stretch marks

Food for Thought: Creamy Italian Chicken

2008-09-11T16:53:00.006-04:00

I thought I would share one of our favorite recipes today. It is sooo easy to make and tastes really delish. I usually make it in my crock pot on Sundays and when we get home, it's Italian time!

Ingredients
4 Chicken Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, thawed
1 package cream cheese
1 package dry Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup water
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

Mix dressing, softened cream cheese, soup and water and pour over chicken in crock pot. Cook for 4-6 hours on low. Enjoy!

Heart for the Home: Decluttering

2008-09-10T11:04:00.003-04:00

No, this is not really my office, thank goodness. But it's about what my two spare bedrooms look like right now. I am in the middle of organizing and decluttering (is that a word?) the closets in both rooms.

My dilemma started way back in May, when my husband's family was descending on our new home for a celebration weekend of his graduation from college (yay, honey!) Well, we had moved in March and although I had the best intentions, things were not completely put away or even unpacked by the beginning of May. So what did I do?

Shove it in the closet!

Good idea at the time, but I'm now reaping the consequences of that decision.

Since I work full-time outside the home, I don't always have the time I want to organize and "nest." But the Lord knows my heart. :P So over the past few weeks in my spare time in the evenings I have been pulling things out of the closets and sorting through them. Last night I finally made some headway and there are now 3 garbage bags of clothes waiting to be taken to Goodwill. I stopped kidding myself that I would ever wear them even if I lost weight to get back to my college body. *sigh*

It's a good feeling, though, finally checking some things off my infinite "to-do" list.

What about you? How do you organize and find time to declutter?

Design Diaries: Design Sponge

2008-09-09T17:02:00.004-04:00

This blog is one of my favorite places to visit on the web. Every day there are multiple posts on really cool design stuff... my favorite ones are the DIY before and after photos (go figure!).

Recently, the team of bloggers has done a series on Australian design. Since I grew up partly in Brisbane, Queensland, this series was especially interesting to me. There are tons of pages to explore and enough inspiration to keep me excited about designing. Check it out.

Blog Schedule

2008-09-09T14:15:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking that I want to give my blog a little more structure and my readers a little more reason to come back. While my main focus will be coupons and frugal living, I also want some "wiggle room" to be able to share cool design ideas or crafts that I see or house projects that we are doing. With that in mind, here's my proposed plan for blogging. We'll see if I can stick to it!

Sunday Restful Thoughts (scripture or other thoughts to inspire)

Monday Saavy Shopper (Coupon & Sale Scenarios for the week)

Tuesday Design Diaries (any designs I have seen that inspire me)

Wednesday Heart for the Home (renovation projects, nesting, etc.)

Thursday Food for Thought (menus on a budget, recipes, etc.)

Friday Cheap, Cheap, Cheap (ways to live frugally, inspiring ideas, etc)

Saturday Creative Solutions (crafty things, innovative ideas I see)

Febreeze Deals at Rite Aid

2008-09-09T13:55:00.005-04:00

Here's a couple deals I'm going to try at Rite Aid this week. I've been trying to "freshen up" our house lately, and I love plud-ins and candles, so these are needed. If they weren't I probably wouldn't go for these deals since they require OOP expense.

Deal 1
Buy 1 800ml Febreeze Fabric spray on sale $4.99
Buy 1 500ml Febreeze Fabric spray $3.99
- minus BOGO coupon for 500ml bottle $3.99
- minus $2 SCR
Total for both $2.99

Deal 2
Buy 1 Febreeze candle on sale $6.99
Buy 1 Febreeze Noticeables Starter on sale $6.99
Buy 1 Febreeze Air Effects on sale $2.94
- minus $1 store coupon for buying both candle and noticeables
- minus $5 MCF for Noticeables
- minus $2.94 BOGO coupon for Air Effects, when you buy candle
- minus $1 SCR for Air Effects
Total $6.89 for all three

I will probably do this deal twice, since I have double coupons for all of them. Might as well while they're on sale, right? Only one I won't get the second time is the $1 SCR, since you can only get 1 rebate.

Family Trees

2008-09-04T13:09:00.007-04:00

Last week I was trying to come up some crafty ideas for my mom's birthday present (hope she's not reading this!) and I ended up designing this really cute family tree made up of all of our names and info...

I was able to make it really tree-like using Illustrator and then printed it on some cool paper and found a frame I wasn't using a home and voila! What I think is a really pretty and meaningful present! (Not to mention frugal)

I'm not just posting this to show off. (Although I really like the idea! :P) I got to wondering if people would pay for something like this. So would you?

I'm thinking I would make the design and printing pretty inexpensive (like $5-10, depending on the size and complexity) and the cost of the frame would be up to the buyer.

