Making Cents Of It All

Last weekend Hubby and I went to Maryland to visit our daughters. We stayed at a hotel right near the college. We got a free room upgrade. We were moved to the concierge level. It included free breakfast, free drinks, snacks and a lite dinner. I had brought food for breakfast so I gave some to my daughter and brought the rest home. We are happy to eat free breakfasts. One night we went to the free dinner. There was plenty of food for us to call it dinner. It included hummus and chips, veggies, cheese platter, ravioli, chicken skewers and fruit. I had grilled chicken cutlets at home and brought them with us for dinner. YD was happy to take them to her dorm since we didn't eat them.   We stopped in several times a day to grab drinks and a snack.  I also brought home the extra toiletries.  YD gave me her large pumpkin that she had gotten when she went pumpkin picking with friends. I brought it home and cooked it up.  We went to ...

Sorry I haven't been around a lot lately. We have been busy. We went to Massachusetts last weekend to visit Hubby's family. His cousin had surgery and his uncle can't travel so we went to visit them.  His Aunt G spoils Hubby. She made him a pasta pie. She does when ever we see her. He loves them.  She gave me these 2 kitchen towels that she makes to use for Christmas. She made matching pot holders with them. I love them. We ate all meals with his family so we didn't have to pay for any. We did bring some gifts and wine for them.  The garden is still giving me goodies. The kale is back. I picked my first batch yesterday. It went right into the freezer.  P gives me his older fruit that he isn't going to eat. I froze them for smoothies.  I went to the bank and took 2 lollipops for P. He loves candy but shouldn't have a lot.  P treated me to lunch. I brought home half of my salad and my son took it to work the ne...

My son started his new job last week. They ordered him uniforms. This Monday he was given 11 uniforms (shirts and pants). At my old job all I got was 2 shirts. I had to beg for a 3rd.  Some friends and I met for breakfast at Panera. I had a free pastry on my card so I got a cinnamon roll. I also used the $3 gift card I got last week from Verizon. You have to use the whole $3 in one transaction so I got 3 bagels. I ate one there, gave one to my friend and brought one home.  I picked up a freebie from Stop N Shop. We wont eat it so Hubby brought it to work and one of his coworkers ate it.  YD has food credits at college. It is a weekly use it or lose it system. Every Wednesday she goes to the market and uses any extra credits that she has. This week she got 3 boxes of cereal. She had eaten at some free events this week because it is homecoming this weekend. She will be doing the same thing this week. She has quite a pile of food stashed by doing thi...

We went away with my sister for 4 days in upstate NY. We stayed at her friend's beautiful lake house. We bought them a thank you gift but that was all it cost for lodging. It was a very inexpensive trip.  The check for YD's scholarship came and it went right back into the college fund.  I got my free Starkist tuna.  I used a free item coupon for B&BW. It will go into someone's stocking.  When I left the mall, there was a mall stroller on the way to my car. No one was around and there was a bag in it. I guess when the person picked up the child, they left the bag behind. The perfume went into my gift stash.  I gave my neighbor some of the apples we picked and some tomatoes from my garden. She got us cupcakes as a thank you.  My sister dropped Lip off and some food items too.  I earned 2 gift cards from Verizon up.  The garden is still going.  What freebies did y...

I am doing really well on my Christmas shopping. I had $10 in Kohl's cash. I bought this(can't show you exactly because people look at this blog) and I spent 3¢ so I am calling it free since I found a dime by the register.  My girlfriend and I went out to lunch using gift cards. Can you guess where? I was given a free drink. I brought it home for Hubby. My friend had a bunch of coupons for free cookies. She gave me one and I passed it on to my son.  A friend gave me this nail kit that she had been given. It went into the gift pile.  She also gave me these sticker labels. They went with the Christmas stuff.  Did everyone get their coupon for tuna?  I helped the high school PTA out on Open School. I manned the snack table so that my friend's could go to their kid's classes. There was a bunch leftover so they gave me some donuts to bring home.  They garden keeps on giving.  P wanted to go to Friendl...

Some weeks you get a few small freebies like last  week . I am happy with all of the free items I get. However the big freebies are amazing. This week we had 2.  Youngest Daughter was awarded a scholarship for this semester of college. She applied for it the first week of school and we were just notified. She was awarded $1,775. We are so proud of her. She would have to work a lot of hours at her job to make that kind of money. She spent less then an hour filling out a few scholarships back in August and it paid off for her. Since we already paid her tuition in full we can either leave it in her account for the spring or get a refund. We are opting for the refund.  Hubby's company had their annual free company picnic. They had a bounce house, sand art, crafts for the little kids, cotton candy machine, pinatas, and lots of food. They also do several raffles. Hubby won a $250 gift card. We also came home with a bunch of food, snacks and drinks. I shared...