Hold on a minute............

who is that in the back of my car?

Yep, it's the Queen...............the Queen is riding in the "Queen's" car!!

I first saw this decal in the UK last September and fell in love with it then.  When I got home I discovered I could get one from Amazon; here's a link to it.  I have had it in my basket at Amazon for a while.  The other day I cashed in my Swagbucks for a $25 Amazon gift card and decided to buy it along with a couple of other things I wanted.

Why did I buy this you ask?  Well for three reasons:

1. Because I liked it.

2. Because it'll make it a whole lot easier to find my car in the parking lot at Wal-Mart.........or any other store come to think of it.  As believe me when I say I have never seen one on a car where we live...LOL

3. Because it will irritate the two children I gave birth too......a mother has to get her kicks from somewhere!!!  Both will whine when they borrow my car....

My first shipment to the Uquutaq Society

I cashed in my Swagbucks for a $25 Amazon e-card and put together an order for the Uquutaq Society.  Must say I had fun figuring out what to send up to Iqaluit and stay within my budget.

I decided to concentrate on the Homeless men this time and included the following:

3 packs of 10 disposable razors

 2 packs of 10 bars of soap

 12 washcloths

 2 boxes Ziploc plastic bags (15 per box) to put above items in.

This little lot cost me out of pocket $22.94 which was $2.94 over my $20 budget, but never mind it was worth it.  I read online that one of the things the homeless have on their wish lists are things to keep themselves clean.  Which is why I chose those things.  I may concentrate on toothbrushes and toothpaste next time.

Now I have to build up my Swagbucks points back to 2,000 before I can cash in and send off my next box to them.  I am at just over 100 points, so a bit to go yet!!😊

I am also putting together another box of things to send up North which I'll post about soon.

If anyone else wants to put together a box of things for the homeless click here to read about what they are looking for and their address.

Using Swagbucks to help others....

I have been a member of Swagbucks for a number of years now, and have earned nearly 148,000 Swagbucks since joining.  I cash all mine out for Amazon e-cards, and for us in Canada 2,000 Swagbucks = $25 in Amazon e-cards.

I enjoy doing the surveys on Swagbucks and you are rewarded for you time.  There is also the daily polls and watching new items and other things also earns you Swagbucks.  You can also earn points buy visiting sites and buying things via the Swagbucks site.

It's like those money back sites, but in this case you get Swagbucks.  Some of the online sites I buy from are Amazon, The Gap, Book Outlet, and all give me Swagbucks back.  

There are daily codes you can earn Swagbucks from and also when you do a search using their search bar, you can earn Swagbucks there as well.  

Overall there are many ways to earn Swagbucks.

Recently I have become very interested in helping others in Northern Canada and have joined a Facebook Site called Northern Canada Mini Projects.  Various organizations in Northern Canada are requesting items for various projects.

I sent a box of books up for a Summer Literacy programme via Book Outlet.  They are looking for sponsors for a Thanksgiving Extravaganza for the Elders in Taloyoak.  There is a programme to help the homeless in Iqaluit.  Plus many more for children, women, for soup kitchens and general needs.

One of the issues I find though with helping people in Northern Canada are the shipping costs.  Unless you can find one of the flat rate boxes which I talked about on this post, it is super expensive so any way to save on shipping costs is a HUGE help.

So this is why I am talking about Swagbucks today.  As Amazon does ship free of charge on orders over $35 to certain areas in Northern Canada.  Iqaluit being one of those places.  So it is a win, win situation for all.  As I am sure like me every penny we earn we need for something, but we all want to help others as much as we can.  So why not use the Swagbucks we earn to cash in for Amazon e-cards and order things off, of Amazon and send them up north?

