Dog Food

I only buy Science Diet dog food for my fur babies. They get all kinds of snacks depending on what kind of coupons I have. Their favorite snack is Ol Roy Meaty Bone. Of course there are no coupons for the Wal-Mart brand of dog snacks. Do you know if Science Diet ever puts out any coupons? The only place to buy this in town is the Pet Shop or Tractor Supply which are both high. We also buy a large bag of cheap dog food to feed the stay cats about once a month. They love the dog food and it costs less than cat food. It's so nice that Scott is a animal lover like me. Well, maybe not as bad as I am but he hates to see anything go hungry. I think there also is a skunk and an opossum eating from where we feed the cats.

Budget

Does your family have a grocery/household budget? We have never had a budget for our groceries but I am hoping with a stock pile full of goodies and only buying on sale and with coupons we can get our groceries and household goods down to between $200 and $250 a month for our family of 4 and 2 dogs. This month has been the first time I have kept up with every penny that I have spent. After I have removed the amount that was for Christmas presents I spent around $315. Not quite as good as I would have liked. $30 of that amount was for dog food which I only buy about every 3 or 4 months. When I got Scott he spent between $50 and $70 a week on groceries and goodies. After I came along that went up to $100 or more. I don't know why. It's not like I eat a ton. Anyway, how much do you usually spend.

I think I fixed my blog!

It has taken me over a hour to do a post and work on my blog layout. I think I have fixed my blog so it should be easier to read.

Walgreens is not my friend today!

Sorry no picture today. My day/evening has been too crazy. Anyway, the cashier I had today has never given me problems but today was different. I did one transaction for a razor and used my gift card after my coupon. My gift card is now empty :( He gave me my receipt but not my register reward. Asked if I needed my second order in a separate bag and I said no. He rang up my second order and refused to scan my coupons in the order I wanted to give them to him. I had tried to buy 2 Vick's hand sanitizers which were on sale for .87 and I had $1 coupons. (had he scanned the coupons in the order I wanted to this probably wouldn't happen because the Vick's coupons were not what beeped.) Anyway, the last coupon he scanned beeped and he didn't say anything to me and called over the load speaker for manager to do complete void. Of course he just looked at me and said coupon conflict and handed the 2 Vick's coupons back to me. The manager came over and said nothing and voided my whole order. The guy in a very hateful tone said sorry I can't accept those they are more than the price of the items. I really didn't know how much they were because they were on the clearance rack. I calmly told him I didn't want the Vick's. I explained before he voided my order and before paying for the second order that I had checked by phone and with the night manager and because the register reward is a manfg coupon they can be scanned in any order. When I was trying to explain that I had called he got so nervous and was shaking which was making me my calm mood not so calm. Then as I am paying for my second order he takes the register reward off the scanner and doesn't want to give it to me and I had to explain that he didn't give it to me from my first transactions. He acted like I was trying to steel the register reward. The poor older gentleman behind me who had to wait a long time and was going to use a rain check and some coupons said to the cashier "I had better not have any problems" which I thought was funny. Here is what I ended up buying in my second transaction.

1 organizer for a walker -$8.49 (on clearance -Christmas present for my grandpa)
2 Gillette shampoos 2/$10 - 2 $2 manfg coupons send off for $5 register rewards
Northern TP $4.00 -$2 manfg coupon and -$1.00 es coupon
-$4 register reward from earlier in the week.

Total $12.49 and will send off for $5 rebate.

I get home and find out there is a -$5/$25 coupon. Bet I could have really could have confused the cashier with that. Probably a good thing I didn't know about it. I was pretty hot when I left there which I usually am not.

This is what I have been working on forever!

I have been clipping coupons almost daily to get them all cut out so I can get organized. I have finally got them all cut out except for this weeks. When I divided them all out I ended up the over 20 envelopes. I can't remember the exact number. There is no way I can carry a box of coupons that big to the store. I purchased a neat little photo album that had 2 sleeves on each page that I thought would work great because it would fit in my purse. However, I have too many coupons. So I am thinking about getting a binder with the baseball card sleeves so I can see what I have. I found coupons I didn't know I had that I could actually have made some money on the products. I guess that is what you get for not being organized. Does anyone else have a hard time getting these things organized or is it just me? Word of advise don't get behind. Cut them out every week.

Please help me

Ok, so I'm not the smartest computer operator. I make my post all neat easy to read. I preview it and it look just like I typed it. Then when I go look at the post it has lost all my hard enters. I don't have this problem on my other blog but can't tell what is different. Any ideas?