Please let me know your thoughts!

I recently saw this idea (sort of...it kind of evolved from there) on someone else's blog, but I can't remember who now, so if you are that person, please let me know and I'll credit you!

Target Deal 9/2

2008-09-03T08:55:00.004-04:00

I just have to write a short post on my trip to Target last night. Hopefully they are running this deal in all areas, because it's a great one and I would love it if all of you could get in on it.

So... Poptarts, Rice Krispie Treats and Keebler Cookies. On sale. 4/$9. But wait, there's more.

Target will give you a $5 Gift Card for every 4 boxes you buy. Any variety. My Target let me use those gift cards toward my purchase. Some Targets may not, but it's worth a try. Then you would be paying OOP $4 for 4 boxes!

There are also coupons out there for Kellogg's brand stuff. I used 4 $1/2 coupons for Keebler and Krispies and 4 $0.50/1 Poptart coupons found here, saving me $6 off my total.

I got 12 boxes total, used $15 in gift cards from buying those boxes, and used $6 in coupons, making my OOP $6. I also have another Kellogg's rebate for 10 UPCs and I will get $10 back from that. So I made $4 from this deal.

Anyone else try something similar or find some other deals at Target?

Mosaic of Me

2008-09-02T16:06:00.005-04:00

Something fun I found at HomeSpun Heart

Here’s how it works:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. Choose 3 columns with 4 rows.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to? (or, What year did you graduate high school?)
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (kid version: favorite animal?)

Frugal Renovation

2008-09-02T10:28:00.017-04:00

The master bath when we moved in.

A couple weeks ago, I discovered a leak in our master bathroom's shower. After many attempts to seal off the existing shower, the leak persisted and we decided to take apart the shower to find out what was going on. It was a corner stall, with glass doors all around, which I hated, but we're not ones for totally gutting a house when we move in, so we left it up to this point.

Aaron started taking apart the doors and discovered that whoever installed the shower in the first place was #1 a moron and #2 a corner-cutter. There was no saving the shower (which I can't deny I wasn't happy about!) so we decided that while we were at it, we would renovate the entire bathroom. It's not as big a job as it sounds, since the bathroom is not big, but given the 70's style wallpaper all over it, we knew it would take some elbow grease.

I wanted to do things cheaply if possible, too.

After shower walls and wallpaper are gone

New paint, new toilet, new shower rod and curtain

Existing vanity & re-painted medicine cabinet

Another view of that side of the bathroom

Cost Breakdown:

Paint- 1 gallon Olympic Chocolate Kiss $7.99
We always buy the cheaper brand of paint. We think it works just as well as the more expensive brands.
Rollers, Scrapers, Other painting supplies $10
Toilet $70
This will be a real money-saver. The old toilet was just that. Old. And would use 3 gallons of water with each flush. The new one? Fills at 1.5 gallons, but doesn't use even that much.
Shower Rod $70
We had to special order this online. Apparently home improvement stores don't carry Neo Angle rods. But I was able to find one online and it's sturdy enough that it'll last a long time.
Shower curtain and hooks $12 at Walmart, of course
Medicine Cabinet $0
I took the existing medicine cabinet that looked really shabby and was missing a shelf and had Aaron add a shelf in with some scrap wood he had in the shed (thanks, Honey!) and then painted it with leftover paint from the old owners. It matches the trim perfectly and now it's even more useful with more shelf space!

Total cost of renovation: $169.99

September Walgreens Rebates

2008-08-29T00:18:00.002-04:00

The new Walgreens rebates catalog is out now! Hurry into your store to see the deals... I'm seeing a lot of free useful stuff, plus some that can be paired with coupons. (Nivea body wash, Crest toothpaste)

Menu Planning

2008-08-28T10:51:00.005-04:00

I've recently been really trying to save some money at the grocery store. Our weekly budget for groceries is about $60, but I know I can get that number down further. Lately, I've been coming out at about $45, but this takes so much planning!

I'm a list-maker. Always have been, always will be. I love making lists when we're about to take a trip... what to pack, what to do at the house right before we leave, what we'll do on the trip, etc. And I love making to-do lists and seeing things checked off.

But when it comes to groceries, somehow I just HATE lists. I hate sitting down to think about meals, planning how I can make ingredients for one meal stretch into another, thinking about what we have and don't have. For some reason I just can't stand it.

So, anyone have some ideas on this subject? What has worked for you when you're on a tight grocery budget? Do you have a strategic way of shopping? I'd love to have some feedback!

Where to find coupons online

2008-08-25T23:54:00.005-04:00

Click here for a great list of place to find coupon online. Erin did a great job listing these out. I've been wanting to make a list like this for all of you, but she saved me some time!

