I entered one receipt with 3 rebates on it for September and still have not gotten a reply/response from that. Also whenever I try to go on the site it seems very slow in the easy saver section. I added a new receipt yesterday and it took minutes to get from screen to screen...
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!
ever seen the 'mo tussin part of Chris Rocks skit? if not check it out..
'mo tussin!
for some reason I couldn't add it to my blog.. weird.. anyway.. so today I went to WAGS I followed a deal on Iheartwags! actually two. I had a list of things I wanted to get at WAGs this week inlcluding refilling my black ink cartridge which I of course forgot at home.
1 Excederin Sinus $1.99 used $2 manufacturer coupon
3 Robotussin cough medicine $5.99 each used 3 $3/1 IP coupons (link on I heart wags)
1 lypsyl lip balm $1.99
used $9 RR total OOP $2.33
for other purchases I got a $10 RR for the Robotussin, $1RR for the excederin, and will submit the lypsyl to WAGS for a rebate next month! Not a bad run!
Well... I've been unemployed since April 11, 2008 and still am.. I've been trying to stetch dollars as best as possible but this grocery game has got me hooked. This month I did do a lot of stockpiling and bought some items specifically for Christmas gifts. My normal monthly grocery budget is $300.. This month I spent $499 and that is just on what I can account for. I know I'm missing a few receipts, for purchases that I've sent for rebates or just simply didn't make it to my receipt bin. So my goal for September is to record on the spreadsheet each purchase as I make them, basically keep myself current. that way any receipt that I need for a rebate will get recorded.
I have to say that my total SAVED was $939 and that was the total just from receipts that tell me what I saved. Places like Wally World and Woodmans (one of my grocery stores) don't give you a total or even say "our price is $2 most other places charge $4.50" which is the case for most items purchased at both stores. Regardless, my budget is $300 and I've gone over easily by $200 and this is only OUT OF POCKET expenses. I did not include RR, ECBS, and/or rebates that were used.
Also I do not include dining out which is in our entertainment budget but I'm betting that is wayyy over.. ughh I have to talk to Tim about that this month. He'll be going back to the boat in October for his 2nd job so going out will be slim to none chance like it was last year. We saved a ton eating out maybe once per week for 6 months. The once per week was our treat for ourselves on Sundays once I woke up and before he had to go in to work at 6pm... it was the one day we felt we had the time to get out together.
I'm going to try to post some pics of our stockpiled items.. I know we don't have a stockpile anywhere near as big as other blogs I've read, but it's a great start for us and we've been trying to pull from the stockpile and refill the stockpile as new sales come up.
okay.. this is strange.. I sent away for the free Philadelphia cheese and got it back in the mail. I wrote an email to the company and never got any responce until today (that was almost a month ago I think) so today I got a free coupon for a free tub of Philadelphia Cream cheese.. I'll take it.
P&G sent me another sample of tampons.. I didn't realize I signed up for so many, but again.. I'll take 'em!
Finally got that free gum from Stride, sweet Cinnamon I think it's called.. smells good and after my lunch with onions I'll be chewing a piece for sure.
Last but not least Fiber One sent me coupons (good ones too), a cereal sample, and a Fiber One bar sample (bmmmmffffhhhfhhfh that's the noise I'll be making after I eat it.. they are soooo good but give me horrible gas).
That's all for today folks!!
Okay I did a little reading and looking on other sites to see how other people do it and I think the easiest way for me to continue to do it is basicallly count an RR/GC/ECB when I make a purchase with it.. that way at the end of everything I will see my OOP expense. I have made comments in the past "but I also got a $9 RR and will receive $28 in rebate" and that's fine.. but no longer will I say "so this transaction really only cost me $1.38" because those rebates will lower my OOP later in the game. The only thing that I *may* add is mail away rebates that I just throw in my checking account because those will benefit my checking account later but it's not like I'm posting my checking account logs! lol!
