Savings in VA

Pine-Sol Scented Chocolate

2010-12-06T07:28:00.000-05:00

I have been in a work/Christmas coma. There is so much going on! We finally decorated the tree yesterday. The stockings are out of storage but not yet on the mantle.

Funny story about Dec 26th clearance shopping. I had bought an Advent calendar at CVS last year on clearance after Christmas. I liked the design on the box and didn't plan to eat the chocolate. My husband had other ideas. I put it out the other day, and later he told me he didn't feel so great. He said he'd eaten a piece of chocolate from the calendar, and that it, honestly, tasted like Pine-Sol. Hehehehehehehehe. (That's me being a mean wife, laughing at his misfortune.) It had been in a storage container with Yankee Candle tarts (including Mountain Pine) for the past year. I did promise to buy him some non-tainted chocolate to substitute.

Tis the Season

2010-11-20T07:53:00.000-05:00

Ahem. How is everyone? I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but I've had a cold all week. Amazing how much a little cold can slow you down!

Today is, unfortunately, the last day of B1G1 free holiday drinks at Starbucks. This goes from 2-5 pm today. I had an eggnog creme frappucino the other day--very good!

I ran a few quick errands this week, mainly for toilet paper. Such an exciting life I lead, I tell you. Beyond that, I read a lot of magazines in bed and watched the leaves seem to change color overnight.

They've also put up the tree at the mall. Sorry that I cut off the top. I got a shopping day in on Tuesday as I took a day off work. And then I woke up with a sore throat Wednesday morning. :( At least I should be better for Thanksgiving!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, you know all the super cheap and/or free food you are getting right now with your coupons? Buy a few extras. Donate them to the Food Bank or another cause. Please and thank you!

Ultimate Christmas Countdown Checklist | Real Simple

2010-11-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

(Photo from Real Simple)

Here's a little something to help with your holiday planning. The turkey is bought for Thanksgiving, the wrapping paper and Christmas cards are bought, and Christmas gift shopping is 40% done. It's nice to have some things checked off my list!

Ultimate Christmas Countdown Checklist Real Simple

I have shopped like a maniac this weekend. I was off Friday so spent the day shopping with my parents and sister. Jimmy was at work, because, well, someone's got to pay the bills! ;) Okay, and a day of shopping would be like a day of torture to him. I haven't been able to get him to do it since we've been married. Dang!

Yesterday was shopping, a 1st birthday party, and more shopping. I have made index cards with everyone's names on them and have what I've bought or am going to buy for their stocking on the front, and the same thing with the actual gifts on the back. That helps me remember what all I have so one person doesn't end up with 20 items. Or with 2 of the same items. Ahem. I just knew that I had bought one thing for my mom, but could not find it. I remembered thinking at the time what a great deal I had gotten. So I bought another for an equally good deal, got home to put it in the Christmas stocking bag and found the original. It's nothing that two can't be used, it was just good to validate that I am not dreaming up things I've bought!

A Beautiful Day for Christmas Shopping!

2010-11-10T20:34:00.000-05:00

It was a gorgeous day today! This was thankfully was not on the bridge that got stuck. After work today my sister and I went Christmas shopping. We scored some great deals, most of which can't be discussed, but I can say that if you go to the mall, there are deals to be had!

Have you checked out the Black Friday ads yet? Well, the ones that are out, that is. It's going to be an early day for me this year! Target is opening an hour earlier than last year, at 4 am. Am I one of those crazy people who gets up at the crack of dawn? Yep! I can barely sleep Thanksgiving night out of excitement, so I'm usually up without the alarm clock. I know, I probably need a therapist, but I do love the hustle and bustle and great deals! :-)

Also keep an eye out in some December magazines for Hallmark coupons. These are $5 off a $5 or more purchase, including sales deals. I'm sure there are exclusions, but I used that coupon too fast to even read it! Well, my sister used it and got two rolls of Christmas wrapping paper for $1.48 total. The wrapping paper is Buy 1 (4.99) Get 1 for .99 cents.

I also stopped in Bath & Body Works and now my house smells like Evergreen. Mmmmmm. Love the smell of Christmas! How cute is this Wallflower?

My sister ordered my doggies super-cute Christmas bandanas. You can go comment on her post to try to win one! :) Here is my parents' dog Chloe modeling hers:

So when we take our Christmas picture the dogs are going to be wearing theirs. Too cute! Yes, our dogs will be in our Christmas picture. We have no children. Don't judge. ;) And apparently after Christmas last year when I bought the clearanced cards, I felt like we should do picture cards this year. I didn't quite think through all the everything involved on that one.

In other news, Rite Aid is having some great sales this week! I bought a few things this week and only spent $4 out of pocket. I saved $30. I'm telling you, watching those Video Values ads are the way to go.

The Day I Survived Wal-Mart Twice

2010-11-07T07:27:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for more than 2 seconds, you know that I loathe going to Wal-Mart. I will go once a year, though, usually if it's something for Christmas (but NEVER on Black Friday). Holy teryaki, we went one year on 4th of July and that was bad enough. Yesterday Wal-Mart was having an early Black Friday sale as Sears and Best Buy have also been doing. I'd like to think this will lessen the craziness on the real BF, but I also am an eternal optimist. According to the salesguy at Wal-Mart, they'll be having BF deals the next few Saturdays, too, until the real day.

So I got myself up at 6:40 yesterday morning, right after Jimmy had left to go golfing. I also got up at 6:40 this morning, too, but that's because I'm a ding-dong and didn't adjust my clock. Regardless, the sale started at 8 am, so I got there at 7:15 am and was about the 16th person in line. I occupied the time by texting my mom and people watching. There was an organized line, and the salesguy came around to ask what you wanted to get so he could keep a running inventory to let the people at the back of the line know if all of the items they were there for had been claimed yet.

Around 8:07 someone realized they were supposed to start the sale. It moved really slow at this point. 30 minutes later it was my turn! I can't tell you what I got because something I got is a Christmas present for my sister who would still read this post even if I told her not to... :) Anyway, up at the register, which was not working right and kept requiring the manager's key (sigh), the register wasn't even recognizing the items that I was buying. They made a list of all of our names and told us they'd call us to come back later to pay for and pick up the items. In the meantime Jimmy and I went up to Colonial Downs for a horse race. More on that in a minute.

I came home to a message so went again at 4 pm. Ugh. Of course the shift had changed and no one knew what I was talking about. It was crowded and noisy, and ugh. 20 minutes later I had my BF purchase in hand. A very good deal, for sure, but hopefully by next Saturday they'll have all the kinks worked out for everyone. The sales listings for next Saturday should be on Walmart.com towards the end of this week.

Jimmy and I determined yesterday we are not horse race people. I had bought a Groupon a few months ago to Colonial Downs. Last Christmas we'd gone behind the scenes at Churchill Downs, so I thought it would be neat to see an actual horse race. We were seated right by a window, so had a good view, not to mention there was a little flat screen tv at our table. As part of the Groupon, we were each given $2 bets. Now, let me mention we're not betting people. The statistics next to each of the horses info in the book? Might as well be Greek. Jimmy doesn't want to deal with placing a bet, so gives me his $2 bet. Soooooo... I pick the horse with the name I like the best. Needless to say, in the race he was in, he and only one other horse (out of about 10, mind you), were the only ones who had never won a race. Whoops. Though, I do like to root for the underdog! Who did I choose? Tidewater Pretty Boy. Highway, our dog, is a pretty boy. We actually call him Snow White, but Pretty Boy is close. Love him to death, but he's so much prissier than our female dog. Except when it comes to rap music. He loves him some Snoop Dogg. We had a music channel on one day and Snoop Dogg came on. Highway went crazy and barked through the whole thing and ran around excited. Not sure what that's all about, but it was funny.

Back to the races, though, here are a few pictures of our day. By the way, we left after the 5th betting race. There were 14 races slated, and we'd already been there for 4 hours total (including the non-betting races). Maybe had we made money on Pretty Boy, I might have been more interested, but there was too much of a time lag between the races. Regardless, it was fun. It was definitely something different to do on a Saturday than sit home and watch tv.

Oh, did I even need to mention Pretty Boy didn't win? He was doing good until the last turn and then he fell way back and came in 6th. Oh well.

Here are some pictures of our day at the races.

And a 3-D poodle sweater to round out the day. :)

Living at Target

2010-11-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

I'm very embarrassed to tell you how many times I've been to Target this week. FIVE! I'm even more embarrassed to tell you I still need to go back tomorrow because I couldn't use all my Target coupons in one transaction.

I got some Halloween plates and cups for next year, a bag of candy, then I've bought various grocery items and clearance items. I haven't taken a picture of everything, because, well, my husband might see it. Haha, j/k!

Christmas shopping is coming along well. I still have only stocking stuffers for my dad, but everyone else is at least 50% done. How is it coming for you?

My Birthday!

2010-10-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

I never made it to Farm Fresh the other day. By the time I got off work, I was exhausted, and nothing was so hot that I couldn't live without.

Today is my birthday. Yay! (I get VERY excited about birthdays, don't mind me! ;-) I was excited about everything I got in the mail in way of free things, but it got even better this morning. I checked my e-mail and had a whole new slew of coupons. Aaaaah, what a great day! ;-) I've mentioned a few things that I got, but let me tell you, even if you have everything go into a junk e-mail account, you should sign up for stores' newsletters! I got things from Victoria's Secret, The Limited, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, Coldstone, Dairy Queen, Carraba's, Sears, etc. That's just what I can remember.

I went to Target this morning after my mom and I went to Peninsula Pet Pantry's yard, book, and bake sale. I got a couple of books and made a donation. Back to Target--it was a madhouse! However, it still was better than Wal-Mart. My Target has a lot of things on clearance right now, and I've gotten some good deals this week. Pictures later, but I got Woolite Dark Wash for around $5, marked down from $11. I bought 3 bottles. I use that on my dress pants, because, well, as much as I pay for them, they better stay looking good! There were also some other odds and ends things. There were still a ton of Halloween things left today, so I'm hoping for a good clearance selection come Monday. Or so I can at least snag plates and napkins cheap for next year. I'm not so much interested in the candy, mainly because come this evening I will have had 3 birthday cakes and will need to lay off sugar for the next year or so to make up for it. Ha!

Besides that, I didn't set foot in a drug store this week. I went to Target and I did drop in Kroger, but the trip wasn't real successful. As in, the only thing I really remember buying was bananas. See, not real exciting. :-)

I'm off to read my mail. And then watch Hoarders. Yay. My sister bought me season 1 for my birthday. Such a good sister!!

MIA

2010-10-27T07:51:00.000-04:00

I realize I've been MIA this week. Is it already Wednesday? I shopped Friday and Saturday and was like a zombie on Sunday. Years ago I went with one of my friends on a shopping trip where we hit 6 malls in 1 day. This year my mom, sister, and I hit 4 malls in 2 days, and it took an extra day to recover. Ha!

I'm heading out to Farm Fresh this evening after work. My refrigerator doesn't look bad, but I'm having my family over for Halloween dinner, so I need to pick up some things for that. I went to Target on Monday and stocked up on a few things--I'll talk about that later.

Hope the week is treating you well!

A Wreck and Recipes

2010-10-19T13:15:00.000-04:00

Nothing exciting on the home front. My husband and I were rear-ended in my car on Saturday. Last time we were rear-ended he was driving my car, too. I told him to mess up his own! He did--once.

Insurance, car rentals, car repairs, what fun. No one was hurt, thankfully, just inconvenienced.

I'm trying to not spend money this week since I'm going shopping this weekend. I did buy myself a birthday present from my husband this past Sunday--a wireless printer. I have a laptop and having to go connect with the printer every single time was old. Too much exercise, anyway. This one also has a scanner in it, so I can help my dad scan all the magazine articles that he's been collecting forever. So happy early birthday to me! :-)

My mom, sister, and I are going to Richmond Friday and Saturday for girls' time for my birthday. It's going to be cool weather, pretty sights, great shopping, lots of fun. I'll be sure to share pictures!

We've been doing good eating at home this week. Granted, it's only Tuesday, but that's besides the point. I made potato soup last night, we're having chicken, green beans, and french fries tonight, sweet and sour meatballs with some kind of potato side tomorrow, and probably the rest of the potato soup Thursday night. Guess who's still trying to think of ways to use all those potatoes she bought?

In the meantime, laundry awaits me today, so I'm off to do that. Hope everyone's having a great week!

Picking Up a Pumpkin

2010-10-16T09:56:00.000-04:00

The free pumpkins were a good size. You just had to sign your life away to get one, but that's besides the fact. No, not really, you just had to sign an info sheet and tell them how you found out about it.

The little patch:

That's Daisy, the Vomiting Princess on the right.

Highway made sure there were no pumpkin pieces going to waste on the kitchen floor while Jimmy was carving out the pumpkin.

The finished product, which obviously needs a dentist.

It Was All Going So Well...

2010-10-15T16:38:00.000-04:00

Today was a good day at work. I got to the early meeting on time, I got my work done, I didn't eat another cupcake. Then I left work and went to try out a new hair salon where walk-ins are welcome. I didn't have to wait at all and got a great, cute haircut! I got home and my dogs were happy to see me and my house was somewhat cleaned (Jimmy was off today). I got some nice things in the mail and only 1 bill. That was for the Sunday newspaper that brings my coupons so I don't mind seeing that bill. I checked my e-mail in peace...