I tend to cash my Swagbucks in when I reach 2,000 and get a $25 e-card.  Think of all the toiletries I could send up the the Uquutaq Society who looks after the Homeless in Iqaluit, and it would only cost me $20.  For example I could purchase a 10 pack of Ivory soap for $3.96.  If I buy ten packages, so 100 bars of soap for $39.60 + the 13% taxes = $44.75.  Use my $25 Amazon e-card I got from Swagbucks and it is less than $20 out of pocket.

If you would like to join Swagbucks , you can click here, or if you would like to join using my referral link it's here.  If you have any questions about Swagbucks please ask away and I will do my best to answer them.  You can access Swagbucks via your mobile phone; I personally do not do that and just use it on my home computer.  

If you are on your computer or mobile phone on a daily basis you may as well use the Swagbucks site and earn Swagbucks while on there.

Been a few days again......

Last week went by in a flash, and I am not sure why.

I was actually out and about a bit which was unusual for me.

I did a bit of clothes shopping for myself.....which doesn't happen too often.  Managed to use a $50 off coupon when you spend $100 and a $20 off coupon when you spend $20.  So spent less than $80 and got five pairs of knickers/underwear, a thick pair of winter tights/pantyhose, a skirt and a top.  All good quality and will last me for ages.

Had a morning out with all five grandchildren at Jungle Land  I must say I am not familiar with these indoor playgrounds, but if I had young children I would be going with them on a regular basis, especially in Winter when it is bitter cold outside.  The older three used so much energy and even the two babies were kept busy.   There were a number of other children there and lets just say other peoples parenting skills left a lot to be desired.  It also shows which children have learned how to share and which children need to work on their sharing skills!!!

Went to knitting and have now finished one side of my poncho.  Need to get back into it and work on the other side.  Pleased with it so far.

Had a run out in the car on Saturday up into Muskoka.  Hadn't been up that way in a long while, it was the road we used to go back and forward on to take our son back and forward to university, so brought back many memories.  It was bitter cold, but the sun was shining brightly.

For the next three days I am going to be painting our spare bedroom.  I have been "threatening" to do this now since the New Year, so finally going to do it.

I am getting back into doing Swagbucks again and have just cashed my points in for another $5 Amazon giftcard.  If you want to check it out and decide to join up, I would love it if you would use my referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby

I am going to be posting more on how I am earning/saving money shortly.

Groceries and Swagbucks......

Another not too bad week for my grocery shopping, below is what I got:

4 litre milk - $3.97
1x hair elastics $4.99 (I am growing my hair out and it is in the in between stage and driving me crazy )
1 x Raspberry Jam - $3.49
2 x Heinz Baked Beans @ 99 cents each
1 x Pasta Sauce - 99cents
1 x Rotini Veggie Pasta 95 cents
1 x 1 litre Olive Oil - $6.99
6 pack energy drink - $2.00 (for dh lunch)
1 x Chunky Soup $1.67
2 x Soup @ 75 cents each
1 x Cookies $1.99
1 x lrg tub yogurt $2.49
8 pack vanilla yogurt $2.99
1/2 lb mushrooms $2.00
10 lb Russet potatoes $2.50
3 pack Romaine Lettuce Hearts $2.50
6 pack pork chops $3.97
12 pack garlic bread $2.09
2 x Whole Wheat Bread @ $2.00 each
1 x Downy Fabric Softener $5.99

Coupons/Rebates/Reductions: $12.09

Total: $49.96

I also got this on another trip out:

1 dozen eggs - $2.64
6 Lemon Muffins (reduced) - $2.98
1 litre half and half - $2.97 we use half and half in coffee ( http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/glossa ... d-Half.htm )
just under 4 lbs ground beef (mince) - $15.25

Total spent today: $23.84
Total saved today: $1.01

Monthly Total Spent: $115.10
Monthly Savings: $75.59

Best deal was the Downy Fabric Softener, as I ended up getting it for free; due to SCOP.

Also got two loaves of bread and a jar of raspberry jam and paid $3.49 for all three (look for the coupon in store; I found one on the Smuckers Jam this week)

I am astonished at the price of lean ground beef (mince) $3.99 per pound.  It has doubled in price.  Asked the butcher if he had any beef or calves liver, and he is having trouble finding either.  Luckily I don't eat a lot of red meat.

