double your pleasure.

i’ve heard many tales of stop & shop and their magical coupon doublers, but i never thought i would have the opportunity experience the greatness in this barren stop & shopless territory.  well, it looks like everything these days is going all crazy-town, because not only is rite aid doing their own take on extrabucks with their +up program (what!?), but my shaw’s circular this weekend (the junkmail version- NOT the one you can pick up in the store) had 4 very special dollar doubler coupons attached. i am SO feeling the magic this weekend. shaw’s doubles most manufacturer’s coupons up to $.99, which is great and all… but these four babies let me double $1.00 value coupons, for awesome and totally unheard of savings. coupled with a couple of sweet weekly sales, i felt a little like i won the coupon olympics today. my best scores:

cheerios & lucky charms @ 2/$4 coupons.com has a bunch of killer $.55/1 coupons right now, doubling to make each box cost exactly $.90. 6 boxes= $5.40

hood frozen tangy frozen yogurt @ $2.99 with yet another dollar doubler was only $.99.

arm & hammer detergent @ $5.29/1 was on bogo. i used one of my dollar doublers to get 2 bottles for $3.29 (or $1.65 each).

i also used my remaining 2 doublers to score a few products that never really go on sale:

paul newman frozen pizza @ $5.99/1 became almost reasonable at $3.99.

morningstar chicken fingers $4.29 became walmart cheap at $2.29.

of course then i splurged a little on 1.5 lbs. of cherries @ $3.99/lb. but they are stunningly fresh, and much like fiddleheads, one of the more transient pleasures of summer. (why save if you can’t eventually spend on the things that make life worth living?)

i wrapped up the whole grocery adventure in a $5/$50 that i got in the mail a few weeks ago, and got the whole lot (roughly $60+ worth of food) for $28. not free, but i was able to get what i wanted, and stock up on some things that i needed for $2 under my weekly grocery budget. in my world (as a girl who used to spend $80 a week on foodstuffs), it feels like definite progress.

however, a lingering question still remains: WHERE IS THE FUCKING WACKY MAC?! please stop advertising it in my local circular (especially if there are coupons available to make it FREE you teasing whore!), if it doesn’t actually exist in the state of maine. i have looked up and down every aisle in at least 3 different stores in southern maine. if anyone out there in the universe knows where i can find it, please give me a holler. and soon. before i start wrecking up the joint.

weekend pickthrough- extra litigious edition.

i’ve already expressed my displeasure with the 3 day weekend. well, just to even things out a little, i would like to discuss my equal disdain for the 4 day week. 4 day weeks are a waste. schedules are thrown off, and nobody even really knows what day it is… but all are hyper aware of the unfairness that they are no longer on vacation. spaced out, phoning it in, like everyone in my life (including me) was stricken with a 4-day case of ADD.  needless to say, it was certainly not my most productive week ever.  the icing on this crazy short-week mental derailment cake is that someone actually threatened to sue me. of course it was a baseless accusation (and a whole lot of posturing), but disruptive and distracting (ok, and mildly amusing). but it pretty much took down what was left of this week with a stun gun and rendered it completely immobile. here are the few things i managed to filter out of this otherwise limp and unmanageable 4 days:

portland trash bags are getting more expensive (as if $7.50 for 10 trash bags wasn’t pricey enough!), load up now before they go up to $10.

pinkies out! the subtle etiquette of dumpster diving.

check your shaw’s flier! this week’s dollar doublers make this a kick ass week for crazy coupon ladies.

i might use “too many commas”, but at least i don’t use “unnecessary quotation marks“.

apparently, chunkys don’t hold up very well under extreme heat. the oven test determines the sturdiest beach candy.

bitch is lucky she didn’t get shanked.  don’t you EVEN get between a girl and her coupons.

yeah, i heart wood too. (in both the dirty and not dirty way)

i wonder what will happen to the bayside apartments if they blow out as student housing? love hotel? haunted house?

there’s a great deal on fiber one stuff at target this week. too bad it’ll make you wicked farty.

**UPDATE** according to the wonderous @jjdactyl over at gluten-free win, resistance is futile with the portland trash bag rate increase. apparently when the new bags come out, they’re just going to stop taking the old bags, and you’re just screwed. so ignore what i just said, and definitely don’t stock up! she recommends that we get a second recycling bin (ooh what about composting?!) to defray costs (both environmental and financial).