Phew!

I'm finally finding a little time to catch my breath. It seems like I've been going and going since last week, with all my spare time going to keep up with homemaking & spending time with my loved ones. So here is my long update. My trip with my mom went wonderfully! After dropping her off at the convention center, I made my way to the local CVS. Here's my loot:


The Chex mixes were all free as they were 5/$5 and there is a $1 IP. The Johnson's Buddies Foaming Shampoo were a great find as they were on clearance for $1.90 and I had a $1 Q for each. It was kind of an expensive trip, with my OOP being around $6, but since I have recently weaned the baby, I needed the feminine products. YUK! My eyes nearly fell out of my skull when I opened the door to our eensy-weensy hotel room. Mom & I both agreed that it was the worst hotel room we had stayed in {in the US at least, for me}, but that rural Guatemalan huge-tropical-bugs-in-your-bed, concrete-floored, shower-is-a-pipe-sticking-out-of-the-wall hotel is a story for another day. The bed sagged & creaked and the noise from revelers outside our building kept us up til the wee hours of the morning, but at least we kept a sense of humor about it. It sure was memorable. The Bead & Button Show was A-MAZING! Seriously. Even though I'm not a beader, I sure can appreciate a passion for a craft when I see it. Miles and miles of beads. I purchased two things for myself. One is a beaded cross-stitching project. I am making that as sort of a Thank You gift for Mom. She picked out the design. The second one is a funky bracelet kit. Since it's sold as a kit, I think it should be fairly easy. I totally fell in love with these, but at $8 per bottle cap, I would need to spend about a weeks worth of grocery money to make myself a junky-funky bracelet. Couldn't justify the purchase at the time, but maybe next year. Now I am working on designs for Mom to make with all her bead purchases. I wore this to the bead show since it is the only beaded project I've ever made myself:

::Odessa by Grumperina::

::top view::

I got several comments/inquiries about it, as well as the tote bag I was carrying. My mom was cracking up by the end of the show & insisted that next year I carry some business cards with me. Immediately upon my return, Tatiana had her year end dance recital. Twice. This was the first year that she was in two shows, which was a little crazy. Here she is in all her glory:


After that I've been spending time doing my part-part-part time job for Metrostudy. When people ask if I work {meaning outside the home} I usually just say "NO" since this job is only a once every 3 months gig. It's works out kinda nice because I basically can do the surveying at my leisure as long as I return my materials within the allotted time. I have been "working" for them for 2 years now & am thanking God for recently expanding my territory {it nearly doubled!} as an answer to prayer for extra income. He's too good to us, isn't He? Hope you're having a lovely week & I plan to meet you here tomorrow for another Talk About It session.

Steals & Deals for the Week

No.....Thank you!

I got this $5 Starbucks Gift Card in the mail yesterday as part of a Catalina** promotion they were running. If you bought a bag of Starbucks coffee at participating retailers, you receive a Catalina with a special code to input online. My dad bought the coffee, noticed the Catalina & saved it for me. What a great dad! Also FYI: If you register your Starbucks gift card online, you can get extra benefits at participating Starbucks locations, such as free refills on your coffee & free extra syrup flavors.

**Catalina: a coupon that prints at the register from a separate machine after you check-out

Jewel: Last weekend I took advantage of their General Mills deal. If you buy 10 participating items at $2 each, you get an instant $10 off your order, making the items $1. You had to buy them in multiples of $10. Adding some coupons with that {they take expireds so I was saving them for such an occasion as this}, I was able to purchase 12 boxes of cereal, 4 bags of Cheerios/Chex Snack Mix, 4 boxes of Nature Valley Trail Granola Bars, and two packs of gum {for the Hubster} for a grand total of $11.73!

CVS: I haven't been CVSing as avidly as I did when I first started {March} as a) I have a decent stockpile beginning to build up and b) would rather devote the necessary time/energy to other things. They had a sale on Oral-B products {Buy $20, Get $10 ECBs} and hubster has an Oral-B Vitality Toothbrush. At $17.99 for a pack of 3 replacement heads, I thought it would be a good time to get them now. I also picked up a box of Crest Toothpaste, 2 boxes of Aquafresh, and some Schick shaver refills {$8.88, get $6 ECBS + I used $4 Q}. I ended up spending $10 OOP, but that was fine with me, since the refill heads alone cost nearly double that!

