Monday, December 29, 2008

Shopping today

Scott and I are on Vacation until after the first. :) I decided to go pick up a few things from the store this morning. I was so nice to go to shop during the day. There were not very many people out. First Stop Walgreen's.
I went to get the Free after rebate Revlon Matte Makeup and a few other things. My Walgreen's didn't even have a display for these items. I asked and they said they would get a truck in tomorrow maybe they would be on that. I can't believe it. They didn't even have a spot on the shelf and it is in the rebate book and was in the flyer this week. I got several Christmas items 75% off to save for next year. I also got the Glade oil candle $3.99 less $2.50 coupon and will send in for the $1 rebate. I also got Garnier Fructis Mousse for $3.49 less $2 easy saver coupon and $1 manfg coupon. This is my favorite hair product and I got it for only 49 cents. I can't believe I haven't read about this on any of the other blogs. I will be stocking up this month. There were tons of makeup on sale. Some of every brand. I wish I would have taken more coupons with me but I had the Revlon one with me so I got some powder on sale for $3.49 and I had a $2 coupon with me. This made the powder that was normally $11.XX only $1.49.

Next stop Fred's
This is in the same shopping center as Country Mart. I got some Mean Green. It was $1.79 less $1.50 manfg coupon. My total after tax was $.31. It's not too often I walk out of a store spending only pocket change. If you have never used this stuff before it is great for all kinds of cleaning including stains on clothing, bathrooms, kitchen, etc.

Last stop Country Mart
I had went to buy chicken just to find out it was only on sale for 3 days. I splurged for some chips and dip since we are on vacation and got a good deal on some ribeye steaks. My total came to $13.32. Not one of my best deals but we are on vacation. It was so nice out today we grilled the steaks and they were yummy!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

MP3 Player

At work this year we got points we were able to spend on items in an online catalog. Instead of getting Christmas presents for others or something practical like pots and pans, I splurged on myself. I got a Sony Walkman MP3 Player. After many days of trying to figure out how to get the Itunes we had already purchased onto the player, I am now able to use this crazy thing. Well, I still don't know how to use all the functions. It took an extremely long time burning CDs putting them back on the computer and converting them to MP3. Does anyone else have a MP3 player? If so where do you get your music from? I don't know much about what is out on the net. I think some may not be legal and I don't want to get a virus on my computer so I am looking for a dependable place to get my music from. Any suggestions? This player is so cool! The best part is. . . . . . It was FREE!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Walgreens Easy Saver

I can't believe it. I just submitted my Easy Saver rebate and it was only $2 for the Scotch Tape. Since I started this several months ago this is the lowest rebate I have had. I didn't even spend my gift card from last month. Looks like there are going to be better rebates for next month. :)

Do you make homemade gifts?

I try to do something special from the heart for my family each year. It really seams to be a dying art. Anyway, 2 years ago I made homemade Christmas cards. It was a larger chore than what I thought it was going to be. I started in November and was still working on them mid December so they were mailed a little late. It was so worth it. My mom didn't even know they were homemade. I don't know if I did anything last year other than make some homemade peanut clusters to take to the places we would be. This year I made box of homemade candy for each family. It took several late evenings to get all the goodies done. I think everyone enjoyed the boxes. My hope this year is to be a little more organized and plan ahead. I think I have a idea of what I am going to do next year but not sure yet. If I plan now I can shop for the needed items all year long. What are some of your favorite homemade gifts that you have received or gave? How early do you start on your special gifts?

I hope to make something special every year. My little brother must know this is important to me. He gave me a book on how to have a green/homemade Christmas.

It's nice when

It's nice when you find out someone will be at Christmas you weren't expecting and you are able to pull a gift out of your laundry room. This year my sister's x-step daughter (long story) and son came to Christmas. It was nice to be able to put her together a small care package. She is in the army and traveling around so I think the package of deodorant, makeup, toothbrush, paste, etc. will be useful for her. For her son, I had got a few hot wheels when Walgreen's ran a really good deal on them. There always seams to be a kid that shows up that I am not expecting. So the hot wheels and the Johnson soap that I got for free worked out great. It was so nice to have on hand something that I could put together so they wouldn't be left out. I love seeing family for the holidays. What a special treat that they were able to come to town.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas ! !

Hope you are having a wonderful time with family and Friends. Will be back to normal blogging soon.

Happy Holidays!

Angie

Monday, December 15, 2008

Meat

I live is a house of meat eaters which is by far the most expensive thing we buy on our Grocery list. Here are a few things that I do to keep this cost down.

1.) I usually buy family packs of meat which saves money per pound. I then split it into family size meals and freeze it.

2.) I always shop the sales and try to only buy meat that is on sale that week. If there are not any good sales that week I try not to buy meat that week unless we don't have any in the freezer.

3.) If there is something that I know we eat alot of on sale I always stock up so I don't have to buy it at full price. (For example, I always stock up on Boneless Skinless chicken when it is under $2 a pound. We eat a ton of chicken. I bought 5 or 6 pounds the other day for $1.79 a pound which should last several weeks but we didn't have any in the freezer. I was starting to sweat that I was going to have to pay full price.)

