The Simple Wealth

My husband bought new speed roller skates a few months ago, but he did not like them, because each skate has five wheels, he can’t manipulate them very well. Two days ago he told me that he’s shopping for new skates again. I did not comment on that. He is not as frugal as I am. Surprisingly, yesterday he took apart his old and ‘newer’ skates, he replaced the old wheels and bearings of his old skates with the newer ones from his newer skates. He tried his modified skates, and he loved them, he told me that he did not need to buy new skates any more. I was very impressed, and decided to write a post about it.

In this weekly ad, Walgreens is having a promotion for buying $10 worth of select Kellogg’s items and receiving $5 in Register Rewards. There are 3 options:

1.Kellogg’s cereals on sale 4 for $10.

2.Snacks: 4 for $10, any combination of Nutri-Grain Bars, Special K bars, Sandies Pecan Shortbread, and Keebler Club Crackers.

3.Cookies or snacks: 5 for $10, any combination of Pop-tarts, Cheeze-it crackers, RIce Krispies Treats, Keebler Fudge Shoppe Fudge stripes Cookies.

In last Sunday’s newspaper, there was a Fuel for school booklet with lots of Kellogg’s coupons and a $10 rebate form if you buy 10 items in one transaction. If you still have last Sunday’s newspaper in the recycle bin, you should dig it out and discover tons of great coupons inside. If you don’t want them, give to me, please, ha ha!

Be aware of Rewards Programs

I was trying to decide if I should buy 10 Kellogg’s products in Walgreens or else where to get $10 rebate, because it’s limited to 1 Register Rewards coupon printed per offer in Walgreens, I decided to buy 4 or 5 items to get a $5 Register Rewards, and do the $10 rebate somewhere else.

Since I don’t really need more cereal for a while, and I like to get some Nutri-Grain Bars, I went for option 2. I got 2 boxes of Nutri-Grain bars, and 2 boxes of Special K Bars.

At the cashier, I handed over my 2 $1 off 2 coupons from the Fuel for School booklet for Nutri-Grain and Special K Bars, so the math was $10 for 4 minus $2. The cashier did not give me a $5 Register Rewards coupon, so I asked for it, and she looked and got 3 coupons, 2 $5 Register Rewards coupon and 1 coupon for Natural Instinct Hair Color, she gave me the 2 $5 Register Rewards coupon and kept the Hair Color coupon. Some cashiers forget to give printed out coupon(s) to customers, and some customers are not aware of stores’ rewards programs. Lucky me, I was supposed to get 1 $5 Register Rewards-if you don’t know what that is, it’s like cash to be used in Walgreens-but I got 2. So I paid $8 for 4 boxes of snacks, and got $10 back. Last time, I made $1 by buying 2 boxes of Hair Color in Walgreens, it gets better and better.

But even without manufacture coupons and 1 extra $5 Register Rewards, to buy 4 boxes of cereal bars for $10 and get 1 $5 Register Rewards, which means 4 boxes cost only $5, is still a pretty good deal, so hurry up, the promotion is good through Saturday, August 9. And remember to ask for your Register Rewards coupon, if the cashier forget about it. And you can do separate transactions to get more $5 Register Rewards coupons.

In the town where I live, there are a few places that blackberry bushes grow wildly. Now it’s time to pick blackberries for free through September. My daughter still remembers that I baked some blackberry pies last year. She has good memory, well, about some things. She can’t remember where she put things last.

We enjoy taking a walk to pick blackberries. The berries on the branches that are just a couple inches out of reach look so tempting and so ripe. I decided to bring a pair of tongs with me one time. It did help some, but it felt better with bare hands though.

While I was busy picking blackberries, my baby was busy eating. Her face with berry juice all over always made me laugh.

This is such a luxury to be able to take a walk in the neighborhood and pick blackberries grown in the vacant field for free. If you don’t have such luxury nearby, maybe you can try Pick Your Own Farms, Frugal Family Time – Picking Blueberries from Tales from the Road Less Traveled shared her experience: pick a gallon of blueberries for $6. Wow! such a good deal! Blueberries, yummy, my daughter could eat a pound a day-one day, I bought 1 pound of blueberries sometimes, and one day it lasted usually.

Recent Carnivals

Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness #52 is hosted at Credit Card Lowdown. I enjoyed Nathalie’s post, Accepting The Source Of Your Income, from Billionaire Woman.com.

Carnival of Financial Learning #9 is hosted at Financial Learn. I like the post All I Ever Needed to Know About Money I Learned Playing Golf from Trees Full of Money, he started making money from selling golf balls landing on his parents’ front yard from the golf course across the street. How smart!

136th Festival of Frugality - The Summer School Edition is hosted at Student Scrooge. I like the post 10 Foods You Should Always Splurge On from Cheap Healthy Good. Small difference in price, but big in taste.

Carnival Of Tips - August 2, 2008 is hosted at Tip Diva.

Carnival of Everything Finance: # 20 is hosted at Everything Finance.

Lots of great posts, take a look, enjoy!