Then I got up to go to the bathroom and it was all over. Daisy, my female dog (I'll have to find the picture of when she was a strawberry for Halloween to post) woke up vomiting this morning and although the back door was open while I was in the bedroom checking my e-mail, she vomited ALL over the living room floor. For some reason, 1 day a month she vomits all day long, seems pitiful, and then the next day is completely over it. Thankfully the living room floor is tile, only I then remembered my mop was broken. I'm not sure why I still have it as I hate when people keep things that don't work, but I digress. Four Swiffer Wet Jet pads later and I decided I needed a real, honest to goodness mop.

That, of course, meant a trip to Target. I think Target was beginning to miss me, anyway. Needless to say, one mop turned into 24 items and $79. I did save $35, though! I had found that our dog treat pile was getting low and I had a coupon from Purina that's going to expire in a couple of weeks, so I got those. They had Woolite dark wash on clearance for $7.62 so I got some more of that as I only have about 2 more loads left in my current bottle. I decided to get a replacement pad for the mop I bought which was $5. The mop was $10. Guess who threw things in the buggy without looking at the price when I got to the mop aisle? Why is the replacement so expensive? Heck, I'd put so much else in my buggy I was just happy I had remembered the mop!

I check out, feeling pretty happy, and then I notice it's gotten dark outside. It's raining. There went my cute, professionally styled hair in about 20 seconds. So my picking out a free pumpkin pictures are no longer going to be as wonderful as I imagined. (By the way, since I posted that yesterday I got an e-mail today saying they are only giving away the free pumpkins on Friday evenings now. I'm not sure if that's because they're running out of pumpkins or because there wasn't much interest.)

I guess I really do have a Friday Fails story now!

Fall Tour

2010-10-14T18:34:00.003-04:00

I finally broke out my fall decorations today. Take a tour of my living room with me.

I got these candles at Yankee Candle last year. They're white, but when the wax starts dripping it drips red, like blood.

I got this at TJ Maxx. I love their holiday selections. There are also smiling ghosts on here. Nice and happy. :-)

So cute. I got these at CVS this year. This is what they are supposed to look like. Jimmy likes to move the accessories around.

This is the magazine rack I snagged for $12 on clearance. I watched this baby for quite a while. Can you believe the original price was $120? And that it's still $60 on their website? Sheesh! Now if I can get him to move the tv stand so it can sit nicely, that would be great.

This was a treat at work today, made at the Hilton Bakery. There were some cute cupcakes! This was definitely the least pretty of the bunch (but still really pretty!), but it's red velvet, so I wasn't going to pass it up! I didn't have my camera at work to get a shot of the rest.

Hope you've enjoyed your tour!

We're going to get our free pumpkin at Peninsula Town Center tomorrow. The picture in the e-mail (above) shows full size pumpkins, so we'll see what they actually give us.

Pumpkin Patch in Town Square

October 8th - October 31st

Monday - Friday 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Saturday - Sunday 2:00 - 6:00 PM

Visit our Pumpkin Patch in Town Square! One free pumpkin per guest.

"I Think I Have a Fear of Touching Raw Vegetables"

2010-10-13T18:34:00.000-04:00

Jimmy's grocery trip was mostly successful. He let me know he got everything on the list except the vegetables. He calls me and tells me "I think I have a fear of touching raw vegetables." What in the world? He tells me he picked up something and immediately started itching all over. Ends up it was collards, so I told him to just not pick them up. He is allergic to mango skin, so this is believable, but I guess he thought he had a fear of it because it was so immediate. Silly Jimmy.

Then he told me this old lady had to laugh at him. He called me at work to ask what kind of cake mix to get since they didn't have German chocolate. I did put on the list that he could get whatever kind if they didn't have it, but he told the lady after he got off the phone that he wanted to check with me so he didn't get beaten when he got home. The lady laughed and looked at his list and coupons and asked did he now appreciate his wife more?

I didn't get pictures of everything. There are two bags of potatoes (I guess he could touch them since they were in bags already), two cans of cinnamon rolls, and two cans of crescent rolls that didn't make the pictures.

Excuse the mess in the background. I wish I had a good excuse for it, but I really don't. :-)

He saved $19.30 with coupons and paid $49.90 out of pocket.

I didn't specify a couple of things so he got the more expensive versions, but did tell me that had I not specified Old El Paso refried beans on the list he could have gotten me the store brand cheaper.

I won't break it all down because it's a lot, but I'm happy I got a break from grocery shopping one week! He did so well I might have to send him again...

Empty Refrigerator

2010-10-13T07:24:00.000-04:00

I am way behind on shopping this week. Monday afternoon was busy, yesterday I was in bed with a migraine, I work late today, here's hoping I get some done tomorrow. Thankfully, Rite Aid is really the only place on my list. And Farm Fresh.

Farm Fresh, however, is Jimmy's job today. We are completely out of milk. I have given him a list with coupons attached, so I'll let you know later how it goes. ;-) Remember they are doubling coupons up to $1 today, and they have had some great deals lately! Don't buy all the milk before Jimmy gets there, though!

My refrigerator looks kind of empty. I think it's because he finally drank the rest of the Sobe. That was tucked into every nook and cranny. Also, he's eaten down some of the yogurt. My shelves need to be full again!

He did go to get some rice out of the cabinet yesterday and said, "Wow, I didn't know we had all this food down here!" And I wanted to say, "Wow, welcome to this house! You're in charge of dinner for a week." But I didn't. :-)

Who, Me?

2010-10-11T07:49:00.000-04:00

MIA? Me? Ha! I had a list of things I needed to run and get Saturday, but nothing on that list got accomplished. It was all good, though, as they didn't get done because I was tired from doing two charity walks. I'd much rather do good that way as nothing on my list was for other people!

First, my mom, sister, and I headed up to Richmond for the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) walk. It was a sunny (hot) day, with the best turnout yet (over 800 people)!

Then I came home and tried to take a nap. You'd think with football on that would have been easy. I mean, it puts me to sleep at night when my husband is watching it. But, no, no nap for me. Later that evening my mom, sister, and I again headed out with my coworkers for the Light the Night Leukemia and Lymphoma Walk. This time it was at City Center in Newport News. Such a pretty place.

Yesterday I cut coupons, vacuumed every inch of my living room, dining room, and kitchen (it is all tile), vacuumed the guest room and am still unsuccessfully trying to get the smell of dog vomit out of there (thanks, Daisy). I need to clean the rest of my downstairs so I can have a professional come out and clean it.

The only good thing I have found is a Refresh Air candle I bought on clearance at Target a while back. It does what it says--it is odor neutralizing. At least while burning, and you know what, as long as I can buy some more, I'm happy until I get that professional out here. I have Blooming Orchid.

Ooooh, and I finally found some Seventh Generation Free and Clear products! When in Richmond I remembered there was a Whole Foods, so we stopped there and I got two bottles. That should hopefully last me until we go back up to Richmond for birthday weekend in two weeks. I'm going to do a big stock up then. I used their store locator on the SG website, but only one store actually had any Free and Clear products, and those were dish soap and laundry detergent.

The plan today is to make it to Rite Aid, CVS, and Target after work, so if all goes according to plan, I'll have trip details later. We'll see. ;-)

Friday Already?

2010-10-08T07:30:00.000-04:00

And I don't mean already like I'm bummed! This week has been a whirlwind. I vaguely remember it involving a money-making trip to Rite Aid, a so-so trip to Farm Fresh, asparagus, lots of cereal, and lots of work. Yep, that's about it in a nutshell. Pictures later. :)

Doing Good

2010-10-05T19:38:00.000-04:00

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month (among other things: National Liver Awareness Month, Celiac Awareness, Healthy Lung Month, National Orthodontic Health, National Down Syndrome Awareness, National Spina Bifida Awareness, Lupus Awareness, Rett Syndrome Awareness Month, BackCare Awareness Week, and Mental Illness Awareness Week, as well as World Mental Health Day, National Depression Screening Day, Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, World Food Day, International Osteoporosis Day, and International Stuttering Awareness Day -- source),
SC Johnson is giving you the chance to show your support and in turn they will show theirs. You can "Pink Your Profile" on Facebook, and for every picture that is "pinked" they will donate $1.00 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Fall Is Definitely Here

2010-10-05T08:01:00.000-04:00

Ummm, BRRR! Fall hit with a vengeance! Time to switch out the clothes in my closet and put away the flip flops. Yipee!

You do realize now, that there are less than 100 days until Christmas, right? How's it coming along? I need to pull out my winter decorations and take inventory of the Christmas gifts I bought on clearance last year and packed up with the decorations. I've been buying small things throughout the year so my bank account doesn't go crazy all at once. I keep all the gifts together, make a list of what I have, and then wait until the last minute to wrap them. I get credit for at least buying early, right? Actually, I put off wrapping presents. Call me crazy, but I like looking at what I've bought people. To be honest, I just like everything about this time of year. Especially if there is snow. :-)

This afternoon my mom and I are going Christmas shopping. Well, she's going birthday shopping, but I'm doing Christmas shopping. I haven't been able to find the item I'm looking for for my sister, so I'm hoping a different mall will have it. I'm not sure if this is something carried all the time or not, so I'd just feel better getting it now, assuming I can find it.

Okay, I'll cut back on the caffeine and go to work now.

Hitting the Sales

2010-10-04T17:18:00.000-04:00

The yard sale went well. The rain stopped long enough to have a great day. It came back again yesterday and today. Thursday morning the schools had a 2 hour delay because of the rain. My house is getting back to normal, so I'm happy about that!

After work today, I ran by CVS and Target.

First, you will notice that I'm in a snacking mood today. Don't judge. PMS happens.

All Crayola at CVS is B1G1 50% off this week. I've been looking at this 3D Sidewalk Chalk at Target for a while now for Jimmy's cousin for Christmas. (We'll not talk about then I went to Target and all their Crayola chalk items are on clearance.)

The dry erase crayons are probably going to be better received than dry erase markers, so I got those to go with the $2 dry erase removable sticky pad I found clearanced at Target a couple of weeks ago.

All in all, with my $5/$25 coupon I spent $16.04 out of pocket and got back a $9 ECB for the Revlon.

I forgot to take my ECBs from last week with me, so I had a higher out of pocket. It happens.

Where was the glass cleaner when I had a coupon last month?

The Spongebob and Diego books were clearanced to .88 cents each. Again, going in kids' Christmas presents.

Funny thing about the Golden Grahams:

12 oz was $2.54

16 oz was $2.39

These were the regular prices, not that one was on sale. Obviously, I bought the 16 oz.

Select ice cream items are Buy 5, get a $5 giftcard.

Since I was going to buy 1, why not buy 5?

Remember, we're not judging. ;)

I am running to Rite Aid tomorrow. I'm going out to dinner with friends tonight, and my Rite Aid seems to close really early. I was going to go earlier but didn't have my Up Rewards with me. The story of my unorganized day.

Luckily there are about 5 Rite Aids in a 2 mile radius of me (not kidding!), so I think I'll be able to get the Schick razors, Nivea chapstick and Viva Paper towels. I'm hoping anyway.

I'd been saving my $2 Video Values coupon for Banana Boat sunscreen until it goes on clearance. I skipped a couple of weeks at RA and when I went back in at the end of last week they only had 4 bottles of sunscreen left. Total. Of course those were RA brand, so my coupons weren't any good, but I was amazed at how quickly the sunscreen was scooped up. I didn't pursue more than one store as it was going to be a good deal if they had it, but not a search around for it. However, the deals this week definitely will be!

Advantages of Having a Birthday

2010-09-30T07:34:00.000-04:00

I was going to title this advantages of getting older, but beyond turning 16 and being able to drive, what advantage is there? Right.

My birthday is at the end of October and my mailbox is filling up with goodies! My mom, sister, and I spend the night at a hotel in another city for our birthdays and have girls' time. We usually go shopping, eat a lot, and just hang out. So these mall coupons I get are going to be used for sure! So far I have received (mainly all from shopping at their stores, even just once a year!)

- Free Starbucks drink. Venti Pumpkin Spice Cream Based Frappucino, anyone?
- $15 Victoria's Secret Giftcard
- $15 off any purchase made with The Limited card this month. In the past it's been a $10 giftcard, but this works, too, as I'll get points for using my card.
- and 25% off any Gap purchase when you use your Gap card. Don't they know I currently have a 30% off coupon? Oh well.

My husband doesn't get why I get so excited for birthdays. Maybe if he got stuff like this in the mail he'd get excited! :)

In other news, it has been raining cats and dogs here the last few days. I didn't even go to Farm Fresh yesterday because I was done being out in the rain. That, and the deals were good, but not spectacular. Not great enough to get me out there.

Yard sale preparations are moving along. The forecast is showing a sunny day for Saturday, so let's hope the weatherman is right!

Rite Aid and Candy Corn

2010-09-28T18:19:00.001-04:00

Whew, it's a busy week! My spare bedroom is still a nightmare as it has yard sale items in it. It's an organized chaos, but chaos nonetheless.

