Give your Hot Water Heater a Coat for Christmas

This is a "Sanity Saving Mode" report.

If you are like us, you may live in an older house where the water heater is in the garage.  If your garage is like ours, it may not be very well insulated.  We knew it was cold out there but didn't realize how cold till one year when some water in the inlet pipe on our washing machine froze, causing the pipe to burst and flooding the floor to our garage.  The worst part was that this happened about 4 minutes after my husband left for work and I was home sick and couldn't talk.  I heard a strange noise (luckily, in this case, our bedroom is next to the garage), and finally found myself opening the door to the garage and discovering the flood.  All I could do was text my hubby to come home quick the garage was flooding.  Needless to say, since that happened not only has hubby put some major insulation around those pipes, when it's really cold outside he's been known to pour boiling water down them before starting a load of laundry (yes, my husband does the laundry - and yes I know how lucky I am).

But, laundry pipes aren't the issue this year.  This year it's my sanity and the hot bath I attempt to enjoy nightly before going to bed.  However, for the last couple of weeks that hot bath has been but a dream.  It's been more like a lukewarm bath as the hot water has run out about 4 inches before the tub got full.  I told hubby about this, but it wasn't until he saw it for himself (when he tried to warm up from a hot bath that he really "got" it).  So, Sunday morning in my frustration over not being able to enjoy a hot bath after my birthday festivities, I got online and started searching.  I think I searched for something simple (because I'm not really good at complex searches), like "hot water heater insulation".  Whatever I typed in, the first thing that came up with a government website that described the proper settings for a hot water heater and how to insulate said hot water heater.  Turns out there's an insulated coat you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot to help keep your hot water heater warm.  After showing the link to hubby, he promptly took action and went online looking to see which store in our area sold the coats.  He found it at Home Depot and ran out to get it (yes, I realize how lucky I am), then he came home and installed it.

Sunday night I took a warm bath.  It still wasn't hot but it seemed better than it had been.  I wasn't sure if that was just wishful thinking on my part or what, so I figured I'd give it another day to see if it really helped.  My bath last night was wonderful.  The water was actually hot when I got in and stayed hot for a good hour.  That was the longest bath I've taken in weeks!  And the best bath I've taken in weeks!

Of course, they tell you that you should use one of these coats on your water heater for energy savings.  Around our house we've learned that those suggestions may or may not be true.  It's hard to say, what we can go on is results.  When we put new windows in the house was more comfortable (both in temperature and in sound-proofing); when we put a new front door in we couldn't see the light creeping in anymore and our foyers is now actually staying warm this winter.  We put a coat on our hot water heater and now my bath water is actually getting hot and staying hot.  Results!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the coat (er, blanket) only runs about $20 at Home Depot.

Book Review: Tandem by Tracey Bateman

tan·dem [tan-duhm]

–adverb

1.one following or behind the other: to drive horses tandem.

–adjective

2.having animals, seats, parts, etc., arranged tandem or one behind another.

–noun

3.a vehicle, as a truck, tractor, or trailer, in which a pair or pairs of axles are arranged in tandem.

4.tandem bicycle.

5.tandem trailer ( def. 1 ) .

6.a team of horses harnessed one behind the other.

7.a two-wheeled carriage with a high driver's seat, drawn by two or more horses so harnessed.

8.any of various mechanisms having a tandem arrangement.
 

—Idiom

9.in tandem,
a.in single file: They swam in tandem.
b.in association or partnership.

After pulling up the definition of the word tandem and realizing that it didn't mean exactly what I thought it meant, I have no clue what the title has to do with the book.  That said, the book was an easy, fun, read.  It's got vampires, romance and even a little religion.  The last bit I found to be a bit disconcerting.

Lauryn runs a Real Estate and Antiques appraisal and auction business that she took over from her father.  While researching items in house that she is auctioning she came across some old letters and forwarded them to Amede, who she believed to be a descendant of the the author of the letters, which were written around the Civil War and into the 1800s.

Amede is a vampire and the author of the letters.  Having the letters returned to her, Amede believes that her sister (to whom she wrote the letters) may still be alive in the small town of Abbey Hill.

The book alternates between telling the stories of these two women, at the same time telling the story of Amede's sister, Eden.  In addition to dealing with the appraisal of the Chisom house and it's contents, without the aid of her father, Lauryn is now the care-taker for her father, who is suffering from Alzheimers.  In the midst of all of this, her first love returns to her life.  Billy has returned to take over the town church from his father, after having spent the last several years away on Mission work.  Lauryn is also dealing with the seeming interest of her friend (and town Deputy) Charley, who has recently broken off with his long-time girlfriend.

Amede, upon the receipt of the letters, decides to make a trip to Abbey Hills.  She hopes she will find her sister there, or at least some clue to where she may have moved on to.  When she arrives, however, she discovers that her sister is believed to have died in a house fire the year before.  A house fire that followed several strange deaths in Abbey Hills.  The house fire that also killed Markus Chisom (the man whose estate Lauryn is now working with).  As Amede remains in town through Thanksgiving, the town sees a recurrence of strange murders, mimicking the murders they saw the year before.  Amede quickly becomes a suspect.

