are we double dipping?

another question.. I know I do it all the time... I'm sure on other blogs I've seen some people sorta post it the same way I do so I'm wondering if everybody does this or if there is a system in which you can prevent this.. okay. maybe I should just ask the question and explain why I'm asking..

ARE WE DOUBLE DIPPING ON OUR DEALS?

for example.. let's say I have a WAGS $5 RR from last week, $2 left on my gift card from last months rebates.. then I get to my total and say I only spent $4 OOP but really I got paid $6 because next month I'll get $8 rebate for this xyz purchase and I got another $2 RR for my next purchase. so 8+2-4=$6 I got paid.

So my original $5 RR and $2 GC I already said last week or maybe even last money I made money on a deal because I was counting that $2 from the gift card in another deal and that $5 RR for this purchase I counted as being PAID from another transaction. and then same with the GC and RR I got PAID for today.. next month several deals will benefit from my trusty GC and my balance will be NOTHING OOP and then again I'll say I got paid.. and that RR for sure within a few days I'll say "wow all this for only 69 cents and really because I got another $1 RR I got paid 31 cents for this transaction" and so it rolls..

I know I type/write in circles so I'm sure everybody is confused.. but is there a system to show a credit for a RR or GC once and only once?

why are deals always a battle? why?

So I decided to go to CVS tonight because I have $16 in ECBS that will expire next week. Looking forward to next weeks sales and Septembers deals I'm just not that hyped up. I have enough shampoo (as you read) body wash, soap, wipes, cereal, tampons, pads, feminine products, deoderant, cleaning products, band aids, excederin, gas-x, alavert, I can go on and on but basically enough to last a good year if I wanted it too. (okay maybe not the alavert but I have 2 boxes of the stuff) and I don't wear make-up so I've been buying some just to try different stuff because what I do have is so old I probably shouldn't be using it anyway. I also really love the $2 skincare coupon that ends tomorrow so I wanted to get in a few extra freebies.
So I had this whole plan. I got help from hot coupon world posting what I had too much of, that I had a $10 ECB and a $6 ECB and I try to leave with the same amount of ECBS I spent or more if possible. If they couldn't figure out any deal to get me the same/more than as close as possible. So together we came up with these two deals.

first transaction
okay I've got one.. my sister uses OB exclusively so I could give her these for Christmas.. I swore this weeks ad said limit one.. but oh well. (I saw later it's been changed to 2 and then I saw in the August ECBS that OB was limit 5)

ob tampons $2/9 give $5 ECB
$2/$10 coupon
$2 skin care (buy some skincare item around $2
use two $1.50 coupons I have
$1.49 kotex with $1 coupon gives $1.49 ECB
$6 ECB
not sure about OOP but I'll get back $6.49 ECB

I think my total OOP would be $5.49 without tax (and my stores insist I pay tax) I have a few $1 off CVS pantyliners so I could throw in at least one of those to get above.

Okay so this is how my first transaction ACTUALLY went. I get there and of course they have not one single kotex 16ct left (like the other stores) so I spend the entire time I'm there walking in circles around the store looking for one deal that would only cost a couple dollars and give me at least $1 ECB back.

So folks.. what do you think I wind up with? Well I'll tell you TAMPONS and of course I already have so many pads/tampons in my original 2 deals I wanted to do I wanted to puke. But this deal was $4.99 for a 40 count variety box so I could use my $2/10 and my $2 skincare coupon pay 99cents and get back $2 ECB. Sweet... so here is my deal.. oh yeah you gotta load the pictures on the computer before I can upload them to my blog.. duh!



2 ob tampons 2/$9 used two $1.50 coupons
1 CVS multiple pack $4.99 (did not come with the free pantyliners which I needed so bad wahhh just kidding!) used $2/10 and $2 skin care
1 CVS panty liner 99 cents used $1 off CVS pantyliner from scanner I got last week because the scanner wasn't working today DOUBLE BOO!!
$6 ECB total OOP $1.34 plus got back $5 ECB from OB and $2 ECB from CVS tampons

not bad, but I was (and still am) mad at myself because I had found another deal with red eyes I think the product was $4.99 and I had a $4 coupon at home that I looked at just minutes before I left for CVS did not put it in my coupons, so I didn't have it for this deal once I realized I could have used it.. and now I can't find it!! ughh that was a super long run on sentence (breath)

transaction 2
I had not done the Zipfizz deal yet so it was suggested I use that with a stayfree. I was worried that the stayfree would not work considering I had done it once this week already, but then I saw it had been raised to 2 per CVS account. but then I was worried it wouldn't work because of the first OB transaction.. ughh so I just had to wing it.

2 Stay free 2/$9 used a BOGO coupon
2 Zip fizz $5.99 each
2 CVS hand santizers 5 ct 99 cent each used $2 skin care
$2/$10, $10 ECB, $6 ECB total OOP $1.73 earned $11.98 zip fizz.. DID NOT GET MY $5 STAYFREE ONE!

I had looked at the receipt after doing the OB deal and of course it says This Week's ECB offers Feminine care buy 2 get 5 EB *offer limite reached* with a 4 next to it. So I ask the cashier if my next deal will work and she makes some weird comment like "save your receipt" umm what? not sure. So I see other people coming up to check out so I duck over by a manager who was stocking and show him. He make a comment "this offer was only offered ONCE and you have 4 of course your offer limit is reached" so I calmly show him the August ECB book and *THIS* weeks ad and say I wanted to do the OB deal as my first transaction and the stayfree as the 2nd. So he says for me to call CVS if I don't get the ECBS because there is no way for him to look up my monthly ECBS and figure out what is what. okay.. whatever.

So of course I think they will be open late tonight and tomorrow.. yeah they close at 8pm I got home at 7pm then walked my dog and started making a pasta salad for a bbq tomorrow.. by the time I got upstairs to locate thier phone number.. they were closed.. saying "monday thru saturday 8am-8pm" great.. I gotta wait until Tuesday for that too.. more cell minutes burned up trying to fight for my deals! ughh I think I'm going to be doing the same thing with WAGS because my camera deal didn't go through.. ughh it did for other people not sure why not for me.

So while I was driving to Jewel I started thinking .... I used $19 in ECBS and got back $19 in ECBS but I should have gotten back $24 to make it a money maker. If I don't get the extra $5 in ECBS will I won't be out anything but the $3.07 I spent OOP but I do have all those products to give as gifts.. every girl is getting pantyliners, pads, and tampons for Christmas.. I don't care if you are 6 or 60! lol!

Okay so my next stop was Jewel. I needed a few extra items so I could make this Island style macaroni salad. I already had the pasta, eggs, pickles (to make my own relish), and some mayo but I needed more.



I found some really great deals at Jewel (plus everything else I needed). Here they are!
(sorry the picture is sorta fuzzy huh?)
a little fluffy purse on clearance for $2.50, comes with some make up and hair accessories and a car charger for my phone for $1, I decided to buy 2 considering my sister has the same phone as I do CHRISTMAS GIFTS! WOOT!

Okay so here is the process of me making the salad. I can't find the exact recipe on line so basically here it is.

