free day means SHOPPING

Okay ladies.. I'll admit I've been missing hounding something fierce especially after having to go to Woodmans the other night and spent $96. Yeah it was $96 of darn good deals, but having to shell out that kind of cash.. yeah well.. you guys understand. I haven't spent $96 in an entire month on groceries. oh well

Okay I only put together a few deals and it took me long enough to do these.. so bear with me.

Butera
3 cans of black beans 69 cents each used $1/3 coupon
2 clearance sausage $1.15 each
1 clearance bacon 99 cents
6 v-day clearance cupcakes $1.50
1 can sardines for my cat 99 cents
total $6.96



Dominicks
I got there and *thought* I had forgotten a HORMEL coupon so I didn't do the same pork tenderloin deal as I had done on Sat night. Then, when I got home I realized I did have one with me.. grr
4 boxes cereal 4/$10 store coupon $4 off (makes them $4/6) then used two $1.50 off 2 manus = 4/$3 or 75 cents each
1 bag chips $1.99 store coupon $1 off 99 cents
1 head of lettuce $1.49
total $5.63

CVS
4 boxes of Pop Tarts $2 each used $1/2 manus $6
1 CVS soap $1.69
2 CVS allergy $1.79 each (clearance)
2 boxes CVS cheese crackers $1.97 each
1 CVS 10ct Ibuprofen $1.99 FREEBIE with a coupon I got from the scanner!!
2 cans Campbells Healthy Request soup BOGO used FREE COUPON BOTH FREE
$2/$10 cvs coup, $7.50 in ECBS spent $5.xx OOP and got back $2 ECB for the crackers
total OOP $5.90 *gasp



Meijer
2 sour cream $1.29 each used $1/2 Meijer coup and 2 55 cent manus
2 coffee mate $2.99 each used $1/2 Meijer coup and $1 IP manus
1 bag of cat food $3.76 FREEBIE with manu coup
total $3.86 left the cashier scratching her head!! for real!

I also went to Petco but really only got my cat a few things. Not much. I wanted to go to Woodmans again and Jewel but seriously ran out of energy.. sick huh.

burning up $52.88 worth of ECB's or EB's.. whatever

yup I had $52 worth of ECB's burning a hole in my pocket.. quite literally. They were expiring tomorrow. I got all of them from my shop in December with all those pages of freebies. Problem is, I should have figured out my best plan of action complete with coupons and stuff.. but *sigh* I've just plan been too busy to plan my shops. I sorta wing it, and most times come out pretty happy with what I decided to do... the only thing is now I'm down to under $10 in ECB's. I'd gotten a few over the last couple weeks and then got a total of $5 in ECB's from today's shop.

I'm missing a gallon of milk which I paid $3.19 for and a 28 pack of water bottles I paid $6.99 for.

♥5 boxes of CVS crackers $1.99 ea gave back $1 ECB's for each box
♥2 containers of Q-tips $3.99 (my DH was very mad I bought CVS brand last time)
♥2 containers of Kraft Parm cheese $5.99 each (very steep but I was burning and didn't care)
♥2 nail clippers 99 cents each
♥10 cans of cat food 89 cents each (we needed them)
♥9 packages of Excedrin $1.99 used $2 manus for each FREEBIES
♥1 package of 3 Shick intuition refills $10.99 (I had no coupons with me for them, but I needed to burn another $20 and thought to myself what one luxary item would I NEVER spend cash on.. this was one such item that came to mind.. even though I love/hate them, they are good in a hurry)
♥1 Cascade powder $2.99 (this is for my office, I'm sick of trying to squeeze the last drops out of the gel gallons for our dishwasher)
♥1 gallon milk (not pictured) $3.19
♥1 28 pack Nestle water bottles $6.99
my total was over $80.. after my Excedrin coupons, I used a $10/$50, then gave her all my ECB's and paid a whopping $2.16!! NOT BAD! I walked out with $5 in ECBS which stinks because if I actually put some time/effort into this I could have walked out with probably at least the same I walked in with.. oh well.. such is life.

SMELLING GOOD W/ FREE FEBREZE & BUTT WIPES

sorry this is going to be a fast post. It's already almost midnight and all I've done today is work, work late, ran to 2 CVS's, got gas for the car, made dinner at almost 8pm, cleaned up the kitchen, started some laundry, fed my cat, took the pics and posted. *sigh* working is sure getting in the way of hounding! ;)

1ST TRANSACTION
2 FEBREZE CANDLES CLEARANCE $1.99 USED $2 COUPONS
2 XMAS SEPARATED DISHES CLEARANCE 49 CENTS EACH
1 CVS MOIST WIPE 84 COUNT $4.29 USED $3 OFF CVS COUPON
1 J&J STRESS MELTAWAY LOTION $5.99 USED $1.50 J&J CVS COUPON AND $1 MANU
$3/$15 $2.59 ECB
PAID 58 CENTS OOP

