cent/1 which was doubled = $2 paid
• arm & hammer laudry detergent - BOGO.  used $1/2 = $3.30 each
• Thomas Bagels were 50% off - stocked up on those since that's my normal breakfast
• Store brand pizzas were $2.50 each - stocked up on those too since we eat pizza every weekend.
• Weight Watchers frozen meals - on sale for $2 each.  Used $3/6 = $1.50 each

I've had better shopping trips.  I did buy a couple of things that were BOGO and didn't have coupons for, some store brand items & produce.

• worked on preparing for the Community Yard Sale on May 19.
• organized and priced items in our storage area that are ready for selling

Gas Savings:

• Saved 10 cents per gallon with the Giant Card at Shell.  Also used the Shell SuperSaver card which saves an additional 2 cents per gallon.
• Hubby used our Exxon credit card, which will have points towards Upromise.

Things we got in the mail:

• Entertainment Weekly (from Mycokerewards.com)
• Got my Kindle Fire in the mail!  I did spend like $32 on a nice holder (saved 10% with my airport employee discount!).
• DVD from Swapadvd.com
• Unclaimed Property check - $640

Rewards programs:
MyPoints (personal account) - 12727 points (12602 points -last week)
MyPoints (coupon account) -  3290 points (3290 points-last week)
Swagbucks - 2500 points (2500 points-last week)
Listia - 14157 credits (14157 credits last week) $0 paid out (when buying credits it is $0.10/credit)
Postpoints -2925 points (2905 points last week)
mycokerewards - 4742 points (4651 points-last week)
Bondrewards - $25.71 ($25.56 last week)
Upromise - $15.59 ($15.59 last week) available for transfer
Capital One Rewards - locked out (3591 miles-last week)
Thanks Again - 898 points (871 points last week)
Viggle - 55,152 points (55,152 points - last week)
NCP - 39200 points (38965 points last week)

New Year, New Goals

• Use rewards programs to get gifts and daily stuff - no action this week
• Use Restaurant.com coupons - no action this week.
• Buy a New Car - BOUGHT IT! (BTW - paid cash for this).
• Set up an Estate - no action this week
• Monthly Review/Net Worth (new as of 5/9/12) - I saw this idea on Couple Money.  I don't take enough time to review our net worth and keep track on how we are doing.

The Importance of Teaching Your Dog "Drop"

What an eventful evening last night.

First of all, the jeep is back in the shop.  When I fill the tank, it REAKS - inside the car when I drive away from the gas station and then stinks up the garage for about 3 days afterwards.  Last night we left the garage door open just to air it out.

Back to the rental (a Jeep Patriot this time).  Anyway, I didn't have a garage door opener so I stopped out front of the house, ran around back, let the pups out, opened the garage and drove around.

When I was in the garage, I heard this SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK!  I run out to the yard and Esa has a baby rabbit.  Immediately I yell -

DROP!

She does and I grab her collar to pull her inside.  Zed, in the meantime, is wondering "What the hell is going on?  What is it?" and is trying to sniff the bunny.  I get him in and run back outside to check on the bunny and see if I can get him back through the fence.  Finally he got through the fence and just inside the neighbor's yard.

A little later, I went out with the pups, armed with a spray bottle.  They were sniffing all over the place, but seemed to be over it.  Bunny gone.  I could see him.  Still breathing.  Mama bunny had come over and checked on him.  First time I went out she was about 2 feet from him and then the next time on the other side of the neighbor's yard, but still watching.

I figured crisis averted.  Not quite.  I let Esa stay out (since she seemed to be over it), but next thing I know - SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK!  I run out and say DROP! and the bunny goes into my flower bed.  Great - even farther from the fence, but still alive.

Pups are back inside and about 30 minutes later, I went to check on the bunny and it wasn't there or it was totally nested there.  Esa couldn't find it the rest of the night, so I'm thinking it went back to the neighbors.

We knew the nest was next door.  Esa had noticed it about 2 weeks ago and started barking at it.  I didn't even think the bunnies would make it over to our yard especially since the dogs hang out on that side of the house.

This isn't the first time Esa has gotten a bunny either.  The first year or two when we got her, she did the same thing - mouthed it and threw it in the air.  Didn't hurt that one either.

So THAT was my evening and the reason it is important to teach your dog the drop command.  You may save a bunny's life.

Wordless Wednesday