I have mentioned before I am a member of Swagbucks.  Its a way of earning things for free.  In my case I cash my Swagbucks in for Amazon.ca e-Cards.  This is available to a number of countries now, including Britain and Australia.  If you want to look into it more please click on this link  This is my referral link and I will earn some more Swagbucks if you do sign up.  I generally "earn" between $200 and $300 worth of Amazon e-Cards per year, for doing very little.  You can earn more if you do more surveys, play more games, or participate in other things.  If you have any questions or want more info just let me know.  Personally I am all for getting things for free.  I plan on saving mine up to be cashed in nearer Christmas.

Very realistic and violent video games.......

I don't play many video games and the ones I have played usually are so child like that no one is offended.  Plus I do tend to be useless at them anyway.  I could never get Mario to jump over stuff, no matter how high I held the controller thing; and if my driving was anything to go by on Mario Cart, I shouldn't be allowed on the roads AT ALL!!  I also remember a monkey and some banana's on another game.

I have been introduced recently to a totally different kind of video game; I am assuming they call them video games?  On Swagbucks you can get one Swagbuck by watching the trailer to a video game.  Today's was World Of Tanks, and I actually watched it while it was playing.  It obviously involved tanks shooting at one another.  What struck me other than all the blowing up of tanks was the little details, like the insignia's on the vaious tanks.  They were going through a field of poppies; why poppies?

Some of the other's have been way more violent and pretty sexist if you ask me.  Some with women in them have figures to die for (and they do) and are wearing very little clothing.  The killing and violence is awful.  If people are playing this day in day out what must it be doing to their minds?

I on occasion have played Candy Crush and while there is no violence in there it can be addictive if you play more than a couple of game at a time.

Personally I don't get it? Maybe I am missing something?  Please feel free to give your opinions......

A question that will make you think.

As you know I am a member of Swagbucks and every day they have a Daily Poll which you get a Swagbuck for if you answer it.  Saturday's question was a very thought provoking question that I thought was a really good one.

If upon your death, you had to choose between re-experiencing your life with greater understanding or experiencing a completely different life...

I chose re-experiencing my life as that way I already had knowledge of my life but I could correct my mistakes as I go along.  If I chose a different life, although I would experience different adventures I may not meet my dh again or have my children again and I wouldn't want to miss that for the world.

Got a second viewing on the house this morning, so fingers crossed it goes well.

Meanwhile you can click here to see a virtual tour of our house.

All systems go.......

We now have a date of when we are putting the house on the market.  February 7th should be the date.  So we need to have everything done and sorted out by the 2nd of February, as I am assuming Sarah our real estate agent will be popping by on the 3rd (Sarah if you are reading this could you let me know?) the photographer will be in on the 4th or 5th and the house on the market on the 7th.

Sarah said we should put it on sooner rather than later, as there is very little inventory in our price range and there are qualified buyers out there looking to purchase.  We have had good luck in buying and selling houses in February BUT the weather has never been as bad as what we have at the moment.  I spoke to our farmer friend and he said he would pop by on Friday to have another go at clearing out the driveway so we can get right around the whole "P" shape of it.  As at the moment the curve is all blocked in.

So this week is more cleaning and decluttering and some reno work.  Dh has made a start on putting the baseboard together in the dining room.  That is a difficult job and one I can't finish until he has all the parts up on the wall.

As it is bitter cold here I cannot clean the outside of the windows.....yes I have tried.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to clean the outside of windows when it's crazy cold? 

I need to call in at the grocery store and see if I can scrounge up some boxes as well, as I am running short and have more things I want to pack away.  I really do not want to have to buy flipping boxes.  Do need to purchase packing tape as that is in short supply around here as well.

