I put us on a spending freeze. I did not spend any unnecessary money for the last 3 weeks. It has been rough. No building my stockpile, not a single unnecessary purchase due to some circumstances beyond my control. It has been resolved now and I hope in the next couple of days to be able to start posting my upcoming walgreens scenarios.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
My double coupon deals today
It is double coupon week at my local overpriced grocery store. I got a few things that were deals. Mostly junk food or quick meal stuff but that is sometimes a necessity.
My first trip today (for a pizza for dinner) resulted in savings of $13.80. I got
2 Toaster Strudels $1 coupon ($2 double)
Pizzeria dip'n stix 40 cent coupon
2 jack's pizzas on sale for $2.50 had 2 75 cent coupons so I paid $1 a pizza
2 boxes of pizza rolls on sale for $1.50 had 1 $1/2 coupon so I paid $1 for 2 boxes
Digornio for one pizza ($1 off coupon on sale for $2.75...OOP 75 cents)
1 gallon of milk (no coupon but on sale for $2.89)
1 bag of tidy cats cat litter (95 cents after doubled coupon)
1 bag purina cat food ($3.89 after doubled coupon)
Trip after the kids were in bed so I could actually take the time to compare prices on other stuff:
3 boxes of pizza rolls (1.80 total after coupons)
2 banquet tv dinners (.50 total after coupons. I hate these but Hubby likes them for a quick lunch when I am not here)
another bag of cat food and cat litter
1 jacks pizza ($1 after coupon)
2 boxes toaster strudel
2 cans disney soup (1 Dora 1 princesses 40 cent coupon that was doubled. I normally don't buy this but whatever it takes to get K to eat for hubby when I am at work)
My total after coupons was $14.32 I saved $13.
My favorite deal of the day comes from walgreens though...
I got a covergirl tru blend foundation, a new mascara and some makeup wedges for $2.14 OOP. I had 1 B1G1F coupon, 1 $1/1 coupon and $9.91 in rebate money on my rebate gift card. Sweet!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
super thrifty day
The kids and I visited an old friend and played with his dog for a bit. Then we went shopping with my parents who would not let me pay for a thing and gave me gas money to boot. I got 3 cans of "Dora" corn for the kids for 25 cents each, a package of kotex thin overnight maxis $2, 2 boxes of playtex beyond tampons $2 each and a covergirl lip slide lipstick for $1.25.. I paid for nothing because my parents refused to let me pay.
At walmart I got ODD a pair of pants for her Halloween costume on clearance for $3, and got gloves and hats for the kids for winter and myself some gloves, and got a couple other things...mom and dad paid. We went to lunch at McDonalds and they paid. And then when we got back to their house they gave me $10 for gas. I told them not too but they did anyway.
After we left my parents, I took the kids to a friend's farm and we petted a newborn calf. The kids loved that.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
60% off toyrus instore only
Toysrus sale instore only. I am not close to a store but thought I would share for those that are. Got this in an email today
a favorite treat of Oldest Daughter
Crunchy cherries. It is easy, quick and pretty cheap.
1/2 can cherry pie filling (I use lite version)
some butter or margarine
quick oats
Brown sugar
melt the butter in a pan, add in brown sugar to melted butter and stir until dissolved. Add in some quick oats and spoon mixture on a bowl of cherry pie filling. Serve warm or cold for a tasty kid approved treat! Or you can stir the mixture in with the filling as well.
Interest article and what are you thoughts for the holiday season shopping?
Here
I am sooo interested in seeing what the after Thanksgiving deals will be this year. We have been discussing buying a HDTV for some time now and if they are low enough we just might. Hubby of course wants a giant screen but IDK what his plans are for sure. We have Christmas done for friends and family (we never buy each other gifts however) so we are thinking of getting ourselves a new TV for Christmas but have yet to decide.
Updated stockpile pics and why I should take a break
Here are some update pics and I think I am taking a couple month hiatus from couponing and stockpiling. Reasons:
- Winter is almost upon us and I have lots of yard work to do.
- I have soooo much stuff already.
- I want to be able to switch up my stockpile to spring and summer stockpiling items as winter comes to a close and at the present time I would have NO room for more.
