Bits & Bobs

(Not so) Happy Jet Lag Savings Day everyone! I'm sure almost everyone's bodies are jacked up on Daylight Saving Time. I know that mine is. I sure wish they would just cancel this mess. Where's Cancel Culture when you need them? It takes my body a week to adjust to the new time. I'm about ready for a nap (had a busy day), but I'm holding out for an early night instead. Here's a few things that's happened around my neck of the woods (do I sound American?...lol) lately.

• Received my $200 bonus from my new CC. The minute it cleared, it went straight to savings. How did I not know that this was a cash rewards card?! Duh! It doesn't matter anyway. I'll just save all of this card's earnings and get discounted gcs with the other card. Easy peasy.
  
  

• Received a $50 semi annual reward from WHBM. Whoo hoo! I forgot all about semi annual rewards, because I still have a $30 reward. Now I have $80 to spend and I don't need a thing. I guess this is a good problem to have...lol The downside is that they like to increase their prices when they send out rewards. Ugh! I'm waiting to see if anything good catches my eye before my rewards expire. It's $80 after all. 
  
  
  
• I bought this wool topper at Chicos recently. It's not lined (only the sleeves are), so you can't really call it a coat. It was reduced to $39.99 and I used my $20 reward. Paid the $19.99 + tax with a gc (still have a balance left), so Zero OOP for me. The retail price is $400!!!! What a rip off, cause there's no lining, so it's not really warm. But its 95% wool & 5% cashmere, so I'm happy with my almost free 'coat'. I'm thinking some tall boots with it, because it's a bit long and I'm of average height. 
  
  I'm wondering if the $20 was Chicos' semi annual reward or if they're still need to send those out. I doubt that was the semi annual, because there was no mention of it on their site (like WHBM has). Mmm, that means I might get another reward. Keeping fingers crossed. 

•  I almost let me Madewell reward expire. Good thing I checked it on the last day. I paid $1.05 for 2 t-shirts. I had to spend at least 1c over the reward amount. 

• I went to Costco for roast beef and salad dressing (can't believe I'm out of salad dressing) and left the store $80 later. In my defense, I stocked up on Cascade. I've been buying the limit of 2 whenever Costco has it on sale for $8 (125 oz), cause I'm down to my last 3 bottles. I see the 75 oz now sells for around $6.50 (depending on store) and then good old Kroger has it for $8!!..smh
  
  For the newbies. I bought 24 bottles of Cascade around 8-10 years ago (I can't even remember the date, it's been so long). They were on sale for $2.50 at the time. I'm finally down to the last 3 bottles and the price has more than doubled since then. I don't buy dishwasher tabs or laundry pods, unless it's free. This is just manufacturers' way of getting us to spend more. You get far more use out of the liquid. I've done an experiment and there was a time I used a Cascade bottle for 6 months. 

• I stocked up on 99c Half gallon milk at Kroger. I'm pleasantly surprised to see the sale come around so fast, because I still have 1.5 gallons from the last sale. My milk normally lasts long enough until the next sale date comes around. We used to pay $1.29 (sale price), so I'm happy with the new price. I only bought 1.5 gallons. 

• Look what I found. A cotton sleep shirt. I initially went to Marshalls to stock up on socks & undies for DS. I do this every year, because I know that I can get it for far less than at the department stores. Well, I decided to browse & saw this sleep shirt. Checked the tag & it's 60% cotton. Be still my heart. There was only one in my size. There was also a size M that I considered buying, but it was way too long. I don't need that much restriction when I sleep. The retail price is $49.50. When I got home, I checked online to see if I can find any more. Ugh, only full price everywhere & I'm not paying that much. However, I found some Charter Club cotton ones at Macy's & ordered 2 (I want to see how they feel before ordering any more).  Paid with that discounted gcs I bought last month. I hate that Polyester sleep shirts I bought at Soma last year. I'll wear them until they fall apart, but I've at least got my cotton back up plan. 
  
  I also found these socks. I always buy clearance socks for myself. I'm not too picky (I won't wear FOTL or Hanes though), since I only wear socks with athletic shoes. Yes, they are Youth size, but they fit. I still fit into some kids sizes. Did you know that kids sizes cost less than adult sizes? My BFF and I used to shop the kids section at the high end department stores in Cape Town when we were in our 20s. It worked for us and nobody knew that we were wearing kids stuff...lol It saved us lots of $$$
  
  When I saw the socks in store, I thought that it was navy blue & aqua (light blue). Well, I just discovered that it's black & aqua...lol. I told you all I'm color blind (black & navy only). I still love the socks though. I actually searched online to see if I could find more, but alas. I know for a fact that Marshalls sell overstock and/or pulled items (that retailers can't sell), but I was still determined to find another set...lol. A girl can try :)

• Well, I can't just buy DS any old socks. This is his preferred brand. It's not the style we normally buy at Marshalls. This is trouser socks. Again, I went online to search for this brand. Yikes, department stores are charging more than the designer. So I bit the bullet & ordered his socks from the designer. This will go into the stockpile. Thankfully, we still have 3 sets in the stockpile that I bought last year.
  
  Why did I buy more? I noticed that Marshalls didn't have much clearance (or regular inventory for that matter) like they usually do this time of year. Same with JCP. When supply is down, the prices increase. People will always need clothes so retailers hold all the cards. So I'm stocking up on our essentials so that I don't have to pay higher prices when we do end up needing it. 

• Let's talk about the SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) mess. This is a lesson for people to ALWAYS keep some cash on hand. I've read stories about Etsy sellers not being able to withdraw their funds, because Etsy used SVB (okay, the sellers grossly exaggerated this because all platforms allow you different times to access your money). I always withdraw my funds as soon as they're available. Same with point earning sites. Cash out your funds as soon as you have enough available. I had a friend locked out of her Ibotta account over a stupid mistake (Ibotta's) and she had over $70 in her account. 
  
  The other reason you should keep some cash, is because if the grid goes down for any reason, you won't be able to get cash from the bank. We depend on electronics so much that the country/world would be a mess if there was an attack on the grid (these things can happen. I've read lots about it). Same goes for your stockpile. If the grid is down, you might not be able to buy groceries, because how are they going to scan your items at the grocery store? Please keep some cash and build a stockpile peeps. You'll be thankful that you did, if there's ever an emergency. Heck, we've lived with a mess for 3 years now and things keep getting worse. I'd call that a 3 year emergency. 
  
  I realised that with the exception of bananas, salad greens & eggs, I can go without grocery shopping for the next 2-3 weeks. However, I've decided to replenish my stockpile. My canned goods are way low, so I need to fill in those gaps. The government's not planning on bailing out SVB, so the market's will be affected. So I'm choosing to do whatever I need to, to ensure that we're in decent shape again. I'll be moving with my entire stockpile.

Well the week's meals are cooked, laundry (incl bedding) is done, folded & packed away. We're having the last of the chicken pot pie, Coney's (DS's request) and salad for dinner. 

Enjoy the rest of the day peeps!