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My blog has officially moved.


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I know it's hard, but if you could disregard the post below, that would be awesome. There are still some issues I'm having to deal with from the local police force. Thanks!!

Police car accident

I was in my Silver Honda Civic, behind the white vehicle that got hit. The lady put on her left turning signal, slowed down, and started to make a left-hand turn. Within about three seconds the following occurred. The white car began to turn left, I looked in my left side-view mirror and saw a speeding police car with its lights on driving on the opposite side of a double-yellow line road, he was about three car-lengths behind me on the opposite side of the road when I looked up from the left side-view mirror and saw the same white vehicle was almost completely perpendicular to make her left hand turn, but she had not yet crossed over the left side of the road. The police vehicle continued to crash into the driver-side door and push the vehicle onto the curb and into a small tree. I did not hear any sirens, nor did I hear any breaks skidding. After both cars came to a stop, I proceeded to pull onto the right side of the road. I just stared at the two cars waiting for someone to do something. After about maybe a minute or two, the officer limped out of his cop car and toward the white vehicle which he had hit. I don't know if he was saying anything, i just saw him looking into the driver window. At this point I got out my cell phone and made a call to 911 and spoke with an operator. I gave them all of my information, plus the officer number. They asked for no license plate numbers, but I did tell them briefly what I had witnessed. They transfered me to some medical emergency department, but the operator (woman) there told me they had already sent out medical help. At that point I assumed that the minute or two the officer spent in his vehicle after the wreck must have been spent calling for help. Another witness in a purple/blue SUV was outside of the car and talking with the officer. That's when I noticed that the lady in the white car was outside of her car and okay. They were all talking, I was still on the other side of the road. The officer who had wrecked into the white vehicle came over to me to get my information. I expected him to ask me what I saw, but instead he looked at my car which was pulled over and said, "I guess you saw me and pulled over and she just didn't see me." I corrected him immediately and told him that I did not even see him until right before he hit the other vehicle, I had not pulled over to the side of the road until after the accident was over. He wrote down my information, but none of what I said about the accident. He walked away. After about five minutes many (about 6 or so) police cars showed up and two medical vehicles. I had to pull my car over into a near-by parking lot so traffic could get through. The officers ended up temperarily cutting off traffic. I decided to approach the scene, and I just stood there standing for about five minutes before a few police officers decided to talk to me. A senior officer (male) asked me what happened, I say senior because he had a gray buzz cut hair style, so he seemed older. After I told him what I saw, he told me to go talk to a COJ guy in yellow, and that he would write down my information and what I had witnessed. I walked over with the senior officer to the guy he was talking about, I proceeded to verify my information the first officer had written on a tiny unofficial pad of paper. He asked me what happened. I started to recall the events, but the guy in yellow was not writing down anything I said. He was just looking at me and nodding. I asked, "why aren't you writing any of this down?" He said, "It's okay, I'll remember." I persisted, "I would really feel better if you would just write all of this down." So he took the small little piece of paper that already had all of my information on it, he turned it over and started to write a few words. I just kept telling him what I saw, he stopped writing. I didn't ask again. But later when I was leaving, I approached that same senior officer and told him that no one had written down what I saw. I told him I even told the guy in yellow to write it down, and that the guy in yellow had a pen and paper and he still wouldn't. The senior officer said it was okay, and that he had a pretty good idea about what had happened and that the guy in yellow was still in training, as if not writing down the report was not really important. I started to leave, but then I went back over to the original lady who was driving the white vehicle and gave her my information and told her that no one was writing down my story on any paper, and they were only writing down my information on unofficial small pieces of paper. She wrote down my information. I started to leave again, but then I remembered that when I was just standing around the first time, the officer that had hit the white vehicle was telling us what had happened and he mentioned that he had slammed on his breaks as hard as he could and that his airbag never went off. I did not see any skid marks on the road and I had not heard any breaks at the time of the accident. I walked over one more time and told the lady that had been hit that I had not heard any breaks and that the officer was saying that he slammed on his breaks as hard as he could. Not only that, but there were no skid marks and I did not see any break lights during the accident. The lady was taking pictures of the front of her car at the time I told her this. She said she was going to take pictures of the road to show that there were absolutely no skid marks. As I was leaving, the same senior officer asked if there was anything else he could do for me. I said, "yeah, can you take a picture of all the skid marks on the road." He said CERTAINLY (or something to that effect). And was just looking at me in the eyes. I said, "but there aren't any." He then proceeded to tell me how the officer has the lawful right to speed on the opposite side of a double-yellow road with his lights on. He said there was nothing the officer could have done to miss the lady, and perhaps the officer thought he had slammed his breaks. He then recalled a story about how he hit an innocent driver too and how he got his facts mixed up. If anything, that just proves that the story of officer who got in the wreck today is not credible. I then left to go to my internship and immediately started to write this witness testimony down. It was about 10:35am when I started to write this, it is now about 11:20. The accident happened at about 10:00am. I know this because I was going to my internship two blocks away and I had looked at the clock. I will now post this on a blog so that it may be time stamped for official purposes. 11:25AM (I've noticed this blog time stamps three hours back sometimes)