2ND TRANSACTION
1 XMAS BABY BIB 99 CENTS CLEARANCE
2 XMAS BOXERS $1.75 CLEARANCE
1 COIN PURSE 49 CENTS (TOO CUTE TO PASS UP)
3 PET BLANKETS 75 CENTS CLEARANCE (TO BE DONATED TO SHELTER)
1 CVS MOIST WIPES $4.29 USED $3 OFF CVS COUPON
1 CVS HAND SANITIZER (THE CASHIER HAD TO TELL ME ABOUT THE BUY ONE GET ONE 50% OFF DEAL SO I GRABBED THE CLOSEST THING TO ME) 59 CENTS
1 BAG ALMONDS $3.49 USED $1.50 CVS COUPON AND $1 MANU
$3/$15 CVS AND $7.49 ECB
PAID 19 CENTS OOP


3RD TRANSACTION (DIFFERENT STORE)
3 FEBREZE CANDLES $1.99 ON CLEARANCE USED $2 MANUS
1 COTTONELLE BUTT WIPE PACK $5.98 GOT BACK $3 ECB PLUS TRIED TO USE A $2 MANU FROM LOCAL GROCERY STORE BUT THEY WOULDN'T TAKE IT BECAUSE IT HAD THE GROCERY STORE LOGO ON IT.. GRRR
2 CVS FEMININE WASHES $3.29 AND $1.64 (B1G150%) USED $3 CVS COUP
$3/$15 AND $3.99 ECB
PAID $1.61 OOP


****Also I wanted to know.. the 6 pack of water at CVS where you get a $2 ECB does it have to be a specific type of 6 pack?****

BACK IN THE GAME!!

Went to CVS with $40.92 in ECBS and left with $59.97 in ECB's.. I spent $3 of my own money out of pocket and I barely used any coupons!! I wasn't prepared at all.. just wanted to go to roll what ECBS I had that were going to expire the 27th.




My CVS was substituting many items as long as it was either the same price or less and a comparable product. So this is what I wound up with. LQQk at the HUGE Listerine's I got!! wow. I wish I had brought coupons.. I also wish my dumb butt would have actually looked through my CVS envelope I had with me because I had a few CVS coupons I could have used.. doh!! Anyway.. I'm not feeling like listing out all the prices.. but basically I did two transactions so I could use a $10/$50 for the first transaction and a majority of my original $40 in ECB's.


BEARS JUST WON!!!

whoo hoo they played the Packers so that's awesome for Chicago!!

I miss all of you! My new/old job is VERY busy so I've been working a ton.. which is good and bad. I'm salary now so no OT but it's good because we need the work to keep us open and keep my job so I'll take it!

If I don't post again before Christmas, have a wonderful holiday everyone!!

a little help from my "hounding" friends...

I NEED EVERYONE'S HELP ON THIS!!
Okay.. I'm not listing this as a challenge because frankly I have nothing to give to a "winner" and nobody could actually be a "winner" because everyone's ideas are valuable to me. Anyway.. here is my idea. Last night I was laying in bed thinking about Christmas being so close. My husbands family has decided to do away with getting gifts for everyone, the family was just becoming too large especially now with the three of the 4 boys getting married in the last year (my husband being the 4th we got married 10 years ago).

Anywhooo just for fun the last couple years we've been doing one of those white elephant type games where everyone brings a small/cheap gift, wraps it, and we do a little game of rolling dice, picking gifts, and stealing from one another until everyone has rolled a 6 in the final rounds. This year they changed it up and said everyone must bring 3 $1 gifts... hmm well AS WE COUPONERS KNOW $1 can goooo a long way.

So I started thinking of items I've hounded that I either hounded so many of I'll never use them all OR items I've hounded that I haven't found a home for yet. My husband and suggested using the universal remote from CVS Black Friday deals as one of the $1 gifts because for that entire shop I only spent $1.33 OOP. We don't need it, we have all the universal remotes we need right now. I thought it would be a good back up if we needed it..?? but okay.. I'm game.. I got it for free.


So I was trying to think of 5 other items last night. I came up with some nail polish, batteries, soap, shampoo, cereal, etc. But then I started thinking bigger. So here is where I need your help. I'm going to go to CVS and do the biggest shop I can do where I only spend $1 or less out of my own pocket. Everything that I shop in that one transaction will be going in one big box along with the receipt as PROOF and one person will get to open that box and keep the entire contents.

Okay so what I want you to do is leave me a link to a shop you've just done, a shop you've just outlined for upcoming weeks, leave me a comment just outlining a shop that could be done easily or even leave me a comment of just ideas that could help me out.

