Meet the Money-Saving Maven...

Ah, yes. That's me! But, where has she been for the past two weeks? Well...I've been unpacking boxes. Incredibly enough, when Lonnie called to see where our household goods were on September 02 it's as if all 6, 200 lbs. (we were 1 ton over our weight. Oops!) just materialized from out of nowhere in that warehouse. Believe it or not, they were on our doorstep delivering everything the very next morning at oh-800. That's a miracle of Biblical proportions, friends. It either popped up out of nowhere or it had been sitting there for who knows how long and they were just waiting for us to call begging for it. Hahaha!

I have surpassed my most impressive personal best at the commissary. This week I saved 21% of the total bill. That was over $51.00! Wow! Coupons are a wonderful thing! The best I had ever done before that was 18% of the total. It's just a big game for me. It's pretty helpful that the commissaries take coupons that are up to 6 months past their expiration date. I don't believe I had a single coupon in the pile that wasn't expired. The lady behind me said, "oh, my goodness! You're such a great coupon shopper." You could see it in her eyes. She hated me. She didn't have one single coupon to offer. Tsk, tsk, tsk. At the end of checking out the cashier did something wrong and the manager had to come with the key before the payment was processed. Then the woman behind me said that I must've reached the maximum number of coupons allowed. LOL

I've had people make comments about my coupons several times in...now, what's the name of that little store I used to go to?...starts with a "W"...Wa...Wal...Wal-Mart? Oh yeah! THAT'S the name of it. I almost forgot. I had the DT's after several weeks of no Wal-Mart. I go to a support group three times a week now at the grief center. "Hi, my name is Deanna and I'm a 'What-am-I-going-to-do-for-3-years Without Wal-Mart Wailer'". Hyperventilators are given those white plastic bags to breathe into. The first thing we're going to do when we come back to visit is eat at Chick-Fil-A (in the South) or In-n-Out Burger (if we stop in CA) and go to Wal-Mart. I just want to stand there and take it all in. Oh...and a mall...I'd like to go to a mall...

Also, there is a family moving out of housing that will be condemned and torn down at the end of the year. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I wouldn't have wanted to live there either. You've got to think...the end of the year is how many months away? Well, she had these gorgeous, and I do mean gorgeous, plants that she didn't want to see destroyed when the buildings were torn down. Well, she wouldn't have seen it but you know what I mean. I had posted a wanted ad on JapanUpdate.com for plants and she emailed me. I have 4 of the largest aloe plants you've ever seen. There are 4 HUGE elephant ear plants and a bunch of what I believe is in the Dracaena family..."mother-in-law's tongue" is the more common name. Apparently, they're hard to kill. Look, don't lecture me about it I didn't come up with the name. Let's see what else... Oh yeah! There's this incredibly large palm-type tree. She said that she saw one that was less than half of the size of this one at Makeman's and it was $750. Wow! Look at all the money I saved this week! LOL

So...we all know that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Most people say that MONEY is the root of all evil. They must be reading a different version. So, if I'm saving all of this money what category does that put me in? Hmm. You could say that I love money so much I want to be miserly with it; however, I just look at what else you can buy with the money you just saved! Look, honey! I just saved $50! Now we can go get that rug at the exchange I've been wanting for the hallway... It's just what we do. Men don't understand it. Most women do, but those that don't take the time to use the scissors pay the consequences...and the extra money!