Walgreens fun!

I actually got out of bed today (since my surgery on Friday) and I managed to get my wonderful husband to take me shopping at a few walgreens. (He was the driver and the toter since I can do neither right now.)

I had some $4 RR from last weeks razor deal to start with and I used some on extra sunday papers. I got 17 total and our papers cost $2 each here. I apid $20 oop on all 17.

The softsoap bodywash was $3.99 and I had a $.75 coupon for the first one. (I also used a $4 RR for this along with other items in the order.) After I paid, I got a RR for a free softsoap bodywash. So I got another one and used the free coupon and then I got another free coupon. In all I got 10 bodywashes and I have a coupon still for another free one. I had to do all of these in seperate orders and I went to a few different stores, but there was plenty of softsoap at each store and I might go back tomorrow to get some more. With 6 kids at home- 3 of those being teen girls, you can never have too much body wash.

Along with the bodywash, I also got an edge, skintimate, or chapstick on each order. The edge and skintimate give a $3 RR and the edge was priced $2.49 and the skintimate was $2.79. I also had $.50 coupons for each. The chapstick was $1.99 each and gives a $2 RR. I rolled the $2 RR into the shaving gels and the $3 RR into the chapstick with some fillers.

I spent about $10 oop on everything except the papers and a lot of that was tax. One store was out of the chapsticks already, so I did 2 of the softsoap/edge combos, but paid oop instead of using the $2 RR since I didn't have them. But I have 2-$3 RR and a free softsoap RR to start with tomorrow so I can start all over again with the chapsticks first.

It was a fun evening, but now I'm exhausted. I probably pushed it a little too much, but the thrill of getting the deal is hard to resist. :)

Grocery deals this week

I had a light surgery done on Friday, so I figured I'd get out on Thursday and do as mush shopping for the week as I could since I didn't know when I'd be bale to get back out. So this is the shopping I did. All of these deals (except the razor from walgreens) are still good through Tuesday.

First I hit Safeway and did the $5 off when you buy 10 items deal twice. I got 5 bags of Fresh Express salad mix-these were $.75 each and I had coupons for $1 off each one, so I made $.25 each. The 2 halls cough drops were also $.75 and my coupons doubled to $1, so made $.25 on each if these also. Then I got 10 Hunts snack pack puddings for $.25 each after coupons and 3 Lysol cleaners for $1 after coupons. There is also a rebate online for $3 back when you buy 3 lysols, so these will be free after rebate. I also grabbed some marked down meat and paid with a gift card-no oop.

Then I hit Albertsons for some grapes, strawberries and ice cream bars. My total was $10.72 and I paid with a gift card so no oop.

Next was Fry's and I did the Quaker 4 for $4 deal twice. I got 2 cereals, 4 boxes chewy granola bars and 2 boxes true delights bars. The true delights were free after coupons and the others were $.50 each. I also got 2 cans of hunts pasta sauce and 1 bag fry's pasta and used a $1 off coupon to get all 3 for $2. That's not a great deal, but we are actually out of pasta sauce! I paid $7.97 oop here.

Last stop was Walgreens, but they were out of all the weekly deals I wanted, so I just grabbed one more razor that was $4.99 after my coupon and I got a $4 RR back for it.

Fresh baked bread

I made a loaf of bread this morning with my new bread maker! OK, to be more accurate, I made a square of bread. I didn't realize it was going to come out square, but still, it's bread and I made it!

So, I'm not exactly a "domestic diva", so this is actually a big deal for me. The only bread I've made in the past from scratch are the no yeast kind like biscuits. (Drop biscuits at that.) It's not that I can't cook or bake, I'd just rather let someone else do it most of the time. And when I do cook, it's usually something with very few steps and can be done quickly and easily. That is why I like mixes, casseroles, soups, and my beloved crockpot. I do not usually have the patience to do much more than throw it together and cook. So, I'll never be a famous chef. LOL

Since making bread by hand has so many extensive steps and you have to keep coming back to it, it's only been something I've dreamed of doing in the past. I got a bunch of yeast free before Christmas and had allusions of me learning to bake bread. I even downloaded some recipes to try. I never used any though.