1 16oz package of elbow macaroni cooked, drained, cooled
4 eggs hard boiled, grated
8oz crab meat
pickle relish
3/4 cup peas
2 green onions
2 stalks celery
salt/pepper to taste
3 cups mayo (I never use that much)

here is the finished product!


now it says to make at least 24 hours before and I know why.. the pasta literally soaks up all the mayo. It's amazing. I did not use 3 cups, I might have used a cup and half but tomorrow I'll probably put in another 1/2 cup just to bring out the creaminess before I serve it at the bbq wer are going to.

making meals out of our great buys

I've seen a few websites over the past few days that are taking our great buys and making awesome meals out of them. I haven't really come up with any cleaver ideas except maybe the onion soup packets I've been adding to my casseroles for dinners. Also this morning I took two eggo waffles (strawberry) toasted them and put chocolate Edy's ice cream between the top and bottom. Yummy breakfast ice cream sandwich. To keep the ice cream at the same thickness througout the sandwich I used a melon baller scoop to make little scoops of ice cream and placed 4 little ice cream balls on one waffle and just topped it with the second. you get the idea. Anyway.. even my bff's mom who was a super health nut actually let us have those for sleepover breakfasts.

Here are links to other blogs that have some awesome ideas.. they even have pictures!!

kraft cheese

croutons

free bread and/or cheap sausage

bagged salad

and this great blog actually hosts "from the freezer Thursdays" were she asks other bloggers to post their receipes they have made from their stockpiles. check some of them out! Frugal Homemaker Plus


not just meals, but emergency kits.. take a look at the lists of supplies we should have on hand. Most of these items are items that are on sale at CVS/Walgreens all the time and normally we can get them for pennies on the dollar!!
Disaster supplies

anyway.. I figured this was sorta fun to talk about considering I'm finally starting to see my stockpile grow here and there. My freezer is currently full and I actually took every item out this week and made large post it lists. I have one list of just meat, one of fruits/veggies, and another of misc items. I figured it would help me remember what is in there so certain items get used and not forgotten and also will help me find the items faster. I moved all the meat to the top shelf and everything else underneath and in the door. Finally, some organization in my life!

So can you add any links to recipes you've made or ideas you've come up with for fabulous deals you've gotten and figured out what to do with them all before they expire? Let me know!

Hi, my name is Melissa and I have a POO problem...

SHAMPOO PROBLEM!! geez.. the minds of kids these days... well it's been brought to my attention my another fellow blogger (I don't even remember whom) that they have a major stash (okay can we just call it what it is.. stock pile, stash, it's all the same, we're squirreling away these products like nuts! PUN INTENDED!!) anyway.. my husband comes home today to find another pile of shampoo/conditioner on the stairs waiting to be brought upstairs. The man shaves his head and looks at me and says "you have a normal amount of hair, I have no hair, your son who doesn't stay here 100% of the time just shaved his head.. who is going to use all this shampoo"

So I decided to gather all the evidence.. I put it all nicely together just to look at it.. I had meant to donate some of it recently and it never happened so it sat in bags on top of my husbands work bench in the garage for the past 2-3 weeks. So here I am to admit my poo problem. anyway.. so other bloggers have been talking about "no poo" meaning no shampoo. I've read several websites (google it you will find all sorts of articles) and as it turns out shampoo is bad for our hair! ughhh great. So from the girl who goes natural all the time with no make-up hearing this has perked her ears. I have given away more shampoo/conditioner than I care to admit and I just started hounding/couponing/playing the grocery/drug store game in June! I can't imagine what others have stashed in their houses... we could wash our hair for years on just what I have in my house now.. and if I do the calculations right.. I've gotten every bottle free! yikes..

Here is the pictures to show what I have.. like I said I'm sure there are many of you out there who have stashes much much larger.

my pert collection.. I was so proud when I found these for $1.99 and had $3 and $2 coupons.. one of my first FREEBIES!

I would have never even looked at this product and now that I have I'm in love.. of course that's what they want you to do.. try the product and fall in love. I got them free from WAGS their rebate program....

BOGO COUPONS ARE EVEN SWEETER WITH BOGO SALES!! lol! I had a few other sets of these and I know I gave 1 set to my sister.. not sure about the others. I just got the pink set this week at Ulta... hmm

and of course the super star from today.. $3.99 each and I got $12 off in coupons plus $10 back from WAGS rebates! not a bad deal! so it cost me roughly what $2 for all of those.. so today I paid for half of a bottle of that shampoo and got the rest of everything else free! not bad!

Okay.. so the question at hand is................ WHAT DO ALL YOU DO WITH ALL THIS POO?

another I have no idea what happened.. but in the end I think I'm happy

Okay let me start with what did work for me!! lol!

I had heard on another blog site that Polaroid digital camera were on clearance for $65.99 with a $40 rebate at Walgreens.. so yesterday at exactly 3:35pm I purchased one.. I got a coupon in my email box at exactly 3:42 pm for a $10/$40 coupon! ughh.. so I called Wags and they said come back and they would return it and resell it to me which is what I did.. so after a $10 coupon, $44 back in rebate ($40 plus 10%) and tax this camera cost me $16.33!

not too bad considering my old camera is really old and takes forever to take a picture.. but now I'm liking my old camera because it has a battery I can recharge.. this new one doesn't. maybe I'll keep the camera for a gift for my mom? we'll see. (if she's good! lol!)

Okay.. 2nd great deal of the day. I stopped at Jewel and they had pub burgers on sale 10/$10 (they are these really juice Angus beef 5 oz burgers) so I got 10, I got 5 chex mix they were on sale 5/$5 and I had 5 50 cent coupons and then I got Edy's ice cream 2/$5 and I had 2 $1 coupons. My total came out to $15.85.. so either I got the ice cream for free or the chex mix.. either is yummy so I'm happy with that transaction! lol!

and here it is again.. the Walgreens sticker I love!! Pay at Costmetic Counter and SAVEEEEEE!!
every time I go I get the same cashier in that department.. I'm sure she sees me coming and runs and hides now! lol! She is very patient and always makes sure I get the deal correctly.. the only thing is she will never accept IP coupons unless a special manager is on duty that day/time... which I don't think I've nailed down when that person works.. anyway.. today I know she didn't give me at least 2 coupons.. one I caught before I went to the 2nd WAGS so I asked them to refund me and they did.. no problems. The other one I'll let slide becuase I just figured out my bottom line and it's pretty sweet.. so I'm not gonna worry!


so here is what I got.

◙5 Pepsi 12 packs (sorry I could only carry in one because they wind up back outside anyway) 5/$11
◙6 Granier shampoo/conditioners $3.99 each used $1 off each easy saver coupon so $6 total and then I had 5 $1 granier coupons but she had 6 so I let her use hers.. so another $6 off of those PLUS I'll get $10 rebate back.
◙1 Nivea for men Body Wash $4.99 she had a $1 manu coupon so I got to keep mine and I'll get $4.99 rebate back
◙1 Chemistry treatment $7.99 $3 easy saver coupon and I'll get back $7.99 rebate (she said she had a manu coupon for it but I can't find it on the reciept)
◙2 John Freida shampoo/conditioner B1G1 50% off $6.49 each plus I used a $3/2 coupon of my own
◙2 shredded cheese 2/$3 with IVR coupon
◙4 Cocoa bars packs, these were on sale for $2.99 each. I tried to use a $1.50 easy saver coupon from September and a $1 easy saver coupon from August and I'm pretty sure she only used one.. so I only got $3 off?

Okay so here is the mystery.. I gave her all my coupons which was probably a mistake because she started scanning a few and would put them aside and then would pull out hers and then put them aside so I think she skipped a few. Also I tried to do the Glade deal and of course she wouldn't take my BOGO coupon with a BOGO sale or the $4 off coupons so I said "forget it, I'll do it another time". No biggie. Also she scanned my $10/$40 FIRST which I had bought extra things just in case my total wasn't over $40 I could add those in (the cocoa via bars) but I'm not sure why I did that because my plan was to get $1.50 of each plus a $1 off each so really it would have been like 50 cents a box.. confused? yes I was too.. which is probably why in the end I just shoved them on the counter with everything else.

