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I have always said that you will never read “7 Uses For Dryer Lint” on Coupons, Deals and More – and in spite of the title, you’re still not going to read that here!

You see dryer link is extremely flammable, so there is, IMO, only one safe use for dryer lint:

A fire-starter.

Sonny-boy is an Eagle Scout. If you have a scout in your family, you know these boys love, love, love to camp. And one of the camping draws is learning the various ways to start a fire. When Sonny-boy camped they used to take empty bathroom tissue or paper towel rolls and stuff a bit of dryer lint inside, leaving on end dryer lint-free. They would then light that dryer-lint-free end, and then use it to light their kindling fanning the flames. They also used to light these fire-staters and toss them into the fire to see how fast they would go up in flames.

Because dryer lint is so flammable, people are advised to use metal venting from the back of the dryer to the outdoors, as well as to clean out the venting on occasion and make certain the vent outside is not blocked. We’ve all heard of dryer fires and how quickly they can spread, so do take the time to check your venting to make certain the dryer lint has not clogged up.

Do you check the venting in your dryer frequently to make certain it is not clogged?

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I haven’t posted pictures of my stockpile in quite some time. You see hubby and I have been making an effort to eat through the stockpile.

Between giving Sonny-boy goods for the frat-house, and my reduced dry goods shopping, we have made quite a dent in the old stockpile, as you can see from past pictures.

I knew it was going well when hubby told me that we could consolidate the frozen goods into two freezers (we own four), and I was in serious need of dishwashing soap, down to my last two bottles!! I never wanted to be that low on a staple, so I was very glad to be able to stock up at Tops!

Stockpiles give us a sense of security – we don’t have to worry where our next meal is coming from, and it is a hedge against price spikes. But we all have to remember that it is there to use, seriously outdated food is a waste. So use those stockpiles!

Do you rotate your stockpile stock? Stop or reduce shopping and try and eat through your stockpile occasionally? What does your stockpile mean to you?

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In September of 2010, I ran a four part series: Part 1, Part 2 , part 3 and Part 4. Honestly I thought I did this last spring – I was shocked to see it had been a full 19 months (nearly 20!) since I had last cleaned and organized the pantry.

When I reorganzied in 2010, I spent a lot of time labeling and sorting as well as grouping products on the shelf, so that clearly held up. Although you wouldn’t know it to listen to hubby! He bought a shelving unit last fall – which is still sitting by the pantry – because he wanted to organize the pantry “correctly”. Apparently he felt the pantry was being overrun with excessive stockpile that I wasn’t shipping off to the basement in a timely manner.

Let’s just say hubby was much chagrined to find out the disorganization culprit was hubby’s Indian foods!!

Here are the before pics of this year’s pantry organization:

For us, the key to keeping the pantry at least semi-organized though the last year and a half has been small plastic see-through bins that are labeled!

Here are the after pics of this year’s pantry organization:

In all, this was the total excessive stockpile I had in the pantry that ended up being brought down to the basement stockpile.

Looks like I finally found a pantry organization method that works for me!

Do you have any pantry organization tips or hints that work for you?

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I know a lot of people are afraid of credit cards. They mostly fear not paying the balance off monthly and getting socked with steep interest payments, or having their credit card information stolen.

But other people people embrace credit cards as a great way to keep track of all of their purchases trackjing monthly spending. Another perk to credit cards versus paying cash for everything, if if you use credit, you have credit when you need it – be it an emergency or when you purchase a car or a home.

Another benefit to using a credit card can be the perks offered by the credit card companies for purchases made.

For instance credit cards have rewards that give:

• Cash back on purchases
• Product rewards, such as gift certificates or items
• Free upgrade features hotels, airlines, trips and airport concierge clubs, plus more

It seems there is a credit card perk for just about anything if you look hard enough!

The perks really only work though if you were going to make a purchase anyway, will utilize the reward, and most importantly – pay off your credit card bill every month! After the first two months where you “break it in” by not paying the card off for two months (usually advised when you are just beginning to build credit) to “show a history” for the credit card agencies, I’m not certain there is ever a benefit to carrying a balance on an interest accumulating credit card. If your card is no interest (also usually an offered perk for a limited time), sure ride that balance – provided that you can pay off the entirety of the bill just prior to the interest kicking in.

Do you have a credit card with a great reward? If so, what is it, and would you recommend the program?

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My hubby says some pretty things. So much so that when I call him on it, he has begun to encoure me to start a “Crap My Hubby Says” series so I could share his pearls of witticism (if you could call them that). If you could hear the stuff he says sometimes including the gems he utters that gets him “the look”, and the strange and twisted male-logic he spouts on many occasion, wellllll it all adds up to some pretty fine posting material.

Too bad I don’t carry around a recorder or a pen and paper. This would be one doozy of a column.

Today I am sharing a long one – only because it was first thing this morning, and I am still ready to bop him over the head for saying it…

Thursday is my long day on Coupons, Deals and More. And it has been for years. And years. And YEARS! I post my normal 10 -15 posts on Thursdays, which includes two store match-ups and I do Friday’s store match-ups too. The Friday match-ups are scheduled because Hubby and I take my grandfather to lunch that day. For those of you that blog and do match-ups, you know that each store match-up takes 1-3 hours. That is one of the reasons I have CVS and Rite Aid and Walgreens ads posted weeks early – there wouldn’t be enough time to get them up for Friday if I didn’t start very early. As it is, every Thursday – for years, and years, and YEARS – I work 12-14 hours.