I made a quick trip to Rite Aid this week because I found out the Nexxus deal was going to get even better! It is B1G1 50% off this week, there is a $6/2 Video Values coupon, AND if you were lucky enough to snag one of those elusive coupon books from the store a couple of months back, another $2 off coupon. When you spend $20 you get a $7 Up Reward. After everything, I got $32 worth of shampoo (one 33 oz bottle and a shampoo with free conditioner pack) for $11. Of course I still used a $5/$25 coupon, but put some more things in the buggy, so that discount kind of disappeared. ;)

My memory card is still not inputting, but I'll show you a picture of what I'm going to be working on:

Of course I'd like to think it's not nearly as much work as it really is going to be. Here is the link with the instructions.

Also while at Rite Aid, I ran across some 75% off Starbucks coffee. $9.49 bags for $2.37? I think that if you're getting a Christmas present from me, you can be pretty confident it's going to include Starbucks (well, assuming you like coffee :)). Plus, making it even better is that when you finish the coffee bag, you can take it to a Starbucks store and get a free tall coffee!

I also got two bags of candy corn for said wreath and some feminine hygeine products. I paid with $11 worth of Up Rewards, spent $11.30 out of pocket and got back $8 in Up Rewards for the next great sales week.

Then I ran to Farm Fresh to grab some crab legs and margarine. That was $17. It's so weird to walk out with 3 items for that much vs. last week when I spent $40 and got 50+ items.

Speaking of Farm Fresh, even though it wasn't advertised yet this week, the cashier said their new policy is .99 doubles everyday and $1 doubles every Wednesday. It had been like that the past few months on and off, but she said it's standard now. You better believe Wednesday is going to be my official grocery day. Boring, yes, but worth it? Absolutely.

Rite Aid October Video Values

2010-09-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

I knew I was forgetting something. The October Video Values are up. Looks like some really good coupons this month!

Weekend Rundown

2010-09-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

Friday was a blur. It feels like so long ago. I know I went to work and went to City Hall to get a garage sale permit.

Yesterday morning our work had a carwash to benefit one of our coworkers who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. Then lunch with the golfers (my dad and husband), laundry, gathering and dusting off items for next Saturday's yard sale (my spare bedroom looks like a warehouse), then it hit. A horrible migraine. So I did nothing for the next 4 hours besides take a pill, ice my neck, take a hot bath (I don't think that helped, but it was relaxing :)), and drink a Monster Energy drink. Darn thing put quite a stitch in my plans. I was going to get more housework done and then we were going to have dinner with friends, but neither happened.

So then the energy drink kicked in at 3 am. I was using it for the caffeine to kick out the migraine, which did not work, instead it had me up and ready to tackle anything at 3 am. Instead, I stayed in bed and made lists in my head until 6 am when I finally fell back asleep.

Famous last words, but the only "usual" shopping I plan to do this week besides hit up Farm Fresh on Wednesday to get some scent free Seventh Generation products (more on that in a minute) is go to CVS. When you buy $25 in select P&G products you can get an Iron Man 2 DVD for $4.99. Of course I have coupons and can stockpile some tp and paper towels. In the listing done in my head last night, that with my CVS coupon will mean I pay $11 for everything, including the DVD. The DVD will go with Jimmy's Christmas present and I can check one more thing off the list.

Remember when I bought 12 bottles of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day All Purpose Cleaner? Okay, I only showed you 4 bottles, but I went back two more times over the next two weeks. Thank goodness I bought so many, because I went to the website last night and found they now only carry fragrance-free laundry detergent. Thankfully Seventh Generation has a Free & Clear line so I'm going to stock up on some at FF this Wednesday, because of course I have a coupon. They constantly have coupons available on their website (love that!). I used their Lemongrass & Thyme wipes yesterday but the scent still bothered me. Jimmy is happy about this because he said the wipes smell like a mixture of a cab and camel butt.

That, in a nutshell, is the current excitement in my life. After lunch my mom and I are working more on the yard sale and then I'm coming home for an early bedtime. I'm thinking 7 pm sounds nice.

Daggone computer

2010-09-23T15:42:00.000-04:00

Okay, well, you'll have to see my pictures later. My memory card will not input into my laptop. Sigh. This better not mean my laptop is about to bite the dust! We already had a near miss once this year, I have other plans for my yard sale profit that do not include purchasing a new computer. Okay, well, I have no plans, but I definitely do not want to spend money on a new computer.

Anywho, Farm Fresh has really been stepping it up lately! Their $1 doubles have been really great. I spent $44.41 before tax, and saved a total of $58.03 which was a 57% savings. I got to use those $3 off Wisk coupons that are expiring soon to get 32 load bottles for $1.50 each. Guess what I'm doing this weekend? Yep, washing everything in my house! I have enough laundry detergent, you know.

I went to Target this afternoon. Gulp. The good news is I saved $15.67 plus got a lot of items on clearance, so probably saved close to $40 when you figure that in. The bad news? I spent $64. Holy cow. I did get back a $5 Target giftcard, though, does that count? Also, about $15 was Christmas presents. See, it doesn't look so bad now!

Time to pull out the fall decorations. Might as well make him pull out the Christmas tree while we're in there, see if it should go in the trash now. However today does not feel like fall. It is 90 some degrees outside. The back door is open, the AC is on and The Rachel Zoe Project is on my tv.

I'll try to get my laptop to behave and post pics and details later.

Farm Fresh Doubles

2010-09-22T08:15:00.000-04:00

I'm having a slow start to a very busy day. Oh boy.

Remember today is $1 doubles at Farm Fresh. A Full Cup has the sales ad matched up for you. You can click on shopping list and it will give you a printable version, where you can click just what you're interested in. I'm going to try to get out there for a few minutes today. Believe it or not, we're running low on milk. At this point it may be cheaper to just buy a cow.

Hope you all have a great day! :)

Busy Weekend

2010-09-19T17:33:00.000-04:00

What a fun, but busy weekend! It started Friday evening with date night. Friday was 6 years since my husband and my first date, so he took me out for a fancy dinner. We went to The Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg. Unfortunately, they have recently changed ownership and it wasn't nearly as good as it was before. :( They no longer offer the seasonal special dinner option, and it seemed a bit more expensive, too. We now have to find a new special occasion spot.

He got steak and I got rainbow trout.

Saturday he went golfing and I slept in. After lunch he took me to the library's used book sale. I scored pretty well, spending a total of $8.50 out of pocket for everything.

Hopefully I can get a book or two read before my yard sale in two weeks so I can turn around and get rid of it. We wouldn't want Jimmy thinking I'm a hoarder or anything...

Today I made cupcakes for dessert after lunch. The homemade buttercream frosting was a little runny, but, again, we've discussed my lack of culinary skills already.

After lunch my mom and I tackled some pulling of garage sale items. We should have a good little sale. I told Jimmy that I'm selling off things so he can move the new things I've bought!

Now I'm at home being a golf widow again. I'm taking a break from reading magazines and the dogs are napping, so it's a nice, quiet afternoon. At least until he gets home and starts yelling at the tv/football game. Will he ever realize they can't hear him? :)

Orange Cream and Other Ramblings

2010-09-16T19:29:00.000-04:00

Freezer cooking has come to a halt. Mainly due to my finding other things to do. Yesterday it was watching tv, today it was reading magazines. Marie Claire, House Beautiful, OK Magazine (don't judge! ;)). Maybe tomorrow I'll get it done.

I made a quick trip to TJ Maxx today to look for a small whisk. I did not find one, but I found Orange Cream Soda. Yum!

I also found another Santoku knife. I love my Santoku knife and am planning on buying a Kapoosh knife block as I don't use but two of the knives in my current block set as frankly, they're not really good knives.

I ran to Farm Fresh for $1 doubles yesterday after work. I spent $17 and saved $23. Disclaimer: I am in no way endorsed by either ADA--the American Dental Association or the American Dietary Association. Ha!

I was able to "cherry pick" this week to get just the deals, with the exception of milk. Once your stockpile is in place, you can shop just to get the deals. Of course you have to make sure you'll eat it, or it's not a deal if you're just wasting money. I guarantee those Cinnabon bars won't make it near the expiration date!

CVS Trip

2010-09-14T20:12:00.000-04:00

The magic coupon machine (love that thing!) spit out a $1 off 12 oz Starbucks coffee coupon. The coffee is on sale this week for 6.99. I was also using a $3/$10 grocery coupon from the CVS coupon machine, so after the 1.88 cereal and the $1 Milano cookies (used two .75 cent off coupons, too), it was all nice and cheap.

I used $10 in ECBs to pay

My total out of pocket before tax was .36 cents and I received back a $2 ECB for the Tylenol Precise

The Starbucks is going in a Christmas gift and the cookies may make it if I hide them. This is what I call Christmas on a budget. :)

Cooking Day Two

2010-09-14T17:56:00.000-04:00

I got a little bit more done today. One recipe did not make the cut and I knew it about the time I got to this part of the directions:

Corn in a blender? Made me want to hurl. Nevertheless, I put the rest of the ingredients together, but the Summer Squash and Corn Chowder didn't make the cut. I tried a bite and it wasn't a winner. Not to say yours won't be, but mine certainly wasn't!

I finished mixing up the cheese balls and made a key lime pie and a pan of cornbread. I have carrot souffle in the oven as we speak and am going to try to put together the vegetable casserole, the quesadillas, and the meatballs later. I figure at least if I don't get the meats done, it's easy to grill some chicken and heat up a side dish. As long as there is something available to eat that is quick, I'm happy.

I had a good CVS trip yesterday, I'll put up the pics later. Right now, the souffle is ready to take out of the oven!

Getting Back To It

2010-09-14T06:57:00.000-04:00

I'd love to say I haven't posted because I've been too busy being productive around my house. Ha! Truth is, I woke up feeling horrible Sunday and then was exhausted yesterday when I got off work. My intentions are to finish up my freezer cooking this evening as I won't have time again otherwise until Friday afternoon. Sigh.

I'll let you know how it goes. :)

So Far, So Good

2010-09-11T17:27:00.000-04:00

With the exception of a quick run to Farm Fresh to buy more Neufchatel cheese and french bread, it's been smooth sailing. I'm taking a break and then we're headed out to dinner with friends. Yes, I realize the irony in stopping my cooking to go eat. :)

So far I've mixed up some Watergate Salad

Mixed up a cheese ball (well, it will make three). I forgot to take a picture but this was the pepper.

Then my quick $16 Farm Fresh trip. I was going to make the pie crust but have no idea where my pie pan is, so I decided to speed things up and just buy a pre-made crust. I hate how the quick trips are always the most expensive! Such as, I was thirsty, so the Gatorade looked really good.

Then I made the One Dish Blackberry French Toast

I'm going to try to tackle some more of the casseroles tonight when it gets cooler and won't be so miserable to run the oven. So far, so good. Oooh, and I've done two loads of laundry in between. Go me. ;)

Jimmy's ~~yelling at the tv~~ watching the Ohio State game, so he's been on doggie duty. It's amazing how much more you can get accomplished when not having to let dogs in, out, up, down every 5 minutes!

Target Trip, Menu Plan

2010-09-11T10:11:00.000-04:00

I should have waited for Jimmy to get home. My total would have been lower.

Silly goose, though, you didn't really think I could go to Target and only get what was on my list, did you?

I figured I needed some containers to store my cooking in, since our plastic containers have vanished as well.

48 load Tide Free & Clear was 30% off, marked down to $7.41, my manufacturer's $1.50 off coupled with a $1.50 Target coupon brought it down to $4.41. I never want to run out of laundry detergent, apparently.

My windows are gnarly looking, so the Windex was clearanced to $9.08 and I used a $3 off coupon.

And while I'm at it I may as well clean my dishwasher (cherry Kool-Aid) and my washing machine (the Clorox).

Mmm, here are the rest of my freezer cooking ingredients, minus chicken. I have to go back to Farm Fresh as Target had tons of turkey, but no chicken.

My total was $66. I plan on the freezer cooking lasting us two weeks, though, so with that and my other totals, it works out to be a lot cheaper than eating out. :)

So today is cooking day. On my agenda is:

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Onion Baked Chicken

Vegetable Casserole

"Senator Russell's Sweet Potato Casserole"

Watergate Salad

Cornbread Dressing

Cheese Ball

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

One Dish Blackberry French Toast

Community Nurse Macaroni and Cheese

Pepper Jack, Chicken, and Peach Quesadillas

Key Lime Pie

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

Spicy Cornbread

and Carrot Souffle'

So after all this work, it better last more than a week! Jimmy will be having his meals rationed.

I'm off to a funeral and then lunch with my parents and Jimmy, but after that, it is down to business! I'll update you later. :)

In Remembrance

2010-09-11T09:44:00.000-04:00

Where Have All The Spoons Gone?

2010-09-10T14:19:00.000-04:00

We currently are only in posession of 5 spoons, total, in our house. If we were missing bowls, too, I'd assume they were together, but we're not missing any bowls. It's one of life's great mysteries.

It's been quiet over here on the home front this week. I've had a wonderful migraine the past few days and get to start on a steroid this afternoon. The only good thing about that is that steroids make me hot as all get out, so I want to keep the house cool for a few weeks. Well, that's not good for me, but Jimmy sure likes it. Usually I keep the house too warm for his liking.

Speaking of Jimmy, we were watching a Hoarders marathon last Sunday, and he told me he thinks I'm a hoarder. Why? Because we have to sleep on piles of trash? Because we trip over things when walking through the house? (Okay, maybe.) No, because this one lady said that once food goes into the freezer the expiration date no longer matters. I tell him that all the time.

