a good deal

The cashier at Rite Aid was more excited than I was about this deal.. and he was a guy. He even got out a calculator to figure out how much I paid for each box.

- 4 boxes of 28+ count always infinity (reg 9.99?) on sale for 6.99. and I had a $4 off coupon for each one.

- 4 packages of carefree liners on sale for $1.00. and I had a $1 off coupon for each one.

- PLUS I had a $5 off $25+ purchase coupon.

TOTAL: $6.96

Thursday at Target: I am a sucker for a red sticker

Well, not quite as good of a deal as some of the ones I've gotten at CVS, but pretty good for Target I think.

- Lysol disinfectant spray 19oz. was $4.64, marked down to $3.94. Used $2 off coupon.

- 2 SoBe life waters. was $1.27, on sale for $1 each. Used BOGO free coupon.

- box of 20 gallon size resealable bags. was $1.12, marked down to $0.95

- package of 2 Rubbermaid 'easy find lids' 1.25 cup containers. was $3.39, marked down to $2.37. Used $1 off coupon

- 2 Huggies natural care wipes, 72 ct each. $2.39 each. Used 2 $0.75 off coupons.

Total: $8.92

cvs this week: day 1

- one package of 6 plastic easter eggs.... 12¢

- six Command hooks.... on sale for 2/$5.00 ($2.50 off x 6)

PAID: $0.13

tresemme savings at cvs

One of the offers at CVS this week is on Tresemme products; they are 3 for $10.

I had a $4 off $20 beauty coupon and then a combination of ECB and coupons totaling $10.99. So I paid $5.29 for one 32oz bottle of shampoo, three 32oz bottles of conditioner, and 2 bottles of styling spray. If you are keeping track that works out to about 88¢ an item! Plus I got $10 ECB back.

what to do with $3.16

Shopping trip at CVS on Tuesday..

- ACT mouthwash $4.99, get $2 ECB ($1 off coupon)

- Claritin 24hr 10/15 ct $9.99, get $2 ECB ($7 off coupon)

- 2 Oral-B dental floss $2.88 each, get $2 ECB each

- Edge Infused shaving gel $2.89, get $2.89 ECB

- 1 issue of Good Housekeeping $2.50

USED: $5 off $25 coupon and $10 in ECB (plus the $8 in coupons)

PAID: $3.16

How to stretch 10¢

How to stretch 10 cents on a Saturday night..

CVS #1

- 2 Sobe at BOGO with BOGO coupon

- BOGO Purex raincheck

- "free" toothbrush raincheck

PAID: 0.10

CVS #2

- 2 Sobe at BOGO with BOGO coupon

PAID: 0.00

CVS#3

- $3.99 toothbrush (got $3.99 in ECB)

- $0.75 starbucks chocolate

- BOGO Purex raincheck

USED: "4.49" in ECB (it said 4.49, but it seems the value was 4.99)

PAID 0.00

so it's come to this has it?

Soo.. I have a baby. And I signed up for pretty much every reputable offer I could find before she came (and a few after).

What this means is that I get coupons and offers in the mail many times a week. A lot of it is for brands that I am not using. For months I was just throwing them out.. but then I started to wonder how I could find someone else to use them. For example, I decided to go with Similac, but I was also getting Enfamil coupons (one was for $11 off).

[Amusing side story: When I say "I decided to go with Similac" I mean I picked a brand without too much knowledge of the differences. Then, when I was recovering from surgery, drifting in and out of consciousness, and the nurse told me my baby was hungry and asked me which brand I wanted her to be fed.. I could hardly remember my own name never mind what brand of formula I wanted my baby to eat. She rattled off a list, I said something like "what's the difference".. the response was "nothing", so I guess I repeated the only one I could remember.]

And apparently it has come to this..

I signed up for some baby coupon swapping nonsense. Ya, that's right. I seem to now be collecting coupons and trading them with people via the usps. 

But it's kinda neat if you think about it. I've already gotten a few emails and at least one woman wants to send me $7 worth of similac coupons for a couple of Johnson's and Pampers coupons I know I'll never use. Spend 42¢, save $7.. sounds good to me.

First it was being inspired by families of 4 and 5 with insanely low grocery budgets. Now it's collecting and trading baby coupons with strangers. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Or something.

money not spent

I have come across some crazy blogs recently where people have committed to only spend $1200 or whatever on groceries (food, toiletries, diapers, etc) for their entire family for the entire year! Seriously. And I mean crazy in a nice way, I think. I say "crazy" because as a general concept it seemed impossible to me.  But once I started reading more and more of the blogs and the endless lists on them of the sales, coupons, and savings.. it actually seems possible. And I'll admit it.. I've gotten a little swept up.

While I'm miles away from committing to any budget, never mind a $1200 or $1500 one, I have started scouring the Sunday flyers for deals and sales.

I found a buy 1 get one free coupon for Kleenex at Walgreens- so I bought two. A couple of days later, I received a register coupon for 50¢ off Target brand tissues (which are normally $1.29 or something). So now there are 3 boxes of tissues in my stockpile.

This week I bought some shampoo at CVS that was on sale for $4.99 and the brand was also promoting a "try it for free" mail in rebate. While I was at CVS I got $25 worth of baby products (diapers and wipes) that were on sale and got $10 back in CVS Extra Care Bucks. But I didn't really spend $25-  I had a $5 off $25 CVS coupon, $4.50 in ECB, $1.50 off diapers coupon, and 50¢ off wipes.. so I actually only spent $13.50 (for 80 size 3 Huggies diapers and 216 Huggies wipes). There was a pretty good deal on iTunes cards too.. if they had had the $5 versions available, but seemed to not- oh well.

I don't know, is CVS crazy? On one of the $1200 budget blogs I came across (midgetmomma), the woman gets such good deals with Extra Care Bucks, coupons, and sales that when she shops she very often gets gift cards back with the difference on them (as well as her bags of products)! Please take this 63 cents and $50 worth of products, have a nice day.. geesh.

At Target on Thursday I had a coupon for 50¢ off a Grande Pike's Place coffee at Starbucks. It wasn't really supposed to be for iced coffee, but the girl was nice enough to hook me up anyway. I also got another pretty good deal.. something like buy two of product X and get a $5 gift card, but then I also had a $1 off 1 manufacturer coupon and a Target coupon for $1 off 2. It was for a product I like, but wouldn't have bought otherwise because it's a little expensive. You gotta be careful of things like that.. you end up spending more money just to save. I guess it usually works out in your favor in the end though.

What a nerd.. I am looking forward to Sunday all week now!