CVS 8/25

2008-08-25T23:37:00.004-04:00

Kotex Liners, $1.49
- minus $1 coupon

2 Nutter Butter cookies, BOGO @ 2/$4.49
- minus $0.75/2 coupon

2 Zip Fizz, $5.99 each

Carefree Liners 120 count, 2/$9
- minus $1/2 coupon

- minus $2/$10 CVS coupon
- minus $6 ECB

Total w/tax: $17.08

ECBs:
+ $11.98 for Zip Fizz
+ $5 for Carefree deal
+ 1.49 for Kotex

Total profit: $1.39!

I normally wouldn't want to pay that much OOP, but since I would get it all back, I was ok with it. Plus, I had some gift cards, so it didn't hurt the bank account! The little cashier boy was really impressed... he said he'd never seen that many ECB print out in one transaction.

Anyone else find some good deals?

Rite Aid 8/25

2008-08-25T23:26:00.004-04:00

Duck Packing Tape, $1.50 (rebate on this only good this week)

Pledge Duster Starter Kit & Refills, 2/$4
- minus $2/2 Pledge coupon

Pert Plus, $2.99 (rebate on this only good this week)
- minus $2 coupon

Total w/tax: $5.00

+ $2 SCR on Pledge
+ $1.50 SCR Duck Tape
+ $2 SCR on Pert

Total profit: $0.50!

How did you do this week?

Returns

2008-08-25T23:18:00.006-04:00

I tried a deal at Walgreens tonight that didn't work. I hate when that happens! I guess different stores have different policies and you never know until you try. Apparently the Walgreens near me doesn't honor BOGO coupons when there's already a BOGO sale! Shoot.

So there I am standing at the register with a line of people behind. I could have asked for a manager, but at that point I was frustrated because the cashier was rude on top of telling me I couldn't use a coupon I KNOW was legitimate to use. So I ended up paying more than I wanted to.

Bottom line here... don't be afraid to take things back and get your money back if something doesn't work the way you thought. Or just don't buy the item if it doesn't ring up right. If there hadn't been a line behind me tonight, I would have done that, but now I will just go another time and get my money back.

No sense in paying more than I want to!

Still alive.

2008-08-24T21:28:00.003-04:00

I'm still here, but kind of had a busier week last week, so not as many chances to post.

I spent some time this afternoon checking for this week's deals, but I got frustrated with not having enough space for all the coupons in my book. So it's time to redo my coupon organization. I'm thinking of the 3-ring binder with baseball card slot pages. I figure I can have 18 coupons per page that way. I like to be able to see at a glance what coupons I have, and not have to thumb through a stack.

Any one have good ideas?

8/19 Pharmacy Run

2008-08-19T22:12:00.003-04:00

Tonight's run went really well. All this for about $20 OOP. Not free this time, but a lot of great deals. I will do the breakdown tomorrow. Right now I am going to relax and recover from a great night of bargain shopping!

Amazon Visa Card

2008-08-19T14:22:00.004-04:00

I ran across this cool deal from Amazon a few weeks ago. All you need to do is log on to Amazon.com and apply for their Amazon Visa card. (If you have trouble finding the link, just add a book to your shopping cart and there should be an ad at the top of the page for the credit card.) They will give you a decision within a couple seconds and, here's the good part, give you a $30 credit on your first statement. So, essentially all you need to do is find $30 worth of books (or other stuff) and buy it with your new card and you will get $30 off. Here's how I worked my first deal:

I bought:

Practical Theology for Women (by my sis-in-law!), $10.57
Best-ever Games for Youth Ministry, $16.99
On the Spot: No Prep Games for Youth Ministry, $5.99

Total for my order: $33.55
Shipping: free, because the books qualified for Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25

I chose at checkout to pay with my new Visa card... they had it on file already for me, so nothing out of pocket!

I got the CC statement a couple weeks later and sure enough, there was a $30 credit, so I ending up paying $3.55 for 3 brand new books!

I went on to Amazon yesterday and entered my husband's info and got another card for him! And another $30 credit, so he's looking around on the site to see what he wants to get. They even have yard work equipment, so he's looking at a leaf blower that costs $55, but we would end up paying only $25 for!

8/19 Walgreens Senarios

2008-08-19T11:51:00.009-04:00

Bubble Mailers: $0.39

Jello packets: $0.39

BIC Mark-Its: $6.99
coupons: $1/1 & $3/1 found here
Final price: $2.99

Duracell batteries: $2.99 (with store coupon)
coupons: $0.75/1
Final price: $2.24

Dixie Paper Plates: on sale for 2/$3.79 (with store coupon)
coupons: 2 x $0.35/1
Final price: $1.59 each

Dove Hair Care: BOGO @ $4.99
coupons: 2 x $2/1
Final price: $0.99 for 2

Skippy Peanut Butter: 3/$5 + $1.50 RR at purchase
coupons: 2 x $0.60/1
Final price: $2.30 for 3 jars

Spam: $1.99
coupons: $0.50/1
Final price: $1.49

Usually I would try to not spend anything OOP, but a lot of these things we need right now and I've been waiting for sales to buy them. Anyone else find other good deals?

