CVS -ing

I have not done much shopping at CVS for a very long time.  The deals just have not been nearly as nice as at Walgreens.  Today, I did alright.  I had a $4.00 ECB that would expire in 4 days, so I was glad to find a deal for it.  Counting that ECB, some nice manufacturer coupons, and a $4.00 off of $20.00 CVS coupon, I spent a total of $6.04 for everything in the picture and left the store with another $5.49 in Extra Care Bucks!   I was especially happy to get the deal on the fish oil, because I use it every day.  That was my first transaction , and thanks to coupons and a B1G1 sale,  my total came to a minus .96!   I bought the travel kit (clearance item) to bring it back up! 

My stockpile is so full right now, and I am really cherry picking my deals.  I am mostly concentrating on what we need, but will stock up on what we like at great prices. 

Swag Bucks

Okay, 

I have not really gone "commercial" on this blog, but I just want to share something I recently discovered.  Swag Bucks.  They are "digital" dollars that you earn from doing nothing more than normal, everyday, on-line searches.  Like going to Google and searching for whatever.  Only now, I go through Swag Bucks and earn while I search.  I just joined last weekend and am already up to 24 bucks.  I will trade these in for a $5.00 Amazon gift card when I hit 45 , all without spending a penny! 

If you refer people then you earn even faster, because you earn when they earn!  So, this is my shameless plug.  Click on the banner on the side of my blog and check it out.  If you are going to search, you might as well earn something! 

I get my snow day!

Our district announced earlier this evening that there is no school tomorrow!  Thank you for announcing early!  Husband and I just watched a movie, and will sleep in tomorrow. (His day off)

I love bonus days!

If you have to get out, you might as well shop!

Well, since they made me go to school today, I guess it wasn't that hard to get out to Walgreens. 
Plus, Walgreens has had a bunch of deals this week.  

I did not take a picture of it, but last night I purchased 4  -24 packs of Aquafina Water.  I spent just under $16.00, but got back $10.00 in Register Rewards.  Today, I took that RR, and some sweet coupons and took out my stress over not having a snow day, and went shopping.   I purchased all of this loot for $3.42 out of pocket.  I then earned back another $10.00 in Register Rewards for later.  

The Ester C was BOGO this week, plus I had 2 $5.00 coupons.  Husband uses this EVERY day.   The beef broth was clearanced to .34 cents a can, and I use a lot of this in the winter.  I was out, so I was glad to see it!  It expires in 2012.  The cookies and crackers were all free after coupons and RRs.  I made money on the Neosporin Lip products, and the Jergen's Lotion ended up being .29 cents after coupons and RRs.  

I used about $24.00 in coupons plus the Register Reward. 

No Snow Day, Poor Me.

I Want a Snow Day

I know, I know.  I just had two weeks off.  Snow days are just precious to me though.  They are like little vacations from God.  I love the unexpected day off to putter around my house.  I love the fact that I got a lot of cleaning done during my last week off, and I could actually enjoy a day off tomorrow.  

Come on snow, bring all your friends, and come quickly.  There is a crucial timing for these events.  We need a lot of snow before 5:30 AM.   Shall I cross my fingers?

Stock Up Shopping

(You can click on the picture for a close-up)
After school today I hit Wal-Mart,  Menards and Walgreens.  Thanks to price matching, coupons, and rebates, I got everything pictured for $63.79.   I used exactly $75.00 in coupons!  I love it when I save more than I spend!

I am very well stocked up now on my dishwashing tablets, detergent, and toothbrushes.  Believe it or not, I was getting low on toothbrushes.  

Here is a breakdown of the loot by store:

Wal-Mart:

• 7 packages of Quantum dishwasher tablets (my favorite) priced matched to Target's ad, and used $2.50 coupons (.99 cents each)
  
• 6 bottles of All, I made a mistake there, I didn't know this was a CVS "card" price.  I thought it was just a sale price.  They did not want to put it back, and price matched it anyway.  Used $2.00 coupons ($1.99 each)
• 5 Healthy Choice meals, $1.89 each, used $5.00 off of 5 coupons , so .89 cents each
• 2 I Can't Believe it's not Butter, used $1.00 coupons
• Velveeta, used a $1.00 coupon
• Husband's prescription
• Miracle Whip
• Tabasco 
• Caesar dressing
• Constant Comment Tea
• A deli pizza for supper (some things you just buy with no coupons because you want them...) 