- I am afraid that some of what we have would go bad if I continue and forget to rotate.
- I need a break
And the most recent stockpile pics...taken about 1 hour ago.
My razors...great deal on these with B1G1F coupons.
soup-some of this is for FIL as well
Hamburger helper and baked beans
Diapers. 4 more packs on top of the freezer. They are on sale at walgreens this week and I had a bunch of RRs to use making them $3.32/pack including tax.
my gift stockpiles
extra random gifts
for my MIL...less than $5 total!!
for our nephew-less than $9 total
for our niece-less than $5 total
For ODD for her birthday...less than $8 total. The barbie in the package was only $3 on clearance at Walgreens and was FREE with RR!!
for a close friend. $5 total!
2 extra gifts for ODD or another child. The pots and pans were clearanced for $2 and the potato head was $1.59 on clearance!
For my brother and his GF. I am also going to throw in some toothpaste and other stuff from my stockpile.
for my parents..Not sure what else I am going to add from my stockpile yet. Dad wants a pair of PJ pants yet and then they are DONE.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Purex on sale
at my local store 4/$10. Not a bad deal if you have coupons. I had $1/2. I bought 5 bottles but not for me. For my mom. She asked me to pick some up for her and I gifted my brother on of my coupons so he could take advantage of the deal as well.
23 cent Green Giant Valley Fresh steamers
If you have the $1/1 coupons...the green giant valley fresh steamers frozen veggies are only 23 cents after coupon at Walmart. SWEET deal. We got 4 bags of Broccoli today. They have other varities as well. Some are more expensive. We looked at the baby red potatoes with green beans and rosemary, they would have been 87 cents after coupon. Not a bad deal at all. We didn't get too much at walmart today. My total came to $38.XX before coupons and $25 after. I did get one of the new Ziploc vacuum sealers and that thing is sooo much better than the Reynold Handi-vac sealer that I previously had. It was $3.97 before coupon and just $2.97 after coupons. I need a vacuum sealing apparatis for jerky making season. I make a lot of jerky during the winter and freeze it for eating year round and the vacuum sealer comes in real handy for packaging. We got some of the generic great stuff foam to fill in some cracks in the foundation of the house and some tube mortar for the smaller cracks. That is about all I have done today. Got some more coupons from a friend. Thanks Tori!!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Bad Walgreens trip....but could have been worse
I went to Walgreens this morning to get some diapers, the renuzit spray, 2 scented oil refills, and my photo processing.
I grabbed 3 packs of diapers, 1 training pants, 10 renuzit spray (I was going to break that into a couple transactions over the week but they had a lot on the shelf so I decided to do it all today), and the other stuff and went to get my photos. The Store Manager was there and she said I will just check out everything for you. CRAP! I hate when the manager checks me out.
First off she said, Geez did you clean us out. I said nope I don't do that because I have had shelves cleared on me and I hate coming in and not finding what I came here for. She looked at the bottles of renuzit and asked what I used it for. I told her that I donate some and I use some in my carpet cleaner and on my couch, etc. Finally, she started ringing me up. She wasn't rude with the questions at all just amazed that I bought so much I guess, IDK.
My B1G1F on the refills went through fine but my renuzit coupons said not found. She told me that I could only use 5 because I couldn't use a coupon on a free product, the computer wouldn't let me. I told her that I have done it before on the lysol and it had worked fine. So she hand entered my coupons and said I doubt this is going to work for all 10. I said it should because I have one coupon per item. I told her if it didn't work I would just put them all back. No problem (I figured that since we are going to the inlaws today I would just try it at their walgreens instead). So of course it worked and she was amazed. She laughingly said I shouldn't have gotten out of there so cheap. WHAT?!?! I told her that they get reimbursed for the coupon so they aren't out anything and infact they just made 80 extra cents off me. She look confused so I showed her on the coupon where they get the face value plus 8 cents back on each coupon. She said oh so really...you using coupons is making my store more money. UH...yeah! So hopefully there is not issue next time but now she knows my name from my photo processing
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Walgreens photo coupon code
Vaild through 10/12 use fall4all and get 50 prints for $5. I ordered 64 and still only paid 10 cents each! Cheap enough for me. We send a 4X6 with our Christmas cards each year so I ordered our family pic taken last weekend for our Christmas cards. YAY! another thing checked off my list!