I'm not sure how many people from the family read the blog, I think maybe 2-3 tops because I do have it linked to my FB. Either way, for the people that don't read this is going to be fun.

Here are my personal CVS details to date to help you with your ideas.
♥I have roughly $46 in ECB's.
♥I would really like to keep all of those $46 ECBS if possible maybe even making more.
♥I have several $10/$50 coupons and $3/$15 coupons I got in the mail from CVS.
♥I get regular papers so I do have multiple of most coupons unless I have used them.
♥I just bought more toner so if you suggest IP's I'm good in that dept
♥I have until Jan 3rd to do this because my husband's family is waiting until after the holidays to celebrate this year. This gives me an extra full week PLUS after Christmas sales.
♥Items must be products that you know will be stocked well. I have only 3 CVS's I can hit and most of them are not well stocked because apparently there are several other hounders out there that "clean the shelves" pretty early.

M.I.A.

Hey everybody.. sorry I've been MIA (too, I just saw another post like this). I too have been busy, getting ready for my cookie exchange at my house. I host it every year and for some reason this year it's just taking me longer to get everything put together. Last year I had 2 jobs and 6 teenage boys in my house the weekend before and still managed to get everything put together! Weird.

Anyway.. I only got a few Black Friday deals. Normally every year I refuse to even step foot in grocery stores from Thanksgiving to after Christmas but this year I figured I would at least take advantage of a few freebies.



Carsons had those $10 off any $10 item cards that were in the paper. I managed to snag mine and my sisters (she's a nurse and had to work a 12 hour shift on Black Friday) so I waited until the sale was almost over and went at noon. The sale ended at 1pm. The coupon would not allow for any door busters so I really had to work at finding something for $10 that was not included in any door buster deal. It was actually hard to do! Plus each register had a 20 minute line at the very least. I got in line with just a few minutes to spare and a sales lady walked through our line answering questions. She scanned my items and I asked if I could 2 transactions or if I could use BOTH coupons in one transaction. She told me to do 2 transactions.

I got the scissors normally $38 for $2.xx. I got the plaque for $1.38. I don't remember the original price. But I'm happy with both those buys.

I headed out to Jewel after Carsons, and then to Walgreens. I don't remember at all what I had to get at Jewel but I didn't take pictures. I had an IP coupon for BOGO on these lotions so I paid $1.99 for both of them. I had a $2 RR I wanted to use that they wouldn't let me use because my total on products was not over $2.. *sigh* used my GC and still paid nothing OOP.

I also stopped at Target and printed out a few of their broccoli/cauliflower coupons and got both for 33 cents after the $1 coupons. I used those for snacks for our Thanksgiving on Saturday with my husbands family. I also stopped at CVS where I spent a good half hour putting together a deal only to figure out it was on the wrong products. Bought 2 candy bars and left.


I stopped at Woodmans just to pick up a few other items for our Thanksgiving and they didn't have any good deals there but I did pick up this wreath for our front door for $11.99. I wound up spending $25 there.

My last stop was at Petco trying to find some cat litter I had a free coupon for. It's the Arm & Hammer essentials. The coupon is good for a free bag up to $3.99.. well I have yet to find a bag that isn't over $8!! So I'm not sure where this bag is being sold (on their website they mention every store I've been to for that product, not for that small size) so I still have the coupon which is now expired.

Yesterday I went to Jewel to do the buy $20 P & G products get $5 CAT plus 5 free Redbox video's. I had to pick up a few other items for my cookie exchange party and of course wound up walking out of there paying $30 OOP basically for toilet paper, paper towels, bounce dryer sheets, paper plates, cups, small bowls, utensils, and yeah.. that's it. LOL! I looked at the receipt several times and it's right. It all added up to that. I just had it in my head that my total was going to be like $20! oh well. I walked out with my $5 CAT for next time and 5 free movies.

SPEAKING OF FREE MOVIES!! whoooo hooo
PLUS EQUALS $8.99 PER MONTH FOR UNLIMITED FREE MOVIES PLUS MOVIES BEING MAILED TO YOUR HOME!!

I have been using exclusively for the past 6-8 months and getting freebie codes every Monday, sometimes every Wednesday and then free codes in between. As I mentioned I did a Jewel deal where I got 5 free codes. I'll be using those eventually for new movies that come out, but this watching movies right on my tv through my husbands XBOX is amazing!!! who ever thought that I'd be happy my husband has xbox?

anyway.. basically now all I do is go on line and add movies to my "watch instantly" que, then I go to the xbox and scroll through, find NETFLIX and scroll through the movies I have loaded. This includes entire seasons of tv shows as well as movies. It's so much fun. The other night I watched Grease 2 one of my all time favorite movies.

walked in with $30 ECB left with $46.92

Okay.. in the grande scheme of CVS black weekend deals I didn't do THAT great.. they were out of a ton of stuff and they said they would give me rainchecks but I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to find the products again or if I would remember or if the coupons would still be good etc.

