Remember I mentioned I was heading to Albertson's for some free oatmeal??? Well, even the snow and cold didn't keep me away. I went today while I was out running some other errands and I'm so glad I did!
The deal broke down to 5 boxes of Quaker Instant Oatmeal. Buy 5 and get the $3 off which made them only $1.39 each! Then, take 5 $1 off coupons to make them .39 each!! THEN I got a $3 catalina back at the register!! Do the math on that and that means I got paid $1 for 5 boxes of oatmeal!!
I also found some free cat litter (on sale for $1 and I had a $1 coupon), eggs for .89 a dozen, some yummy Cheetos and Fritos for only $1.49 a bag and some Keebler cracker packs for $1.50 each (on sale for $1.99 and had 2 $1/2 coupons).
Total at Albertson's today was...$16.53 OOP
Saved: $35.39
PLUS I have a $3 catalina to spend next time I'm in the store. Woohoo!!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Some of my handy tools
After getting those few items at Target yesterday I had to use some of my favorite little tools so I thought I'd share.
Goo Gone! I LOVE my Goo Gone! If you don't have THIS product go to the store and get it today. It helped me sooo much with getting those silly clearance stickers off those white plates I bought. Just spray a little bit on, let it sit for just a minute and it will wipe right off. "Removes: chewing gum, grease, tar, stickers, labels, tape residue, oil, blood, lipstick and mascara, shoe polish, crayon, and bumper sticker.
Works on carpets, upholstery, clothing, wood, and cement." - from Amazon.com
It's available in non-spray as well. I love it!!
No one paid me to endorse these 2 items. I just love them and wanted to share.
Carry on with your day but before you do, I'd love to hear what some of your favorite little problem solvers are.
See that white strainer in the middle? I found that at some random craft fair and I LOVE IT! It's plastic and helps you marry jars together. There are different notches on both ends to fit different size bottles. I've used it for soaps (like this), ketchup, etc. I'm not sure where you can find this again but if you see something like this I definatly recommend picking it up! It's so nice to just stand the bottles up and walk away.
Works on carpets, upholstery, clothing, wood, and cement." - from Amazon.com
It's available in non-spray as well. I love it!!
No one paid me to endorse these 2 items. I just love them and wanted to share.
Carry on with your day but before you do, I'd love to hear what some of your favorite little problem solvers are.
A little score at Target
I heard earlier this week that some Target stores were running some 75% off clearance at Target so I thought I'd check it out. There wasn't as much as I thought there would be but I did snag a few things...
The Buzz Lightyear item is a backpack BUT it's stuffed like a pillow so it's more like a toy than a useful backpack. It does have a small zipper in the back but I can't imagine what would actually fit into it. It was only $1.75 so perfect to just pay around with.
The Cars lunchbox was only $4. Not sure if it's really that useful for Emmett right now so it might have been a waste of money, but we'll see.
The soap pump was $4 also. I was actually pretty excited about that one. I have been looking for a new hand soap pump for my kitchen sink area and this one seems just right.
The little white plates were a score for me too. They were .68 each and I bought 8. I have been looking for little plates I can use for the kids' washable fingerpaints. Currently I use disposible paper plates and I hate that. It seems like such a waste. These aren't ceramic, they are that heavy plastic material (not sure what it's called) so I'm happy with them.
So ya, that's about it. They had some other items at 30% off. It looked like they were going to start clearancing out winter items soon so keep a watch for that!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
By Request...
I headed over to King Soopers today to get in on their Mega Event. I usually don't go on the first day of the sale but Jim's working tomorrow and I didn't want to go on Friday.
As you can imagine there is a TON of good deals this week. Jennie at http://www.bargainblessings.com/ did her matchups early since she was going out of town so that was really nice.
If you haven't already, swing over to Safeway and grab one (or more) of their Joy Of Football coupon books. There are manufacturer coupons in there that you can use at ANY store. I used a couple of them today.
I won't go through EVERYthing I bought but here are some of my best picks...
**M.E. stands for Mega Event sale. That's the price if you buy 10 items.
Hebrew National beef franks - $1.49 each after M.E. and $2 off of 2 coupon from Joy of Football Book
Kraft Cheese slices - .79 after M.E. and coupon, I think from the Jan. 2nd paper
Although I've stocked up on free toothpaste a LOT lately, some Crest toothpaste is on sale for $2. I found one type that had $10 worth of coupons inside and a travel sized toothpaste attached as well. I picked up 2 of them (I had $1 off coupons so they were only $1) because I'm going on a trip in a couple weeks and would have probably bought travel toothpaste anyway. Now for $1 I have the travel size, plus the full size AND $10 worth of other coupons (which are good ones!)