Pick up any goodies last week? Get any free samples in the mail?

Good Deals

Here are some good deals I see to be gotten this week. I am not including any CVS ECB deals, as maybe you're not into that sort of thing.

CVS
Herbal Essence Hair Products are BOGO. {Price at my local store is $4.29} Combine that with coupons from recent inserts for $3/2 = $1.29 for two bottles. I just had hubby stop by and do this deal today. I had two coupons, so I got 4 bottles of shampoo/conditioner for $3.18!

Cereal
If you don't have enough in your stockpile, there's a few good buys out there. Kmart has General Mills {select varieties} for $1.50 a box, if you buy 4. Combine that with coupons that are nearly always in the inserts for $1/2 or $1/3. I have 2 $1/2 coupons so that works out to $1/box. An even better deal is at Valli Produce {if you live near me & get the flyer, you could always Price Match at WM} for $1.25 a box, if you buy 4. Combined with the aforementioned coupons works out to 75 cents per box. I am comping this deal at SuperWM either tomorrow or Saturday. {I am also comping a few other things from Valli as well, such as Dean's half-gallons of milk for 99 cents. Combined with a insert coupon for 50cents/2 works out to $1.50 for one gallon!}

For you health nuts {or aspiring health nuts like me}, you can read all about how to get Kashi for 50 cents a box. Now that's a sweet deal! {FYI: these coupons from "bricks" never work for me in Firefox, only in IE. If you attempt to print it in Firefox & it doesn't print, you will be out of luck. YMMV. Remember to hit your back button on your browser after printing the first one so that you can get the limit of two.} Edited to add: Regular price at SuperWM is $2 box, which means free Kashi, ya'll!

Jewel
Suave Hair Care Products are 89 cents. Combine with a coupon from last weeks insert for $1/2 works out to 80 cents for 2 bottles.

Did you know some Jewel stores accept expired coupons? I am going to call the store that I would go to & find out of mine does. If you do your regular shopping there, you can read all about how to earn yourself some free movie tickets.

What deals are you getting this week?

BOGO x 2

BOGO = Buy One, Get One a.k.a B1G1

I always wondered what would happen if a store had a buy one, get one promotion & you had a BOGO coupon for the same items. In my mind, I figured you would buy one item and get TWO free. Not so. After reading this thread, I learned that essentially the store pays for the free one that they are promoting & the coupon/manufacturer pays for the other free item. Instead of buy one, get one, it's buy none, get two!! Sweet!! Usually these types of deals don't overlap with the coupons, for obvious reasons {free stuff, ya'll}. I tried it today at CVS and it works! I was actually kinda shocked. I purchased two Covergirl face products featured in this week's CVS BOGO promotion. I had a Covergirl coupon for "Buy any Covergirl foundation, get a Covergirl face product free". I bought a foundation for $5.99 and a face product for $7.99. The $5.99 came off for the store promotion since it was the least expensive item and the cashier just had to enter the amount for the facial product {blush} which was $7.99 for the coupon. All I paid was the tax. Now that's a sweet deal!

Start Shopping CVS for Less Than $1

If you are considering shopping the CVS method {or are trying to convert someone}, this might be a good time to start. Here is a beginner scenario to get you started:

Buy 5 Excedrin for $1.99 $9.95
Use 5 $2 off coupons {here, here, or here} -$10.00

Just pay the tax and get $5 ECBs for your next order! {You might want to throw in a candy bar so they don't look at you like you're a coupon criminal!}

This scenario is great for several reasons:

#1 - It's super simple!
#2 - It doesn't involve any of the elusive free-after-ECB items such as the CVS Pain Relief Gelcaps or the Softsoap Spa Radiance {am I the only one who can't find any???}
#3 - Super low OOP {out-of-pocket}
#4 - It doesn't require any CVS coupons or coupons from previous newspaper inserts

Let me know if you have any questions or are giving this scenario a try!

P.S. There are boxes of Excedrin that are shrink-wrapped together that are a special "get one free" package. These also "work" for this deal, so if you can find them, you could get 10 boxes, instead of 5!

