Frugal Friday – Rebates

I’ve been looking at the various drugstore programs and specials – CVS Extra Care Bucks, Rite-Aid Rebates, Walgreen’s coupons, etc. – and have slowly begun trying out a few.

So far I have a CVS card, but haven’t been real impressed with the pricing I’ve found – even with ECB offers and coupons. I did, however, have a good trip to Rite-Aid last week. I bought:

• 1 bottle Infusium shampoo
• 2 bottles Herbal Essence shampoo
• 1 tube of Crest toothpaste (with a travel sized-toothpaste and dental floss included free)
• 2 packs Bic pens

The pens were on sale 2 packs for $1, but I had a coupon for $1 off two packs. Price: FREE

The Crest toothpaste was on sale for $2.49. I had a coupon for $1 off, making it $1.49. Rite-Aid offered a rebate for $1.74. Price: -$0.25

Both kinds of shampoo were on sale and I had coupons for those as well. Then they had rebates. Price: FREE

RiteAid has a single check rebate program that’s done online, so it’ll all come in one check and I don’t have to pay any postage. So, I did have to pay a bit out-of-pocket, but once I get my rebate check I’ll have actually made $0.25!

This week we didn’t get a paper and I didn’t do any hunting online for coupons. But I looked at the drugstore circulars online and decided to go to Walgreen’s while I was in town. My niece’s birthday is coming up so I bought her a pack of Crayola washable doodling markers that was on sale for $2 – and has a $2 rebate. And I used the coupons from their flyer (available in the store) to buy mini-composition notebooks for some gift baskets I’m putting together. Each notebook was only $0.05.

I don’t do the grocery shopping, but I enjoy finding bargains and passing them on to Mom – and getting the practice so I know the game when I DO obtain the position of primary grocery shopper for my household.

Weekly circulars are available for viewing online (typically each Sunday), so even if you don’t get a paper you can see where the best deals are.

For more Frugal Friday ideas, visit Biblical Womanhood.

Purity Balls

Here’s the recent Times Magazine article on Purity Balls:

The Pursuit of Teen Girl Purity

Who do you aspire to be like?

On Monday evening a very lovely young lady wrote what I thought to be a very lovely blog post. I thought it so lovely in fact, that I immediately asked her permission to share it here. She was quite gracious and wrote me right back to say that I could indeed. So here it is:

Who do I aspire to be like?

Well, wandering around on HSA can get you into trouble. Did you know that? I read a post that said at the end, “Ok, all you who read this, your tagged, go and do thou likewise, who do you ascribe to be like?” So now I am stuck with having to write about it. Of course, if I really didn’t want to I just wouldn’t, and I doubt anyone could get a posse up to arrest me for it.  I suppose there is no harm in it though, so I will write about it. I do, however, think that aspire might be more the term to go with the idea, so I changed it.

If I could pick just one person, I would pick Jesus, because ultimately, every other person that I want to be like is just reflecting the wonder, beauty, and likeness of the Love of my life, Jesus Christ. Most of all, I guess it would be His kindness that I want to have, and His love for the oppressed and obnoxious human beings around Him – a love that sometimes makes Him ferocious, but never unkind. Have you ever stopped to think about how He will wound the oppressor in order to not only rescue the oppressed, but the oppressor as well? At other times it will look to us that the oppressor is getting away with everything, only to find out later that Jesus was using that to gently call them away from evil and into His arms and righteousness.

I also aspire to be like many of my friends, who speak of Jesus very naturally and often, as though He were actually… real – and real to them – like they would of any other friend! I aspire to be like the ones who can enjoy the beauty around them, within them, and within others without trusting in that beauty. I want to be a true friend, to love because God loves, and not for what I can get from others, or because they are so good, perfect, or easy to be around.

I aspire to be like Amy Carmichael, the ten Boom family, and so many others who risked everything for God and His people. I aspire to be like the wise woman in the “princess books” (as I call them) who gave her life to serve both rich and poor, wise and foolish, grateful and ungrateful, without demanding as she could have, that she be treated like royalty. She, like Queen Esther, understood that her royalty was for a purpose greater than herself.

I could write more if I thought more, but I guess that is enough for now. I think this project will remind me to think more about it.

