Aging & FOF-ing........

Okay I admit it I am aging. Not that aging really bothers me (by the end of this rant, that phase is a lie!!), what is getting on my nerves though is the cost of aging. I am closer to the age of 40 than 50, and never wear makeup, but have noticed things about me have changed.

My dear friend, P pointed out to me how I have an age spot on my face, thank you P!!!



Now prior to her pointing this out I had thought it was an over sized freckle. Mind looking at that photo I figure I have a major skin problem. Those who know me, know I have a red face generally, but there is red and there is redder, today seems to have been one of my redder days!!!

I work with a super lady, L who is the complete opposite to me. Although she is older than I am, is always wearing makeup, works out regularly and watches what she eats. She just had her age spot erased, I just couldn't justify the cost of doing that,even though it will only cost her $100.

She gets her hair cut and dyed at a salon, where I generally go to one of the price cutting chain salons. Anyhow, I decided at the end of March on a whim to go into a regular salon and have my hair cut, dyed and streaks put into it. $160 (incl $20 tip)later I walk out of the salon looking years younger, I loved the look, dh loved it, and everyone else had positive comments about it.

Fast forward six weeks and its time to get my hair trimmed. So off I trot back to the salon and it cost me another $41.75 (incl. $5 tip). Its after she has cut my hair she says you need to have your roots touched up as the grey is showing. So today I go in to have my roots touched up and I am charged $35 for the touch up and $15 to blow dry my hair, so today's bill was $57.25 (incl. $5 tip)

Okay, so now I am not a happy camper as since the end of March I have spent nearly $260 on my hair. That is crazy, especially for someone who isn't that bothered about her hair. All I really want is all the grey covered up, and as the over the counter boxes of hair dye that you purchase at the drug stores, don't cover the grey I am not sure what I am supposed to do??? All I know is that I cannot afford to continue forking out this money continually.

Here is a before picture of the grey hair:



Here is an after photo of the colour of my hair:



By the way my hair is not as red as the photo, I think the flash went off!!

Now I am noticing the skin on my hands is looking more translucent, it reminds me of my Nana's hands??? Then my neck is looking more wrinkly..........and please don't start me on about the rest of my body which has suddenly decided it all wants to go south............I don't know, I am beginning to think aging sucks!!!! With that feeling I am more tempted to buy firming cream, get rid of the dark circles under your eyes cream, age defying this and that. For someone who is not supposed to be bothered about aging, I seem to be bothered.........

On a more brighter note, one thing that I will continually blog about is Fresh or Its Free-ing. So for those of you who are not familiar with FOF-ing, here is what it is all about. If you shop at A & P, Dominion, Ultra Food & Drug or The Barn and if you find any spoiled item in our store, just bring it to the Customer Service Desk and we'll give you a fresh replacement free of charge. For the guarantee to be valid, a purchase is required of equal or greater dollar value than the ‘fresh or free’ replacements in a single shopping transaction, excluding the ‘fresh or free’ replacements. For example, if the total shopping purchase (excluding the ‘fresh or free’ replacements) in a single transaction is $10.00, you may receive up to $10.00 of ‘fresh or free’ replacements.

So of course in my quest to try and save money I try to take advantage of this and FOF whenever I can. Now A & P are a bit more pricier than the discount stores, but with a combination of coupons, sale items and bonus airmiles I can get some pretty good deals there.

Here is what I got today:



The milk, juice, two Pillsbury items and the Lipton tea, were all FOF items. The cereal was buy three health check items, get one item free. So with coupons I ended up paying just over $1.70 per box of cereal. Those four boxes along with another two boxes (I got for free prior), means I have enough cereal until the end of June. I needed bananas and tomatoes, and didn't have coupons for those.

The other four items were items I bought to take advantage of a bonus airmile deal. You get 50 bonus airmiles when you purchase four different items. Again I used coupons with all of those items.

My bill for that shopping trip was $19.93 (incl $1.72 in taxes). I had $18.35 in FOF items, and $10.79 in coupons. Now I know that isn't the best deal especially for you ladies in the States, but up here its not bad.

One of my goals is to post my monthly grocery totals and savings. I am part of the monthly grocery challenge over at Prairie Homemaker I find it a help, as it keeps me on track with what I spend. I also have an excel spreadsheet where I track what I spend on groceries, toiletries and cleaning products each month.