Bargain!!

I am frugal, maybe even cheap. Part of this is because we are just starting out in life and there is not much, if any, disposable income. But to be honest, I think it might be genetic. My Grandpa and Grandma E (my mom's parents) are notoriously frugal. Because they have been frugal, worked hard and invested wisely they have plenty of money. Despite the fact that they now can afford an extremely comfortable life, they are still incredibly careful with their money. I guess habits are hard to break!
My mother inherited that frugality and it served her well since she was a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother of 6. My parents eventually put my two sisters through private high school (I only lasted there a year) and are now putting my youngest brother through the same private high school. Although I do not know how my parents did it, especially now being a mom of only one child, they did and I think a lot of it was due to my mom's ingenuity and frugality (and also my dad's incredibly hard work!!).
So, as you can see, being frugal is as much a part of me as my blood. Sometimes Nic and I talk about if we had gobs of money and all of the things we would do with it and all the places we would go, and then part way through the conversation he says "ya, but even if we had money you still wouldn't be able to spend it." and he is right. I have a really hard time spending over $5 for anything, furniture and clothing included. As I have mentioned before, most of the belongings we have are either second-hand items we have gotten cheaply or things that people have graciously given us. Most of my clothing and Remy's (Nic had so many clothing items when we first got married that I have not had to buy him hardly anything in the two and a half years we have been married) is either second-hand (garage sales and Plato's Closet), given to us (my sister), or from the sale rack at Target.
I think you get the point that I'm cheap so I'm going to move on and tell you the real reason for this post.

Nic drinks Mountain Dew a lot. 2 cans a day, which can add up to a pretty penny (and yes I have tried to convince him that water is not only tasty, but good for him too, no luck). Walgreens has been having a sale on Pepsi products, buy 5 twelve packs for $12 and there were coupons on the boxes to get $1 off if you bought 2 twelve packs, combined with my discount I got 5 twelve packs of Mountain Dew for $8.20!!! Thats like an entire months worth of Mountain Dew.

To cap it off; yesterday I went garage saleing, rather half heartedly since I get annoyed searching for good deals when people usually have junk for sale, but Remy was cranky and needed to get out of the house. I stopped at a sale out on the edge of town and they had a ton of stuff. As I walked up to the house I saw a rug rolled up and glanced at it, it was a neutral color and we really need rugs. The only room in our house with carpet is our bedroom. We have a smallish rug in Remy's room but the main floor is devoid of rugs and poor Remy hits the floor so hard when he falls! I have been searching and searching for rugs, but since I can't spend more than $5 of anything I can't find anything on clearance that works for me.
Anyways, the rug didn't have a price so I asked the lady how much she wanted and she said $3! PERFECT!
On the drive home I started worrying that it was stained (since it had been rolled up I couldn't see) or had a snag or something, why else would she get rid of it so cheap? But I got home and opened it up and it is in perfect condition!! What a blessing!

Here it is, along with the unfinished hem of the couch I need to staple up, random computer cords and Remy about to grab the candle. My only complaint is that it has a geometric pattern and where the coffee table sits is not the center of the pattern, making it seem a little off. But, who am I to complain? I got it for $3!!