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.. ???

oh but of course

Soooo yeah I failed miserably at my challenge.. just what 3 days in.. K-Mart was having double coupon days so I had to go. I wound up getting a few things I really needed that they had pretty good deals on. I got a new cat litter box, some pint jars for canning I want to start asap, a tea pot (my husband threw ours out or sold the one we had at our last house, I'm still mad about it) and cheese. The cheese was BOGO at $3.19 so I figured that was a good price for 2 8oz packages. Either way my original total was $115.xx and I walked out of there spending $40.xx so not bad..

Okay, I had so many errands to run the night I got the milk I didn't realize that Dominicks brand milk comes in different colors. I think I *knew* it as I have bought it before, and I *thought* I read the container, however it says LOW FAT.. meaning NOT SKIM which is what we normally drink! oops.. more fat.. great.

Also, I did not check my bank account before leaving the house on those errands. I figured I would get cash back from that transaction versus having to pay ATM fees to go out to dinner last night. So my total came to $24.05.. yeah I had $22 in my account by the time that transaction came through.. so that transaction cost me another $10.. ughh $14.05 for two gallons of milk that I don't even like.. *sigh*

thhhhhhhhpppffffffffff

ughhh I'm an idiot.. but okay.. I'm still labeling this as a rookie mistake even though I don't believe I'm a complete rookie anymore.. but I still messed up.. *sigh* Okay... just look at what I did.. not bad.. but I could have done BETTER *double sigh*

I'm telling you.. this whole unemployment bs has my brain in mush.. seriously.. so a good friend of mine calls and we both forgot to give each other some stuff yesterday when we saw each other (double mush) so we decide to meet up because REDBOX sent out a free code for Walgreens redboxes only. Well of course the only WAGS that has a redbox near me is by her house.. cool.. we can meet up and I can show her how to use the redbox because another girl I told about it got all confused and missed the code screen and had to pay. Okay whatever. So I'm driving to her house and for whatever reason I turn as if I'm driving TO her house and then just keep driving thinking I'm going to the WAGS that is the other direction from her house. All of a sudden I realize I'm in the next town over from her house (in Chicago burbs all the towns are stacked on top of each other) so I pull into that WAGS and decide just to run in really quick and see if they have the LINDT chocolate bars that I've been trying to get a great deal on.. I mean get paid to buy.. so OF COURSE THEY HAVE THEM!

So my dumb arse calls her and says "umm I went to the wrong WAGS I'm a dork" she says she'll come meet me. She's always wanted to shop with me, so cool she can see in action.. so I realize because the Lindt deal PAYS YOU 25 CENTS for each bar that I need to grab other stuff for the overage (if I got it). So I decide to grab the candy deal to use towards Halloween Candy. I couldn't print the $1 coupons because my computer is like FORT KNOX because my computer techie cousin blocks me from everything because I'd crash and burn my computer if I was left to my own devices (I collect viruses because I'm cheap and they are free) {ha ha that was a joke} okay so I grab 4 m&m bags, check the ES catalog to make sure I'm grabbing the correct product for that rebate, go through my coupons and find just one coupon that's $1 off 3.. okay cool.

I get up to the line, hand the cashier my stuff, my stack of coupons and she goes to scan the $1 off 3 coupon and it says "item not found" or something.. I grab the coupon and say out loud "I'm a dumb arse I didn't buy HERSHEY CANDY SORRY" and tuck it back in my organizer.. now she has 18 other coupons to scan for my purchase and ONE WOULD THINK I'D GRAB MY SNACK/CANDY ENVELOPE AND LQQK FOR OTHER COUPONS I COULD USE WHICH I KNEW I HAD BECAUSE I REMEMBER THINKING OOOH I'M GONNA KEEP THESE FOR HALLOWEEN CANDY FOR THE TRICK OR TREATERS buuuuuut noooooooooo I didn't do that.. my total came to $8.72 (or something who is counting anyway?) and I hand her a $8 RR and of course it doesn't go through because I wouldn't be paying for tax or because I used a coupon for almost everything else I bought.. I don't know.. so I grab the RR back and pay with my debit card.

I got home and realized said idiot moronic error, grabbed said snack/candy envelope and found 4 $1/2 m&m fun sized coupons within seconds. I'm a dork. Yes, I am.

But for $8. and whatever cents I got what's in the two top pics.
18 Lindt candy bar which will make nice extras for my Christmas bags ALL FREE PLUS A 25 CENT OVERAGE (did I do that math right?)
4 bags of M&M's which I'll be getting a $4 rebate on.