Thrifty fun entertainment
Here are some pics from our practically free family day. We spent a total of $7, ate lunch and got some quality family time in. We ate lunch for free with a gift card dad gave me. The $7 was what I spent in gas.
The bluff was beautiful. The kids loved the ferry ride. We also stopped at my old elementary school on the way home and let the kids play for a bit.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
what to do with $12 of Register Rewards?
hmmm. I am thinking maybe 2 free packs of diapers or 1 diapers and 1 pullups. The renuzit spray is going to be on sale and I have coupons making it just under 50 cents a bottle but my 10 bottles I plan to get won't take up the whole $12. There is nothing I want that is having register rewards so no rolling for me. I am guessing I will end up using 1 of the $3 ones on my renuzit spray so my OOP with tax will be around $3. Then maybe I will use the other $9 for diapers and pullups and just pay $4 ish OOP with tax...hmmm decisions decisions..
Thrifty (FREE) fun entertainment
This Saturday we are going on a hike and a ferry ride. The only expense will be gas, unless we choose to not pack a lunch and grab a bite to eat somewhere. The hike is going to be amazing. It is up a bluff that overlooks a river. It is fall in my location and the trees are turning some awesome colors. I am hoping for some beautiful shots of my kids and the hubby....well me too. The ferry ride is more for the kids because I have been there a billion times but the kids have never gone. You drive your vehicle right onto it and it takes you across the lake/river. It is about 10 minutes one way. Oldest daughter is soooo excited about it, but doesn't get the concept of driving your car onto a boat. We'll see if she freaks out or not.
The bluff and surrounding area are jointly owned by the Nature Conservancy and the DNR so that is free and the ferry is also free. I love free family days.
new tips and a good bargain today
Where to begin?!?
Well we will start with the bargain today...
I went to our more expensive local store for some sale items...got 12 cans of chicken noodle soup and 8 boxes of mac and cheese. 50 cents a box for Kraft Mac and Cheese...not my fav but hubby and the kids love it and it included all kinds so my oldest daughter was in heaven. She got SCooby doo, Pokemon and spiderman mac and cheese. Momma doesn't usually let her get the shaped stuff because it is so much more expensive. 39 cents a can for IGA brand chicken noodle soup..
Then we went to the other local store to get my generic soda. This is the only store in the area that carries it. We got 4 12 packs, a giant pumpkin for $1, a bag of chips for hubby's lunch for $2.25 and my favorite deal of the day...supreme lean ground chuck at $1.39/lb. I checked the regular price and it is a whooping $2.99/lb. Awesome. I bought 24 lbs. They only had 27 lbs available at the price so I bought what I had the $$ for. The savings percent on my receipt only shows 7% but I KNOW it was more than that...more like 57% ...but the meat doesn't ring up showing the savings from the regular price. It computes the price on the package as the regular price. Anyway, I was stoked as we haven't been seeing as many meat deals lately and I haven't been buying so we are getting low...
If you happened to buy the glade wisp candles this week at Walgreens check inside the package..I read on HCW that they were finding coupons for $3 off a Wisp inside and sure enough the 2 I already bought had them in so off I went to Walgreens again and got another 2. Unfortunately these two did not have the coupons in. I has hoping to get 2 more coupons, buy 2 more, get 2 more coupons...etc etc but I am grateful for the 2 more freebie candles for gifts. LOL.
If you happened to buy the Pert Plus deal at Walgreens, I read on HCW another use for it...Shower cleaner. I added 4 squirts to a spray bottle, watered it down with hot water, shook it really well and made myself a nicer than most (it is not the best smell in the world) smelling shower cleaner and it works pretty well. Doesn't take off the bathtub crayons from the wall but it does get the soap scum off.