I'm going to do some freezer cooking this weekend. I did about half of my shopping, and will get the rest of it at Target this evening. I had good intentions of doing the catalina deal at Farm Fresh and getting $10 off my next purchase to go back and buy some more ingredients, but alas, it did not work out. I didn't end up getting to the store until 7 pm at which point most of what I wanted was sold out.

This is a horrible picture and the Pepsi from Sunday is still on my table, but you get the idea. I spent $30, the majority of that being the V8 juice and milk ($16 right there).

I went to Dean & Don's Farmer's Market yesterday on my way home from work and spent $13 there. The peas alone were $5, but they're so good and worth every penny!

I don't anticipate my Target trip being too expensive. I need to buy some meat and some more milk, but beyond that, everything else I need I can buy in the store brand.

Well, except spoons.

Oh, and a new mop. I poured bleach on my floor Tuesday and then found out my mop is broken. Spring Meadow scent my hiney, it was still strong bleach. I had to use towels to sop up all the bleach. For some reason, our house has light tile with white grout in our family room and dining room. The family room which you have to walk through to get anywhere. Needless to say, my white grout is often a nice shade of off-white. Except by the dogs' bowls where it is just plain brown. They drip water and it is just a mess. I am counting down the days until we move.

Shopping For The Week

2010-09-05T11:40:00.000-04:00

I know, my not going shopping for a long time lasted a grand total of 5 minutes. The deals this week are too hot to pass up, though! I did my shopping in one quick swoop and am done. Assuming nothing else exciting entices me out, anyway.

My total out of pocket for everything was approximately $33 and I'll get most of it back. I've broken it down below.

Walgreens (I hate that they had some good deals this week!)

Pepsi product 2 liters are .88 cents with the in-ad coupon (today and tomorrow only).

When you buy 2 you get 1 free Redbox rental, buy 4 and get 2 free rentals. The coupon with the code prints out at the register. So, $3.52 - $2 rental = $1.52 for 4 sodas.

The Comet was 2/$1 with in-ad coupon

Reese's was just because I was hungry (.79 cents)

Zegerid 14 count is on sale for $10, use the $3 coupon from 08/15 Smart Source, and get a rebate form that prints out at the register for a $10 rebate. Makes it a $3 money maker. Well, less your stamp, but you're still making a good profit.

Total before tax was $11.81. After the rebate and Redbox codes, it was a .19 cent money making trip.

CVS

You can go to My Litter to see all the coupon matchups

The Schick Hydro had a coupon on it for free shave gel when you purchased the razor.

The High Octane energy chews are 1.99 and you get back 1.99 in ECBs all month.

I also used a $5/$30 purchase coupon from an e-mail from CVS.

I used $10.99 in ECBs to pay, spent $2.04 out of pocket (before tax), and received back $12 ECBs for my next purchase.

Again, I spent the most money at Target, mostly because there were a few things that were spur of the moment. I'm having girls night with my mom and sister tonight and my sister asked was I bringing cupcakes. So I bought things to make cupcakes because I'm an awesome sister! :)

I had a $5 manufacturer's coupon for Green Works which expired today and a $3 Target printable from a few weeks ago making the 60 load detergent $3.99

(I'm very well stocked on detergent now!)

The Embark lunchbox was clearanced to $2.78, it has coupons inside and a free 6 month subscription to Parents magazine, or you can get a $4.98 rebate instead. So the lunchbox was a $2.20+ money maker.

Total before tax was $17.15

Baking Day Part 2

2010-09-02T19:49:00.000-04:00

I started out trying to make these Coffee Sugar Cookies. The process went well once I realized the reason the dough was so wet was because I was rolling the dough on my warm stovetop. Duh.

So these were the first few:

The top one looks like it's got it's arms out for help, trying to escape. It got better after a few go rounds, though. I had also read on Janet's blog From Captain's Daughter to Army Mom that you could skip flour and roll your dough between two pieces of wax paper for better taste, but that didn't work for me (the skipping flour). However, you can see why when you compare any of her baking entries compared to this one. Hint: Remember that I had to borrow a cookie cutter and buy a rolling pin.

I also made breakfast muffins which I don't have pictured because my camera battery died before I got that far. Anyway, I'll be lucky if any of what I made today lasts through the weekend. Jimmy has already eaten a few cookies and a muffin since he got home from the gym 20 minutes ago (and he even got a shower in there somewhere.) There's really no point in trying to freeze any.

The cookies were good. I don't care for coffee, but I ate one. I have some to take to work with me tomorrow, and some for Jimmy to take to work with him, if he decides to let them leave the house. I used French Vanilla Eight O'Clock coffee in my cookies. This was mainly a test drive for holiday cooking.

I have a few more things I'll be making this weekend, but they involve a trip to the grocery store which I was hoping to avoid. They look really good, so I will share! :)

Baking Day

2010-09-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

Today has been cooler than I expected. Of course 88 degrees isn't really cool, but it sure beats 100. I didn't go to Rite Aid, I was waiting on a response from corporate that wasn't what I was hoping for. Some of the stores have a two pack of Nexxus shampoo for $9.99. There was also a $2 off Nexxus coupon in the Rite Aid store coupon book, and you could get a $10 Up Reward for buying $20 of Nexxus products. At CVS, if you're within cents of the total your ECB will print up, but Rite Aid corporate said it has to be $20 to the penny for the Up Reward to print. Poo. I'll just wait for CVS to run my shampoo on clearance again. Speaking of CVS, I was really excited to get a $5/30 coupon in my email today. I haven't had one in a couple of weeks, and there are a lot of good sales going on next week!

With it being cooler, I decided to do some cooking. I washed the dust off of everything in my kitchen and set to it. First, I threw together some Texas Caviar. Then I looked at my tortilla chips stash. We have 1/3 of a bag left. Dang. Note the Sobe I have stocked in my crisper. CVS is going to have it B1G1 free again next week. I refuse to pay full price! Well, until I have to, anyway.

Then I made up some Frosty Paws. I didn't have much yogurt left so it only made 4 cups, but that will tide my spoiled dogs over until I go to the store again. You know, in a few weeks. They don't look appetizing (of course my presentation leaves a lot to be desired), but my dogs gobble them up.

By the way, I didn't really like the Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino ice cream. Has anyone else tried it?

I made green bean casserole and baked some honey ginger marinated chicken for dinner. I have some dough setting in the refrigerator and some more baking planned for this evening. More updates later.

Nutrients

2010-09-01T19:34:00.001-04:00

Lest it seem like we subsist only on sugar, I have a picture of real food. With color and nutrients. Oooh, aaah.

Sorry it's such a bad picture, but you get the idea. I was trying to tend to hungry dogs, too. My total was $23, which is a lot for so few things, but nothing was on sale (besides .50 cents off two Market Pantry cheeses) and I hope to not step foot into another store again for a couple of weeks. Well, besides running to Rite Aid again tomorrow. Beyond that, though, I am not going to a store! (Ok, I lied. I might go to TJ Maxx.) I even skipped Farm Fresh $1 doubles today because I was wilting in the heat. I had to pick up a prescription at Target, so grabbed what I needed while in there.

By the way, I still have not done any baking. My rolling pin is sitting, untouched, on my counter. Sigh.

Restaurant Coupons

2010-08-31T21:34:00.000-04:00

I have got to go to bed soon. I am wide awake and this is going to make for a long night. Yes, I go to bed early. I like to have 9 hours of sleep. 8 is not enough.

However, another deal before I rest. Go here to sign up for Chili's and Maggiano's e-mail club and you'll receive coupons: $5/2 entrees at Chili's and $10 off at Maggiano's. Mmmm, Maggiano's! My mom and I made the mistake once of each eating an entree and then each of us ordering a dessert for ourselves. Can we say holy huge chocolate cake piece?

Thanks, STL Mommy!

Walgreens & Rite Aid Trip 08/31

2010-08-31T18:39:00.000-04:00

Yes, you read that right. My trip back to Walgreens was successful (though they still need to throw out their cash registers and start again, and they need a better labeling system). Since I felt slightly embarrassed about my passive aggressive e-mail to corporate and didn't know how much of it the manager had seen, I felt I should throw a few more things in the buggy. See, I'm not as rought around the edges as you'd think based on my post about Walgreens!

To let you know what happened, apparently the Celsius energy drinks are on sale B1G1 50% off (of course this was not marked and is STILL NOT marked, but let's not talk about that), so they ring up as 7.99 + 3.99 = 12.00 (approx), less $3 September coupon book x 2 = $6.00. My two $3 manufacturer's coupons were making it equal $0 which you know the Walgreens cash registers hate. The manager did adjust them both so I only paid 2 cents, due to my issue the other day. I have heard Walgreens corporate is not very customer friendly, but I was very pleased with the response and them fixing the situation. I wrote them back to let them know the situation had been taken care of, but that their cash registers leave a lot to be desired. I also apologized to the manager and told her the cash registers suck, which she said to trust her, they knew.

Anyway, here's my $12 trip (and I got $2 RR for the Carmex)

Then I went over to Rite Aid where I love, love, love the employees. One of the managers opened up a line for me as I'd put two people in front of me because I had so many coupons. I don't like being the person holding up the line when there's only one open register.

Another reason my store rocks is because they have great clearance. Maybe every location does, but I love browsing theirs. Even if some of the same things have been on clearance for like 3 months now. Seriously, I have seen the same Gillette shampoo for $2.99 at least since June. Maybe longer.

Today's great finds were: the Perfect 10 hair color. I was going to buy some anyway as my highlights have grown out, so $5.99 less a $2 coupon is much better than $80 at the salon. Or $11.99 full price. ;)

Then the Symphony bars!! They were just marked clearance, so I was fine if they were even 50% off which would have made then .44 cents each. But they were .22 cents each. So I bought 12. Don't worry, they're not going straight to my hips, they're going in gifts. By the way, there were a ton of them left, so 12 didn't even begin to deplete their stock.

In total, after my $5/25 Video Values coupon and the other coupons (including $5 in Up Rewards), I spent $5.16 before tax. I got back $1 Up Reward for the cereal.

By the way, the sales ad states 40 count Dixie plates, but the picture is of the 45 count. All the Dixie and Vanity Fair products were marked as $1.99 at my store. Anyway, in the coupon book at the front of the store there is a $1 off any Dixie product coupon which makes your 45 count plates .99 cents!

Rite Aid Trip and a Trip to Walgreens

2010-08-31T15:07:00.003-04:00

I know what I said, no more Walgreens, but I'm going back one last time to get cheap Celsius. After writing that letter I had a message on my answering machine from that manager I dealt with Sunday to please contact the store so they could resolve my issue. So I'm hiking my fanny back to the store tonight with my coupons and a copy of the corporate coupon policy in hand. And maybe I'll take Jimmy in case he needs to pull me out of the store. Kidding on the last part.
Mostly.

So I was organizing my paper clutter yesterday so I could find my RA receipt. It was in my purse the whole time. I had a doctor's appointment today so had time to clean out the black hole that is my purse. I also found a whole bunch more coupons today that were stuffed into the "bill basket." That got cleaned out, too.

That Target giftcard? $25 FREE from using MyPoints. MyPoints is one of those get points web deals like Swagbucks, except MyPoints has surveys and sends you e-mail offers also. I rarely sign up for the e-mail offers, but you get 5 points even if you just click on the e-mail. Pretty awesome for a few seconds every day. The one advantage over Swagbucks is that you get a physical giftcard whereas Swagbucks gives you an online code. So the giftcard is going into my giftcard pile to save for Black Friday. Last year I want to say you got a $10 giftcard when you spent $100 that day, so my mom and I combined our orders to get up to $100. Much easier to spend $100 out of pocket when you already have $25 free to use towards it.

But on to Rite Aid. I know, it seemed like I'd never get here!

There were also Orange Slices that my mom threw in the buggy, along with her Tide that she took home so didn't make it in the picture. Again, we combined our purchase to get up to $20 so I could use my $4/20 Video Values coupon.

The Febreze Noticeables refill was clearanced to $2.79 (reg $5.59) and I used a $1 off coupon

Tide was on sale for $5.99 (reg $9.99) and I used a $1 off coupon and got back a $1 Up Reward

I'll also get back $1.99 Single Rebate Check for the Nivea lip gloss, and I got a $1 Up Reward

The Nivea body wash was $3 less a $1 coupon, and I got a $2 Up Reward

I used a $4/20 Video Values coupon bringing my out of pocket to $10.38 before tax.

After SRC and Up Rewards, I spent approximately $4.38

I'm headed back in a little while to get some cheap cereal and perhaps some Nexxus shampoo. I like my staff at Rite Aid, so I'll keep taking my business there... ahem, Walgreens.

Organizing

2010-08-30T14:34:00.000-04:00

I'm so behind on my coupon organization. This is a picture of the chaos that I am attacking this afternoon. In my air conditioned house. Thank God for AC because it is 97 degrees outside!

Whenever I find my Rite Aid receipt in all this chaos, I'll post my trip from yesterday. It's Monday, I can't remember much of anything, especially something from yesterday! ;)

Later this evening I am going to attempt some cookies so this should be interesting. Let's start by saying I had to borrow a cookie cutter from my mom and go buy a rolling pin. This, my friends, is how little I bake.

