One month anniversary...

Well I started this chaos a month ago this weekend and what a ride it has been. The most upsetting thing is how many deals I had missed before even knowing the game. I made a couple of trips this week to stock up on some items and try a couple different scenarios that I have been reading on my favorite "Super Savers" blogs....(one being The "Cent"sible Sawyer). I bought ALOT of stuff this week for next to nothing and was lucky enough to use up some of the deals my mother in law wasn't going to use up before the month was over PLUS I had coupons. I can officially say my brain HURTS from constantly playing with numbers trying to find the best deal. So obviously, I bought way too much to break it down for you but here is the week in review...

6 CVS Trips (3 different stores)
1 Walgreen's Trip
1 Walmart Trip to price match

Tuesday's Trip

They paid me for this $450 trip


Wednesday's Trip

FINALLY found the gift bags that everyone had been talking about. I really didn't want to buy all of those bags but I figured I better get them while I can, considering the ECB deal is close to being over. There were a couple of things that I needed to get in this trip that weren't on sale or I would have usually waited....like the Adidas deodorant is on sale next week with ECB's in return and since they had the display up I thought I'd try it which didn't matter cause I had a FREE coupon from the paper anyway. I needed a pair of those gloves to help with the dry skin from over washing and I got the hairclips for $0.10- I grabbed them for a filler but they didn't help much.

Thursday's Trip (not pictured)

Friday's Trip

One of my CVS stores had the double packs of Lysol wipes out from the new shipment and they adjusted them for the sale price...BONUS! Here is the list:

80 bottles of Herbal Essence ($3.99- $4.29 ea)
10 jars of Whipped Foundation ($9.49 ea)
6 Twin packs of Lysol Wipes ($2.49 ea)

3 Softsoaps ($5.49 ea)
2 Pledge ($2.99- raincheck)
5 Skin Effects ($6.99 ea)
3 magazines for coupons ($.99 ea)
Fillers...Diet Coke, Sucker, Candy, Beano

Total Before Coupons= $371.81
ECB's Used= $40.97
OOP= $22.88
ECB's Earned $51.47

I had 40 Herbal Essence coupons and it just kept getting better and better.
Look what I found......

The FREE Manicure/ Pedicure bottles!!

Then I headed to Walmart to get next weeks CVS deal on Palmolive price matched. 2 for $1.59 and I used 11 $1/2 coupons which made the soap $0.30 a bottle. I had coupons for everything else.

I have decided that CVS is my new workout routine- nevermind the foot work that is involved in shopping for all of those buys but having to load them into the car and drag it all inside.......Now that is a workout!!

I forgot tonight that I had a reward buck from Walgreen's that would expire after today so since I still had 9 Palmolive coupons left, I decided to make a quick stop on my way back from picking up dinner and grab MORE soap. This one cost me $6 and I will be sending in for the $10 rebate.

If prices keep flying up like peeps are saying one thing is for sure....we may starve to death but we will be CLEAN!!

CVS FREEBIE

Here is a FREE CVS Transaction for you ladies to try. This month if you buy 3 Essence of Beauty Items they will give you $5 in ECB's. Well I'm guessing they were thinking peeps would go buy 3 high dollar items and then in return they would give us our $5 back but those smart women out there in blogville taught me this. Go buy 3 Essence of Beauty items under $1.49 and your total will cost you less than what you get in return...they have told me that you could use a $3/$10 CVS coupon (my coupon scanner prints this coupon off 9 out out of 10 times) because Essence is a CVS brand. Now I handed a cashier this the other day and I hear, "UH MAAAAAAM- seriously it was that long- "this is for a CVS purchase" which I replied isn't Essence a CVS product" to where I got a NO....I wasn't fighting over $3 when they were already giving me free items. Otherwise I would of told her to prove it ;)

Here is what I grabbed for $1.49. There are also Essence of Beauty gift bags which I haven't been able to find since I heard about them and $0.99 toe separators. I didn't care if they were free or not....I didn't want 15 toe separators to house somewhere. There is a limit of 5 so you can get $25 worth of free beauty supplies that won't expire...like the 15 boxes of Excedrin from last week.

So I'm waiting till CVS gets tired of this and puts restrictions or "small print" on all of our great steals but until then I'm swimming in it!!

Let me know what works for you.

2008 5 Things Game...

Here is my 2008 version of the 5 Things Game......