Otherwise things are pretty quiet around here!!  I missed the email for the book review for last month, but did manage to order some for the coming month.  I have been busy with my Swagbucks after a quiet December of it.  Hoping to get enough saved up for three $5 Amazon e-cards before the end of this month.  Did manage to cash in for the usual $25 in Amazon e-cards this month already.  Not sure what I am saving up for at the moment. If anyone wants to join up to earn free things click on this link.  If anyone has any questions please ask away.

Did manage to put $51 in my 52 weekly pot this week.  I am on schedule with that but not doing it week 1 through 52, just crossing off what money I have against what week there is on the calendar.  You can read more about that challenge here.

Eyelash Perming and other things.

Have you ever heard of or done eyelash perming?  I hadn't until my niece was talking about it on Facebook.  I couldn't even figure out why someone would do that until she said it saves you using an eyelash curler thingy to curl them???  After reading about it here, I will NOT be getting it done anytime soon........icky, icky, icky.

Nora is growing and is finally out of newborn diapers and into size ones.  Dd has her six week check up this week so will get Nora weighed at the same time.  We haven't seen them since Christmas.  We will be seeing them this coming Sunday at our little Princess' birthday party.

Saw this on Facebook and actually could actually relate to some of these:

However am I wrong, but shouldn't the YOUR in the title be YOU'RE?

Finally I am saving up my Amazon.ca gift cards as I want to purchase an e-reader.  In my hopes of decluttering the house, I figured having an e-reader was a way of not having as many books in the house.  Any advise?

Multitasking

"Watching Swagbuck TV," and earning points while trimming up the mini blocks before sewing them into the main blocks for dd quilt.

Too hot and humid to do anything else!

Monday morning............

Had a busy weekend.  Dh was off all of the weekend which made a change.  He spent nearly all of it in the kitchen and he managed to get three bottom units installed, the counter top installed and the sink fitted.  I hope to have running water next weekend.  By the time dh gets in from work he is so stressed and tired, from the politics at work, he's fit for nothing.

One of the reasons it took so long to get just that done was that nothing was square or level.  However I am super pleased with how it looks so far and when he gets it all together I will take a photo.  I will say it's more luck than management that what I chose as finishes with everything matches ever so well!!!

With the weather being iffy (raining) on and off all weekend, nothing got done in the garden.  So I turned to sewing.  I have seventeen blocks all cut out ready for the final stitching .  Before I get to that point though there are a number of steps that have to be done.  All the mini squares have to be cut out.  Eight beige squares have to be sewn to eight patterned squares in two colours.  They have to be cut in half and pressed.  Then they all have to be trimmed and squared to make perfect 2 3/4 inch squares.  All that takes time; a lot of it.  I am planning on going to Bound To Quilt on Thursday where they have a come and sew session for $5 for the day.  That way I will be more likely to sit and sew for an extended period of time.

At the bottom of the main page you will see an icon that shows you how many Swagbucks I have.  Normally I have a lot, but I have cashed in for $50 worth of Amazon e-cards this month, so have depleted my total.  Normally I cash in just $25 worth, as that is normally all the Swagbucks I have, but I have been saving mine up.  If I remember rightly I think this will bring me to around $225 worth of Amazon e-cards since last December.  If you are already on the computer, why not earn some free Amazon e-cards at the same time?  If you do decide to sign up, I really would appreciate it if you could sign up under my link: http://swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby

If you already do Swagbucks write a comment and let other folk know how you find it, as it is a great way to earn free things.

Enjoy your Monday.

Money Challenges.....

At the beginning of the year I started the 52 Week Savings Challenge, this is my sheet so far:

Hopefully you can see; if not I have been concentrating on the lower amount weeks.  I also seem to be ahead of the game for some reason?  I have crossed off 16 weeks and from what I can see we have only gone through 11 weeks of the year so far?  So I may use the next three weeks to put together the $52 and cross that week off.  Once we have paid off the mortgage it will be easier to pay off the larger weeks.  We are down to week 23 this coming Friday until we pay off the mortgage.