And a Hubby funny...He calls me on his lunch today and says I am out of deodorant...uh no you're not, you have 6 more in the stockpile. he says " I figured...I never run out of anything anymore." It was almost in a whine voice...not like he is made about the stockpiling but just almost like it would be nice to run out of things. LOL...dork.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Walgreens 10/19-10/25
View ad preview here. Thank you Hotcouponworld.
As of right now I see nothing that interests me other than the lysol toilet bowl cleaner b1g1f but that only interests me if the right coupons are out. The one I currently have expires before this sale.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Walgreens paid me today
LOL
I got 1 glade flameless wisp candle gift for our sitter and 1 glade scented oil candle holder with 2 scented oil refills (gift for a friend)
Here is how it works out:
glade wisp $5.99 sale
Glade oil candle $3.99 sale
MFQ on wisp -$5.00
MFQ on oil candle -$3.00
Total including tax=$2.53
and they gave me a $3 register reward for buying the wisp candle and I will get a $2.20 rebate on the other candle
so
$2.53 OOP
- $3.00 RR
- $2.20 rebate
___________
-$2.67 to take these 2 items home and give them as gifts. How 'bout that?!?!
I wish I had more coupons for the wisp but I do have 2 more for the scented oil candle holders and with the rebate they come out to being free! So I am going to go get 2 more and a couple more friends are getting free candle holders for Christmas/Birthdays. Have I ever told you how much I LOVE shopping for free!?!
edited: I just found a $3/1 for the wisp so with the register rewards this would be FREE as well. Sweet! Someone else is getting a wisp for Christmas too. LOL
share a thrifty store with me
Here's mine:
When i was in college, I really really wanted this couch at the thrift store. It was $20 and I only had $10 on me and like $3 in my checking account. I walked out and found a $20 bill right by my truck. I looked around but there were no vehicles anywhere near mine and it wasn't there when I went in and there wasn't a vehicle there when I went in either so I bought the couch with it. I was ecstatic. I was supporting myself and my brother while I was working 3 jobs and going to college full time and he was in highschool and working part-time. We shared a tiny 1 bedroom apartment and he was sleeping on the livingroom floor at the time because I had no couch only an old beat up recliner. It was a godsend. I really think that God was looking out for me and my brother. We always had food, bills paid and an awesome landlord and an incredible neighbor that made sure we were ok. She would always invite us down to her apartment for dinner with her and her daughter. Our manager at our job (I was assistant manager and my brother was a cook/delivery driver) would always send the leftovers home with us every night either one of us worked. I tell ya...I knew 10,000,000,000,000 ways to do something different with fried chicken so we didn't have to eat reheated fried chicken 6-7 days a week. LOL
my grocery store trip today
We decided to have bratwurst and potato salad for lunch. We had no buns in the house nor potato salad, so I ran to the grocery store quick. I ended up getting the soup I was planning on getting at walgreens this week at the store because it was 10 cents a can cheaper. I was using my coupons at the self checkout and the woman who is there to assist people with them and be a runner for the regular cashiers was practically breathing down my neck watching me. I turned around and polietly asked if she needed some help. She said she is required to watch all coupon users at the self checkouts now because someone has been scanning the coupons but putting a blank piece of paper in the coupon slot. The management is trying to decide if they should not allow coupons on the shelf checkout anymore. They are trying to catch the person doing it by watching but with this lady practically breathing on my neck I doubt they are going to catch anyone if she does that to everyone using a coupon. And how lame of someone to do that. Coupons are plentiful, easy to find, and they even have the smartsource dispensers in the store everywhere.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Thrifty (FREE) fun entertainment
Today is HarvestFest in my little town. Nothing to exciting though. A craft fair, chili lunch sponsored by the fire department. They close off downtown for exhibitors. The kids and I are going downtown in a bit to check it out. It is free and my oldest daughter will be super excited by the fire trucks.
