Arm & Hammer Essentials is a new cleaning product, made to reduce packaging waste. I'd been wanting to try it anyway, but then I saw a free-after-mail-in-rebate (up to $3.50) form in Sunday's paper (10/5 SS). I also saw tearpads for the rebate at my local Jewel-Osco grocery store. OR, you can print a free form!

To sweeten the deal, Arm & Hammer has $1 off coupons on their website. (Yes, there is a typo on the coupon form, repeated three times. Yes, I have emailed to let them know. Yes, I do hope that they send me some coupons for letting them know that they are publicly embarrassing themselves.)

Moneymaker Scenario: Purchase Arm & Hammer Essentials product anywhere, up to $3.50. Use $1 coupon. Send in rebate form. Receive rebate for purchase price.

or

CVS has the Arm & Hammer Essentials product on sale this week 2/$5.00. Buy 2 bottles @ $5.00, use 2 - $1 coupons printed from the website, and pay $3.00, and then receive a $2.50 rebate for one bottle, for a net total of $.50 for two bottles of cleaner.

With the economy in a slump, I would expect McDonalds to be reporting record profits. It seems like the place to go for a cheap, quick meal. Unfortunately, many local stores are losing money on their dollar menu, because of rising food costs. I actually visited one restaurant near my house that had removed the double cheeseburger from the dollar menu, and replaced it with a "double hamburger with cheese." Apparently, the "double hamburger with cheese" has only one slice of cheese, where the double cheeseburger had two. I guess that a few pennies matter to McDonalds as much as they do to us.

I think that McDonalds has found a new revenue stream, though, in an unlikely place - non-food sales. The Madame Alexander-created Wizard of Oz toys featured recently in Happy Meals have proven to be as popular with adults as with children. Not many adults want to eat a Happy Meal, though, or at least not the twelve that would be required to collect a full set of the Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz toys. So, some McDonalds locations are now selling the toys without a meal purchase requirement. My mother found them at her local restaurants from $.89 to $1.19 each. However, when I went out to buy some yesterday, they were selling for $2 each!

With a hamburger happy meal selling for $2.79, one of two things must be true. Either McDonalds is losing money on each Happy Meal that they sell, or they are making a nice profit on each doll that collectors like me purchase.

I guess that I really don't mind the price, even if they are making a profit. I'm buying something that I want, not something that I need. And if it helps them to keep two slices of cheese on my husband's double cheeseburgers, then I'm all for it.

Aunt: "What do you like on your hot dog?"
3 year old Tater: "A bun. And ketchup and mustard and pickles."

My 87 year young Grandma: "Those Cubs. They fall flat on their faces every October."

FG: "I can't find any spoons! I wonder where all of the spoons have gone."
Tater: "I think they're at the parade."

I haven't had a traditional leave-the-house and bring-home-a-paycheck job in more than three years now. I left my last job when we moved out-of-state for my husband's work, and somehow, I've never re-joined the work force. Our son was young, our son was ill, our daughter was ill, my husband's job might be re-located again; it never felt like a good time to re-start my career.

So, for the last three years, we've been living on "his" money. And although he rarely refers to it, and I don't know how he thinks of it, I do think of it as "his" money. As in, he has the final say over when and where it gets spent. I don't feel guilty paying the utilities, of course, but I do have some hesitation before handing over money at the mall, especially for something for myself.

A new Kohl's department store opened near us this week, and I was there at 9am to take advantage of the "early bird" specials, and to use the $10 "guest card" that Kohls was kind enough to mail to me. I went in with the best intentions. I was going to buy pajamas for our son, and if the $10 gift card and the dollar bills in my wallet didn't cover it, we didn't need them after all.

I did find the pajamas - two pairs for $16, thank you very much. But since the checkout line was soooo long, I decided to take a quick trip around the store. Purely for research purposes, you know. So that I would know which way to head the next time that I came in to scour the clearance racks. Well, on my scientific expedition, I found the luggage department.

I really do need new luggage. It shouldn't be hard to justify at all. I have one very small carry-on bag with its rolling/pulling handle stuck permanently out - not very handy for storing securely in the overhead compartment. We also have one largish suitcase, with a collapsed side and the fabric pulling away from the zippers.

And the new suitcases were so pretty... One woman was admiring a purple patterned bag; another gentleman was test-driving a bag that could roll in all four directions. Oh, but the prices. Even on the "new store" sales, some of the bags cost more than $200. For one bag! Eventually I found a set of four American Tourister bags for $89. It seemed like a good value, but I couldn't spend that much of my husband's money without asking him! So I called his cell phone, but only got his voicemail. Unfortunately, the $89 price was only good until 11am, and it was already past 10.

Eventually, I decided to buy the luggage, knowing that I could return them for a full credit on my debit card if my husband vetoed the purchase. And as I wheeled the biggest suitcase out to the car, my phone rang. I said, "honey, I bought some luggage. It cost $89. I can go back in and return it right now if you want." He said, "$89? That's cool." and asked what was for lunch. So, I felt okay about my bags. It was still a lot of money, but we could use them for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and my brother's graduation next year...

When I got home from the store, my husband helped me unload the car. He pulled the suitcase out, and commented on how heavy it was. I explained that it would be much lighter when the three smaller bags weren't inside of it anymore, and he looked confused. Then he saw the picture attached to the suitcase, and said, "we get all of these bags?" I said, yes, they're all inside. It's a set. He said, "you got four bags for $89?!" And I explained, yes, that they retailed for over $200, and they had a 10 year warranty, and I felt like we really needed them, but I would be happy to return them... And then he interrupted to say that he thought that $89 for a big suitcase was a good price, and he couldn't believe that I had gotten four pieces of luggage for that little money!

Maybe I don't have to bring home a paper paycheck to add financial value to our family. Maybe. Clearly, I have issues.