I am still doing the sealed pot challenge.  I only put 5, 10 and 25 cents in my pot, but it's feeling a bit heavier than it was at the beginning of the year.  I am dying to open it to count the money; don't worry I won't spend it if I do!!

My Christmas pot is looking healthy; if you remember I put $20 in there a week and already have $260 saved up.  My birthday pot fluctuates but have $140 in there and my "other" pot has $400 in there.  I am currently saving up that money for the wood for the Fall/Winter of 2013/14.  I did just take $150 out of there to pay for the tickets to the Art Gallery Fund raiser we always go to, and I took $20 out of the birthday pot as well to go towards paying for them.

All in all though I am keeping up with the challenges which is a blessing.

I have also brought in $1,100 for the bringing in an extra $2,013 into the household this year.  That includes working and earning money from surveys etc.  So well on my way to completing that challenge as well.

My Amazon account is also up to $125 all due to Swagbucks, so that too is looking healthy.  My goal for the year was $250 in there, so already half way there with that.

Are you participating in any money  saving challenges?

Follow up on last week's challenges:

Financial Goal Week One: Instead of buying something you need this week, find a way to "make do". Do you grab a coffee each day on the way to work? can you brew at home & use a travel mug? Run out of an ingredient for a recipe? Can you find a substitution? There are many ways to "make do" each & every day... track how much you would have spent.

For this I am going to skip grocery shopping for a week. There is plenty in the house to eat and we'll make do with what we have on hand.

I did end up buying some ground beef and three cans of tuna which cost $13.  I normally spend $75+ so I am going to say I succeeded here.

Decluttering Goal Week One: What "thing" clutters up your home the most? Is it clothes? Toys? Books/magazines? Kitchen Stuff? Knick-Knacks? Find a way to get rid of some of these items! Be sure to snap a pic of your declutter!

Here I am going to clean out the Christmas Decoration Boxes. We have enough decorations to sink a ship. The only down side of this, is I will be packing them away to either sell or donate later in the year, as no one wants to either buy or accept Christmas Decorations this time of the year. They will be boxed up though ready to go in November of 2013.

Now with this there was a slight change of plan.  It has to do with my hands, which I'll explain more about tomorrow.  So my challenge was changed to sorting out the Christmas cards.

From the pile above I am left with this below, which are the letters, notes and photos.

I input all the info into an Excel spreadsheet, so I can see who sent me what for next year.

Will say after the letter I sent everyone, I did receive more letters and emails than the year before.  I am still going to prune more down though.

Finally I would like to thank Freya101 for signing up under me at Swagbucks.  No idea who you are, but if you have any questions, please let me know?

Year in Review for the "Home's of the Week,"

Toronto Life has put together their 10 best Home's, Condos and Cottages for sale in 2012.  Lets just say I don't agree with them, and I can bet you won't either.  However if you are a fan of this feature it will be fun to go back and look at some of the lovely places and cringe at some of the eye sores again!!

So here we go; "The 10 Best Home's of 2012."  Number 3 was my favourite, and absolutely hated number 9 and 7.

"The 10 Best Condos of 2012."  Loved number 4, but honestly the rest I can live without, they're all over priced for what they are.

"The 5 Best Cottages of 2012." For some reason they only come up with five cottages instead of ten?   The five that they picked all leave a lot to be desired.  Also the word "cottage" used for some of these places is so wrong, they're bloody mansions!  Still if you have a favourite let me know I'll take a second look at them.

Have managed to cash in for 4 $5 Amazon e-cards through Swagbucks so far this month.  Working towards that fifth one you who are on the computer a lot, you could be earning Swagbucks at the same time?  If you do sign up please would you use my referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby

It's my older of my two brother's birthday's today.  Happy 40 something Birthday our Nick!!!  Often wondered if its a good thing having a birthday around Christmas time?  Before Christmas people are busy with Christmas itself and you're getting presents for Christmas anyway, so I bet a lot of people combine presents which must suck?  Then just after Christmas people have no money, though the sales are on, so I guess you may get a great gift because it was on sale?