Menards:

I took advantage of a rebate here to buy some additional things we need / want

• 2 bags chips
• 2 containers Fritos Cheese Sauce (great on potatoes)
• parmesan cheese
• 2 bags of marked down Snickers

Walgreens:

• 4 double packs of Reach toothbrushes 
• 2 single Reach toothbrushes (all toothbrushes ended up free after coupons) 
• 2 packages of Nepsporin Lip Health

I spent $3.62 at Walgreens and then received a $3.00 Register Reward for the Neosporin! 

I had not been doing much coupon shopping lately.  Felt good to feel the rush again! 

I am tracking my spending this year, and my coupon savings.  I will probably give a monthly report. 

Merry Christmas / Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know, I am a bit late with those greetings.  

Can I fall back on my old excuse that things have been busy here?

In all honesty, things have been busy.  I am so glad I have had the last 2 weeks off of school, because I have been needed.  Husband's folks have both been having health issues lately.  Since I have been off work, I have been able to help some with laundry, dishes, cooking, appointments, shopping, un-decorating,  and other necessary tasks.  My first week off was the busiest.  Things have settled down a bit now, and for the last few days, I have been able to focus on some much needed tasks at home.  

I must say that my boys are wonderful!  

There is no way I could accomplish so many things without them. 

 Each has been a huge help.  

Youngest has helped with the following since Tuesday:

• Took down the tree and all the trimmings
  
• Re-arranged 3 rooms of furniture.  They look so nice now.  Remember when I bought the used furniture for our spare bedroom?  Well, it was too nice to never be seen, so it is now in my sun-room. (Picture at end of post). 
• Helped with a massive amount of paperwork that needed sorted and  filed, and then  burnt the paperwork that was discarded (we do not have a shredder, but we do have a wood-burner in the garage)
• Completely emptied 3 big shelves in my hall built-in cabinets that desperately needed sorted, and organized.  He then helped to put what we kept back inside. 
• Emptied my buffet storage, helped to pitch, sort, and organize the contents. 
• Put together a small storage unit that now houses all of my coupon files and supplies.  (I will take a picture of that soon.  It is in our spare bedroom along with our old love seat from the sun-room, and my treadmill.) 
• Helped hang 11 new mini blinds! (Ours are getting brittle, they are 10 years old, so I replaced all 8 in the sun-room, and replaced 3 in the living room.  More to come)  

Oldest helped in these ways:

• Came home on New Year's Eve so he could help out
• New Year's Day he went through a lot of his old belongings in the basement and pitched out about 3 boxes of  unwanted items.
• Did a few loads of my laundry
• Completely emptied my stand alone pantry cabinet,  washed it out, and helped me pitch a few things, and organize the rest
• Emptied my lazy susan cabinet, washed it down, and helped me replace what was kept
• Made pancakes for breakfast today!
• Did my grocery shopping!

Am I spoiled or what?   I tell you, they are good boys! 

 I accomplished a few things on my own as well this week:

• Organized my vanity area, and re-purposed a cabinet that I had to use beside the vanity to hold extra nail polish, and other girly items
• Organized my pots and pans cabinet
• Organized my coupon filing system
• Walked on my treadmill and have read my Bible two days in a row! 

I will not quite go as far as to say I am ready for school on Monday, but with all of these things done, I am much closer to being ready than I was!

My cat is so funny.  She loves the radiators so much, that she cannot even lay completely on her bed, she sort of slides to the end so she is directly on the radiator. 

My sun-room is decorated very frugally.  The furniture was all purchased second hand from a friend of our sons, and the TV and cabinet were purchased second hand from my sister!   Works for me. 

Cereal News

Most of you remember how much my husband loves his cereal.  Well, I have received great news!  

A few weeks ago General Mills announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.

Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children´s diets. 

Other cereal benefits:

• Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.


• Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child´s diet today.


• More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office. 

Now, why am I posting all of this cereal information?  This information has been provided to me by General MIlls through MyBlogSpark and they have graciously offered my family coupons to try these cereals for ourselves!  I received 4 VIP coupons to try our favorites for free!   I am excited!

