Dog Ear Wash

Do you ever need to buy ear wash for your dog? I do, and although it's not too expensive, a bottle can run anywhere from $6-$10, depending on where you buy it. I found a recipe to make it at home for much less and it seems to be just as effective.
All you need is 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar and 2/3 cup of water. Mix and then use a cotton ball to clean your dog's ears.

There are also recipes which add a few drops of rubbing alcohol and/or olive oil. But I prefer to keep it as simple as possible for my dog's comfort, and the mix will last for a long time.

Got Wine?

I have long been a fan of  "Two Buck Chuck's" wine from Trader Joe's. In fact,  I used to buy it when it was only $1.99. So although prices invariably go up at some point, I was quite disappointed when it suddenly sold for $2.49. Still it is decent for such a cheap price, although I honestly don't buy it nearly as often as I used to simply because of principle...also because I like a good moscato and TJ's doesn't have one in the inexpensive variety.

I do shop at Walmart sometimes, and I've seen that their cheap brand is Oak Leaf Vineyards although I hadn't tried it. I figured it must be pretty bad. But I finally tried it recently, and I was wrong. I bought the moscato, and it was actually good. I could taste distinct flavors, and it was only $2.39 a bottle.
I am pleasantly surprised, and looking at their website, Oak Leaf Vineyards is a medal winning winery in California. So you may want to try their wines, if you haven't already. You can't beat the prices and you might also find a new favorite.

Keurig Experience

I was given a beautiful Keurig coffee maker as a gift. Being a coffee lover, I was thrilled. But sadly, my experience with it has not been a good one. I rarely share negative information, but I feel this is important.
My Keurig worked well and the coffee pods made it so easy, although they were expensive. So I bought a reusable filter for it and all was right with the world. But then, when it was time to clean the system, I followed the directions, yet it didn't work when putting it back together.
I was lucky that the store allowed me to exchange it, and life went on again. But the second one did the same thing. The instructions say to take out the removable filter when descaling, but then the water won't pass through and it doesn't finish cleaning or allow coffee to be made. So i took the second coffee maker back and exchanged it AGAIN. Interestingly, the store clerk said that they have had several people return their Keurigs.
I am now on my THIRD Keurig, and I am debating if I should keep it or simply exchange it for a different kind of coffee maker. For an appliance which is very expensive, it is ridiculous that they seem to be so much trouble, and I don't feel I could ever recommend them to anybody. I am currently using my $2 Melita drip filter, and it's working as well as anything.

Using Coupons

Most likely, you also receive ValPak coupons in your mailbox like we do. There are many which offer good savings, but there also seem to be many for businesses which are not places you go on a regular basis. Some may get you to try a business where you haven't been before, but for me, it's often just a waste of paper since I throw so many of the coupons away. But even if there are one or two that you can use, it can save you some money. So it's always worth a look to see what's in there.
ValPak is also online. So you can check there to see if any coupons are applicable to your life and where you normally go for services.

Another Snowman

I just have to share my latest FIND. I collect snowmans, so when I saw this mug in the store, of course, I was drawn to it. It's a cute St. Nicholas Square hand-painted mug (not cheap), with a top (the head) to keep the contents warm. It was on a clearance rack only because it was a Christmas item, but it had no price tag. I went to the checkout and asked about it, and the cashier tuned to the manager wondering about looking up a price. He said to just give it 
to me for $1.00! SCORE!
It is so cute and a nice addition to my collection, not that I needed it. But when they're practically giving it away...
Believe it or not, I also had a 20% coupon which I wasn't ashamed to use. So my mug was only 80 cents!!! As usual, I'm a happy shopper!

Happy Birthday to ME

This past weekend, we went to our favorite store, Kohl's (big surprise), looking for a gift for someone else. But things were on clearance, and when they're priced so incredibly low, it's often cheaper to get new items than to shop at thrift stores for used ones.
My husband found several shirts, most retailing for $50-60, marked down to $4-5. I found a couple myself for about those same prices. I even found this cute pair of boots, not that I need more boots mind you. But they were retail $59.99 marked down to $5.99!!! How could I not get them?? :)
For all the shirts, the boots AND a pair of earrings, with tax it all came to only $58.53! The total savings off retail prices was $445.80!
Now we can go through our closets and bless someone else with some of our older clothes. What's not to love about that!?

Birthday Surprises

I may have written about this before, but if so, just count my post as a friendly reminder. ;-)
Just like stores, many restaurants have rewards programs, and if you like free food (who doesn't?), you should sign up at your favorite places.
My birthday is coming up soon, and today alone, I received three emails to come celebrate it at different restaurants offering a free bday surprise. Some offer a free entree, some a dessert treat, all free just for being in the program.
Of course, they know you most likely won't be celebrating alone, so they're still going to make money in the deal. But you want to celebrate somewhere, right? So you may as well get part of it for free. 
It's starting to make sense to me why I always seem to gain a few pounds around my birthday, and it's apparently not just from the cake! :P

Toy Score

You know how I always look for bargains, and pet supplies are no different. Food alone can be very expensive. I was in the store and there was a table of items on clearance. They all appeared to be for fairly small dogs, so I almost passed them by. But I decided to stop and take a peek, and sure enough, at the bottom of the pile there was a large SUMO bone and rope toy, perfect for Coco. It was apparently one left over from Christmas, so instead of $9.82, it was marked down to only 98 cents!!! 

The dog doesn't care what color it is, and neither do I. If you are familiar with the SUMO brand, these are very strong products which cannot be destroyed easily. So I was very happy to find it. Such a deal!

Coupon Value

I love it when I get "free money" coupons in the mail. I'm sure the stores figure you'll spend more if they can get you there. But the key is to stick to the coupon value when I go shopping.
For instance, I got a "$10 off $10 or more" coupon. So I went to the store and looked at several things on sale, some for less than $10 and some for a few dollars more. But I kept looking around and I found a little jacket, which I had tried on months ago when it was full price. It was marked down to $10. So I used my coupon and got it for NOTHING!!!

Don't Be Afraid to Ask

Many of you know how much I love to learn, and how I (very) often listen to and watch webinars. So yesterday I was on one, and it was a little tough as I was riding in the car and had to watch it on my phone. But still, I did and got a lot out of it.
The instructor had said in his promo email that one listener was going to win the course he was actually going to talk about at the end of the webinar. So I wasn't sure how he was going to choose someone, but I stayed on until the end even though I wasn't going to be able to buy his course.
Sure enough, he did talk about the course he was selling but, as he was getting ready to sign off, he hadn't said anything about picking a winner.
So I sent a question in via the webinar and asked if he was still giving a course away. He said he had forgotten all about that, and since I asked, I WON!!! It was a $197.00 course that I won, just for asking! WOOHOOOO!!

So the moral of the story is...Don't be afraid to ask questions! You just never know what can happen!