Tax Day Freebies!

Or course we all know that taxes must be sent out by tomorrow, tax day. But to ease the pain in our wallets, a few companies have shown some mercy.. Check out these Tax Day Deals!

Cinnabon - Get a free Classic Bites 5pm-8pm (excluding airport and travel plazas)

McDonald's - B1 Quarter Pounder or Big Mac G1 for a penny!

Papa John's - Buy 1 large 3-topping pizza for $10.40 (get it?... )

There are more deal listings for tax day here and here.

(Thanks moneysavingmom & Chachingqueen!)

Publix 58% savings!!

ATTENTION! Cheap staple items (with coupons)! This week at Publix I managed to stock up on cheese, sour cream, butter, orange juice, pizza crust and much more! I came out $1.30 over our weekly budget of $40, but we are still trying to stock our pantry and refrigerator for the first time, and some weeks we don't go grocery shopping at all. That said, a buck over is not a big deal. Here is a summary of my purchases.


No Coupon Items:

Publix milk $2.89

Tombstone Frozen Pizza, sale $2.99

Dulce de Leche (sw. cond. milk), sale BOGO $1.79

(2) 8 oz. Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, sale $1.00 each

Items I Bought with Coupons:

(4) 1 lb. LandOLakes butter sticks, sale $2.00 (used (4) $.55/1 MQ) = $1.45 each

(5) 8 oz. Kraft Cheese, sale $1.67 (used (5) $.75/1 MQ) = $.92 each

(4) 9.5 oz. Wheat Thins/Triscuits, sale BOGO $3.49 (used (1) BOGO & (1) $1/2 MQ) = $.62 each

(1) 16 oz. Breakstone's Sour Cream, sale $.99 (used (1) $.35/1 MQ) = $.64

(2) Del Monte NoSaltAdded Tomatoes, sale BOGO $1.53 (used (2) $.40/1 MQ) = $.36 each

(4) Swanson Broths, sale BOGO $1.13 (used $1/4 MQ) = $.32 each

(2) 11.oz Emerald Deluxe Nut Mixes, sale BOGO $5.79 (used (2) $1.50/2 MQ) = $1.40 each

(6) 64oz. Trop50 Orange Juice, sale BOGO $3.79 (used (6) $1.00/1 MQ) = $.90 each

(1) 5lb. Domino Sugar, sale $1.99 (used (1) $.35/1 MQ) = $1.64

(1) 6-pk Nutripals Childrens bars, clearance $2.00 (used $2/1 MQ) = free

(2) Pillsbury Pizza Doughs, sale $1.67 (used (2) $.40/1 MQ) = $1.27 each

(1) Nature's Path Honey Wheat Bread, sale $2.00 (used $.55/1 MQ) = $1.45

Total before coupons: $98.00

Total after coupons: $41.30

Total Savings: $56.70 (58 %)


Not bad! Tell me all about your savings for the week. Leave a comment below and share your unique coupon match-ups as well!

