Gadget Magnet

I was challenged to make a big shop at Murphy USA and of course, my wife was right behind me assuring me she could be more frugal and buy more for her bucks than I could. I started with this coupon…

Click the coupon above and go sign-up for yourself so you receive the free coupons and text messages with coupons in them….don’t miss out!

I headed in the store, my coupon and $24.00 in hand. My goal to buy a $25.00 gift card using this coupon and then buy more than my wife could buy with my $25.00 card.

I handed over my coupon and my $24.00 and received this…

The one thing I got that she didn’t….

And then, it was time for me to shop…my items, my food, my money….see if I can beat Mom~E~Centric

I love this stuff and our friendly cashier said she tried to get Mom~E~Centric to grab some but she wouldn’t…I’m not surprised…

I knew she wouldn’t go for Twinkies either but do you see that…50 cents?

I bet she tries to sneak some of these out of my bag, just you wait and see…

And I can guarantee you she starts after these…Nutrisystem or not, she’ll sneak at least one……

But now it’s time for my grand total…. Here’s my stash once it was at home…

Notice I did not get drinks for my children (which Mom~E~Centric says is typical of a male) but hey, I was after some goodies for ME!

And the finally bill….how did I do in comparison to Mom~E~Centric……she is after all, the biggest Murphy USA cheerleader out there….

$24.89……I spent all but 11 cents of my money and…..no I didn’t get anything for anyone else and I didn’t get the cashier a courtesy gift for helping me and…

I

Lost

by

3 Cents

I HATE to lose!

Just you wait, I’ll get her next time…

Disclaimer:  The shop and opportunities were courtesy of #CollectiveBias, @MurphyUSA and #MurphyUSA

First, if you haven’t seen my Whrrl Story about shopping for Pedialyte Singles, you should go see that at Pedialyte to the Rescue on Whrrl or see it below

 

Now, let me tell you the story.  First of all, we are very fortunate that our children are rarely sick. I’m not boasting so please don’t let the sick-tummy-bug visit me now, we’ve just been lucky.

However, the one sick spell that I remember the best occurred while we were traveling.  Walker sat straight up in the middle of our bed, where we were all sleeping together, in the middle of the night, in a hotel…and barfed everywhere!

We were in a “long-term” place which didn’t have around the clock service at the front desk but did have access to washing machines and dryers. I made a run to the store for some Pedialyte and washing detergent. I let Jerri Ann work the throwing up, the bathing, the cleaning, the throwing up, the drinking of Pedialyte and I handled washing the only bed linens we had.

We decided the next morning that we should head home, although that wasn’t our original plans. Which may have been a good idea or…may..not..have…been…such…a…good..one.  We put the kids in the car, one that was already sick at his stomach and headed home.  We stopped multiple times to clean the kid up and try to get him to drink. 

I mentioned in my Pedialyte to the Rescue on Whrrl Story that he doesn’t tolerate Grape flavors very well. But, when I bought Pedialyte in the middle of the night, I just grabbed what I could find. So, we had a hyper active throwing up kid on our hands and another who was just screaming from the chaos. Jace is not fond of chaos and never has been.  

I won’t continue with that horror story, I’m sure you know it required extensive car cleaning once we were home.  That was only a few years ago and we’ve bought Pedialyte a couple of times since then, however, because we’ve been so lucky, it’s like other OTC items, they expire before we use them.

These would have made that so much easier…

If you are traveling, you can actually plan ahead for such horrible situations with the powders or these single serving juice boxes. If you are trying to carry the big bottle around, they get quite heavy.  This way, you are prepared, but not overloaded.

If you haven’t tried the singles in a variety of Pedialyte you can get some information on dehydration on the Pedialyte site with 

A Fun and Easy Experiment to Teach About Dehydration

You can read about the

Warning Signs & Symptoms of Dehydration

You can find some

Printable Activities To Keep Kids Entertained When Sick

And, you can read the

FAQs about Pedialyte

This will help ensure that you are prepared in case you need to deal with sick children. And, let’s face it, we’ve been lucky, it’s very rare for families not to experience more sick children with issues of dehydration than we have.  Again, nothing we have done, just luck, so please don’t send the bad-luck demon to our house.

If you aren’t sure where to find the Pedialyte Singles, you can check on the Pedialyte website for the Pedialyte Store Locator

In addition to this opportunity to learn what to do in case of a sick child, you can get a coupon for $1.50 off.

Pedialyte Coupon for $1.50 off

Please note that this is a Bricks coupon and will require you to download the software in order to print the coupon if you don’t already have it. 

You an print the coupon TWICE!  That’s a steal.

 

I was compensated for my time from Abbott Nutrition and Collective Bias. All views and opinions are mine.