Deals for the Week

I got so many good deals this week, I've actually lost track. Here is all my loot from Monday, when I went shopping with my good ole' friend Michelle.

::Goodies from Target, CVS, and Hilander::

I think I've found a new shopping buddy, *wink, wink*.

Total OOP {from 3 different stores}: $11 and some change
Total ECBs received at CVS: $14

So even after going to 3 different places, I was still $3 ahead! I tried to show Michelle the ropes at CVS. Easier said than done as 1) even though it was still March {the 31st} some of the March deals weren't printing ECBs and 2) even though it was only Monday, they were completely sold out of the Softsoap Spa Radiance {checked two different CVSs} 3) nobody had any April flyers available even though the stores were already changed over for their April deals. Grrrr. We did get manage to get in on the Essence of Beauty deal {three little goodies for free after ECBs} and some free {after coupons & ECBs} Lady Speed Stick deoderant. One of my favorite finds though was the Ken's Dressing at Target for $1.87/bottle. I had 3 $2/1 coupons so I let Michelle get a free bottle & then I got two free bottles. I also got some free cat treats for my mom's cat. I had coupons for the AirWick & for the frozen veggies {which came to $.50 per box after double coupons}.

I hit the Target mid-week when I discovered the Target coupon generator over at A Full Cup. The Nature's Valley bars came out to $.86 after stack the Target & manufacturer's coupons. I hear that some of their organic Archer Farms cereal is on clearance for $1.68. There is a coupon on the generator for $1/1 = $.68/box of organic cereal. Now that's a sweet deal!



Last night, I hit the Hilander for Kroger's Mega 10 event.

::Hilander Goodies ~ 2 Minute Maid OJs not pictured::

In hindsight, I wish that A) I didn't go so late at night B) I knew where everything was located C) I had more time to shop leisurely and D) they would've accepted my Excedrin coupons. {Although, I see that next week CVS has Excedrin on sale for $1.99, which with the $2 coupon makes it free, plus you get $1 ECB. Sweet!} All in all, I got $55 worth of groceries for $18, so I guess I can't complain. I guess some of the best deals were the $.50 bags of Goldfish crackers, the free French's mustard, the nearly free Nature's Way rice mix {not part of the deal, but the regular price is $1.07 and there are online coupons for $.50 when doubled = $.07/box}, and the free Pillsbury rolls.

To see what deals other bloggers have snagged, visit this post at Money Saving Mom!

I never realized shopping and deal-grabbing could actually be a hobby! It is so much more fun when you do it with a friend too. Wouldn't you agree? Do you ever deal shop with friends?

Saving $$ on Groceries: the month in Review

I'm hooked. It's partly due to the fact that I recently lowered my grocery budget by $100 per month. It's really mostly due to the inspiration at Money Saving Mom. I *love* this blog. She's got all the sweet deals already worked out for you, every week, broken down by store, complete with links to online printable coupons. Could saving money get any easier??

This month concludes my first month shopping the deals at CVS. Now that I am fully stocked up on toothpaste and deodorant, I have started a give-away box for those who need it, whether that be friends who are too busy to shop the deals {need some goodies? email me privately!} or someplace local that accepts donations. I have slowly whittled my ECBs down to $3, but thanks to a friendly CVS cashier, have a raincheck for some Listerine Smart Rinse for Kids, that when combined with $1/1 coupons will give my ECBs a little boost. Hooray for rainchecks!

This week I got some great deals at Meijer, thanks to their 10/$10 deal. According to my receipt, I got $75.92 worth of groceries for $39.33. Not too bad for just starting to work the deals! It's a shame that my local Meijer doesn't double coupons or I could've gotten many goodies for free. My favorite part of the deal was for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. It was part of the 10/$10 deal and there is online printable for $.75/1 making them $.25 each! You could either get a 15 oz tub or two smaller 7.5 oz tubs. I picked up several for myself and my grandma as well, who is on a fixed income. I also got some Life cereal for $1/box by combining their deal for 5/$10 on Quaker brand items with a $1/1 coupon. These deals run through Wednesday, in case you were hitting your local Meijer soon and hadn't gotten these goodies!

