Have Cooler - Will Travel

Most days I shop for groceries at the little neighborhood shopping centers near my house. The closest grocery store is actually walking distance, If I was willing to take a little cart on wheel to help carry them back. It’s probably a quarter mile walk, which is doable, but not so great when lugging groceries back home with you up and down the hills. There is one particular hill so steep that even riding a bicycle back would be a hard go for me. I’d probably have to dismount and walk the bike up to avoid congestive heart failure, considering how out of shape I am.

The closest full service grocery store is a Food Lion. This store is good for basics and a quick trip when I run out of something mid-preparation. They have a limited selection of produce and all I usually buy there is maybe bananas, onions or potatoes. Their meat section is not much variety and too high prices, so unless it is on sale I might pick up a pound of hamburger meat or a ham steak. Their freezer and cooler sections are good and when they put things on sale I stock up.

But today I’m heading out for a long day down in the “Land of Excess.” Their grocery store is a marvelous wonderland of all kinds of treasures shipped here from all over the world. If they have some good prices on meats and vegetables, I’m prepared to take advantage because I’m taking my cooler in the back of the truck to keep them cold while I finish my errands down there. The temps will be in the 90’s today, so leaving groceries in the truck without benefit of a cooler is not practical. But I’m prepared - let the adventure begin!

Reworking the Budget

Next week I’m sitting down and going over the entire household budget. We need a better working plan for managing our household finances and we need to make a few more adjustments to offset the extra cost of gas, since that has gone up so much this spring and summer.

One thought that is worth exploring is to completely re-evaluate my insurance coverages and premiums. I think that there is a chance to save money by shopping around for a different homeowners policy and also possibly a new car insurance policy. In fact, from reading up on insurance at the home insurance.com web site, I should save significant money by putting both my home insurance and car insurance policies with the same company and take advantage of a discount rate up to 15%.

My homeowners has been with the same company on automatic renewal for over 6 years. I think it is time to shop around and make sure I’m getting the best rates and the right coverage. I know I can do it all on the internet now which is easy and more convenient, and I’m sure I’ll save both time and money by getting new quotes and making some changes.

Life’s a Beach

My folks have a cottage on the water and we try to get over there at least once each summer to most importantly spend a weekend with them and also take advantage of the boating and water sports while there.

Having grown up on and around the water, I know how hard the elements can be on wood products and even some metals. Salt water and wind are very corrosive to furniture, decks, boats, etc. and there’s a good reason why the good quality boats use teak on their decks and trim. Teak is a dense, durable wood that can hold up to the elements for years and years. Teak does not require much care or maintenance, compared to other hardwoods. And it looks great.

I thought it would be nice to get my folks something for the cottage for their anniversary and I’m thinking a pair of teak chairs for the deck would be appreciated. I found a website that specializes in teak furniture and they have a great selection of teak chairs. Some of the classic styles are even on sale right now, which makes them very reasonably priced for the kind of quality that will last a very long time and very affordable for a nice anniversary gift.

Let’s hope my folks don’t read my blog before I have a chance to get them ordered and delivered to the cottage for their anniversary gift. I love surprising them!

Mixed Nuts

I love nuts. Good thing, considering where I work. Ha!

Nuts were always a Thanksgiving and Christmas treat. Something you put out in a big crystal bowl with a couple pairs of hinged nutcrackers. You would site out on the front porch or in the kitchen and crack the nuts and chit chat. It was a great way to keep your hands busy while your tongues wagged.

Now I buy them already out of their shells and vacuum sealed in a can with the Planter’s Peanut guy winking at you. I like the mixed assortment with less peanuts, but I do like peanuts, so it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think I can pick a favorite, it’s a 3 way tie for first place between cashews, almonds and pistachios.

Camping or Not?

We’ve been making an annual camping trip to Jackson Hole every since my junior year of college. We always go over Labor Day Weekend and we rent the same cabin and hire the same fishing guide every year.

But some of the guys are saying that they can’t get there this year. The price of gas, the mortgage crisis, the plant closings - all the bad economy things that have been going on these past 5-6 months are catching us all short on money.

I know I’ve had to cut back on spending and try to find ways to make my money go farther. I’ve never been a big fan of coupons, but now if I can save a decent amount of money it’s really worth it to look for coupons and deals on the things you plan to buy and save the money with very little effort. Got a honey-do list? Check for deals at Home Depot before tackling those jobs around the house. Saving money takes a little of the sting out of spending your premium weekend days on chores.

One of the best coupon websites is always putting deals on their page for the top stores. I just saved some cool cash on a pair of Nike’s from Footlocker. I wanted to get some new cargo pants and shorts for the camping trip and found some good deals at L L Bean.

The very best store with online catalog shopping for camping, hunting and fishing gear had some great deals at Cabelas. I was just about to get some new fishing gear when my buddy Jasper called to say he wasn’t going to make it. Now Jasper I can understand - he’s going back to school to finish up some classes and actually graduate this year. So you KNOW his budget is tight plus he goes back to class next week, so Labor Day doesn’t even work into a good schedule for him to take the days off. But the rest of the guys had better not let me down. This is a tradition - it must be honored!