Okay so my total with tax was $38.91. I realized she didn't give me the last pepsi free so at the 2nd store I got my $2.75 back for that item. So my total OOP was $36.16. I received a $9 RR for the John Freida products so that brings my total down to $27.16 and I will recieve $25.38 in rebates (22.98 plus 10%) so my total OOP for the transaction today was $1.78 for everything. Not bad!

I have no clue what just happened

Really I don't.. okay.. I'm going to run through a list of all the places I went today and all the goodies I got..
First stop WAL-MART's redbox!!
I used today's code and rented a movie for free! Most Monday's I use both my debit card and my credit card and rent two but there wasn't a 2nd one I wanted today.

Okay second stop WAL-MART! LOL!
3 Preperation H travel wipes 10 count $2.94 free for me with $3 coupons

1 weber seasoning pack 62 cent used 50 cent coupon

Ruffles chips $2 no coupon (GASP)

2 6 box packages of raisins $1.33 each used $1/2 coupon

2 First Aid Kits 99 cents each free for me with $1 coupons

12 Powerades (only 10 shown here) 60 cents each $1/3 or 27 cents each

1 snyders 1lb bag of pretzels $2.08 used 75 cent coupon

3 Vlasic Pickles $1.99 used 3 $1 coupons

2 V8 Splash juices $1.98 each used $1/2 coupon

2 Sauve mens body wash $1.78 each used BOGO coupon which gave me $2 off, the cashier had no idea why but neither of us questioned it!

2 cans spaghetti-o's 88 cents each used .40/2 coupon

2 mac and cheese Italian 75 cents each used $1/2

my total came to $19.01 with tax.

Next stop ULTA

I had an appointment to get a consultation for the free 10 day natural minerals plus the free make-up brush. So I went in and did that first. Then I decided since I had the 20% off coupon from the flyer this week I would look around for something to buy.. I found a HUGE clearance section and starting thinking CHRISTMAS immediately. Here is what I got.

sorry the picture is so dark.. I'm not sure why it turned out that way and my husband keeps chaning the way that our computer sets up our pictures and of course I have no clue how to fix anything now! ughh I barely was able to flip the picture vertical! lol!

1 foot massager marked as $9.99 on the final sticker rung up as $4.99 used 20% off got $1 off

BOGO Vive Pro shampoo/conditioner free for me by using a BOGO coupon

My total was $4.30 with tax, then she offered me a free subscription to In Style magazine that came with a free gift and $5/$10 purchase. So she gave me a selection of a few things I could have for free and I chose that little white make up case which I thought would be nice for my sister when she travels. CHRISTMAS GIFT! The $5/$10 coupon I'll go back and use to get more of those foot massager things. My sister and mom are both nurses! They'll love them!

CVS

Finally I get to CVS! lol! FIRST TRANSACTION!

3 100% Granier hair color $5 each used $3 coupons and recieved back $5 ECB

1 feminine wash $4.79 used $2 skincare coupon

2 Schick shavers 99 cents each used $2 coupon

2 choc covered peanuts used $1/2 peanut coupon from printer

Also used my $4/$20 coupon and a $5 ECB

The ECB wouldn't work because without tax I was at $4.70 so I grabbed another choc covered raisins and my total OOP was $1.68.

SECOND TRANSACTION

2 stayfree products 2/$9 used a $1 off coupon and a BOGO coupon got a $5 ECB back

1 Playtex Sport tampons $4.99 used a $1 off coupon got back a $3 ECB

1 CVS feminine wash $4.79 used a $2 CVS skincare coupon

2 schick razors 99 cents each used $2 coupon

1 caress body wash $1.49 used 70 cent coupon

2 malt-o-meal cereals FREE FOR ME because I used 2 $1/1 coupons

tried to use another $4/$20 and it refused to take it. I talked to the cashier last week about that and she said it's possible to use those twice. So this week I printed out 2 and she couldn't take it! ughh I'm confused. So I gave her a $2/$10 and a $5 ECB and my total OOP was $5.13 so not my proudest trip. win some/lose some.

****note for myself**** my CVS receipts show as of 8/22 that my YTD savings is $624.46 and my SUMMER 2008 spending is $91.50!! Yeah!!

I also forgot to mention I stopped for lunch at Taco Bell and through BuzzAgent I had free coupons for free Fresco Ranchero chicken soft taco's (my favorite) so I ordered two, drank from my bottle of water I brought with me and had a freebie lunch! yeah!!

want to see other CVS deals?? head on over to
centsible sawyer to check it out

Okay, I have a question???

I just got done posting a comment back to Hippie from my last post.. she said that I'm lucky to have as many stores in my area and that she wishes she had that many stores in her area (PA). So here was my response.

HI there.. yeah it's all great and dandy that I have so many stores EXCEPT the fact that there are so many stores it's easy to miss a REALLY GREAT sale and/or deal or use a coupon at store xyz and then the next week an even better deal pops up at store abc! lol!

I have Aldi, Jewel, Dominicks, Meijer, Super Target, Super Walmart, K-Mart Butera, Woodmans, and several family owned produce type grocery stores in the area plus of course CVS, Walgreens and all the dollar stores 99 cent store, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Everythings a $1, etc. So I could easily go to all those stores in one day and/or week just to hit several sales. not to mention Jewel and Butera always have special deals just over the weekend so I could easily miss good deals if I go on a Monday vs a Thurs-Sun!!

Okay so my question is this.. how do you work full time and/or take care of a household and hit every sale/deal/store each week? How do you choose from one week to the other what sale is worth it to make sure you get to? I started this hounding/couponing thing only because I am unemployed and need to stretch my dollars. Right now I have TIME to stop on the way here or there while running other errands or I just make sure I have a morning/afternoon free to get to these places. Plus, many of them are 24 hours in my area so really there have been Friday nights when I dragged my son out at midnight to shop.

nothing ever goes as planned

I had planned my afternoon out very strategically.. I would first stop at my friend Amy's to drop off some Similiac and some chicken, then at my sisters to drop off her birthday shoes (I ordered them and they came in yesterday, her birthday was Saturday), then off to Ulta to get the free make up brush and bare minerals foundation, then to CVS, and finally to Wal-Mart. I left my house at 1pm thinking I had the whole afternoon to get all this accomplished.. umm yeah..

I get to Amy's and of course start playing with her 2 yo Nathan (aka Nathaniel, aka Nader, aka Terminader) and then her 1 month old woke up and of course I had to play with her.. yeah it was 3:15 before I left there.. yeah.. ok.. so I head to my sisters thinking nobody would be home.. ohhhh no my sister and both my nephews are home.. so I sit and talk to them.. then off to Ulta where they told me I had to make an appointment to get the freebies.. ughh so that's set for tomorrow.. then by then it was 4pm and my husband was going to be home so I started driving home.. of course by the time I passed the road that lead to either CVS or Wally World my husband tells me he isn't hungry and won't even be home for awhile.. so I stop at Jewel on my way home.


I had found a few Jewel deals earlier this week I wanted to grab and also had gone on HCW this morning and heard about a few other deals I wanted to grab. So on the way home the only thing left without turning around and getting myself into a major traffic jam was Jewel.


okay so here is what I got...
4 packages of Smart Taste pasta $1 each free for me with $1 coupons
3 packages of Party Mix Friskies cat treats $2 each or free for me with FREE coupons
6 GUM toothbrushes 25 cents each $1 each used 6 75 cent off coupons
6 GUM kids flossers 45 cent each $1 each used 6 55 cent off coupons

my total OOP was $5.16 I believe and I got another survey that gives me a free loaf of italian bread! I've got 3 so far and I'm saving them for the next time I need them for a party!

checking out at WAGS cosmetic counter = another big score!