Here is what I wound up with.
♥1 universal remote $6.99 gave back $6.99 ECB FREEBIE
♥1 excederin $4.79 used $2 manu $3 CVS and got back $1 ECB FREEBIE = moneymaker
♥2 Loreal lip glosses $6.99 ea used $1 manus got back $6.99 ECB's each FREEBIE
♥2 Johnson Buddy bars $1.19 ea (fillers) used $1 manus
♥1 Sally Hanson nail polish $3.79 FORGOT TO GIVE A COUPON UGHH got back $3.79 ECB so still a FREEBIE but not a money maker
♥2 Hershey bars 50 cents each used BOGO bought the wrong bars, should have bought the king size so didn't get any ECB's oops
♥2 playtex tampons $3.99 each used $1 manus (could have used $2 ESC from WAGS??) got $3 ECB for each FREEBIE
♥3 Gatoraides $1.49 each no coupons got $1.49 ECB back each FREEBIE
♥Johnsons lotion $5.69 used $1 IP manu got back $5.69 ECB FREEBIE + moneymaker

used $3/$15 CVS I got in the mail, couldn't find my beauty coupon???? and then used a $10/$50 as well.
paid $1.33 OOP

It's funny how things have been coming to me when I need them.. maybe because I'm actually looking for them? not sure but the last couple days I've been looking at peoples stockpile pictures and realizing that everyone has a ton of TP and I have absolutely none! I'm down to my last few rolls and that was from a deal that I don't even remember that I know wasn't "that good" oh wait.. yeah it was at Menards of all places. Anyway.. so I finally found a deal that was ending today at Jewel $6.99 for Cotonelle 12 double roll pack. I had a $2 CAT for Cotonelle and a $5 CAT (left from my rolls at Jewel the last few weeks) so I paid 55 cents OOP for 12 double rolls of the TP we love. I'm good with that.

Then again tonight.. I wasn't going to go to CVS but then my husband talked me into it. I looked at the tampons thinking I could really use some. I was hoping that they would at least have one box even though I was seeing it was a max of 2.. and low and behold there was 2. It's just funny how since I've started hounding how putting myself out there things have come to me when I start thinking about them. It's a great hobby! lol!

UPDATE!! I went to Jewel today and asked about the bags I had purchased for $2 and the first girl at the Service Desk immediately said that I couldn't return them.. *sigh* I said they've never been used, they are still tagged and I'm going to rebuy them immediately.. do you need me to bring the bags in??? So she asks another girl who was just walking through and she says "yeah give her the $10 back" so the first lady I talked to said "you give her the $10 back I'll go do this" and grabs some stuff out of the 2nd ladies hands and walks away.. umm okay.. she cheerfully handed me $10.18 out of the drawer and that was that... I stood there with the receipts and said "shouldn't you MARK the reciepts?" ooh yeah.. lol! she marked them that I was refunded I took my $10 and was a happy camper!!

Even though I didn't get all the Black Weekend deals at CVS I wanted I was glad to get what I did get and with the help of my favorite store employee. He always tries to help me out and even says "let's just do this and if it doesn't work then I'll refund your $$" So as far as my deals today, I got things I actually needed and great customer service. Great day for me even though I didn't get much! lol!
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I'm a dope, but I found someone that is more of a dope..

I decided to run out and hit 3 stores today. Walgreens, CVS, and Jewel. All three transactions I could have done better. Don't get me wrong, I still got good deals on everything but... could have spent less OOP if I had thought about it. Also, I'm taking down the ticker because well.. IT'S MOCKING ME and my loser ability to fail miserably at a task within 3 days time.. nice huh? I've done better.. I've quit diets 9 minutes in before. I'm THAT good folks!

CVS
♥6 Glade scented square thingys $2.50 each used BOGO coupons
♥4 Duracell batteries $5.99 each used 75 cent coupons and $5/2 coupons

okay here is where I get dumb.. for some reason I was calculating what I had to spend to get the items trying to figure out if it was a better deal to do one or two transactions and whether I should grab other items. I didn't have any filler ideas or extra coupons so I said forget it and walked up to the cashier. Of course, as soon as I walk up to the empty front 5 people get in line behind me. My total comes to $42.xx before coupons and I'm thinking DOHHHHH I could have gotten $8 worth of stuff and used a $10/$50 coupon which I have several of! grr.. I didn't want to tick anyone off so I just dealt with it.