Moderate Modesty

There’s a discussion about modesty going on over at HomeschoolALUMNI and I jumped in last night to share a few thoughts. Here they are for y’all to read as well:

Modesty stems from the word moderation. To be moderate is to behave (or dress) in such a way as to not draw undue attention to ourselves. Wearing barely-there-clothing draws unnecessary attention that causes people (both men and women) to think certain things of us. But, on the other end of the spectrum, covering ourselves from head to toe in shapeless, colorless, unattractive garb also draws unnecessary attention and creates a notion in people’s minds that Christianity is ugly.

Here are a few more “random” thoughts on the matter:

• We are not to conform to the world, but we shouldn’t be so far apart that non-Christians daren’t come near us. We are to be a light.
• Christ is beautiful. We are to be His reflections. Therefore we should present ourselves beautifully.
• To be modest we must be moderate.

Frugal Friday – 10 Tips for Living Frugally

Below are a few frugal tips from a recent issue of A Lady in Waiting:

1. Limit your cleaning products to one or two that will handle all sorts of jobs, instead of having separate cleaners for windows, floors, showers, etc.
2. Don’t drink juices “full strength” – adding a little water will stretch the number of glassfuls you get without diluting the flavor.
3. Ask your grocery store for its policies on almost-out-of-date foods.
4. Use a debit card with a rewards program for all your big purchases. Points can usually be redeemed for gift cards that you can give as gifts or use to treat you family to a nice dinner out.
5. Use overripe fruit in smoothies.
6. When cooking chicken breasts, slice them horizontally in half to make two thinner pieces. The portion is still sufficient for most appetites and it doubles the amount of meat you can serve (and it cooks faster, too).
7. Buy refilled or recycled ink cartridges.
8. Don’t toss paper that’s only been printed on one side – cut it into squares to use for jotting down notes.
9. Use a clothesline for drying your clothes.
10. Stay home! It’s easier to be content with what you have when you’re not surrounding yourself with things you don’t have.

For more frugal tips and ideas, visit Biblical Womanhood.

Whose fault is it that I’m not married?

I have seen a lot of blog and forum posts on marriage lately that appear discouraging to single young women, so I wanted to share a few thoughts . . .

It seems that a lot of folks have an idea that if a girl’s over 18 and not married yet, it’s her fault. What I’ve been noticing is a bunch of people saying that girls who aren’t married are A) too picky or B) not trying hard enough to meet “eligible young men.” Although likely true in some circumstances, I don’t believe it to be the norm.

It saddens me to hear so many negative comments regarding why young women are still single. Being single is not an evil!

Young women who state that they are enjoying their singledom and not actively seeking a husband are told that they’re simply not trying hard enough to meet young men. This is just absurd! The New Testament specifically notes that single folks have more freedom to serve the Lord. Why give that up for a “husband hunt”? Trusting in God to bring along the right person at the right time doesn’t mean that we sit alone at home 24/7, or that we hide from men. It simply means that we are living in the Now. If we are trusting in the Lord to take care of us and bring our husbands in His time, He will prompt us to respond when we need to.

Enjoying singledom does not mean that we don’t desire to be married. And trusting the Lord for our husbands doesn’t mean we don’t have or begin friendships with guys! But what Christian young man wants to make friends with a young lady only to find out that she really only wanted to see if he was good husband material? Additionally, attempts to make friends and to be social are not always as easy as they’re made out to be. We’re often told to just, “go to church,” “go to dances and events,” etc, etc. Trust me, sometimes a girl can go out seven days a week, meeting new people, visiting friends, and still not meet anyone marriageable, or at least not anyone who would be a good “fit” for them.

Certainly there are some young ladies, especially conservative, homeschooled young women, who just have their standards set so high that no mortal man could ever expect to meet them all. What is more often the case is that many of us simply know what God has called us to do in our lives and can understand when we will not be a good complement to a young man. And here is where young ladies are often told that they expect too much. (Oh, what fickle advice we receive! First we’re told to set our standards high and not to settle. Then when we meet young men that don’t match those standards we’re told that we expect too much. ) But often it’s just that the right guy isn’t around yet. It’s not pickiness – it’s prudence.

So, perhaps it really is our fault that we’re not married yet. But if it being my fault means that I’m serving the Lord, have great friendships with a variety of folks, and didn’t marry someone that I couldn’t complement, just to get out of being single, then I will happily accept the blame for my singleness.