So, this morning, I went into the kitchen and looked up the recipe for wheat bread in the book that came with the breadmaker and I spent about 5 minutes measuring and putting the ingredients in the maker in the correct order. Yes, it took me that long to measure and drop ingredients into the pan- I wanted to get it just right. Then I closed the lid and pushed a couple of buttons.

Only 3 1/2 hours later, I had bread! That's my kind of baking! Of course, we did go and peek into the little window about every 15 minutes, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off.

I haven't tasted it yet, but it smells so good! My bread, that I made. :)

Update: We ate it and this is the best tasting bread I've had in a long time! I will probably have to make more so my husband can try it when he gets home. (There won't be any left by then!)

More shopping

Ok, so this was yesterday's shopping, which means these sales are now over. But the Safeway deals are still running this week, so you can still get those items.





This first picture is from Fry's and Albertsons. I spent $13 at Frys and spent nothing oop at Albertsons since I used the gift card I had found. I also used the $3 milk catalina I got from Fry's at Albertsons since their milk was $1.50 a gallon. So, I got both gallons of milk for free. I also got the reeses at Albertsons since they were 3/$1 and I used the rest of my $1/2 coupons making them all free. Plus each one gave me a monopoly piece too.
Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I won anything. :(




This was an earlier stop at Walgreens, Albertsons and Safeway. At Safeway, I got 10 bags of Fresh express salad and I used some $1/1 blinkie coupons making them free, plus making $.25 on each one with the buy 10, get $5 off promo. (still running this week) I also got some marked down meat and bread. I used a gift card for my $5 total and spent nothing oop.

At albertsons I got milk and reeses and used my gift card for the $3 for the milk- $0 oop. At Walgreens, I got a gillette razor-used $4 coupon and got $4 RR back, some dog food, tomato sauce ($.39 this week with walgreens coupon) and a few marked down DVD's for $.25 each. I used a $6 RR from last week and spent $2 oop. I will be going back for more razors and tomato sauce this week.

Total spent oop on everything in this post: about $15.

What $20 will buy you (or actually me)

I went Yard sale shopping with my mom this past Saturday. I had won $20 at Bingo on Friday night and just like my kids do, I was itching to spend it. So we hit a community wide sale, though I'm sure we missed a few sales in there. :(

I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, but you can tell from my photos what caught my eye-over and over again. Yes, I'm a sucker for baskets. I see them and they call to me. I just can't help myself, they are so pretty and functional too! To be fair, I did leave a few. I only bought the cream of the crop and i had to bring myself to say no to some.

In all, I got 9 baskets-2 of which were cornucopias-one with some dried corn in it (decorative). I also got that really cute multi-colored screen to go in my little girls' room. I got two shirts and a pair of jean shorts for my son, a pink sweater/skirt outfit for my 5 y.o. girl (she'll might get to wear it maybe twice before it's too hot, but it should still fit her in the fall). And I got a cookie jar, a Sting CD for my husband, a wooden towel rack for the bathroom, a Queen size comforter set with shams and bed skirt for my bed,some gardening and parenting books, a dress for me, and a bread maker.

Now to be fair, the bread maker was $20 itself and my mom loaned me the money for that. Everything else was $20 total. I did get the dress for me and one parenting book for free. I must have had my "I'm a nice person" face on because the people at those sales just gave them to me without me even asking. The women at the sale with the dress just pulled it off her rack and asked if I liked it and then gave it to me. The other sale, I was looking at the book and the women said I could have it as it had helped them so much. It was a good day.