Used a $15 ECB which the cashier couldn't get to work, I know my first $15 ECB from Duracell also wouldn't work and the cashier had to key it in as three separate $5 ECBs. So this cashier decided she couldn't figure out how to get it to work so she calls over another cashier. He comes over and keys it in as I paid $15 cash. Okay that works. My total was $5.xx so I used my debit card. The drawer opens and the cashier is standing there asking ME WHY the drawer opened and I said "because he keyed my ECB in as CASH" she said "any other time I key something in as cash it doesn't open the drawer" so I asked her "okay how do you put CASH in the DRAWER when a customer PAYS WITH CASH?" and she waves at me like I wouldn't understand. {{rolling my eyes here}} anyway.. I got back another $15 ECB for Duracell and $5 ECB for glade.



Jewel
♥7 Philadelphia cream cheese 99 cents each
used 3 .50/2 coupons
total OOP was $5.55 and got back a CAT for $4!! so these cream cheeses cost me roughly 22 cents each!! woot!


this was a Walgreens double dip deal that has been talked about all over for the past couple weeks in anticipation of monthly double dip days. Anyway, there weren't many double dip deals this month but I like this shampoo so I wanted in on this. The way that the deal read was that these shampoo/conditioners were 2/$20 there was an ESC from the new December book for $5 each and of course the ESR for $10 so I'm expecting free shampoo in the end of the deal. I get there and there are no December books. So I go to grab my poo and the shelf says 3/$20 not 2/$20. and in my head I'm like whooo hoo I'm gonna make $5 on this deal with that $5 off coupon. So I go to the front and ask for the book and the cashier finds one, I flip through and find a coupon and it's for $2 off not $5. I didn't see any other coupons so I had to pay $15 off my GC. I wasn't happy.. but i guess I got all three for $5 which isn't bad.. but I don't know what went wrong here.. ???

owned

yup that's me.. today.. you see.. I ran a bunch of errands. Came home started taking pictures of my deals. Went outside to take pics of the the last deals and dropped my camera on the ground. Grr.. we've been looking for a new camera HOWEVER we don't have the $$ to be going off to buy a new one yet. when I take pics the screen looks normal but then the pic looks all weird. I figured maybe it was just the way the pictures were displaying. yeah no dice... I just loaded them and they look like this...


yeah not good.

Okay.. my run went like this

CVS (sorry it's impossible to see what is in the picture)
First Transaction
4 Glade candles $2.50 each used $1.50/2 coupons
paid $7.xx OOP got back $5 ECB

Second Transaction
4 batteries $5.99 each used 2 $5/2 and 75 cent coupons
4 Glade plug in refills $3.99 ea used BOGO coupons
2 Glade candles $2.50 each used $1.50/2 coupon
$5 ECB and $15 ECB from last trip
paid $3 OOP and got back a $15 ECB for Duracell and a $10 ECB for glade.

Butera
2 bagged salads 99 cents each used 75 cent coupons
1 clearance bag of rolls 99 cents
$1.52 OOP

First transaction
9 Swiss miss hot chocolates $1 each (regular price $2.35) used 2 30 cent coupons
1 (not pictured) Parmesan cheese $2.99
$10 CAT from last week
$1.60 OOP and got back $10 CAT

Second transaction
8 boxes cereal $3 each used $1/2 coupons
2 boxes chex mix bars $3 each used $1/2 coupons
$15 in CATS $9.53 OOP got back a free milk CAT (for next transaction) and $15 more in CATS.


Last transaction
1 milk $3 used $4.50 coupon gave overage
1 Dannon Yogart$2.29 Avenu coupon 75 cents
paid 12 cents for both

Okay so the question of the day is, do you know of any great deals on cameras? Bring em here if you do! :)

*sigh* now I can't get rid of A&H TP!!

Okay.. here was my CVS deal yesterday. I went specifically for the batteries. I have plenty of coupons the CVS ones, ones from inserts, and the internet email CVS ones.. so combined I planned out a groovy easy deal.

4 Duracell batteries $5.99 each (not pictured) used two $5/2 coups and 4 $1 coups (we didn't the $1.50 coups?)

4 A&H TP clearance for $1 used 75 cent coupons

1 Johnson Buddies $1.19 used $1 coupon

11 Halloween chinese food style containers clearanced to 9 cents each

CVS $5/$30 coup plus $5 ECB

My original total came out to $37 which I thought I was right at $30?? not sure.. but then I gave her coupons and my total was $7.xx so I had figured I would have to spend $6.xx OOP so I might have been off here or there. I get the receipt and realize the A&H TP rang up as $1.99.. so she credited me back $8.xx to my debit card, rerang and my total came to $4.xx. So basically I got everything for $3 OOP in the end. I also got back a $15 ECB for this transaction which was good because I was down to one lonely little $5 ECB! lol!

Okay.. while I was there they were bringing out a ton of Halloween clearance items. TONS it was insane. I almost wanted to ask if they actually ever brought out any items during Halloween because there was the freebie plastic pumpkin and many other great buys during October.