Walgreen's this week

Well we have had a little drama at our house this week so I am a little behind on getting my posts done and reading about all the great sales that I might be missing. Here is my shopping trip to Walgreen's this week. Bread - $2.49 Not the best deal but we needed it.
Lysol toilet cleaner 2/$2.79 - .50 manfg coupon
Fusion Razor $8.49 -$4.00 manfg coupon
Revlon crlr $3.49 - $1.00 manfg coupon
Revlon tweezers $1.09 - $1.00 coupon
Always $4.99 -$2.00 manfg coupon
-3.00 register rewards
-2.00 register rewards
-2.00 register rewards
Total $9.57 put on gift card from last month so nothing out of pocket. Got back $4 register reward on razor and $1 on Always. The Revlon was buy one get one 50% off the curler will be a stocking stuffer and we never have good tweezers so I splurged at .09.

I went back for transaction #2
Fusion Razor with shaving cream $8.99 -$4 manfg coupon
Always $4.99 -$2.00 Manfg coupon
-$5.00 Register rewards
-$2.00 Register rewards
Total $4.10 which I put on my gift card from last month. Got back $4 register reward for razor and $1 register reward on always.

I plan on making one more trip for another Razor which I will be a Christmas present.

I did a little shopping. . .

Scott did the bulk of our grocery shopping at Walmart this week while I plastered our bathroom walls. (Hopefully we will be done remodeling soon!) He did good and followed my list pretty good and used the coupons I sent. Only a few things not on the list were added in. I made a couple of stops this week. The first one was to Hudson's Grocery. I usually don't shop there often because their every day prices are high. They do run good sales every now and then. They also have a great produce section and meat section. I purchased 4 red peppers for 69 cents each. The main reason I stopped! I just found out this year that I love these peppers. But, I refuse to pay over a dollar each for them. 4 Granny Smith apples at $1.99 lb. Expensive I know but the kids love them and I would rather pay more and have healthy snacks. I also got 3 bags Birdseye frozen green beans on sale for 69 cents each used $1/3 off coupon and 4 cans hunts caned tomatoes on sale 89 cents less .40/2 coupon doubled. Not a huge shopping trip but got some stuff we needed. I made one trip to Walgreen's this week. They were probably wondering what happened to me. I'm usually in there a couple of times a week. This is what I got this time. I had printed out a $5/$25 coupon but decided that I would only use it if I spent over $25 which I didn't plan on. I was only going in for Doritos, toilet paper and 7-up. 2 Doritos - BOGO $3.79
4 7-UP - 4/$5.00
Northern TP $4.00 less $1 es coupon and $1 manfg coupon = $2
2 Clean and Clear blemish on clearance $1.49 each
2 2pk neutrogena makeup remover $2.49 each
-$3.00 register reward
-$3.00 register reward
Total $14.15 used gift card and received $2.00 register reward for 7-up

The chips we needed for Mexican Chicken and taco salad this week. The Doritos do taste better than the off brand so when I can get them for a good deal I buy the good stuff. We are running low on TP so I am working on building my stock back up. Not the best deal but not too bad. I haven't found a great deal on it in a long time. I was paying over $4 for the equate brand of makeup remover for Breanna last school year. So to me the Neutrogena was a good deal. I might have had a coupon at home for it but I hated not to buy them when they only had 2 on sale. Same with the Clean and Clear. They only had 2 and with teenagers you can never have enough of that kind of stuff. It feels like I have been couponing heavily for a long time but when I stop and really think about it, it's only been like 6 months or less. I get some really good deals on household goods but I don't do as well on the groceries. I don't know why that is.

CRAZY WEEK!

Ever have one of those weeks when you don't even have time to breath? That is my week this week. We are working very hard to get our bathroom remodel completed before the kids come to stay with us for 9 weeks. Needless to say my back is killing me and my right arm might fall off. I do know I will not be plastering walls like this again. It looks really cool but is very time consuming. I haven't had any time to shop any good deals and I know I must be missing a ton. Scott shopped around for some some special boards to go around our tub and at Home Depot it was going to cost around $120. He found it at Packs (a small lumber store) for $5 a sheet so it is only going to cost us $20. WooHoo.