So off I went back to that awesome WAGS again that has all the coupons at the cosmetic counter. Again the same girl was in the store. I have to admit I had to go back to that particular WAGS anyway because I had seen some Similiac Advance marked down to $9.99 for the big cans of powder. I finally got some $5 coupons today in the mail so I wanted to see if they were still there. Of course they weren't.. but one of my ATM's is on the way (I had another rebate check come in today), plus the Jewel that is having the grand re-opening and has some more fantastic deals I wanted to get in on. Not to mention on my way home is an Aldi and I needed a few items I only get at Aldi.

LOOK WHAT POPPED UP AGAIN AT WAGS!!

whooooo hooo!! for the 2nd time I've been able to cash in on this deal. If you didn't read my past blog about the products that have this sticker I can now go to the Cosmetic counter to cash out and they have manufacturer coupons there! Last time I had a really great Biore coupon but just one and they had 3 of the same one. So I didn't have to spend my precious coupon and I got $2 off each product instead of just $2 off one! double woot!

so here is what I got today at WAGs... I hate to dissapoint but I did this all in one transaction! lol!

glade spray $3.49 one $1.50 coupon from ES book one $1.50 manufacturer coupon from this weeks paper

two sets of slippers on clearance for $1.99 I'm keeping those for Christmas gifts

3 packages of paper plate 99 cents each with wags coupon from flyer

3 edge shaving gels 7 oz $1.99 with coupon from wags flyer and 3 $1/1 coupons from the cosmetic counter

1 trident gum 99 cents with wags flyer coupon and 75 cents off manufacturer coupon from all you magazine (I think?)

2 rimmell eye shadows bogo $5.xx each? used a BOGO coupon from all you magazine

2 smuckers strawberry squeezables and 1 peter pan pb $3/$5 used $1/1 peter pan coupon from all you magazine and $1/2 smuckers manufacturer coupon from newspaper a few weeks back

used one $5 RR from last weeks dumb transaction with the cereal.. oh well. my total was $12.xx not too bad. got stuff I will use, and some stuff for christmas.

I stopped at Jewel next to pick up the deals that only this Jewel has. They are still doing their grand re-opening and each week they have some killer deals. This week was 69 cent coke/sprite product 2 liters. limit 6. So I got those along with my FREEBIE Sara Lee bread (coupons from the newspaper a few weeks back) as well as Daisy Sour Cream was 50% off which made it $1.49. Used 50 cent coupons from this week and now I have more sour cream than I know what to do with.

I also stopped at Aldi for a few items.. just eggs, fake doritios which my husband loves.. he says they are better than regular doritos.. more cheese and only 99 cents. Some olive oil and garlic bread. Nothing else there. spent $10.xx there.

Got a the "back to school" rebate this week. so I got those $5 in school supplies for free with Pert/Sure. That was cool and it came with more Pert/Sure coupons. I also got my samples of Similac with 5 $5 coupons which I will now keep with me at all times just in case I come across any more Similac on clearance! ughh. I got another Playtex sample along with another $1 coupon so that was cool.

That's it for today ladies and gents!

not the healthiest but a yummy cheap dinner!

Okay so today I was trying to think of ways to use a bunch of bbq chicken I got from a neighbor. They had a huge 40th birthday bash for the both of them over the weekend and instead of cooking they decided to make a bunch of side dishes and then hire a local bbq restaurant to come, bring this gigantic bbq grill and cook for them. They came and made burgers, brats, hot dogs, bbq chicken and some really great ribs. At the end of the night she had so much left that as you left you got a 2 gallon size ziplock bag full of food! I got chicken. I don't eat much dark meat so I've been picking at the white meat pieces (I did have one thigh yesterday) but then tonight I wanted to make something with the chicken. Soo... I took 3 breasts and pulled the meat off the bones (threw away the skin) then mixed it with some frozen green/red chopped peppers I got a Butera a few weeks ago for 49 cents(I got 4 in a clearanced package, they were about to go bad which is why I diced/froze them immediately), then mixed in a half bag of tator tots (1.4x bag), an envelope of onion soup (50 cents), and some cream of celery soup ($1?).

chicken FREE
peppers 25 cents
tator tots 75 cents
onion soup 50 cents
cream of celery soup $1
milk ($1.99/gallon so maybe 4oz?) 10 cents

my entire meal that will make at least 4 helpings cost $2.60 or 65 cents each helping! nice!

You know you are a "couponer/hounder/cvs and/or wags junkie" when.....

Okay.. this should be fun.. lol! sorta like Jeff Foxworthy and "you know you're a redneck..." I saw this over at www.iheartcvs.com

you know you are addicted to cvs..."When you're child is throwing up all over the couch and you're wondering what you can buy along with Pedialyte so you can get the Pedialyte free and earn ECBs as well." - Becca

sorry this one just made me think... so here are a few of my own.

You know you are a coupon whore when you stand in line and have 2 coupons for each item that you are about to buy.

You know you are a coupon junkie when anyone in your family goes near your coupon box and the lojack pager goes off.

You know you are a hounding freak when you drive 10 mph over the speed limit just so you can get home, set up all your transactions on your clean table (now all your piles of junk are on the floor) just to take pictures of your goodies/steals/deals so you can blog them asap.

You know you are a hounding freak when you actually start to stock pile items you will never use in this lifetime.

You know you are a WAGS whore when you rush home just to enter your receipt code into the "easy saver" website so you "don't forget" or "lose your receipt" and miss out on your rebate from WAGs.

You know you are a couponing/hounding junkie when you know exactly what ECBS, WAGS, Q, BOGO, ES, SS, RP, P&G, OOP, or IP mean without looking them up or having to think twice about what was said/written.

**note** I do not think anyone of us are actual junkies, whores, or freaks... just a play on words.. so have fun with it and comment back on what makes you laugh at yourself about being part of the game.

now *I KNOW* what "shop til you drop" means...

This is why I'm all hounded out... or in a rut, or exhausted from shopping.. because it takes ALL WEEK for me to figure out which deals I wanna do and then I finally go out and once I get to the store I wind up figuring out new deals and reworking and working.. and then this store is out of the one thing I really needed to make this deal work.. ahh but then another store has the product and makes up for it with a better deal (somehow) and then I over buy making sure I got every deal.. confused? I know I am too!

FIRST STOP CVS

again I got photobombed.. the animals get all excited when I come home from shopping.. they must think I'm the best hunter ever! lol!

transaction 1

2 choc covered raisins 88 cents each

24 case water bottles $3.99
1 schick quattro $7.99

1 cvs moist wipes $2.19

coupons

$1 off 2 gold emblem candy

$2 off CVS skincare

$2 off CVS water bottles

$3/$15

$5 ECB

Total $3.03 with tax got back a $5 ECB from the Schick razor

2nd transaction

2 gold emblem candy 88 cents each (hey these rung up as $1.50 each)

4 glade air spray 88 cents each

2 gas-x thin strips clearance for $2.85 each

1 CVS feminine wash $3.29

1 CVS sport lip balm $1.99

Coupons
$5 CVS coupon for gas-x (printed with receipt)
2 BOGO glade coupons
2 $1 gas-x manufacturer coupons
$1 CVS suncare from scanner
$1/2 Gold Emblem candy from scanner
$2/$10
$2 CVS skincare
$2 not sure what this is from but it balances the candy being rung up wrong and now I see only 3 $1 coupons rung up.. hmm. oh well
Total $1.89 OOP no ECB's used, none given

***just a little note**** just wanted to post my CVS totals from when I started hounding to now. Not even sure of the date! I guess I could look up my first transaction. It was sometime in June. But as of 8/11 (what my receipt is saying from today) my YTD savings is $584.26 and my SUMMER 2008 spending is $86.58. I guess that's not bad. wonder where other people are at?