4.) I comp ad other stores at Wal-Mart if I am unable to make it to the other stores.

5.) I substitute ground turkey for ground chuck. I don't think the kids knew I was doing this forever. It's lean and costs $1.59 for a pound roll at Wal-Mart. (For example, if I am making meat loaf I use one pound of ground chuck and one pound of turkey. This helps keep it lean and saves me money. I also use ground turkey for spaghetti and hamburger helper.) I try to always buy ground chuck so the ground meat is lean which means I pay a little more for this but feel it is worth it.

6.) Try not to be wasteful. This is hard. We take left overs for lunch but still things get wasted. If it happens to stay in the fridge a little too long we either give it to the dogs or to the the stay cats. Things get wasted around here more that I would like to admit.

With all that said, Scott did awesome comp adding at Wal-Mart this week. He comped Harter House in Branson which our Wal-Mart honors. He got several pounds of Granny Smith apples for $.49lb and got about 10lbs of Ground Chuck for $1.69lb. This saved us a dollar a pound on apples and $1.15 a pound on Ground Chuck. I'm so glad I have convinced him that price shopping is worth it and it saved me a trip to Wal-Mart. WOOHOO!! The cashier gave him a hard time so I might not be able to talk him into doing it again.

Does anyone have any other pointers on how to save on our meat purchases?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

$25.40 Gas

This may not be a big deal to everyone but I am so excited about my gas purchase. I drive a Mitsubishi Montero Sport Suv and my gas light came on during the drive home yesterday. I stopped and fill my tank up and it was only $25.40. I can't believe gas is at $1.56 here. We are usually the highest town around. Anyway I had to do a double take and make sure that was correct. Going from between $50 and $60 to fill up to $25 is the best deal I have had in a while. That's more money to spend on something else.

Walgreen's is Crazy!

Well, I went to Walgreen's on my lunch hour today and it was packed. There were crowds of people everywhere. I finally gathered together the things I was buying. I had several of the Walgreen's coupons for some Christmas stuff that I needed and 2 manfg coupons. I knew that I would be getting a $2 register reward back for pop and a $5 register reward back for spending $25. First, they wouldn't take one of my manfg coupons because he said you can not use 2 like coupons in one purchase. There was a line a mile long so I said OK but now that I think about it I may take them back because it made it 2 for $3.49 instead of 2 for $.49. Anyway, then he handed me my receipt and the $2 register reward. I could tell the machine was still printing things out so I waited and said I should have a $5 register reward. There was some coupons that printed before and after the register reward and you will never believe what the cashier did. He took the register reward out of the middle of the coupons and ripped the coupons in half and threw them in the trash and handed me the register reward. I couldn't believe it. I have gotten some really good coupons that decided to print off that machine. I was in shock and didn't know what to do. I just walked away with my items and my register rewards.
I guess Christmas shopping is already getting to some people. . . .

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

K-Mart Double Coupon Days!!!!

We went to Branson over the weekend and did some Christmas shopping. I decided to take my coupons along as K-Mart was having double coupons up to $2. I took what coupons I had cut out not really knowing what items they would have. Shopping for the deals that I thought we would use or we could use as Christmas gifts was fun but I could see where other couponers had got all the items that would be free or really cheap. All the items you see in the first picture I got for $20 and some change. There are 4 bags of cookies, Clorox wipes, 2 dove shampoos, Garnier shampoo, 4 tag products, 4 lifesavers, 4 dog treats, 3 Revlon makeup, Tylenol rapid release, 2 socks. There were several items that were a good deal or we needed and I could only use 2 of the same coupons so I had Scott buy some more goodies with the Christmas gifts that we bought.
The Lifesavers were free and the cookies were $.20. I can't remember exactly what the tag was but it was around $2 which will be going in a stocking.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Great Savings at Walgreen's!

I haven't done much shopping in the last couple of weeks so I decided to stop and see if I could get in on a few good deals at Walgreen's. Transaction #1
2- Bic Soleil Razors 2/$6.99 - 2 $3.00 coupons = $.99 for 2
2- Reach Tooth brushes 2/$6.00 - BOGO coupon-$3.00 =$3.00 for 2
3 - WG Lip Care B2G1 free $.99 each -$1.98
Total after tax $7.17 got back $6 register reward off my next order
Total Savings $15.99



Transaction #2
2-Bic Soleil Razors 2/$6.99 - 2 $3.00 coupons = $.99 for both
2-Reach tooth brushes 4/$6 - BOGO -3.00 = $3.00 for both
Total after tax $5.03 received $6 register reward for buying 2 Reach products.
Total Savings $14.97
I tried to take a photo of my receipts this time. I think if you click on them they will be large enough to read. It's fun spending $3 and getting $6 back. I will probably use that money to finish my stocking stuffers.
I was wondering, do you think people would think I was weird if I put a toothbrush on the outside of presents instead of a candy cane or with a candy cane? I have ended up with several and I know if other children are like ours they leave one everywhere they stay the night. . .