Awesome Facebook App

2008-08-15T15:28:00.004-04:00

I just read this on Keren's blog. If you have a facebook account, add this application and you can print out some really good coupons. These are high-value coupons, so a lot of stuff you can get for free! (log in to your fb account in a different window before hitting the link)
Check it Out App

CVS 8/14

2008-08-15T09:26:00.004-04:00

Here's a cool deal at CVS or Rite Aid. In the Rite Aid circular this week (a last week, and probably for the rest of the month) there is a coupon for a free $30 gift card if you transfer a prescription to there. I looked through our prescriptions to see if I could get the deal, but unfortunately, all my medicines are through Rite Aid already!

Then I read somewhere that CVS will honor other pharmacy coupons! So I tried it last night. The woman at the CVS pharmacy said, yes, they do honor Rite Aid's coupons. So I transferred a prescription from Rite Aid to CVS with a Rite Aid coupon and I will get a $30 CVS gift card when I pick it up today. How sweet is that?

I have a few more prescriptions that I will transfer and get more gift cards. This is a great way to save some OOP expense. Of course, if you have to pay a co-pay for each medicine, take that into consideration. For us, we have a HSA account with money saved up for medicine and doctor visits, so I don't feel like I'm spending anything out of budget. Plus these are medicines we use all the time, so it works out in the long run.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I've heard differing answers on whether CVS honors competitor's coupons in the store part. Last night I asked the girl at the counter (not the pharmacy) and she said no. But I might try other locations and see if their answers are different. I think it depends on the manager and the competition in the area. The pharmacies are really the money-makers, so they are willing to bend over backwards to get your prescriptions.

CVS Basics

2008-08-14T14:31:00.007-04:00

While CVS doesn't have rebates like Walgreens and Rite Aid, they have their own program called Extra Care, which is basically like rebates that you get in-store at the time of purchase. So no waiting by the mailbox to receive your checks/gift cards! Signing up for the program is free and you just pick up an application at your store (or online, but it takes longer) and you'll get a Extra Care card to use with all your purchases. Here's how to make it work for you:

Every month CVS will have a Extra Care catalog at the front of the store. Pick one up and see what items will be free after ECB (Extra Care Bucks). For instance, you might be able to pick up a toothbrush for $3.50 and after you purchase it, $3.50 in ECB will print with your receipt. You can use your ECB on your next purchase. It's fast payback and easy to start slow with. In fact, start slow! Don't expect in your first run to CVS to give $50 worth of stuff for $1. You need to build up your stash of ECB first.
- Sometimes the deal may be "buy 2 items, get $5 ECB." Well, you might have two coupons for those items, so use them both!
- Check the weekly circular too, for extra EC deals that are not running all month. In fact, this is where you can find a lot of the deals to pair with coupons.
Start slow, then gradually get to where you have no OOP (out-of-pocket expenses). To do this, buy only things that will get you ECB back. And then use those ECB to buy more things with ECB coupons.
Sometimes you can find something that won't be free after ECB, but you might have a coupon to bring the price down and after that it will be either free or even better, make you money! Pair up MFC with ECB deals. The great thing about CVS (and maybe Walgreens and Rite Aid do this too, it's just not as easy sometimes with them) is you can actually go over the purchase price with coupons if you plan it right, and end up getting more stuff for free. Like in my last big run to CVS I bought 4 Cover Girl foundations at BOGO (store sale), plus had BOGO coupons (which made them all free), plus had $1 off coupons. So in the end, I had made $2 that ended up being a credit on the register. I had to run and find some more stuff to buy for $2! Be smart with your coupons and make them work for you.
Every quarter, you will get a reward for your spending... I think it's 2%. The ECB for that will print on your receipt the first time you purchase something the next quarter. Also, they will occasionally give you coupons for something free, or $$ off a certain item. Even if I don't usually buy those things, I will keep those coupons just in case I could eventually get it for free pairing the store coupon with a MFC.

Was this helpful? Please comment.

Rite Aid basics

2008-08-14T14:12:00.005-04:00

Rite Aid (formerly Eckerd) is a lot like Walgreens in the way they do rebates, but they seem to have a lot more to choose from and the submitting process is a lot easier. They come out with a new rebate catalog every month, so be sure to stop by your local store and pick one up as close to the beginning of the month as possible. Since a lot of their rebates are time-sensitive, you might miss out on some that are offered only at the beginning of the month.