You can grab some Hershey candy bars for .25 with their 2 for $1 sale, plus the BOGO coupon from the 12/12 paper.
I snagged some Pace picante sauce for .97 after the M.E. sale and a .50/2 coupon from the 12/5 paper
The Rotel deal is AWESOME! They are on sale for .42 each. Use the .30 coupon from last Sunday's paper (I bought 2 more newspapers from King Soopers today, so check your store. They may still have Sunday papers hanging around), which doubled and made it an .18 money maker!!
There is also a great deal on Hunts tomatoes. I had a couple $1/3 coupons (don't remember where) so that made the .42 M.E. sale drop them down to .9 each!! AND I also had a $1 ecoupon loaded onto my card, which deducted so I made money on those too!!
The Feb. issue of All You magazine has a $1.50/3 Hormel products which pairs up with the .79 M.E. sale price so those were only .29 each!
The Joy of Football book also has a coupon for $1 off Ritz crackers, which makes them only .99 with the Mega Event.
I do have to mention the Uncle Ben's deal. The coupon that I had for Uncle Ben's rice didn't seem to match up with the sale in the paper (like mentioned in the blogs) so maybe I need to relook and see if I have another coupon somewhere. However, my store had a 3lb. box of white rice mislabeled and had it a part of the sale. I am truely honest when I say that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the label was wrong. I just thought it was one of those times when there was an unadvertised deal. I picked up 5 boxes because they were going to be free with the sale and my coupons (I'm donating 3 boxes to my parent's church). Long story short (too late), they rang up wrong (or correct, however you want to look at it) and that's when I noticed the mistake. I was fully ready to just take them off my bill, with no sweat, but the manager decided to give me those boxes for the sale price because it was their mistake. So, you most likely won't get that deal but I did end up with a LOT of free rice.
Anyway, I picked up a few other things that we needed (All detergent was $2.99 after sale and $1 coupon), frozen pizzas (CPK on sale plus $1 coupon), etc etc
I ended up spending $79.39 and saved $110.43 (59%)
Mega Events usually last 2 weeks so I'm sure I'll snag a few more things next week. I have 2 coupons left that I could have used today but then I would have had to grab 8 filler items and that seemed like a waste.
I AM going to Albertson's this week to snag some SUPER CHEAP oatmeal. Here's a rundown on the deal from Moms Thrifty Deals. There is a catalina deal to go along with it, but even if you don't have the quantity to do the catalina you can still get Quaker oatmeal for only .49 with the in-ad coupon and the $1 coupon from the 1/2 paper.
Happy Shopping!! I'd love to hear what deals you snag this week.
As you can imagine there is a TON of good deals this week. Jennie at http://www.bargainblessings.com/ did her matchups early since she was going out of town so that was really nice.
If you haven't already, swing over to Safeway and grab one (or more) of their Joy Of Football coupon books. There are manufacturer coupons in there that you can use at ANY store. I used a couple of them today.
I won't go through EVERYthing I bought but here are some of my best picks...
**M.E. stands for Mega Event sale. That's the price if you buy 10 items.
Hebrew National beef franks - $1.49 each after M.E. and $2 off of 2 coupon from Joy of Football Book
Kraft Cheese slices - .79 after M.E. and coupon, I think from the Jan. 2nd paper
Although I've stocked up on free toothpaste a LOT lately, some Crest toothpaste is on sale for $2. I found one type that had $10 worth of coupons inside and a travel sized toothpaste attached as well. I picked up 2 of them (I had $1 off coupons so they were only $1) because I'm going on a trip in a couple weeks and would have probably bought travel toothpaste anyway. Now for $1 I have the travel size, plus the full size AND $10 worth of other coupons (which are good ones!)
You can grab some Hershey candy bars for .25 with their 2 for $1 sale, plus the BOGO coupon from the 12/12 paper.
I snagged some Pace picante sauce for .97 after the M.E. sale and a .50/2 coupon from the 12/5 paper
The Rotel deal is AWESOME! They are on sale for .42 each. Use the .30 coupon from last Sunday's paper (I bought 2 more newspapers from King Soopers today, so check your store. They may still have Sunday papers hanging around), which doubled and made it an .18 money maker!!
There is also a great deal on Hunts tomatoes. I had a couple $1/3 coupons (don't remember where) so that made the .42 M.E. sale drop them down to .9 each!! AND I also had a $1 ecoupon loaded onto my card, which deducted so I made money on those too!!