Does anyone have a birthday either in December of January?  Also in Canada, the school year intake date is January 1st.  So January birthday's are the oldest in the year and December birthday's are the youngest.  I know two cousins, one birthday was November of one year and the other was Janaury of the next.  The one in November started school in September of 2012, but the other one had to wait until Spetember of 2013, despite only being two months apart in age.

I told poor "R" that she should try to have another baby by December of 2014, as although there would be nearly apart in age, they would only be a year apart in school.  As she pointed out it would be helpful to have this baby first.....LOL

Yes, she's still pregnant and although the baby isn't big 5 + lbs both are healthy.  She finishes work today to go on maternity leave, so I will probably see her next week sometime.  Her due date is the 18th, so two more weeks to go.

Frugaldom and other things

We're in for another warm spell over the next couple of days, so as long as it stays dry it will be a good opportunity to pick up fallen twigs outside, all in the hopes of making things easier on me next Spring.

For those of you who have been following me for a while, know I am am a big fan of Swagbucks.  I cashed in $40 worth of points last month which was good.  I have cashed in $15 worth of points so far this month, but as you see I have very few swagbucks left.  So I need to get another 900 Swagbucks this month to cash in for another two $5 Amazon gift cards, then work away at building up my balance again.  Any questions regarding Swagbucks leave me a comment with your email address and I'll get back to you, I WON'T PUBLISH IT.

Here's a neat idea on Frugaldom:

How to Take Part in the 2013 Frugaleur Challenge

Official launch date - Monday 12th November 2012, to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. Feel free to join in at anytime.

This section is about the 2013 moneymaking challenges. Moneysaving and frugal living challenges have their own section.

These challenges have been running for several years, each based on setting up and running your own home-based enterprise in order to generate some extra income.

In 2012, we capped the initial start-up costs at £10, with NYK Media offering to finance any start-ups who genuinely couldn't afford to spare £10. I am pleased to say that of those who took part this year, nobody has reported a loss and NYK Media isn't out of pocket.

So long as your business idea is legal and your new frugal business is set up and operated within the word of the law, then the world is your oyster. For past participants of the frugaleur challenges (previously known as Cyberdosh challenges), joining the 2013 project involves minimum investment to take your existing business to the next level.

Suggestions please... we need to decide on the amount used to get a new frugal business started for 2013 and, likewise, how much to allow for further investment to expand if it's your existing micro-business.
Edit - Initial investment maximum = £50

Should we run a public list of challengers by username? I prefer using lists and have done so, often, in the past both here and on other sites. A list makes it easier to show who started when - we do tend to get a few late-comers, so feedback needed on this, too.
Edit - Challenger list will be included here.

Make the first step now, join us here and share your thoughts on starting your own frugal business or further developing the one you have already begun. Research costs virtually nothing and we're all here to support one another n our quest for success.

To start your own thread and start recording yur progress, simply click on the 'New Topic' button at the top left of this page and insert your username into the subject line.

Good luck to all our 2013 Frugaleurs!

I am racking my brain for ideas on what to do as it seems like a neat idea.  Here is a link to the post

Love the new Adele song Skyfall.  Have you seen the movie?

This is one of my all time favourite Christmas songs:

New tea pot and other things

I bought a new teapot the other day.  It's the Aspen teapot from Tea Forte.

I wanted a teapot with the option of using loose tea or tea bags.  This one comes with a removable filter.

The other day when I was in the city I had a few minutes to spare so I called into a thrift store that I have been too before.  As I was parking the car in the car park, a woman driving a newer model Jaguar pulled in beside me.  The woman got out and was very well dressed.  She followed me into the thrift store and I saw her looking through the clothes rack's.   This thrift store does not have good quality items to my mind, and found it surprising that someone who obviously had money would shop at a thrift store?  Though maybe that's why she does drive an expensive car, as she saves money by buying clothes at a thrift store?  By the way I spent a total of 57 cents for a brand new Christmas mug to add to a gift.

