secret vaseline money maker?!

after sleeping until noon (yes, noon), i spent the majority of my afternoon/early evening gutting my coupon folder and trying to prioritize anything good that was going to be expiring in the next week. randomly unearthed, two $3.75/1 coupons for vaseline sheer infusion lotion. i’m not a huge lotion user, but i’ll tell you what i do like- FREE SHIT. actually, i like products that pay me for buying them. the lotion, normally $5.79 at shaw’s, is apparently lumped in with the $2.49 vaseline deal going on this week. i bought two, and made myself a tidy profit of $2.52. if you still have those coupons (from the 4-11 redplum), you should consider running your ass down there and picking some up. pad your purchase with $2.50 of other stuff, and get it all for free.

i  had a bunch of mother’s day quiche stuff to buy, so i went slightly over $2.50… but i did manage to pick up a couple of other decent finds while i was there too.

pace salsa (the only salsa that i’ve ever truly loved) is on sale for $1.99. the $.60/2 from the 5-2 smartsource brought them down to $1.39 each. i need a lot, because i’ll be dumping it all over these (the coupon goddess knows her shit when it comes to yummy).

i bought another crop of think thin bars (the chocolate fudge variety was AMAZING) still on sale for $1.99 each, brought down to $.99 with that $.50/1 coupon doubled. bitches need to go on super-sale. $.99 for a single granola bar is INSANE.

i also got 2 boxes of blackberries (my favorite spring fruit) for $1.69, and a couple bags of snikiddy grilled cheese puffs (they hit the cheez doodle spot without the garbage ingredients) on sale for $2.49 each with a bogo coupon i got for doing a survey for them. you can get them for almost as cheap by signing up on their website and getting this $1/1 coupon. so delicious.  go. go now.

the burden of stuff.

i think i’ve mentioned before that i’m a “stuff” person. i love stuff, and i’m likely to continue amassing various bits and pieces forever. however, i have a number of ways that i keep myself from becoming a featured contestant on the hoarders:

1. don’t! as discussed in the “stay classy” area, i never buy things that i don’t use or can’t donate. when i first started cvs-ing, i bought everything that would net me a profit. i finally threw away the “slim shots” that i got for free 6 months ago, because there just wasn’t a place for them in my life. and nobody else wanted them. i think they give a lot of stuff away because they’re trying to get rid of it. i won’t let their burden be my burden!

2. never too much to give. i never set a limit on the number of things that i purchase to donate. i have a rubbermaid bin in my hall closet that i bring down to the preble street resource center whenever it gets full. that way, it only ever takes up a predetermined amount of space in my life.  

3. enough is enough. even if it’s completely free, and i use it, if there isn’t room in my bathroom/pantry/hall closet for it, then it doesn’t come home. products go stale and go bad and get funny. if i already have a year’s worth of deodorant, then i can wait. chances are, it will be on super-sale again very soon. unless a product that i love is being discontinued, then my stockpile is only allowed to grow within the confines of my 4 walls.

4. purge! donate, recycle, have a garage sale, give to friends or family, put on the street corner and see how long it takes someone to pick it up… if you don’t love it, don’t need it, and can’t use it- GET RID OF IT!

5. organize what you have. this guy takes it a little too far, but if you can see what you have- then you know what you need, what you have room for, and what you need to put the brakes on. 

6. curate. not everything has to be out all the time. if you have too much stuff happening on your shelves, walls, cupboards… you can’t see anything. you can’t appreciate anything. you can’t breathe. if you’re careful about what you take in (says the constant flea marketer), and keep your finds within the parameters of a few well groomed collections, i’m pretty sure that life is a little less difficult (and everyone who visits can get a boner for your beautiful, perfectly manicured stuff).