Rite Aid will also accept Manufacturer's coupons, so I usually keep my eyes open for coupons that I can put toward something also on rebate. For instance, this month I will buy a bottle of Pert that has a rebate of $2, but I also have a coupon for Pert for $3. Using those together, I will actually make $1 off the deal. Purchase price is $3.49 - $3 coupon + $2 rebate= +1.51!

You can submit your receipts online and it's really easy and quick. As soon as they can confirm from the store's records that you actually bought what you said you bought, they will credit your "rebate account," then at the end of the month, or whenever you think you're finished with rebates for that month, you can order your check. It's that easy.

A couple things to remember:

Rite Aid's rebates are mostly time-sensitive. Like, every week they will have different things on rebate and after that week is over, no more rebate on that item. In the catalog that is very clear, so just be aware of it. Your receipt has to have a date on it within that time period for it to count.
For other rebates that are not time-sensitive, I usually wait all month until I'm sure there won't be a coupon somewhere to help me make money on the deal. Of course, you don't want to completely miss out on a great deal either, so you have to determine if your Rite Aid is so popular that the rebate items won't last long.
They don't always say outright that the item will be FREE with rebate, so a lot of times I will hunt down the items in the store and see what the purchase price is and if I can get it for free. You can find deals this way that other people may overlook.
Remember to request your check in time. There's an overlap in the rebate periods, but just be aware of the date you need to request your check by (this will be on the website). Otherwise you will lose your money.

Was this helpful? Please comment.

Things we've done to save

2008-08-13T13:18:00.004-04:00

When it comes to financial planning, I never really gave it much thought until I married a guy who was highly into saving, budgeting and paying down debts. I knew these things were important, but I guess by growing up in a home with not a lot of extra cash, I never thought twice about making a budget or saving once I got out on my own and started making a living.

Aaron and I have recently determined to cut back on a lot of things to try to save and pay down some debts we have hanging over us. Compared to what I see and read about in the news, our debt is not much. But we still don't like anything tying us down, especially when we would like to be in full-time ministry in the future. For the time being I am working full-time, but we would want me to be at home if we were to have children, so it's time to buckle down and get serious about being wise with our money.

Here are some things we decided:

We stepped back and took a look at where our money was currently going. Since we just bought a house in March, a lot of little things here and there had added up to a lot going into paint, new furniture (well, new to us, anyway!) and other small repairs. We decided to take a break from upgrading the house. That means we will work with what we've already purchased, like the paint we bought for our bedroom and hadn't painted yet. Like refinishing some pieces we bought at Goodwill. Like organizing the stuff we moved in and never took time to really find place for. It's amazing how if you occupy your mind with other things, you won't think of new things to conquer. Not saying we don't have the
occasional run to Lowes, but we've calmed down quite a bit.
We finally made a budget that makes sense. A couple months after we got married, I started keeping track of the finances and had several budgets to do so. While they made a lot of sense to me, Aaron could never figure out my logic (I'm sure it was there!) and it frustrated him to not know how to make heads or tails of the so-called budget. So we sat down and realistically figured out our monthly income and expenses.... the static expenses (tithe, mortgage, utilities, school loan payments, etc.) and the more flexible expenses (food, transportation, recreation, gifts, etc.) We figured out how much we could reasonably budget for each and then whatever was left, we will put toward debt. There's always going to be some adjustments, though. We have had to juggle around some of the allotments, but so far it's working and we have been able to put a good chunk toward debt every month.
We cut back on frivolous spending. So often on the weekends, because there was nothing else to do, we'd end up going to Target or somewhere and just pick up a "few things." Well those few things would really add up. So we determined to stop spending money on things we didn't really need. Does that mean it's easy and we never wish we could just buy something instead of thinking where in the budget it fits? NO. It's not easy, but we have to remember our real goal and that is to pay as much as we can every month towards debt.
We cut back on eating out. And on the grocery budget. At first I thought I would have a hard time buying everything we need with $60/week. But it's amazing that I have seemed to be able to stick with it. Most of our grocery bills are now under $50 (coupons, hello?!?) and we don't miss eating out when there is actually a plan for cooking in. Homemade hamburgers, we have found, are even better than McDonald's. There, I said it.

What about you? What have you found works for you when it comes to budgeting and saving money? Please share....

Walgreens Basics

2008-08-12T10:00:00.006-04:00

Walgreens has monthly rebates which usually are for items that you will use. It's worth your time to check out the rebate book. Their rebate cycle is not always beginning of the month to the end, so keep an eye out for that. Usually, they start a rebate cycle around the 26-27th of the month and it goes through the next month around the same day. For instance, July 26-August 26.

