Buying on the Cheap by Rolynn Anderson

Even if I don’t have to be, I remain the daughter of parents brought up during the depression…a bargain hunter, through and through.  

Watch me as I drive from one plant nursery to yet another, pricing aloe and yuccas; listen to me as I speak on the phone to palm tree purveyors, asking, “If I buy three palms will you ship for free?” Look over my shoulder as I search for coupons and Easter bargains before I buy a chair on Overstock. I lie in wait for the 20% off Saturday special at Ace Hardware, to buy palm fertilizer, potting soil and bird food.

Slate for our walkway was the best deal at Home Depot; we found a fabulous price for 18’ by 3’ pavers locally; Santa Barbara boulders are only 16 cents a pound; 3/8 inch rock is best bought from Central Coast Products.

I found out what a neighbor paid for his rip-out-the-grass landscape project. I said: “Game on! I can do it for half that price.” (I feel encouraging pats on my back from my long-gone parents)  Here's a pic of our landscape redo to this point, taken from the front door. The slate and pavers have been placed...the edging, plants, rocks and lighting still to come:

You see how competitive and eager I am to take on the challenge. You also see how much time and effort this project will require. Yes, it verges an obsession.

I would have thought that over time, I could let go of the struggle to buy the best quality product at the lowest price.  Not happening.

How about for you? Are you paying full price on stuff these days? And if you aren’t, what’s the best bargain you’ve struck lately? We may want to get in on it J

The first book in my series comes at the low, low price of $2.99.  FADEOUT: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1612173616

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Homey Suspense: What do you Collect? by Rolynn Anderson

On this day, April 1st, I'm talking about foolish things we do.  Never planned on it.  Did it anyway.  Me: Bottle Stoppers.

Stop with the stoppers, I say.  Yup, I have a collection of wine stoppers and I’ve decided 30 is enough.  Cost and space factors were the main considerations when I began collecting wine stoppers.  I like buying pretty things that remind me of the places I travel, but without much room in either the expense account or the suitcase, little souvenirs made sense.  (Full disclosure, one of my purchases broke the bank at $45, and of course, I had to go searching for a way to display the things, and those plastic gizmos cost a fortune.)  It helps that I like wine and the display of my glitzy corks brightened up the bar.  Not so smart was how BIG some of the corks are, too tall on the bottle to stand up in the refrigerator or too heavy to balance on top of the container.

I’m presenting you some pictures of my collection.  Now I want to know what you collect; how it started and if you’ve been able to ‘manage’ it without too much angst.  Or Foolishness.  For those of you who have the non-collecting gene, we want to hear your story, too, even if we won’t be able to understand it.

Those series we write are also ‘collections,’ not always easy to manage.  Here’s my boutique funeral planner threesome:

Boutique funeral planners morph into a quirky detective agency, exposing secrets of the dead.  The heroine, with a fainting disorder, has prescient faint dreams; the hero is a muck-raking journalist.  Add: blind forensic investigator, embalmer, retired Army general, and a service dog.

FADEOUT  http://amzn.com/B00YWE3Z2U     
SWOON  http://amzn.com/B00A1P6P3U     FAINT  http://amzn.com/B0180LJBRI

http://www.amazon.com/author/rolynnanderson