walgreens and a bangin toys r us deal!

Last week I waited until the end of the week to do my Walgreens and CVS shopping and found that everyone had been there before me and left me nothing! The nerve! So I thought, I'll try going the middle of the week this time....again I was beat out. I decided I just need to get to these stores asap in the week after the deals come out. Hopefully Monday night is soon enough b/c that's the soonest I can get there since we only have one car. So that is my plan next week. We'll see if I can pull it together in time. So I did miss out on a bit, but I was able to snag a couple things. I went and retrieved my free Olay in shower lotion...so my total here, not including the lotion, came to $14..something (don't have the receipt right here). What did I pay? .23 cents!



Now this was a fun one! Toys R Us! They were having a few different sales and promos here. First, there's a $2 - $3 mail in rebate per game from Hasbro Games. Toys R Us had select games marked down to almost 50% off. For every $20 in Hasbro Games you buy you get a $5 gift card. If you bought any Elefun & Friends games you got a free plush toy, and also, for today only they were doing a buy one, get one free on the My Little Pony sets. Before my coupons, my booty totaled a whopping $45.95! The total amount I will have paid after the rebate and gift cards is....wait for it.....$4.50! Nutso, ain't it? I love it! These will make some great gifts!

a teensy eensy CVS deal

So I went to CVS the other night and realized that I must live in an area of couponers b/c every single thing I went to get was GONE!!! So I guess I'll have to make my trip to CVS a bit earlier in the week, if possible. While I was in the store, WAY too long I might add. I told the husband that this better start getting easier b/c I can't spend an hour in each store every week! Anyhoo, while I was in there I did find a couple of things and since I had my trusty coupon binder with me I was able to flip to the right page, pull out the coupon for the sale I saw and voila! I did make a tiny boo boo in that the coupon for the dish soap I thought was a dollar off one, which would have gotten me four free bottles, but it was actually a dollar off two, which still got me these eight bottles for .46 cents each. The soap I think was .49 cents for each 3-pack. That makes my total $4.95 after tax. I'm not sure of my savings b/c I don't have my receipt right here and with my bad back I don't feel like taking half an hour to go to the next room to get it so....I think it's enough to say this was under five bucks!



I also went to Walgreens. A couple things are missing from this picture. First, two packs of bacon which I had already put in the freezer and forgot about. Second, there is only one bottle of lotion pictured, but there should be two. It was a buy one lotion get the other free, but they were out of the "free" one. They gave me a rain check, which they said they don't normally do on free items, but they are this time. So now I get to go back in within the next 30 days when they have it back in stock and pick up my free bottle of lotion! There is also only one donut tape dispenser, and I should have two! Cashier must have missed putting it in my bag. They were .29 cents each. I was a little flustered on this trip b/c I did three separate transactions so that I could have three different receipts for my mail in rebates. So, b/c of that I missed a .55 cent coupon, and realized after the fact I should have done four transactions instead of three. Hopefully I can get it straightened out but if not I will be missing out on 7 bucks. =( So assuming things go the way I want them to, here's the deal...

The Almay makeup remover was....drumroll....$1.99 each!! These are usually around $5.99, and they are the only makeup remover that I like so I was stoked to find this! The Olay lotion was $7.99, I had a coupon for a dollar off. If you bought this lotion you also got the in shower lotion for free. So...the in shower lotion is free, and after my rebate of $7.99, I'll be making a buck! Cleaning supplies. Each cleaner was $2.50, I had a coupon for dollar off each one. So I paid out of pocket $13.50. SC Johnson is doing a rebate of $5 for every three of their products you buy so...I'll be getting back $15, which gets me these cleaners for free, plus $1.50! Okay totals. After the rebates, total spent: $18.99 Total saved: $53.40!

some good deals, some okay deals

I went on a coupon excursion today. About two weeks ago I was saying that I would stick to just one, maybe two stores, at least until I get the hang of things. Well, with reading all the blogs I read and seeing all the deals I see, that mentality didn't last too long. I decided to just go for it. I feel like I am pretty organized now, so it really shouldn't be that hard, right? =o) My first stop today was Family Dollar. My plan going in was great. Had it worked out to my advantage the picture above would have more items in it, and my story would sound better. But alas, for these two items I spent $1.75. My cashier wouldn't let me use my four coupons for Clairol hair color, even though the coupon didn't exclude any Clairol products and in fact had written on it, "can be used for ANY Clairol product". Oh well. I took some satisfaction in leaving all eight boxes at her register for her to put away.



Next stop was Rite Aid. This was also a not so great trip with just okay savings. My biggest problem here was that I didn't have a full understanding of their wellness card and in ad coupons and all of that. I still came out okay, I think. I had a few SCR's (Single Check Rebates) on this one, so after all of that I will have spent $7.98 plus tax and saved $12.98.



Kmart. I almost don't want to post this one. The candy was a pretty good deal, and the nail art was really good (a great, inexpensive gift!). The dryer sheets and detergent weren't all that great, but it was something I needed and something I didn't have too great of coupons for...and it was the end of my night...yadda yadda yadda...so I went ahead and bought them anyway. Total spent: $19.07. Total saved: $5.26.

If you're observant you noticed I said in my Kmart paragraph that it was the end of my night...but I still have two more stores to post about. They were my favorite so even though they are not in chronological order, I saved them for last. Considering how my jaunt started out I am very happy to report that, with the exception of Kmart, the end of the trip was worth it!



WalMart! The soap was $.37! The husband and I like to do a Taco Night every couple weeks, sometimes once a week, so when I scored these FREE Taco Seasoning packets I was psyched! Total spent: $1.87 Total saved: $9.75!