Hubby seldom remembers my work schedule, and daily he unfailingly asks me, “So what are you doing today!?”

To which I unfailingly reply, “Oh, getting a pedicure, reading a book, and eating bonbons. WTH Do you think I am doing today!?”

Now some would say it is nice that he cares enough to ask me what my day entails. And, yes, I have to agree, that is definitely one way of looking at it. But the one day he ticks me off with this question is when he asks on Thursday. Because he knows. I truly dread Thursdays.

On Thursday I start working at 7-8am and seldom go to bed before 11pm. Thursdays are rough, and due to when the ads appear and coupon insert previews are finished, there is little more I can do to make Thursdays a shorter work day than what I have already done – well, except not take Grandpa to lunch on Friday, which I am unwilling to stop. He’s 93, and each lunch is precious time with my grandfather.

And now to (finally) get to the point of this mini-rant …

So what does hubby ask me this morning?

“Today’s your slow day, right? What do you plan on doing when you finish working?”

Now I am gonna give him the benefit of the doubt that he thought he was being funny. He did move pretty quickly when I lunged at him. And I swear I heard a chuckle as he was fleeing.

Yeah, he’s hilarious.

Anyhooooo one of these days I will begin this series in earnest. The stuff that my hubby says … I could write a book, never mind a column.

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First the dishwasher, now the blow dryer. Since these things seem to come in threes, I am afraid of what will stop working next.

While away in Florida, my blow dryer died. The timing was such that I just ran to the nearest CVS, grabbed a cheap Conair dryer from the shelf, paid my $17 and left.

Now $17 sounds like a great deal, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Less than three months later, the drying power is already winding down and it is taking longer and longer to style my hair each morning.

I also did a big boo-boo. A few years ago, Walgreens had a massive blow dryer clearance where they were cheap, cheap, cheap and pretty darned good! That puppy blew my hair dry without frying it in under 10 minutes a day. Unfortunately, that was the one I tossed in Florida, neglecting to write down the make and model. And, the spares I bought? Those were given away to family members that immediately needed a blow dryer without my holding back one for myself!

Dumb, I know.

So now I need to get a hair dryer or two. One to have, and one as a backup. And I say in all seriousness, it doesn’t matter if it isn’t inexpensive. If you knew my obsession with my hair, you would know why. As hubby says, “Oooooh the hair! Nothing is too good for the haaaaiiiirrrr”. And yes, I ignore the sarcastic tone and take his words at face value, because it is true; nothing is too good for my hair. I sorta like it.

Do you have a hair dryer you would recommend? How long have you had it? Any special features?

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Several weeks ago, I wrote a post to inform you whether or not your store’s ground beef contains pink slime.

At that time, there were many stores that used pink slime, and those that did not. Yesterday, Beef Products, Inc suspended production of pink slime at three of their four plants. And Cargill has stated it has cut back production.

While I do not know whether or not pink slime will completely go away, consumer pressure has taken its toll on the product.

You can reference the original post for the links, but to date these are the positive changes that have been made at retailers that used to or are in the process of discontinuing purchase of pink slime products:

Will No Longer Carry Pink Slime Products

• Ahold (Stop & Shop, Giant, Martin’s, Peapod)
• Aldi’s
• Bi-Lo LLC and Winn-Dixie Stores Inc
• BJs
• Fred Meyer
• Giant Eagle
• Kroger (Ralph’s, Fry’s, King Scoopers, Smith’s, QFC, Gerbes, Baker’s, City Market, Dillons)
• Meijer
• Safeway (Carrs, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Pak ‘n’ Save, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Vons, Pavilions)
• SuperValu – (Acme, Alberstons, Cub, Jewel-Osco, Shaw/Star Market, Shop ‘n Save and Shoppers)
• Wegmans
• Weis Supermarket
• Zaycon

Will Still Carry Pink Slime Products

• Commissaries (Defense Commissary Agency)
• Hy-Vee
• Save Mart
• WinCo (prepackaged)
• Sam’s Club
• WalMart
On 3/21 WalMart stated that WalMart & Sam’s Club stores will begin selling meat that doesn’t contain the additive. They did not say they would no longer carry pink slime meat, just that consumers will have a pink-slime-free choice.
On 3/22 Wal-Mart updated its Wednesday statement to say that it will have the new, slime free products in stores asap, and to ask the butcher for help in locating them.

Never Carried Pink Slime Products

• A&P (Pathmark, Superfresh, Waldbaums, The Food Emporium, Food Basics, USA)
• Buehler’s Fresh Foods
• Costco
• Crest Foods
• Food Lion
• Harris Teeter
• Hen House
• Ingles
• Price Chopper
• Publix
• Target
• Tops Markets
• Waldbaums
• Whole Foods

I fully expect the price of ground beef to rise with the discontinuation of pink slime use in most stores. An easy way to reduce costs and/or know exactly what meat you are receiving is to buy a cow or, in the case of ground beef, have fresh beef ground in-store, or do it yourself.

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