The Feb. issue of All You magazine has a $1.50/3 Hormel products which pairs up with the .79 M.E. sale price so those were only .29 each!
The Joy of Football book also has a coupon for $1 off Ritz crackers, which makes them only .99 with the Mega Event.
I do have to mention the Uncle Ben's deal. The coupon that I had for Uncle Ben's rice didn't seem to match up with the sale in the paper (like mentioned in the blogs) so maybe I need to relook and see if I have another coupon somewhere. However, my store had a 3lb. box of white rice mislabeled and had it a part of the sale. I am truely honest when I say that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the label was wrong. I just thought it was one of those times when there was an unadvertised deal. I picked up 5 boxes because they were going to be free with the sale and my coupons (I'm donating 3 boxes to my parent's church). Long story short (too late), they rang up wrong (or correct, however you want to look at it) and that's when I noticed the mistake. I was fully ready to just take them off my bill, with no sweat, but the manager decided to give me those boxes for the sale price because it was their mistake. So, you most likely won't get that deal but I did end up with a LOT of free rice.
Anyway, I picked up a few other things that we needed (All detergent was $2.99 after sale and $1 coupon), frozen pizzas (CPK on sale plus $1 coupon), etc etc
I ended up spending $79.39 and saved $110.43 (59%)
Mega Events usually last 2 weeks so I'm sure I'll snag a few more things next week. I have 2 coupons left that I could have used today but then I would have had to grab 8 filler items and that seemed like a waste.
I AM going to Albertson's this week to snag some SUPER CHEAP oatmeal. Here's a rundown on the deal from Moms Thrifty Deals. There is a catalina deal to go along with it, but even if you don't have the quantity to do the catalina you can still get Quaker oatmeal for only .49 with the in-ad coupon and the $1 coupon from the 1/2 paper.
Happy Shopping!! I'd love to hear what deals you snag this week.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
I know that I'm a little sensitive
And I know other people can be too so I wanted to clarify my post about my hair.
I don't want you to think that I think that women (mom's in particular, since that's what I was referring to with me) with short hair are lame. Short hair looks SUPER SUPER cute on a LOT of people. Having 2 kids of my own, I can see why some women cut their hair short after they have kids. You usually don't have a lot of time to maintain yourself. That's why I was cutting mine shorter to begin with.
Because of how my hair is, a little wavy but not really curly anymore, I HAVE to do something with it. If I just wash it and let it go. I either have to work to make it curlier or straighten it...which is usually my choice. The longer my hair is, the longer it takes to straighten. I also feel like when my hair is curlier I look younger. To some people that would be a bonus but I look younger than I am and I don't always feel like that is a plus. I actually wouldn't mind looking my age...but that's a whole other post.
The point is, if you have short hair and are reading this, I don't think you are lame or your hair is lame. It's just me and my perception on myself. I've always had long(er) hair (except for a tragic 2 years in high school) and I loved it. It's just that the maintenance was getting harder and I'm sure people were bored seeing me with a ponytail (I know *I* was). So who knows what will happen. Maybe I'll keep it shoulder length, maybe I'll grow it back out.
I just didn't want you to be offended, thinking that I felt negatively towards short haired women.
I don't want you to think that I think that women (mom's in particular, since that's what I was referring to with me) with short hair are lame. Short hair looks SUPER SUPER cute on a LOT of people. Having 2 kids of my own, I can see why some women cut their hair short after they have kids. You usually don't have a lot of time to maintain yourself. That's why I was cutting mine shorter to begin with.
Because of how my hair is, a little wavy but not really curly anymore, I HAVE to do something with it. If I just wash it and let it go. I either have to work to make it curlier or straighten it...which is usually my choice. The longer my hair is, the longer it takes to straighten. I also feel like when my hair is curlier I look younger. To some people that would be a bonus but I look younger than I am and I don't always feel like that is a plus. I actually wouldn't mind looking my age...but that's a whole other post.
The point is, if you have short hair and are reading this, I don't think you are lame or your hair is lame. It's just me and my perception on myself. I've always had long(er) hair (except for a tragic 2 years in high school) and I loved it. It's just that the maintenance was getting harder and I'm sure people were bored seeing me with a ponytail (I know *I* was). So who knows what will happen. Maybe I'll keep it shoulder length, maybe I'll grow it back out.
I just didn't want you to be offended, thinking that I felt negatively towards short haired women.
Albertsons Rave!