Continuing that streak, though I went to a jewelry party for my friend on Saturday night and the woman giving the party gave me a necklace for my DD. I was looking for something to order for my daughter and she just pulled out an expired piece and gave it to me. (These are expensive pieces of jewelry too!) My daughter loved that necklace when I gave it to her. My dad told me I should have hit the bank that day and see what they were giving out. Unfortunately, they were closed by then. ;)

Last week's shopping

Last week was kind of busy for me, but I managed to get some shopping done and I even took a few pictures. But, I didn't get to blog them. So here's just a taste of what I got last week.











The first pic is Walgreens deals from last week. I spent about $20 oop on this, but most of that was tax. Those Sambucols were $12.99 before coupons and I was taxed on that amount. So, even though I was making $1.01 on each one, I was being taxed about $1.08 on each. I bought these at two different stores before I realized they weren't really making me any money. Yes, even the experienced couponer has ditzy coupon moments.

The next picture is from Fry's mega sale. I got more but didn't take pictures. I paid $2.69 for everything in this photo including tax and I got back a catalina for $3 off milk.

The last picture is a commissary trip-using mostly KY again to pay for everything else. This trip cost me $.98 and a $2 tip for the bagger.
I also got two- ten pound bags of chicken at Bashas for $3.90 each.

In all, I spent about $30 last week total.

This week's shopping

Here are some of my shopping trips from this week.




I realized on Sunday that I had some ECB from CVS that had expired on Saturday! I went in and asked if maybe I could still use them and they let me since they just expired. I had $24 in ECB's to spend. Unfortunately, they were out of some of the items I wanted. So, I got some ECB items and some items we needed. The CVS laundry detergant was b1g1 free so I paid $5.79 for both- not great, but we are running low on detergant. The palmolive dish soaps are $1.49 each and you get $1 ECB back for each one-there's a limit of 2 so that's what I got. They oonly had the men's Vaseline lotion, so I got one for $3.69 and used a $1.25 coupon and got back $2 ECB.
The printer paper and markers were 50% off and we needed them both and we also needed salt, so I grabbed one of those and I got a certain dri deodorant for DD as she was running out. I paid $1.20 oop for this order.







I hit Walgreens several times this week. I got some of the free Garnier-some of my stores have limits on these and the rest of the stores are all out. I also found a few of each of the two glades that are free with the ESC and manufacturer coupons. I have not seen anymore of these in the stores all week since I found some on Monday.
The advil PM is $4.49 and some have $2 peelies on them, plus you get $2 RR back. I don't really need anymore advil, but I wanted to roll some of my RR. I got a few more of the gillette gamer razors. They are $.99 after $4 coupon and $4 RR. The Right guard deodorants were clearanced at $1.59 and give $2 RR-I had no coupons for these, but still made money! The Acne Free products were clearanced at $3.19 and $4.19 and I had $1 coupons and got a $8 RR for buying 3. The lysol wipes are on sale for $2 each and I used a $1/2 coupon making those $1.50 each. And my favorite deal of the week is the Irish Spring body wash. I bought the first one at $4.49 and used a $.50 coupon, then I got a RR for another free bottle. When I went to use that free coupon, it beeped and would not work, even though I got the bottle on the picture. The cashier had to put it through manually, which in turn produced another coupon for a free bottle! I have gotten 5 bottles so far and still have another coupon to use. It is somewhat of a hassle to do this deal as most cashiers do not know what to do when the coupon does not work and most have to call a manager. But i will stand and wait patiently for them to figure it out to get my free body wash. So far, with 6 bottles (counting the one coupon I will still be able to use) I am down to $.66 a bottle on these. Hopefully, I will be able to get a few more free coupons before the deal is over on Saturday. The candy and Ramen I used as fillers and rolled my RR on most of these orders. My oop for all these orders was about $12-mostly tax. And I have about $12 in RR left and the free body wash coupon.