Not a bad haul but I could have gotten it for $6 OOP and then grabbed something else for say $2.50 and got it all for the price of tax.. yeah huh. drive through.

So here is the best part.. we get out to the parking lot and I tell her I want to go to her Jewel because I wanted to see if they had the Cubs/Bears bags that she told me was in the Jewel sale flyer (which I looked at 3 times myself and even comment to my husband about but didn't but 2 and 2 together because like I've said 40 times my brain is mush.. so until she actually SAID IT TO ME and I grabbed my flyer for the 18th time this week and looked again it didn't click.. ugh) so I ask her is it easier to turn left out of her on the road or should I go out the other exit that take you to a side street with a stop light so I can turn left...

Yeah Carolyn says "YOU WANT TO GO TO JEWEL NEXT, YOU NEED TO GO RIGHT" oh yeah DOH! I just said that like right before I asked if I should turn left out of the parking lot.. it's gonna be a long night friends.. as my cousin Heather says "grab a cup of Joe and a pad"




Okay Jewel.. I walk in and they have an entire display of these bags! woot! so I grab 4 of each (I can't even think long enough to figure out who I need them for I just know I got 10 of the girl ones so 8 should be good, I think, I don't know.. I can buy more later) I didn't touch the Sox ones cuz my grandma would roll over in her grave and hunt me or haunt me or something. She would.

Anyway they were 2/$4 which makes me think they'll go down in price.. but I've been looking for these specifically for so long.. I'm just happy to get them. Then little pimple Johnny cashier is telling me how much he likes them.. and that THEY JUST GOT THEM IN and I said "this is the last day for the sale of the flyer they were in" he said "right, it's been a huge issue all week people looking for them" cool.. glad I got some then since it was such a huge issue.

I grabbed 2 more $1.99 milk for my 14 yo son who drinks a gallon or two a day and that was my Jewel trip!



and finally the grand finale to end all grand finales or whatever.. I made it to the Walgreens I was supposed to be at.. walked around the store twice.. found one of these Lysol things that was on super duper sale that I had $5 coupon for.. my total make to $1.49 with tax.. hmm weird.. I have a ton of these coupons, I'm hoping one store will have one so I can double dip on Friday/Saturday this week and get the rebate for it next month. Anyway.. I got one.. I'm happy.. so I ask where is their RedBox machine.. IT'S OUTSIDE! brrr.. ok

RedBox code is 122WAG for anyone else who didn't get the text. I rented 2 movies.. The Orphanage which is Spanish (I didn't read that it was, but it has English subtitles) and The Hulk which of course I sort of remembered my husband saying he saw.. then I get home and start telling him what I rented.. oh yeah you saw The Hulk didn't you "YUP" .. yup I'm a moron today.. total brain mush! lol!

I did some research.. and maybe answered a few of my questions!!

Wow! What a great bunch of ladies (& gents) out there that have helped me with my questions.. well I did do some research and this is what I've come up with.

As far as the bags go for the boys loot for Christmas I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Home Depot bags. ***I wish I had taken pics of everything I looked at**** I went to Steve and Barry's and they had nothing. I went to the dollar store, nothing,.. I went to Ikea and they had a few things. One promising idea was wastepaper baskets. Ikea had small bathroom/bedroom sized ones in white or red that were big enough to probably hold all their loot. I love the bucket idea as well but haven't come across any buckets that would fit that price range however, it's not even November yet so I have plenty of time. Ikea alos had GREAT bags. The big blue ones that are 59 cents. I have one and love it.. but it's almost too big.. the loot would be sloshing around dumping all over the place in those and I don't see one of my boys ever using them in the future. Ikea also had LARGE shopping type reusable bags all in girlie colors and girlie type theme. Bubbles, squiggles, flowers, etc.

So yes, Home Depot has LARGE orange (home depot) color bags that open really wide, stretch, and even have a lock closure. I still don't see any of my boys using them in the future, however, if they need to at least it says HOME DEPOT on the bag. They are 99 cents and luckily Tim has several unused gift cards so I wouldn't have to pay a dime OOP for the 10 I'll probably buy.

Just another point for all the mommas out there. Those Home Depot bags would make KILLER halloween bags for your kids loot! At 99 cents each you can't beat it.. and you could write your kids names on them in sharpie if you have multiple fighting over loot children.

Okay another question I had last week was about storage for your cat/dog dry food! Well my answer came in the form of the MAIL LADY on Saturday.. lol! I got a local Aldi flyer and right on the front cover was a picture of a set of canisters for $5.99.

