Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.

Mine started off with an EARLY trip to CVS for their "Black Friday" sales that start on Thursday!! I got up early, finished up my cooking, showered and headed for CVS. I made it home before 9 am, took my casserole out of the oven, and got Matt up. We loaded up the car with all the goodies and were off to his parents house in Spring. We made one pit stop at another CVS (yay!). Matt wanted to get his sister a B-day card and I totally took advantage of more free stuff!

Our Thanksgiving tradition in Matt's family is to go to the huge GardenRidge sale after we eat lunch. I LOVE GARDENRIDGE!!! I needed a new tree anyway, so it was the perfect place. (Our tree stand broke last year and the whole tree fell over! We had it propped up the rest of december, but trashed it when Christmas was over.) GardenRidge was packed, but we still had fun. I got a good deal on a Pre-lit tree (my first), some cute ornaments, and a few other items.

All in all it was a great day!

Money Makers

As I'm sure everyone is getting bored with the same ol' "this is what I got for nothing" posts, I thought I'd share a new concept. Not only getting things for free, but MAKING money on the deal! (disclaimer: for those of you who are math challenged, this might be a bit much! This is only for the true die-hards!)

Here are two examples from this past weekend.

#1 at CVS:

Two items "free after extra bucks" this week.

1. Maybelline mineral foundation $8.99 with $8.99 back in Extra Bucks.

2. Complete Contact Solution $8.99 with $8.99 back in Extra Bucks.

I purchased one of each of these for a total of $17.98. I used a $3 Maybelline foundation coupon and a $1 Contact coupon, making my new total $13.98. I added a candy bar so that my total would be $15. I paid for the items with the $15 Extra Bucks I received last week from the battery deal.

So in summary: I started with one Extra Buck coupon for $15. I ended with a maybelline foundation, a bottle of contact solution (no, I don't wear contacts!) and two Extra Buck coupons for $8.99 each. In essence, I made $2.98 AND got the stuff.

Example #2 from Walgreens.

I purchased 4 Bic soleil razors, two BionInfusion shampoos, and one christmas pencil (not pictured).

The shampoos were $10 each, the razors were on sale for $6.99, Buy one, get one free, and the pencil was $0.39. Total: $34.37

I had coupons for $3 off the razors, and even though they're on sale for Buy one get one free, I can still use one coupon per item. So that takes off $12.

Walgreens also had a coupon in their Easy Saver booklet for $3 off Bic Soleil Razors. These coupons CAN be combined with regular maufacturer coupons and when scanned, they will automatically deduct that amount for each one purchased. That takes off an additional $12.

In that same booklet there was a coupon for $5 the purchase of any BionInfusion shampoos. When scanned, it deducted $10, because I bought two.

Those discounts combined are $34. (Which, on a side note, is the reason I purchased the pencil. Otherwise my total would have been -$0.02, and that doesn't work!) So, after discount, my total was $0.37 (on my giftcard!).

Now, for the money maker part. In the November Walgreens Rebates (same booklet) there was a rebate for $10 if you purchased $20 in BionInfusions shampoos. That $10 will be credited to my gift card. So, I spent 37 cents and earned $10.

Cool?

Batteries anyone??

This weekend's shopping focused on a great deal at CVS.....batteries! I'm hoping to pick up some more during the week, but you'll at least see what I've gotten so far. I shouldn't have to buy batteries again for a REALLY long time!!

This weeks items (CVS only, no time for walgreens!)

Trip One:

2 Colgate toothpastes

1 Rimmel mascara

1 smart water

1 listerine agent cool blue rinse

1 Always infinity pads

1 Garnier Mousse

2 8-packs of AA batteries

1 16-pack of AA batteries

Total Cost of Trip one: $1.47

Trip two:

2 8-packs of AA batteries

1 16-pack of AA batteries

4 Glade Glass Scents Air Fresheners

1 Loreal Moisturizer

2 Candy bars

Total Cost of Trip Two: $0.95

Combined Cost: $2.42

Anyone need Batteries?

Shopping While Sick

As usual, I spent some of my weekend shopping. However, it was a little less fun this week because I was sick. :( I hate being sick. I don't like spending all day in bed, but if I get up, I feel worse. Hopefully I'll be better soon.

Of course, I did suffer long enough to make my trips to CVS, Walgreens, and Kroger. Here's what I got this week!



4 Progresso Chicken Noodle Soups
8 Carnation Evaporated Milks (mom will get some of these!)
2 Garnier Shampoo/Conditioner
1 Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
1 Kroger Syrup
1 Half Gallon Milk
2 Bryer's Ice Creams
2 Liter Smart Waters
3 St. Ives body washes
5 Yogurt
2 Toaster Strudel
1 Glade Air Freshener
2 4lb Sugar
1 Box cup cake papers
2 Betty Crocker Frostings
2 Boxes Hefty Storage Bags
3 Boxes of CVS Kleenex


That's a total of 42 items.






Now for the total.
At walgreens I put it on my gift card, so ZERO.
At CVS: 60 cents.
And at Kroger, $12.87.

So the combined total is: $13.47.

New Furniture & a Good Laugh

After months of searching, Matt and I FINALLY found some new bedroom furniture we could agree on. We both are pretty strong-willed and have some differences in taste, so everything takes longer with us. But, it paid off and we found something we could both agree on. Without too much reading....here it is.

I apologize for the poor pictures. There really was no good angle to get it all together.

Now, to close out this post. A laugh. Here's Matt's office-award-winning halloween costume. It was supposed to be Bush, but the resemblance was poor to say the least. Regardless, it was pretty funny!!

More Shopping!!

Walgreen's and CVS both have terrible deals this week. Had it not been for some store-issued money-off coupons I wouldn't have even gone. But, since I had Register Rewards (Walgreen's) and Extra Bucks (CVS) that were about to expire I figured I should find some way to spend them! See how they suck us in!!!!

Anyway, since those stores were so disappointing, I'm including my Kroger trip into this post. Here's a quick breakdown of what I got, just in case you don't get it all from the picture!

3 healthy choice dinners
5 yogurt
5 12-packs of diet coke
2 Quattro disposable three-packs
3 power toothbrushes
2 rolls of tape
2 Herbal Essence shampoo/conditioner
2 Almay mascara
2 pound package of strawberries
2 smuckers jams
3 powerade zero
3 packages of ground beef
1 Soy sauce
4 mighty dog can dog foods
2 bags of dog treats
1 Dozen Eggs (not in the picture)
1 box texas toast
1 cake mix
1 special K cereal (the big box!)
1 pilsbury cinnamon rolls
1 Downy





Now, for the part you're most interested in....the price. Right?

Well, for the items I got at walgreen's, I consider those free since I paid with my gift card that I got from the montly rebates. The mascara is a rebate item for November, so I'll be adding some money to my gift card for that.

I was supposed to have a $2 E-coupon on my Kroger card for the herbal essence shampoo, but that didn't work. So, I overpaid $2 on that deal. The real killer is that I was only getting that shampoo because that $2 coupon was going to make it FREE. The last thing I need is more shampoo, especially shampoo that I have to actually PAY for.

And, finally, I took advantage of a fabulous glade promotion last time I was at Kroger that gave me some nice coupons to apply to my purchases today. $16 worth of coupons if you'd like me to be specific.

So, with all those disclaimers aside, I spent a grand total of $12.51, even with the shampoo.


Happy Shopping!!