Maybe I've just been Captain Clueless but I just noticed tonight that EBay had a new section called "Want It Now." Prospective buyers place their wants here, and sellers can respond with their auctions. I found someone who wanted one of my magazines that I had tried to sell before. Since I got the magazine for free, I could beat all of the other offers that had responded to the Want It Now ad!

Found five 12-packs of Waist Watcher ginger ale for $1.49 each. (We like this brand because it's sweetened with Splenda rather than aspartame.) Also got 19 Wolfgang Puck Chicken Tortilla soups for 99 cents. (I haven't been buying him out like I had because he bumped the price up on me, but I make an exception for Chichen Tortilla!) These cans weren't even dented!

I've started keeping track of the loose change I've found on the ground. Since the beginning of the year I've found almost a dollar. Granted, it's a penny and a dime at a time and it's not going to pay my daughter's tuition, but it pays for a cup of coffee once in a while! I found out a while back that one guy from the church, who's a real estate investor, does this too.

We get Angel Soft bathroom tissue. No other brand will do for my better half.

Normally I try to find the double rolls (only need to change them half as often), and the best price of late was $4.99 for 12 rolls on sale.

Wal-Mart was selling 24 single rolls for $4.03. Score!!

My wife balked when I loaded up the cart with six packages, which is a gross.

My response:

"Does the stuff go bad?" No.
"Are we going to quit using it?" No again.

We managed even to find a place to store them!

We went to the Salvation Army thrift store on December 30th. Turned out to be a great time to buy stuff, because everyone was trying to beat the buzzer for their 2004 tax deduction. People were bringing in stuff by the truckload!

We got a high chair, a baby swing, and a baby bouncy chair for $12 each. A 6' folding table for $5. A good paper shredder for $3. And a laser printer (with an extra toner cartridge) for $10. We practically stole this stuff.