I took the kids and made a trip into Albertsons today. I usually don't make a special trip into town for deals but I just felt like I/we needed to get out of the house for a bit today. I hit the bank and post office to make my trip worthwhile and off we went!
We went to the Albertsons off of Mississippi and Tower and I have NOTHING but good things to say about my trip. First of all, when I have both kids with me we always get a car cart to help keep Nora wrangled in. God bless the person who invented those.
On our way into the store, the cart attendant started chatting with me and asking if I needed help. I mentioned we were getting a car cart and she offered to get one for us. We couldn't find one upon entering the store but I saw someone pushing one in from the parking lot. The attendant went over and got it for us! I didn't catch her name but she was so nice and helpful.
Here are the deals I grabbed this week...
We went to the Albertsons off of Mississippi and Tower and I have NOTHING but good things to say about my trip. First of all, when I have both kids with me we always get a car cart to help keep Nora wrangled in. God bless the person who invented those.
On our way into the store, the cart attendant started chatting with me and asking if I needed help. I mentioned we were getting a car cart and she offered to get one for us. We couldn't find one upon entering the store but I saw someone pushing one in from the parking lot. The attendant went over and got it for us! I didn't catch her name but she was so nice and helpful.
Here are the deals I grabbed this week...
The Finish dishwasher soap is on sale for 3.99. Take the $2.25 coupon from the paper a couple weeks ago and you have a pretty good deal. Not as good as some deals from a couple weeks ago, but still not bad.
The hotdogs were on sale for $1.25 - not fabulous considering the quality of the hotdog but we needed some.
Hamburger Helper - on sale with in-ad coupon for .89 each (limit 6 at that price). Pair that with the .75/off 3 coupon and that makes them .63 each. They are on sale at King Soopers this week for $1 so it's sort of a toss up on which is really a better deal. Since Kings doubles coupons and Albertsons usually doesn't, the HH would be .66 this week at King Soopers. I decided to go ahead and save .18 and get them at Albertsons.
The Kettle Chips are on sale 2/$5 this week and I had a $1 off coupon so that's $1.50...not bad for those.
You can't really tell what the small bottles are but they are Taco Bell taco sauce. They are on sale for $1 and I had a $1/2 coupon so those were .50 each.
The apple juice wasn't a great sale...$1.67, but we needed some so I grabbed one bottle. Same with the apple sauce. It was $1.29 so I grabbed a couple of those.
The peppers (on the far right) was a really good deal! I wish I had more coupons for those but my coupon came out of my All You magazine so I only had one. They are normally $3+ at stores and they are on sale for $1 this week. I had one .50 coupon so I snagged it for .50!
Ok, so here's the deal with the Jamba Juice smoothies. A couple weeks back they advertised the Yoplait smoothie mixes for $1.99. I had a bunch of $1 coupons for those so I thought that .99 for smoothie mix would be great (considering Nora loves them). I had to get a raincheck because they were out (I couldn't even find a spot where they were supposed to be). I went in this week and STILL couldn't find them. I happened to see a worker on the floor and asked him about it. Come to find out he is the asst. store director (I think that's what his tag said). He couldn't find it either but he told me that he would honor my Yoplait coupons for the Jamba brand mix! That's AWESOME! I've never had someone do that before. He hoped on a register and ended up scanning a different frozen food item that cost $1 (what my cost after coupon would have been) and then gave me back my Yoplait coupons!! Seriously, I have NEVER had someone who was willing to work with me so much. Jesus J (yes, his name was Jesus) rocked my world.
I will definatly make sure and shop that Albertson's whenever I can. It means so much when you know a store is couponer friendly. He went above and beyond and that means alot (and yes, I did mention to him how nice and helpful the cart attendant was to me)!
I'll be hitting Kig Soopers tomorrow. Nothing aMAzing this week but I'm still waiting for Jennie at Bargain Blessings to get her match ups done to make sure I didn't miss anything.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
I told myself I wouldn't do it...
but I did.
I'm sorry if this post offends anyone. I don't mean it to. This is just me and how I always told myself I would be.
I always said that I was not going to be that woman to got married, became a mom and then cut my hair short. I said I wouldn't do it!
And I just did.
I'm kicking myself over it. I'm not happy with this latest haircut. Actually, I haven't been happy with my last 3 haircuts. I don't understand why it's so hard to cut an angled bob. I go in and say, I'd like an angled bob. Not a severe angle...I don't want it so short it's shaved in the back...but I want it to be noticable that it's shorter in the back than in the front. And I'd like the front to hit just right above my shoulders.
