I Pick Up Pennies

I am always frustrated by toilet paper prices. Thanks to different sizes of packaging — number of rolls, sheets per roll, regular or double, etc — toilet paper is just not something that’s easy to compare.

Of course, toilet paper is also one of those things I rarely think about until we’re almost out. In which case, I’m forced to simply choose the best deal that I can find and hope it’s not too bad.

Not knowing, though, frustrates me. Most other grocery and toiletries items are easily compared. A tube of toothpaste compares to a tube of toothpaste — and they’ll tell you precisely how many ounces are in each, right there in the ad.

But seeing some toilet paper on sale doesn’t really tell you everything. You have no idea of sheets per roll of either one, just roll count. And, yes, perhaps that’s getting a little overly detail-oriented. But it’s just frustrating to not be able to compare without getting out the calculator.

So, I did what any sensible — by which I mean irrationally obsessed — person would do and broke out the calculator. I was bound and determined to compare apples to apples, which meant finding out sheets per roll and/or square footage.

Like I said, irrationally obsessed. But haven’t you ever wondered? (If not, just placate me and say you have.)

The real trick to comparing such things online is being able to zoom in on the packaging. Not all product descriptions will list sheets per roll and square footage. But all the packages have that information on the front.

In the end, I found that Soap.com had the best tools for viewing that information. So then I just had to find the exact packages on sale in the weekly circulars.

Once I had that, it was just a matter of some number crunching.

And, yes, reading over this post, I do sound a little manic. But I’m still glad I finally broke down those numbers.

Why?

Well, Charmin’s so-called double roll is only 176 sheets, compared to 150 in a regular Angel Soft roll. Quilted Northern is a little closer at 225-245 per roll. But that’s still significantly less than twice an Angel Soft roll.

Once I figured out the roll differences, there was almost no comparison.

It helped that Angel Soft was on sale at Fry’s, 88 cents for a four-pack. (That’s 15/100 of a penny per sheet for those of you playing along at home.) But even its normal price of $2.49 (or 4/10 of a penny per sheet) is better than a lot of the other brands when they’re on sale.

Of course, people have different preferences. Some people swear by a particular brand. As long as it’s two-ply, I don’t care. But I understand that brand loyalty does sometimes weight the scales a bit. And with something as personal as “bathroom tissue”… well, who can blame you?

That said, I’m making a trip to Fry’s tonight to stock up on 4-packs of Angel Soft. While this calculator play was educational, I’d rather not have to do any more toilet paper math for awhile.

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After the D & C

Abigail — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:21:20 +0000

I’ve never been great at allowing myself healing time.

I laid low on Friday after the D & C. On Saturday, though, I took my mother-in-law to a Goodwill sale. Then, instead of lying down, I got a notion in my head that it was the perfect time to sweep the house. (In my defense, tile means it’s more obvious you need to clean.) And sweeping entails sweeping, then Swiffering and then using a wet Swiffer cloth.

That started the cramps back up, but I desperately wanted to get out of the house. So I went to Magic with Tim. We had to drop in the second round — the two doses of ibuprofen weren’t touching the cramps and I was even more emotionally fragile than expected.

I feel too exposed when I’m around people who know — even though I know they want to be supportive — and too upset at people who don’t know, for not magically sensing the crap I’m going through. Or, maybe, because I’m afraid then I’ll have to tell them.

So I’ve stayed home and laid low. And filled the Vicodin prescription the doctor wrote. Other than going out once a day for a meal — not great for the budget but we can afford it if we’re careful in other areas and, frankly, who gives a crap right now anyway — I pretty much just sit around at home and watch TV or sleep.

Mostly sleep, actually. To the point that I’m actually sore from sleeping so much. (I bought two massages through Groupon. Tim and I could both use some pampering.)

Meanwhile, I’ve given Tim my blessing to go and play Magic. Part of me wants to keep him here, holding me and/or watching TV with me. But even on good days, he goes a little stir crazy; and this miscarriage happened to him, too.

He wanted to have people over, so he could still be close but would also be distracted. But I’m just not up for interaction with most people. Instead, he goes out and plays. But if he isn’t sure he’ll get into the Top 8, he drops after round 3 — out of 5 or 6 — and comes home to check on me. So far, it works more than it doesn’t, which is about all you can hope for in such situations.