WALGREENS

Okay, don't ask me who was pulling this deal together because really.. I walked in there with my $5/$20 coupon not having a clue other than I needed some school supplies and that flex folder thing. Other than that.. it was a total blurr. things got messed up at the register so I had to get the CSM to fix it for me so I'll just list each item.

Kelloggs Cereal 3/$10 used one $1/2 and received 5 RR
5 Star Flex Binder #42 in Easy Saver Catalog so I'll get $5 back $7.99
2 Mead 5 class notebooks BOGO 50% off $7.99 each but they had them in the wrong spot so I thought they were $4.49 each so I showed the CSM and refunded me $6.47 and I got to keep the nice big notebooks.
3 sharpies 39 cents each
3 papermate 10 pack of pens 39 cents each
Quattro razor $2 easy saver coupon and $4 manufacturer coupon

$5/$20 and a $4 RR from earlier this week. OOP $20.xx (plus of course I got the $5 RR and a $5 easy saver so I see it as spending $10 OOP)

MEIJER

Okay.. another strange trip. I thought I better ask first if I needed to buy 4 boxes of the 100 cal packs. They were BOGO so before their sale 4 packs was over $12 and in order to get $10 off the Fruit of the Loom deal (socks) I had to spend $10 in Nabisco products. I wasn't sure if that was before or after the sale prices. So I asked.. of course CS had no idea but said "go get all your products and come back and we'll figure it out". Okay.. of course I get everything, get to the register and the CS guy was at lunch by then. So another CS person came up and finally I said "let's just ring it up and see what happens" and of course I had to buy 8 to get the deal. Oh well.. so here is my break down. again.. I'll just list product/deal instead of coupons at the bottom. still with me??

3 4pks of joint juice $1.63 each $1/1 coupons on each

(why do some fonts skip two lines and other just go down to the next line?)

9 Powerades 69 cents each 3 $1/3 coupons

1 meow mix 75 cents FREEBIE

4 cat litter sale for $1.61 4 $1 coupons

4/$5 pop tarts used 1 $1/2 coupons PLUS 2 Nutrigrain bars $1.80 each (5/$9 sale) used 1 $1/2 coupon PLUS 2 eggo waffles $1.15 each used 1 $1/2 coupon to get backpack $11.99 on sale $10 off equals $1.99 total

8 nabisco 100 cal pack (bogo) total $12.78 to get $10 off Fruit of the Loom products. Socks $3.99 got all three for $1.97 plus used $1/2 coupon.

Total OOP $31.98.. did I miss anything? so for the day I spent $57 give or take! not bad for all that loot.. now to eat.. geez I gotta stop with the breakfast stuff! lol!

is it fall already?

Well they haven't even put the kids school supplies away yet, but WAGS already had out all the fall candles and decorations.. yikes! no wonder the months just fly by because next month we'll be looking at Christmas stuff already. I'm scared! lol!

Well I had this plan in my head to go to WAGS, Jewel, Woodmans, Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, and Butera today.. but really I didn't need much and didn't want to go to too many stores because I figured I'd spend too much. after all was said and done I think I spent around $60 in groceries and odd and ends but I only went to WAGS, Jewel, Woodmans and Aldi. I didn't take pics of really anything because some of the groceries were frozen/cold so I needed to get them into the freezer/fridge asap. It was only 84 today but it was super muggy/humid. I did bring a cooler with me, but that also makes it easier to just drag that into the house and get everything put away faster.. so I'll just highlight the deals I got today.

I added a new label today, it's called THINGS TO WATCH FOR because there was 2 things that popped up for me today that could make some already sweet deals even better. I do have pics for those and will add those within the blog!

WALGREENS

Transaction 1

3 Biore Foaming Cleansers on sale for $5.24 each

1 Preperation H travel wipes $3.99

Now here is the good stuff.. Money saving mom had a little segment today telling how to get an overage on those Preperation H wipes. They are $3.99, then you use an Easy Saver $2 off coupon PLUS a coupon from the manufactures website for $3! $1.01 overage! woot.. and it worked.

I had a $2 manufacturer coupon from a sample I got in the mail last week for Biore which I intended to use.. but.. here is "things to watch for"

so I'm looking for my deals and I come across this sticker on the Biore. Not knowing what this meant for sure I decide to ask once I got all the items I was planning on getting. Apparantly my WAGS (not sure if all do this) keep manufacturer coupons behind the cosmetic counter and if you go to the counter pay for your transactions they'll use THEIR coupons towards your purchase! Sweet.. so I only had one $2 coupon.. well she had all 3 so I didn't have to use mine at all!!

So my total was $8.71 and I got back a $9 RR!!! woot for me.

Transaction 2

2 Bertolli dinners $5.99 each

I used 2 $1.25 coupons plus my $9 RR from first transaction. Total 69 cents! woot! And even better I got a $5 RR for my next transaction.

Transaction 3

4 Ragu Sauces 3/$5 or 1.66/1.67 each

2 Skippy PB 3/$5 or 1.66/1.67 each

1 starbucks truffles $1.50 (she gave me a $1.50 coupon)

used 3 $1/2 coupons plus my $5 RR from second transaction, my total was $2.20 and I got back a $4 RR for my next purchase! Now the starbucks candies are a weird thing.. I've gotten those candies for free at other WAGS like when I did the Clean and Clear deal I got 2 packages of them.. They keep the coupons behind the counter along with the candy.. so I'm not sure where the coupons came from but I've gotten 3 of those packages for free now. It's a little tiny box with two candies in it.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Too bad I hadn't done more of the Kelloggs deals then I would have had a $5 RR to start the whole thing rolling. Oh well.. we have so much cereal my DH would have been mad.. he thinks stockpiling means he has to each everything as fast as possible.

At Jewel I got the 4/$5 pop tarts again.. used 2 $1/2 coupons and the milk deal that was $2.28 per gallon. Milk was $1.99 a gallon at Butera over the weekend but you have to spend $20 and there just isn't normally any great deals there so I didn't want to walk around the store aimlessly looking for things to just buy to get up to $20. I'll spend the extra 29 cents and just get it at Jewel since they were having such a great deal anyway.

I stopped at Woodmans next and stocked up on things that I can only find there or only find there for a great price. Of course I only had a few coupons so in the end I wound up spending $46 BUT I normally went there to stock up and would spend $170-$200 so I didn't do too bad in the grand sheme of things.. anyway.. so here I come to my second "THINGS TO WATCH FOR" item. I didn't take an actual pic of the product because I didn't buy it, but if you are still holding on to your FREE coupons for Purina Mighty Dog Classic wet dog food or Purina Friskies Selects indoor wet cat food

then watch for these at your local grocery stores. It was a stand obviously made/sent by the manufacturer. At my grocery store WOODMANS they had them standing side by side at an end cap near all the pet products. It was a box that had 2 cans of food in each and the sign said BOGO at the top!! so it was buy one get one free so if I had those coupons I could have gotten DOUBLE what I got at Target last week when I used these coupons! ughh! I think they were 59 cents each.. I guess I should have bought more.. oh well.

