Walgreens Profit

Just wanted to give you all an example of how a small transaction can pay off big.
I bought this toothpaste at Walgreens. It was on sale for $4.99 with $4 RR back.
I had a $3 RR from last week so I used it and paid $2.33 out of pocket and got back $4RR That's a profit of $1.67. I am selling this toothpaste for $2 so in the end I'll make a $3.67 profit.

Sadly I did not have the coupon for $1.50 off. But if I did, I would have bought a filler item ( a small note pad i need) for 15 cents. This would have made my total less than $1 and still get $4RR back

If you haven't read my coupon posts, here are the links
http://mytwocents-meliss.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-i-got-38857-worth-of-groceries-for.html


http://mytwocents-meliss.blogspot.com/2011/08/coupon-101-getting-started.html

Take The Pain Out of Bedtime Cause We All Need A Good Nights Sleep In Our Own Beds!

To the shock and amazement of most people, my 4 year old goes to bed at 8pm. In her own bed, in her own room. For most of her life bedtime was 7pm but since she started school it's 8pm. She has never slept in our bed. Not once ever! It's not so much that I think there is something wrong with kids sleeping in the parents bed, I just don't want to sleep with a kid. I know all to well that it will cause problems with your getting a goodnight sleep, your sex life, your marriage and your child not wanting to sleep in his/her own bed. I refuse for any of those things to happen. When our son was young, we all had to sleep in one room with 2 beds pushed together. He also needed to be rocked in a chair and/or bounced till he was asleep...for hours. We went through 5 glider rocking chairs. The bearings kept breaking from the millions of hours I spent rocking him lol It was very difficult. So when I had our daughter I vowed that I wasn't going to go through any of that.

I spent most of my life caring for other peoples children so I saw many different parenting styles. I learned a lot of things that I thought were really good ideas. I also learned a lot of things I thought were horrible ideas lol A couple of the things I decided to bring into my own home came from one particular family had to do with bedtime. These tips really worked for their kids and as it turns out they worked for mine too. Whenever I have posted about Isabella going to bed at 7pm or 8pm a bunch of my friends have asked: "how do you get her to go to sleep so early and so easy?" I've told them and now I get to share it with all of you.

First. I started Isabella young. At 3 months I put her in a crib in her own room to sleep and nap...no exceptions. This takes commitment and mine comes from not wanting to sleep with a kid cause I value a good nights sleep. I never made a fuss over her during the bedtime routine. I placed her in her crib, tucked her in, kissed her and said good night and that was it. I don't feel one bit mean about doing it like that either. Kids don't know any difference. It's the parents who feel bad, feel they need to cuddle them or lay with them or rock them or pat their little backs. It's the parents who want to have that special time with their babies and kids. I want that kind of time too and I have it, during the waking hours. I don't think those special things should be used as a means of putting your child to sleep because the child will depend on you to do that for as many years after as you can stand it...and then some. The majority of parents, working or stay at home parents, have busy days. By the end of the day we are counting down the minutes till bedtime. I value that quiet/alone time to unwind. I usually still have a bunch of chores left to do. I don't want to spend one minute longer than needed putting a kid to sleep. That in itself is a job for a lot of you and was once for me.

The first trick has to do with music. The family I used to care for, would play a cd of lullaby's when they would put their kids to sleep. When I first met them I was like geez, listening to that over the baby monitor was going to drive me insane. However, it worked, the kids went right to sleep. They weren't crying for their mom causing me and the kid to have a battle to get them to sleep. They weren't calling for their mom cause they didn't depend on a parent to put them to sleep. They depended on the music. It really makes perfect sense to me. I play a meditation cd for Isabella. We have had 2 in her life. Evening serenade and chinese bamboo. When people come over and hear it, they are like "WTF is that music, how can you stand it?" Sure, it's a little odd I guess. Honestly I am used to it now and hardly notice it. All I know is that it's much easier to listen to than my kid calling my name, screaming for mommy to cuddle her or rock her or kiss her one more time. It's much easier than going back and forth into her room 50 times and for however long until they finally fall asleep. Seriously, that is one of the most frustrating things to have to go through and worse if it's every night.

The second trick is all about sheets, blankets and blankies. The Mom of the same family told me how she'd read somewhere NOT to wash your kids bedding and blankie unless or until it was really dirty. meaning don't wash it ever few days or every week just cause that is your bedding washing routine. For babies, they spit up and soak through diapers and such so of course you will be washing a babies bedding pretty often, possibly daily. BUT if the bedding isn't "soiled" then you shouldn't wash it more than once every 2 weeks or once a month. Use common sense. The point of this is to develop/build up your child's scent on their bedding. That personal scent that comes from the natural odor of our own bodies and is specific to that individual. I'm sure you can all relate to "missing the smell of your own bed" when you are away from home. Or getting into your bed at night and loving the smell of it. I know I do. It's very comforting isn't it. Or the smell of your kids or spouse, we love that smell right? Well, the same applies to a kid. It's comforting to them too and it's another example of them being comforted by their own bed and not a parent or a parents bed. Again, this makes perfect sens to me. Most of the time sheets will get dirty before the top blanket will so you can wash the sheets more often than the blanket. This is one of the reasons I love blankies and think they are a good idea. You can wash the bedding but NOT the blankie. Another reason I think blankies are a good idea is because they are portable. You can't bring your child's bed away on vacation or to sleep in a unfamiliar place, but you can bring their balnkie. Therefore you can bring their comfort wherever they go. Isabella was given a carters blanket by close family friends when she was 3 months old. I loved it so much I had to buy her 2 more. 2 stay at home and 1 is allowed to leave the house and goes with her to school.