The only other issue is my irritability. Everything is a mountain — especially molehills. Everything exasperates me. The only reason I’m able to be back at work is that I only talk to customers via email. So I can take deep breaths and channel a patient, courteous version of myself.

I’d take more time off, but sitting around all day will quickly drive me even crazier than dealing with customers.

Instead, I’m going to go in for medication management. I called my health plan and got a list of approved practitioners. On Monday, I’ll call around and make an appointment. I predict the person will increase my mood stabilizer. And I predict that will help some — and every little bit counts.

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Want to buy a car? Overpay your taxes

Abigail — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:55:54 +0000

Normally, just about everyone in the personal finance world is going to tell you to avoid overpaying the IRS. I am usually one of them.

While you want to avoid penalties for late payments or underpayment, it’s also important to remember that the IRS won’t give you a penny of interest for any overpayment. (Though it has little compunction about charging you interest on underpayment.)

That said, there are times that you can profit from overpaying the IRS. To be exact, you can get a 100% return on that overpayment.

As the 1040 season hovers ominously ahead of us. car dealerships are starting to roll out the “Double your refund” offers. Essentially, you sign over your expected return and they double it as a down payment.

The closer we get to April, the more places will probably make these offers. Furniture stores, travel agencies and other such spots want to lure customers in, despite a bad economy. What better way than giving folks “free” money… that they have to spend at your establishment? Especially when the original funds are still an abstraction to the consumer.

But what if you haven’t overpaid this year? Well, there’s still time. Sort of.

Even if you’re not self-employed, you can send in an estimated tax payment. This is good for people whose situations have changed and worry that they’ve underpaid their tax liability for the year. You just print out a voucher from the IRS site, write out a check and send it in.

Now here’s the tricky part: The deadline for that was 1/17/12. For those of you paying attention, today is 1/18/12.

But all is not lost. We’re a nation of procrastinators. Plenty of estimated tax vouchers will be sent after the deadline. More importantly, if you haven’t actually underpaid, the funds aren’t really late. Not in the sense than the IRS cares about, anyway.

So, all you have to do is go to the IRS site and print out the voucher for an estimated payment. If you do this, make absolutely sure you use a voucher for the 4th quarter of 2011. If you use a 2012 estimated tax form, that money’s gone until 2013. You can find the 2011 Estimated Tax payment vouchers here.

A few caveats:

First, be smart. Your refund is real money — no matter how abstract it is right now — and so could be going into your savings account. Make sure the dealership is offering a good enough deal. When they have something to offer — credit for a trade-in or a special promotion — dealerships are less likely to haggle down to lower prices.

Second, do your research. Not all stores will make this offer. Check to find out where the deals have been offered in the past, what those stores’ reputations are and what limits there are. No sense in draining your savings account by $5,000 if they’ll only double $3,000.

Finally, whatever you do, don’t overpay throughout 2012 for a planned purchase in 2013. Here’s why:

1. The IRS doesn’t give mid-year refunds.

Need funds in September that you overpaid back in April or June? Tough. You won’t see those until 2013.

2. Overpayment doesn’t carry over quarter to quarter.

If you owe $2,000 every quarter, you can’t pay $3,000 in Q1 and only $1,00 in Q2. Not without risking underpayment penalties, anyway. (And those would accrue interest throughout the year.) The safe harbor rule does protect you to a certain extent here, but, really, why risk it?

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Buckling down — for all 4 of us

Abigail — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:00:08 +0000

My goal this week is to get serious about groceries.

We really aren’t doing a great job of carefully planning the food bill. Part of that is laziness on our part. Currently, Nadine gets about $300 a month in benefits. Now that we’re all more settled in, the rampant grocery spending seems to have abated; so her monthly benefits cover most of our grocery costs.

But, starting in February, Arizona state will be in charge of her food stamps, which means she’ll only get about $100 in help. In other words, we’ll need a better system — one that I’d rather have in place before the big cut happen.

The problem is communal meals. I love having someone — Nadine and/or Tim — cook. And right now it’s simple: Nadine’s benefits cover most of our grocery bill. But, starting next month, things will get far more complicated.