I've gotten a fair amount of samples in the mail over the past few days. Today I got a samples for Orville Redenbacher Rice Cakes with coupon and Meow Mix Wholesome goodness dry cat food with a coupon.

dove pro-age lotion sample with coupons, Biore samples with a $2/1 coupon
BzzAgent taco bell kit with 12 coupons for free fresco style tacos,$5 off coupon for those allergy eyedrops (can't remember the name).

Okay.. so that's it for today. Time to read everybody elses deals! lol!

bad *hounding* dreams???

Okay so the last few nights it's been hot/muggy in the house but I refuse to turn the air on because it's been in the high 70's for the last 10 plus days.. of course Sunday it got up to 89 but we were gone all day and then yesterday 87 and I was home all day but I don't care.. so Sunday night I wound sleeping on our couch in our loft (family room) which was the coolest room in the house because it has the most windows. Fine no issues.. last night the loft was hot, our room was worse, I even tried my sons bedroom.. no dice.

I decided to sleep on the first floor which is usually cooler anyway, but I had to open windows/doors to get a breeze which I was leery about because there has been break ins in our area. I figured I was sleeping with my chihuahua who barks at the wind so if he heard a noise he would wake me up. Sure enough at 2am SOMETHING woke me up.. not even sure what it was.. but because I was scared I decided to shut all the windows/doors on the first floor and try to sleep upstairs.

I get up stairs and my room is an ice box.. okay.. I fall asleep with no issues. then my dog wakes me up at 7am to go out.. so I take him down stairs let him out, let him back in, feed him and his sister the cat and they fell back to sleep on the couch down stairs! lol! I woke up to my husband making himself pop tarts and his lunch for work.. and fell asleep again as soon as the door slammed behind him.

Okay.. so I've been in and out of sleep for 2 nights which usually messes me up. My sleep has to be perfect in order for me to function.. I'm a freak like that. So I start having this dream that I decide to go "shopping" (umm hounding) so I gather all my stuff (the coupon box, my purse, my little spiral I write my notes in etc) and I head out the door.. but I'm not at home I'm at my friend Carolyn's house and for some reason the only car there is what I thought was her car but it was stick! I don't drive stick. But I have to leave to go get my deals.. so I take it anyway and of course I can drive it perfectly! ha ha ha riiighht.. of course I get on this steep hill and luckily the guy behind me figured out that I couldn't drive stick so he stayed far behind me because I couldn't get up over the hill. so I finally get up over the hill and get to I think CVS.

I'm throwing things in my cart at CVS, breaking things up into "transactions" in my cart as I usually do.. then I get to the front.. as usual I'm the only person in the whole store, not one person in line.. as soon as the cashier starts ringing up my first transaction 4 people show up behind me. He gives me my total and I swipe my debit card and enter in $31.19.. wait WHAT since when have I spent over $10 OOP in my hounding days.. so he's already ringing up my 2nd order, I get the receipt from that and I realize I never handed him ANY coupons for the first two transactions! omg this is a very scary dream.. I don't know if you want to continue. So when he handed me my first receipt I had remembered seeing something about my total being $31,000.00 what was that? So now the line behind me is maybe 8 people deep, and I have this rude man behind me was making comments, rolling his eyes, shuffling his feet, sighing.. you know the normal "I'm pissed because I got behind you and you are taking forever".. so I sorta step to the side and I'm looking for my first receipt because I told the cashier there was something wrong on my first transaction.. so he says find the receipt and we'll figure it out.. so I show him that my total was entered as $31,119.00 instead of $31.19 and he chuckles and says he'll fix it..

So I'm standing there looking at some shredded cheese and some other items I had in my basket and in my bags I already paid for and I'm thinking "since when do I buy shredded cheese at CVS?" lol! So he hands me back my receipt and he gave me back $6,848.00 (don't ask my how I remember these numbers from a dream I just do) and I said "ummm hello don't you owe me more than that? you charged me 31 THOUSAND dollars for a $31 DOLLAR transaction.. $6 grand isn't enough! So he says I have to wait for the manager and I woke up! lol!

So today I'm planning on getting some hounding/shopping done. Mostly for stuff we need (shocking I know) but also to get in on some deals that will be ending Wednesday at local grocery stores. I'm exhausted just thinking about this trip. I had mean to wake up at 7am and get out the door so I could be back by noon to walk my neighbors dog.. but here it is 11am I'm still in my t-shirt/shorts (pjs) and writing this blog.. it's been a crazy morning already! lol!

Rookie Mistakes? Nervous Nelly problems? Bring 'em here.. let's share our tales of shopping horrors!

Two things happened today #1 I didn't get my Sunday paper, but did get coupons from my neighbor which for some reason didn't include any of the coupons I had read about on line.. must be because he gets a local paper.. never went and got another paper either.. I hope someone kept theirs for me. #2 I found very few deals I actually want to even look at this week.

Just to pass the time I was thinking about people telling their stories. Over at Coupon Cravings it was asked "what was your Freak out Moment" umm yeah for me.. I have several a day.. I'm just a freak like that what can I say. I'm a newbie and I'm making mistakes left and right.. I'm learning from them but in the end I'm still getting great deals on products I would have not even wanted to think about buying due to their price. I'm getting what I used to think of as "luxary items" for very cheap, free, or being paid to buy them.

Anyway.. as usual I'm rambling.. other than "freak out moments" what were your "rookie mistakes", nevervous nelly trip ups, or even "verteran follies"? What hounding mishaps have you learned from? which do you make over and over again? which will you never forget? how have you learned to not make that error again?

I'm hoping by talking about this, hearing other peoples stories that we can all learn from one another and possibly help any newbies that decide to jump into the "game"... ahh it's sooooo addictive.. run while you can newbies.. run far far away! lol!

ready set go! lol!

I've been a total mess...

So I just don't have the energy to hound for some reason.. not sure why.. maybe the frusteration, the time.. I dunno.. all I've been doing is reading everybodies blogs, printing coupons, reading sales ads.. it's not any different.. I just don't want to go out because none of my deals have been working out in the end.

For example, yesterday morning I found out that the AXE deal worked with trial size! woot! So I seriously RUN to WAGS like 5 minutes later, my coupon box barely made it in the car with me, yelling after my son/nephews that I'd be "right back". I get there and the deal doesn't stick because they have no trail size AXE anything (I swear those buggers pull them from the shelves when they realize people are getting better deals than they intended for us to get.. we always out smart them don't we?) so I decide to try those little sprays that are $1.99.. no dice.. so I return them.. total frusteration. I did do the band aid deal and of course the coupon from the little coloring book for band-aids $1/1 only gave me $1 off one product and I was too frusterated about the AXE deal not working to fight about the other $1.. so I decided to hit a 2nd WAGS by taking the long way home..

I get there, they too have no trial size anything, nothing left out of the clearance AXES... so I have been saying over and over that every Christmas I buy this stuff anyway for my son/nephews as stocking stuffers.. this is just the beginning.. and at $4 each for the full size it's not actually a bad price.. and I'll get movie tickets to boot.. okay fine.. so I took my $3 RR from the Band Aid deal and got a few school supplies I had missed for my son and got my movie tickets and bit the $16 OOP at the end.

So fast forward.. it's around 4pm and I stumble across those FACEBOOK CHECK IT OUT coupons.. I have Facebook but never use it. So I decide to CHECK IT OUT and these coupons are fantastic and you can print as many as you want.. having low toner and hating to waste paper I decide to only print 2 of each. Well I print them all out and THEN realize that none of the scanning bar codes are printing.. instead two little boxes with x's in them! ughh.. I'm also thinking these are too good to be true so I wanted to wait until I found out if people were using them, if they worked, if they were/weren't fraud etc.

