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!!

Walgreen 10/26-11/1

HERE. Thanks to HCW

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

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.

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..

a couple interesting articles

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/09/coupons/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/09/eichengreen.depression/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

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.

Sundays coupon preview is up

taylortownpreview.com

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.

added more walgreens scenarios for this week

http://ttbdf.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-walgreens-plan-for-next-week-105.html

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.

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.

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.

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.