Back-to-School Deals: Week of 7/7

School just got out a couple of weeks ago, but the back-to-school deals are already starting. Here are the deals for the week of 7/7:

Target

Crayola Markers, 10 ct $0.99

Crayola Colored Pencils, 12 ct $0.99

Crayola SuperTips Washable Marker Color Can, 80 ct $7.99

Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils and Crayons Color Can, 80 ct $7.99

Sharpie Markers, 10 ct $5.00

Elmer’s Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks, 3 ct $2.49
Buy 1 Elmer’s Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks, 3 ct, Get Free Elmer’s Liquid School Glue, 4 oz.

Scotch Magic Tape, 3/4″ $2.00

Blue Sky Wall Calendar, 15″ x 12″ $8.00

Blue Sky Planner, 10″ x 8″ $8.00

CVS

Mead Five Star Notebook, 1, 2, 3 or 5 Subject
Buy One Get One 50% Off
Use $1.00/2 Mead Five Star Products, Limit 4 like coupons per household per day from PG 7/7 (exp 7/31)

Buy 2 Mead Five Star, 3 Subject Notebook, College Ruled, 150 sheets $9.29, regular price
Buy One Get One 50% Off
Use one $1.00/2 Mead Five Star Products, Limit 4 like coupons per household per day from PG 7/7 (exp 7/31)
Final Price: $6.47 each, when you buy 2.

Rite Aid

Crayons, 24 ct $0.29

Crayon or Pencil Sharpener $0.29

Erasers $0.29

Index Cards $0.29

Playskool Glue, 4 oz $0.29

Ruler, 12″ $0.29

White Posterboard, 22 x 28″ $0.29

Walgreens

Crayola Art Supplies
Buy One Get One 50% Off

Crayola Colored Pencils, 12 ct $2.99, regular price

Buy One Get One 50% Off

Final Price: $2.24 each, when you buy 2

Mead Five Star Notebooks, Composition Books or Folders
Buy One Get One Free
Use $1.00/2 Mead Five Star Products, Limit 4 like coupons per household per day from PG 7/7 (exp 7/31)

Buy 2 Mead Five Star Pocket and Prong Folder $2.99, regular price
Buy One Get One Free  
Use one $1.00/2 Mead Five Star Products, Limit 4 like coupons per household per day from PG 7/7 (exp 7/31)

Final Price: $1.00 each, when you buy 2

Elmer’s Glue Stick $0.99

Wexford Scissors, 5 inch $0.99

Wexford Construction Paper, 96 sheets $1.99

Wexford Mechanical Pencils, 30 ct $1.99

Wexford Multipurpose Paper, 400 sheets $2.99

Wexford Binder, 1 inch $2.99

Wexford Index Cards, 70 or 100 pk $0.33 each, when you buy 3

Wexford Memo Books, 50 or 60 sheets $0.33 each, when you buy 3

Three Things I Learned on a Field Trip

 A couple of weeks ago I went along as a chaperone on Alex's Make Way for Ducklings field trip. It was a fun trip into Boston to trace the steps Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings take in Robert McCloskey's classic children's book, Make Way for Ducklings.

Here are three things that I personally learned on the field trip:

1. Teachers do not get paid nearly enough. Keeping an eye on 18 first graders is exhausting work. They are full of energy and questions. I was exhausted when I got home from the trip which, by the way, lasted just past lunch time. I gained much admiration for Alex's teacher who does the important work of teaching these kids every day. She probably thought the field trip was an easier day than her normal day where she has a full day of teaching assignments. Plus, she has to go home every day and prepare for the next day's class. Meanwhile, I was completely wiped out. Teachers have my undying respect for the important and challenging work that they do.
2. During lunch, first grade boys talk about their favorite cheese and then sports.
3. Boston is a beautiful city. The picture above was taken from our ride on the Swan Boats in the Public Garden. Riding the Swan Boats really gives you a view of the beauty of the Back Bay. It's a relaxing ride around the pond in the Public Garden. Alex and I take a day off every summer to go into Boston and riding the Swan Boats has become part of our tradition. It's also a bargain at $3/adult ticket and $1.50/child ticket. I highly recommend it!

Free Fun Fridays

Now that school is out for summer, you may be looking for affordable family friendly activities or places to visit. How about over 60 museums or cultural venues to visit for free every Friday this summer? Courtesy of the Highland Street Foundation, six venues are open for free each Friday. Here are the free venues for this Friday, June 28:

Freedom Trail Foundation

Mass MOCA

Stone Zoo

Worcester Art Museum

Heritage Museum and Gardens

Tanglewood

Click here for a complete list of venues.

Stop & Shop Gas Rewards

This week, I only paid $1.40 per gallon when I filled up my car. I was pretty excited to save $2.00/gallon. The last time I paid that little for gas was during the Clinton Administration. How did I gas up my car so cheaply? I took advantage of Stop and Shop's Gas Rewards program. The way it works is that you earn 1 point for every dollar that you spend at Stop & Shop when you use your Stop & Shop card. You save $0.10 per gallon for every 100 points that you earn. You can earn up to $2.20 per gallon. You have to use your points within 30 days of earning them.

I was always skeptical of taking advantage of the Gas Rewards. I don't usually spend enough at Stop & Shop to earn enough points to make it worth my while. Occasionally, Stop & Shop has a sale that allows you to earn more points. Recently, they had a sale where buying 6 of certain items earned you 400 points or $0.40/gallon. Part of this sale was yogurt that I knew we would eat. Plus I had a coupon. Then the following week, Cheerios was part of a similar sale. Before I knew it, I had accumulated over 2000 points.

