Someone Must Have Died or How I Came to Own All This Yarn.

Let's give an inventory, shall we?

7 purple mohair (97%)
15 army green mohair (97%)
10 purple/blue/green mohair (97%)
9 pink/blue/gray mohair (97%)
7 camel mohair (97%)
4 red mohair (97%)
1 buff mohair (97%)
1 pink/orange/purple mohair (97%)
7 off white nubby 100% wool
18 red wool eyelash* 100% wool
13 dark teal eyelash* 100% wool
1 red shoelace-weave 100% wool
1 dark teal shoelace-weave 100% wool
4 light teal shoelace-weave 100% wool
1 dark teal 50% alpaca/50%wool blend
1 lime alapaca/wool blend
6 black/blue 100% wool
2 bone cotton/silk/linen nubby
5 hot pink cotton nubby
2 black traditional eyelash
1 light pink traditional eyelash
1 light blue cotton and eyelash

All skeins of European provenance and 50g weight. Mostly French and German.
Total skeins= 118
Average cost of skein (conservative) $8.00
Total cost if purchased new and separately= $944.

What do you think I paid?



*Not eyelash, exactly, but not normal, either. It's like shoelace woven on one side, and loops on the other side.

What a great deal!

I'd say I'm frugal-minded but not too financially savvy. Can't see the forest for the trees, as they say. I'm not at all prepared for Old Age, and the very fact that I'm thinking about it makes me feel old.

Which I know makes no sense, as far as financial planning goes. But there you have it.

Part of this situation is due to the fact that my chosen career path is hardly lucrative, to say the least. Add in an expensive education and copious medical expenses, and I'm usually pretty broke.

However, I recently had an epiphany and made a financial move that I'm finally comfortable to make, and which will save me approximately $4100 a year in taxes, while adding almost that much again into long-term savings.

Pretty sweet, no?

Sometimes I'm a really good bargain shopper.

Shipping Method:	FREE Super Saver Shipping
Shipping Preference:	Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Subtotal of Items:	$54.47
Shipping & Handling:	$12.66
Super Saver Discount	-$12.66
Promotion Applied	-$29.96
	------
Total for this Order:	$24.51
Shipping estimate for these items: September 10, 2008 "Carnation Malted Milk, Original, 13-Ounce Jars (Pack of 4)" Grocery; $12.48 "Carnation Instant Breakfast, Variety Pack, 1.26-Ounce Units (Pack of 3)" Grocery; $13.82 "Millstone Foglifter Ground Coffee, 11-Ounce Packages (Pack of 2)" Grocery; $14.42 "Lyons Country Snapjacks, 10.6-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6)" Grocery; $13.75

Guilty Pleasures?

Tip: DON'T use your real email address. Create one especially for this kind of thing.

Want a free subscription to Star magazine?

All you have to do is write two 50-word reviews of mascaras!! Think of it as a creative writing exercise that will reward you with an entire year of trashy goodness. I think it would be especially fun to do if you didn't wear mascara at all.


Ooooh. And here's a free subscription for Interview! This one only requires one 50-word review of any movie* you've ever seen.

Both of these are for my office.

*My review: I liked the movie Star Wars. It came out when I was really little, and it inspired tons of imaginary play. We made light sabers out of wrapping paper rolls, painting the ends pink or blue and then black for the grips. They bent a lot though, which was annoying. What I didn't like about the movie was how gross the trash compactor scene was. EW EW EW!! Princess Leia was beautiful. Luke was dreamy. I wish I'd realized at the time how hot Han Solo was. Anyhoo, I loved it when L and L kissed just before swinging across the chasm on that planet thing.

They made me take off the last sentence because the review was too long.

History

Recently for work I've been using some creative cheapness skills to find free or very reduced magazine subscriptions and educational brochures for the waiting room. I just got a free subscription to Oprah. If anyone wants a link, gmail me (lastewie) and I'll pass it on.

I first began cultivating these deal-finding skills back in the almost prehistoric era of the World Wide Web, when the Internet was still pretty new and residential high-speed was limited at best.

I had some places that I used to haunt, and to some extent I still find ways to get a heads up on good bargains online. More than anyplace else, I lurked over here. I never much frequented the forums, but going back there now I see some good stuff. Back in those days, marketers were just starting to try to appeal to people who were online, so you could get some pretty outlandish (and random) things. T-shirts, food, tea, whatever. I guess you still can.

Anyway, want a free rosary? (I don't)
Dial antibacterial deodorant soap?

By the way, tomorrow is Free Iced Coffee day at Cristin's favorite, Dunkin' Donuts.
Oops. One last thing I didn't mention is that you have to make sure you have your facts straight. DD is not doing this promotion in 2008. Whoops!

But here's another old-school favorite that I hear never goes out of style.