One Snarky Chica with Issues

It has only been in the last couple of years that I have started getting serious about being healthy. One of the things that I have started doing is looking for local farmers’ markets to do my produce shopping.

Farmers’ markets are a great way to get organic produce at lower prices. And as a bonus you are supporting a local farmer. I found out about my local farmers’ markets from a free weekly paper, but you can also get info on local farmers’ markets in your area from Local Harvest. Sadly it appears that this is only a collection of US-based farmers’ markets though. I know I have some readers in other countries, so if you know of a similar site for your country feel free to mention it in the comments and I’ll add it to the list of places to check!

When I first started going to farmers’ markets I was a bit shocked by the selection. You see, there were items available for sale that I had never seen in grocery stores. One of my fave things to get at farmers’ markets are concord grapes - yum!

If you are looking for ways to cut food costs while eating healthier you should look and see what your options are as far as local farmers’ markets. Just remember to take cash with you as most of the people do not take credit cards, at least that was the case at the farmers’ markets I have attended!

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If you are in the Chicago, IL area and looking for some help with some acne I can help you out. When you think “Acne Chicago” you need to be thinking about the Lakeview Dermatology clinic. You see, the Lakeview Dermatology clinic is the place to go for acne issues as they specialize in things like laser acne treatment, hair removal treatment and other skin care treatments. For your acne problems, visit Lakeview Dermatology and see Dr. Eugene Mandrea and Dr. Steven Mandrea in Chicago, Illinois.

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Now that I am not working a “normal” job I like to do my grocery shopping early in the morning during the week. Typically there are only a couple of other cars in the parking lot when I pull up which is just awesome. I hate going to the grocery store in the evenings or on weekends as it seems that it is more of an obstacle course when there are more people there.

The bad thing about doing my shopping at this time is that I have to do it by myself. (That also means that I have to carry everything inside!) So, I do not get the chance to be as diligent as I like as the register. Specifically, I am not able to catch them when  something rings up wrong. Bummer.

Today I got home and checked my receipt against the prices I had written down in the store. Yes, I am the anal person you see with the calculator at the store. Anyways, I got three different kinds of bread and all three of them rang up incorrectly. The total amount I was over charged was $1.30. Now the question becomes it is worthwhile to drive back to the store?

That is when a little simple math comes in handy.

The store is 5.1 miles away, making the round trip 10.2 miles. My car gets 34 miles to a gallon. So, it would take 0.3 of a gallon to get there and back. The cost of gas here is presently $3.89 a gallon.  That means it would cost me $1.18 in gas to get there and back. However- it is super windy here today so I suspect with the whole wind resistance thing that it would cost slightly more. Regardless, it would cost me at least $1.18 to get back $1.30 leaving a net profit of only $0.12. If I add in the fact that the little coupon thingie at the register spit out a “save $5 on your next shopping trip” then it makes it slightly better.

But still, I am not happy about the fact that I was over charged because one of those packs of bread I would not have bought if the tag had said $2.99 as opposed to $2.29.  Of course, what I should have done was checked the receipt in the parking lot.

Since it would not be all that cost effective for me to drive back there, I think I will shoot them off an email. Maybe something will come of that.

How do you decide when to go back to the grocery store when you get overcharged? Or do you always remember to check your receipts before leaving the lot?

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Did you know that with GPS you can track pretty much anything? It is true. With GPS Tracking you can track everything from vehicles to people to other assets. And you can track it or them all over the world. That is both cool and freaky at the same time! But it is also pretty interesting.

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Going to college can be mighty expensive. I know cause I have the student loan debt to prove it! But you know what, it does not have to be that way. There are tons of scholarships out there that you, or your son/daughter, can apply for to cover the cost of college. My excuse is that I was mostly lazy and slightly under the impression that my parents were going to pay for my school.

Luckily my brother is not that naive. He is going to be starting college in the fall. He found a couple of schools that he wanted to attend and they were all private with a hefty price tag. The school he will be attending in the fall has a cost of $35,000, not including room and board, and he will be attending with only $400 per year as his out of pocket cost. Why? Because he applied for every scholarship he heard about.

He got on the web and found out about FastWeb’s scholarship search and began looking for anything he qualified for. He also paid attention to local scholarships. These are great as you have less competition! He got a little money from the school as well. When it was all said and done he was left with about $5,400 a year to pay out of pocket. He asked his advisor is there was any way he could get any additional scholarship money and told of how he was basing his school decision on the place he had to spend the least out of pocket on. The next day he got a call from the school. Thanks to some kids declining to go there that had been given scholarships there was extra money that could be given out as needed and he was given an extra $5,000 a year leaving only $400 out of pocket.

So, if you are looking for ways to pay for college, here are the important things to remember:

• Apply for as many scholarships as possible.
• Use places like FastWeb but don’t forget about local scholarships.
• All schools offer money to people that do not end up going there, that means extra money is actually available if you ask.
• Ask for it!

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I have a membership to Sam’s Club that I have had since I was 16. My father added me onto his business membership because he wanted me to be able to get the cheaper gas at Sam’s as well as things like tires.

Each year before Christmas (which is my renewal date) my father asks if I would like the membership to be renewed as part of my Christmas gift or if I would like to cancel it and have something else. I always take the membership renewal. And I would pay for it myself if I had to.