We won’t want to pay for every single communal meal we eat. But we also won’t want Nadine and Marc shouldering too much of the costs, either. And, of course, it’s not as though Nadine separates her grocery lists into shared items and ones for just her and Marc.

So we have to find a way to make sure they’re not buying too many of the communal groceries, without our having to pay too much for their own purchases. Which probably comes off as stingy, but I’m more worried about the potential for resentment.

I don’t want to have to wonder how much of the groceries we paid for was for things I really think is a waste of money — and I’m sure they don’t want me poring over every bill they bring home. It could get uncomfortable.

Everyone has different grocery standards. I’m horrified when Marc buys those paltry trays of sliced fruit for $3-5 a shot. Heck, I got a little dizzy when Nadine bought cherries this week that weren’t on sale. Yeah, they $2.50 a pound — not horribly priced — but they also weren’t all that robust looking, and Marc hadn’t even specifically asked for them.

And, in case I didn’t mention it, they weren’t on sale. I stress that because I understand how silly it probably sounds. But that was the thought pounding in my head while she examined the incredibly unimpressive bag that was probably nearly $5.

I was raised that you only ever buy fruit that is on sale. You just don’t buy it otherwise. (My only exception, for some reason, is bananas. Maybe because they’re so cheap anyway?)

It’s this kind of stuff that will quickly strain relations with my relations. And it’s just not worth that kind of resentment. So we’d better buckle down and figure out a better system before I end up yelling at a bewildered in-law in the produce section. (Don’t laugh. If my blood sugar were low enough, I could easily drag Marc by the ear into the canned fruit section and ask if he were aware it existed.)

So, what to do?

The biggest thing is to figure out communal meals separately. If Nadine and I sit down with the food ads each Wednesday, we can decide on the couple of meals to make that week. Then we can make sure that Tim and I are covering a fair share of those costs, simply by making sure that some of those ingredients land in our cart instead of hers.

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Bargain hunting for a D&C

Abigail — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:27:56 +0000

I believe this is what they call an insult to injury.

I was woken up on Wednesday by the news that my insurance wouldn’t schedule the thing until I got a referral to the OB’s office from my primary. That meant the visit the day before wouldn’t have been covered, not to mention having to schedule an extraneous appointment with a doctor I had yet to meet (my plan changed on January 1st) and go through the unpleasant explanation, etc.

I called my insurance company furious. Before I schedule the 1/10 appointment back in December, I called to make sure I didn’t need a referral. They assured me I didn’t.

Hence my angry, somewhat blubbering phone call. It was not a good way to wake up the day after such news, I assured the phone rep.

She was quite helpful/apologetic and confirmed that I hadn’t needed a referral. She even checked with her supervisor just to be 100% sure. She then got on the phone with my OB’s office herself and let them know they had been given bad information.

She then informed me that they were going to try to book me in Banner Hospital and so the co-pay was $150 plus 20% of the cost of any drugs, which was usually under $20.

Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of paying $150 for the privilege of this procedure. After hanging up with her and getting Tim up to speed, I called my insurance again.

As the phone rang, I had the momentary lucid thought that it was somewhat macabre to be looking for a “good deal” on a D&C. But given the unpleasantness of this entire situation, I really didn’t want to pay more than a penny extra.

It turned out to be moot — the $150 was the flat rate for any outpatient procedure with this insurance. I was a little relieved, truth be told. I really didn’t want to wheel and deal too much for something like this. Mainly, I just wanted to check and make sure that my HMO wasn’t charging more based on location.

The procedure was scheduled for Friday morning, with a check-in of 6:15 a.m. and a starting time of 8:15 a.m. More insult to injury: Tim had been planning to catch a ride to LA for a Magic tournament at 6 a.m. that day. Since general anesthetic is used, he had to be there to drive me home around 9 or 10 a.m.

Of course, I also wouldn’t have wanted him to leave right after the procedure. I doubt he would have wanted it either. And he had no qualms about cancelling with his ride. It just would have been nice for him to be able to get out of town and clear his head a bit.

