Camera Fund STARTED!!

I am so excited! I opened my ING account today. I also put in $100.00. I am on my way, I now only need $600 more.

The picture is from Paul Klee. The unscholarly would pronounce it (Kl-ee) but us on this site know that it is pronounced (Clay). This peace is call Dance, Monster to My Soft Song. I have always liked this picture, I don' know why. It makes me laugh when I think about a monster dancing to a soft song. This monster looks anything but gentle and romantic. Klee is a transcendentalist artist. You know he likes the dreamy, romantic stuff. This picture is actually pretty grainy, its hard to make out the man playing the piano at the bottom.

Ask For It part 2

I already posted about asking for discounts or deals click here or here to see prior posts. If you don't ask you don't even have a shot at getting a discount. What can they say? No, its just the word no. Trust me they won't come across the counter and slap you. They may want to, but they won't.

Anyway here is another little tip that I have figured out along the way. When you are asking for a discount or asking for something to be put right that you know they did wrong. Make sure, o.k. pay attention, write this down. Make sure you look as if you are not going anywhere until this is settled. I think the people working behind the counter, cash register. etc.. want to get rid of you as quickly as you want your issue resolved. If you take the stance that you are unsure or that you are wrong, you probably will not get your deal. I have had customer service and cashiers say, "I will have to get a manager for that." I always say, "o.k., I will wait right here." I might move to get out of others way but I stay close. When you are asking for something make sure (write this down) to:
#1 BE KIND-always
#2 Stand up straight
#3 Look into the eyes of the person
#4 Ask for what you want directly, no beating around the bush.
#5 If you know that you are right or have corp. policy with you, get a manager involved.

Pray for Patience? NEVER

I never pray for patiences. I know this is probably wrong, but, I dont pray for patience because I know the only way for God to work on patience is to have my patience tested. I do not want my patience tested.

Why am I bringing this up? You ask. I am patiently, trying to wait to buy my camera. I also bring this up because, finally, I was able to use my Cremora (on further review it turned out to be Coffee Mate, same difference) coupon. Here's the story if you want a recap Click . When I went to Wally World the other night I had to check their price of the Mega Size (2 lb can) and to my surprise with my coupon I paid .14 for it. I can handle that deal, so my patience on this issue paid off.

I Have Figured It Out

I think I have figured out a way to afford my camera! I am so happy, I hope it actually works. Those of you who have been reading my blog and talking to me know how desperate I am to have the Nikon D60. If you don't you can read the story here.

Every year when we get out income tax back, I take half and put it into a seperate savings account and this is our vacation money. I take the other half and put it on any debt. I have our vacation money sitting in an account making next to nothing so I am going to take it and put it into an ING savings account, they are give 3%. When I pull our vacation money out in September I should at least have a little extra for my camera. I am also going to try and put little here and a littlw there of extra money into my new account.

After CVS it WasOff to Wally World

I have not been back to Wal-Mart since that last incident but decided some of the deals were to good to pass up. The Centsible Sawyer has some great deals posted so I tried my hand. Here is my Wally World deals:

Let me first say I had a total of 42 coupons

5 Yoplate plus yogurts 4ct

8 jars of Vlasic pickles

7 cans of Bushs grillin beans

2 Kens salad dressing

1 Kraft large salad dressing

6 Schick value pack razors (free)

4 Oral B Essential floss (free)

4 Huggies Clean Team wipes

3 HP printer paper (.97 each)

3 GV frozen lemonade concentrate

1 Large Coffee Mate (.14 after coupon)

This is 44 items

---Total before coupons 75.01

--Total OOP $22.33

Now the Good News

Now the good news. I am up and running better than before and I did some shopping last night, he he.

I went to CVS first, AFTER, the tornado touched down by our house of course. I did two transactions and here they are:

1st

2 Bounty paper towels

3 Duracell batteries

coupons used

2-.25 Bounty

3- .75 Duracell

$3 off $15 CVS purchase

Total ecb used $11.49

total OOP $3.96

2nd (I should have broken this up into two transactions to get another $3 off but oh well)

2 Chex Mix

2 Dawn dish soap

1 M & M 14oz

2 Swiffer wet

1 Gillette Fusion razor

1 Listerine Smart Rinse

2 CVS 60ct bandaids (these work for ecbs-40ct is advertised)

Coupons used

2-.25 Dawn

2-$1 Chex (these were free)

1- $1 off 2 Swiffer

1- $4 Fusion

1- $1 Listerine

$3 off $15 CVS purchase

Total ecbs used $25.69

Total OOP $3.50

---Total ECB's I have for next week $22.46

The Bad News

First the bad news. I love my husband to pieces, this is not the bad news. The bad news is my hubby thinks he has to click ads online when they pop up. The ones that always get him are the ones that say, "Hurry your computer is unsafe, click here NOW." Anyway as he was surfing the net one night he clicked, and yes, download a virus. I spent about 3 days last week trying to get it going, with no luck. We have a Dell computer so I called Dell. I LOVE Dell! If you are looking for a new computer buy a Dell. I called Dell and they walked me through the repair and waited on the phone with me for 45 minutes while my computer ran through the steps. Sorry to say the repair did'nt work
:( I had to totally reinstall my Windows XP. Yep, we lost everything. All of my files and programs that I loved where gone. I even lost some pictures, I am affraid to look and see what all I lost. My heart aches to think about it right now so back to the Dell guy. The Dell support guy then walked me through the whole install. I had a total of about 2 hours with tech support. After reinstalling I was off and running only to realize I could not get back online. I dialed the Dell support again. Another fine man walked me through installing one of my drivers and then he connected to my computer and installed the rest for me.
By the way all of this support did not cost me a dime. My computer was bought in 2004 and still they did it all for free. WHOA!

Let me say again I LOVE DELL.