So I'm a happy camper with this.. I need to run to Aldi anyway.. I'm running out of a few Aldi items I only get there like kidney beans and canned tomatoes. So I started a short Aldi list. All things I can get while running other errands.

My last question about the Scrubbing Bubbles, I went ahead and just bought the refill pack and applied for the ESR at Walgreens. Worst case scenario I'll call and tell them I read the description which says "6 pack" and see if they'll still honor it... it's $1.50 but what the hey.

I'm mad at myself because I've made a few major erros this week that cost me some valuable dollars. I didn't think my CVS transaction through and spent more ECBS than I would have liked. I should have opted for a CVS gift card so that I could use that $13 towards CVS because now I'm left with like $10 in ECB's and I'll have to rebuild. I know at the end of October I should be getting a $10 freebie ECB for doing a survey so I'll be back over my little $20 ECB stash I like to keep myself at.

CVS has this great deal on GUM toothbrushes. I threw out those coupons.. I actually remember looking at them like 4 times thinking "there are soooo many toothbrush/toothpaste deals I'm gonna throw these out, I won't need them" the sucky part is that the kids toothbrushes are part of the deal and I really need them for my gift baskets. I can still get them but I know I won't be getting as good of a deal as I could have gotten. *sigh*

I missed the $5/$25 Wags coupon my less than an hour.. not sure why I didn't log on to my computer right before I left on Thursday to shop.. but that move cost me $5 I would have loved to have saved.

I should have fought the sock issue at Wags last week... I really needed new socks and so does my hubbie for his new job. So with $6 I could have fulfilled both needs easily. (somehow I'm down to maybe 3 pairs of socks and my hubbie needs socks that come over his ankle for his new work boots).

Okay.. so I'm about 5 months into this and I still sit back and let deals fly by.. I walk through CVS and never check deals I've thought about all week.. I get in the car, drive home and remember the next day *darn it*. I realize later I had more coupons or better coupons for deals. For example this week I bought 3 Bertolli dinners at Wags.. I could have printed 2 $2 off coupons plus one of my $1.75 coupons and saved myself another $2.25 but I didn't.. so combined that one trip I could have saved another $7.25... such is life.. but it still bugs me! lol!

when do "ROOKIE MISTAKES" just become... DOH moments?

really I need to know.. I'm three months into couponing/hounding and last night realized I made a $1 DOH mistake.... On Friday I went to CVS and used the scanner.. I got 4 coupons with one scan and read them, folded them, and threw them into my coupon box.


The major DOH part of it was that as I read the coupons I had, I actually thought to myself "oooh I'm going to get one of these today too!" of course by the time I actually went to get the product 2 1/2 minutes later I'd forgotten! lol! It was for the Excedrin Express gels, $1 off coupon.. so I could have done even better on that deal! lol! ohhh boy.

I swear I feel like I'm going to be making these type mistakes forever with this hobby! There will always be a way that I could have gotten a "better deal" if I had just waited until the next week when xyz product went on sale or hit the item on clearance a month later. *sigh*

made from the stockpile

I have a label entitled "made from the stockpile" and lately I've actually been able to use some of the things from the stockpile specifically for meals, I know in the future like birthdays and Christmas especially I will be pulling from my stockpiles around my house to make little baskets/boxes for various family members. Each time I see something on clearance/sale or some deal I can get I try to figure out whom may need this item and if I could give it them as a gift.

I started couponing/hounding on June 29th 2008 that was my first CVS receipt. Before then I had tried and miserably failed when I would come home and realize that I had totally messed up the deal by buying items I really didn't need or used a coupon that the next week would have made much better use in a deal. Those were my rookie mistakes. 2 solid months in I still make them but they are becoming less and less. Just today I made one by buying Robitussin at WAGS, the deal that was described doesn't start until next week! I never read the dates (reading is key here) but I did wind up making an okay deal out of it considering I used a $9 RR from last week.