He’s been nothing but supportive, while he himself processes all this on his own terms and timeline. He is upset, too, and there’s really not much we can do but be there for each other.

He put out a note on Facebook, so that we wouldn’t have to keep repeating ourselves to the Magic community. (We also figured it would give those folks time to think of something to say the next time they saw us, so they stand less chance of blurting out something cringe-worthy.)

The outpouring has been pretty overwhelming. And, of course, here and on my mom’s post, we’ve seen a huge amount of support. So thank you all for that.

And now, it being 5:45 a.m. on Friday morning, I’m about to head off to the hospital. Dread and anticipation of loss make this particularly hard. It’s nice to know you all are out there.

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Freebie Friday

Abigail — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:21:20 +0000

Freebie Friday is brought to you by The Freebie Blogger. Check out the site daily for events, contests and, of course, freebies!

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Free Blood Sugar Control Kit

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Taking the week off

Abigail — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:46:22 +0000

I lost the baby.

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Stop the world, I want to get off

Abigail — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:04:41 +0000

That’s how it felt most of the weekend, as the world spun. A lot.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up Monday, though, without any spinning. Now, I slept a goodly chunk of Sunday. That may have helped. Or maybe I just got lucky. Either way, I’m happy the worst of it seems to be over.

Okay, it could have been a lot worse. As of Monday morning, the dizziness had stopped. I don’t know if I just got lucky or what.

Thanks to a weekend spent with very few solid foods, though, my hypoglycemia is in overdrive. Which means it’s hard to tell if my mood swings are from a lack of Effexor or crazy blood sugar issues. I guess the result is the same. I am more easily irritated and definitely had some rage flareups that shouldn’t have been so bad.

On the whole, though, I’m just glad I can move my head again.

And, as a nice little present for going through all this misery, Tuesday morning we’re going in to our first official appointment with the OB. Which means we’ll get to hear the baby’s heartbeat! That may very nearly make up for all this crap.

Let’s just hope it’s an appreciative fetus.

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If Buffy clips coupons, it must be cool

Abigail — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:00:37 +0000

I read a quote from Sarah Michelle Gellar yesterday: “I clip coupons all the time. Why should you pay more for something that someone else is paying less for?”

Love it!

She also says that, while she and Freddie shop at Whole Foods because they like organic and fresh, they ask what meat is on sale and otherwise keep an eye out for bargains. Okay, relative bargains, but you still have to admire someone who sees the value in… well… value.

Sure, they have plenty of money. But the way to keep that money? Shop carefully — even when indulging in the things you consider worth a little more.

Alas, that’s the only real thought you’re going to get from me until probably Tuesday (or later). This week was the final step to get off Effexor. This step is the worst since, without any Effexor in your system, dizzy spells are the word of the day.

The best I can describe it as is this: Anytime I move my eyes very far, especially quickly, my brain feels like it just spun around 360 degrees very quickly. Then I’m left with the nausea of that sensation.

Based on other people’s experiences (and mine from last week), the worst of the symptoms should last about three days. So I skipped my dose on Friday, meaning the withdrawal symptoms started that night. That gives me Saturday and Sunday to deal with most of the symptoms and, hopefully, be able to work on Monday.

I have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday so, worst case scenario, I can ask for anti-nausea pills if the symptoms haven’t eased up.

Meanwhile, we stocked up on necessary foodstuffs. I got crackers, applesauce, bananas, yogurt and some canned fruit. I’m a big believer in pectin to help settle the stomach. Plus, not to put too fine a point on it, at least fruit is nice and soft — way better than the dry heaves.

I also picked up some Gatorade in case I start worrying about dehydration.

Tim sheepishly asked if it was okay for him to play in extra Magic tournaments during this fun time. I had been about to suggest it. Given how testy I got during the last step-down process, he could set me off by breathing wrong. It’s probably best for both of us if he is out and about this weekend.

I’ll still have his parents nearby, and he’ll have his cell, if I need anything. The last piece of the puzzle is for him to set up one of the gaming consoles in the bedroom. That way, I can watch Netflix from the bedroom, as well as out on the couch.

I just got into Mad Men, so I have Seasons 2-4 to keep me company… Assuming I don’t move my eyes too much.

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