Friday, October 3, 2008
got another razor today
I bought another fusion razor. Used a RR from the febreeze deal and had to buy a pack of gum because the price after my MFQ on the razor was $4.99 and the RR was for $5. It wouldn't go through if I tried it so I got a pack of gum to go along with it. I ended up pay $1.52 OOP for the transaction. Not bad at all. Hubby tried the one I got the other night and really liked it so it is actually cheaper just to buy the other razor with the coupon rather than the refills. Figures, huh? LOL
cheap smoking
so my hubby smokes. He is really good about not smoking in the house, not smoking in the vehicle with the kids but he doesn't want to quit smoking and I can't force him to so I told him he has to smoke cheaper cigarrettes. My parents and my brother make their own cigarrettes using a hand held device that you put the tobacco in, press it down and slide a tube with a filter on it on the nozzle and you slide back the filling part and it makes a cigarrette. I found today an automatic maker with a hand crank. Uses the same tubes but no packing the tobbacco etc. I made him some cigarrettes today and it is a handy little device. It will save money. Granted him quitting smoking would save even more but like I said I can't force him to.
1 lb bag of tobbacco is $16 (makes 4 cartons)
4 boxes of tubes is $6.50 (200 tubes per box so 4 boxes will make 4 cartons)
so total cost for 4 cartons (which will last 2 months or more) is $5.63 a carton
or 56.3 cents a pack, just under 3 cents a cigarrette.
Much more affordable then his newports, cheapest carton price is $38.15
or $3.82 a pack or 19.1 cents a cigarrette.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I was putting stuff away
and got to thinking. When I get busy at work in November and December, I think I am going to give myself a break from my deal finding. I know what you are thinking....ya right, she is NOT going to quit... but I am.... for awhile. I will still post when I find stuff that is a good deal but I am not going to be as devoted as I am now. I will be so busy with work and the holidays and 3 birthdays (mine, oldest Daugher's 3rd and my mom's), not to mention Dh's hunting when I become basically a single parent for almost a week. I plan to still collect my coupons but not do as much with them. I was talking with Hubby tonight after my recent walgreens trip and he said don't you think you have enough stuff. and I got to thinking I do, I really do have plenty. I have gift baskets that I am making for everyone in our families and I have enough stuff to fill them so I seriously think a couple month break is in order....starting in November LOL. It will be really nice to use up stuff I have stockpiled and then I can start over again concentrating on refilling the stockpile. Yep...that's what I am going to do. So anyway I am going to take a new pic of my recently expanded basement stockpile and my other stockpiles...besides groceries and you tell me if I have enough and can take a break...I will do that tommorrow and post the pics. Everyone is asleep now so I don't want to try to go to the basement right now.
ahhh darn
Walgreens took the Nivea off the FAR so if you bought it and haven't entered your receipt yet, don't bother. I entered my receipt the day I bought it (I don't forget it this way) and I got the rebate.
looky looky
What I got for $2.41 or $11.41 depending on how you look at the deal..I am going with $2.41 because it looks like a better deal even though $11.41 for everything isn't bad either. LOL
How did I do that?
you wanna know?
Ok I'll tell ya.
Everything came from Walgreens.
$8.99 Gillete fusion Razor
$ 5.00 2 pert plus on sale
$13.98 2 febreeze noticables
$ 4.98 2 febreeze air freshners
$ 8.37 3 soft soap handsoap
$ 1.98 2 toilet tabs
________
$43.30
-$5.40 soft soap in flyer coupon
-$0.99 toilet bowl tabs
-$5.00 pert plus ESC
-$10 febreeze noticables MFQ (2)
-$2 febreeze air freshners MFQ (2)
-$1.05 softsoap hand soap MFQ (3)
-$4 gillete fusion razor MFQ (1)
_________
$14.86total
$2.03 tax
____
$16.89 due
-$5.48 gift card balance
______
$11.41 OOP
Got back $9 in RR. So if I count the $9 back on this transaction I spent $2.41. If I count it as a coupon on a future transaction this transaction cost me $11.41. Still not bad for what I got.
A VERY BIG THANK YOU
to 2 very special friends....Jenera and Tori. you both rock!! I loved the envelopes you sent. As soon as I got them the possibilities started running through my head. LOL. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
Sundays coupon preview is up
taylortownpreview.com
Looks like it could be a good week to get 2 papers depending on what you need and the sales.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Walgreens plan for 10/12-10/18
Here is the preview-courtesy of hotcouponworld.