Thanks!

Every other week?

As you may have gathered, I am a slacker when it comes to blogging! Now, let's not forget I am a graduating senior and homework, studying and actual WORK are my top priorities (next to my fiancee, Eddie of course!). So, I am making it a goal of mine to create new posts biweekly, or every other week. It seems that I have already stuck to my guns on this one, so it shouldn't be too difficult a task. We'll see. So feel free to subscribe to CollegeStudentsStarveNoLonger! This way, you can go about your normal life without having to check my blog every day, without reward. I am guilty of doing this myself... checking some of my regular blogs constantly. Most of the time nothing new is posted. SO, feel free to come on by whenever or become a member! Either way, I will be saving money in new and unique ways, college style!

Eating from the Pantry: College Style

I have not been blogging as usual for about two weeks now, but I have been out of town visiting family and working REALLY hard on keeping up on homework. After all, the semester ends in less than four weeks! Crunch time!

Today, I would like to call attention to a post made by one of the blogs I follow (Moneysavingmom.com) and mention that while, yes, eating from the pantry is a GREAT way to save money, not all students have enough stock piles or time and resources to conquer this feat. Which is a serious feat for most of us. So, I would like instead to offer some tips and pointers on how to accomplish the challenge while staying creative and not breaking the bank.

First, what I did, was look at what I had on hand (some boxed rice I got on sale + MQ's, some steak I got for free or cheap from target with their Qs, and some grean giant vegies I picked up at publix 10/$10 + $.50/2 which made for some cheap nutritious sides!). I took those components, along with some simple spices (salt, pepper and italian seasoning) and put together some fun and easy meals!

Dish 1: frozen peas, cooked & cubed steak, and boiled rice
While rice is boiling for the last 5-7 minutes, add 1-2 cups water, cubed steak and peas. Turn down heat. Add salt, pepper & italian seasoning. (Add extra vegies or seasoning if on hand: chopped onions, garlic, cabbage, potatoes, etc) Let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve while still hot.

Delicious and nutritious and ready to eat in less than an hour!


Dish 2: vegie medley, thawed & sliced steak, and boiled rice
Microwave vegie medley for about 2-3 min, or until partially thawed. Let steak thaw, then sliver when tender enough. Boil rice completely. Add vegies, steak and thoroughly cooked rice to a pan (any size, depending on amount), and stir. The steak and vegies create their own juice and since the rice is already cooked, it wont soak up all the liquid. While meat is browning, add salt, pepper, and seasonings to taste. Stir on med/low heat until meat is completely browned. Serve while still hot. Yields: fluctuates depending on amount cooked.


If you have any ideas about how to cook with four (common) ingredients or less, leave a comment and a link to your blog about your ideas and share the savings!!

*Coupon Lingo*

New to couponing or the internet couponing world?

• EBRs = Extra Buck Rewards (CVS in-store coupons printed after qualifying purchase; used like cash on next trans.; *applied BEFORE taxes*; good on most merchandise; has expiration date)
• ES = Easy Saver Catalogue (Walgreen's small monthly pamphlet of in-store Q's and rebates)
• GC = Gift Card
• Insert = Small magazine-type coupon booklet found in most Sunday papers; includes MQs
• Mag = Magazine
• MQ = Manufacturer Coupon (coupons created by the manufacturer; found in Sunday paper, magazines, online, etc)
• OOP = Out of Pocket (refers to ACTUAL money used to pay for transaction; cash/credit/debit/check/etc; does not refer to $ used on GC, EBR or RR)
• P&G = Procter and Gamble (a specific coupon insert found in most Sunday papers)
• PQ/PC = Printable Coupon (coupons you can print from a home computer; usually quantity limited)
• Q = Coupon
• RP = Red Plum (a specific coupon insert found in most Sunday papers or via snail mail)
• RR = Register Rewards (Wags in-store coupon printed after qualifying purchase; used like cash on next trans.; *applied AFTER taxes*; good on most merchandise; has expiration date)
• Snail Mail = Traditional mail via post office, ups, etc.
• SS = Super Saver (a specific coupon insert found in most Sunday papers)
• Wag/Wags = Walgreens

