I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Archive for the ‘cool stuff’ Category

If you have a Walgreens near you, you can get one free 8×10 print today or tomorrow by ordering online and using the code FREEPIC at checkout. Choose in-store pickup to make it completely free!

I already ordered mine and will pick it up on the way to work. Lucky for me I drive by no less than 3 Walgreens on my normal to-work route. Hee hee.

I have been a member of the Frugal hacks blogroll for quite some time, and enjoy browsing the different member blogs and seeing all the different approaches to frugality out on the web.  Last week, I was honored to be invited to become a regular contributor at the Frugal Hacks blog, and my first (and introductory) column appears today.  I will be appearing at Frugal Hacks on Thursdays, alternating between discussing frugal money management tips and frugality beyond money.

So feel free to click on over and read my first post!  There won’t be any less content here, it’ll just be an addition piece over there once per week, some of the time about broader frugality topics than I discuss on this blog.  Next week I’ll be discussing frugal bra shopping for the not-average woman.  It’ll be interesting, I think.  Even if you are a guy.  

If you want to keep up with the Frugal hacks blog and all of their wonderful contributors, feel free to subscribe to the Frugal Hacks RSS feed.  You are of course encouraged to subscribe to the paidtwice  feed as well if you are a regular reader here.  Frugality forever! 

In the spirit of working on controlling the grocery budget, this deal is very timely!  I was alerted to this on Me Vs. Debt (which is a great blog if you haven’t read it before, and hey, the name rules in and of itself!) :

The coupon insert in yesterday’s paper (9/21) has, among other coupons, a $0.50 off coupon for Cottonelle toilet paper, 4-pack or larger.  My local Kroger triples coupon at or under $0.50 (and most Krogers either double or triple them, check with your local one or look in their circular to be sure) and this week (at least at my Kroger), the Cottonelle 4-pack is $0.99.  So I got one free just now.  The register will just take the remainder off the price, it is not a money-making deal, but it is free toilet paper if you have yesterday’s coupons. I do not know what the regular price is, if yours does not have it on sale, but comparable brands at my Kroger were still under $1.50 regular price.  So it would still be free.

If you happen to be near a Kroger and have yesterday’s coupons, check it out!  I had to go to the bank and post office today and Kroger was right on my way. 

Those plastic shopping bags really are ubiquitious, aren’t they?

I’ve been using almost solely reusable shopping bags since Christmas, and before that I brought my own shopping bags to Aldi when I shopped there.  But I would get bags from Walmart and Kroger, so I wasn’t completely using reusables.  But at Christmas, I got a few reusable shopping bags, and combined with the ones I salvaged from my house, I now have enough to get through an entire shopping trip at all three stores.

And yet, I still have a large number of plastic “disposable” shopping bags.  Having a few around the house in case I need them would be okay, but I have far too many.  So I decided to run a challenge for myself (and anyone who would like to join!) for the month of August, and try and cut down the number of plastic disposable bags I have.  Without simply throwing them away directly – by putting them to some sort of use that ends their lifespan.  This challenge also requires that I stick to using reusable bags whenever possible as not to add to the number I have.  My goal is to find ways to use disposable shopping bags instead of something I would have to buy and pay money for.  I’m not sure exactly what I am going to replace and how I am going to do that, but that’s what the challenge is about.  thinking creatively and finding solutions that don’t cost me money, and using things I already have.

Want to join in?  Great!  Go find your stash of disposable plastic shopping bags (we all have one, right?) and count it.  I did, and I had 60.  Yikes!  And that is with consciously reducing the number I generate for the past 7+ months!  Now then – the challenge is simple.  Set a goal for how many you would like to have by the end of August.  My goal is 10, which means I need to reduce my stash by 50.  I would like to have a few around for random odd jobs – like cleaning out the kitty litter and lining small trash bins, but I don’t need a huge supply.

Each week I will post a challenge update post, and with it, ask for comments on how you are doing with the challenge, what your current plastic bag tally is, what uses you have found for them so far, and ways you’ve avoiding collecting more.  I’ll update the end of each post with the numbers tally for participants, and then at the end of the month, I’ll write a post collecting all the tips in one place.  Simple, right?

To start – here are ways I already reduce collecting more bags and ways I use the ones I have:

• I bring reusable bags to the grocery stores I shop in.
• I bring a few plastic bags to the stores as well in case I buy meat or something else I want contained in a plastic bag that I will dispose of.
• I line small trash cans with the grocery bags.
• I use the grocery bags in our diaper bin.
• My spouse uses one s a lunch bag and reuses it each day until it falls apart.

And here is my first idea for collecting even less of them in the future:

• Bring reusable bags to other types of stores if they allow it – I found in my stash, at least 20 of the bags I have left are not from grocery stores at all.

Join the challenge!  Stop collecting plastic bags, and put the ones you already have to some sort of use before they get thrown away.  And if you don’t have any reusables – that’s okay.  You can reuse the plastic ones you already have when you shop, or look around your house for unused tote bags and other types of bags you can repurpose.  One of my shopping bags was from the hospital when I came home with my daughter.    I’m going to have to think very creatively to eliminate 50 of my plastic bags this month and actually use them in a truly useful manner, but I am up for the challenge.  And so are you. 

Alison at This Wasn’t In The Plan asked me to write a guest post for her while she was on vacation about how where I am in life isn’t in my original plan, and I was happy to do so.  Alison is one of the few bloggers I actually knew personally from before I started blogging, and she claims reading my blog is why she started blogging as well.  Fun!

Alison blogs about frugality and simplicity and managing her household, so give her blog a visit and you may learn a few frugal tips!