The Walgreens rebate book has 3 sections: In-Store Coupons, Free Rebates, and $1-$2 Rebates. I usually don't mess with the lesser rebates, unless I have coupons that can help me get the item for free. You need to remember that you can only send in one rebate request per month, so make sure you have all the rebates you want before you send in for them. Just check out the middle section of the book to see the "rules." They will also have more in-store coupons in their weekly circulars. These can be combined with MFC (Manufacturer's Coupons) as well.

Walgreens will accept their own In-Store coupons AND Manufacturer's Coupons, so this is where you can really save some money if you can combine coupons. They won't let you go over the purchase price, though, so you won't be able to have a "credit." (CVS will do this, btw)

Look out especially for rebates where you will get the full price back (in other words, the item will be free after rebate) and then adding a coupon on top of that. i.e. Actually paying less than what you will get back in rebate. For instance, say Walgreens is giving a rebate on Pert Shampoo, up to $3.49. And you have a $2/1 coupon for Pert. Well, use the coupon, pay only $1.49 up front and when you send in for the rebate, you will actually make $2 because they will send you $3.49! This is totally legal, because it's not cheating the store out of anything. The manufacturer is the one paying the rebate AND the coupon.

Another cool thing about Walgreens is that you can choose to have your rebate put onto a gift card and they will add 10% for doing that. So that definitely makes up for the tax you spent. AND, it's a good way to keep track of your Walgreens "budget." Last month, I purchase enough to get about $35 back in rebates. My plan is to stick with just using the gift card once the rebate goes through, and I will not have to pay anything out-of-pocket. As long as you can continue to get more rebates, every month your card will get replenished. So I might spend $20 from the gift card, but hopefully I spent it on items with a rebate and I will get that money back on the card the next month after I send in for it.

Register Rewards are another great thing at Walgreens. These are coupons you can receive after paying at the register if you bought certain things. Like, maybe they're running a promotion on General Mills cereal. If you buy $15 of cereal, you will receive $5 register rewards. Careful here, because it really means spending $15, not just $15 worth of cereal. Since the coupons don't print until after you pay, any other MFC you used will count against your total, which determines the Register Rewards. You can still use coupons in conjunction with the RR deal, but you might have to purchase more to get up to $15 (or whatever the price is). RR deals can be for a variety of things, not always just food. Cleaning supplies, makeup, medicine. So keep your eyes open for those. You can find these usually in the weekly circular or just by walking around the store.

P&G Coupons

2008-08-12T09:19:00.004-04:00

Tabitha just told me about this great coupon offer. Go here to fill out a short survey and P&G will send you $74 worth of coupons. Why couldn't they just round it up to $75? :P

Walgreens this week

2008-08-12T08:55:00.005-04:00

I don't have a photo, but I had a pretty good run at Walgreens last night. I needed to go to the grocery store as well, so I tried to hit all the pharmacies last night to save time and gas. Bloom ended up giving me some good deals too, I came out with $80 worth of groceries for about $55. I also went to CVS, but their deals this week are not the most, shall we saw, stellar, this week. And Rite Aid too. So anyway, here's the breakdown of my trip last night:

At Walgreens:
Bought 3 boxes of Kleenex @ $0.89 each (sale price with in-store coupon)
Bought 2 Glade Plug-ins @ $4.79 each ($9.54)
Bought 4 package of BIC Comfort Grip pens for $2 (on sale for 2/$1)
Bought 5 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup (I use this like you wouldn't believe!) @ 5/$4 (sale price with in-store coupon)

Total w/o tax: $18.25

- minus (2) $1/2 BIC coupons
- minus (2) $4/1 Glade coupons
- minus (1) $0.50/3 Kleenex coupon
- minus $5 Register Rewards coupon from the Kellogg's purchase the last time

Total out-of-pocket: $3.61

Something to Consider

2008-08-11T09:11:00.005-04:00

Just a thought... take it or leave it. I don't make it a habit to buy something that would be cheap with a coupon but not free if I don't really, really need it. I think that's where a lot of people get hung up with coupons, because they start buying things they don't need just because it's going to be cheaper with a coupon. That's not going to help the budget. A dollar here and a dollar there really add up. Of course, if you're running low on kleenex and you have a great coupon for a box, then use it!

Out for the day

2008-08-09T09:39:00.003-04:00

Aaron and I are going out to my brother's for most of the day today. I started a post on the pharmacies in my area, so hopefully I can finish that and post it tonight or tomorrow. Just in case anyone is reading this and is waiting on the edge of his/her seat for my next post! :P

Coupon Basics

2008-08-08T10:05:00.008-04:00

If you're new to coupons, you may feel overwhelmed at where to begin. I'll admit, it can be a daunting task to make yourself organize and plan. I'm going to share some things that have helped me, and hopefully these tips will be helpful to you as well.

