Mary Jo Rulnick’s Fast Track Woman Blog

Unfortunately, the Old Man Winter has hit the ‘burgh.  Like many people this year, I’m trying to keep in mind the higher costs of heating our home and the other utilities for our home.  Although every winter I say I’m going to do something, I’m definitely not handy with any type of tool, this year I’ve taken the first step.

First, I’m tackling the electric bill. With cutting utility costs on my mind, I’ve noticed how many lights I have to turn on to do little things such as, letting the dog out.  Because of the layout of our home, I turn on five to six different lights before I hit the back door to the back yard.  It seems crazy.  Crazy that I need so many lights on  to keep my toes safe and crazy because I’ve never really noticed how many lights I turn on for every outside trip the dog need. For several years, I’ve read about changing light bulbs but never did so.  Now, this is definitely an easy task that I could handle all by myself, well, except for the floodlights in the front of the house. 

At Sam’s Club, I bought motion light bulbs that use 23 watts, and bulbs for the ceiling fans that only use 7 watts.  At Aldi’s, I purchased bulbs of 100 using 23 and 60 using 13 watts. These stores had the lowest prices so far, ranging $2 to $6 per bulb.  Be sure to look for packages that have the Energy Star logo on them.)   I’m slowly replacing the bulbs throughout the house each week. I’ve started with the ones that get turned on the most and working my way down to the ones used the least.  

To get more information about the light bulbs, check out this site: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls

Each time I take out an old high energy bulb and replace it with an Energy Saver one, I feel really great about not only cutting costs, but about conserving energy.  I’m going to keep an eye on the kilowatts used each month, noting I started the change in Nov. to see how much I actually save.  I’ll keep you posted.

As the winter holidays are approaching, we’re creating our gift lists and figuring out our budgets.  Sometimes our gift list includes long-distance relatives or hard-to-buy people.  With the vast array of gift cards available, it’s so darn easy to head to our local mall, purchase a gift card or two and slip it in a card.   And with our local supermarkets offering double gas discounts, that’s even more of an incentive to buy gift cards.

Yes, I find myself scooping up these gift cards, too.  However, we might want to be careful about the gift cards we buy.  Or else, we can find ourselves throwing our money away.

Unfortunately, with our current economy, some of our favorite chain and department stores are closing some of their doors.   Today, I opened my inbox to find a message from an inside source warning, “Use your gift certificates immediately.”  She continued that she would be out of a job at a well-known store due to the store closing. 

Over the past few years, I’ve purchased numerous gift cards for stocking stuffers.  The amounts are not usually large and it’s fun to see how much more the kids can get with their gift cards with the after-holiday clearance.

However, twice I’ve been burnt because stores have gone out of business before my kids used their gift cards. So I’ll be a little more careful about buying and giving gift cards this year.  Before I purchase any gift cards, I’ll do a quick Google search to see if there’s any “talk” about possible closings.  Although this isn’t a guarantee, the search might give me a bit of a forewarning. 

A Cheaper Version of the Camisole Top

The little cami top I wear under several garments always seemed to bunch up at the waist.  The elastic at the bottom wasn’t strong enough to keep the edge from rolling upwards.  So one day I decided to chop off the bottom of it to prevent that from happening. Well, it worked…more or less. The problem was I needed a longer cami or tank top to go underneath a few low-cut tops and sweaters.  My tank tops had seen better days.   And now that we’ve hit the fall season tank tops are a scarce commodity. 

In desperate need of something thin to go under an eggplant-colored top, I came across an A-shirt, aka wife beater—though I don’t like this term, of my sons.  Aha.  I pulled off my top, pulled on the white t-shirt, yanked on the long-sleeve top again.  Perfect.   The white tee formed to my body.  It didn’t bunch up nor did it look bulky underneath.  Best of all, when I bought a package of these A-shirts, each one was just around $3.00 each.  This is a cheap and easy way to extend your wardrobe and perfect for the wallet.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like this year has zipped by faster than a high speed roller coaster.  At least with the actual roller coaster ride we have a chance to get off when it stops.  And we have the option to ride again or move to something that is a bit slower.  Unfortunately, at this time of the year, real life seems like a broken roller coaster that keeps speeding along the track without a stop in sight. 

Keeping that in mind, we really need to move our holiday gift-giving season into high speed.  With today’s economy the way it is, that might not be a pleasant thing for us to think about. However, there are bargains, to be discovered, which will really help keep some money in our wallets. And that is today’s topic and courtesy of my friend Andrea and given to her by one of her friends.

If you have women on your gift list, check out the bargains at www.eyeslipsface.com.    You’ll find Elf cosmetics, which has been featured in magazines like Oprah and Glamour, for $1.00. Yes, a buck!  You can actually find great items for just about every female (well, above the age of tweens) on your gift list.  You’ll find everything from lip balm to brushes for just a dollar.  And ladies, this isn’t your dollar store item.  With a $20 order, you’ll receive a free yearly subscription to Glamour magazine and at $75. shipping is free. Now, $75 might be more than you want to spend, but combine your order with a friend or two to get free shipping.

These items might be cheap. However, they’re a fabulous quality and great for stocking stuffers or creating a “pampering” pouch for the gals on your list.  If you’re wondering why they’re at rock bottom prices, the company was just bought out by Norstroms so I’ve been told. Now, don’t forget to buy something fun for yourself. After all, you deserve it.