So here is my question for the day. This lady was there and she was filling up 2 CARTS of this stuff plus baskets of candy and odds and ends. She had an envelope filled with coupons. It took a full 20 minutes for her to get rung up so while I was getting my issue cleared up she had finally gotten everything put back into the carts and had left. So I walked over to the cashier that had rung her up and said "out of plain curiosity what was her total" she says "she did 3 transactions and each was under $1" UMMM HOW? there is no way on god's green earth that she had coupons for most of that stuff... none of it was name brand anything.. so I was I asked the cashier "what coupons did she use" she showed me what she used and she was stacking $3/$15 (old expired ones), the $5/$20 halloween from scanner coup, then $4/$20 email ones and $5/$30. It still makes no sense how each transaction was over $30 and she got them all down below $1.. but does your CVS let you stack multiple of their coupons?

still no camera back.. but some good deals I want to share

sorry about the pics.. I had to use *my* cell phone today.. *sigh* I think I should be getting my camera back from my sister today.. unless she plans on bringing it to Sweden with her. hmmmmm

Okay.. Quick run out and of course I thought I was pretty organized.. could have been better oganized.

Meijer Run
4 Jacks Pizzas 4/$10 used $2 mealbox coupon & 4 75 cent manu coupons
1 Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls $3.99 used FREEBIE coupon from Psst
1 Philadelphia cream cheese $1.25 used FREEBIE coupon from manu

total $5.17

Wags stop
4 pairs of gloves 75% off 49 cents each GLOW IN THE DARK
2 fleece blankets $3.99 BOGO
4 packs of gum BOGO wags coupon BOGO manu
1 pumpkin decoration 24 cents
THINGS TO WATCH FOR: WAGS HAS HALLOWEEN GOODIES DOWN TO 75% OFF!!!
Total was $6.xx used GC


CVS couldn't resist
10 Cube packs $1 each used 5 $1/2 coupons got back $5 ECB

$5.12 OOP

I don't ♥ couponing today.. CVS run

Okay as posted below I figured out I had a $5 ECB expiring so I wanted to run and just spend that.. which is what I should have done because I wound up spending that $5 ECB a $5/$30 coupon I got from the scanner, then another $5 ECB and $4.98 ECB PLUS a $10 ECB I got from the scanner for doing a CVS survey! OOOOOOOhhh boy.. so now I have NO ECBS at all!! 0!! If I want to jump back in I'll have to earn them.. wow! First time since June I've had none! I usually try to keep $20 worth of them to roll.. but as one of the girls commented, my stockpile is so large right now there is really nothing I need. I have so much for Christmas gift bags for adults and kids alike.. although I have this weird feeling I'll get done putting them together and find that I bought nothing for the boys or nothing for the girls.. anyway.. here is what I wound up with over at CVS!


Had to use my husband camera phone again, but I did get a comment that his cell phone does take great pictures. It's pitch dark outside right now and I do my pics in the garage because a majority of my stockpile is there. I've found it's just easier to unload the car onto that little table, take the pic, and figure out where everything should go. Anyway... this pic didn't come out as great as my first one earlier today, I turned it on night mode and if I dare move the camera while it was taking the photo it came out really blurry! Oh well.. you get the jist of it.

CVS had some great clearance as well.. and I think everything I got except the candy for my son was actually clearance. All stuff I actually WANTED and some I NEEDED! So in the end I'm happy with what I've bought and have no pressure with ECBS in the coming weeks except now I'll find 100 deals that would have worked if I had a few ECBS to spare. oh well.

♥ 5 photo cubes 99 cents each.. couldn't resist! great "mom" xmas gifts
♥ 4 mini nail polish 49 cents each for the little girls on my xmas list (oops he charged me for 5)
♥ 4 flood lights I'VE BEEN LQQKING 4 ALL WEEK $1.99 each
♥ Witch braids $1.99 an easy "hand out candy costume"
♥ package of pumpkin Luminaria (sp?)$2.49 my path was quite dark
♥ 1 glow in the dark nail polish FOR ME 99 cents
♥ layered candle jar $4.99
♥ peeps 49 cents (ate them on the way home)
♥ Halloween plaque $2.49
♥ Halloween "caution" tape 49 cents
♥ pumpkin spoon rest $1.99
♥ 5 tic tac chills $1.79 each used $1 coupons

$5/$30, $5 ECB, $5 ECB, $4.98 ECB, $10 ECB $3.93 OOP.

My cereal box overfloweth

because I went to CVS and bought out most of their cereal that was on sale! 16 boxes in all.. I printed out the IP coupons and didn't look at what they were all for and they took them all.. so I got 16 boxes! Nice! check it!