So today I decided to take some pictures of the various places I stockpile around my house. I moved from a 3,000 square foot 4 floor home with a 4 car garage to a small 1500 no closet space townhouse a little over 5 years ago. I'm still figuring out ways to store different things and this stockpiling is only making things worse for me. this is where I started.. in my garage. My husband just got these shelves from his work last winter and they were full of other things and to this day I have no clue what.. as you can see I've taken over quite effectively. The 3rd shelf with all the car stuff on it I think I'm going to ask my husband to build an extra shelf specifically for... yeah right.. maybe I'll ask my dad.
the top shelf will be emptied and refilled within the next couple trips I'm thinking..
thank god for this little sliding door at the bottom.. this is actually the place my husband keeps our huge supply of extensions cords we need for the holidays, but I discovered my cat Sidney was begging to go in the garage because she had figured out I had food out there.. and she is a ninja at getting into any food even if it's not hers. Steaks, chicken, cat food, dog food, you name it.. if it smells like food she can get into it.. boxed, bagged, plastic, no difference to her.. she's 15 and has brains. So I threw them down there and really I should at least tape up the one bag she mangled... ughh yes I'll get to that..
and here is the bag that started my Christmas gatherings.. I had brought some gifts home when said persons were sitting in the living room playing xbox so I just shoved them on top of the cat food.. which is where everything has been going if it isn't something someone can see.. all I can say is a ton of stuff has made it's way into this bag and it's not only for persons living inside my home.. it has now grown to my nieces/nephews as well. here is the first box I started adding smaller items to. the box got grossly over filled and I bought the box below which is more for travel size small items.
most of my mail goes directly into this box now.. it's shoe box sized plastic tote..
this is my chips/bagged cereal box. I also have stuffing in there.
this is actually 3 cases of pop, you can barely see the pepsi sticking out from behind the Sierra Mist. I got this at WAGS last week and have no place to put it. I gave my son 2 cases to bring home with him.
I try my best but my cabinets always are full of pasta sauce. There is one deal to the next and each week I make pasta at least once trying to use them up but it seems that they sneak up on me too fast and again I'm out there buying another 4-5 jars.
This is actually a coat closet in a small little hallway leading to my garage. It's always been a small storage closet for us instead and now it's a stockpile closet. I have about 15 more $1 coupons for Tidy Cat but for some reason the only type I can find is that dumb red one.. we don't like the red one so I'd like to find any other type and buy them out.. unfortunately the only store I know for FACT that sells all of them sells them for $2.05 each and Target/Wal-Mart have them for $1.77 each.. that quarter is killing me! The TP I bought when I first started hounding which is actually what drove me to hound. I couldn't buy expensive TP without feeling guilty because I'm the one home all day using it up really fast. I was buying some really bad stuff from either Aldi or Wal-Mart.
Okay this is the part that gets me about hounding.. this cabinet was FULL until this weekend. My son and my husband don't look at my stockpiling as we can eat forever, they see it as "let's eat as much as we can as fast as we can" I go through milk now like you wouldn't believe... ughh.

this is in my bedroom closet on the floor. I just started this box so things I needed upstairs would be close.. however it's overflowing.
this is another box of things for Christmas gifts. I just got this box today from BzzAgent with my gaming system.

okay.. this is not a stockpile HOWEVER it shows just how sick I am. I keep buying these scrubbers because I like them and because I don't want to have to buy another "starter kit" if I ruin the handle somehow.. so instead I keep them all.. I know.. there is something wrong with me...

and so you've seen it.. I think that is all of it. where do you keep all your stuff? I need ideas! 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!

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!

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.

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!

All is right as the rain..

rain rain and more rain.. that's all we get.. lots of rain, thunder, lightening, our house shaking at all hours of the day/night... hail too.. I guess we needed it but yikes.. it's fierce here in the Chicago burbs the last few days.. and now the humidity.. not fun.

Okay.. so I went to Walgreens this morning to get my Kelloggs deal on.. oh yeahh.. got everything as planned.. 4/$10 cereal (2 special k and 2 raisin bran) and then 4 boxes of pop tarts and 2 boxes of rice crispy treats.. all $2 each. It printed both $5 RR!! Yes! I had read other people did not get it. I wonder if you make sure to do $10 of each type snacks vs ceral you can get them? All I know is that I got it and probably will do it again even though only one will count for the rebate.

I decided to do a 2nd transaction for what I thought was another rebate product. the Nivea lip balm. So I found it, bought it, and also 2 carmex's. They were B1G1 and we use a ton of that stuff in the winter so I normally try to buy a ton of it.

So I used my gift card for both so already it was free for everything, plus $10 in RR, plus a rebate for $10 from Kelloggs and $2.49 for the lip balm.

I get home and realize you have to buy thier lotion, then send in for a free coupon for the lip balm! I totally did not read the rebate form right at all! Oh well.. I can return it I supposse.. I don't really need it..

I have to walk my dog, get my Kelloggs rebate together, and maybe shoot up to Wal-Mart and then I'll post a pic and hopefully blog about the deals I get at Wal-Mart.