The Final Straw!

2010-08-29T20:45:00.000-04:00

Today was the final straw at Walgreens! I don't care if they start handing out $100 bills to everyone who walks through their door, I am done. Jimmy and I went to buy some Celcius energy drinks. They were priced at $7.99, there was a $3 Walgreens Sept coupon booklet coupon, and I had a $3 manufacturer's coupon. The manufacturer's coupon, as it has done before, did not scan, but instead of typing in the numbers on the coupon, the assistant manager told me I couldn't use two coupons. I told her I could, as the coupon booklet coupon is considered a Walgreens coupon and not a manufacturer's coupon. Then she changed her story and told me that I couldn't have a $0 balance. I told her I wouldn't, as I would still owe $1.99, but she told me no, she couldn't ring it through. I asked her could she then reduce the price of the coupon so that I would owe something. (My blood pressure is rising at this point.) She said, no, she couldn't, even though their coupon policy clearly states that they can. I told her what the corporate coupon policy said, but she told me she still couldn't do it. At this point I probably sighed loudly and told her to never mind and to please give me my coupons back.

Then I went to Rite Aid where I had a successful trip, nothing was an issue, and the cashier was pleasant. In between, of course, I wrote Walgreens a scathing letter. For every 10 visits, only 1 is issue-free and/or has a nice cashier. I am done with them, RA and CVS can get all my business.

I'll cover the RA trip tomorrow. I'm up in bed already and didn't take a picture. Where did the weekend go?? I hardly got anything on my to-do list accomplished!

CVS Trip 08/26

2010-08-26T18:42:00.000-04:00

I made it into CVS today. Mainly because we needed milk for the macaroni and cheese we were having for dinner, but I figured I'd go ahead and do my shopping.

If I have a guilty pleasure, it's definitely bad tv. You know, Real Housewives of wherever, Teen Mom, The Rachel Zoe Project. Bazaar has a photo spread with Rachel Zoe in it, so Bazaar mag made it into my basket. The Wendy's giftcard was something I'd needed to buy as a gift for a few weeks now, the Listerine had an ECB offer and I had a $5 off coupon when you bought 3 Listerine, Reach, or Rembrant products. I'm not sure where I got the coupon from, but it's been in my binder for at least 3 months, and I finally got to use it! The Reach floss was clearanced, so after the ECBs, it was a $1 moneymaker. That paid for a portion of my magazine, right? ;)

After my coupon and using $6 ECBs my out of pocket was $17. Not bad considering $15 was a giftcard. So this wasn't exactly my shopping list, but it works for me!

Restaurant.com 80% Off

2010-08-26T07:34:00.000-04:00

What a long week! I've gone to work and then come home and crashed. I still need to make it to CVS, I might have time on my lunch break to do that today. I can't even remember what I was getting--good thing I make my lists on Sunday evenings when I can think. :)

In the meantime, Restaurant.com is having their 80% off sale until 08/31. If you don't find anything this time, the restaurants change occasionally and the 80% off sale pops up a lot. I've bought quite a few certificates off there and never had a problem redeeming them. It's a good way to try somewhere new for cheap, or eat somewhere you know you like cheap, too. Right now, use code CLEARANCE to get your discount.

Headaches and More Fun

2010-08-23T15:41:00.001-04:00

Ugh. My migraine has subsided, so I'll try to update now. :)

I'm not going to recap my Target trip from Saturday morning because it's not really that exciting, it was mainly things we needed (carpet cleaner, Band-Aids, fruit, bread, etc), no fabulous deals.

I will show you the cute things I got at Hallmark, though. My local store has their clearance marked down to 75% off, and I was in desperate need of gift coverings of some sort that weren't for Valentine's Day.

Isn't that elephant gift box so cute? Luckily I have somewhere to store all this, as I have no one in particular to give a gift to in that box until our friends' baby's first birthday next year. What can I say? I like to be prepared! I've had some of this years' Christmas presents since Dec 26 of last year. Where to store them? Pack them up with your Christmas decorations. They'll be ready and out of the way.

I have the perfect friend to give this bag to! The ribbon and shred paper will be used with my wonderful cupcakes and cookies that I apparently plan to make up. Oh, I'm such an optimist! I probably should start baking now so I can have it down by Christmas. Haha.

In total, I spent about $7 on my whole Hallmark purchase.

Speaking of Christmas, Jimmy has informed me he thinks he broke our Christmas tree putting it in storage last year. I told him that was fine, I'll let him know where the best deal on the prettiest tree is for him to get up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday! Let me tell you about the nightmare of buying it in the first place. Sears had a pretty tree on sale a few years ago for $99 on Black Friday. They had a $10 off coupon, too, so I was all set to buy an $89 tree. I want to say they were opening at 4 am, but I believe when I was discussing what time to get up with my right hand man, er Mom, her exact words were, "4 am? How many people do you really think are going to be up buying a Christmas tree at 4 am?" Apparently, a lot. We did compromise and go at 5 am. I got the little tear card, paid for my tree, and we went and got in the pickup line. We were about 6 people from the front (after about an hour in line), and they informed the people who had purchased the exact same tree that they had no more. Whomever was in charge did not put out only enough slips for the trees they had, and Sears' inventory system apparently leaves a lot to be desired. By then there were 4 or 5 of us who had purchased non-existent trees. After a lot of back and forth, one manager said they would give the same discount percentage off any other tree, and another said they'd sell any other tree for the same amount. So I ended up with a gorgeous 8 foot tall prelit tree for $89. (It was originally around $350.)

I say Jimmy gets to go this time mainly because we didn't consider how we were getting this thing home. A kind man in the Sears parking lot offered to load it into our car. Then we barely got it into the house, and then it stayed downstairs until my Dad (Jimmy was in the military at the time so out of town) carried it upstairs. I say we barely got it into the house because my mom kept laughing at my dog Daisy, who was poking her head out of the bedroom blinds. And we may have been a little delirious from being up that early and spending almost 2 hours in Sears. :) Anyway, even with both of us, it took a few minutes to get a huge 80 pound box in from the car to the foyer.

But I digress. I then went to Rite Aid. Not a good idea to go shopping when not 100% as I've mentioned before, and today was another example of this. My RA Video Values coupon was for $5 off $25, my total was $19. How I was that far off is beyond me, but I threw some things in the buggy. I needed chips, of course, and I needed a Gatorade. Note the caramels are for another cooking project I have on my to-do list. Oh but that will be an interesting post once I step in the kitchen.

Sorry for the reflection off the stove, it must be too clean. Haha! In total, after all my coupons and Up Rewards, I spent $12 out of pocket. Not fabulous, but considering the normal RA price alone on 8 roll Viva is $12.99, it's not too bad. I'm just too spoiled and expect to pay pennies on the dollar for everything all the time. I have to realize that regardless it's a $30 savings, so I did do really well. Plus, I truly did need paper towels and I don't think you can ever have too much tp!

Until next time... :)

A Real Post to Follow...

2010-08-23T06:52:00.000-04:00

I'll have a real post later. I had good intentions for yesterday, then woke up with a killer headache and nausea. Hopefully today will go better. At least I'll try to entertain you. :)

All About Food

2010-08-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

I woke up to rain. Outside, thankfully. Last time I woke up to rain inside it was in the form of a leaking water heater in the attic. That caused a few weeks of chaos in my house.

Anyway, I woke up to rain. Rain always makes me hungry. I'm not sure why. Today I had a doctor's appointment at 11:30 which included fasting labwork so could not eat. (I was half tempted to go back to work after my appointment to eat another piece of Coldstone Creamery birthday cake from lunch yesterday. I resisted the urge.) We're sending one of our temp coworkers a little care package as she went off to college this week, so this was at my desk this morning:

That is my sad water next to Skittles. I don't even like Skittles, but the ribbon around them was so cute they made me want to eat them! And did you know they now have Fizzy Skittles? That's the blue box.

So I worked for a little while and put the Skittles in the drawer so I wouldn't see them and think about them. Or any other candy. Or food in general.

I went to my appointment and while waiting, thought about what I was going to eat for lunch. The appointment took 1.5 hours (it was for a clinical research trial, this was my first visit so they had to do a lot), so by 1 pm I'm of course starving. I had my mind set on Subway, but so did the guy next to me who wouldn't let me over! I planned on stopping by Ollie's later anyway, so ran there first, figuring I might spend less money if I was hungry and wanting to get out to eat. I didn't think about that all their food would look delicious.

Who needs Chocolate Cream Puffs? Me, when they're only .49 cents.

Mashed potatoes? They look so good with the butter, and yum. Another good rainy day food. .49 cents each, too.

Green sprinkles?! Yes, I have visions of all the baking I'm going to do, and of course I can't just by one container, because what if I run out in the middle of a great project? For .99 cents each, think of all the cute things I can do!

I did resist the urge to buy ground toffee sprinkles, ground chocolate sprinkles, and football themed sprinkles. And frosting mix. And decorative icing. I did use some self control. When did I last bake a cake or use sprinkles? I don't have a fat clue.

I also bought some burrito seasoning and Combo's because, well, they looked good.

Shopping on an empty stomach is a bad idea. I think that the lack of sugar in your system leads to bad decisions. My husband eventually wants kids (talk to me in a few years), so what did I need to buy and keep for whenever that day comes?

A Winnie the Pooh Baby's First Year calendar complete with stickers. This picture doesn't do it justice, it's sooo cute! And you write in the year, month, and days, so I can keep it and use it whenever. Yes, I told you it's a bad idea to shop on an empty stomach! Believe it or not, I'm not a hoarder. Though I'd probably deny it even if I was, but I swear, I'm not.

My total at Ollie's was $8.40.

Ollie's is a dangerous store like TJ Maxx in that the inventory constantly changes so you feel the need to buy then. I almost bought my husband an Ohio State Gillette razor but then snapped back to reality. $7 for a razor? Heck no. Their food usually isn't a really good deal, except when they had bags of Starbucks for $3.99 the other week. Generally, if you coupon, you can get things much cheaper elsewhere, but you can't beat the prices on a lot of items they have.

I finally made it to Subway around 2 pm. While writing this, Jimmy called and offered to make dinner. Is it bad that I'm finally full?

Gap Groupon Deal

2010-08-19T07:33:00.000-04:00

So if you've been around here any amount of time, you know how I love, love, love Groupon. Today's deal is equally as fantastic as some of the others. For $25 you get $50 worth of merchandise at Gap. I love Gap, but I do not care for the prices. So, I love me some Gap sales racks! This is even better as you can use this deal on sales items. This Groupon will help you really stretch your budget. I'll let you know how I do whenever I go. The Groupon is good until November 19, so you have a while to let their summer clothes clearance, or wait for them to get out their cute fall clothes. :)

Kroger -- 88% Savings

2010-08-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

I've been to Kroger more this past week than I've ever been before. The deals, particularly the changing clearance items have been pulling me back in. Mainly the Sobe water, though! Jimmy goes through 2-3 a day, and we don't want it to end like the Crystal Light episode.

My out of pocket before tax was $6.02. And that, my friend, is why I keep going back!

The Dentastix were 2/$5 then I used four $2 off coupons making each bag .50 cents. The bigger your dogs, the fewer treats in the bag, so the more expensive.

The Stride was clearanced to .60 cents then I used the buy one Stride, get Stride Shift free.

I had been holding on to a Kroger coupon for $5/2 Mirra products for a few months now, so used them for two sponges.

My coupon and Kroger savings was $44.49.

Can you imagine paying $50 for everything pictured above? I heart coupons! :)

Free Lunch

2010-08-17T16:16:00.001-04:00

I had some yummy free lunch today with my mom, sister, and a friend at Abuelo's at Peninsula Town Center. They are opening Thursday so were doing test runs with customers, during which they give out free meals. It was good. They were inviting people walking by on the mall street, too, if you're interested. You might take a stroll by this evening and inquire.

Then I headed to Rite Aid because we're getting dangerously low on toilet paper. At Rite Aid, I failed to use my brain. It happens.

My total before tax was $11.47. It should have been $10, but I didn't think to use the Charmin coupon in the free coupon book at the front of the store. I got $3 back in Up Rewards from the Pantene, so I'm going to go back to get more Charmin tomorrow. It's on sale for $6.49 less $1.50 less $3 Up Reward and then I'll get $1 Up Reward back, so approx $1 after all that.

Then I headed over to TJ Maxx with a giftcard. I love both TJ Maxx and giftcards, so it was a happy trip. :) I spent $17.71 and have .13 cents left on my giftcard. Yay!

The DuraBone was $2.99

Biodegradable poop bags were $5.99

Tazo Tea was $3.99

I also bought a Christmas present for my sister which is not pictured because she would have peeked even if I told her not to.

I could have spent much, much more, but I was trying to stay within the gift card balance. I can't go to TJ Maxx too often. I have no self control in stores like that.

I'm headed back to Kroger again tonight. I'm getting a little obsessed with that, too. The savings have been so good, though! I'm also going to Kohl's. This may not be good. Uh-oh.

CVS Savings 08/13

2010-08-13T20:52:00.001-04:00

It has been a heck of a Friday the 13th. Is it a full moon, too? Or does it just feel like one?