I've called many a grocery store in the suburbs east of me, in the area that I am most familiar, looking for coupon-doubling stores, but to no avail. Why don't any of those stores double??? Lo and behold, after consulting with a dear friend that I consider my local area resource {whom I will be buying Starbucks for tomorrow as a thank you}, I was turned on to not one, but TWO, grocery stores in the major city near me that double. One is Hilander {Kroger} and the other is Logli {Schnuck's}. I am planning a trip tomorrow to one of them that is running 10/$10 deals as well & will be getting some {nearly} free Green Giant frozen veggies and free Totino's pizza rolls. Once I confirm another money saving strategy at Kroger, I will post about it here.

Another great addition to my bookmarks has been the Sunday Saver circular. {This is the link for Illinois, but there is a drop down box where you can select your state.} It has links to all the stores divided by category. Then you can just look up each store to compare the deals. This has been invaluable to me in planning my shopping trips.

I also can't stop reading the forums over at Hot Coupon World, especially the ones about CVS. I like the CVS forum because you can also see previews of the upcoming weeks sales {Huggies diapers, ya'll} so you can plan your purchases accordingly. Check out the forum for your local grocery store to save yourself some moola.

We went to dinner at the home of a church family last Friday and the wife started mentioning how her and her husband were discussing how to lower their grocery budget. WELL, let's just say she got an earful ;>)

Let me know if you find something I've mentioned interesting. Any other online sources of inspiration for getting good deals?

Deals for the Day: FREE STUFF!

Here are my scores for today:

The Johnson & Johnson Buddies soaps were from Target. They are kinda cool as they are a bar of soap within a scrubbie net. They were $.94 each. Combine that with two $2/2 coupons & that means I made $.06 per bar. They are $.99 at CVS, in case you will be shopping there soon. I'm sure that they are probably available at Wally World as well. You can find the $2 coupons here, here, and here. Get your kiddies some free soap!

CVS purchases were:
Transaction #1
(2) Irish Spring 3-pack bars $4.98 ~ Buy $10 of Irish Spring, get $5 ECBs
(2) Irish Spring deodarant $5.98
(2) Charms Blow pops $ .66 ~ filler

Irish Spring Coupons - $1.35
ECBs -$9.98

Total OOP: $.37
ECBs earned: $5

Transaction #2
Fructis Shampoo $2.99 ~ Get $2 ECBs
Fructis Leave-in Conditioner $2.99 ~ Get $2 ECBs (
2) Nivea Mens' Shave Gel $5.58 ~ Buy $5 of Nivea, get $2 ECBs

Fructis Coupons -$2.00
Nivea Coupons -$4.00 ECBs from Trans #1 -$5.00

Total OOP: $1.04
ECBs earned: $6

Just as a heads up, next week, March 16-22, CVS will be featuring Listerine Smart Rinse {for kids} for $2.99 with $2.99 in ECBs. There is an online $1/1 coupon available here. Plus, there is a tear-pad at the Listerine display with a mail-in rebate. If I am calculating correctly, not only will these be free, but you will get back $4 per bottle. {I'm still new at this though, so I could be wrong.} Limit 2 on this deal, I believe. Super money-maker!!

I have been having a hard time finding a place to use my $2 off a box of Honey Bunches of Oats with Chocolate Clusters {new product} coupon. My local {dinky} Wally World doesn't carry it & low and behold my beloved Woodman's does not accept internet coupons. {BOO!} I called Meijer tonight since we will be heading out that way tomorrow & she told me that Post cereal will be on sale for $2 per box. Free cereal ya'll!! Stock up!

Any other great deals you're getting this week?

Round Two

DING! While visiting my dad in the big city over the weekend, my little daughter came down with the sniffles and needed some cough/cold medicine. Now which pharmacy should I purchase this medicine from?? I pondered. Aha! CVS, of course! {Wouldn't you know it that the nearest CVS is only 1 city block away?! There is also a Wal-Greens about half a block away, along with a Hancock Fabrics & a Dominicks with a Starbucks kiosk right across the street. Uh, Dad? When can I move in???} Since I needed the medicine, I used up some of my ECBs to pay for it.