Thanks to CVS today wasn't a total loss... *sigh*

OKay.. because I messed up and did the Kelloggs deal early, I went back got my money back but no coupons figuring I'd get other coupons from my neighbors and/or parents.. well of course no neighbors have saved theirs for me this week (of course) and I've driven to every Dollar General that sells Sunday's papers on Mondays.. and of course they had Sunday papers just NONE with the coupons in them! ughh!

So I decide on my way home from driving all over to stop at Wal-Mart and see what deals I could dig up. I always have a little spiral notebook with all the deals I want to get where and with all the coupons tucked inside the spiral. Of course, I get to Wal-Mart make it halfway to the door look down in my trusty coupon keeper.. and LOW AND BEHOLD MY SPIRAL IS MISSING. Panic quickly sets in, I says OUT LOUD "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME" (some guy looked at me like I was a circus freak with 12 heads) because now it's like 140 degrees outside, I've been sweating my keester off for what seems like hours and now I can't even go inside Wal-Mart to the nice cool air and browse the isles for hours trying to find some deals because today I actually have time.. ughh.. so I go back to the car hoping my spiral just "fell out" and of course.. not there. *sigh* some swears too.


Here is my coupon keeper.. Yes it's a MONSTER box. I stole it from my son and nephew fair and square after I had to pay $11.88 for the box. They got the inside contents. It's perfect size. It holds full size envelopes, flyers, atm envelopes (for depositing rebates of course), an old envelope box that I throw the expired coupons in that eventually go to the troops overseas, and it used to be empty enough to hold my purse.. no longer.


view from the top


and the envelopes. I have extra envelopes like this one that are store specific. I *think* the CVS envelope is my favorite.

anyway.. so I decide to go home.. I'm sitting at the light and realize I haven't worked out any of my deals for CVS this week BUT I have most of my coupons in the car with me maybe I can make a few deals, get my CVS coupons, and this weeks flyer.. plus I had plenty of the new $2/$10 coupons printed and rearing to go.. It was only 2 miles out of my way.. I'm going.

So I get there go inside and these are the deals I put together.


First Transaction
2 packs of mechanical pencils 99 cents each
2 packs index cards $1.49 B1G1
2 packs Piolet pens $1.99 B1G1
2 Sure deoderants $2.49 B1G1
2 Pert $3.99 B1G1 (do you see a trend here?)
1 CVS personal lubricant $1.49
2 gold bond lotion 99cents each

coupons
$2/$10
$2 off any CVS skincare
$2 off any size gold bond lotion (got knocked down to .98)
$1 off any size gold bond lotion
2 $1 off Sure deoderant
2 $2 off Pert Shampoo

My total $4.08. MIR for School Supplies with Pert/Sure $5

Second Transaction
2 covergirl make-up $8.99 B1G1
1 CVS fem cloth $1.89
1 CVS hand santizier
2 trial sized gold bond powder 99 cents each

coupons
$2/$10
$2 off any CVS skin care
1 B1G1 covergirl makeup ($8.99)
2 $1 off any size gold bond powder (one rang up as .98)

Total $1.68. I had everything in my basket separated out until I realized that everything in my basket was going to be FREE.. so I ran back and got the hand sanitizer (I just grabbed anything that was over $2).

So my total for both transactions was $5.76, add in .42 for a stamp to mail the rebate = $6.18 so today for everything I paid $1.18

Then I get home.. now this is the good part.. I go to take all my goodies inside. I had stopped to pick up some formula from a fellow Freecycler for my friends baby, along with 3 bags from CVS, some misc garbage in my car, plus some of the coupons from this weekend I hadn't cut out yet and GUESS WHAT FALLS OUT FROM UNDERNEATH EVERYTHING?? My freakin spiral.. *sigh* more swears...

BUT THEN.. da da da daahhhhhhhhh (the plot thickens) I get to my mail box and what awaits me??? I won't keep you in suspense.. well not that long anyway.. hey did you see that chicken? why would there be a chicken here right now? Where did she come from.. what did she have in her mouth? ughhh I have a.d.d. what was I telling you? hmmmmm geez.. I had something really great.. OHHHH YYYYYeaaahhhhh... it was the mailbox..

2 rebate checks 1 for $1.99 from Pert peelie and one for $2.49 from Dawn! Yippee.

I also got 2 samples today. gas-x strips with coupons and Nivea Mens face cream with a coupon as well.

So take the $4.48 from the rebates and I MADE $3.30 today.. I guess in the long run I'd be counting those rebates twice then.. but hey.. either way.. the day didn't turn out to be a total loss.. now to hunt down some neighbors that didn't throw away or use their coupons.