So I find out indeed they are working but now they are pulled from the website. I still had all the links to each coupon so I decide to go back and try to print the ones I had wanted originally again and they print out perfectly.. it's 10pm... OFF TO WALLY WORLD. I get there and sure enough each isle I go down for a specific product it's blaringly obvious I'm not the only one to get these coupons. Most of these products are cleaned out or very low stock and everything around it.. still fully stocked and faced. nice huh? Kewl.. so I get to the check out and everything works out fine, the checker is scanning all the coupons and made a comment like "these coupons are great, where did you get them?" so I tell her and she gets done with my transaction, my total OOP is $12 and she says "I have to get my CSM to okay/override this" okay.. whatever.

Little miss CSM comes over (really young nice girl) she looks at everything, checks to make sure the coupons are for the correct products, sizes, etc. and actually comments that the overages "happen a lot here because our prices are so much better".. the cashier keeps pushing and finally she says "I'll take the coupons to accounting to make sure" and she walks away.. a minute later she comes back and says "we can't take them because we've never seen codes like this" what?? I was totally confused.. I still have no idea what she meant by that.. I'm new at this so fill me in here if you know what she meant by that.

So I decided on the way home to stop at Jewel and at least try to get the two pizza's I had coupons for. I went to self check out and they worked fine.. okay.. so today I decide to go back to Jewel to try to use more.. of course every shelf is empty of these products! insane huh? I did wind up getting the gronola bars and trying to get the shaving cream but I grabbed the wrong size bottles! duh! so I still have the Lean Cuisines, chapstick, shaving cream, cheeze-it's, razors, cheese, and gum to try to get.. good luck to me..

In a "hounding" slump...

Okay.. so today marked another day that I just didn't feel like hounding.. I looked at deals on line and that.. read through the grocery ads that came out yesterday.. just tried to get a general feel for what I needed. I'm starting to feel the "unemployment" red line (meaning I have less and less money each week available to me) so I'm really looking only for deals on things that I need. For instance, I really needed ketchup and bleach this week. I went to WAGS on Monday because I had to get $10 cash (I don't ever carry cash) so I pulled together a few fast deals and wound up spending $17 there that day. $4.xx on deals plus $2.42 in TAX plus my $10 cash.. so it was an expensive (for me) wags trip. I stopped at CVS on my way home that day just to get 1 more $1 candy to get my $5 ECB, but other than that I've not gone shopping at all.

This week I did get another rebate for the Scrubbing Bubbles shower cleaner. Works good, I'm happy with it and I got it for free so that's cool. I also got some really good FREE coupons this week. One in the mail for V8 fusion. That was one where you text for the coupon which was cool. I also got 5 free wet dog food coupons this week in Sunday's circulars (I get coupons from neighbors and my husbands grandma) and also I had 4 free wet cat food coupons from last week. I got another today at Jewel when I went for a grand RE opening which turned out to be a disaster.

I thumbed through a special circular that was sent for this grand re opening at the Jewel in another town but still very close to my house. They had some pretty good deals PLUS had some freebies/games going on I thought would be cool to check out.

So on the way I decide to stop at Target to get a few things like cat litter. I bought about 25 of those great Tidy Cat $1 off coups that came out awhile ago. If I can get litter for 77 cents a week I'm going to stock up. So I got 3 of those because of course they only had one type and I like to switch the types around. Not sure why but I'm convinced the litter doesn't smell as bad if you switch it up. Anyway.. I found some other good deals on some clearance items.. nothing great, nothing to brag or that I even took pics of. I wound up spending $14 there on nothing particular.

I drive across the street to Jewel and I see this huge group surrounding this pop up tent. I park and walk over and sure enough there is a huge slot type machine set up and you pull the arm and if you get 3 huggies you win a TV. There were several other items you could win if you got all 3 and after asking a few others standing there I heard that yes they had started at 4pm (it was now 4:15pm) and in that time 3people had won something. So I pulled the lever and got a big nothing. oh well.. my parting gifts? Another free Jewel reusable grocery bag, 2 samples of Dunkin Donuts coffee, a few coupons 1 for a free half gallon of ice cream, a sample of tide/downey laundry detergent, and a big chip bag type clip. So not a bad deal.

So inside I go to grab all the deals that are just at this location. As I'm walking in some lady is walking out and yells to me to "think about going in there" apparantly there was some computer glitch and all the registers were down. So the only register they had running was the service desk and that was backing up down the isles. By the time I got in there they had the self service registers running so that was 4 more registers shoppers could use. Because of this I decided not to try to get all the deals I wanted and actually found a few of the deals I thought I really wanted weren't exactly what I wanted so I passed on some. I get through my self check out which always takes me forever because of coupons and today I was buying beer so I had to wait for someone to come over and validate my age into the register. So I'm leaving and I had spent $32 on basically nothing.. so I decide to grab my receipt and look at what I bought... yea TOTALLY BLANK RECEIPT! nice huh? ughhh so once I got home I worked it all out and it makes sense but still I'm sorta miffed because I didn't get that much.

I gotta figure out how to make hounding work to my advantage in the food arena.. seriously.. I don't get how others get such great deals in the grocery stores. I just can't seem to pull food deals. I can get unlimited amounts of deoderant, shampoo, cleaning supplies, and in general junk food for great prices, free, or even get paid for it.. but regular every day stuff.. not at all. not sure what I'm doing wrong.. ughhh

So tonight I went to another Jewel to use the free ice cream coupon I had gotten earlier and that free V8 Fusion coupon. Wound up getting some Magic Shell (crack in a bottle) and came home and had a little ice cream party with my son and 2 nephews. Of course, they were more excited to see the juice than the ice cream.. I THINK SOMEONE SWITCHED MY KIDS AT BIRTH, THEY CAN'T BE MINE! lol!

So I've been really up in the air over doing the AXE/WAGS deal. If you buy 4 AXE deoderant/shower gel you get free 2 movie tickets.. which isn't a bad deal and at Christmas I always buy that stuff for the boys anyway.. I just don't feel like spending $16 for movie tickets! lol! Tim and I go to the $5 shows early on Friday/Saturday/Sunday or we use our freebie tickets we get once in awhile.. or we wait for it to come out on video and get it free from redbox (I just returned 3 movies I rented from redbox for free yesterday).

Anyway.. that's all that has been going on with me in the hounding world.

MSN Money ~ WIR "women in red" message board

Hey ladies.. are any of you WIR members? I am a WIR member however I haven't been on the message boards regularly anymore since I raced and paid off my debt. Today I wanted to go to the SAVERS board and update my savings race but it says the website it down? I've tried several different ways to get on the message boards and each way fails! What's up? Is it just my computer?

attempting to put the $4/$20 to good use!

Well I attempted and TOTALLY failed on using the $4/$20 coupon for 4 of my 5 transactions.. I had to break everything down and rework every deal.. things turned out good in the end.. so oh well. I went to a different store today. One that is a bit farther from my house but I wanted to check it out. I stopped and talked to one of the managers and commented on how quiet it is in that store and how nicely everything is stocked/organized. We got to talking and it turns out that they are opening a CVS really close to my house!! woot! He said it's set to open in September. I'm not sure how that is possible because on that location there is nothing but dirt right now! lol!



FIRST TRANSACTION

2 m&m dark choc 14oz $2 each
One Touch $19.99

$4/$20 CVS coupon
$19.99 1 Touch Coupon

Total OOP 45 cents

Second Transaction
1 cvs feminine wash $3.29
One Touch $19.99

The register wouldn't let another $4/$20 coupon go through. I printed it from my email, didn't copy it.. but at my regular CVS they just keep putting them through.. this one they wouldn't. soo..

