"The art of frugality "

For anybody who knows me, knows I love a deal. In fact Brad and I both LOVE a deal. We probably spend more time then we should figuring out ways to save money, rearranging money etc. All in the name of being good stewards with our resources. It's a game for us. Sometimes it's a competition--trying to trump the others deal. My brother Dan says my house is done up in "Dollar Store Chic". It's not of coarse--maybe poor medical student revival. Anyway, this week as been a trying week for my thrifty side. I've been scorned and burned. The scorning happened at Fred Meyer.....I was there really close to lunch time which was pushing it for my boys. I proceeded to the "Family Friendly" checker with the extra wide aisles for your cart, stroller, toddler etc. I was first in line only had about 15-20 items and a fist full of coupons. The cashier rings me up and I hand her my wad of coupons. She's almost done when a older gentlemen gets in line behind me with his array of old man fare; white bread, boiled ham lunch meat (gross) instant coffee, brute cologne...you get the picture. So the Fred Meyer employee is dutifully scanning in my coupons and gets to the last one which never scans at ANY store. She proceeds to call for help and the old coot behind me lays into me "wasting his time" (I want to scream um you are 90 you have had plenty of time!) "screaming brats" etc.... I refuse to waste anymore of my finger pads on this codger-- suffice it to say he was as rude as they come. Finally I had it and turned around with my best we are in "Sacrament meeting stop screaming look" he of coarse averted my gaze. I REALLY wanted to unload on this guy like (I'm a sleep deprived, hormonal, nursing, full time Mother you had better BACK OFF I bite!) --but alas that would have been a horrible example for my boys. To my credit I had it together--really. I was loading the baby into the Bjorn while the cashier was fumbling with the elusive Playtex nurser bottle liner coupon. I then dug into the diaper bag for some fruit leather for the little king. So my "brats" would not disturb the geaser behind me any longer. That's what he gets for getting in the "Family Friendly checkout"! Now, for the burning...this one was entirely my fault! Which I'm still fuming about--I hate making mistakes on something really easy. We have this online checking account with an amazing percentage rate of 6.1%--you get this rate every month if you fulfill the criteria. These are not hard--it's the usual parameters: log into your account, use bill pay, automatic deposit, and finally make at least 10 debit/POS per month. No problem. Brandon set up the first three I take care of the debits. Now as a rule we run EVERYTHING on two different credit cards--taking advantage of the percentage back. We usually make about $100 every few months doing this. (no worries we pay our balance each month) This also allows our money to stay in our account juicing the 6.1% longer. (I love getting paid to shop) So when I use the debit card it's always for 10 small items. I ring up the bread--pay, ring up milk--pay etc. I always use self check out when I'm doing this cause I don't want to hassle some poor checker. The lady at the Fred Meyer self check out knows me and always plays with the boys while I get busy ringing and paying. So this last month she was not there and I was only able to get through 9 debits before my boys where done shopping. No problem, I will come back and do it later. Well.....we ended up leaving for our family vacation to Cancun and then right to this clerkship in Tillamook. I got out of my groove and spaced it! Sad. By the time I remembered the time frame had expired-- the dates to complete change each month. I guess to keep game players like myself from fullfilling. So we did not qualify this month....bummer, I had plans for that extra money!!!! Like towards a new camera-- mine is dying and I hate missing cute shots of my babies.