I managed to get all my Christmas cards written and all the international ones mailed out on Thursday.  I did have a parcel to mail which was just over $17, but the stamps itself for the cards came to $40.  Now I will have a couple of local stamps left over, but overall I used them all.

I have nearly finished the Christmas shopping.  I ordered some more things from Amazon as all my Swagbuck's Amazon gift cards came through.  I had $40 this month, and with what I ordered, I only had to put just over $4 to the total.

On Wednesday night I went to "Ladies Night," at our local Home Hardware.  I actually thought it was just a figure of speech, but they really meant it was Ladies only and turned away men.  I picked up some things, all Christmas gifts and my scratch and save card was worth 10% off, so that was better than nothing.

I can't believe it is Friday already.  I am determined I am NOT leaving the house today, as I have been out of the house every day.

My New Iron.....

I go through irons and kettles at a very fast pace it seems.  So a week or two ago I ordered a new iron off Amazon.ca. I got the Rowenta Steamium.  After taxes it came to just over $161, I paid $0 as I used my gift cards I got from Swagbucks.

I figured I would pay more for an iron in the hopes it may last a bit longer.  This one is also made in Germany.  So far so good,  although I do find it a little heavy, but that maybe because I have not gained back my strength in my hands, especially my right hand.


I know I have mentioned this a number of times, but if you haven't already joined Swagbucks you really should.  I don't have any referrals and still cash in for $25 worth of Amazon.ca e-cards every month.  If you would like to know more or would like to sign up for Swagbucks let me know.  If you do decide to sign up could you please do up under this link:


 http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby


Swagbucks is available for people living in Canada, the States and Great Britain.  You're already on the computer already, so why not earn Swagbucks at the same time and get free stuff?


What small appliance are you forever replacing?

$700 and Home of the week

So it cost $700 to fix and service my car this week {SIGH} For that $700 I got a Spring Service Package that includes oil and filter service, inspecting various things on the car and switching my snow tires for my regular tires, that costs $89.85


They also replaced spark plugs and wires, replaced fuel filter, throttle body service and replaced serpentine belt. The above service and labour for the spark plugs etc cost $395.79.  All the parts cost $222.39 and taxes were $80.36. (Just so you know I know NOTHING about cars, so don't ask any technical/mechanical questions as I WILL NOT know the answer!!)  I had to look at the bill to get all the info of what they did, as I was clueless.  I make the garage talk to dh as he knows more about cars than I do.


We cannot afford to replace this car until the Fall of 2013, so fingers, toes and everything else crossed it will last until then.  It has done us well as it is 10 years old but has low mileage.


With living in a rural area I do need a car as there is no bus service.  Our nearest town is 10 kilometres away and I am not fit enough to bike there.  Our doctor is in Brampton, and we can't get a doctor close to where we live.  So all in all it's not practical for me to be without a car.  


I love this week's Home of the Week, I mean it is gorgeous, I wouldn't change anything.  I guess there is one little problem though the price.......I wonder if they would drop it to $250,000 or even better give it too me?  You know dd did have her wedding at St. George's Golf and Country Club last year so that should count for something, right????  I can dream I guess, though unless I won the lottery, I couldn't afford to heat or maintain the place as it's huge. 


Is anyone out there participating in the "March Swagness" promotion?  Must say I will be glad to see the back of it.  Having to get over 100 Swagbucks every day is proving trying.  I have managed to achieve my goals up to and including Thursday.  So fingers crossed I reach today's and tomorrow's goal.  Someone said that you got double your total of bonus Swagbucks if you achieve every daily goal during this event?  Must say I am a big fan of Swagbucks, but you all know that....

Nothing much to talk about...........

