I listed a couple of things on Saturday on Freecycle and got rid of them today. I got quite a good response to the listing. It's a nice way to unload things that might not necessarily find their way to good home goingthe thrift store route.

Speaking of thrift stores, I dropped off about eight bags of clothes, shoes, toys and books today. Felt good to unload those things. We have a thrift store for the women's shelter in the area, so that's where I took my stuff.

Good day for letting others have things we don't need and/or weren't using.

Lately I find myself being much more willing (and not embarrassed!) to speak up when something goes wrong. Today, I noticed a two dollar coupon didn't get scanned. Once upon a time I may have just said oh well, but now? No way! I politely returned to the cashier to get my two dollars. And the simple green thing? Beofre I would have just figured that without a receipt I was out of luck. But now, I know it's worth contacting the company because they're likely to come through for a customer!

We work hard to earn our money, I work hard learning ways to stretch it further. I'm willing and able to speak up about it when need be, and it's a good place to be.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a canister of Simple Green wipes at Big Lots. Opened them today and found that there were NO wipes inside!

I emailed Simple Green this morning and have already heard back that they will ship me a replacement canister of wipes.

Thumbs up to Simple Green's customer service!

Last night we had a tomato, basil and mozzarella salad with homegrown tomatoes and basil. It was excellent! I'm making pizza tonight and topping it with tomato and bell pepper from my garden. It is fun having a decent garden this year.

Yesterday was a no-spend day, aside from scheduling some bills to be paid. I need to go through my coupons and see what is expiring soon and check to see if there are any sales going on for any of those items. I do need to buy cat food and dog food this week - I think I'll try to use the coupons for free food from Nutro. I don't know if our local independent pet supply store will take them, but I'll bring them along just in case.

DD's bed gets delivered this Saturday. I'll paint it in the garage and then assemble it in her room. I'm not looking forward to doing that, but it will look nice once it's all done.

I have enjoyed reading the no spending for a week thread in the forums. Kind of inspiring.

Not finance related, but cute...

I had my first acupuncture appointment today, and I have another scheduled for next Friday. I'll submit these to my insurance company and see what they cover.

Nothing really to report - I think it's a process rather than a one-time thing.

I wish insurance covered massage - I'd do that every week in a heartbeat.

I called around to find the cheapest price on the kitten formula I have to buy the last time I bought some, and when I went in today it was marked down by a dollar. That was a pleasant surprise. The kittens are growing nicely, and eating more and more each day.

Here is a picture from last Saturday.

I am trying acupuncture this Friday to see if I can get some relief from my migraines. I'm going on 48 hours of this one - it comes and goes in term of its intensity, so at least there are some breaks.

I think my health insurance covers acupuncture, though to what extent I do not know.

I hope it helps - I'll post an update if anyone is curious.

The Toyota dealer called - a car will be in port on the 6th, which means it'll get to the dealer anywhere from three days to three weeks from then. We weren't picky about color - asked for anything but white or black. So by month's end, probably sooner, we;ll have our new car. Fun

The kitties both had good check-ups this morning. Our 19-pounder who had the bladder issues a couple of months back and has been on a diet since then (his weight being unrelated to the crystals in his urine, but something to take care of regardless) lost about a pound. Good news there! Our older kitty, however, has put on a pound in the last year, so we need to keep an eye on that. Got some more science diet food while we were there. Total bill: $142. The dog goes on Friday.

Spent about $100 at Trader Joe's today but feel well-stocked on many things. I paid attention to prices of organic milk there: $5.99 for a gallon and $3.19 for a half gallon. Much better than the grocery stores, Costco or Smart & Final. I thought that was true but hadn't paid close attention in a while, so it's good to verify that.

The kittens seem to be doing OK - it's a lot of work, but it's fun work. I've always loved kitties, and it's kind of nice to learn how to do this fostering and bottlefeeding routine. I've been getting up once at night to feed them. Once they're a bit bigger and eating more at one feeding, I'll stop doing the 1 a.m. feed. So far I've spent about $23 on food, extra nipples and hand sanitizer. I was given the first can of formula along with two bottles and nipples. I grabbed two bags of sample science diet kitten crunchies while at the vet today, for down the road.

Got a bit of a headache today. Need to sleep better and eat better.

DH and I went shopping today for a new sink and fixtures for our bathroom. We saw one we liked, but they couldn't order it anymore - only the floor model was available. I asked if they could offer a discount, and he said he'd ask the manager. Long story short, we got a $298 sink and a set of $138 fixtures ($436 total) for $250. All because we weren't shy about asking! I'm pleased.