Anyway, I stopped at the nice CVS on the way home from work today, but they did not have any of the Schick Hydro razors, so I decided to go to the not as nice CVS later this evening. Jimmy went in with me and told the manager who was ringing me up to "watch this!" Sweet, but embarrassing!

I didn't get to do all I wanted as this store had the razor (well, had 1 razor) but no Dulcolax or Brawny paper towels. Also, they don't mark their sales very well, so I had a time with that, too.

But I did find some EXCELLENT clearance hidden in the back of the store! Those Gillette After Shaves are for my dad; he likes them but has only been able to find them at Wal-Mart. Shudder. They were marked down to $1.50 and $1.23 (they're different scents). The Nexxus shampoo was marked down from $11.99 (shudder again) to $2.25. Yipee! The magic coupon machine had spit out a $2 off Nexxus coupon a few weeks ago, so I got both bottles for $2.50 total.

It was at this point Jimmy informed me he needed more deodorant. Does he eat the stuff? Seriously, I feel like I'm constantly buying him deodorant. So, $4.79 later he has deodorant. Gees.

I used $5/$30 from an email coupon from CVS, then the Fuze were 4/$5 and get $5 ECB when you spent $10.

I used $15 in ECBs to bring my out of pocket to 3.27 before tax. I received $9 back in ECBs for the Fuze and razor, and saved a total of $56.79. And that, my friends, is a successful shopping day!

60% Savings at Kroger

2010-08-13T16:28:00.001-04:00

I'll be honest, I almost didn't go back to Kroger, but I'm glad I did decide to. I had dragged Jimmy out to Kroger earlier this week; it was an epic failure. Okay, perhaps not epic, but they were wiped out of everything. Today, however, was better. It was still slim pickings on the Sobe Lifewaters (and I saw a woman with at least 30 in her cart--do they not put customer limits on these things during sales?), but I was able to get 8.

Here's what I did:

I also needed to get some more Smart Ones dinners which were on sale for $1.88 each, and I had a $4 off when you purchase 10 coupon that I got off their website a few weeks ago.

The Tide Stain Release was clearanced to $3.79 and I used the $3 off from the 08/01 P&G making it .79 cents! That's the right price to pay to try a new product!

I had loaded a .60 cent off coupon from Kroger.com to use off the $1 A&W Root Beer. I foresee cheap root beer floats in my future. :)

The Crystal Light Pure Fitness was 2/$5 and I used two $2 off coupons from Vocal Point

The pastry shells were clearanced to $3.79 and I have high hopes of making something wonderful with them.

8 Sobe Lifewaters at $1.09 each minus $4 for buying 8 in their sale, used 3 B1G1 free coupons from Sobe.com (I was supposed to buy 10 to get $2 off from my Kroger coupon, but didn't read my list even though I actually made one.)

2 Gold Peak Teas (yum!) at 1.00 each, and used a Kroger coupon for $1/2

3 Fuze at 1.00 each, Kroger coupon for $1/3

4 Larabars at 4/$5, used .75 cents/3 from Coupons.com

2 Pure Protein bars 1.49 each, Kroger coupon for $1/2

Total Before Tax $30.09, Total Savings $45.14

I actually saved more than I should have as the cashier rang each Sobe coupon as 1.89 off, the maximum value of the coupon than 1.09, but she wasn't interested in listening to what I was saying.

Do I dare point out that I went shopping alone this time and managed to save more money? Hmmm.

"You Didn't Do That Great"

2010-08-11T20:17:00.000-04:00

My husband Jimmy tagged along with me to Farm Fresh this evening. They were doubling coupons up to $1 today. We checked out and he told me, "you didn't do that great." We do occasionally have to spend money on food! Then he did say, "Well, some of it was my V8 drink."

In total we spent, before tax 24.35 and saved 10.00

Not a huge savings, as he pointed out, but we were out of cereal and I needed peanut butter to make my dogs some more Frosty Paws (they were a big hit with them yesterday--yes, they're very spoiled.) I am also going to make some Breakfast Muffins so needed some Bisquick (that's what has Shrek's face on it) and cheese. We finally used the 10 pounds of cheese in my refrigerator. Okay, 10 pounds may be an exaggeration, but I haven't bought cheese in a few months. (We'll not talk about not planning ahead and how the price of the ONE bag of cheese was 1.99.)

Then we headed over to see our friend Evie. My sister is babysitting her Wednesday nights for a few weeks, so we stopped by for a little visit.

This weekend my dad, Jimmy's golf partner, is working, so Jimmy's going to be put to work around the house. He so far has only mentioned washing his truck and my car, but I am much more concerned about the hurricane in our living room. We'll see how much we can get accomplished. ;)

Fun Mail

2010-08-09T16:07:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those days it's fun to check the mail. No bills, no junk mail (I know, one of only like three days a year without it!), but lots of coupons and a silly celeb gossip magazine (Ok! btw, I only get it because it was $1 for a subscription with something I bought on Amazon last year. I feel I should clarify, hehe.)

I got some Macy's coupons, a Bath & Body Works one (free signature collection item with any $10 purchase), $10 off $25 at Yankee Candle, and a Money Clip magazine.

Of course that means that I shop at these stores too often if I'm getting so many coupons from them, but let's not talk about that. Did you get your $10 JC Penney cash coupon. Mine came in the mail Saturday and starts today. I don't usually shop at JCP, but I do like to go spend their free money!

I'd been keeping my eye on this magazine rack at JCP, though. I originally saw it last time I was browsing with my $10 cash coupon, but couldn't justify spending the $30 it was marked down to in the store (marked down from $120, mind you!!! What in the world?!). It got marked down again to $23 but I'm still too cheap to buy it. Last time I went to check it, they were all sold out. I was thrilled then to find it at one of the malls in PA marked down to $13. That, I could justify. It could have been only $3 had they had some at my store now with the coupon, so now I feel I need to get my $10 worth back from them.

I Think I Left My Brain On Vacation

2010-08-09T15:54:00.000-04:00

Or it may not have left the house to go on vacation with me. On my husband's Tom-Tom (Jane--yes, she has a name), it maps out your route and asks if you want to avoid toll roads. Since it was a 1 hour difference, we said no. You would think that it would have dawned on us to make sure we had cash, but we assumed the other one had plenty. This is a picture of all the cash we had with us (on top of my $15 Kohl's Vera Wang purse, by the way):

This is a picture of our first toll:

Below is our second day, at the National Constitution Center. It was a really, really cool museum. At the beginning they had a video/live person production that Jimmy said should be played for everyone entering boot camp. We didn't have time to go anywhere else that day as he had to be to training at 1 pm (he was there to work, after all ;)), so we didn't get to see the Liberty Bell, but this museum was definitely worth our trip into the city.

The next day I was on my own as he was in training all day, so I mosied on out to Longwood Gardens. As a side note, if you are buying a Groupon for another city, make sure you find out how far away the attraction is from where you are staying. I almost didn't go since I found out it was an hour and 15 mins from our hotel, but decided it was better than trying to navigate back into Philadelphia by myself. I am really glad I did end up going to Longwood Gardens, though. It was gorgeous!

I spent two hours there and could have easily spent more time had, well, mainly had I remembered to actually pack my tennis shoes. My comfort footbed Nike flip flops were only but so comfortable. You could also pay $4 extra for a 45 minute behind the scenes tour, eat at a few different restaurants on the grounds, etc.

I mainly couldn't eat there because I was looking forward to Legal Seafood. Yum! I hit the HUGE King of Prussia Mall on the way home, mainly just to eat at LS. The mall itself was fairly overwhelming, and I can shop! I only went in one side, the side with the cheaper stores. :)

All in all, it was a great trip and I thank my husband for allowing me to tag along and spend money while he worked and made money. ;)

Philadelphia With No Cheese Steak

2010-08-08T08:53:00.000-04:00

I have been in Langhorne, PA the last few days with a bad wireless connection and little time. Okay, little time to get on the computer, I was out having fun! :) Pictures later. My husband had to go up for a class for his work, and it worked out I was able to take off work, so I tagged along for a little vacation time.

Our last night there we had Outback for dinner, then went down on the water in Philadelphia for fireworks and realized, hey, we should have waited and eaten a cheesesteak. Oh well. I didn't eat any cream cheese either. ;)

Walgreens & CVS Trips 08/03

2010-08-03T17:58:00.001-04:00

I'm having one of those days. I cannot for the life of me think clearly! Anywho, I made a few pit stops today, first at Walgreens with my 15% off Friends & Family coupon.

I used the $3 off Cortaid coupon from the sales flyer along with a $2 off coupon I had from a pack of Benadryl I bought a couple of months ago.

The markers will go in someone's Christmas present, they were $3 with a $3 mail in rebate which prints after your receipt.

The envelopes were apparently not the correct ones, but I needed some anyway so coughed up 1.01 each.

After paying with a $5 RR from last week my total out of pocket was around $1.64 (I've already misplaced the receipt. Sigh)

Then I went to Rite Aid (of course leaving my $5 off $25 Video Values coupon at home). I struck out, though, as I was in desparate need of face powder, and they had no Neutrogena makeup at all today. There was the sign, but there was no Neutrogena there. Note to self: don't wait until you are completely out of face powder to go buy it. So off to CVS where I paid the full price instead of the 40% off as advertised by Rite Aid this week.

I used a $5 off $30 coupon from e-mail

Sobe is B1G1 free and I used two B1G1 free coupons making all four free

Fusion ProGlide was 9.99, used $4 off coupon, produces a $5 ECB

Sally Hansen was 5.99, used $1 off coupon

(I learned a while back to never use expired wax. I pulled the top layer of skin off. Fun times.)

Neutrogena face powder was 13.99 (pick me up off the floor, will ya?), used $2 off coupon

Altoids was 1.49 and produces a $1 ECB

Used $9 in ECBs to pay

Total Before tax 10.46

Received $6 ECBs

Saved $30.86

VA Tax Holiday

2010-08-03T07:42:00.000-04:00

Virginia's Tax Holiday starts this Friday, August 6th. It runs through Sunday. It's officially back to school, but I'm just calling it a complete tax holiday because who needs "Wedding apparel, including veils (sold not rented)" to go back to school?

You can find the complete list of qualifying items at the Daily Press website and get more specifics. Certain rules apply, but I won't be buying $100 jeans this weekend, so I'm good. ;)

Rite Aid Money Making Trip

2010-07-31T12:25:00.000-04:00

Real quick, I forgot to mention what that adorable dog (in post below) did yesterday. He ate an entire loaf of the bread I had just purchased! Daggone, it's a good thing I only paid 79 cents for it. I'm not going to say his sister didn't help, but Highway is definitely the instigator.

I finally had time to go to Rite Aid and had a successful trip at that! I, of course, used my $5 off $25 purchase from watching those Video Value clips, and actually made money when all was said and done.

(Of course it involved more drinks!)

I'm not going into all the details as most of the coupons I used expired today and were printed a while back on Coupons.com, but my total out of pocket was 8.47 (before tax).

Then I got $6 back in +Up Rewards

And will submit for the 8.00 Dulcolax rebate

(The Dulcolax will be donated to the free clinic. Not that anyone was asking, but still.)

But It Was Starting Out So Well...

2010-07-31T11:20:00.000-04:00

So my dog Highway (the cutie on the left, showing his teeth)

decided that he needed attention from Mommy at 6:30 am today. Doesn't he know it's Saturday?! Why is he dead to the world when I try to wake him up on weekday mornings at 7:45 am to go out, but he can be up at 6:30 am on a Saturday? Of course, he just gave me a few kisses and went back to sleep, but I was wide awake. Darn.

So I took advantage of being up early, checked out some blogs, printed some coupons, and headed out. To the store that once I got up there, I remembered didn't open until 10 am. It was 9:20 am. So I browsed Kohl's and found a lot of things I didn't need and didn't feel like hiding (since my husband told me I can't buy anything else until we move because he is not moving one more things--I'm already going to have to wear a lot of clothes on moving day to keep them out of boxes!), so I resisted. After killing time, I went to intended store, then to the post office, then I went to gather my coupons to realize I had left the ones I printed at home.

I went to Walgreens anyway to grab a few things (and deal with a cashier with an attitude--why is only 1 out of 5 cashiers at Walgreens friendly?!) and made it out spending 6.20 and getting back a 3.00 RR. I'm home now to regroup and head back out. I have some $4 off Gillette Fusion razor coupons expiring today and the $5 RR at Wags ends today, too. Jimmy went in to work this morning so I'll wait for him to get home and chauffeur me (it'll give him an excuse to drive that new truck, he shouldn't complain too much).

Target Trip 07/30

2010-07-30T15:29:00.001-04:00

I did good today. I had my blinders on, and I didn't buy too much I didn't need. Well, I didn't need any snacks, but let's not talk about that.

Yes, there is a lot of sugar in that picture, but I'm just buying for two adults so I don't feel so bad. ;)

I ended up spending $54. Not wonderful, but we're going on a trip soon so I needed some drinks and snacks. You know, needed.

I May Float Away

2010-07-29T18:54:00.001-04:00

It is wet outside! We're having flash flood warnings here in Hampton Roads. Yipee.

I had just sat down to finish reading the paper (from last Sunday) and organize my coupons when it started raining. It was raining too hard to run out to the car to grab my coupon binder, and my female dog decided to come sit by me, on top of all my coupons and sales flyers. My husband had to come grab them out from under her before they slid in between the couch cushions into the great unknown.