As the author shares with you the back stories of Lauryn, Amede & Eden, you gain some clues as to what may really be going on.  Through these clues you should be able to figure out what is truely going on (I did), however there were some mysteries that even I didn't figure out before they were shown to me.  For that I was thankful.

As I said, the somewhat religious overtones of the book felt a bit strange and to some degree off-putting to me on several different levels.  Had the book not been about vampires it might not have felt so strange.  The religious/ Christianity aspects were not so strong that I felt I was being beat over the head, they just felt out of place a bit in a book about vampires; as if these two things did not belong together.  The book even ended on a religious note, as if the author was trying to make sure you knew that this was a Christian book.  It just felt contrived, as if trying to fit something in that just didn't belong. 

I have posted my copy of this book on PaperBackSwap - join now to swap books for free.







---I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Attention Publix Shoppers

Be sure to check out Passionate Penny Pincher for Laurie's preview of this week's sale at Publix, complete with coupon match-ups/ links.

A few of the deals, I'm most interested in include:

• Betty Crocker boxed Potatos BOGO $1.59 (or .89e)
  -- .50/2 or $1/2 printables available, either way 2/.59
• Cool Whip tubs BOGO $1.49 (.75e)
  -- stack .50/2 Target printable with $1/2 manufacturer printable and get 2/FREE
• Mueller's pasta BOGO $1.29 (.65e)
  -- use (2) .55/1 coupons = 2/.19
• Ore-Ida hash browns BOGO $2.95 ($1.47e)
  -- use $2/2 Ore-Ida Target coupon (from 12/12 paper) AND  $1/1 from blinkie machine = 2/FREE
•  Wesson Vegetable Oil BOGO $3.79 ($1.90e)
  --.40/1 coupon = 1/$1.10

This looks to be a very cheap week for me at Publix (while still walking away with a good amount of groceries).  Check out PPP  and let me know how the week at Publix is looking for you.

Groupon Review

I've bought two different deals now from Groupon.  The first was a "national" deal offered in a different city for Soap.com - $10 for $20 worth of product plus free shipping.  This was in my first few days of checking out the Groupons and before I really looked at Soap.com, I jumped on the deal.  Honestly, their prices are kinda high, so I really feel like I only got about $10 worth of product for that $10.  Sometimes the deals work that way... that's why I can't stress enough doing your homework and checking out a deal before you buy, rather than just getting caught up in "getting a deal" as I did.

The second deal we bought was one of the first deals (if not the first) that was made available in my city (like, last week).  It was for 2 tickets to a show at one of our local theaters for just $24.  Both shows were Christmas themed shows; The 3 Redneck Tenors Christmas Spec-Tac-U-Lare or the It's a Wonderful Life radio show.  We had considered going to see the 3 Redneck Tenors show but were unwilling to pay full price ($32/each) for the show since we had no idea what to expect (it could be either really bad or really good).  But at over 60% off, we couldn't pass it up. 

As soon as my Groupon was confirmed I tried to call the theater to get our seats and was told that I had to wait till the next day (after the Groupon closed) to call for our seats.  At this point I was already looking at their seating chart and was getting a little worried as there weren't a whole lot of seats available for any of the shows, and there was only one of the four shows that we knew we could get to.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that we wouldn't end up wasting $24.  When I called the next day I was pleasantly surprised when the girl asked me about our seating preference rather than just giving me whatever popped up first.  I told her we really didn't have one but would like center section if they had any.  They did.  As it turned out our seats were quite good, as was the show.

The show itself was great, as has been everything we've seen at this theater, and would have been well worth paying full price for, had we done so.  But, thanks to Groupon, we didn't have to.  We got to see a great show for less than half the price of what most of those around us paid!

So why am I telling you all this? Because I can totally understand why you'd be a little skeptical about daily deal sites, I know I am.  But, there's no reason to be skeptical about what you will get from Groupon.com.  Sure you have to do some homework and make sure the deal is actually worth the price you are paying, but you don't have to worry about Groupon not carrying out their end of the deal.

Another thing to consider is the possibility of gifting a Groupon.  There's been a lot of discussion about this idea among those of us who like to save money (who doesn't like to save money?).  As I think about it more and more I'm thinking this would be a great gift for someone you weren't going to see in person.  I'm not so sure about gifting something like this in person.  To me, it's kind of like giving someone a picture of the item you ordered for them but it hasn't arrived yet.  Here's your gift, you just have to go here and claim it... or something like that.  What are your thoughts? How would you feel about getting something like this as a gift? Would it bother you to know they didn't pay "retail"?  Would you feel comfortable giving something like this as a gift?

Local Deal: 50% off My Spirited Art Class

Today's local (Huntsville AL) deal on Living Social is 1/2 off a My Spirited Art class.  These classes are normally $35, but purchasing through Living Social will get you a 50% discount.  You don't have to choose what class you want to attend, today, in fact once you purchase the deal is good for a year!