Shouldn't be too tough, right? Apparently it is...
I don't have a picture yet but I'll try and get one soon, but my hair is a good inch or 2 above my shoulders, in the front, and it's only slightly noticable that it's shorter in the back. My little bangs are cute but that's about all I can say about it.
I think if I was happier with my hair cut then I wouldn't be so upset with myself that I had it cut so short in the first place. I swore that I would not be that mom but I thought that if I did cut it shorter but had a cute funky style then it would be ok that it was shorter. I always wanted to be the cool hip mom with the long hair, not the lame mom with the lame mom short hair. I'm verging on lame mom right now.
The only good thing is that my hair does seem to grow fast so I'm sure I'll be back down to the shoulder length that I was hoping for rather soon. Unfortunatly I still won't have the angeled look that I've been wanting for 3 hair cuts now. sigh....
If you know someone who will fix my hair for free I would greatly appreciate it. I'm too frugal to pay to get it recut right now. Otherwise I'll just sit this out and hope that my hair will continue it's trend of growing fast. I'll just have to get it recut later on to get rid of the little bit of angle that's in it. I just wanna be hip and cool, is that so much to ask?
I'm sorry if this post offends anyone. I don't mean it to. This is just me and how I always told myself I would be.
I always said that I was not going to be that woman to got married, became a mom and then cut my hair short. I said I wouldn't do it!
And I just did.
I'm kicking myself over it. I'm not happy with this latest haircut. Actually, I haven't been happy with my last 3 haircuts. I don't understand why it's so hard to cut an angled bob. I go in and say, I'd like an angled bob. Not a severe angle...I don't want it so short it's shaved in the back...but I want it to be noticable that it's shorter in the back than in the front. And I'd like the front to hit just right above my shoulders.
Shouldn't be too tough, right? Apparently it is...
I don't have a picture yet but I'll try and get one soon, but my hair is a good inch or 2 above my shoulders, in the front, and it's only slightly noticable that it's shorter in the back. My little bangs are cute but that's about all I can say about it.
I think if I was happier with my hair cut then I wouldn't be so upset with myself that I had it cut so short in the first place. I swore that I would not be that mom but I thought that if I did cut it shorter but had a cute funky style then it would be ok that it was shorter. I always wanted to be the cool hip mom with the long hair, not the lame mom with the lame mom short hair. I'm verging on lame mom right now.
The only good thing is that my hair does seem to grow fast so I'm sure I'll be back down to the shoulder length that I was hoping for rather soon. Unfortunatly I still won't have the angeled look that I've been wanting for 3 hair cuts now. sigh....
If you know someone who will fix my hair for free I would greatly appreciate it. I'm too frugal to pay to get it recut right now. Otherwise I'll just sit this out and hope that my hair will continue it's trend of growing fast. I'll just have to get it recut later on to get rid of the little bit of angle that's in it. I just wanna be hip and cool, is that so much to ask?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Before you leave the house....
don't forget your coupons!
Today I was out and about running errands and making Avon deliveries. I knew I was going to stop at Macy's to do a return/exchange so before I left the house I went onto their website and found a 15% off coupon for their MLK weekend sale! With all their clearance sales, plus the extra 15% off, I was able to score some really good deals! I picked up 5 tops, 2 sweaters and 3 long sleeve blouses, (now I definatly need to go through my closet again) and the total was under $50!! I only spent around $20 because of my return so that was even better!!
The moral of the story is before you leave the house, do a quick internet check for a store coupon. Saving money is always worth a few minutes of your time. :)
Today I was out and about running errands and making Avon deliveries. I knew I was going to stop at Macy's to do a return/exchange so before I left the house I went onto their website and found a 15% off coupon for their MLK weekend sale! With all their clearance sales, plus the extra 15% off, I was able to score some really good deals! I picked up 5 tops, 2 sweaters and 3 long sleeve blouses, (now I definatly need to go through my closet again) and the total was under $50!! I only spent around $20 because of my return so that was even better!!
The moral of the story is before you leave the house, do a quick internet check for a store coupon. Saving money is always worth a few minutes of your time. :)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Walgreens last week
I didn't get into Walgreens until yesterday, so I wasn't even sure if I'd end up finding some of the good deals but after hitting a second store I was able to pick up all the items I wanted.
Here's what I bought....
My out of pocket cost was $10.86 because I used the $10 in RR I had left from last week. I also have $7 in RR (from the Lysol hand soap system) that I didn't use this week so I'll roll it and use it next week. So $10.86 out of pocket, but $7 back!! That's basically like spending $3.86!