$2/$10 cvs coupon
$19.99 coupon

Total OOP$1.86 which is actually good because if I had used the $4/$20 that would have not worked anyway. I could have grabbed something quick for 99 cents but oh well. **uggh and I just realized she never scanned my $2 CVS skincare coupon for this!! ughh oh well.

Third Transaction (can you read this? I hope so)
2 advil childrens $5.79
1 CVS feminine wash 15oz $4.79

2 $1/1 Advil coupons
$2/$10 CVS coupon
$2 CVS skincare coupon
$10 ECB

Total OOP 59 cents and I got back an ECB for $11.58

Fourth Transaction
2 Alavert 12 cts $5.99 each (I was hoping this ECB deal would work twice like it did fot the Advil but in the end it didn't)
1 Twizzler canister $5
1 skin effects cleanser $6.99
2 J&J buddies 99 cents each

$1.98 J&J buddies coupon (down from $2, oh well still free)
$2/$10 CVS coupon
$2 Skin effects coupon
2 $4 Alavert coupons
$11.58 ECB from 3rd transaction above

Total OOP 66 cents! I got two ECBS, one for skin effects for $5 and one for the alavert for $3

Fifth Transaction
1 honey wheat pretzels 99 cents (filler)
2 lamisilk foot lotion $8.29 each

$2/$10 CVS coupon
2 $4 lamisilk coupons
$3 ECB from fourth transaction
$4 ECB I had from awhile ago

Total OOP $1.27 and got back a $10 ECB. I could have worked this into two transactions, but I was all flustered by them refusing to use my $4/$20 coupon for more than one transaction.

ALL ABOUT THE $$ TOTALS!!

TOTAL OOP $4.83 (should I join that $5 challenge?)
I walked in with $20 in ECBS walked out with $21 in ECBs and if I had spent another $1 in candy I could have walked out with $25 in ECBs or spent $1.xx more OOP and had $26 ECB. I'll stop in again this week and spend $1 on candy and get that $5 in ECB! so that was my rookie mistake for the day.

WAGS Soliel razor deal

This week they are $5.99 on sale for the razor or for the 4 refill pack. Use $2 Easy Saver coupon plus $3 coupon from inserts this week. 99 cents. Not sure if this is a super great bargin because no other blogger has talked about it... I'm new to hounding so I'm thinking that there is better deals on razors to come. I need razor refills for my husband and can never put together a deal that will get them cheap enough.. He uses the orange Gillette Fusion razors. Let me know if you know of a good deal for those.

This is going to take forever... maybe longer..

first stop jewel

Okay.. sooooo I wanted to go to Jewel first because it's the farthest, I had nothing cold to get there and because they had a super give away at this particular one JUST TODAY! It was a reuseable grocery bag filled with free organic goodies (including pet products) and tons of coupons. If I had time like a day and half I'd actually list out each coupon.. all I know is that they are all for organic products.

I tried to take this picture twice but my chihuahua Blue just had to be in the pic.. I guess he's my photobomb for the day.. ha ha

Inside Jewel I wanted to get the $1.77 cereal deal (limit 4) and it just so happened that I had two $1 off coupons and a free chex mix product (up to $4) from GM for calling in and telling them about a bag of chex mix 100 cal pack I got that was slit up the back. Totally weird. It was like a box cutter had cut right up the back of the bag but there was no box cut mark in the box that the bag came from.

anyway so I got all this for $11.xx but I'm taking the soup back because even with the $1 off 2 coupon they were $5!! I had no clue they were $2.99 each. I thought they were $1.99 each. I did finally get to use my MUIR coupon but just for that little can of tomato sauce. I only had one.

STOP TWO WAGS

I had read WAGS was doing a demonstration type deal today something to do with Clean and Clear complete with coupons/samples so I went in to check it out. Basically it was both the Clean and Clear blackhead eraser and the Advantage Acne Cpontrol Kit were both $19.99. All Clean & Clear products were buy 1 get 1 50% off this week plus buy $30 and get $10 in RR. So because I was a few cents short she run up one of my C&C items as $20.10, gave me 2 $1 off C&C coupons, 50% one of them, plus a $5 Internet coupon she had sitting there. I had a $5 RR plus somehow she worked in 2 packs of Starbucks candy for free (she had the coupons for those too.. I wanted to ask for some coupons for myself but didn't). so my total came out to $19.xx and then I got the $10 ECB!!



so basically, I got all this for $9.xx not bad!!

exhausting unorganized stop CVS!!

Okay, so I'm driving to CVS and realize I'm really not all that prepared. I have a few coupons for deals that are ending today. I have a my CVS $2/$10's printed, $2 skincares printed.. that's about it.. no lists breaking up my deals, figuring out rough totals nothing.. okay.. wing it.. My total for all three transactions were OOP $2.80 and one $10 ECB which I got back.

Transaction 1

2 Crest toothpastes $2.49 each with $1.50 ECB plus 2 75 cent coupons

2 oral b toothbrushes $2.49 with $1.50 ECB plus 1 $1 off 2 coupon

2 colgate toothpastes $2.99 each with $2 ECB plus 2 $1 coupons

1 cvs sunscreen $2.19 with $2 off all CVS sunscreens PLUS $1 CVS sunscreen coupon from scanner

2 CVS hand sanitizers $1.19 each b1g1 50% off with $2 off CVS skincare coupon

total came out to $8 something and I had planned on using a $10 ECB so I threw another CVS antibacterial $1.49 and a nail clipper $1.19 up on the counter. My OOP was 19 cents!! I got a $6 ECB for Crest/Oral B and a $4 ECB for colgate.

Transaction 2

1 cvs sunscreen $2.19 with $2 off all CVS sunscreens PLUS $1 CVS sunscreen coupon from scanner

2 CG lashblast $8.49 b1g1 50% (I thought this was B1G1 free?? hmm, oh well) plus 1 B1g1 free coupon

2 CVS foaming soap $1.99 each b1g1 50% off with $2 CVS skincare coupon.

My total came to $2.18 OOP which should have been negative now that I see what I did wrong.. oh well I wanted to try that mascara anyway! lol!

Transaction 3

1 cvs sunscreen $2.19 with $2 off all CVS sunscreens PLUS $1 CVS sunscreen coupon from scanner

2 CG loose powder $7.99 each B1G1 sale with B1G1 free coupon

2 CVS aloe hand soap $1.69 b1g1 50% off with $2 CVS skincare coupon

again my total was negative so I threw another CVS antibacterial $1.49 and a nail clipper $1.19 up on the counter. My total OOP was 43 cents! Woot!

Last stop, Butera

Okay I went simply for the $1.99 milk.. but you have to spend $20 to get that good milk price. It's limit one so I went twice this week. Ok. So I wanted to make sure I got only things we would use so I wound up with lettuce, cantalope, hot dog buns, water bottles, 2 liters of pop, 4 cans of full throttle, milk, and some marked down doughnuts. My total with coupons was $21.95.. not bad.

TOTALS for the day

Okay, roughly OOP I spent $55.53

minus $10 CVS ECB

minus $10 WAGS RR

minus $5 soup return later today

I spent around $30

Plus I got a $4.79 Rebate today from Excederin. Not sure if I mentioned it but I also got one for $6.49 yesterday from 3M for the stove top cleaner I bought a few weeks ago.

In the mail today I got Glad force flex trash bag sample, and a Freeze It sample with a $1 off coupon. At WAGS I got a sample of Eucerin Redness Relief face wash and face moisturizer along with coupons for those products.

Okay so the way I'm looking at it, I spent $30 on the Clean and Clear products at WAGS and everything else you see was free! not bad for a few hours!