 

You can join in and help to along with  Dayspring through Adopt-a-Classroom…get moving

Here’s how you can help…

• Participate in the DaySpring Back to School WithPurpose campaign by creating a blog post about what it means to go Back to School With Purpose with specific rules described here.
• Dayspring will donate up to $5,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom
• You can tag as many people as you wish whom you feel live with purpose.
• The DaySpring Back to School With Purpose campaign will officially begin at 12 AM EST on August 12 and end at 11:59 PM EST on September 08, 2010. Blog posts submitted to us before or after that time period will not be counted for.
• The blog post link has to be submitted to us here for your participation to be counted.
• In addition copy and paste the following text in your blog post:

DAYSPRING’S BACK TO SCHOOL WITH PURPOSE BLOG CAMPAIGN RULES:

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog post or Facebook note about what it means to you to go Back to School WithPurpose and identify others who you feel are Living With Purpose in their lives – you can recognize as many individuals as you want.
• Link back to person who gave you a DaySpring Award
• Let each person you are recognizing know you have recognized them.
• Leave your link at btswithpurpose comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #WithPurpose blog campaign, and more information about Back to School with Purpose with DaySpring there.
• DaySpring is donating $10 for each blog or Facebook note participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $5,000 for blog posts written by September 08, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation

 

By posting this note, I just raised $10 for Adopt-A-Classroom. Will you please join me in supporting students and teachers through DaySpring’s BTS With Purpose Campaign?

Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom with your participation. Join now!

The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward is charity blog meme, bloggers are able to raise $10 per blog post for Adopt-A-Classroom by writing a blog post or Facebook note and donating a virtual bag of school supplies . Elmer’s will donate $10 per each post written for Adopt-A-Classroom, up to $10,000.

HOW CAN YOU JOIN? It’s easy.

• Participate in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward by giving away a virtual bag of school supplies and creating a blog post or Facebook note with specific rules described below.
• Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom.
• You can give as many virtual bags as you want.
• The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward will officially begin at 12 AM EST on July 22, 2010 and end at 12 PM EST on August 12, 2010. Blog posts submitted to us before or after that time period will not be counted.
• The blog post link has to be submitted in the comment section below for your participation to be counted.
• In addition copy and paste the following text into your blog post:

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

• Copy and paste these rules into your blog post or Facebook note.
• Create a post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
• Link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
• Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
• Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
• Elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by August 12, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

Here is the photo you can use for your virtual bag or create your own!

Read more about Adopt-A-Classroom

This bag is for you Jerri Ann

Ok, so really, the proof isn’t in the pudding.  The proof is in the first t-shirt to withstand the StainGuard, a Workday, Washing, Drying and another photo…..

Anyone impressed yet?

The light is shining on it kind of weird but there are no stains there…..yet….

I’ve been wearing the Stain Guard deodorant this week.  Overall, the comparison of my normal deodorant and Stain Guard seems very equal.  It’s technically only day 4 but thus far, I’d say it’s all good. 

Now, about getting my wife to wash some of the t-shirts that I have worn to check for stains and all that.  Please note, I did say she needs to do the laundry.  She does do the laundry around here, in her own good time, so I am going to wait this one out.  However, she did send me this photo today explaining that this *might* or *possibly* be a good reason why the laundry doesn’t get done around here. 

I can’t say with all certainty whose idea it was to put the whiffle balls in the clothes basket.  She maintains that if the basket was empty, then no dirty clothes exist. 

*rolls eyes*

You all did see the photo of the dirty laundry on the floor didn’t you?  Don’t let her get away with this…….

I’m starting this challenge courtesy of Collective Bias.  When I’ve finished documenting over the next couple of  weeks, I’ll have a big Whrrl story that I’ve started but won’t publish until the end.  So, sit back and relax and watch was happens….

I did the shopping trip alone on Friday night.  Even though my wife thought she was going to follow me around and tell me how to do it, I bribed her with a pedicure and I went shopping with my 5 year old.  What woman will turn down a pedicure?  I know how to work the bribery on this woman.

Dusk is setting in and I’m going shopping…sans the woman.

I am going after a package of Hanes White T-Shirts which come with a sample of Stain Guard Deodorant.  I use Degree normally, but for two weeks, I’m giving this new stuff a try.

Once in the store, I went to the men’s department and found exactly what I was in search of…

If you look really close on the left-hand side, you can see the sample of the deodorant attached.  And, you can also see that I”m getting 6 t-shirts, not 5.

From there, here’s where my story is going to take you…

I’m starting with, a look at how I wear t-shirts.  First of all, I wear one every day.  I work in them.  They get really nasty and it makes my wife really crazy.  I also wear a white t-shirt under dress shirts no matter the season.

With that in mind, here are a few photos for perspective…

I do have to say that my wife has intervened to help with this project, I don’t have that much creativity in me.