Saved the best for last. Oh Target, how I love thee. Arm & Hammer toothpaste, FREE. Satin Care Shave Gel, FREE. J & J Soap Buddies, FREE. Connect Four game, FREE. Yogurt, $.16 each. Dove shampoo, $.44. Contact solution, $.64. Huggies diapers, $2.49 per Jumbo pack! Total spent: $15.61. Total saved: $101.01. Wooo hoooo!! Worth the hard work? Me thinks, yes.

such a busy girl

I love that this girl wants to be be with me wherever I am, and into whatever I'm doing. Yes, it does get a little frustrating sometimes when I want to get things done, but ultimately, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Helping me fold laundry...





Helping me in the kitchen...




I love this girl!

husband kudos

Let me just say, the hubster has done it again. He tackles a project he's never done before, comes across countless obstacles along the way, and in the end comes out with a finished and completely functional result.

Our cats, who were once our babies and since Daisy has come along have been demoted back to cats - we still love them, of course, just with a little less attention now. Anyway, our cats' litter box is in the basement. I was very excited when we moved here that we would have an out of the way, not in our living space, area for their box. However, with Daisy crawling, almost walking and exploring EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE....keeping the basement door open was obviously out of the question. We considered installing a gate, but all I could think about was her flipping herself over it. So, Josh decided he would just buy a door (since our landlord wasn't too keen on the idea of us cutting a hole in their solid wood door) and install a pet door. Easy, right? Not so much. After much hard work, frustration, blood, sweat and tears....well, minus the blood and tears, we now have a CLOSED basement door with a cute little pet door for our furry friends to use at their leisure...



So why, you may ask, is the pet door propped open? Well, apparently thinking the cats will use the door without a problem and it actually happening are two different things. We shoved Yahtzee through a few times, and he seems to have caught on. The little one, however, is still staying on one side of the door or the other until we help him through. I don't know what the deal is. I even left him in the basement all night with his food dish on the other side of the door, thinking he would get hungry enough to venture through, but so far no go. I really hope he gets it soon. Dumb cat. Dumb, loveable, cute little cat.

poor child

Daisy was sick one night/day over the weekend. Running a fever and just overall feeling yucky. We had some close bonding time on the couch. You know this girl doesn't feel good if she's not crawling from one spot to another in constant motion and on this day, she watched (almost) an entire full length movie just cuddled up to me. I have to admit, even though my heart was breaking that she wasn't feeling well, I soaked up every minute of those snuggles.



Incidentally, she's not sleeping here. My phone has a flash on it that gets her every time. Doesn't she look just pathetic, though? How can you not snuggle that?



I also decided that it was the perfect day to not care about mis-matching, apparently.

success!

I am slowly working my way into this couponing thing. I am learning as I go, as I'm sure everyone does.

I have my coupon book together ~ finally!



And here is my latest success....I went to Target yesterday and bought all this



for 6 bucks and some change. That's right! Saved $19. Even my cashier was impressed. =)

i think i can, i think i can

The hubster says I'm addicted. I say I'm just struggling to understand it all and save our family the much needed money! The past couple days I have been living, eating, sleeping, breathing.....coupons. Over the past year I've observed many of my friends one by one discover the beauty that is couponing. When they all started bragging about their savings I decided it's high time I follow suit. There are just some bandwagons that need jumped onto. And there are just some sentences that need to end in a preposition....and also some sentences that need to start with a conjunction. Anyway, there's really no saving this post, I don't think. So....coupons! My first shopping trip was a success to CVS. I left with 50% savings! Tonight was my first BIG grocery shopping trip and wow....my brain is fried. It will help a lot when I am actually a bit organized. The trip was definitely a success. I left saving almost a hundred dollars. Not as good as Krista's (the hubster's cousin) $325 worth of groceries for $5, but I'm not bitter or anything. ;) Actually, Krista has been such a huge help as I have inundated her phone with texts and she has helped me to understand part of the mystery of it all. I will get there. I'm determined to keep going and conquer this new adventure! Pssshhhh! Addicted! He'll be thanking me one day. =o)

baby furniture? here ya go...

God never ceases to amaze me with His provision. When I look back over my life, inparticular the last year or so, I am baffled b/c it really could not be any clearer that God is providing. We would not have survived otherwise. Here's the most recent story...

We have had the right pieces of furniture in Daisy's room to make do. We have never gotten a changing table b/c we have a kitchen table that was given to us. I bought a cheapo changing pad and just slapped it on there and just put all the essential things that go along with it (lotions, ointments, powders, etc.) on the table, surrounding the changing pad. I will tell you, this works like a charm when you have a newborn. You know, a cute, adorable little babe who just lays there and looks at you with adoring wittle eyes. Not so much for an almost 11 month old who appears to have made it her mission in life to grab whatever her sticky little fingers can get a hold of and chuck it to kingdom come, usually nailing me in the head in the process. So I've been thinking I want to get some sort of table with drawers to put all those things in and save myself from getting an eye poked out. Also I've been wanting a nightstand to put by the rocking chair b/c I always need a place to put things when I'm sitting there and it always ends up on the floor, and then lost due to the before mentioned "sticky fingers". Keep in mind, I haven't really broached this subject with the hubster yet. There are more pressing matters at hand like needing a vacuum. So last night the hubster comes to me and says, "Oh, hey our landlord is working next door and wants you to go over there tomorrow and look at some baby furniture and see if you want it." Um, what? Needless to say I am a bit excited!! The furniture is perfect. A little dresser, a mirror, a shelf, and a nightstand. I can't wait to check out the "oops" paint at Home Depot or Lowes or wherever and get *my* little sticky fingers on them! A fun craft project AND a fulfilled need. I am so happy!