I love this Carters blanket so much, that I will buy one from this day froward for anyone I truly love who is having a baby. I just bought 2 for my soon to be born Nephew. If they made it in an adult size, I would own a few for all of us in my house. I WANT TO SLEEP WITH THIS BLANKIE!!!!! It's a double sided 2 ply type 100% cotton blanket. It is so silky soft. I can't even describe to you in words how it feels. I recommend buying one for you kids or for someone having a kid. They cost around $30 but I bought the 2 for my Nephew on ebay with shipping for $12.98. I bought Isabella's 2 spare balnkies on ebay too but I paid close to $30 for both.

Now, for older kids or kids who wake up in the middle of the night, I am all for the Super Nanny routine. If you aren't familiar with it, google search her and look for a youtube vid of her bedtime routine. I use this when Isabella wakes up in the middle of the night or if she gives me trouble at bedtime. (That hardly ever happens though) So basically you put you tuck your kid in at bedtime or upon waking. You kiss them and say your I love you's and good nights and that's it. Then if they get out of bed or call you, you wait a bit and then go in and tuck them in again saying "it's time to go to sleep" and that's it. For every time after that. You don't talk at all. NO talking, NO eye contact. You just put them back in bed and tuck them in. It's possible if you have an older kid that you want to start sleeping in their own bed or you have problems getting them to sleep at night, that you will have to do this many times in one night and many nights in a row until they eventually learn that it's bedtime and that's THAT! Your child will learn but they will also try to take advantage of you and lets face it, a child's will is much stronger than ours and they will do whatever it takes to break you down lol. All they are seeking is your attention and if they NEVER get it, they will stop seeking and they will relent. Give your child all the attention he/she wants at an appropriate time, not at bedtime or in the middle of the night. For babies, Supper Nanny uses a routine where she has the parent sit in the room, facing away from the child and inch by inch slowly moving towards the door as the child is drifting off to sleep but not until they are quiet. If they wake, repeat, repeat, repeat. Like I said, this isn't easy and isn't a quick fix. But a few nights of misery is better than a few years. Be strong lol I am just giving you the basics. I HIGHLY recommend watching it for yourself and reading up on her bedtime routine. It really does work.

In closing, these tricks really work. I have seen it with my own eyes. They also make perfect logical sense to me. Take a min to think about it, really think about it without involving your personal feelings. Parents and children really need a good nights sleep. This is not about being cold, or not being mushy and showing your kids love and affection. It's about sleep and peace and when it comes to bedtime, that's all that should be considered. It is a fact that bedtime is rough for any or all of the above reasons for a good percent of families. So it's obvious that love and affection doesn't work, it won't make you kids fall asleep peacefully on their own and in their own bed. All it really does is prevent kids from falling asleep peacefully on their own, in their own bed. It also leads to more bedtime issues which isn't good for a child either. It causes you as a parent to be frustrated, lose your peaceful sleep time and it adds work to your already heavy load!

Isabella is well adjusted, she's happy and loved and showered with affection from 6:30 am to 8pm and then it's all business lol When we say it's bedtime, she doesn't even think to argue. There's no whining, no crying, no stamping feet. She walks to her room, we turn on her music. My husband plays little kissing games with her and they joke around for a few minutes. Then he leaves and I have to give her what she calls "25 pet nice" lol 25 pet nice is me rubbing her back while I count to 25. She adopted this 25 pet nice from school and I have worked it in to our routine because it has helped her adjust to napping at school. Once, while doing it, I was thinking of something else and I counted to 30. She flipped out lol yelling "NO mommy, not 30, that's toooo much" That was months ago and every night since when she asks for 25 pet nice and I start doing it, she says "NOT 30" lol just to make sure I don't mess it up. When I am done, I kiss her and tell her I love her then I leave the room. Once I close the door she says "Bye Mommy" and I say "Bye Isabella" Then she says "No more talking" and I have to say it back to her "No more talking" because a few times in the past she would call me back and want to tell me things so I would tell her "Isabella, NO more talking" After having to do that several times, she started saying it to me first loll but I always have to say it back. Then she talks herself to sleep...easy breezy! At 8:05pm, I am done with the bedtime routine and I'm on to everything else that need my attention. Like myself and my sanity lol :)

Sweet Dreams

Chip Clip Alternative

I hate twist ties although I do use them. I hate chip clips too. They always seem to break or the don't have a tight grip. They can be pricey too id you buy the good ones. I always seem to need a lot of them and never have enough. A few years ago CVS was running there yearly sales on school supplies. They has a box of these office type clips (don't know what they are actually called) If I remember correctly they were on sale for .99 with .99 Extra Care Bucks back. That made them FREE! I put them away with the rest of the extra school and office supplies I had bought that year and forgot about them. One day I was looking for a chip clip and didn't have one free. A few days later I came across the office clips and thought "hey, I could use these as chip clips." So I did and I found they worked a lot better. I had others around the house and in different sizes that we didn't really use for anything else. I gathered them up and put them in the kitchen drawer where I keep my foil, baggies, saran wrap etc. I have been using them ever since.