Such a busy time

I have had a great weekend, but these days are certainly busy. On Friday husband and I went Christmas shopping. Now, I have done a lot of shopping, and much was done last summer. However, this is the first time that husband has really gone with me. We scratched off a few more names from the list and we are getting close.  On Saturday I traveled with a friend to another town for a bridal shower for her future daughter in law.  That was a very fun day. What did I do today?  Not much. We ate a simple lunch at home after church and I made two trips to Walgreens.  Funny thing is that I had just told husband last week that I was not buying anymore cereal until I got a deal.  He loves his cereal as I have explained quite a few times on this blog.  I just cannot believe that I used to actually pay about $4.00 a box back in the old days.  Now I will not pay more than $1.00 because I know if I wait, I will get a deal. The deal is here! Husband can rest assured that his cereal stash is protected from dwindling.  

Walgreens has cereal $1.99 a box, which for some is a good deal, but not good enough for me.  Thank you Target for posting a manufacturer's coupon on your site which gave me an additional $5.00 off of 4 boxes!  That made my cereal only .74 cents a box!   Better than I had hoped.  Everything in the picture below came to $9.37.  I also earned a $5.00 register reward from the Triaminic to use later. 

The above picture shows:

• 8 boxes of cereal
• 2 boxes of Kleenex
• 2 boxes of Triaminic Thin Strips ( I made money on these)
• 4 packages of Chinet
• 1 gallon of milk

All for  $9.37!   

You can copy my deals, I found all of them at Common Sense With Money.  (check my sidebar) 

Other than "robbing" Walgreens, as husband puts it. I took a nap and watched a movie with hubby this evening.  

A restful end to a busy weekend. 

Thanksgiving 2009

It is just after 8:00 am as I type this.  My family, dog, and cat are all sleeping peacefully.  The house is quiet.  Soon we will all be awake, eating our canned cinnamon rolls (family tradition from way back) and awaiting the feast.  I will put together my broccoli-rice casserole, and we will prepare to fry the turkeys.  Somewhere, though in all of this preparation, we must remember the reason for this day.

Giving thanks.  

I do not have to think long to realize what I am thankful for.  I am thankful for my God, His son Jesus, and His Spirit.  What a wonderful trio to have on your side. I cannot imagine my life without them.  I am thankful for my family, both immediate and extended.  I think that many of us would say that. I am thankful for my health.  Very thankful. 

Please take a few minutes this year, and seriously give thanks. 

This post is short, but I wanted to at least remind myself to give thanks. 

Weekend Wrap Up

This has been a pretty good weekend. Believe it or not, it did not involve shopping!  On Friday husband took me to the spine clinic to be evaluated by a specialist.  She agreed that my SI joint is more than likely the source of my problems, although she did look at my X-rays and say, "That's arthritis, that's arthritis, that's arthritis, and that's arthritis."   Gettin' old, I tell ya.  

She gave me an arsenal of drugs to get me through until about 3 weeks from now when I will get an injection in the joint.  One drug was a muscle relaxer.  It relaxed me alright, I went to bed at about 10:00 Friday evening and did not wake up until 10:30 Saturday morning! 

Friday evening husband and I spent a quiet night at home eating leftovers and watching a movie.

On Saturday, after I finally got up, I spent the morning piddling around my house doing odd jobs and catching up on some paperwork.  Saturday evening we took husband's folks along as we went to pick up our youngest.  He was visiting our oldest.  Youngest will be home for a week-long break from school.  We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel before returning home. 

Sunday after church we rested a bit, then took husband's parents to another town for a family get together.  It was nice seeing this side of husband's family.   

We had a pretty full week-end, and I am getting anxious now for Thursday to spend time with even more family.  

Life is good,

Kudos to Target and Kohl's

Good customer service will mean a lot this holiday season.  Let me give shout outs to both Target and Kohl's!  

Husband and I had a quick date night tonight and took advantage of a quick trip out to eat and to two of my favorite stores. We made such great time and were back home by 7:15!  Plus, the deals were sweet!