The following photos are labeled according to my wife’s description…*rolls eyes*

My wife also mentioned that I needed to put in a disclaimer here that this is a cumulative photo of all of my t-shirts and hers.  Except, she wants to make sure you know, these are only the ones that I either work in and I get really dirty, or the ones she sleeps in and refuses to leave home wearing.  We do actually have a plethora of nice T-shirts hanging in the closet.  So, by all means, this is about 1/3 of the t-shirts we own.

The first photo here is what my t-shirt drawer looked like when I started making photos…

Please note:  That is an empty drawer.  Here’s why………

Our laundry resides in the floor, unwashed or in baskets, clean but unfolded a majority of the time *she is going to kill me*

Anyway, she was kind enough to wash up all the laundry yesterday and today AND fold it for me, all the more reason not to let her know how I’m telling you her secrets.

Here’s the whole shebang..

Please note, the shirts are stacked and my very organized wife (what you don’t think I’m going to get in more trouble than I’m already in over the dirty laundry comment do you?) put them in stacks depending on what they are worn for, where they came from and if they are going to even make it back into the work-related and/or sleep-related rotation.

So, here goes..again….

That photo is a variety of colored shirts that she sleeps in.  Her excuse is that she works from home and why bother putting on real people clothes when she can wear her pj’s all the time.  Those will return to her chest of drawers.

That’s two keepsake t-shirts that my wife has.  One is from the Disney conference that was provided by…….(hang on, had to ask) My Shimmer and various bloggers including Mickey and Mini Mouse signed it.  The other one has the ad that she used on the back of a t-shirt when we owned the daycare….those t-shirts are retired to the “special drawer”…where ever that is…

That’s my 2, yes only 2, white undershirts for wearing under dress shirts and just to be cute, there’s one of each that the boys have.  Notice we aren’t big on dress clothes with undershirts…we like our t-shirts to be the primary piece of clothing.

That is an array of t-shirts that I have ruined from working on them and she has officially declared these shirts “rags”.  And to further prove her point, she takes the scissors and immediately cuts them into pieces so I don’t wear one of the…even in an emergency.

That is an example of a work t-shirt in white that didn’t even make the “rag bag”, she tossed it in the trash all together.

Another white work shirt that hit the trash, she declared these too disgusting to even clean the toilet with.  I’ll spare you here but there were about 5 more like this thatwhich managed to go into the trash.

This group of t-shirts were moved to the bag of rags but were saved from the scissors in case of an emergency.  Most of them are gray and or white or were at least gray or white at one time.

With that, let’s get this challenge underway…

I’ve restocked with new shirts and the few I was allowed able to keep.

Stay continued for an update in a day or so, I wore one of the dress shirts today and will have baseball games to go to this week and will wear them under my good shirts.

http://bargainsproject.com/web_images/speedstick_stainguard.jpg

……..stay tuned..

Hershey’s is holding a Better Basket Blog Hop where for each blog post  Hershey’s will donate $10 to Children’s Miracle Network. All you need to do is follow these easy rules:

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog post of giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
• Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
• Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
• Leave your link at http://betterbasket.info/bloghop/ where you can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s.
• Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

Here’s something you can do to pay it forward – babysit for a friend who needs a break.

I am a big movie watcher.  I watch a lot of movie on my laptop or when the kids are in bed because some of the movies I watch are just not child friendly.  So, when given the chance to take a date night with my wife, that just “might” include a movie, I was excited.

Since we eat out quite often, we know where we can eat and drop half a paycheck and where we can go and be thrifty.  Since my wife still can’t chew a lot of foods, it make going cheap a lot easier.

I thought about where we would go because like I said, we eat out often.  I chose our local mom and pop restaurant.  I knew I could have anything on their menu because Jerri Ann would get a baked potato since it is basically all they have that she can tolerate right now.  I did ask her if it was ok though, I didn’t just say, “here is where we are going, hope you like it”.  My wife is not that easy to get along with.  Just kidding!

I had a catfish plate with baked beans and fries.  She had her normal, what they call a loaded baked potato and drinks.  Shazam, we were out of there under $20.  That meant I had a bit to toss out on a movie.  So, we headed to the local store, I grabbed “The Hurt Locker” and then we were on our way home.

Now, it’s your turn, see if you can pull off a cheap date….and I hope you have as much luck as I did because, this is about cheap dates, not cheap women.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

If you have a Blockbuster Kiosk near you, here’s a code for you to use for rental 5G13B28. And, just to make sure you have all the information about how to use it, be sure to read it below.

Code is valid thru 3/31/2010. When you rent a movie at the regular price, you’ll receive the first night’s rental on a second movie FREE. Extra night charges and taxes apply. May not be combined with any other offer. Rental terms and conditions apply. Not valid at Blockbuster store locations.

“I received a gift card from Collective Bias for participating in the Cheap Date Night promotion for Blockbuster Express”