They hold a tight grip on whatever I put them on. They are small so they easily fit on the bag inside a cereal box or box of crackers etc. I use them in place of twist ties for rice or any other item that comes in a bag only that you may not use all of at once. They will last a long time and outlast a real chip clip. They are also a lot cheaper!

I also save the clips that you sometimes get when you buy a balloon. They work well too!

I Found it! The Pic I Wanted To Go With The Bitch Sip!

I knew I would find it eventually lol Here is the pic of the trife ass bit of trail mix Joe left in the bowl for the next person who wanted some. I am going to add it to the original post. Since I know most of you have read it, I figured I'd just put the pic in a separate post as well. If you haven't read The Bitch Sip yet, you should! lol

http://mytwocents-meliss.blogspot.com/2011/08/bitch-sip.html

My Husband and His Many Bothched Attempts at Card/Gift Giving!

I met and fell in love with my husband 20 years ago. I was 15 and he was 14. As teenagers we dated other people at times. In fact, I had a boyfriend ( wink wink to one of my fellow bloggers lol) that I'd been with for quite some time when I met my husband. We have been exclusive for 13 years and married for 11.

When I was like 16 or 17, for Valentine's Day he gave me a small card with a pink teddy bear on it. On the front it read "For a Sweet Girl" Inside it read:
"This little bear's so happy! Look what he gets to do--
He gets to bring this valentine wish
to a sweet little girl like you"
"Happy Valentine's Day with lots of love"

I couldn't help but laugh in his face...then came the outrage. This was a card for a 3 year old for Christ sake! His excuse was that he had forgot it was Valentine's day and had to go to a 24 hr store last minute and they didn't have a good selection. NICE!! I should have known right then and there that this was the first sign of things to come.

Year after year he gave me botched gifts. Flowers, even though he knew I hated them. That I thought they were a HUGE WASTE of money and a pointless thoughtless gift. Mostly because you just look at them and smell them for 3 days and then...they die!!! I will never understand why women would even want flowers as a gift. This will never make sense to me.

He gave me a box of chocolates once, knowing full well that I was allergic to chocolate.

He always had some dumb excuse but the bottom line was that at the moment of gift selection, you know, when thought is involved, he wasn't doing much thinking at all!

I let his poor effort to gift give piss me off like you have no idea. So like you've heard me say before, I did what most of us women do. I fought with him about it. Bitching and moaning, pleading with him to get it right. Sweating the approaching dates and letting my anger fester so I could unleash the nasty beast that lays in wait inside of all of us. Then I would attack him when he would forget again. I gave him the lists of do's and don'ts. And the list wasn't even long since I am a very simple girl and don't require much as far as gifts are concerned. I am a "it's the thought that counts" kind of girl too but he would have to actually put some thought in for this to work for him and so far, all his thoughts had shown me that he wanted me to look at, smell... and care for something that would die. That he thought I was 6 years old and that he wanted me to have an allergic reaction. Please note: I grew out of this allergy to chocolate, I will get a stomach ache or headache if i eat too much, but i won't have some sever reaction, however it makes the story a bit better lol I don't really care for chocolate though so it's still a horrible gift for me.

Most of the time he would just completely forget, even if he was reminded before hand. Once I gave him a card a week before our anniversary. It was an anniversary card, inside I wrote "our anniversary is in one week. That means you have 7 days to get me a card." 7 days later, he had forgotten...again!

When it comes to big national holidays, I don't know how he can forget. I can't even tell you how many times he would forget Valentines Day. Valentine's Day, you know, the one you hear about every where you go. Pretty much every American knows the "Every kiss begins with Kay" slogan for Kay Jewelers. (that's a future blog topic of it's own) Every store has isles and shelves filled with stuffed wastes of money and heart shaped boxes filled with 5,000 calories . Seriously...it's impossible to forget that one! My Birthday happens to be 7 days after Valentine's day. You would think this would be easy for him to remember too. Especially since he would get bitched out for fucking up V-Day every year. One would think that he would say to him self "I'd better not mess it up next week" BUT he would. Twice in one month, 1 week apart...every year.

I complained to family and friends and the advice I would get would be to remind him (been there) Write the dates on a calender...ummm that would require him to look at said calender. Not to mention that's kind of like me doing the work he should be doing. Why not just wish myself a happy birthday? Mail myself a card? They would even remind him for me. But honestly that made me more angry, no third party should be involved in this at all. As I got older, I started realizing that gifts and cards weren't important to me at all. What was important to me is that he remembered the dates. That I would be important enough to him for him to remember the date of my birth and our marriage. I wanted him to remember, not for someone else to remember for him. What a joke...thanks for all that great advice.

His Mother worked at a card/candy store that went out of business. She got thousands of cards from them. She kept them in boxes in her basement. Joe went over there and picked out some cards for future holidays so he would be prepared. So even if he forgot a holiday, he would already have a card on hand to quickly fix the problem. He hid them in the filing cabinet. I did not know about any of this at the time. Looking back, it was a good idea. He did make an effort and try to do something right. He was making an attempt to not upset me ever again on a holiday. The thought was there...or was it?