The Lysol cleaners were BOGO free and then I had $1/2 coupons for both of them. The Go! Kids vitamins were on sale for $5 and then you recieved $5 in RR back. The gum was on sale for .69 a pack (w/in-ad coupon) and then I had a BOGO free coupon that I printed online. The BIC razors were $4.99 and then you got a $1 RR back. I picked up 2 because I had a BOGO free coupon! The Lysol hand soap system was on sale for $11.99. I had a $3 coupon and then you recieved $7 in RR back making that basically $2!!
I'm starting to really get the hang of this Walgreens shopping thing. :)
Here's what I bought....
The Lysol cleaners were BOGO free and then I had $1/2 coupons for both of them. The Go! Kids vitamins were on sale for $5 and then you recieved $5 in RR back. The gum was on sale for .69 a pack (w/in-ad coupon) and then I had a BOGO free coupon that I printed online. The BIC razors were $4.99 and then you got a $1 RR back. I picked up 2 because I had a BOGO free coupon! The Lysol hand soap system was on sale for $11.99. I had a $3 coupon and then you recieved $7 in RR back making that basically $2!!
I'm starting to really get the hang of this Walgreens shopping thing. :)
On to bigger and better things....
As most of you know I upgraded to using The Couponizer, to hold my coupons, a while back.
I LOOVED my Couponizer but as you can see I outgrew it.
I thought about it for a while and decided that I didn't want to scale down my money saving habits. I was actually trying to make them grow, so I moved up to the world of the coupon binder. Here it is....
I scouted a couple thrift stores to make it (as well as some inserts from Office Depot) and I was very pleased with my results. Just a quick run through of what's in it....The front inside pocket holds coorperate coupon policies for Target and Walgreens (something that's VERY important to have on you when shopping in those stores)...and just a couple other odds and ends of things. The first few pages are just full sized sheet protectors that hold a list of the online coupons I have loaded onto my King Sooper's card. I also have 2 pouches that I will be inserting later today. I just got them yesterday at Goodwill (they look brand new!). One I will use for supplies...scissors, paperclips, maybe a little calculator, pen, etc. The other one will be my "while I'm in the store" holder. I need a place to put the coupons I know I'm using during my shopping trip and then a seperate place to put coupons that I may decide not to use (the ones I grabbed out that are expiring but there isn't a great deal so I pass on them).
I ended up with a few different types of inserts. I know some couponers use baseball card inserts. I do have a few of those because I, luckily, had some here at my house that I wasn't using. Otherwise I found some photo inserts (at ARC thrift store) that work GREAT! I actually like them better because I don't have to fold so many coupons to make them fit (but I do like having a few of the baseball card inserts for some of the smaller coupons). Some are actually for negatives so I can fit some of the rectangular coupons in those (they are perfect for catalinas) and the others fit 3x5 (I think) photos. I still have to fold a few of the bigger coupons but otherwise they are PERFECT. I didn't find the quantity of inserts I needed at ARC, so I went to Office Depot and used some of my worklife rewards to pick up more of the 3x5 photo size inserts.
I also have tabs in the back for restaurant/fast food coupons and one for other store coupons (Bed, Bath and Beyond, JoAnns, etc).
It took me quite a while to get all my coupons transferred over so I felt like I might be a little over my head with the whole deal, but now that I have it all put together I really like it. It's, obviously, not as compact at my Couponizer was but I think, in the long run, I'm going to be really happy with it. I'll let you know. ;)
Why I Love Thrift Stores
My frugalness isn't just limited to using coupons, I'm a thrift store junky. I LOVE going to thrift stores (clean, organized thrift stores) and I really love finding great deals at thrift stores. ARC is my favorite thrift store by far but I pop into Goodwill off and on if I'm near a location that I know is good.
Yesterday I was running a couple errands on my way to work and had some time to kill. I hit the Goodwill off of Havana and Colfax. I know it's not the best area of town but that Goodwill is fairly new so I don't mind going in there. I had just cleaned out a fair amount of shirts from my closet so I thought I'd peek around and find some new shirts to replace them. :)
Here's what I ended up with for only $21.01
That's 15 items for only $21.01! I picked up 10 shirts...6 of which were just pretty basic plain long sleeve cotton tops. The other 4 were sweaters, 2 cardigans and 2 regular sweaters. I also found a small glass dish that goes with a set that I own (as well as my mom and grandmother), a Care Bears DVD for Nora (for only $2.50), a plastic storage box that was only .75 (it has a hinged lid that snaps closed) and 2 binder pouches for my new coupon binder (more on that in another post)!