Determine how you would like to organize your coupons. For me, I started out with an accordion-fold organizer, but I found that it wasn't organized enough. I had trouble finding specific coupons and I usually had to go through a whole stack of "cleaning supplies" coupons until I found one to use. So for me I found it was easier to buy a photo album with room for about 200 photos (I can usually put 2 coupons per photo sleeve) and add my own tabs to divide the book into sections. For me, those sections are:

Paper Products (Paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex)
Cleaning Supplies
Frozen Foods
Dry Goods (Cereal, boxed foods, canned foods, etc)
Toiletries
Restaurants
Store Coupons (CVS and Walgreens Rewards coupons)
Misc (Pet supplies, anything else that doesn't fit somewhere)

Once you have your book, start collecting coupons however you can. We buy the Sunday paper since that is where you will find the most coupon inserts, and I also ask my grandmother to save the coupons from her Sunday paper for me. That way I have might have 2 copies of each coupon, which comes in handy with BOGO sales and 2/$$ sales. (More on that later). You might check with elderly neighbors who receive the paper and see if they would save the coupons for you. Or check at your church to see if people would clip coupons for you. Most people are excited to help you save money, and it really takes very little time from them.

If you're in the Greenville area, The Greenville News has a special where you can start getting the Sunday paper for about $1/week. You can find info about that in the Sunday paper. It would be worth the cost as long as you are determined to make saving money a priority. If you buy the paper every week and never use any coupons, you're not saving any money. But $1/week for the possibility of saving a bunch is well worth the cost. For those of you not in Greenville, check with your local paper and find out when they put the most coupon inserts in their paper and if they have a deal for buying the paper every week.

I cut out every coupon available, but you may choose to just cut coupons for the things you know you will need/buy. The reason I cut everything is I never know what sales may come up later in the month and I might be able to get something for free if only I had saved that coupon....
After you've clipped coupons and organized them, take a look through the weekly circulars of stores near you. (You can find most of these online as well) For me, those include Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, Ingles, BiLo, Bloom and sometimes Dollar General. All of these store accept Manufacturer's coupons and if I find something that's a real deal, I'll make sure to put that store as a stop on my next shopping trip. I try to make one trip per week, unless I happen to be driving by a place on my way home from work, etc. I try not to go out of my way too much because of gas prices.

This is where it takes some mental exercise. As you're looking through the circulars, circle deals you think you might have coupons for, or just look through your coupons and see how you can make a store's sale even better for you. I usually start making a list at this point and write down how I would make the deal work. Esp look for:

BOGO (Buy One, Get One) Sales. You can pair these up with a coupon for those items, or even better, use a BOGO coupon on top of the sale! You can use 2 coupons on top of everything since you are buying 2 products.
2/$$ sales. Same deal as above. Sometimes you may have a coupon to cover whatever the sale price is. Even better if you have 2!
Anything else that is just on sale and you could cut down the price even more with a coupon.
Rebates for that week or month. (more on these in a coming post). I have made a lot of great deals this way. By pairing a coupon with a rebate, you can end up MAKING money off of the store's rebate. It's not cheating the store out of anything, since you have to pay the full price minus coupon upfront, but you will get the full price back in your rebate check (which comes from the Manufacturer). More on this later.

Another good way to find deals is browsing blogs where people will post deals of the week, including how to use your coupons for those deals. I will try to do that here and you are always welcome to post your own deals as a comment on my post.

I think that's enough for this post. I will update or continue in the next post if needed, but this should be enough to get you started thinking in the right direction. Was this helpful? Please comment.

Why bother?

2008-08-07T10:45:00.008-04:00

You may ask, when it comes to coupons, why bother with searching for sales, comparing prices and multiple shopping trips? At times I think the same thing. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it when I'm spending a lot of time studying the sales flyers and cutting out coupons and then having to plan out my shopping to hit all the stores in one trip to not waste gasoline? Good question.

But I have found that couponing is definitely worth the time and can even become a fun hobby if you will let it. I've enjoyed hunting down sales and figuring out how best to use the money God's given us to buy the most I can with it. Because ultimately, that's what it comes down to. God has given us the means to buy food and necessities, so why not take a few extra minutes from my day to plan better how to be a better steward of our finances?

In my next few blogs, I will be going through the basics of what I've learned so far when it comes to coupons and the stores I frequent to hit sales. Some of you have asked for more info, so I will attempt to be helpful in getting you started on your adventures of couponing.

I just wanted to be upfront with my purpose for all of this, in the hope that you will take it to heart and determine to use what the Lord has entrusted to you for His glory. Shopping and getting great deals can be tons of fun, but let's try not to lose sight of the real purpose.