Then came yet another Valentine's Day. I was 25. I was ready for some sort of blunder. I was ready for a fight. That night, after he came home from work and after his shower, he handed me a card. I was a bit surprised, shocked even. The card was really nice, it had a lot of words in it, they were all very thoughtful. I was smiling a bit on the outside but I was full of joy on the inside. He had actually gotten it right this time. As I was reading, I couldn't help but think about how for once in so many years, I wouldn't be left upset and outraged. This time, we wouldn't have to have a fight. After the nice little poem, there was one last line, in large bold print. I gasped in horror as I read that last line. It said "Let's Have a Wonderful Christmas"

Seriously? I was so disappointed. I didn't even know what to say. I remember telling him what it said. I remember him taking the card to see for his self. Like I would make it up or something. Like even he couldn't believe he had fucked it up again. Then I remember the explanation he gave. He told me how he had got cards from his Mom, how he'd filed them away for the next holiday. How he knew it was a holiday so he grabbed the card figuring it was for THIS holiday. he didn't even bother to read it. Yet as you can see he signed it DIRECTLY below what is now an infamous line in our house "Let's Have a Wonderful Christmas" Good job Baby, good job.

I was so fed up. I really didn't know how to resolve this problem. I mean he is obviously brain dead. How do I fix that. The answer I supposed was that I couldn't fix it. So, like I always do. I thought outside the box. I thought up a crazy idea that had me laughing instead of being pissed. His Birthday is 2 months after Valentine's day. I usually bought him a nice, thoughtful card. I did this with an attitude though knowing that I was about to give him a loving card even though he could never manage to do the same for me. NOT THIS TIME!!!

My family had come over for dinner and cake. Afterwards we exchanged cards and gifts. I handed him my card. He opened it and took it out of the envelope. He looked at it for a minute with a very confused look on his face. He closed it and looked around at my family members. then he turned and looked at me and said " I don't know what it says, I can't even read it." With a bit of a snotty tone I replied "I don't know what it says either, but you don't bother to read the cards you give to me, so why should I bother?"

The card was in Spanish, I had gone to CVS and picked one out at random. I didn't even look at it much, I just signed it and sealed the envelope. Everyone was hysterical including both of us. Joe was a bit embarrassed. My Grandmother laughed the hardest. As she was looking at the card, she noticed that on the back it had the English translation. She was hysterical as she told us it was there and then she read it out loud. It said:
"Good-bye and good luck....
your leaving makes us sad...
Now don't forget about us....
Or we're gonna be mad...."

We all busted out laughing again. The funny thing is, it appears that I can pick out an appropriate card without even reading it. lol Figures!

　

　

I would like you all to know that today is my 11 year wedding anniversary. I thought this would be a fitting post. I would also like you to know that aside from what you have read and what you will read, my husband happens to be a really amazing man. He is my best friend, a good husband, a great Father and a great provider. We have since stopped gift giving, at all, for any occasion. It seems silly to me actually and a waste of money we don't have. (another future blog post) As far as the cards go, we are broke and they are very expensive for a piece of paper. I am quite sure that we need the $4 more than Hallmark does!

The New Girlfriend Wants To Meet Our Son

For those of you who know me or have been following my blog, you may know that I have been with my husband for the better part of 20 years now. Since we met when we were teenagers, we have both had other relationships before we became exclusive. When our Son was born, we were not together at the time. When he was only a few months old, my  husband starting dating someone. I should mention that my husband and I were also neighbors, we lived directly across the street from each other. This made for some very difficult situations. I'm sure you can imagine. Anyway it turned out that I actually liked this particular girl after getting to know her and we became friends and still are to this day. However I wasn't to fond of her at first. I didn't know anything about her to even come to this conclusion. Like most ex's, I just didn't like her cause she "took" my man so to speak (this will deff be another future blog topic)

I'll never forget the day Joe called me to ask if he could bring this new girlfriend over to meet our Son. I was beyond heartbroken. My first thought was to tell the both of them to kiss my ass, that, that day would never come. I knew logically though that I couldn't prevent it from happening. I also knew that if I said no, that I would be the bitch ex that was ruining his life. I couldn't let that happen. I honestly didn't know what to do. I know most girls in this situation would be the bitch. They would refuse this meeting to go down. They would probably say "over my dead body will she ever meet our son" Not me, I refuse to act that way. I refuse to be known to be that way. I would not be the stereotypical ex. There is no way I'd be the "baby momma drama" Hell no. That all being said, I had to have control over this situation. I knew it would happen eventually so I needed to be the "bigger" one. So I took control.

When he first asked me, he wanted me to bring the baby to his house cause he wanted them to have privacy. he didn't want me all up in their faces. Well I didn't want that either but again, I did want some control over this whole event. So I called him back, I told him I was ok with it. Said that they had to come over to my house though and told him I'd go outside for a smoke, I needed a break anyway. That would allow them to have their privacy and not have me lurking around them. We hung up. I brought the baby and his stuff in the living room. Then I got the baby monitor and put it under the couch. They came over. I went outside with the other baby monitor and I listened in on their whole conversation.