Yesterday I was running a couple errands on my way to work and had some time to kill. I hit the Goodwill off of Havana and Colfax. I know it's not the best area of town but that Goodwill is fairly new so I don't mind going in there. I had just cleaned out a fair amount of shirts from my closet so I thought I'd peek around and find some new shirts to replace them. :)
Here's what I ended up with for only $21.01
That's 15 items for only $21.01! I picked up 10 shirts...6 of which were just pretty basic plain long sleeve cotton tops. The other 4 were sweaters, 2 cardigans and 2 regular sweaters. I also found a small glass dish that goes with a set that I own (as well as my mom and grandmother), a Care Bears DVD for Nora (for only $2.50), a plastic storage box that was only .75 (it has a hinged lid that snaps closed) and 2 binder pouches for my new coupon binder (more on that in another post)!
It's very true that you usually have to sort through a few crazy things to find your gems, but if you are in the mood it is definatly worth it! I found Merona and Mossimo, Old Navy (one still had the Old Navy tag on it!) and Banana Republic in my finds. Since Goodwill was doing a 50% off sale that day, everything I bought was 50% off the tagged price. Pretty much all my tops ended up being $1.75 each!!
Although I'm sure he appreciates my frugalness to some extent, I know my husband has made comments about how I don't need to shop at thrift stores for my clothes. I really don't see anything wrong with it. It's the ultimate form of recycling! Plus, when I decide that I'm tired of my clothes, or one of the kids (or myself) stains or rips what I'm wearing, I don't feel like I lost a whole lot. I still feel "attached" to some of clothes because of their style or the way they fit, so I can still end up being bummed, but I probably only spent pennies on it. PLUS, most of the time I end up just sending them back to a thrift store, when I'm tired of them (or they don't fit right, etc), anyway.
Even better than getting MY clothes at the thrift store is getting clothes for my kids there! It is the only way to go with kids clothes. They wear them for such a short amount of time there is no reason to spend retail on them. I know a LOT of mom's who will shop at consignment shops and a thrift store is basically the same thing. You just have to sort through a few items that may have stains and such, which a consignment shop wouldn't have, but you can find brand new clothing for next to nothing!
If you ever want to come shopping with me some time I'm happy to have a tag-a-long. Saturday's are usually the best days to go to ARC because they always have a 50% off sale. Goodwill has them occassionally as well so keep your eye out and score yourself some awesome deals!!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
SCORE at Safeway!
Ok, so I almost did a video over HOW EXCITED I am about my Safeway score today, but the kids are around and so is the hubby so I'll just type away.
I went into the store with only 5 things on my list. I stuck to my list and I ROCKED! If you got last week's coupon inserts (there were 5!!!) you can score some of these deals too.
Here's the scoop...
Everything is this picture cost me a grand total of $12.08!
Here's the breakdown...
6 Colgate toothpaste on sale for .99 - .50 (doubled) coupon = 6 FREE toothpaste (which I'll be donating to my parent's church)!!
6 Rice a Roni and 2 Pasta Roni on sale for .88 each - 2 B3 get 1 free coupons (which rang up for the max value of $2 each) = $3.04 for all 8!
Bar S hot dogs on sale for .99 each - no coupons, we just needed some
London Broil on sale for $1.99/lb, 4 lb package for $6.88
Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks - on sale for 1.49. If you buy 4 or more they are only .99 each! THEN top that with the .50/2 (doubled) coupon and they are only .50 each! THEN when you buy 4 you get a $2 catalina back and if you buy 5 or more you get a $3 catalina! Do the math on that and that equals FREE FRUIT SNACKS!!
I did 2 transactions so I could use the $3 catalina. Since I rarely shop at Safeway I wanted to make sure I could use it.
Total spent = $13.08
Total saved = $53.85!!
I know I'm borderline Extreme Couponer but I did buy extra papers last week since there were so many inserts. I'm so glad I did because I already made back the money I spent on the papers.
I will NEVER EVER shop without coupons and sale match-ups ever again. I can't imagine paying full price for much of anything. There are so many good buys and so many opportunities to get free things. I hope you are inspired to get out there and get some of your own free stuff.
I mentioned about doing a money saving/couponing get together. I didn't get too much of a response but let me know if you are interested and we'll try and throw something together. :)
I went into the store with only 5 things on my list. I stuck to my list and I ROCKED! If you got last week's coupon inserts (there were 5!!!) you can score some of these deals too.