16 boxes (yes count them) cereal 2/$4 used $1 IP kelloggs coupon for each
6 Extra gum used 3 BOGO coupons $1.29 each
1 Johnson buddy used $1 coupon no clue how much it was $1.19 maybe?

tried to buy 2 Well Patches however it was the wrong ones so I had to return them.

used $10/$50 coupon
a few hundred ECBS some were almost about to expire which is why I went
I spent $3 OOP then got nooooo ECBS back so I returned the Well Patches and they put the $13 back on my debit card! I would have liked to have a CVS card instead. OH well!

now after this trip check out my stockpile!! I have meant to take pics but haven't. This is just my garage stockpile. this does not include my cabinets in my kitchen that are packed, my freezer that is packed (I'm actually looking into getting a 2nd frige for my garage), and my bedroom walkin closet that I currently can not walk into due to stockpilage!

I know this isn't the definition of photobombing, however, I think it's funny my animals make appearances as often as they possibly can especially when it comes to bringing bags and bags of stuff into the house. they could care less what is being brought in, they just love the bags and the excitment, and bugging mommy of course. Well here we are in the garage, it's an extra room of the house that they never get to hang out in, so it's like a treat for them to come out while I'm organizing.

this is my new CEREAL BOX. I still have probably 8 bags of that $1 cereal left from last week's 10/$10 sale over at my local grocery store.
this was my original "cereal box" it is now cereal, animal crackers, pretzels (my husband is a pretzel hound so I bought him 10 bags at the same 10/$10 sale last week at my local grocery store. WOW our garage floor is really nasty.. I really want to paint the floor like all of our neighbors have.. huge big job we should have done over the summer.. *sigh*
my cats food cabinet. of course she has to go in to inspect. I have 9 of those little bags of food and two of the bigger bags. This on top of the two stuffed to the brim containers inside the house.
ahhh yes, I haven't shown anyone my coupon bin in awhile.. I got this at the dollar store for $1 and at first I had to stuff things behind the envelopes so they would stand up.. now it's so jammed I couldn't get another coupon in there if I tried.. I have about 10 inches of uncut inserts *sigh*. a girls work is never done! lol!

3rd stop CVS to use that $10/$50 coupon

I'm not even sure why this coupon is so appealing to me.. seriously. we have $3/$15 coupons... oh well. Okay this is the deal I put together. I had actually put together many deals to make sure I got the $10 off and make some extra ECBS but you know how those CVS shelves become bare with any monthly ECB deal! Yikes.

OKay I have to apologize to the people who read my blog that I know personally. Most of you will see things from my blog that I either got free or REALLY cheap because these are going to be my Christmas gifts. Sorry I'm unemployed and the amount of stuff I got free will be things you use in your house/daily lives. Also the face value of each "goodie bag" I'm thinking of putting together will probably be around at least $50 each bag. Okay I look at it like this #1 I'm unemployed #2 I had to take the time, effort, and gas to get all the items that will go in your bag #3 the gifts you get you will most likely use at some point.

♥24 Shick Shavers 99 cents each used 11 $2 coupons and 1 she lowered to $1.76 to make it work
♥11 Johnson's buddies $1.19 each (boo I thought these were normally 99 cents but after walking around the store several times I needed the additional $12 plus dollars to make my total over $50 to take advantage of that $10/$50)
♥5 kids anti bacterial spray pens $1.99 each (tried to use a $2/$10 CVS coupon and it wouldn't let me use it.. just figured out if she had forced it down to $1.95 it would have worked, oh well)
♥Always pads$4.98

Used my $10/$50 and a $4 ECB my total OOP was $2.35 and I got back $9.98 in ECBS that is $5.98 more ECBS I walked in with! Woot for me! Right now I have like $32 in ECBs not bad considering like 2 weeks ago I was mad because I had used up half my stash on stupid batteries! WORST OF ALL, I GOT ANOTHER $10/$50 COUPON. I'll be saving that for like the last day it's good 10/18!

YTD spending $875.74 Fall 2008 spending $3.24

It's my birthday... ♪ dah dah dah dah dah dah ♪

sooo I awoke this morning and was super groggy.. I spent yesterday most of the day in bed, puking, and generally feeling cruddy. I had to cancel my birthday dinner with my family which I was pretty upset about because we were going to Texas De Brazil one of my favorite restaurants. anyway.. my phone was going bezerk with texts coming in since 6am (I woke up at 8am) and so I finally rolled over and started reading them. The last one was from my neighbor saying to call her ASAP because she had a huge favor to ask me.

I take my dog out and he's barking at what I didn't know. I bring him in, feed him and his sister the cat, go potty myself. I was super dehydrated and thirsty so I decided to make myself some orange juice. There was a rapping on the door like 2 sips into my OJ and my husband says "who could that be right now" so I told him it was probably my neighbor who had texted me only 15 minutes before. I answer the door in my robe and she was standing at the door sobbing and asked me to drive her to the dr. No problem, I'll get showered/dressed be over in a few minutes.