In the end, they thought it was nice of me. They expected me to be a bitch about it. I happen to know most girls would have been a bitch about it. I know this cause every time I tell this story (and others) people can't believe it and they say they would have been a bitch. I however am not most girls and i never really do what most girls do. It was a win win situation for everyone. I didn't have to be the bad guy. We didn't even have to fight about it. Years later I told him about it and we laughed about it. We still laugh about it. I have never told her this story but it's very possible that she will know about it now lol

Her and I ended up becoming good friends, we spent a lot of time together. I trusted her with my kid and she trusted me with her car. We trusted each other with our secrets too. No one could believe that I would be friends with the girlfriend of my ex and my Son's Father. This is something that has always bothered me. Why is it that as soon as our exes start dating someone new, we automatically hate that person and talk shit about them? First of all you should get to know someone before you decide how you feel about them. Second of all if you are gonna have issues with someone it should be your ex...not the new partner. I am just glad that I am not like that and that I took the time to get to know her before deciding if I liked her or not. I will cover more on this topic in a future post. I was reminded of this monitor story today and so I thought I'd share.

How I Got $388.57 Worth Of Groceries For $172.24 and $6 back and 30 cents fuel perks

This week my total grocery bill before sales and coupons was $388.57 BUT I only spent $172.24 out of pocket. That's a savings of $216.33. I also got back $3 ECB's and $3 RR's and I earned .30 cents per gallon off gas (Bi-Lo fuel perks) Here is the breakdown of how I did it.

　

　

On Monday I did my big shopping for the week. I went to Bi-Lo, Ingles, Food Lion, Walgreens and CVS. The above picture is everything (minus 2 boxes of tissues) I purchased from from the 5 stores.

(2 boxes of paseo tissues not shown in pic)

Total before sales and coupons was: $267.46
Total spent: $134.24
Total saved: $133.22
I Got back $10 RR and $4 ECB

Here's the break down from each store

INGLES

Total before sales and coupons: $24.06
Total spent: $18.66
Total saved: $5.40

Some good deals from that trip:

2 boxes of paseo tissues on sale $1 each
Used (2) .50/1 coupons doubles to $1
made then FREE

4 Chobani yogurt cups on sale $1 each
Used (2) .30/1 doubles to .60
made 2 cups .40 each
$2.80 for 4 cups made them .70 each

　

FOOD LION:

Total before sales and coupons: $33+
Total spent: $17+
Total saved: $16+

Some good deals were:

Farm Rich Mozzarella sticks B1G1 @ $7.79 ($3.89 each)
Used (2) .75/1 coupons
made them $3.14 each

Wisk $3.99
Used $2/1 coupon
made it $1.99

Tropicana punch .99 each

Scott paper towel 6pk mega roll $4.99
used $1 off coupon
made it $3.99

BI-LO:

Total before sales and coupons: $138.58
Total spent: $74.15
Total saved: $64.43

Some good deals:

Land O Lakes Omega 3 eggs 1dz B1G1 @ $3.29 ($1.64 each)
Used (2) .75/1 coupons
made them .89 each

Meal Deal:
But 2 Freschetta pizza's for $14.98
Get the following FREE
Coles cheese sticks
Duke pound cake
bag of frozen strawberry's
2L Coke
Used (2) $1/1 pizza coupons
made it $12.98 for all of the above

2 Dawn dish soap $1 each
Used (2) .50/1
Made them FREE

6 Yoplait greek yogurt cups $1 each
Used (3) .50/2 coupons
made them .50 each

Fiber one or yoplait 4pks B1G1 @ $2.39 ($1.20 each)
Used (2) .50/1
made them .20 cents each

4 bags frozen lima beans B1G1 @ $2.08 ($1.04 each)
Used (2) $1/2 bags
made them .54 cents each


Paseo 12 roll toilet paper $4.88
used $1 off coupon
made it $3.88　

WALGREENS

I did 2 transaction back to back (which I do often)

Total for both Transactoins (everything in above pic)
Total before sales and coupons: $56.61
Total spent: $20.62
Total saved $35.99


Trans #1

Total before sales and coupons: $17.07
Total spent: $6.77
Total saved: $10.30
Got back $4 RR

mac & cheese $1.79
used in store coupon
made .69 each

Fusion razor $9.99 with $4 RR back
Used $4 off coupon
made it $5.99 with $4 RR back
Used (2) $1 RR from last week 

Trans #2

Total before sales and coupons: $39.54
Total spent: $13.85
Total saved: $25.69
Got back $10 RR

Foil $1.39
Used in store coupon
made them .79 each

Tuff paper towel .99 each
used in store coupon made them .59 each
mouthwash $1.99

Omega smart super krill supplement $10 with $10 RR back
makes it FREE
Used $4RR from trans #1

　

CVS

Total before sales and coupons: $15.22
Total spent: $3.82
Total saved: $11.40
Got back a $3 and $1 ECB $4 total ECB

Carmello FREE cvs kiosk coupon

bandaids FREE cvs kiosk coupon

soda .88 each

nail polish $4.99 with $3 ECB back
Used $1 off polish coupon

Used $3 ECB from last week

　

On Tuesday I did a few Small purchases at Ingles, Bi-Lo, Walgreens and CVS

INGLES:

Total before sales and coupons: $14.80
Total spent: $7.93
Total saved: $6.87

Small Steps PT $1.58
used $1 off coupon
made it .58 cents

2 Yogurt $1.28 each
used $1/2 coupon
made them .78 each

2 Tissues $1 each
used .50/1
made both FREE

Super pretzel $2.98
used .50/1 coupon
made them $1.98

BI-Lo

Total before sales and coupons: $14.77
Total spent: $3.34
Total saved: $11.43

Fiber one 4pk B1G1 @ $2.39 ($1.20 each)
used $1/2 coupon
makes .70 each

Yoplait greek cups $1 each
used .50/2
made them .50 each

Dog Food $5.36
used coupon for FREE 3.5 lb bag (catalina coupon printed out on Mondays trip)
made it FREE

Side note: When I was checking out, there were a few catalina coupons left behind from previous customers. One was another FREE dog food coupon so I took it and my Mom picked up the free bag so I didn't have to make another trip. That makes 2 FREE bags of dog food this week

CVS

Total before sales and coupons: $10.31
Total spent: $3.86
Total saved: $6.45
Got back $3 ECB

Dove soap $2.44 (sale price)

Polish $4.99 with $3 ECB back

I used the $4 in ECB from Monday

WALGREENS

Total for both transactions: (everything in above pic) $61.33
Total spent: $16.72
Total saved: $44.61
Got back: $7 RR

again I did 2 transactions back to back

Trans #1

Total before sales and coupons: $34.70
Total spent: $8.59
Total saved: $26.11
Got back a $5 and a $3 RR Total of $8 RR

Lysol hands free soap dispenser $11.99 with $5 RR back
used $3 off coupon
made it $8.99 with $5 RR

Expo washable dry erase markers $3.99
used $3 off coupon (in store coupon)
made them .99

Pert Plus shampoo $3.99 with $3 RR back

Foil (reg) $1.39
used in store coupon for .99 each

bar soap .58 on clearance

used $10 RR from Mondays trip

Trans #2

Total before sales and coupons: $26.63
Total spent: $8.13
Total saved: $18.50
Got back $4RR and $3RR Total $7RR

Tuff PT (reg) .99
used in store coupon
made .59 each

mac&cheese (reg) $1.79
used in store coupon
made them .69 each

polish $3.99 with $3RR back

Razor $9.99 with $4 RR back
used $4 off razor coupon
made it $5.99 with $4 RR back

used $5 and $3 from trans #1

　

Wed. I went to walgreens again to kill time between dropping off my son at school and dropping off Isabella cause we were early

Total before sales and coupons: $19.90
Total spent $6.15
Total saved: $13.75
Got back $3RR

Lighters B1G1 50%off @ $2.99
made them $2.25 each

Pert Plus shampoo $3.99 with $3 RR back

Snickers .49 deal of the week sale price

Cottonelle $5
used in store coupon $1 off
also used .75 off (manufacturers coupon)

Used $5 and $3 RR from Tues. trip


I donated all the single rolls of paper towel to the family place, where Isabella used to go for play group before she got into school (non profit)
I also donated the FREE tissues, 2 boxes to family place and 2 boxes to her school

Coupon 101 Getting Started

The coupons:

The first thing you have to do is start buying at least 2 Sunday papers. I buy up to 10 at a time depending on what coupons will be in that weeks paper. I'll explain why in a bit. The price of Sundays paper just went up to $1.75 making it $17.50 for 10 papers. I am quite sure (depending on that weeks coupons) you can make that back in coupons from those papers if not more. You can also get coupon inserts from family and friends. Swap coupons from them too. You can also buy specific coupons or whole inserts on ebay for a lot less. I am going to start buying them on ebay to cut cost.


The website I use gives you a heads up list on what inserts will come out that week and what coupons will be in them. Some weeks there won't be any insert so no need to buy a paper. Other weeks you can check. If there are a lot of good coupons that you will use, then buy more papers/coupons. If the coupons aren't so great, don't buy that many that week

Once you have your coupons, keep the inserts whole (do not clip coupons) I have a couple expandable files that i keep mine in. There are 3 different inserts Red Plum (RP) Smart Source (SS) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) On the edge of each insert is their date. Write that date with marker on the front of your insert for ease of finding it. Then file them.

You want to do this because all coupon sites/blogs/databases list coupon by date and insert name.

Example: $4 off Gillette fusion proglide razor PG 7-31

So when you know that razor is on sale somewhere, you just fund it in your file by located your PG &-31 insert and clipping the razor coupon out of it. This way you will only clip what you need when you need it.

There are also printable online coupons. SS and RP have their own websites. Coupons.com is another but there are others too.
If you love or use a product a lot, sign up on their website for special offers and newsletters. I made a yahoo account for coupon use only and I just use that email address. you will be flooded a bit with coupon of the month or other offers but i promise it's worth it.

You can usually only print out 2 coupons per IP address of your pc. But see, we had 3 now 4 pc's and they are all linked to the same printer so i can now get 8 of any internet coupon. I suggest using a friends pc or work or anywhere you can if you want a certain something.

There are also Catalina coupons, these are the coupons that print out from a little machine at check out when your receipt is printed out. I just got 2 free bags of dog food thanks to these. The coupon was actually for a free 3.5lb bag of beneful up to a $6.21 (i think) value. Most of the time they are $1.00 off etc. Most people just throw these away or don't even take them :(

Also make sure you sign up for your store(s) customer cards if they have them and sign your card up online to that stores website because you can get additional savings and coupons uploaded to your card.