Pantry
(Ignore the tiny fingerprints on the glass...
for some reason it's always more fun to scale a piece of
furniture to get a snack if you are between the ages of 3-5)

11 Pyrex Dishes
9 character cake pans
6 packages of spaghetti
4 boxes of opened cereal that prob. needs to be trashed
&
TONS of Jello mixes (your guess is as good as mine)


TIVO
My favorite "how did I live so long without you" gadget

2 Battlestar Gallactica- don't knock it till you try it
The Two Coreys Episode where they try to stop smoking that
1. will never get deleted
2. made me pee my pants on more than one occasion while I was pregnant
Private Practice that I have yet to watch from DECEMBER
Redneck Wedding so I can hear that old lady say,
"I LOVE Hot Pockets"-
which has become my nickname for Lily cause I love saying it:)
&
Run's House- where they finally get their girl


Lily's Room
I figured since she wasn't here for the last game..only in my dreams...I would do her room even though it isn't CLOSE to being done

HAIRBOWS (Over 100)
12 Pairs of Baby Legs
3 Picture Frames without pictures
Antique Baby Scale
&
Princess Piggy Bank (Target)


Computer Desk
AKA. Catchall- I admit it is like this 90% of the time and about 5 mins after I clean it up...I give up

Empty Walgreen's Printer Ink Refill Bag
Eucerin Calming Itch-Relief lotion...over washing this winter has tore my hands up!
2 Games we played 2 weeks ago- Rummikub & Apples to Apples
At Home with Magnolia Cookbook
&
A To DO List that is 2 pages looooong


My Bedroom
OK, so this picture was taken for the other blog
(2 years ago) so there are some changes
(curtains, nightstands, and those flowers are really dead now :)

Laptop
Gym Class Schedule
Tivo #2
Lily's 2ND Swing
&
My FAVORITE THING RIGHT NOW
My Coupon Book

Doesn't that look like FUN!?!

Sunday's Fun

I made 2 shopping trips today to use up some of my coupons. Sundays are obviously "BIG" days because by day 2 or 3 of sales, things are pretty picked over. I have made one too many trips to CVS over the last couple of weeks....enough they know me when I walk in....so I don't want to have to shop around to different CVS's unless I have to. My first one was to Walmart where I had been saving up some of my coupons till I made my next trip there and here is what I got.

My total before coupons was $84.29 and after coupons was $39.17. I had to take back 2 things that have been sitting around unused/ unneeded for a couple a months so once I used that gift card my out of pocket total was $9. Now given I'm not lucky enough to live in a state that has stores that will double coupons....so not fair, but I don't get awesome deals on food like all of you southern girls (even if they tax your food). So I was pleased with this accomplishment considering it was all for things we needed/ wanted and not just 15 boxes of Excedrin :)

After this I took a shopping break and went to Yoga which was almost pointless considering all I could think about was how I was going to play out my CVS trip. I could see this becoming a problem, anyway....

Here is what I came home with


Now there wasn't anything that I was dying to buy this week considering all my luck last week....in a minute...but I have a hard time passing up free stuff. This is by no means me saying I got the "best" deal out there and there is probably a better way I could of purchased this BUT ya know after awhile I can't stand there and figure anymore- Time is money around here too no matter how much I am trying to save a buck. So here is the scoop in 2 transactions..

#1.
2 packs of CVS Diapers ($8.99 ea)
2 Chewable Benefibers ($6.79 ea)
Diet Coke (Yoga made me thirsty- $1.39)
CVS Travel Wipes for my first aid car kit ($1.99)
Orbit Gum ($1.19)

2 Benefiber $2/1 coupon (today's paper)
$3/$10 CVS purchase printed when I scanned my card today
$4/$20

I used $15 in ECB's and got back $10 in ECB's
I knew the Coke, Wipes, & Gum would take me over my $10 goal but I didn't want to stand there and figure in those items since they were all last min. add ons.

#2.
2 Covergirl Trublend foundation ($8.99 ea)
Tweezers for my first aid kit ($1.49)
Clippers " " " " ($1.49)
Lumene Makeup Wipes ($2.79)

$1/1 Covergirl coupon (last week's)
Buy foundation Get 1 free coupon (last week's)

Total $4.02

So what I should of done is put the coke, gum, and wipes on this transaction so I could of used a $4/ $20 coupon here too but I'll just save it for next time cause I plan on going back to buy 4 more packs of diapers and 4 more makeups since I still have 2 more sets of coupons to make them free or cents over. I'm also taking back the Lumene Wipes cause I only bought them thinking they would bring $2 ECB but they didn't produce so back they go.