At least it's cooling things off. My husband cleaned out his car and brought this in the other day:

A melted cd case. This had only been in his car for 2 weeks at the most. No wonder I look like a sweaty mess everytime I get home--it is hot!

I did go to the grocery store the other day when I wasn't at car dealerships (more on that in a minute). I went Tuesday to Farm Fresh, they were doubling coupons up to $1. I didn't use a whole lot of my $1 coupons, I mainly stocked up on things I needed that they don't sell at Target: canned black-eyed peas, more flavors of Dannon Light & Fit yogurt, and crab legs. I'm also happy to report we've eaten at home all week.

Okay, so it looks like we mainly survive on fluids and yogurt, but we do have real fruits and veggies in our cabinets and meat in the freezer. Our fruit and veggies are in the cabinet because my male dog has decided he now gets up on the counters and eats whatever is up there. Sigh.

So my husband finally decided his two door, two seat convertible is impractical. Okay, so he still won't say it, but it wouldn't fit fishing poles and he decided this was hindering him. So he decided to trade in his car and get another truck. We went back to Carmax where we've had great success in the past, and instead, had a horrible experience. We listed the car for two days on Craigslist and my work and then my husband decided he didn't want to deal with selling private party so we'd go to another dealership. And there was where we found out what a great bargainer I am. My husband said I'd be awesome overseas where you haggle over everything. We finally worked out a deal we're happy with, and I'm happy to say we now have two practical vehicles. Next step is moving on to a larger house. That's another adventure in itself. Anyway, between Carmax, RK, back to Carmax, I feel like I've spent all my time when I've not been at work this week at car dealerships.

Tomorrow I'm going to stock up at Target following The Coupon High's list. I also have a lot of coupons expiring Saturday so am going to use some of those. I went to CVS this week but I'll be darned if I remember what I bought! That was Monday, you know, years ago!

Back to Shopping!

2010-07-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

This is looking like a great week at the drugstores. I may hit all 3 today. I haven't been in a few weeks so don't feel so obsessive going to 3 in one day, or even one week. So I will FINALLY have some pictures and a peek into the projects I've been doing around my house. Maybe I'll get them done before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I don't know why, but I'm already psyched about Black Friday. Yes, I get annoyed with the crowds, but yes, I come home with a bunch of fun things! I already have most of my list made so I'm just going to watch Amazon and then see what goodies I can pick up Black Friday in stores. If nothing else, can we be excited about it because it will finally be cooler weather?

Can I confess something? (Mom, you might not want to read this--this is not how you raised me! ;)) I don't read directions on recipes all the way through at the beginning like you're supposed to. I'm glad I never had one of those teachers who's last question on the test was instructions to not fill in the rest of it, to see if you were paying attention. I would have got a 0 on that one, for sure! I'm taking pink lemonade pie to lunch today. I had thawed out my frozen whipped cream and had everything else ready, and then I noticed the lemonade was supposed to be thawed. Of course, thinking about it now, this makes sense. Well, I can't stick the metal can in the microwave on defrost (my mom is cringing because I know she's still reading this), but it is 88 degrees outside...(don't worry, it's going to get up in the 100s today, we're suffering, too) so the lemonade can set outside for a little while and I'm happy to report, is thawed. This also means I am staying inside today as much as possible!

Uneventful Target trip

2010-07-23T21:36:00.000-04:00

I headed out to Target today. I haven't really browsed there in a while. I didn't find a whole bunch of wonderful things, though. Well, that I could bring home anyway. We're moving soon so I've been packing up our house. My husband told me the other day to not bring anything else in this house we're not consuming because he is not moving one more thing.

My sister and I were there to buy a baby shower gift and then she left me on my own. I mainly bought drinks as my husband is golfing tomorrow in the 103 degree weather and I figured I'd try to help him not dehydrate or die. I also had to buy him some more Crystal Light as I had to clarify the other day what "almost out of" means. You need more Crystal Light if you only have enough left for 1 week and Target is having a sale and I have a coupon. You don't need any more if you're stocked up for a couple of months and can wait until a good sale comes along again. My math and his is much different.

AMC Theaters Deal

2010-07-21T20:12:00.000-04:00

What is a movie without movie theater popcorn? Okay, besides 1,000 calories healthier! Like AMC Theaters on Facebook and get a coupon for a $1 popcorn and $1 drink (any size!) good ONLY this Sunday, July 25.

They did this promo on July 4th also, but I believe the coupon came through e-mail to Movie Watcher cardholders. When you sign up for their email you'll also get a coupon for free popcorn Mon-Thursday each month.

I'm excited about Ramona and Beezus but am going to see that with some friends on Monday so may see Grown Ups with my husband on Sunday. Nothing better than 2,000 calorie popcorn! ;-)

Purging and Cleaning and Cleaning and Purging

2010-07-21T20:06:00.000-04:00

So my husband and I have been arguing lately about our housing situation. As in, we have outgrown our townhouse, but he's too lazy to move. Okay, he doesn't think it's necessary, but I think it's just because he's lazy. I finally brought him over to my side, and have started packing. Hey, it's easier to do it slowly and when you can get boxes than to race at the last minute to pack up a whole house!

We have a floor to ceiling bookcase in our loft which has accumulated a lot of stuff. That stuff has turned into a $100 profit on Amazon. Yipee!

That is good we have an extra $100 since my drywall project isn't going as smoothly as planned. Stupid DIY Network makes everything look so easy. I haven't even got to the part of putting in new drywall and taping and patching and what not. I'm still trying to finish cutting out the two bad sections. I'm thinking the area above my front door is more LSEDI (Let Someone Else Do It). So I guess that $100 will go towards those repairs. Too bad, I was excited about that money!

However, I have to give it a little more time and sweat as I told my husband there was no need to hire anyone; I can handle it. I can't be wrong! :-)

Febreze Coupons

2010-07-19T13:41:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check your mail for a new Febreze coupon booklet. I received one today, it's a P&G product, I assume I received it because I'm on their e-mail list. There are four $1 off coupons, with expiration dates ranging from this September to June 2011.

This will come in handy to spray after my dog vomits on the carpet (as happened while I was typing this up. Sigh). I swear I've never seen dogs who vomit so much!

A Confession

2010-07-19T07:57:00.000-04:00

My confession is that I have not been frugal as of late. Seriously. My freezer and cabinets are crammed full of food, yet we've been eating out about 5 meals a week the last couple of weeks. I guess the only good thing is that I can still put of grocery shopping a while longer? :)

Life has just been happening, and I'm fine with it. I also haven't been shopping lately, so there are no pictures. We did pick up milk, cereal, deodorant (because apparently the 3 sticks my husband already has sitting on the sink aren't good enough. I'm not sure if he's trying to find his favorite brand or what), and underwear. You know how the dryer eats socks? Mine's been eating my underwear.

It's okay to miss deals. I don't think I stepped foot into any drugstores or Target last week. A while ago that would have made me hyperventilate, but right now, it's fine. I didn't have the time or energy, and those sales will roll back around!

I am back on board now, though. I don't know that I'll catch all the sales this week, it's going to be another busy week, but I'll at least find time to get my free McCafe smoothie or frappe' courtesy of the McDonald's coupon in Parade magazine yesterday. ;)

I'm Back!

2010-07-07T08:22:00.000-04:00

Hi, long lost friends! What a whirlwind of a few weeks it has been! Company, unexpected (but welcome) company, extra work, training at work, sick dogs, holiday, etc. Whew.

My budget has been doing well, though. As in, I've been working more, therefore making more money, and too tired to shop, so saving more money. :)

I am currently up in Hershey, PA, on vacation with my sister. It's a much needed break. We're hitting the park today, then headed down to Baltimore tomorrow.

I finally have my computer back (let's not even talk about it), so will be back to posting deals and shopping trips soon. For now, though, there is chocolate calling my name...

Sunday Update

2010-06-20T14:02:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone's having a great Father's Day! We took my dad out to lunch and are then going out tonight with my aunt and uncle who are here visiting.

I've been working and not much else here lately! My computer is still not repaired. Mainly because I haven't called Dell to get the recovery disk (I've given up ever finding it!).

In the meantime, be sure to visit http://www.couponcravings.com for the latest drug store matchups!

Farm Fresh Double Coupons Up to $1

2010-06-13T14:47:00.000-04:00

Farm Fresh is doubling coupons up to and including $1.00 Sunday-Tuesday. If you're over 55, go on Tuesday to save an extra 5% on top of that.

I started to do matchups, but the ad pulling up for 06/13 pulls up as 06/08, but you should be able to find some good deals. You can go here to see when they really update it.

CVS and RA trips 06/12

2010-06-13T14:33:00.000-04:00

Just a quick roundup of my shopping yesterday.

At CVS, I had a $5/30 coupon from an email from them so added in a few extra things (see chips) to get that high.

3 Sobe Lifewaters $1 each
2 Lays Chips 2/1.98 (received $1 ECB for buying 2)
2 John Freida Root Awakening products on sale $5 each
- used two $3 off coupons from last week's paper
1 Off Clip on refill pack 2.99
- used $3 off coupon from CVS.com
3 Stride Gums 1.29 each, B2G1 free
- used buy 1 Stride, Get 1 Stride Shift free
2 Gold Emblem Candies .99 each
- used $1/2 from the CVS coupon machine in store
2 Nivea chapsticks 2.99 each
- used B1G1 free from All You magazine

Total Before Tax (including $1 ALS donation) 7.55
Total Savings 30.20

At Rite Aid, I didn't get all I was looking for as I left most of my coupons at home. But I was in a hurry, so it had to do.

I used a $5/$25 RA Video Values coupon

2 Sobe Lifewaters .99 each

Act II Butter popcorn .99

2 Shredded Wheats 2/$5

- used $1/2 coupon

Lubriderm Lotion 7.99

- used $3 off from insert, used $2 off printable (don't remember where it came from)

2 Pampers Wipes 2/$5

- used two $2 off coupons from last week's paper

Erasers clearanced to .74

8 Ramen Noodles clearanced to .12 each

1 York Peppermint Pattie .88 cents (to get over $25, of course ;))

Total Before Tax 10.76

Total Savings 33.44

Crash and Burn

2010-06-12T11:54:00.000-04:00

That is what my hard drive decided to do! Oh you expensive piece of work, you!

I have a lot of errands to run and what not, but I'll catch up on email and post some deals and other goodies tomorrow. I should have my computer back from the Geek Squad (thank you!) later this week.

Target Trip 06/08

2010-06-08T18:28:00.000-04:00

I went today to pick up a prescription, buy a cd, and buy milk. I got the prescription, they still are out of the cd, and forgot the milk.

2 KC Masterpeice BBQ sauces

- one clearanced to 1.33

- one clearanced to 1.08

- used two $1 off from 05/09 Smart Source

Pampers Wipes 72 count 2.29

- used $2 off from 06/06 Proctor & Gamble

Market Pantry Cream of Tarter 2.24

- I read somewhere that you can use this in place of bleach on whites as it will brighten the color but is less harsh on clothes. It's worth a try.

Compact pads 1.49

- To replace the no good one in my Maybelline powder. I've used Covergirl forever with no problem until the very end, I couldn't even get through 1/4 of the Maybelline before the pad went to pieces!

Bandaids 1.69 (because they're super cute and I'm super klutzy! :))

- used .75 cents off from Target.com

- and apparently forgot to give her my other .50 cent off coupon. Dang!

Total Before Tax 5.37

Total Savings 4.75

Birthday Week!

2010-06-08T18:13:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I had a weekend away, and have been working in another office in addition to mine the past few weeks, so by the time I get home, I am pooped!

Yesterday we celebrated my sister's birthday, Friday is my husband's, then next Monday is my mom's. Lots going on! Here are some pics of our celebration last night.

Dinner at Cracker Barrell

Blowing out the candles!

June Rite Aid Video Values

2010-06-06T18:48:00.000-04:00

A reminder that the June videos are up for the Rite Aid Video Values. The videos are pretty tedious to watch, but the reward is some great coupons that you can stack with manufacturer's coupons for the best deal!

Good Wood Furniture Coupon

2010-06-06T18:46:00.000-04:00

On the back page of the comics in the Daily Press today, there is a coupon for 50% off a purchase at Good Wood (stores in Hampton and Fredericksburg, but looks like they service most of the state). It is good until next Saturday. The wording on the coupon leads me to believe it's good on your whole purchase, not just one item. Here is a printable version, it's straight off their website under promotions, so I would assume they'd honor it?

We bought some night stands there a few years ago, we were happy with the experience.

Pier 1 Coupons

2010-06-06T18:40:00.000-04:00

I received some Pier 1 Imports coupons in the mail this week. I generally don't open all of my mail, especially if I think the usual mailers are goofy (see Pier 1). This one, however, contained 2 coupons, good until July 4.

One was Save 20% on a single regular-priced item and the other was $10 off any $50 purchase. I haven't seen printables online for this, but keep an eye out.

Don't Forget Your Free Donuts Today!

2010-06-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to stop by Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts for a free donut today. You do have to purchase a drink at DD for the free donut, but KK has no strings attached.