Target:  

I purchased everything in the picture for just $16.53.  Without coupons, and using just Target's sale prices,  I would have paid $37.49.  Because of being able to stack Target coupons with manufacturer coupons, I was able to get the Del Monte vegetables for just .20 per can. The fruit came in at .57 per can, but would have cost .95 each.  The Reynold's Wrap cost just $1.00 each due the sale price and manufacturer's coupons. The Ritz Crackers were just .50 per box, thanks to both Target and Manufacturer's coupons.  The Pledge Fabric Sweeper was free with a free item coupon.  The cheese was on sale and I used one of the $1.50 off of 2 lbs of any brand cheese coupons. 

Now, this is why I am impressed with Target. 

On our way home I realized that the cashier accidently rang up 2 Pledge Fabric Sweepers.  I called the store from my cell phone and explained the situation.  After giving the customer service girl the receipt numbers, she was able to credit back $5.00 to my debit card right then and there.  No return trip to the store for a refund!  That was quite impressive!

Now on to Kohl's--

See my nice new kitchen rugs?  I have needed new rugs for a very long time.  I have actually been hanging on to one for quite a while that our dog got hold of a long time ago.  Let me say that a rug with fringe on the ends is not good for dogs or for Dysons.   

Anyway.  

Last week I did major Christmas shopping at Kohl's.  I had received a 30% discount and I take advantage of those when I get them.  I charge what I want and then pay it off.  Because of this I also earned a lot of Kohl's Cash.  I planned on using the Kohl's Cash for new kitchen rugs.  The rugs I wanted go on sale TOMORROW.  However, the kind man at customer service let me have the sale price tonight!  After the sale price,  I had an additional 15% off due to my "pick a day", and then I used my Kohl's Cash.  I was able to purchase rugs that would have cost $140.00  for a total of $11.85!   Now, I am sure I would not have ever paid $140.00 for these rugs.  But I would have probably been willing to pay  more than $11.85.   (click on receipt to enlarge) 

So, there you have it.  Two really good experiences at two of my favorite stores, plus our night out turned out to be a very frugal one! 

(I just noticed that if Kohl's had given me my 15% discount BEFORE using my Kohl's Cash, that my balance would have been much less.  I am not going to complain though.  I still only paid $11.85.)

House Party Rocks!

Remember the free chocolate delivered to my door?  That was courtesy of House Party, a word-of-mouth group that sends merchandise for you to share with your friends or tell them about.  Well, I hit the gold mine again, because I just found out I have been selected to host a Rowenta Project Style House Party.  While I will not be able to hand out Rowenta irons, I do get a FREE Rowenta Pressure Iron and Steamer!  I am really excited about this.  I do get some cool freebies for my friends and I will be letting them in on my plan soon.  The premise of this party is really cool.  You are to get your friends together, each are to bring 2-3 articles of clothing that they do not want and you then press and share!  Sounds fun to me, and I have tons of clothes that I am not wearing.    

If you have not joined House Party, then you need to soon.  My first few events were pretty simple, but since then I have been able to get some great things! 

I Smell Christmas...

Ahhh, I love me a bargain. 

Today I hit (husband says, "Robbed") Walgreens.  Thanks to making money there last week (Lubriderm and Almay) I had a  very nice stash of Register Rewards.   Between those, manufacturer's coupons, and store coupons, I was able to snag all of this for only $5.12 out of our pocket.  Without any deals, this would have cost $67.68.   Now, that is a high price compared to Wal-Mart, but the deals were not at Wal-Mart.  I still have $23.00 in Register Rewards in my purse. 

If it wasn't so pretty out today I would go bake something. 

Pain of the Month Club

I would like to officially welcome you to The Pain of the Month Club!  Membership is free, all you have to do is be over 50 years old and seriously out of shape.  You may NOT cancel at any time.  Well you could, but if you cancel this membership, then  ALL of your benefits will expire. (and I do mean EXPIRE)  So, once you join, you are in for life and you might as well get used to it!  

You will love this club, because everyday is a new adventure.  A different body part quits working, hurts, or rebels every day.  At times you get the satisfaction of a prolonged visit of a certain ailment, but for the most part your misery is made new every day. 

You will meet friends you once only dreamed of and you will really get the "gist" of it when you get to know them. Yeah, I do mean the "gist" of it :  cardioloGIST,  endocrinoloGIST, gastroenteroloGIST, and many more new friends. 