Not that I need more diapers or wipes considering what last week supplied but THEY ARE FREE!

Lily's stash so far


My next adventure is to create a CVS rehab cause after reading through a lot of blogs...there are alot of us who could use some :)
(Don't worry ladies you can pay me in ECB's)

Coo Coo for CVS!

Smell Good For Your Man...

FREE!

Victoria's Secret...nevermind I use to work there and we won't even talk about how many different sets of boobs I had to fit on a daily basis...is giving away a free FULL size body scrub with purchase. You may not want to purchase a $45 bra to get the free gift but I bet you wouldn't mind picking up a pack of gum or a tin of mints for it :)
(Lord, knows Jamie doesn't need anything else to get her man excited...yea I said it!)

To whom it may concern

Do you remember this.....

Your Brain is 80% Female, 20% Male

Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Game Time

Ok, so let's play the 5 things game. You pick 5 categories (ex. computer, fridge, car, Tivo, closet), pick 5 things that are in those categories, and then post pictures. I will post mine from 2 years ago...2 YEARS, can you believe it's been that long...so you have an example. Let me know if you play and I will link it on this post so we all can see. I will def. have to think about mine to see what I can come up with new this year.

2 Years Ago....

In My Fridge...


*Expired medicines*
4 antibiotics (2 for Aidan & 2 for me when we had strep throat)
Progesterone Suppositories from when I was pregnant with Kyan (20 months ago :)

*Choc. Oatmeal Cookies--YUM!!*

*Bottled Diet Lipton Green Tea*

*Leftover Chicken Alfredo from last night*

(2x this week)

*REDI WHIP...YEAH BABY!

In My Closet...

*Couple Pairs of Shoes* ;)

*4 Stacks of Pants That are Too Small*

(If Lee would keep his hands to himself I might be able to fit in them..but I keep having babies)

*My Gift Bows & Ribbons*

*Photo Boxes of Old Pictures & 2 Storage Boxes FULL of High School Memorabilia*

*Cabinet Full of Purses & Bags*

(Behind the Door)

In My Handbag...


*Cellphone*

*Diapers*

*Deodorant & the Boy's Hairspray*

*Bottled Water & 2 Juice Boxes*

*Making Memories Tool Kit*
(I needed the needles and tweezers out of it to remove a splinter from Aidan's foot and I was in a hurry so I just grabbed it- 3 weeks ago HA!)

In My Car...I was too lazy to go outside and take a picture- mine is SO not this clean!

*About 50 DVD's

*Double Stroller*

*Rascal Flatts & Third Day CDs*

*2 Empty Sippy Cups*

*TOYS*

In My Computer/ Bookmarked...
*The Dove Foundation*

*Shop Suey Boutique*

*Busy Bee Scrapbooking*

*Ebay*

*Uproar Games*

I'm a BELIEVER...

So that has many meanings for me but for this post let me show you SOME of the things that I got free this week


So do you even understand how much fun this is and just how addicting it really has become. I have a couple different places that I will check daily to see what deals they have found and what has worked for them. I think I have gone to CVS 4 times this week. Yea I'm obsessed. The thing that makes it so much fun is 1. it's a challenge 2. I'm a HUGE game person & 3. I feel like I "beating" the system...my adrenaline gets pumping and I feel like I'm doing something wrong and hey, for a Christian that works out because I get that rebel feeling without feeling bad afterwards. But this is some of the stuff I got for free and actually they paid me to buy. For example I bought the Zantac and they gave me $1.52 back that I used towards the deodorants that I grabbed for .60 a tube. So should I leave out that I had a dream about CVS last night :)

Pinch ME......

Cause I must be dreaming!!

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Listen up everybody if you wanna take a chance.
(rap:) just get on the floor and do the new kids dance.
Dont worry bout nothing cause it wont take long.
(rap:) were gonna put you in a trance with a funky song, cause you gotta be
Hangin tough, hangin tough, hangin tough.
(rap:) were rough.

Ohhhhhh YEA!! Something is going to happen....the ticker says so :)

From what I heard they will be on the Today Show THIS Friday, April 4th.
Anyone else love these guys- shoot I ain't lyin, I'd listen to them NOW! Can't you see Lily and I rockin out to this!