What I did get out of the mess I made this morning..

~~~2 Glade Fabric & Air sprays $2.99 each.. free after two $1.50 coupons plus $1.50 easy saver book coupon
~~~lightbulbs free after easy care rebate
~~~2 Scrubbing Bubbles shower refills 2/$6 OMG I ONLY GAVE THEM ONE $1.50 COUPON I JUST REALIZED duhh!! anyway after coupon and easy saver rebate they will be 2/$3 would have been 2/$1.50 DANG IT!
~~~Visine (I was having a major allergy attack IN THE STORE) $4.99 $3 coupon from all you magazine
~~~2 boxes of garbage bags 2/$10 will be 2/$5 after easy saver rebate.

because of my returns and everything I have no clue what I actually spent OOP on this stuff. okay some quick addition I paid $18.50 for all products OOP but I used my rebate card so it was FREE. I will get back $5 for the bags, $1.99 for the bulbs, and $1.50 for the Scrubbing Bubbles. Not a bad run I guess.. ughhh still mad at myself. I guess waking up and leaving the house without waking up your brain first will do that to you.

Ughh I *thought I was doing so good 20 minutes ago.. now NOT SO MUCH!

Okay.. so I've been reading about the Kelloggs 4/$10 with a $5 RR and and then found out about the MIR for Kelloggs for $10. So I figured because my area runs out of any deal fast I better get my arse to WAGS bright and early this morning.. and of course.. no such luck.. I got everything I wanted but I messed up HUGE on the whole deal.

When I got home I did my totals I spent $7.59 OOP and got a $5RR so I'm thinking I spent $2.59 OOP really.. not bad. so then I realize that the Smart Start cereals did not ring up correctly. ughhh really? So they rung up as $3.90 instead of $2.50 so I need to get that money back.

So I figured between everything with MIR and Easy Saver I made $18.50 on that entire deal.. not bad.. EEEERRRRRRR

not so much. now I just checked another blog and read that the Kelloggs MIR deal has to have a RR dated after 8/5! today is only 8/3 do you think they'll notice? Not only that but I realized that if I had bought more snacks I could have gotten 2 $5 RR one from the front page and one from the inside pages of the WAGS flyer. I just figured one $5 RR from "kelloggs" per transaction.. ya know?

Okay so then I get home stack all my goodies up nicely, run upstairs to get the camera.. oh yeah.. I left it hooked up to the computer all night which drains the battery!

Okay.. so do you think I should return all the cereal and just start over later this week and take advantage of all the deals? or just pray they pay me for the rebate and miss out on that $5? ughhh not good.

hi hooo hi hooo it's off to CVS I gooooo, to practically steal their awesome deals... hi hooo hi hooo

{{{in my best surfer on acid voice}}}
CHECKKKK ITTTTT OUUUUUTTTTTTTT DUUUUUUDDDEE!!

so my rookie mistake for the day? not realizing I could pull the mascara deal twice! DOH! lol!

4 stayfree pads $4.50 each
1 Johnson's baby powder $3.99
2 maybelline mascaras $5.99 each

my total came to some insane price like $36 something.. *gasp*

hand her coupons..

2 B1G1 free stayfree coupons.. minus $9
$1 off Johnsons baby powder (from a magazine)
$18.50 in ECBS

My total OOP (which sucks) $6.67
ECBS earned $20!!

So I could have grabbed another 2 mascara's and paid with a $10 ECB paid $2 and got another $10 ECB oh well.

Basically I walked away paying for ONE mascara, getting the rest for free and then earning $20 to boot. I also upped my ECBs to $20 from $18.50 which isn't shabby. I'm new to this so I started with maybe $3 in ECBs.

I went to Wal-Mart but didn't really feel like sniffing out any deals. just got what I needed. One of those All You magazines that has all the great coupons, some flea stuff for my little puppino, and wet dog food.

I came home and got my mail.. and look.. ahhh SAMPLES.. yeahhh!!! another Warm Delights mini and a new Oatmeal Crisp cereal!

ughhh thank god for good deals EARLIER in the day!!

Okay.. so I wanted to at least use my $5 RR from last week and get that $7 RR for this week.. so I headed to WAGS. I didn't think I made any rookie mistakes in a long time but I was just on the phone with my Aunt-in-law (my husband's aunt) and realized I had better coupons than what I used! ughh I went through those P&G's that are all expiring this week like 20 times.. I don't know how I missed them.

Anyway.. I also realized today that I haven't been adding my samples that I get through the mail. Today in the mail I got tampons from Tampax, at Walgreens I got a skin cream sample and also a Biore sample and one other I can't remember off the top of my head. Also, I got my first 2 rebate checks!! and one of them came with MORE COUPONS!! and wouldn't you know it.. rebatetracker.com is down? WTF! lol! I got $2.49 for the Sure Deoderant rebate and $3.29 for the Zout rebate!! woot!!