 Then,  if you are really lucky you get to know physical therapists.  Otherwise known as physical TERRORISTS!   They are meant to do good, but I think they forgot about that oath that says, "First, do no harm."   

So, if you are not a sissy, and can take it, welcome to my club!

Day 2 on the treadmill

I am on a roll!  If you can call 2 days "a roll".  I made it for another 30 minutes tonight and upped my speed to 3 mph.  

I will "blog" again soon, but tonight is pretty full.

A Date with the Treamill

I am happy to report tonight that the treadmill and I had a sweet reunion.  After dusting it off (literally) I managed to walk a full 20 minutes .  Now, I realize I was only going 2.7 mph, but it has been a while.  At least I did not fly off the back again.  My sister and I are holding each other accountable in making a few wise choices. I feel pretty good.

Look at This!

I wish I could take credit for this amazing idea, but it came from my friend Reta.  This is a mega pill organizer and it is filled with my earrings!  All neat and tidy in their own little home. They are ready to pack in a suitcase if I choose, or just ready for my daily selection.  I love it.  I used some soon to expire Extra Care Bucks at CVS and there you go!

Shopping Marathon

The last few days have been good for our budget, but I am TIRED !  The deals have taken me to Walgreens, WalMart, CVS,  SAMS, Target and Meijer.  I have enough free air fresheners, free Chex Mix, and very inexpensive Bird's Eye Steam Fresh Meals to last quite a while.  (or "more inexpensiver" as our waitress from Smokey Bones would say) I have spent a lot this week in my standards.  About $100.00.  Now, to some of you that is a normal week, but I am used to only spending about $30.00 for Hubby and myself each week.   I have not spent $100.00 in one week for about 2 years!  This week however, I opted to spend more so that I could take advantage of some fantastic deals.    $40.00 out of that was at SAMS to purchase a few bulk items.   Funny, I used to go to SAMS and could easily spend $200.00, now I only buy a few items there because of better deals elsewhere.  I am thinking about not renewing in the future.  

One example of what was saved today: my WalMart receipt  alone went from $96.18 before coupons, to $44.30 afterwards. 

Now, a few of those stores are not in my town, and I do not travel 35 miles for Chex Mix.  However, since we traveled last night to see our boys and celebrate my birthday with them, I took advantage of a shopping trip to Target.  My sister visited today and wanted to go shopping in the "big" city, so we traveled the 35 miles, but made the very most of it with many many coupons spread out over 3 stores  and a free lunch thanks to her Coke Rewards.  That makes the trip profitable. 

There was WAY too much to even consider taking a picture, but this week alone I have purchased the following, plus a ton of other things. 

•  12 Steam Fresh Meals at $1.74 each (these normally cost $4.98 each at WalMart--having the right coupons sure helps)
  
• 32 bags of Chex Mix at Target- price matching the Walgreens ad price, plus using a Target Coupon and a manufactures' coupon on each made most of them free, and some only 25 cents.  I have already given about half of those away, to my son, sister,  and  some set aside for hubby's parents. 
• 8 Air Wick Fresh-Matic  air freshener systems, $6.00 rollback at WalMart - used 8 -$6.00 coupons, so all I paid was tax
• 8 packages of 9 roll Northern packages at Walgreens that came to $2.99 each after my coupons, but cost nothing due to Register Rewards from previous purchases (that should last a while.)  This comes in way under SAMS price for TP, and since I paid with register rewards, it is even sweeter. 
• I lost track of the Glade Sense and Spray and Lasting Impression Air Freshener kits at CVS.  Between CVS coupons from their web site, and my coupons, I got about 12 of these for free. 

Those are just the highlights,   I also got 4 Progresso Soups for 50 cents a can at WalMart,  6 free deodorants and 6 free shampoos at Walgreens. and lots and lots more.  

I regret not keeping exact totals, but this was by far one of my best weeks ever.  

Now, looking ahead at the deals for next week. they look pretty slim.  I actually am glad.  I will focus on other things next week and enjoy the bounty.   I will only need to buy milk for the next few next weeks , so it will definitely balance out. 

I am just so humbled and blessed at what God provides.