Today’s $$: ($12.25)

Yup, today I spent neg­a­tive dol­lars.  Pretty cool, huh?

Here’s how I did it:  I finally got around to mak­ing a return at The Con­tainer Store (cred­ited $13.98) and spent only $1.73 on a Hori­zon choco­late milk at Star­bucks.

If you’re a reg­u­lar reader you’ll know that I’m not a reg­u­lar Star­bucks cus­tomer.  Not even so much because of feel­ings about Star­bucks (though those do exist) but because I don’t drink cof­fee.  But today I had a One­ToOne les­son at the Apple Store and my instruc­tor, who has over time become a friend, had her lunch break right after my les­son.  She wanted a Star­bucks and I hadn’t eaten yet so I indulged in a very expen­sive choco­late milk.

~ ~ o o O o o ~ ~

So, now to catch up (work­ing back­ward for the two days I missed):

Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 7, 2009

Kroger — $6.01

• 2 boxes of Cas­ca­dian Farms Purely O’s cereal — $2.99/ea.

Kroger — $105.04

• Mother’s tea cook­ies — $2.99 (saved $0.80)
• Lay’s Bar-B-Q chips — $1.99 (saved $1.22)
• Chee­tos — $2.70
• 2 car­tons of Hori­zon choco­late milk — $3.49/ea. (saved $0.50 ea)
• Dole Orange/Peach/Mango juice — $2.99 (saved $1.00)
• Rudi’s whole wheat bread — $4.59
• Rudi’s rocky moun­tain sour­dough bread — $4.59
• 3.66# Gala apples — $3.62 (saved $1.83)
• 2 bags Cas­ca­dian Farms french fries — $4.49/ea.
• Kroger dill sliced pick­les — $1.79
• 2 cans Bum­ble­bee salmon — $2.99/ea. (saved 0.40/ea.)
• 3 Hun­gry Man din­ners — $2.50/ea. (saved $0.69/ea.)
• 6 Amy’s pocket sand­wiches — $2.00/ea. (saved $0.29/ea.)
• Hormel turkey — $3.49/ea. (saved $0.80)
• 2 pkgs Hormel ham — $3.49/ea. (saved $0.80/ea.)
• 5 Marie Callendar’s shrimp scampi — $2.00/ea. (saved $1.28/ea.)
• Amy’s pesto bowl — $4.39
• Ben & Jerry’s ice cream — $3.29 (saved $0.40)
• leaf let­tuce — $1.49
• 1.65# toma­toes — $4.44
• 2.78# but­ter­nut squash — $4.14
• bag cred­its — ($0.40)

Okay, okay.  I admit it, the first few items on this list are junk.  The kind of stuff I very rarely buy.  But The Daughter’s had a seri­ous han­ker­ing for Chee­tos.  The Son does love his BBQ chips.  And the cook­ies, well, they were an impulse buy.  My kids have a habit of eat­ing their older half-brother’s choco­late chip cook­ies which is becom­ing an issue because he really counts on hav­ing that cookie every Sat­ur­day night.  Hey, he’s Downs Syn­drome, okay.  My kids like these tea cook­ies so I thought maybe they would help ensure that there will be at least one choco­late chip cookie next Saturday.

Safe­way Gas — $33.31

I let the tank get way lower than I usu­ally do.  That big field trip on Fri­day is to blame.  I pumped 13.886 gal­lons @ 2.399 per gal­lon.  I didn’t have a pen in the car so I didn’t record the mileage.

Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 6, 2009

Macy’s — $35.54 — The Son and I stopped at the mall after church.  We were there to look at watches — The Hus­band and I gave The Son a new watch for his birth­day, or rather, the promise of one, he’s sup­posed to pick it out him­self.  He doesn’t want a new watch but his old one is bro­ken.  He had a pretty good argu­ment about not need­ing one as we just reas­signed The Husband’s cell phone to The Son.  I use my cell phone as my watch myself so I couldn’t fault his argu­ment.  But we were there to look nonethe­less.  He did find a Swiss Army watch he liked but he wants to think about it.

But while we were there I noticed that they had Levi’s on sale.  The Son needs another pair of jeans.  He has two.  We bought them from Langston’s.  In July, I ordered a third pair of jeans from Langston’s.  I ordered the same size, brand, and style as the other two pair of jeans.  But this new pair are much big­ger.  Big­ger in the waist and con­sid­er­ably longer.  Actu­ally, this pair is our sec­ond attempt; the first pair they sent were tons longer than his other pairs.  I sent them back.  Langston’s sent another pair.  They’re closer but still, too big.  So there in the store he tried on the jeans and picked out a pair.  Levi’s 559’s in size 31x32.  He really needs a 34 length (that’s what he has already) but the stores don’t ever seem to carry a 34 length.  I hope these last for a while.

Panda Express — $8.80

Lunch and a drink for The Son.  On me because I was feel­ing gen­er­ous and he’s been very patient about try­ing on jeans and wait­ing for­ever for a clerk to help us at the watch counter.

As far as report­ing my doing, there’s not much to report.  I’ve been work­ing on my store from morn­ing to night.  Today I had two great sales!  Every once in a while I do a load of laun­dry or load the dish­washer.  Today I vac­u­umed.  A bit.  Noth­ing much to report.

Related posts:

1. $$: New Jeans
2. Day 262: Sushi, San­dals, and Supplies
3. Back-to-School Shop­ping
4. $$: Sleep Study edition
5. Day 118: Groceries