I normally don't stop at Eckerd (or Walmart or CVS) because I find I always end up buying more than I really need, and if I wait for a sale at the supermarket, I can usually pick up things for the same price. But that may change. On Friday, our friend asked us to stop by a drug store and pick up some Zantac for him. The Eckerd was the most convenient, so I ran in. As I was checking out, I noticed a sign on the credit card scanner that stated that JCPenney gift cards are accepted for payment. This surprised me, so I asked the clerk and he confirmed it. (They don't sell JCP cards there, but they will accept them for payment). I have the ability to purchase JCP gift cards at 20% off through Main Street Savings, so this seems like it may present a good opportunity for me, especially if I combine items that are on rebate, have coupons, etc. I'll be looking into that going forward.

Other savings news from the weekend: I got my gas bill, after an actual meter reading last Tuesday. I'm on budget billing, and had been in a deficit position of about $500 through July. My balance month is in November, so I'm really hoping the deficit goes away by then, given that I'm not using a lot of heat now, and am going to try my darndest to leave it off as long as possible. Anyway, the deficit on the August bill is now down to $300 and change. There's still hope!

But the weekend wasn't all frugal. We all decided to go out to dinner on Friday night. My preference is to eat in...we're pretty decent cooks and I like the ability to sit around without feeling rushed, having to drive, etc. But I'm also not usually the spoil sport in the crowd, so I went along. It ended up being about $120 for the 4 of us, which seemed worse because it was unexpected. I think I'll be able to make up for this in my allowance, as I've only been taking $20 or so instead of the $60 I budget. At least we had a good time.

Then today, I had a BBQ at my house. My brother/sil were dropping their daughter off at college 15 minutes from my house. They came over after that, along with two of my sisters. I bought a bunch of food thinking that I was going to be feeding all of these people, but one of my sisters brought over a HUGE antipasto and we were so full we barely touched my food. Much of it I could freeze, so no waste. But I'm going to my other sister's tomorrow for a BBQ (so won't be eating home) and I still have 2 dozen clams, 2 pounds of shrimp, 1 pound of potato salad, and 14 ears of corn leftover. I read somewhere on this site that you can freeze corn. I've never done it, but it's so fresh and good this time of year it's worth a try, and I'm thinking of making a chowder out of the clams. But I can't freeze the shrimp (already been frozen) or the potato salad. I guess they'll be lunch tomorrow/Tuesday.

So that's the scoop. Tomorrow will be sleeping late (hooray), getting ready for school, and hitting the BBQ. I need to stop at the grocery store tomorrow to pick up a few things I forgot today (made a list in a hurry), so I'll post totals for both tomorrow...