I definitely think that warehouse clubs are worth the membership fees. However, you have to be careful and not assume that everything they sell is a great deal.

I never buy things like paper towels, toilet paper, breakfast cereals or sodas at Sam’s. I can get those items far cheaper with coupons at other places. And that is the real key to shopping wisely at places like Sam’s. You need to know the price that you pay at other places and you need to know if you can use coupons (or double coupons) for an even great savings some place else.

There are a lot of really great deals at places like Sam’s. We eat a lot of oats in my house. And at Sam’s I can get 9 pounds of Quaker Oats for about the price of 6 pounds at the grocery store.  Bananas are amazingly cheap at Sam’s, as are 5 pound bags of red potatoes. Overall, I tend to find better prices on produce at Sam’s than at the grocery store. The key is only buying what you can eat before it goes bad! We only eat Eggland’s Best Omega-3 eggs in our house. You can get a pack of 12 at the grocery store for $2.54 and I can get a pack of 18 at Sam’s for $2.58.

Sam’s is also a great place to get tires for your vehicle. Last year I needed to buy tires and Sam’s was cheaper by over $100 compared to other places. Plus you get lifetime free rotate & balance there. In the past I have bought computer from Sam’s at great prices. And their video games, DVDs and CDs are usually cheaper as well. Mattresses are another thing that I have gotten cheaper at Sam’s.

You can even find nice clothing at cheap prices at Sam’s too. The last time I was in one they had Levis’ and Calvin Klein jeans at super cheap prices (around $20).

So, if you can avoid the temptation of buying everything that you see at warehouse clubs AND if you are keen on what normal prices are at the stores then you really can come out ahead by having a warehouse club membership.

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You know, losing weight and dieting and all things health and fitness is a pretty popular group of topics. In fact, I regularly talk about those sorts of things on her myself. Well if you need a daily dose of all things related to Fat Loss and health and fitness in general then you should have a look at Planet Fat Loss. On the Planet Fat Loss site you will find all sorts of helpful articles on all things related to diets, fat loss, weight loss, celebrity fitness, popular diets, and so on. They also have a free ebook that you can get on fat loss. So, if these are the things that are important to you, be sure to check out Planet Fat Loss today!

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I happen to know a lot of people that are in the midst of dieting and weight loss at the moment. Good for them! Getting fit and healthy is an important thing. However, I get annoyed when they act like their weight loss is some big miracle. It’s not. It’s really just simple math. If you eat more calories than you need, you’re going to gain weight. And if you start eating less calories and/or burning off calories with exercise then you are going to lose weight. It is not a miracle. You are not the only one with this ‘power’ and your weight loss does not make you special or unique. The fact is, you could have done it all along and you only chose to do so now.

Sure, there are some people that have health issues that make it hard for them to lose weight. And there are even medications that make it difficult. But the people in my life have none of these issues. Don’t get me wrong -  I am glad that they are making efforts to take better care of their bodies. I am doing the same. It is a great thing to do for yourself. And if you are doing it too, then good for you! But don’t go up to all of your friends and family and randomly insert into conversations what size you are wearing, how much weight you have lost and whatnot. We are not blind. We can tell that you have lost weight. Lots of people do it. And it’s just odd when we are talking about movies and you randomly say ‘they got me a large in this shirt, do you think it’s big enough because even a medium would have been too big.’

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As the gas prices here in the US just keep going up I am becoming more aware of the cost of gas in my monthly budget. I already try to go to the grocery store every other week. And I do not really spend a lot of money so any other errand shopping that I have to do I try to save up for when I have to go multiple places. With that in mind, I do not really feel like I am wasting gas but it has got me to considering long treks now in terms of is it really worthwhile if it costs me $30 to get there?

For instance, I have some family members that live about an hour and 15 minutes away. I drive to see them on an average of once a month but sometimes more than that. Whereas they came to where I live (actually in the city as opposed to their middle of nowhere location) two times that I can recall for the entire year last year. So, the rising price of gas is breeding a little resentment in the form of ‘why do I always have to come to you?’

I have a membership to Sam’s Club that I use to buy things like fruit and eggs, which they sell at a lower cost than the grocery stores. However, the closest Sam’s Club to me is 20 miles away. That entire trip would take about a gallon and a half of gas. At $3.79/ gallon it suddenly becomes not worth it. I would be spending $5.69 in gas to save a couple of bucks.

The closest multiplex movie theater is right across the street from the Sam’s Club (ah, the problem with living in the ‘downtown’ area). So, that would mean spending $5.69 in gas total just to spend $8.50 a piece for a movie. Suddenly, a Netflix subscription looks great! Or maybe even ten bucks a month to add on a movie channel to the cable package.

And I have to wonder how people that are working minimum wage jobs feel. Assuming that they do not live close to work and have to drive there.

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Defining happiness might seem like a rather simple task. If someone asked you to define happiness you could likely easily spout off something about bliss or feeling content. Or maybe you would go to Dictionary.com and look it up for guidance.

hap·pi·ness /ˈhæpinɪs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hap-ee-nis]
–noun
1. the quality or state of being happy.
2. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.
[Origin: 1520–30; happy + -ness]

Of course, defining happiness is not really all that simple. Partly because happiness has a different definition for each person. And before you can define happiness I think that you need to assess whether or not you are happy and then build from that. You need to see how YOU define happiness.

And realizing when you are not happy I think is the key to finding your happiness.

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