(e-coupons) They will also email you and mail you special coupons and offers.

If you want to look at their circular and don't have a paper one, you can find them on their website.

Find a website or blog that maps out sales and coupons for your grocery store(s) do a google search with your store(s) name and blog and you should be able to find one that way. I use southernsavers.com I really like the way this site is set up so to get started you should check it out yourself to see what i mean. Almost every site has a getting started guide so check that out too. Southernsavers lists southern grocery stores but they also list CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and some dept stores, clothing stores and others that are the same deals across the country (pretty much) Such as Gap, Old navy, Walmart, etc. Once you find a

site(s) that you like, sign up with them, like them on FB etc so you can be alerted to special deals or new posts.

Here is an example of how these sites map it out for you. This is from southersavers.com

　

Domino Sugar, 4 lb, $2.50
-.40/1 Domino sugar product, 2 lb +
printable
-.50/1 Domino granulated sugar, 4-5 lb, RP 6/26
(makes it $1.50)

It lists the sale of the item and shows you where to find the matching coupon and how much that coupon is worth

Why you need so many coupons:

To stock up! When there is a good sale, you want to stock up at that price as much as you can. If an item is on sale for a buy 1 get 1 free (B1G1) most stores ring up each item separate and because of that you can use 2 coupons. This week Fiber One yogurt 4pks were on sale B1G1 @ $2.39 Making them $1.20 each I had a few .50/1 and a few $1/2 (50 cents off 1 and $1 off 2) Most stores double 50 cents coupons I'll touch on that later. So if you use the .50/1 it makes the yogurt 20 cents each. Use the $1/2 it makes each yogurt 70 cents

At that price, you may want to buy 4pks so you would need 4 coupons. If you wanted to buy 8pks, you'd need 8 coupons.

Note: Check store coupon policies (I'll talk about that in a bit) also check expiration dates. You don't want to buy more than you can use before it expires.

Buying in bulk from Costco or sam's is NOT, I repeat NOT a bargain if you look at the above example. Granted in some instances it will be cheaper, in most cases it is NOT. When you buy smaller sizes or single products you get to match a sale with a coupon. If you bought (4) 4pks of the yogurt from above example, the total (if using .50/1) would be 80 cents. A case of (4) 4pks in bulk would cost you so much more.

I get dish soap for free all the time because of this buying small idea.
The small bottle goes on sale for $1 all the time, at all stores I will wait for sale and 50 cent coupon and it will double to $1 making it FREE. Sometimes I have to use the 25 cent one and it doubles to 50 cents so i pay 50 cents and it goes on sale at drugstores for 98 or 89 cents all the time so 50 cent or 25 cent it will still only cost 48, 73, 39 or 64 cents. the large or bulk bottle at it's cheapest would end up around $1.50 more or less. (1 large bottle is approx the amount of 2 sm. bottles)

So here's what I do. I check southersavers and I make my list from there. Then I clip my coupons. I have a small expandable file I put my clipped coupons in and I bring that to the stores with me. I have the tabs labeled as CVS, Walgreens, Ingles, Bi-Lo etc, by store then I have a the tabs in the back labeled cold, dry, household, personal (health/beauty) So I file my clipped coupons by store and go shopping :)

The Stores

Grocery stores:

Most stores except drug stores double coupons. up to 50 cents. One of mine (Bi-LO doubles up to 60 cent so that's $1.20 off. Most grocery stores have a triple coupon month or special time so that's $1.50 off. K-Mart does a double up to $2 every (I don't know how long) so that's $4 off. Harris Teeter does triple coupons and super doubles (they double a coupon up to $1.98)

One of my grocery stores (Ingles) will only double (3) 50 cent coupons for every $10 spent and they will only double 2 coupons of the same item per transaction.

Bi-Lo does not have these restrictions.

Don't forget to read up on your stores coupon policies!!!


Drug stores:

I could go on for days about them lol I profit from shopping at these stores all the time. Off the shelf, CVS, walgreens, Rite Aid's prices are very expensive. I never used to shop at them at all. But after learning to coupon and taking advantage of their rewards programs, I shop at them daily lol Again, you need to know all of their store policies.

CVS

With CVS you need to sign up/have their Extra Care card. Because you need your card to get sale prices, the sales are limited. It will tell you limit 1 per household or limit 6 per household. (this is their main rule as far as policy goes)

CVS has what are called Extra Care Bucks (ECB) They print out at the bottom of your receipt. Alot of times it will be the same amount as what you pay so in essence, it's free. If you use a coupon to buy that one item and then they give you a ECB for the original value, you just profited. If you buy 1 item, CVS will let you use a coupon and as many ECB's till you are only left with tax.

Example: If an item is on sale for $5 with $5 EBC back, You can use a coupon $1off and $4 in ECB's (whether it's one ECB or a combo of 3 ECB with a combined value of $4) bringing your total down to tax only and then you'll get the $5 ECB back. Again...profit

I wear contacts. Multi purpose solution goes on sale all the time for $7.99 with $7.99 ECB I get it for free all the time

Revlon nail polish has been on sale this week $4.99 with $3 EBC limit 6. I have $1 off coupons So I bought one I paid $3.99 + tax I got $ECB back then I went back and bought another. I used $1off coupon and the $3 ECB making it 99 cents + tax and got $3 ECB.