And Happy Doughnut Day to you all! :)

No Service Fee Tickets in June

2010-06-04T07:56:00.000-04:00

Live Nation is doing away with service fees on tickets in June. Of course you're still going to pay something as bottom of e-mail states "Parking, shipping and other non "service fee" costs may apply. Amphitheatres only."

It's not a bad deal, though, if you were planning on catching a show anyway. You can go here to see all the concerts lined up.

Possible Free Pampers Wipes at Target

2010-06-03T19:10:00.000-04:00

In most Targets (I say most, because sometimes price cuts vary by region), Pampers Wipes 64 ct are currently on Temporary Price Cut for $1.97.

This coming week's Proctor & Gamble insert will include a $2 coupon off any Pampers Wipes 60 ct or Larger.

Thanks, The Coupon High!

Totally Target has the Pampers 72 Ct. Wipe Tubs- Aloe Fresh or Sensitive listed at $2.39 or the Pampers 72 ct Thick Care Refill Pack $2.39 so you can get a good deal there, too.

Rent 2 Get 1 Free Redbox

2010-06-03T19:00:00.000-04:00

Now through June 30th, when you rent 2 Redbox movies at a time you will get a code by e-mail (within 72 hours) for a free rental

Thanks, STL Mommy!

Another Duh Moment!

2010-06-03T18:55:00.000-04:00

So, yay, my camera arrived today! Thankfully in better shape than the box in which it shipped! Of course, it did arrive with an Excedrin Migraine coupon which makes me nervous. I just don't think it's good for business. ;)

At Target the other day I bought a 12 pack of AA batteries which were on sale and I had a coupon for (of course). Camera arrives and uses it's own battery with a battery pack. Dang. Well, we are good on remote control batteries for years now. One of these days I might learn to read up on things before preparing for something not happening.

In other news, is that Pillow Pets commercial annoying anyone else? I'm trying to watch Renovation Realities on DIY and keep seeing this daggone commercial.

Steam and Gas Engine Festival

2010-06-02T18:28:00.000-04:00

If you're looking for something to do, this weekend, June 5 and 6th Chippokes Farm in Surry will be having their Steam and Gas Engine Festival. It's not really my thing, but I went up to Chippokes Farm with my sister a few months ago (the lady in charge was her high school art or drama teacher) and it was pretty cool. I can imaging the festival will be a lot of funny. I'll be up there with a NAMI booth, so if you've got no other plans, it's something different to do.

The festival is free, I'm not sure about the parking. I doubt it's more than few dollars, though

CVS Trip 06/02

2010-06-02T18:20:00.000-04:00

I stopped at CVS on the way home from work today to pick up a few things. Mainly Lay's Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips. I know, it sounds nasty, but they taste good. My mom, sister, and I are going to Williamsburg this weekend to celebrate their birthday's early, and that was a snack request. I didn't find the chips in the Newport News store, but I did find some other things. Of course.

2 Liter Coke 1.25 (for this weekend :))

Ban Deodorant 2.99 received 2.00 ECB

2 Gold Emblem candies at .88 each

- used $1/2 Gold Emblem candies from the magic coupon machine

2 Powerbars .99 each received 1.98 ECB

1 Off Clip On 7.99

- used $2 coupon $2/1 (05/16/10 Smart Source), printable here

- stacked with $3 coupon from the CVS website

2 Men's Gillette Hair & Body Wash 2.00 each

- had raincheck from last week, used B1G1 free coupon (now expired, but they let me use it because I had the raincheck) which deducted $4.00 so free

2 CVS brand shampoos .99 each

- used two $1 off coupons from the magic coupon machine

Drink 1.49 (not pictured)

Used a $4 off $20 purchase coupon from a CVS e-mail (make sure your card is registered and you get e-mails from them). Not only do you get these coupons, but they also occasionally send out surveys where they reward you with Extra Care Bucks for your time.

Total Before Tax 6.44

Total Savings 25.44

Received $3.98 in ECBs

House Projects

2010-06-02T17:57:00.000-04:00

My old camera decided to work for a few minutes with my new batteries. So I have a few pictures with my posts today. Whew!

Here are my pretty new stairs. I will NEVER again recarpet stairs. I know you should never say never, but I am saying it! The project only took about 2 months...

This is a better picture of the new bathroom color. I have to touch up the area by the ceiling so that is why it looks darker. It's not nearly as "obnoxious" as when it was first drying. That's what my husband told me.

Wendy's Coupons, Possible Free Frosty

2010-06-01T20:16:00.001-04:00

Go here to sign up for WendyMail to get coupons. Today I received a coupon for a free Frosty Jr with any purchase. Anyone else still find it weird when they ask what flavor Frosty you want? The original, please!

Farm Fresh $1 Double Coupons 06/02

2010-06-01T20:14:00.001-04:00

Farm Fresh is doubling coupons up to and including $1 tomorrow only. Again, their ad ends today and the one for Wed - Tues is not up yet, so I have no match ups. Sorry.

** The new ad is here.

Free Sweets

2010-05-31T17:03:00.000-04:00

Yum, June 4 is National Doughnut Day (sounds like a fabulous holiday!). You can get:

Free Krispy Kreme doughnut

Free Dunkin Donut with beverage purchase.

Then, if you haven't had too many calories already, you can get a Free scoop of Friendly's ice cream from 12 pm - 5 pm on June 5.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Target Trip 05/31

2010-05-31T16:48:00.001-04:00

No picture due to no camera yet and I took my sister's back to her.

We bought 10 Sobe Lifewaters at $1 each then got a $5 Target giftcard back for using 10.
- Used two .50 cents off Target coupons
- If you haven't reached the print limit, B1G1 free coupon
Wholly Guacamole
- Used 1.50 off coupon
10 Smart Ones at 1.89 each, got back a $5 Target giftcard for buying 10.
- Used coupon here

Those were the highlights. I bought some dog treats, not on sale, but my $1 off coupons expired today, so I went ahead and stocked up.

Overall I spent 90.84 (pretax), received back $10 in giftcards and saved 43.99! Yipee.
(Although my husband could have done without telling the cashier, "watch this!" when I handed him the coupons. :))

TJ Maxx Trip 05/29

2010-05-30T15:47:00.000-04:00

I love, love TJ Maxx. Every trip in there is an exercise in self-control. I found some great things yesterday.

I got a dog toy, a Maeve Binchy book for my mom for her birthday, a Calvin Klein tank marked down to $7, and the best find was Mrs. Meyer's all-purpose cleaners. They were fragrance free and clearanced down to $2 each! $8 bottles. So, of course, I stocked up. I need to clean now and when we move into a new place, so I didn't figure it was overkill, right? ;)

Lime Sherbert Bathroom

2010-05-30T15:33:00.000-04:00

So, I have been MIA the last few days. Well, MIA from the blogosphere. I have been doing home improvement projects. My carpeting part of the stairs is finally done! I repainted the bathroom to a "fresh guacamole" which looks more like a "lime sherbert." (Actually the picture makes it look more like, well, never mind. Oh well. We're doing repairs to sell our house soon, so I'm taking advantage of the long weekend.

Printable Deals

2010-05-26T21:47:00.000-04:00

I'm going to lump these all into one post here, so bear with me.

Yes, I know the picture is huge and cut off, but doesn't this look so delicious? This is the E! Entertain-mint Birthday Blend to celebrate E!'s 20th birthday. They're offering a 20% off coupon to Cold Stone Creamery. Go here to print the coupon that is good until June 30th.

Print a coupon for free shredding (up to 5 lbs) through June 5th at Office Depot.

Thanks, STL Mommy!

I've ammassed a lot of these lately, but if you haven't, go here to print a coupon for a free full size body item with a $10 purchase at Bath & Body Works. They're currently having a Buy 3 Get 3 Free Sale so you can turn this into Get 4 Free. They're also advertising up to 50% off certain items for a Memorial Day Sale, so you may be able to do better.

Farm Fresh Double Coupons Wednesday

2010-05-25T20:35:00.000-04:00

There's still not a new ad on-line for Farm Fresh, but if some of the same things happen to be on sale, here are some things you can possibly get free or cheap if you're headed that way tomorrow anyway.

The matchups are with final price, assuming you go Wednesday. Remember, for any items Farm Fresh has priced 2/$X, you can buy 1 and get it half price.

Jumbo Snow Crab Clusters 5.98/pound
They'll season and flavor these free.

Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce 1.00
$1/2 (05/23 Smart Source)
Buy 2, final price 2 Free

Oscar Mayer Basic Lunchables 1.00

Oscar Mayer XXL or Beef Franks (16 oz) 2/$5
$1/2 (05/16 Smart Source)
Final Price 1.50 each

T. Marzetti Premium Vegetable Dips 2/$7
.60 cents off 1 (05/23 Smart Source)
Buy one for 2.30

Sargento Sliced Cheese 2.99
$1/2 (05/23 Smart Source)
Buy 2, $2 each

Dean's Dips 1.99
$1/2 printable
Buy 2, 1.00 each

KC Masterpiece Marinade 2/$5
$1/1 (05/09 Smart Source)
Buy 1, total .50 cents

Suddenly Salad 1.29
$0.40/1 Coupons.com
$0.50/2 (05/23/10 Smart Source)
Depending on which you have, either .49 for one or .80 each for two

Post Cereals 2/$5
$1/2 (05/16/10 Smart Source)
$1/2 Kids' cereal (05/16/10 Smart Source)
Total 3.00 for two

Uncle Ben's Country Inn Rice 1.29
$1/2 (05/16/10 Red Plum)
Total .60 for two

Dove Bars and Minis 3.99
$1/1 (05/16 Red Plum)
Total 1.99

Paint Rebate

2010-05-25T20:24:00.000-04:00

This is a good time to get this since I need to repaint my bathroom. With a long weekend coming up, this gives me no excuse. Well, to buy the paint anyway.

Starting on Thursday, May 27th at Home Depot, purchase Glidden and Behr paint products so you can submit for one of the rebates below. Note the purchase period is only goes for 5 days, so you must purchase paint by May 31st.

$5 off One Gallon Cans
$20 off Five Gallon Pails

You’ll need purchase the paint between 5/27/10-5/31/10.

Behr Interior and Exterior Paints and Primers, Decorative Finishes, Waterproofers, Stains and Cleaners
Glidden Premium Interior and Exterior Paints and Gripper Primer
Flood Exterior Stains and Cleaners

You’ll be able to submit the rebate online or mail-in-rebate.

Thanks, My Litter!

Target 05/25 Saved $24.16

2010-05-25T20:18:00.000-04:00

I'm having a duh day. More on that in a minute.

I went to Target this evening and did pretty well. I, of course, have no picture but did get an email today that my new camera has shipped! Yay! So you may get picture overload once it arrives. :)

I'll list some of my more fabulous things below:
3 Crystal Light drink mixes on sale 2.98 each
- used $1/3 from Target website
- and two $1 off coupons from the Facebook page
2 boxes of Fruit Loops and 1 box Frosted Mini-Wheats
- used $1/2 coupon from coupons.com (I left my $1.50 off 3 from the paper at home)
- got free Market Pantry Lactaid milk
(- and I have 3 codes so will get $5 concession cash)
This had to be adjusted off at customer service as it is off a regular gallon of milk, but I asked them about it at customer service before shopping and they said it should come off. So the adjusted it off when it didn't.
1 Scrubbing Bubbles Extend-A-Clean 8.69
- used $5 off coupon from 04/11 Smart Source or printable
- AND used get a Target $5 giftcard when you buy Scrubbing Bubbles E-A-C from 05/23 Smart Source

They had a ton of frozen dinners literally thrown into a meat cooler. I had a Target coupon for $1 off 5 Lean Cuisine dinners. Great. I'll buy Jimmy a few. Coupon had to be pushed through at the register but cashier did it no questions asked. Wonder why it beeped. It's because I found out as I put them in my freezer, I bought 3 Lean Cuisines and 2 Healthy Choice dinners. Duh.

Then at the register I got another coupon for $1 off 5 Lean Cuisine dinners (maybe I'll learn to pay attention one of these days--did all the clearanced ones have to be green and white, though?) and a coupon for a FREE Market Pantry frozen pizza. No other purchase needed. We don't eat much pizza, but I have bought a Market Pantry one before and thought it was pretty good. It'll be good for a lazy Sunday night meal. :)

Total Before Tax $33.40
Total Savings $24.16

American Greetings Coupon

2010-05-25T19:53:00.000-04:00

Go here to print a coupon for $1 off any 3 American Greetings cards priced $1 or higher. Note, this will print on the entire page, so you'll need to use a full page.

Hurricane Tax Holiday

2010-05-25T19:47:00.000-04:00

Today starts the beginning of Virginia's Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday. It runs May 25-31st.

Click here to find out a list of tax exempt items. You can buy ice packs, batteries, cell phone chargers, and bottled water (any size, number of bottles, including flavored, carbonated, and vitamin water) among other things. I know CVS has Sobe Lifewaters B1G1 free this week so I'm going to stock up on some tax-free.

Farm Fresh Double Coupons 05/26

2010-05-23T19:21:00.000-04:00

This week Farm Fresh will be doubling coupons up to 1.00 on Wednesday only.

I had a list of matchups until I realized double coupons are Wednesday and the ad prices end Tuesday. The newer ad isn't available online yet, but as soon as it is I'll try to get some matchups up.