The Son and I made our trek across the entire metro area to the hospital’s liver clinic this morning.  Not only did the morning rush-hour commute turn out to be fairly easy (we got there about 20 minutes early), but even better, the doctor assured me that The Son’s elevated bilirubin level is caused by something called Gilbert’s Syndrome and is essentially benign.  Wow, that’s a weight lifted.  The visit cost me a $50 co-pay but parking was free 

The Son didn’t feel well enough to eat breakfast at 7:30 am this morning but he sure was ready to eat at 11:00 am when we finally left the hospital.  He practically begged me to feed him on the way home.  Being the softy that I am, and so relieved at the diagnosis, I gave in pretty quickly to his request with my only condition being that I didn’t want to feed him junk.  So we stopped at Wild Oats where he wolfed down a slice of pizza and a house-brand soda (so much for the “no junk” position, huh?) — $3.82.  I figured that he’d surely been through as much of an ordeal as I had and, thus, deserved a little comfort food.

And my acts of kindness didn’t stop there — we stopped quickly in Barnes & Noble where we used a gift card to purchase a new Terry Pratchett book, Small Gods – $0.00 out of pocket.  It was my own gift card but the deal is that I buy any gift cards he receives for Christmas that he won’t use — I think the only one he got this year was for Gap.

This afternoon I made a dash to the grocery store (Kroger) in a short-lived but nasty snowstorm.  The storm really was, if not a blizzard, at least really close to it and I had no idea of how long it would last or how much snow it would produce.  So, naturally, I stocked up.  Part of the loading of the cart was in anticipation of a doozy of a blizzard and part of it was avoidance of the inevitable — having to go back out into it in order to get home.

My purchases, less applied coupons, came to $105.21 but my out-of-pocket expense was only $80.21 because I had five Kroger checks for $5 each that I applied to the purchase.  We’d received the checks, and the $1.50 worth of coupons I used, in the mail as part of our rewards/incentives of our Kroger 1-2-3 Rewards credit card that I use for all food purchases.

• 2 boxes of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal — $3.00/box (saved $0.69/ea plus a $0.75 Kroger coupon)
• box of Kroger Raisin Bran — $1.89
• 11 Pria energy bars — $0.89/ea (saved $0.10/ea)
• 2 ProMax energy bars — $1.59/ea
• Applegate sliced turkey — $4.99
• dozen brown Nest Fresh eggs — $4.39
• loose carrots — $0.80
• celery — $2.09
• broccoli crowns — $1.83
• green onions — $0.89
• cucumber — $1.29
• bartlett pears — $2.43
• Idaho potatoes — $2.18
• organic Granny Smith apples — $5.58 (the organic apples were exactly the same price as the conventional)
• 3 bananas — $0.51
• box of Clementines — $4.99 (saved $2.00)
• NaturePath toaster pastries — $3.49
• 2 packages Bounty 8-roll — $7.00/pkg (saved $3.69/pkg)
• Gladware containers (small round; for school lunches) — $2.50 (saved $0.59)
• Amy’s cheese pizza snacks — $3.29
• Amy’s pocketful pizza pocket — $2.29
• 2 lbs Horizon butter — $3.33/lb (saved $2.16/lb)
• 1/2 gallon Horizon chocolate milk — $3.29 (saved $0.20)
• Rudi’s organic Country Morning White bread — $4.59
• Cascadian Farm blackberry fruit spread — $3.19
• Cascadian Farm grape fruit spread — $3.19
• Hillshire Farm smoked ham lunch meat — $3.99
• 3 bag credits — ($0.15)

My pre-total Kroger reward card savings was $18.46 or 15% of my total.  The two $0.75 coupons were generic coupons issued by Kroger — one for $0.75 off any $2.00 spent on ready-to-eat cereal and the other $0.75 off any $2.00 packaged meat.  The five $5.00 checks are issued as our “cash back” incentives for using my Kroger MasterCard.  The value of the incentives is based on how much I charge at Kroger and how much I charge on the card in general.  Naturally, as with all of our credit card purchases, the bill is paid in full every single month.  Twenty-five bucks to be applied to Kroger purchases just for using their card – that’s a deal I don’t have any trouble accepting.

In a separate transaction but the same trip to Kroger, I picked up my synthroid prescription to the tune of $10.00.

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Maintenance Monday is a regular “column” of sorts in which I share a maintenance tip.  I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy and, to me, a key element of truly frugal living is buying high quality products and then doing everything necessary to protect that investment and prolong the life of my possessions.

~ o o o O o o o ~

My mom left yesterday after a week-long visit.  Isn’t it funny how someone new can walk into a place and immediately notice something obvious that the regular occupants have missed for months?

That’s what happened the first night my mom was here.  She noticed how dusty it was in my house.  Now, I’m not known among my family and close friends as being a first-class housekeeper but I do try to keep dust at a minimum since my allergies are so severe.  Truth be told, The Husband and I had both noticed and commented on how dusty certain surfaces were in our house and how quickly they get dusty again after being cleaned.  But neither of us got very far in figuring out that there was actually an underlying reason/issue.  My mom, on the other hand, glommed onto the problem, and ultimately, the solution — my furnace filters.

Apparently furnace filters are supposed to be changed approximately every 3 months or every 90 days.  I know for a fact that it’s been at least three years since I last changed our furnace filters.  In all likelihood, it’s probably been closer to 4 years — that’s when I had someone come out to the house and add a few extra vents in the basement.

Although it’s not excuse, my health issues should certainly count at least a little as a reasonable explanation for this gross (pun intended) oversight.  Another issue, on that I was reminded of the other day when replacing the filters, is that I literally have to remove the utility closet’s folding accordion door in order to remove and insert the filters.  A bummer but not an insurmountable obstacle 

It turns out that furnace filters are not cheap, my friend.  My furnace requires two 25 x 16 x 1 filters.  Each filter recently cost me $15.97 or a total of $34.24 with tax.  I figure that our heat typically kicks on for the first time sometime in September and is used on into early- or mid-May.  That would mean that I’d need three sets of new filters each year for a total of $102.72.  I’ve already divided that amount by twelve and added the resulting $9 to my monthly YNAB budget*.

I’m going to make a note to myself to keep an eye on filter prices as spring approaches and see if they ever go on sale.  Whether they do or not, I’ve made a note on the calendar to change the filters in another two months since I figure that my vents might be particularly dirty — I know my filters were – after that embarrassing display of neglect.  If this set gets me through the end of February, a second set should see me through May when the weather should be warm enough to no longer require the use of the furnace again until fall.