okay, so maybe it's a teeny bit more than 1/2 full...

Just spent the past couple of hours tossing expired inserts – must have been a bazillion that expired 9/30!  The large recycling container is now half-full; it was empty when PITA and I started.

The easiest way to know what’s good and what should be tossed is to use that handy-dandy coupon checker on the right sidebar.  You click on the month and then the date and you’ll see all the inserts from that date marked with either a red X or a green check.  It will also tell you the expiration date of the coupon, so what I’m now doing is writing that on the front).

If you have rain checks from Jewel/Osco for the REACH toothbrushes and plan to buy them before the promotion ends in September, be aware that one of the Phineas & Ferb kid toothbrushes does not generate the cat – probably someone forgot to enter that UPC! Here is the bar code to avoid:  38137 1151639.

By now those of you who ordered the Office Max toilet paper should have received emails cancelling your orders because the price was a “misprint.”  bollocks.

The $3 Bayer aspirin coupon was apparently a regional coupon and did not appear in most of our local Chicago papers – if you got them, consider yourself lucky.  eBay has them for about a buck each (limits 20 each auction), both Dede and WeClip have them for 30¢ each, but Dede has a 5 coupon limit and WeClip has a 10 coupon limit – I don’t see them on Palmetto at all.  There goes my plan to convert the pub burger freezer into a lobster freezer…maybe i can still spring for a few cans of tuna…

Uncle Ben is just visiting

I’m keeping this up as a sticky until I get more donation ideas.  Come on, guys, put your thinking caps on!

when men pay you to stay away…among other things.  True story.  I’ve written in past years about pulling plants out of garden center dumpsters – hate to see stuff like this go into landfills and at least 50% of the stuff grows well when you plant it at home.  PITA had been bugging me about hitting up the Clover Garden Center dumpster in the Naperville Butera parking lot, so I agreed to stop there on Saturday evening on the way to CVS for our Tide-o-rama event.

Dumpster was pretty empty, except for a flat of phlox in the bottom.  I picked PITA up and held her while she reached in to grab the tray.  Mind you, I’ve never done food diving, nor have I set foot inside a dumpster (of any kind).  While you hear about people doing quite well with the pickins’, I personally am a great big chicken.

Pull out the tray and put it in the back of the car.  Older man comes over to his car (BMW sedan) parked next to mine.  We do the nod hello thing.  He reaches out and hands me a folded up bill.  I don’t take it, back away and say “I’M NOT POOR!  I’M NOT POOR!  I’M AN EXTREME COUPONER”  And then, in what has be one of my more glorious moments, I hear “I HAVE A WEBSITE!” come out of my mouth.

I was hoping the bill was one of those advertising flyers that look like money but flip it over and read about lawn maintenance or hot babes.  Get in the car and by the light I see Uncle Ben wink at me.  Holy crap!  Guy gave me a hundred bucks just to go away!  This could be a very profitable side job, I’m thinking.  Phone rings and it’s Rachel.  I tell her the story and after laughing hysterically, she asks “You aren’t wearing those holey old clothes of yours, are you?”  Ah, no (and they are comfortable, but that’s another story).  So now I’ve made her night and continue on to CVS, where I’m hoping they will tell me that the bill is counterfeit, but no such luck.

Now here’s the dilemma:  I’m not gonna keep the cash, but do I give the entire amount to one person/family or break it up and if so, what breakdown?  I’m throwing out my thoughts to you guys in the hopes that you will have suggestions.  Since we all generate a ton of excess stuff (like diapers, formula and Pedialyte freezer pops, EE pasta, EE mustard, etc.) that could really help out someone, how about if we band together kinda like we did with the domestic abuse shelter donations (you guys were awesome – two trucks of stuff!) and come up with either a small organization or family who could really use some temporary help.  No relatives or “my best friend.”  Hell, take care of your own relatives and friends, thankyouverymuch.

Please, please, please make some suggestions and let’s see what we can accomplish.  And no, Rachel, I am not having a picnic in a park like someone else did a few years ago…unless there’s a Goddess Park somewhere I haven’t heard about…

You are now able to place orders for the Naperville location pick up on the 20th.  This will be the last chance to redeem these vouchers before they expire (well, you will always have the $20 purchase price, but will lose the additional $20 promotional value).  The tailgate sampler (and lots of the smaller packs) is already sold out, so I wouldn’t waste too much time deciding.

Those of you who placed orders with Wallace Farms through FamilyFinds! last October have to use their vouchers within the next couple of weeks because the promotional value will expire on the 15th of May.   Click here to see where and when the next order drop off will be.  Note that you can only place an order within one week of the drop off date, so I’d suggest printing out your voucher as a reminder.  Heck, tape it to your monitor ’cause it’s $40 worth of good quality, grass-fed beef and meats.