CVS will also give you a rain check for sale price and EBC

CVS also has a coupon kiosk, you scan your card when you walk in and it will print you out special coupons. Even FREEBIES, this week I got a FREE box of 20 fabric bandaids and a FREE Carmelo bar

WALGREENS

Oh boy do I love walgreens. They don't have a customer card. Most of their sales will just say limit 1 (meaning one per transaction) Walgreens has Register rewards (RR) It is a catalina coupon, it prints out AFTER your receipt from it's own machine like at the grocery store. Pay attention to not leave leave before it prints out. My daughters school is near Walgreens so I go there as many times as I can afford to a week. Walgreens will only let you use 1 coupon per item whether it's a coupon or RR (unlike cvs) So you need to buy what is called a filler item (get to that in a bit) Walgreens will not allow you to use an RR that you got from a Gillette Fusion Razor on a Gillette Fusion razor (get to that in a bit too) Walgreens (at least mine) will give you a rain check for sale price but not for RR (this sucks and I am going to complain about it)

Ok Gillette Fusion razors the starter Kit go on sale all the time (at all 3 drugstores) for $9.99 with $4 RR. PG puts out a $4 off coupon pretty much every month. When PG has this coupon I will buy 10 Sunday papers lol 3 people in my house use this razor. I try to always have RR to start out with (this is called rolling over) So Razor $9.99 with $4 RR I will use $4 off coupon and now it's $5.99 Since I only have 1 item, I can only use 1 coupon and that's where a filler item comes in. Walgreens will always have some cheap 10 cent item so if I have 1 or 2 RR's, I need to buy 1 or 2 filler items if I want to use them on razor. So add 20 cents making it $6.19 and then I hope to have 2 RR's that equal as close to $6.19 as possible. If I had a $3RR and a $2 RR that would bring the total for razor and 2 filler items down to $1.19 + tax and you get $4 RR back. You could not use that $4 RR to roll over on another razor (unlike CVS) because it is the same item. Now at $1.19 per razor starter kit (1 razor 2 cartridges) I look at this as $1.19 for 2 cartridges if you did this 4 times, it would be approx $5 + for 8 cartridges and if you bought an 8 pack of cartridges, it would be around $16 so by doing it this way, I am saving a lot of money on razor cartridges...again bulk is not always cheaper.

Walgreens also runs the same sale on multi purpose solution as CVS so if you wear contacts, be on the look out for that sale. I have been getting contact solution for free for a few years now.

RITE AID

I am not as familiar with Rit Aid but here is what I do know. They have several programs to atke advantage of. They have a single check rebate (SCR) same as RR and ECB but they send you a check in the mail and you have to enter your receipt online. They have a card now and you can earn points and when you earn so many points, you will get 10% off the entire store for 1 year. It is really a good thing. I don't shop their because the turn around on rolling over isn't instant and I don't have the cash to pay out and wait a month for it's return. They also have online videos you can watch to earn rite aid store coupons. I suggest you check this out for your self. Southernsavers.com has all the info on rite aid.

I am pretty sure all 3 drugstores will combine a store coupon with a manufacturers coupon.

Making smaller transactions will have you spending less out of pocket.

Thanks to these drugstores I save a TON of money on household, personal care, cosmetics etc. Such as: razors, shampoo, make-up, toilet paper, paper towel, soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, floss, mouth wash etc.

I also get to try so many products that I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. Some of them i fell in love with like my EOS lip balm :)

I happen to use a lot of aluminum foil and (ziploc) bags to save me in cleaning. You'll read about that in future blogs. It can be costly to do that so Walgreens has foil on sale (with in store circular coupon) all the time for 69 or 79 cents. The storage bags sm, lg and folding are 99 cents. I use these as filler items so I am actually buying something I will use. I also use mac & cheese as a filler when they have their 69 cent a box sale. In my next post you will see this put to work.

Links

southernsavers.com

hotcouponworld.com is a coupon database you can use to find a coupon for something that is not on sale or not listed on southernsavers.

vocalpoint.com Sign up to receive great coupons, lots of free samples with coupons and other great stuff

iheartcvs.com

So I know, this is a lot of info. I am sure I left stuff out too. I suggest a few things, go to southersavers.com and check out her getting started info and check out her site. Find a site with your stores (grocery) and buy the damn Sunday paper already. If you are just getting started you are going to see sale that has a matching coupon from June, but you may not have it...too late for that one but you'll be current soon enough once you start saving them. At first it will all be overwhelming and you won't be saving so much. Start small and save your self a few bucks and as you get more into it, it will become easier and you will start seeing bigger savings.

I worked really hard to get this much anticipated post up. I wanted to make sure I had as many facts as I could and that they were all right. I may have left stuff out. I may not have communicated them in a way you understand. I am sorry for that. I am still an amateur of sorts myself so please follow up with southersavers.com.

This week has been busy for me as some of you know. So I am sorry I haven't posted. I have been working on this post and as you can see it's a lot of info. I started my weekly shopping on Monday and I have pics and details on all transactions. That will be my next post.