Help My Blog looks CRAZY

I don't' know why but. . . what I type and what shows up on my blog are two different things. I type everything up all nice and easy to read and then hit post and it bunches everything all together. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Walgreen's 10/07

I did two transactions at Walgreen's today. I was glad to see the cashier there who will scan my coupons in the order that I give them. I did really good today. #1
Glade Fameless Candle $5.99
Walgreen's lip tubes B1G1 $1.19 x2 (for widow baskets at Christmas and mom had got her limit)
Glo in the Dark policy $.99 (Bre will love this for Halloween and they only had 1)
Gloves $.50 x 2 (Walgreen's coupon
-$4.50 register rewards
-$5.00 manfg coupon for Glade
Total $1.69 Got $3 Register Reward for next purchase (mom gave me $2 for lip tubes)

#2
Glade Candles $1.99 x 4
Oral B Toothbrush $1.99
Afrin Nasel Spray $5.49
Crest Toothpaste $1.99
Glade fameless candle $5.99
-$4.00 Register Reward
-$1.00 manfg coupon for Glade candles x4 =-$4.00
-$1.00 Manfg coupon Crest
-$.75 Manfg coupon Oral B
-$6.00 Afrin coupon - printed the last time I bought Zyrtec
-$1.00 ES coupon Crest
-$1.00 ES coupon Oral B
Total $7.54 Got back $3 register reward for next purchase. Will send in for $4 mail in rebate

I got out to my car wondering how on earth I spent so much on my second transaction. I thought each should be around $2. He was having a hard time with his register. I Looked at the receipt and noticed he missed my $5 coupon for the Glade Fameless Candle. I went back in and he found the second coupon in the drawer and sent me for the manager to give my money back. The manager was having trouble and took a couple of transactions to get the machine to give my money back. She gave me my $5 back and then handed me another $3 register reward. WOOHOO!!!!!

I usually stay away from the oil candles and plug ins because they are so bad for allergies. I haven't tried them in a while even though they have been free after coupons many places. I decided to give these a try. If they do upset my nose than I will just give them away.

FRED'S

Did you know Fred's doubles coupons up to $.70 on Saturdays? My neighbor has been talking about going to Fred's for double coupon day on Saturdays. I decided since I was out and about that I would stop in and take a look around since I haven't shopped there in forever. I decided to make a small transaction and see how they did the double coupons. It was a breeze the computer did all the work so there were no questions asked. If I understand their policy correct, you can not have more than 1 of the same coupon per transaction. Does anyone know what their exact coupon policy is? My total was $.32.
I may have to shop here more often!

4 Walgreen's Transactions

I went a little crazy this weekend with the $5 off $20 coupons. I did 2 transactions yesterday and had no plans on going to town again today but I got some of the razor coupons so I had to go again. When I went yesterday I had no deals or scenarios of what I was going to purchase other than to pick up more pictures. Today was a little more planned. Here is what I ended up with. Transaction #1
Photos - $12.76 (I used the 10 cent coupon online where you buy 50 prints in 2 separate orders. So I got over $9 in pics for $5 twice.)
Orlb Toothbrush - $4.49
Conair trimmer - $3.49 (*Gift)
2 Tootsi activity pads - $.49 each (*Gift)
- Less $2 register rewards
- Less $5 off $20
Total after Tax $16.06 received $4.50 register reward back.
Total Saved $26
Transaction #2
All gifts from clearance racks
6 Dry Erase Boards $3.24 each
2 mini punches $.49 each
4 calculator rulers $.75 each
Conair trimmer $3.49
- $5 off $20
-4.50 register rewards
Total 19.97
Total savings $89.25

Transaction #3

Zyrtec - $27.99

Fusion Razor - $8.99

-$4 Zyrtec coupon

-$4 Fusion coupon

-$5 off $20

Total $26.54 received $4 register reward

Total saved $9.50

I tried to use a register reward but was told I couldn't because my coupon total was more than the register reward I was trying to use. Anyone else ever heard of this? After reading another blog about register rewards I think it was because I only had 2 products and that would have made it 3 manf coupons which you can't do.

Transaction #4

Soft Soap $.99 with Walgreen's coupon

Puff $.89 with Walgreen's coupon

Fusion Razor 8.99

-.25 puff coupon

-.35 soap coupon

-4.00 razor coupon

Total $7.14 received $4.00 register reward back

Total saved $8.10

(Couldn't use a register reward on this one either. I keep trying maybe eventually I will get to use all of them.)

You know it's crazy when. . .

You know it's bad when you have more of these than you do money. I seam to have the worst time getting the Walgreen's cashier to accept these. I found a lot of answers that I didn't know today in a post here. http://iheartwags.com/. Check it out.

A New blog

I am going to try and keep up with 2 blogs. People who look at my personal one probably don't care what I buy for little or nothing. People who look at my blog to check out the bargains I find probably don't care about all the personal things that I take photos of. So for now I'm going to try and keep two and see how it goes. I love blogging. Wish I had more time for it.