Okay so here is all the loot..



WAGS

6 Olay body washes 3/$10
1 Ultra 2 glucose monitoring system $14.99

Used
$5 RR from last week
3 $2 coupons for the Olay
2 $1.50 coupons for the Olay
1 $1 coupon for the Olay
up to $20 for the One touch (she gave me $14.99 so I got it free)

Total $6.81 got my $7 RR
of course I came home and found those other $2 coupons!! ughh! not good.

Stopped at Pet-Co and grabbed one 4lb bag of Nutro cat food (senior) and one 5lb bag of Nutro dog food (small bites) had free coupons for both but I had to pay $2 in tax?? is that right? I didn't want to argue with the girl.. she was really nice and I didn't read the actual coupons so they may have said Free up to $10.99 and my bags were $11 something each or whatever.

Then to Butera (read below)
but I did manage to get 2 monsters for free with my free monster coupons
and Edy's ice cream for $1.49 each. They were $2.49 on sale and I had $1 off coupons. So not a bad day.

$6.81 - $7.00 (rr) = -19 cents
$2 at petco
$20 at Butera

so basically $26.81 OOP
$50.16 in coupons & RR
$7 RR for my next WAGS trip
samples
and $5.78 in Rebate checks!

I know I make no sense do I? lol!

I see why moneysavingmom.com took a week off...

this hobby is very frusterating.. every week I make a huge mistake or a cashier makes it impossible for me to get the full deal that others are getting at their stores.. etc.. anyway.. today of course was no different.. of course, I was nervous all over again.. I'm going to make a post about nerves.. I swear.

Anyway.. I had 4 stops to make tonight.. stay tuned.. this ride is gonna bore the heyyyll out of anyone.

stop 1

Starbucks.. I found a link for free starbucks. I posted it on my neighborhood site, gave a few copies to my son/nephew who both refused to use them because it looked fake. A few days later my neighbors told me they've been using them every day. I tried to use one and was told it was fake and I couldn't use it.. bomb #1 of the day.

stop 2

butera grocery store..
got only sale items.. but now I need to look at the receipt because I spent $20 and really didn't get much. I did get 2lbs of ham that were priced at 99 cents a half lb.. other than that some produce, cheese, not really much else.

stop 3

Walgreens.. WHAT A MESS bomb #578,923,190 coming to a theater near you.. omg..
I had a ton of coupons.. both store and manufacturer.. of course I couldn't get half my deals to work because first the store had barely any of the products I wanted and the manager didn't offer rain checks.. I'm such a wuss, I should have asked.. instead I said "I'll check another walgreens before Sunday" ugh

I would have taken a pic of everything I got BUT I'm a dummy and left my camera plugged into the computer which drains it.. the battery is being charged now.

Basically I got 2 bottles of pantene, 3 powerades, 5 folders, paper clips, pencils, markers, dawn dish soap, highliters, pens, mechanical pencils, and a ruler for OOP $4.14 but I'll be turning in $8 in Easy Saver rebates from this trip.. so I made roughly $4 on the deal.. I guess I didn't do as bad as I thought..

I tried to do the stayfree deal.. B1G1 50% off plus a B1G1 free coupon which would make me pay $3 for 2 huge packs of pads.. but I messed up and grabbed the wrong pads.. so that was a rookie mistake (gotta read the little signs in front of the products, the sale ads, etc) and then I got free Monster coupons.. yeah.. Walgreens only gave me $1.99 when they were charging $2.69 for each.. why? BECAUSE the coupons states that you can only get up to $1.99 for each.. ughh I'll get them someplace else that only charges $1.99!!

stop 4

Jewel
I had to pull the cereal/milk deal one more time (5/$10 cereal with a free gallon of milk) we are actually running low on cereal again and was totally out of milk. So this was a good run. They had B1G1 free ICBINB tubs and I had a 50 cent coupon.. not much but it was a product I needed and for some reason I don't do well with food hounding. I gotta work on that. I have enough shampoo and dish soap to last until next year. I'll be donating that stuff for sure. Anyway.. so milk, cereal, ICBINB tubs, and liquid smoke.

I decided to ring up the cereal first by itself to make sure I got the coupon at a self checkout. I did. Cool.. so I had heard that a friend of mine used the self checkout and if you keep using coupons of the same brand product it will take them.. so I tried that trick and it didn't work for me.. oh well..

