College Football. What could be better?

   So yeah, I'm a football fan. Even better, I'm an Ohio State Buckeye football fan. Born, bred, and raised. I graduated from the University and I'm a proud supporter.  I got a call from my friend telling me that her mom gave her two tickets and "wanted to see if I would like to go with her". Uh, duh! Was that a legitimate question? Of course I did! I asked her how much her mom wanted for the ticket....zip, nada, nothing. To top it all off, it had to of been the most exciting ending to a game in history (or just my memory) with us coming up from losing the game and winning with 3 seconds to go!

   Savings: $70

Neti-pot, Neti-pot, what are you used for?

   Okay, sorry about the title. In my head, I was singing those words to the tune of Phoebe Buffet's "Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat" song....
   I recently bought a Neti-pot and a bunch of Robitussin on a trip to the grocery store. I was perusing the "clearance" aisle and came upon some great deals. Now that the weather is turning colder and the leaves are falling, my allergies are due to pack their punch. For quite some time, I'd been considering getting a Neti-pot to help with keeping sinus infections away (if I don't get at least 3 a year, I would think that something was wrong). I saw this on sale and I just had to get it!

 I've used this treasure every time I feel a tingle in my sinus' and everything clears right up. Add in $1/gallon for clean, purified water and I save myself from having to take antibiotics and feeling downright crummy.  Normally these "pots" run at $15/pop, but I got mine on sale at $3.56.

    Savings: $11.44

    I also got 2 packs of Robitussin from the "clearance" aisle. I don't like to take meds, but usually in the winter, I get a serious-nasty cough, so with these being "clearanced" down to $2.86 from $11.45, I'd be a fool not to swipe them up.

Total spent: $5.72. Savings: $17.18

Crafting

   Well...this is just a picture of ribbon and paint....but really, it's a whole big gift of crafty goodness to me. I was able to get this stuff for 50% off at JoAnn's due to Veteran's Day coupons. I bought the black ribbon to use for gift-wrapping (I like my gifts to be fancy). And the paint? Well, I bought that to paint over the face of my ex-boyfriend. In total, I paid $2.06.

                                                                      Savings: $2.06 (and free art)

   I'm sure you're thinking: "what is this crazy chic talking about, painting over her ex-boyfriend's face?" Well, I was given this totally sweet gift, that had our faces painted on it, for Christmas. I absolutely love it, but obviously don't want his face haunting my nightmares, so what do I do? I snatch up a $1 bottle of glossy acrylic paint and paint right over that sucker!

   Here's the beautiful after-math:

This is scary-exact to what I look like and it was all painted by someone looking at a picture of me. I'm going to buy some more paint and write a favorite quote on it. 

Moving on Out.

Well, sadly, I moved out of my rental house on July 31, 2012. I lived there for 2 years and by far, it's been my favorite place. It really felt like home! In the process of moving, I acquired a few things just because previous roomies didn't feel like taking anything.

• An awesome-size cherry wood desk perfect for being a grown-up
• 3 trashcans, all in great shape (2 small ones, 1 big one)
• an awesome college desk (and I sold for $30)

                                      

• This cookbook:

                                      

   Overall, I was able to use a lot of these things that were left behind, plus, I made $60 in total by selling both my old college desk (since I had a newer, much better one) and the other one that my old roomie left behind. I can't believe people and how much they pay for things and just leave behind. Oh, well, I'm not complaining...it's my gain!

Travel Gifts

  Sooo, not to toot my own horn, but I just got some stellar (well, I like them) new "freebies" in the mail! I don't know 'bout you, but I'm gonna be swag, with a capital "S" toting these around. I got a free travel luggage tag for writing a review on TripAdvisor about a less than pleasant hotel stay. Usually luggage tags of this size are pretty pricey, which I don't want to pay. I used to have an amazingly awesome Hard Rock Cafe luggage tag that was rubber like this one and crazy big, but sadly, it must have been so amazingly awesome that the baggage handlers on my cruise wanted it too. Now, I normally just stick with using the airline paper tags and putting a tag on both the inside and outside of my bags, but now I have this great Free tag. Woo Hoo.

Savings: approx. $7 (free)

  What's the other stellar gift I got, you ask? Well, my friends, it is this Free gift from STA travel, just for filling out my Eurail train pass with each train trip we took. We had to fill it out anyway, to be "train-cred" and all & when I got home, I just folded, taped, and sent. Yep, the lovely STA people even paid for postage. STA uses this form as a survey to help keep Eurail being cheap and sweet, and as a "thanks" they send the pass back for "keepsake memories" along with a gift. I must say: I'm liking the gift. It will come in super handy when I backpack again!

Savings: Free

Say Hello to my Little Friend

   No, no, don't worry, I'm not Tony Montana. Just referencing these little guys, the Command Hook. These things are SUPER amazing. I first found out about them my sophomore year of college and I have never looked back. They are champs at helping me to hang anything and everything and leaving no damage behind at the end of my lease term.
  Today, I used a coupon for these awesome things. I try to stock up on them when I find them on sale because they are pretty darn expensive, but I use them all of the time. Although you continually have to buy replacement stickers, you will always have the hooks. Living apartment-style over the years, these little guys have become my best friend. You can buy big hooks, little hooks, velcro tabs, and a whole slew of other kinds of Command products. These were on sale this week and I was able to use two coupons. Normally, these are $4/pop, but with my coupons, I paid $1.50! Woot!

  Savings: $2.50

Saks Fifth: Fekkai

   As I was on my daily stalking round of my friends on Facebook, I happened across Saks Fifth's page. They were having a "swap your shampoo" event, where if you brought in any shampoo (unused), they would give you a free 8oz bottle of Fekkai shampoo. Mom and I both went to the store and each bought a bottle each of the V05 shampoo. Wanna know how much we spent? Yeah...$1.48 total. We exchanged these bottles at Saks and both got a free bottle of the Fekkai shampoo, valued at $24/bottle!

Two bottles of V05: $1.48.     Two bottles of Fekkai: $48.    Savings: $46.52

   Not that I want to brag, but my hair is turning super shiny and soft with this stuff. I'm liking! Too bad I refuse to pay $24 for one bottle. Praying that this stuff lasts me.