Round #2

Triaminic Thin Strips $4.99
Chicago Tribune $1.79
CVS Smarties Candy $ .99
Cadbury mini-eggs (3) $2.97
Oral-B Toothbrush (2) $9.98

CVS Candy Q -$ .99
Oral-B Q -$2.00
Hershey's Candy Q -$1.50
ECBs -$14.95

Total OOP: $1.46
ECBs for next visit: $9.98 {plus $1 leftover from very first visit}

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I need to learn to read my coupons a little more carefully though. After scanning my CVS card, I thought the coupon said $3/$10 purchase, but in reality, it was $3/$10 CVS products purchase. Yeah. Big difference. Anyways, I plan on keeping one toothbrush & one of my toothpastes in my overnight bag {along with my new Venus razor} so that I don't have to keep repacking these items since we've been traveling nearly every weekend. I plan on sewing up a cute little satchel for all these toiletries, when I finally get a little time. Right now, an Easter dress for the littlest daughter is at the top of the priority list.

P. S. Need a free sports bra? I ordered mine here after reading this post.

CVS Time!

I tried my hand at all this CVS commotion that I've been reading about. I was really excited to try this, as it seems sort of like a puzzle, getting the coupons & deals & ECBs to all work together, and I love puzzles!! I sorta felt a little sneaky, like I was trying to buck the system & one of my nearest & dearest friends shared that she felt the same way, which I think is sorta comical. At first I was skeptical and didn't really want to invest $$ in some system that I'm not sure would work. But, three things convinced me.

One: I would only plan on making a small initial investment, like $20 or less. Enough to get the ball rolling, so to speak, but not enough to bust my budget. I would try to squeeze this into my newly reduced grocery budget of $75/week.

Two: If after my first few trips, if I didn't think I would want to continue, I would just spend my ECBs on grocery type items that I would normally buy, therefore not really spending any extra money & still getting all the items that earned those ECBs for "free".

Three: I will look as this as a ministry opportunity by donating any items I don't think I'll use to Rockford Rescue Mission or another local charity. I can even roll over my ECBs and buy things that I know I won't use, just so I can donate them. I want to call RRM and another local womens' shelter to see what types of donations they can really benefit from. I encourage this mindset to those of you that are hesitant to try this, but don't think you could really benefit. I'm sure there are many others out there who could. Maybe you can't afford to give much money or loads of time, but who can resist shopping in the name of the Lord?? LOL!

Ok. So on to the details! Things did not go as I had planned {isn't there a Bible verse about this?}, but I was able to think on my feet and adjust my purchases. I had a limited amount of time, which was good in a way, since I had to just find what I planned & be done with it.

Transaction #1

Venus Razor 9.99 {6 ECBs}
Dove Dark Chocolate 1.99 {1 ECB} ~ Just because it looked yummy & DD #2 loves chocolate!
3 Lypsyl 8.97 {8.97 ECBs}

CVS $4/$20 coupon
Venus $4 coupon
Total OOP: $13.94


Transaction #2
Old Spice Deoderant 2.49
5 Colgate Total 14.95 {14.95 ECBs}

Old Spice $2 coupon
$14.97 ECBs from Trans #1
Total OOP: $.63
ECBs to use for next visit: $15.95

I originally planned on getting the Oral B toothbrushes and some Hershey's Easter candy that I had coupons for, but they were ALL OUT of BOTH!! I also got the last three Lypsyls. I guess I will have to hit different CVSs or go on a different day. God is really amazing because after I went for groceries this week, I had only $12 left. I then found an extra $3 in my wallet. I also received my $4/$20 coupon yesterday morning to help with my purchases. And wouldn't ya know it, my total OOP came to $14.57!! I had 43 cents left to spare ;>) I forgot to scan my card when I first got to the store, so I probably missed out on another good deal, but I will remember next time. I also didn't realize that the ECBs print for each item and can be used separately. I thought they printed for a total on each transaction. This will help me plan my next trip. Now I can't wait til Saturday to buy Sunday's paper. We will be in Chicago this weekend & you can bet that I already know where the nearest CVS is {and of course where the nearest fabric store is: right across the street from my dad's condo, wouldn't ya know}! For more good CVS deals, check in with MoneySavingMom & don't miss my friend Steph's CVS deals either ;>)

If you CVS, do you find that it's better to get the monthly deals towards the end of the month, figuring that everyone else grabs them at the beginning?