Life is pretty boring at the moment, just doing the same old things. 

I did spend around 4 hours in the garden on Sunday making a start on tidying up after the winter.  It was cool out but it made for a perfect day for working outside.  I even had to put my Summer hat on, as the sun was shining so brightly.

We have a couple of large Willow Trees by the driveway and they "shed" like crazy over the winter months and so I spent a large part of the four hours cleaning that lot up.

At least we have a little bit of colour in the garden with the Forsythia in full bloom.  We have a couple of trees growing amongst the forsythia bush.  Now they have been there for years and I know there is no way I will be able to dig them out, but it does look a little funny when you look at the photo.

One other thing I have been busy with is the is the March Swagness promotion that is going on.  They give you a goal each day of how many Swagbucks you need to get to receive a bonus.  As an example today I have to get 110 swagbucks and I will receive a bonus of 11 swagbucks.  If you reach your goal each day until the end of the month you will receive a mega bonus as well, no idea what that is.  So far I have been on target every day, thanks to playing the swagbucks tv constantly on my laptop. 

Luckily the weather has gone cold and will be wet for the rest of the week, so at least I can't garden.  I did get enough swagucks this month for five $5 Amazon e-cards, so my Amazon account has $95 sitting in it.

Why I bulk buy certain things and other bits and bobs.

First of all I moderate my comments as it's my blog and I can do what I want....right....LOL


Occasionally my brother leaves me messages and he left me this one:


i have decided i had better not try any of those recipes just in case as i only have a weeks supply of toilet roll in !
they cant be that good if the author needs a back up supply like that !
just how long does it take to get over each one ?
ha!ha!.... nick


That was in reply to this post.  Now I know he was joking around, but I'm not sure he understands why I do what I do.   So I thought I'd explain.


I mentioned in that post I had enough toilet paper stocked up for six months.  On that shopping trip I picked up 4 packs of 12 double rolls of toilet paper, which should last us 4 months, if not more.  Generally I think they cost around $5.99 to $6.99 a package (they may be more I never pay full price).  So we'll use the $5.99 price here.  They were on sale for $4.99 per package and I had a $1 coupon, so all in all I saved $2 per package on the regular price, saving me a total of $8.


Another thing we use a lot of is I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.  We average a 1lb tub a week.  It is normally around $2.49 a tub, but comes on sale every three to four month at $1 per tub.  I generally stock up and buy 12 tubs at a time, which will last us 3 months.  By buying them on sale I save $18.88.  So just on those two items alone, which we use and a regular basis and I have room to store I have an extra $26.88 in our pocket.


Granted if I had a very small fridge and no room to store these items I couldn't take advantage of these deals, but I am lucky enough to have both.  What this means though, is that if a nutritionist looked at my weekly grocery shop it would be very unbalanced as I will buy things on sale, so some weeks it looks as though I haven't bought fruit, where in reality I already have fruit in the fridge or freezer from a prior week when I stocked up on it when it was on sale.

I have been shopping like this for years and wouldn't do it any other way, as I hate paying full price for things, especially food.  Also this system works for me, and I am happy with it.


Do you want free onions, see this post over here.  I have never heard of doing this before, but when I next buy green salad onions, I'll give it a go.  Also cathy@home grows potatoes from potato peelings, see this post.  For more detail on how to do it read this  I think I will try this, this year.


I would also like to thank Juliebadoolie for signing up using my referral for Swagbucks.  If you have any questions please just let me know.  If anyone else wants any tips regarding Swagbucks just leave me your email address in a comment (I WILL NOT PUBLISH IT) and I will get back to you.  If anyone would like to sign up I would really appreciate it, if you would sign up under my referral code: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby   

Swagbucks is a great way of earning free things, in my case $5 Amazon.ca gift cards for being on the computer.  If you live in Britain, the States or Canada, you can participate.  I have now earned $500 in Amazon.ca gift cards since I signed up in December of 2009.