Coupon-Clipping

When Did Hairspray Get So Expensive

Today I was running some errands and stopped into my local drug store to pick up some hair spray. It’s been a while since I’ve had to buy some, as I tend to only buy it when it’s on sale, but the sprayer on the last bottle I bought broke, so I was stuck. I wasn’t sure if there was anything on sale, but holy crap, was I ever surprised at how expensive the regular prices were. And this was on the “regular” products, not those “professional” brands that they sell. Wow.

Last time I paid attention, hair spray was around $3.99 for a bottle. Now those same bottles are $5.99 and $7.99! How crazy is that?

Luckily there was actually a brand on sale for $2.99, and while it wasn’t the exact “hold” I wanted (it was strong hold as opposed to flexible hold), the fact that it was $2.99 sold me. I realize that these days a lot of items cost a bit more than I’m used to, however this increase in price on hair spray surprised me the most.

What price increases have you surprised right now?

I am Frugal, Here Me Roar

Dodged an expense bullet tonight: got home from work to find that I had no rice in my cupboard. This is normally not a big deal, however since I’d only just returned the day before from house sitting and hadn’t yet done a full complement shopping trip, I was a bit dismayed. It was the end of a long work week and I was hungry. So I pulled up my favourite Domino’s Pizza site and was about to order pizza online. But then I saw the price for my pizza and cheesy bread order: almost $25 with tax & tip! That’s crazy. What’s worse is that they’re charging me $2.50 for delivery when the store’s just down the street and THEN I tip the driver too? Puleeze.

So I hopped in the car to my local grocery store to pick up a frozen pizza. Even at $8, which I normally don’t like to pay because I think it’s a crazy price, that’s still cheaper, right? Well, check this out, the Delissio pizzas were on sale this week! So I bought two of them for $9. Awesome. One is now warming up / cooking in my oven as I type.

Being frugal rules.

Taking Advantage of the Freebie Books

Since I started the new job last month, I’ve been reading more. Why? Because I get to take public transit to the office, and thankfully it’s on a subway, which means I can read without getting motion sickness. (Incredibly, even as an adult, I still suffer from it, not as bad as when I was a child, but still, it’s enough that if I”m in a car or a bus, I can’t read. <sigh>)

But can you believe that I’ve actually not been to the library yet? That’s because I borrowed some books from my sister’s mother in law. She had the next books on my Book List, so I was able to borrow them. But they are hardcovers, which means they’re a little difficult to handle on the subway. Paperbacks are the ideal, or at the most, a softcover large book. Hardcovers though, are very tricky to deal with.

Right now I’m on the last of the borrowed books, which means it’s time I take advantage of the freebie books from my local library. I rediscovered it about 10 years ago, and have been having fun ever since. As a teenager I lived at the library, heck, my sister even worked there! But university life sucked the “fun reading” out of me as I was a literature student, which meant I was always reading some book for class. It was hard to then pick up a “fun” book, you know? So I stopped reading as much. Sure I read the odd book here and there, but nothing hard core.

Then a friend of mine a number of years ago reminded me of the library, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I tend to browse the sci-fi and mystery sections for paperbacks. I don’t even really look at the title or author much anymore. I read the back, and if the synopsis sounds mildly interesting, then I’ll grab it. My shelf is looking quite bare right now, and as I finish off the last hardcover book in my borrowed books, it’s definitely time I truck my butt on over there and pick up something. Perhaps tonight, but definitely tomorrow. Wonder what I’ll find there? Aaah, that’s the joy of the library.

Car Fueling Strategies

With gas prices going up and down like a yo-yo these days, and all the driving I’m now doing, I have lots of time to ponder gas strategies. Most people think about gas saving strategies, but I am actually talking about car fueling strategies. What’s the difference you ask? Well, let me tell you.

Let’s start with a few questions:

When do you fuel up your vehicle?When it’s almost empty?When it’s half full?When the price of gas hits a magic price?

I’ve been pondering this question for the last several weeks, as I come to the end of Week 4 at the new job. I had initially forecast one extra tank of gas per month even though I’m driving a lot more now. The biggest reason was that even though I am driving further, it’s all highway driving, which is significantly easier on the gas tank since I can just put the cruise control on and drive basically without pedals. My original plan was simply to fill up the car:

1. When I needed to.
2. AND on every weekend, regardless of how empty (or full) the tank was.

I’ve been sticking to this plan pretty well so far, managing to get 5 trips (that’s 2 and a half days) on one tank of gas. But this week the price of gas has just yo-yoed something fierce, and after filling up on Tuesday, I just had to fill up again on Wednesday, because gas actually went down almost to $1.20/L. We haven’t seen that in quite a while. I almost filled up again today, because I was at half, and the prices was at $1.23/L, but I didn’t. Want to know why? Because our “gas price watchdog”, also known as a Minister of Parliament for one of the Toronto suburbs, announced tonight that gas was going to go up 13 cents tonight. So everybody and their dog was filling up their cars, trucks, and anything that would hold gas. You should have seen the lineups! I hate it when this “watchdog” does this. Drives me bonkers. But I digress.

This post is supposed to be about car fueling strategies, so here are mine:

1. Fill up every weekend, regardless of price. Yes, this might hurt occasionally, but I’d rather not be stopping at the gas station every day just to save 5 cents per fill.
2. Drive a tad slower on the highway to save on how much gas I use on the actual trip. This seems to be helping a bit, so I might slow down even more, just to see if it makes any more of a difference. This might seem more like a gas saving strategy rather than a car fueling strategy, but in my opinion, it’s just a matter of perspective.
3. Fill up when gas gets close to $1.20/L, regardless of how much I need. Let’s see how long this one stays on the list.

And there you have it, my car fueling strategies. Nothing too strange or new, but things I’m going to try to see if it makes a difference.