Remodeling Bargains

We still have not heard any official news about my Mike's job. The company is due to be sold to the highest bidder sometime next week. I suppose, at that time, he'll be terminated and then either re-hired or not. Of course, the new owners could elect to pay him less than he was making before and we may not have much choice but to accept, as otherwise his only alternative would be to start over in a different field (as he is in a highly specialized field at this point, and there are no other employers in that field in our area).

With this in mind, and the master bathroom now down to the studs in some areas (preparing for the replumbing that will happen in a few weeks (knock wood), we've been trying to get all of the things we need for the remodeled bathroom, at bargain prices. We already purchased the vanity (on sale for about 50% off after shipping costs), the bathtub (purchased at 45% off retail) and a toilet. All of these have been paid for in full, as we are trying not to incur further debt. In my spare time, I do a lot of online searching for items we still need, such as lighting, mirrors, and fixtures.

The other day, I was on Craigslist and happened to see a post about some mirrors with built-in lighting. I appreciated that a picture was posted, as I had seen these mirrors during my online search and had liked them -- but I had not liked the $135-$266 cost I found them selling for in various places. The Craigslist poster mentioned that the mirrors had broken in transit, and that was the reason she was selling the items -- for $50 each. I did some calculations, made some calls, and determined that I could replace the broken mirrors within the frames for about $40 each, which would still be a significant savings over what I would spend buying them online. So, my husband and I set up a time and went to see the mirrors, which were still in their boxes and in excellent condition (except for the actual mirror). The globes for the attached lighting fixtures were in great shape, as were the frames themselves. When I told the woman I liked the mirrors, she then told me that they would be $25 each -- half of what I had expected to spend. So, for $65 each, we have both the vanity mirrors and lighting in the bag! You can see a picture of our bargain at the top of the post.

I'm finding Craigslist to be a valuable resource. Yesterday, I found a post from someone selling over 2500 square feet of porcelain tile for just $1 a square foot! We're going to take a look at that this weekend and perhaps we can find what we need for our floor, tub deck, and shower.

Grocery Savings

While I was at work the other day, a customer came up to my desk requesting a pen and piece of paper. She was holding a magazine, so I asked her if she needed something larger than a Post-it, as I thought she was going to copy a recipe. She told me that she was just writing down a website where you could print out coupons. That led to a discussion about how both of us are bargain hunters and the ways we are trying to save money in these uncertain economic times.

One way I save big on groceries is to purchase 4 Sunday newspapers. Sometimes, if I time it right, I can get these for free -- as on Sunday evening the grocery store cuts off the front page header on all remaining copies to give back to the publisher -- and then cannot sell the newspaper. So, at that point, they give them away free! The reason I purchase 4 newspapers is that I like multiple coupons when I go shopping. That way, if there is a great deal (made even better with the coupon), I can buy one item for each coupon I possess. I also do not cut out my coupons before shopping. Instead, I go through the inserts, logging each coupon into a spreadsheet I created, which lists the item, the amount off (and how many you need to buy (i.e.: $1.00/2 would mean you save $1.00 off a purchase of two of that particular item). It also shows the date of insert, type of insert (i.e.: Smartsource, P&G, etc), expiration date, and the number of coupons I have on hand. The inserts themselves are put into a manila folder with the date of the insert printed on the outside.

When I go shopping, I print out my spreadsheet and refer to it as I make my ways up and down the aisles. I don't limit myself to a strict shopping list, as sometimes I find things that are nearly free -- so I stock up whether I currently need that particular item or not. Then, these items go into my freezer or pantry and eventually they are used. If its a great deal on something I already have WAY too much of, such as salad dressing -- but I can get a bottle for 25 cents after coupon, then I go ahead and purchase it and donate it to a local food bank. It doesn't cost me but a few dollars to get a bag full of groceries to help out someone else. While this way of shopping takes longer than just throwing things into the cart and paying full price, it also saves me some big bucks. For example, on one recent shopping trip, my total would have been around $300 without coupons. With my coupons, I saved over $75!

Another way I save money (and time) is to do once a month freezer cooking (or OAMC, as it's called on the net). Basically, this means that you stock up on meat when it's at a great price, and then do a cooking session, turning that meat into many different meals that can be frozen, and then thawed and cooked later on. This is wonderful when you are working full time, as you can do all of your cooking on the weekend.

For example, the other day boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale for $1.59 per pound. I purchased about 25-30 pounds or so. I usually have the other ingredients I would need for my cooking sessions on hand (purchased earlier using coupons to maximize my savings). Out of that chicken, I made two pans of chicken enchiladas, 3 pans of "Chicken Supreme" (a great recipe the whole family loves), four containers of my chicken soup base (which can be used for chicken noodle soup, chicken and dumplings, etc), 3 meals worth of stuffed chicken breasts, 2 containers of Alice Springs Chicken (an Outback Steakhouse copycat recipe), and several meals worth of chicken breasts in various marinades, that just need to be thawed and then grilled. I have a spreadsheet on my freezer that lists the various items currently inside and, when we pull something out for dinner, we just make a tick mark, so we know how many of that particular item are left. I do the same sort of cooking sessions for pork, beef, and ground beef. There is a great Yahoo Groups email list that deals exclusively with OAMC -- do a search for "Frozen Assets" to find it and sign up.