Walgreens 3/8-3/14 -- *Dorm Necessities*

Coca Cola 12-pk (sale) 4/$13

- 2 MyCokeRewards B1G1 MQ

- $3 RR (WYB 4)

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TOTAL: $3.50/4 12-pks!

Garnier Fructis Hair Care (sale) $2.99
- $1/1 MQ 3/8 insert

- $2/1 ESQ

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TOTAL: FREE! plus $.01 !

Crest Pro Health Toothpaste (sale) $2.49

-$.75/1 3/1 insert

-$1 RR

---------------------------
TOTAL: $.74 !

Smart Balance Deal
(2) Smart Balance Buttery Spreads B1G1 $2.99
(1) Smart Balance Milk (check your local Wag) $2.99 (aprox.)

- $1/2 2/1 RP insert

-B1 SB Buttery Spread G1 SB Milk
---------------------------
TOTAL: $1.99 for 2 Buttery Spreads and Milk!

To be continued!.... :-)

It's been a while!

Hey there! I know it's been a while, but in the last two weeks my fiancee's grandaddy passed away and the memorial service was held in his honor. He was almost 90 and lived a very respectful life; and a frugal one at that. We haven't really had to buy much in the last few weeks, because family and friends have been gathering and grocery shopping has not been an absolute necessity. Family and friends are always great ways to have free and invaluable fun, share time, memories and food!, and thus save! We have been so lucky to have great bonds with those we are close to. So today's frugal tip is instead of going to a restaurant or to the movies this week, try to re-connect with friends and family. After all, memories and laughter are the few FREE pleasures we can all share with anyone! :-)

Pillsbury Giveaway! Yummy!

Savin' It Up is offering 5 free $1.25/1 Qs! SIU will randomly choose 2 winners on Friday, Feb 27. at 8PM CT. So far there is only one person signed up! Just follow the easy instructions and have a high chance of winning! The coupons are for Pillsbury's new Grands! Freezer Cinnamon Rolls. Sign up for the chance to satisfy your sweettooth, free!

Hooray! 1 Day!

Well, it's officially been 24 hours since I started this blog (yay!), and I am already getting ideas about ways to deviate from the "norms" of the blogging world. I am thinking about starting links wholly dedicated to each week's grocery coupons and match-ups. Unfortunately, I will have to limit my posts to local grocers (as I don't have the time or the resources to list stores outside of my area). For those of you who don't know, I am in the Jacksonville, FL area. For groceries, I will focus mainly on Publix, Win-Dixie, Food Lion, Target and Harris Teeter. Check back for future posts where I will expand on each grocer and explain how to make their systems fit your needs!

Chik-Fil-A Freebie!

Today, with any purchase at Chick-Fil-A receive a coupon for a free chicken biscuit with your next visit (no purchase necessary)!

Red Plum Update!

As many of you know, the Sunday paper is a great way to find some of the best coupons! But, there have been some changes to the ever popular Red Plum insert that will surely challenge many of us. They have decided to discontinue their coupon inserts in newspapers in some major US cities. Go here or here to read more about Red Plum's decision to discontinue and if your city will be affected by the change.

CVS 101

Those of you unknowing of the potential savings that CVS can bring your wallet need to read on! CVS is one of the two drug stores (Walgreens being the other) that can help you achieve a lower budget and even make a few bucks from time to time! Just go here and let MoneySavingMom.com show you the ropes! Check back here for unique coupon match-ups, flavorful ways to spice up the dinner table without breaking the bank, and more interesting ways to stay within a budget, Livingston Style!