My plan is:
10 Renuzit super odor neutralizer (b1g1f store sale)=$14.95
10 coupons for $1/1 -$10.00
______
$4.95 or roughly 50 cents a piece.
The kotex is a good deal but I won't be buying any since I am stocked up.
On page 12 there are plastic tumblers 8/$1. We will be getting some of them because my oldest daughter saw them and said she needed a new cup.
That is it for me that week as of now. I almost always end up looking again a few times before the week and finding more though.
My walgreens plan for next week 10/5-10/11
Here is my planned purchases
Here is the ad preview...courtesy of hotcouponworld.
2 bags of 3 musketeers and 2 bags of snickers $10
2 MFQ $1/2 -$ 2
MIR on 4 -$ 4
____
$4 for 4 bags of candy for Halloween
4 campbells soup (use in ad coupon to get sale price) 69 cents each=$2.76
1 MFQ 40 cents/4 -$0.40
____
$2.36 for 4 cans or .59/can
not a great deal but better than I can get it for in the grocery store around here and it is for FIL's Christmas gift basket. I might do this deal a couple times because I have a couple coupons and FIL loves soup.
Added:
I found a couple more deals that I will be taking advantage of
Glade scented oil candle holder $3.99
MFQ -$2.00
Total $1.99
MIR -$2.20
.21 money made (that oughtta cover the taxes)
Doing that deal twice
Glade Wisp $5.99
MFQ -$3.00
total $2.99
RR - $3.00
.01 money made(not including tax so this one will cost me a few pennies OOP)
Glade scented oil candle refills
$1.99 sale (X3) $5.97
MFQ B2G1F -$1.99
Total OOP $3.98
MIR ($1 each) -$3.30
Total OOP .68 plus tax for 3 packs of refills...sweet!!
Glade carpet and room powder
$1.99 sale
-$1 MFQ
-$1.10 MIR
-0.11 total not including tax once again I will just pay the tax on this item, which should only be 11 or 12 cents
my stockpile is growing...
a little bit anyway. All these super cheap toilet bowl cleaner tabs and free pert plus. I had intended on holding back a bit on the stockpiling for a while but when I get stuff free, I can't help myself. So 9 bottles of Pert and 12 toilet tabs later...I believe I am done at Walgreens for the week...However..If the other gift cards come in, I will be buying another Nivea body wash for Hubby since it is FAR and it will be put right back on my giftcard at the end of the month and possibly another 4 toilet bowl tabs. But I think Hubby is good on his shampoo now. LOL 11 bottles total~9 pert and 2 Suave for men. Yep...That'll last a year, maybe longer.
$30 challenge
$11.78 balance
-$2.36 pert plus and toilet bowl tabs @Walgreens
______
$9.42 left...Woot!
Did you know
that cleaning out the back of your fridge...where all the mechanical stuff is...will save on your electric bill, also cleaning out your furnace vents helps you furnance run more efficently. Ok so I knew those things in theory. It is really common sense stuff but I did it today. I called a heating and cooling company to have them come and give our furnace a tune up because it has been quite awhile. When I was on hold, they had a message playing about changing your furnace filter often and cleaning out the ductwork can improve efficiency by as much as X% (I don't remember the percentage because I was trying to break up a fight between the kids during the time I was on hold). The next message was about cleaning dust and pet hair out of the fridge to improve efficency. Hmmmmm....interesting? So anyway I cleaned it and I don't know if I will see a smaller electric bill but it was pretty nasty. Oh and it is not a thrifty thing to have someone come and tune up your furnace but it needs to be done and honestly, neither hubby nor I know the first thing about our furnace, other than how to change the filter and light the pilot light.
Doubling coupons
Some Kmarts are doubling coupons up to $2 until 10/5. Unfortunately neither of the 2 that are in my area are. :CRY: Neither one is convenient though either. One is 30 minutes one way and the other is 35 minutes the other way :sigh: So I won't be taking part in this but if you have a local Kmart that is participating, let me know all the deals you are getting, so I can be green with envy. I was stoked too. My employee discount applies to all Sears Holdings companies. Gosh that would have been a brag and picture worthy trip for sure. It's alright though. It is not like I really *need* anything else around here.
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