Walgreens, Rite Aid & CVS Run

2008-08-06T09:13:00.009-04:00

Last night my friend Beth and I got together for our weekly pharmacy run. I have recently recruited her into my coupon mania, and she is coming along quite nicely. :P Actually, she doesn't need me anymore since she is able to spot some fantastic deals too, but it's nice to have a buddy to coupon with. Here's what I ended up with, actually coming out with a profit of $2.36 (breakdown below photo)

Walgreens

Walgreens was running a sale on Kellogg's items.... either 4/$10 or 5/$10, plus $5 in register rewards for buying the deals.
I bought...
2 boxes Raisin Bran $5
2 boxes Special K $5
5 boxes Pop Tarts $10
4 boxes Nutrigrain bars $10

Grand Total = $30
- minus (6) $1/2 Kellogg's coupons from 8/3 inserts ($6)

Total after coupons: $24

+ plus Register Rewards: $10 (I found out that the cantina thingy takes your total AFTER coupons, so that's why I only got $10, not $15... no biggy)

+ plus Mail-in Rebate from Sunday's newspaper $10

Final cost: $4

Rite Aid

This was a run to get the rebate items for this week. Every month Rite Aid puts out a rebate catalog and you can end up getting a bunch of stuff for free after rebates. It takes a little cash upfront to get started, but I have a budget now just for Rite Aid and I try not to go over. That way I don't have any out-of-pocket expenses.

This week I bought...
Olay Regenerist Cleanser $7.49
Gillette Fusion Razor w/bonus shave gel $9.00
Revlon Nail Polish $2.99
Charles Worthington Shampoo $5.99

- minus $4 Gillette Fusion coupon from 8/3 inserts
- minus $1 Olay coupon from 8/3 inserts

Total, plus tax: $22

- minus SCRs (single check rebates from Rite Aid)

$5.99 Charles Worthington Shampoo
$7.49 Olay Cleanser
$5.00 Gillette Fusion
$2.99 Revlon

Final out-of-pocket cost: $0.53

CVS (this takes the cake)

I love the way CVS does their Extra Care Bucks... if you work it right, you can end up coming out about even every time, without out-of-pocket expense.

This week I bought...
2 Oral B Advantage Toothbrushes $4.98
1 Advil Children's $5.79
2 Cadbury Chocolate Bars 1.76
2 Cover Girl Tinted Moisturizer $15.98
1 Cover Girl Mineral Foundation $8.99
CVS Brand Mouthwash $2.49
CVS Brand Cotton Squares $3.49
Tic Tacs $0.89

- minus $7.99 BOGO Cover Girl sale
- minus (2) $1/1 Cover Girl Coupons
- minus (2) $1/1 Oral B Toothbrush Coupons
- minus $2/$10 CVS coupon
- minus $2.49 CVS Mouthwash coupon
- minus $2.50 CVS Pain Med coupon
- minus BOGO Cover Girl coupon $8.99
- minus $15.98 ECB (from previous trip)

Total including tax $0.95

+ $8.79 in ECB for purchasing the Advil and Oral B toothbrushes

Profit from trip: $7.84

Some of the little things I had to add on after the cashier rang up my purchases because I used so many coupons, there was about $10 extra, so I picked up another CG Moisturizer and some candy. It was a great trip to CVS! We were so pumped after that. Beth did really well too.

Please feel free to ask any questions about couponing or the pharmacies I mentioned. I will post more later...

The first of many (I hope)

2008-08-06T08:56:00.008-04:00

I'm new to blogging, so bear with me. I'm still trying to figure out the layouts and how to make this post look nicer, but I guess that will come with time. Funny how I used to be able to spit out html code like nobody's business, but I can't figure out editing programs that are supposed to be "intuitive."

I've never considered myself a writer. That was my sister. She was the one who could dream up endless stories about our barbie dolls (interesting stuff, let me tell you), write up a 10 page essay in a couple minutes and always kept a journal (don't ask how I know THAT). Me? Well I was more the type the on January 1st of every year set out to keep a journal and only made it to January 2nd. And my essays tended to look like cryptic notes. But lately I've wanted somewhere to post my many adventures of shopping deals, since I have gotten back into that. It's the thrill of the hunt, I guess... picking up a Sunday paper and rushing home to see what coupon inserts are in it this week, then comparing my coupon collection with the weekly deals at local stores and figuring out the best deals and the freebies (yes, there are plenty of freebies). So I want to share my deals on here and encourage other people (ahem, Bethany) to hunt out some deals for themselves. You don't have to be as fanatical as I have come to be, but saving a few dollars here and there can really add up.... you'll see.