Here's the scoop...
Everything is this picture cost me a grand total of $12.08!
Here's the breakdown...
6 Colgate toothpaste on sale for .99 - .50 (doubled) coupon = 6 FREE toothpaste (which I'll be donating to my parent's church)!!
6 Rice a Roni and 2 Pasta Roni on sale for .88 each - 2 B3 get 1 free coupons (which rang up for the max value of $2 each) = $3.04 for all 8!
Bar S hot dogs on sale for .99 each - no coupons, we just needed some
London Broil on sale for $1.99/lb, 4 lb package for $6.88
Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks - on sale for 1.49. If you buy 4 or more they are only .99 each! THEN top that with the .50/2 (doubled) coupon and they are only .50 each! THEN when you buy 4 you get a $2 catalina back and if you buy 5 or more you get a $3 catalina! Do the math on that and that equals FREE FRUIT SNACKS!!
I did 2 transactions so I could use the $3 catalina. Since I rarely shop at Safeway I wanted to make sure I could use it.
Total spent = $13.08
Total saved = $53.85!!
I know I'm borderline Extreme Couponer but I did buy extra papers last week since there were so many inserts. I'm so glad I did because I already made back the money I spent on the papers.
I will NEVER EVER shop without coupons and sale match-ups ever again. I can't imagine paying full price for much of anything. There are so many good buys and so many opportunities to get free things. I hope you are inspired to get out there and get some of your own free stuff.
I mentioned about doing a money saving/couponing get together. I didn't get too much of a response but let me know if you are interested and we'll try and throw something together. :)
Friday, January 7, 2011
Walgreens shopping
I've been watching videos on other blogs and they are much better than I am but I was inspired to make a video about my Walgreen shopping this week. I don't know if you all play the Walgreens game with the Register Rewards (RR) and such but if you go to the store prepared, and know how it all works, you can score some good deals.
Again, the totals were:
Vicks NyQuil 3 - $4 each
Vicks DayQuil 1 - $4
Vicks VapoRub 1 - $4 = $20
Minus $6 in coupons = $14
Childrens Oscillococcinum 1 - $8.99
Total out of pocket was $23.34 with a savings of $21.75
PLUS I got back $19 in RR
Transaction #2 -
Herbashine hair color - $8.29
FREE with coupon
Infant Advil - $5
Minus $2 coupon = $3
Snaps candy (filler/fav. candy that I just had to get) 2 - $1.99 = $3.98
Giesha mushrooms 4 - .50 each (in ad coupon)
Valentine's Day card (filler...but would have had to buy eventually anyway) - $3.39
Used $9 in RR for a total out of pocket - $4.72 with a savings of $22.28!
Again, Walgreens shopping can be a bit frustrating sometimes (at least it is for me) so just make sure you know all of their coupon policies and the low down on RR. And sometimes even if you do, you still have to go back for a filler item, like I did. lol Remember, RR only work for you if you use them to buy things you need...not just random stuff. I could have grabbed any ol .50 item to help cover my tax but I didn't. I bought something I liked and I needed to buy (eventually) even though it made my total higher than I was hoping for.
Hope that helped a little. :)
Check out the video to get the lowdown...
Again, the totals were:
Vicks NyQuil 3 - $4 each
Vicks DayQuil 1 - $4
Vicks VapoRub 1 - $4 = $20
Minus $6 in coupons = $14
Childrens Oscillococcinum 1 - $8.99
Total out of pocket was $23.34 with a savings of $21.75
PLUS I got back $19 in RR
Transaction #2 -
Herbashine hair color - $8.29
FREE with coupon
Infant Advil - $5
Minus $2 coupon = $3
Snaps candy (filler/fav. candy that I just had to get) 2 - $1.99 = $3.98
Giesha mushrooms 4 - .50 each (in ad coupon)
Valentine's Day card (filler...but would have had to buy eventually anyway) - $3.39
Used $9 in RR for a total out of pocket - $4.72 with a savings of $22.28!
Again, Walgreens shopping can be a bit frustrating sometimes (at least it is for me) so just make sure you know all of their coupon policies and the low down on RR. And sometimes even if you do, you still have to go back for a filler item, like I did. lol Remember, RR only work for you if you use them to buy things you need...not just random stuff. I could have grabbed any ol .50 item to help cover my tax but I didn't. I bought something I liked and I needed to buy (eventually) even though it made my total higher than I was hoping for.
Hope that helped a little. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)