October's Stock-up, Winter Storage & Frugal Mussings

I requested my RiteAid rebate yesterday, after making sure everything qualified. I always file online, so I know before hand if everything was correct. I have relied on the store's shelf postings in the past, and have found that they are not always accurate. Our grand total on the single check rebates this month is.... $144.22!! That does not include the $21.00 in coupons I used as well, so not only did I get $144.22 worth of items for free, but I was paid $21 to take them!!!! It still blows me away that I actually can end up with items we need and use for free or better than free.

I'm somewhat bummed, as we found our winter vegetable storage had been raided by vermin. Those critters had a great feast on my pumpkins and other veggies that I had put away. Those that weren't touched are now all over my kitchen waiting to be canned or frozen now. I had expected to be able to use fresh into the winter, but now, plans have changed. I have to figure out a better plan for storage for next year.

I've been using my crockpot quite a bit lately. We've been running to appointment after appointment this month, and the crockpot has been so convenient and has saved us a lot of money. We haven't had to eat out, and that has been wonderful! I don't like fast food, and it seems the kids don't like it much either. The other bonus is, according to the First Energy Corp. the crockpot only costs .02/hr. to use! They have a PDF that shows costs of using appliances, etc.
If the information is accurate, it only costs me 20 cents to cook a meal in the crockpot. I wonder how that would compare to our gas stove in cost of energy - especially when we paid $5.10/gal. of propane.

Today is the first day I've had to use the dryer since Mother's Day (May 11th). It's been raining a lot and hubby's clothes just can't hold out until our next nice sunny day. It's almost killing me to put the stuff in the dryer!! I'm still going to hang clothes out as much as possible, but I also know that I'm going to have to use the dryer more. That's going to put a spike in our electric bill. :(