These are the kinds of deals I look for on Groupon and Living Social because 1. They are something I will likely do anyway and 2. They don't expire so soon that you risk losing your money.

Get the deal and then let me know, maybe we can get together and go to a class (I'll bring the wine!)

Yoplait - Free Cup and Coupon

In my effort to eat Yogurt while avoiding aspertame (Equal), I've grown quite fond of Yoplait yogurt cups. They seem to be about the only one left to offer a non-lite version with good flavor options.  It seems like while everyone else is busy trying to put out more and more diet flavors they've forgotten that some of us would rather have the original.

Go here to sign up to have Yoplait send you a coupon for a free cup of Yoplait yogurt. 

Coupon for .50/4 cups

Don't worry, if you'd rather have the Lite version, I'm sure the coupons will be good for either.

Jingle Cash at Walgreens

I'm about to get to the point where I don't even want to deal with Walgreens.  I reported in my last post about the BIC deal not working.  The other issue I ran into today was the cashier (and supervisor) telling me that I could only use ONE Jingle Cash coupon per transaction.  Yet, another new twist with the Jingle Cash.  I'd received $16 worth of Jingle Cash last week (a $15 coupon and a $1 coupon).  The girl tells me this as she tries to hand me back the $15 coupon.  I handed it back to her and said, "Well if you can only use ONE, then use this one".

I also found that while I spent more than $25 before coupons and Jingle Cash, I did not get another $5 Jingle Cash coupon.  So evidently, the spend $25/get $5 in JC isn't rolling (much like the JC deals on Black Friday).  I kind of expected this as someone else had reported yesterday that JC wasn't printing unless you spent $25 AFTER coupons and JC, but I was still hoping.

Update on Walgreens BIC deal

I just returned from Walgreens where I was denied on the deal that should have netted me 2 free packs of BIC Comfort 3 razors... and I think I just figured out why.

The deal....
BIC Comfort 3 razors on sale for $3.99 BOGO
Use 2 of the $2 Bic coupons from yesterdays paper
=FREE

It didn't work out that way for me, however, as the machine beeped confusing the heck out of the cashier (I'm guessing she's Christmas help... at least I hope so).  She finally tells me that all she can do is call a supervisor.  Mmmmkkay? And the problem is what? Especially since I saw at least 4 random people on the floor that looked like managers of some sort.  I think she was hoping I'd tell her she didn't have to.

I had two different coupons that beeped today.  The supervisor did an override on one, but after reading the Bic coupon told me I couldn't use two of them together.  I don't think that was the reason it beeped. Now that I think about it, I think it's because the coupon would have caused an overage and all she had to do was override it down a penny to make it work. But, since she found some reason to decline the coupon, she did so.

YMMV. And I will probably try again before the week is over at a different Walgreens.

Send Flowers Through Ebates Today for 25% Cash Back

If you need to send some flowers or a gift basket for Christmas, today is the day to do it. During Ebates Cyber Monday Sale, they have double cash back on many stores. That means....

• 25% cash back from 1800Flowers
• 8% cash back at Barnes & Noble PLUS there's a 16% any one item coupon
• 35% cash back at Entertainment.com PLUS get all coupon books for just $19.99 including shipping
• 8% cash back at North Face and Old Navy
• 8% cash back at Walgreens
• 8% cash back at Sephora
• 8% cash back at The Gap
• 8% cash back at Godiva

That's just the beginning of the list for today's Double Cash Back madness!  So whether you haven't finished your Christmas shopping or you just want to grab some good deals while the gettin' is good, make sure you sign up for Ebates first, so you can get that cash back.

Getting Paid to Shop!

Shopping is fun already, but it can be so much better when you get a great deal.  That's what Money Saving Mode is all about; saving money and getting great deals.  But, what makes a great deal even better? Getting money back!

There are two awesome ways I've found to do that online, Ebates and Shortcuts.  And today, it's Cyber Monday II, so that means extra cash back when you shop.  If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, today is the day to do it.

If you haven't signed up for Ebates yet, be sure to do so.  When you do, you'll get your choice of gift cards to a variety of different retailers.  Another great thing about Ebates is that they will pay you via Paypal or via check. Your choice.  This is a big bonus for me because I like to use Paypal when I shop online and now with BillMeLater on thousands of different sites on the web, including Ebay, you can choose to buy now and pay later.  Who doesn't love paying tomorrow for a hamburger today!  Choosing to shop through Ebates for things you were already going to buy not only nets you cash back but often scores you better deals with discounts only available to Ebates members, including free shipping through many merchants and cash back on Ebay purchases.

Shortcuts is also having some fantastic bumps in cash back for the holidays, including double cash back at many stores for Cyber Monday II (and nice bumps throughout the season). 

Even if you were planning to visit the store to purchase a particular item, you may want to shop online instead and choose in-store pick-up.  If the retailer is available on your state they are going to charge you sales tax whether you purchase online or in-store, so the price is the same.  Also, if they are available locally, you can return the item to the store, even if it's purchased online.  Buying for someone else? Buy it online and have it shipped directly to them, saving you huge on shipping expense.