This is my Fry's shopping trip. I got 10 items for the mage deal and got $5 off for those. The Kellogg's cereals were $.50 each after sale and $1 coupons. Land O Lakes butter was free after sale and $.55 coupon and the quaker snacks were free plus I made $.50 on each one after sale and $1 coupons. My kids love these and we have only have 3 bags left already! I also grabbed some bread @ $1.50, 3 salad mixes @ $1.50,3 bags carrots @ $1.00/bag and chicken breasts @ $1.67/lb. I used a $2 chicken wine tag on this and paid $.94 for the package. My total for this order was $8.02 oop including tax. We had chicken salad last night using some of these groceries an some of the veggies from the farmer's market and it was awesome!

Treasure Hunting!

Every so often, I will find a stray gift card somewhere in my house. I put all gift cards I find in a pile and when I think about it, I will sit down and call to check balances. Often they are zero because when I am using a gift, I don't usually throw it out once it hits zero. Most of the time I keep them with the thought that I will reload them one day. I rarely do that, yet I keep them anyway. So, most of the time if I see a gift card that I have not been using regularly, I assume it's at zero. Today I found some old gift cards in a purse I had switched from around Christmas time. I checked my records and I hadn't used gift cards at these stores in a while, so I thought they'd be zero. So I threw them in my pile and decided today would be a good day to call for balances. While several in my pile were zero's, I found three cards with balances! I now have two cards for Safeway and one for albertsons with $59.15 total in available balances! If I were more organized, I would have been able to spend these a lot sooner. But I also wouldn't have the thrill of finding treasure in my own house!

Free Redbox Wednesdays in March

Redbox sends free movie codes every Monday to your cell phone if you sign up on their website. Now, for the month of March, you can also get a free movie every Wednesday! If you haven't signed up, you can do so on their website: redbox.com for texts on your cell phone. You will get the codes ever Monday and Wednesday. If you don't want to sign up, you can always search the web. There are many sites that post the codes each week. (Like: insideredbox.com )
Here's today's code for a free movie-good until midnight today only:
75EA16

Walgreens Money making deals of the week!

Walgreens has some good deals this week to make money!
First, the Vaseline lotions are 25% off and you get a $2 RR for 1. Some bottles are $3.59 regularly and $2.69 after 25% off. We have a coupon for $1.25 off which makes the lotion $1.44 before tax and you get $2 RR back.
You can take that rr and use it on the colgate deal. Certain colgate toothpastes are $3.29 and they give you a $3.50 RR back. Use a $.75 coupon for the colgate and the $2 RR and you'll pay $.54 plus tax and get $3.50 RR back. (You'll need a small filler to use both coupons.)
You can roll that $3.50 RR on the blink deal. Blink is on sale for $7.99 and we just got a $2 coupon on sunday. Use the $2 coupon and the $3.50 RR (add a small filler) and you will spend $2.49 plus tax and get $8.00 RR back!
I rolled my first $8 RR back into some more colgate and Vaseline together and added in some food items we needed to get to $8. I paid less than $1 including tax and got back the $2 RR and $3.50 RR. I will probably save some of my $8 RR for next week's deals.

Farmers Market and Rain checks

I visited a farmer's market today and got all this for $10! Well, technically $9.50 since I split the tomatoes with my mom-she took four and I have four. I was very happy since we haven't had fresh vegetables in a while. The kids were excited about the plums and strawberries. We have also planted some of our own veggies and they are starting to sprout. Hopefully, some of the plants will make it this time. I have aspirations of having my own garden and orchard, but unfortunately, I usually kill whatever I try to grow. But we keep trying, so maybe we'll get it right this time!




Rainchecks are a couponer's best friend! Especially if you're a couponer like me who seems to always run out of time and don't seem to get as much of the sale items as you wanted to each week. I used up some more of my rainchecks at Fry's this week from the last mega sale. I had more rainchecks for cheese, but I couldn't find any more coupons. I got 8 packs of Kraft cheese-free after rain check and coupons, 40 cans of Hormel chili-free, 2 loafs of Sara Lee bread-free, and 2 On-Cor dinners-$3.49 each. I have a few more rainchecks to use from this sale that expire in the next few days, so I have to make sure to use them.