so my 2nd transaction I stayed at the self checkout so I could see if I could get the full $4.50 when my milk was only $3.79 and I did!! Yeahh!!! So my total for my 2 tubs of ICBINB, milk, and liquid smoke was only $4.38 I think.. my first transaction came out to $7 something.. I didn't do that good on the coupons for that deal.. oh well. I saved $8 just in coupons with both deals and it was for things we actually needed for this week.

I'll try to post pics later when I grow a brain and get my camera charged.

I have no idea why I get so nervous! 4 rookie mistakes!

Okay I get nervous when I go to run my deals.. every time.... I *always* walk up to the cashier and apologize like 15 times and tell them I'm new to this and I'm trying my best to make the deals work the right way and everything.. they always say "oh it's no big deal, don't worry, if you have questions just ask etc" and almost every time I walk up and there is not one person in the store and there is no line.. sure enough I place 1 item up and there is a line of 8 people behind me. grrr.. anyway.. here is my list of CVs deals for the week which I of course.. screwed up a little.. grr...

transaction 1
1 clean & clear daily purifying $4.69
2 clean & clear foam $3.49 each
1 clean & clear shine clean $5.99
FORGOT TO GRAB THE CVS TOWELLETTS!! UGHHHH ROOKIE MISTAKE 1

$3/$15 coupon
4 2 coupons

Total $7.22 OMG I followed another bloggers deal but not to the letter and I have no clue what I did wrong.. then ROOKIE MISTAKE 2 I didn't use any ECBS from last week.. I have no clue why.. I get all weird and nervous! so weird. I had $4 in ECBs I could have used (I had another $10 ECB I obviously couldn't use, but I'm new to this so I didn't have much.. but still I could have saved $4 on this deal)

I did get my $5 ECB

COMPLETE FUMBLE #2
3 glade refills (plug in) $2.49 each
2 Loreal color vive shampoo/conditioner $4.99/B1G1
4 Trident gums $1.49 B1G1
1 CVS make up towelettes $2.99

Yeah so I hand her all my coupons and for some reason I figured the B2G1 glade coupon would work for plug ins because the ECB was for plug ins or the candles.. yeah she wouldn't take it.. which was ROOKIE MISTAKE 3 so I had already given her the $3/$15 coupon and already run in my B1G1 free shampoo/conditioner coupon sooooo I asked her to ake the glades off.. and she got down to the last one and I said "wait don't take that off.. it will be negative" so she didn't and my total was $1.10! lol!

Got my $5 in ECBs (is that right?) and on to my next fumble.. I mean transaction.

attempt #3
2 packages of diapers 2/$12
2 packages of baby wipes 2/$12

$3/15 coupon
$11 in ECBS

Total was $2.20 and for my FINALE of Rookie mistakes.. I bring you ROOKIE MISTAKE #4 OF THE DAY which was... NOT REALIZING THAT I HAD SEVERAL $2/$10 CVS PRODUCT PURCHASE COUPONS WHICH I PRINTED RIGHT ONE AT CVS JUST 15 MINUTES PRIOR.. UGHHHH *sigh* I have to go throw up now.

Got my $5 ECB's.. oh well.

I never took pics either and I already gave the diapers/wipes to my neighbor who I bought them for (no babies here).

Rookie Mistakes.. (I've made a couple whoppers so far)

Soooo I decided to hit Jewel last.. I needed Milk really bad and it was free after buying 5 boxes of GM cereal for $10. Of course I had plenty of coupons so my total would have been $6.50 for 5 boxes of cereal. I also had a catalina for v8 fusion $1.25 and had found another $1 coupon for that. I saw gronola bars on sale for $2.50a box and remembered I had $1 coupon tucked in my coupon book.. took that out. So my total after all sales and coupons was $9.52.. trusty CATALINA prints out the coupon for the free milk. I had put the milk behind the ceral boxes so I could do that as a separate transaction.. Dumb butttttyyy me never clued in the fact that the catalina freebie could possibly print for more than the actual cost of the milk and didn't include a filler in order #2. So of course little pimple face Johnny rings it up and tells me I owe 64 cents when it was showing as a NEGATIVE, so he gets all freaked out and calls everybody and their mother manager over.. so they void the coupon and just give me the price of the item which was $3.79 and I had to pay tax! duh!! oh well.. so I paid $9.59 for basically $30 worth of groceries.. not too bad.

#2 as I walked out of Jewel I saw a huge garbage bin filled with CATALINAS.. of course there was this lady right on my butt so I didn't stop and try to grab them.. ughh!!