On Saturday, I was trying to fit in some errands before I had to be on site for the wedding I was coordinating.  Of course, I had more errands than I had time.  I’m sure you know that feeling.  I had stuff to pick up at my friend Linda’s house.  The plan was for me to call her when I pulled up outside her house and she would run it out to me.  As I pulled onto her street, I grabbed my new cell phone that I haven’t had time to figure out anything other than how to add a name to the contact list and dial. I tried unlocking the phone to make the call. Nothing.  It was stuck on some weird page that I hadn’t seen before.  I tried clearing it.  Zip.  I tried turning it off.  Nothing happened. 

Frustrated, I climbed out of the car and ran to Linda’s house all the time trying to do something with the phone.  When Linda answered her door, I explained the frozen phone.  She handed it to her husband.  Gary pulled the battery out, replaced it and turned the phone on.  It worked magically.  Gary laughed at my astounded face.  I would’ve gone the entire day with a frozen phone.  I should’ve realized that.  Anyway, Gary mentioned that anytime something happens with a phone to take out the battery and it resets itself.  He stated to do that with a computer, too. Then, he went on to say that if I ever splashed water on my cell phone or computer to take out the battery and let the device dry.  “Never, never turn on the phone or laptop until you dry it out,” he said.

This tip reminded me of another tidbit I had received while working in the concession stand at a high school basketball ball.  The microwave wasn’t working.  Ed, one of the other volunteers, told me to pull out the plug on the appliance, wait a minute, then plug it back in again.  It worked.  For some reason, unplugging and re-plugging the appliance resets whatever needs resetting to work again.  Don’t ask me what it is—I just know it works. 

Now, if we only had a way to unplug and re-plug our bodies. J

Yesterday as I pulled into my driveway, I was in awe of the vibrant purple flowers blooming in my flower bed.  The large green bush seemed like it came alive with color overnight.  Before I headed into the house, I had taken a long look at the bed.  Several of the fall mums had pink and lavender flowers.  Another bush looked like it would bloom in the next week or so.  And the white vincas from summer were still going strong.  I couldn’t tell you the name of several of the other things planted, but I can definitely say they’re vibrant and beautiful.  There are two or three spots that are a bit empty and need to be filled in. 

Most of the plants in this flower bed were purchased at the end of the season.  I remember when I pulled them out of the trunk of my car my family looked at me.  “Why would you buy dead plants,” my son asked.  I laughed.  They didn’t look like much then, but my $10 went a long way last September and November when the garden center was trying to dump the summer and fall leftovers. 

Now that we’re in September, this is a good time to check your local garden centers, home improvement stores and super stores for super cheap perennials. Sure these plants might look very wilted and raggedy right now.  And your family could look at you like you were a little nutty.  However, next season those bargain basement plants will be blooming like crazy. 

As I caught some of the tennis matches during the Olympics, I chuckled as I thought about the little green ball being smacked back and forth.  Though I had played tennis once upon a time (BK, before kids) and no longer do, I still buy the fuzzy bouncing balls.  So, I started to think about all the purposes other than sports, that is.

Each school year, tennis balls are a sought-after commodity for teachers and it isn’t for the playground.  No, they’re great on the ends of the chair legs to keep the chairs from making scuff marks or screeching noise across a marble, concrete or ceramic floor.  To do so, make an X in the ball and slip it on the end of the leg.  Your child’s teacher will thank you.  If you have an elderly relative who uses a walker, a tennis ball on the bottom of the wheel-free legs will keep the walker gliding across the floor.  This keeps the walker from catching on something and possibly having Aunt Molly falling.  I learned this tip while I was an events coordinator at a major healthcare facility.  Who would have thought that a tennis ball could keep your elders safe?

The fuzzy sphere makes a great hiding place, too.  Put a slit in the ball and slip a stash of cash or your seldom-worn jewelry in there.  Now, make sure you keep this ball away from the kids.  Imagine them bouncing your money-stashed or jewelry-laden ball across the driveway and down the sewer. 

Of course, this is a great toy for woman’s furry friend Fido. 

Now this is my favorite purpose of the tennis ball.  Keep a clean one handy in the kitchen or wherever you have tile flooring.  If one of the kids or your spouse has a pair of rubber-soled shoes that makes black scuff marks (you know the kind) on your floor, rub the tennis ball back and forth over the mark until it’s gone.  Presto! It disappears! 

The next time you’re sitting down with a couple of tea or coffee, check for extras that might be included in your health insurance plan.  Many times we receive an updated health insurance package and the bundle is so large that we put it aside, thinking we’ll get back to it when we have time.  However, that thick package gets buried under other mail and whatnot.  Though it pops into our mind every so often, we never really sit down and look through it. 

Well, it could definitely be a mistake when it comes to your healthcare.  But that’s not what I’m going to talk about today as it’s there are plenty of experts out there that can discuss that in much more detail than I can.

I’m going to talk about the extras.  In the very back of the big benefits book, BBB as I’ll call it, is a healthy living rewards or similar section.  Here, you’ll find a variety of discounts and freebies.  Yes, freebies!  Free classes, free memberships, free workshops are yours for the taking. 

I have to admit, this is the first time I’ve taken advantage of such, never really looking through the BBB before.  And I don’t want to think about all of the things I’ve missed over the years.  Instead, I’m looking forward to the fun things I can get for free.  A few months ago, I received free yearly membership into an organization for women, saving myself a $30 annual fee.  The organization offers monthly classes for enriching and empowering a women’s life.  Members receive a discount for every class offered so I save even more money.  This is just one of the rewards found in the back of my BBB.

I can’t wait to see what else I can find in my BBB.  I think it’s time for a cup of tea.