In the future, I probably won't shop at Stop & Shop just to earn gas points. However, if there's a good sale that racks up gas points that I can combine with coupons, I might as well save some gas money.

Done Is Better Than Perfect

 

I just finished reading Sheryl Sandberg's best selling book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" I have already heard many of the points that she makes and anecdotes that she tells from her book tour interviews and her well-known 2010 Ted talk. Still, I enjoyed reading it and did agree with her call to get women to lean in and work toward pursuing their ambition.

In the introduction, Sandberg explains why she felt compelled to start a Lean In movement and write the book. As she advanced in her career, she noticed that many of her female peers had dropped out. She shares a story about visiting a private equity firm and needing to use the rest room during a break. When she asked for the location of the ladies room, the male executive didn't know. She asked if she was the first female executive to visit their office. He replied that he thought so or maybe she was just the first one that needed to use the rest room. Sandberg realized that she was one of the few women at the top and wanted to investigate why and what could be done.

In the book, Sandberg makes the case that a lot of the obstacles that women face in pursuing their ambition are internalized. Girls are told not to be bossy when instead they should be told that they are showing "leadership skills." The truth is that women in positions of power are not well liked. Women also lack confidence to promote themselves. She noticed at meetings that women were reluctant to literally sit at the table. Instead, they would sit at the chairs against the wall away from the table when they had every right to sit at the table and take charge.

How do women work to overcome these obstacles? Here are Sandberg's suggestions:

Seek and Speak the Truth

Sandberg urges women to speak up and truthfully say what they think, solicit constructive feedback, and ask for what they want in the workplace. 

Don't Leave Before You Leave

In this chapter, Sandberg tells the story of a young woman at Facebook who wanted advice on how to balance work and family. As the woman urgently fired questions at her, Sandberg asked about her situation. It turned out that this young woman didn't have a boyfriend. She was jumping the gun a bit about planning for her family that didn't exist yet. Sandberg's point is don't stop yourself from pursuing what you want in life for what may happen many years down the road. You can always figure out how to balance work and family when you are at that point in your life.

Make Your Partner a Real Partner

Sandberg points out that women will have a better work life balance if they let their partner share in the responsibilities at home. Reading this chapter, I felt very lucky to have a partner that helps out at home as much as he does. I mentioned this in last year's Father's Day blog post. Sandberg says that what keeps women from having a real equal partner is that women are often gatekeepers. I am guilty of this. Recently, I came downstairs to Craig folding the laundry. I said, "Oh, I was looking forward to doing that." Yes, I actually said that. Crazy, I know. Yes, it's weird, I enjoy folding laundry. Instead of thanking him for taking care of something for me, I scolded him. I should remember that the next time I get annoyed if he doesn't notice that something needs to be done and I have to do it. Ideally, marriage should be a partnership where you work together as a team to accomplish your shared goals. This is still a work in progress for us.

The Myth of Doing It All
I probably got the most from this chapter. Sandberg's quote that "done is better than perfect" really hit home with me. Striving to do everything perfectly is impossible. Working in software, I know that if we waited until the software was absolutely perfect, we would never release anything. It has to work as well or better than the customers expect and then be improved upon with each release. That's true for many things in life. Do the best you can with what you have and feel good about what you've accomplished.

Let's Start Talking About It and Working Together Toward Equality
Right after Alex was born, I was reading a message board for new moms and noticed that any posts about working moms and work at home moms most always turned into a divisive, ugly debate. With the anonymity of the Internet, a woman would post that she wanted to stay home because "she didn't want strangers raising her kids." Then, on the other side, a woman would post that work at home moms didn't do any work. Reading these exchanges were entertaining, but I often thought, wow, why don't we all work together to make things better for everyone? That is what Sandberg is urging in the last couple of chapters of her book. I think the defensiveness comes about because women feel very sensitive and some guilt about their work/family decisions. If we could all just start talking about and asking for what we want and then work together for that, it would make life better for everyone. Personally, I feel very fortunate for the work/life balance that I am lucky enough to enjoy. I have a job I love, an employer that offers flexibility that I truly appreciate, and a wonderful husband and son that make it all worthwhile. We should all work to allow women to pursue whatever their ambition is. We all benefit when women are encouraged to succeed.

For more information on the Lean In movement, visit leanin.org.

Spring Bag Sale Results

 This past Saturday was the biannual children's used clothing and toy sale in my community. I bought two bags ($10/each) this time. A friend was going through the line selling the bags. She was short on change because most people in line only had a $20 since that's what ATMs dispense. She saw me holding my twenty dollar bill and said, "You want to buy two bags, right?" How could I say no? I ended up finding plenty of great stuff so I most likely would have ended up buying a second bag. So I saw it as a win-win and a blessing in disguise.

Here is my haul:

1 suit jacket
2 ties
1 pair of practically new tennis shoes (The tag claimed that they had been worn only once.)
a pair of baseball cleats
8 polo shirts
5 jeans
two sweatpants
one pair of shorts
1 pajama set

Starbucks: Half-Priced Frappuccinos from 3-5 p.m. May 3-12, 2013

 

Starting tomorrow, Starbucks is offering Half-Priced Frappuccinos every afternoon from 3-5 p.m. May 3-12, 2013 at participating locations. Enjoy!