Off to the dr we go then the pharmacy and back home. Long story short, she's been ill for over 2 years now and now on top of what has been going on she got a super bad cold and hasn't slept in days because of her meds mixed with whatever cough medicine she's been taking. The dr gave her new cough medicine, some sleeping pills, and a new prescription for something else. So it was a good day for her, she's just exhausted so I'm hoping she's sleeping right now.

I came back and my husband had a gift for me!! THIIIISSS!


AND FOR ALL YOU FRUGAL FOLKS he got it FREE!! That's right, he saved up points and got it for free! So I like it DOUBLE! lol! It's one of those groovy digital picture frames but it also plays video and music! super cool!

After the dr/pharmacy I walked one of my neighbors dogs and then came home, printed out my Noodles & Co free birthday lunch coupon, put together a small CVS run (thank god for I heart cvs dot com), and off we went.

Had a really great FREE lunch (well we had to pay for my husbands meal, no biggie it was still nice) then walked across the parking lot to CVS! ohhh yeah! First time my husband has seen me in coupon action! lol!


♥2/$5 Colgate TP (one kid, one Total) used one $1.50 coupon from All You
♥Covergirl clean make up $5.49 used $1 coupon from last weekends paper
♥Gillette Fusion power $9.99 used $4 coupon from last weekends paper

$3/$15 and a $10 ECB, total OOP was $1.73 (I thought it would be 73 cents but I miscalculated, but still a great deal!). I earned $5.49 ECB for Covergirl, $5 for the Gillette, $2 for Colgate, $2 from Summer savings.. check out my receipt!


I got a $25 switch your presciption coupon (I don't have any prescriptions right now though..) and a $10/$50 coupon that expires on 10/16. I have $27 in ECBS so I'm going to have to sit down and figure out a deal where I can get at least $25 or more ECBS back. I'm excited. I'll have to work on that next week because I still haven't hit K-Mart to DOUBLE COUPON, no time! lol! Also my neighborhood grocery store is having great 10/$10 deal but also every time you spend $10 you get $3 off! So I gotta work those deals before next week as well!

Okay, next we went to Target to fix my fiasco from last week
I talked about here and they refunded my $9.44!! So I had remembered to use my $5 GC (which I used for cereal anyway) and gotten the correct prices that trip would have been like $25. Wow big difference from $40!

After that my husband wanted to go look at new phones because he hasn't gotten a new phone in over 5 YEARS! yes, no kidding. His work paid for them so he used to get hand me downs from the engineers! lol! I stopped at Caribou Coffee because I'm PMSing and it's my birthday and I wanted dessert! lol!

We got home and I got my mail and more surprises awaited me!! lookie lookie!

♥astroglide sample
♥free carthart hat
♥mints from shoppers but had an advertisement for the Ford Flex
♥mineral make up I ordered paid $3.13 for shipping
again it seems like I got more but I can't remember what else I got! lol!

Okay so all in all, combined with all this, and cyber birthday wishes along with snail mail cards I've had a pretty great birthday!!

My new CVS

Okay for some reason the second I walked in the store I just felt not prepared and I have no clue why.. I knew the prices of everything I wanted, had my coupons all neatly together ready to go..

I walk in and it's a brand new CVS just opened on the 7th of September. We never got cool "come check out the new CVS" coupons like other people I've heard about so I'm a little miffed at that.. but whatever. So I walk right in to scan my card, there was this weird little screen like a broken computer and I try to scan my card.. NOTHING.. so I see an employee and ask and he says "it's broken" in the most broken English I've heard this week. Ok.

First Transaction
10 soy joy bars 10/$5 used 5 BOGO coupons (tried to use a $2/$10 coupon and of course he tried that one last so it wouldn't scan, yeah thanks buddy)
1 Nivea body wash $4.99 used $1 off coupon

$2/10 coupon my total was under $10 with tax so I grabbed the kit kat bar, $3.99 ECB total OOP $1.06 Earned a $4.99 ECB



6 Purina dog foods $1.19 each BOGO sale used 2 B2G1 free coupons
1 Adidas deoderant $4.99 tried to use $1 coupon and the bar code had been cut off! ughh not even sure where I got it from but I didn't have another.. so oh well.

$2/10 coupon and then I tried to use a $5 ECB which wouldn't work. So he realized he never scanned my card even though he had my keys next to the register. Okay so he scans the BOGO dog foods come off and my total is negative something.. so I quick grab 2 kit kat bars and my total OOP came to 35 cents. I earned a $4 ECB

I used my debit card for both transactions.. on my way home I was thinking I have like $4 in change in my purse why did I not use that! ughh oh well.

want to see other CVS deals?? CVS SUPERSTARS