Monday, February 28, 2011

Late Rite Aid Post

I'm behind on my posts again. Told you I wasn't going to get around to anything right? At least there doesn't seem much at Rite Aid this week to entice me out the door. I did stop by, but all the 'free' snacks are gone. Better luck next time. I think I'll try at the end of the week to get in on the Always Infinity deal. There's not free by any means, but $4.50 for a large box after coupons & +ups is okay in my book.

I've begun to see Rite Aid as just another store. I felt guilty for shopping at the 'competition' and didn't want to get anything there if I had to pay for it. Now it's just another store and I'm just one of their customers. I kind of like it this way. If only I had figured this out a little sooner. I can only image how much I could have saved. Ah well, such is life. I'm glad I've gotten to this point. (Or I might miss out on the Always Infinity deal!)


Last week the big thing was J&J baby items on sale for $2.99 get $2 +up. There were a number of internet coupons floating around for $1/1, $2/2 & $3/3 for various products. Missing from the picture are the q-tips I bought. Those didn't have a coupon per se, but I read about people using it with the $3/3 J&J baby products. Not so sure about that . . .

The Finish went back down to the monthly sale price of $3.99. There was a VV Q for $1/1 & a manufacture Q for $3/1. (Not available any more.) I don't have a dishwasher myself, but I picked it up for my parents. I like trying to get them stuff when I can. Mom's disabled so money can be tight at times, especially with all the medical bills. Hoping little things can help them save for the future.

The Oreo Cookies were 2/$6 wyb 2 get $1 +up. The monthly up for these were also printing for a total of 3 $1 +up rewards. Add in a $1/2 VV Q and it made them $1 each! That's good for Oreos! ^_^

Net total of all pictured plus missing Q-tips = $3 cost! Not bad.

Time for me to get organizing. The next three days are going to be LONG. 9am-9:30pm between the two jobs. At least one I sit at a desk and the other I'm on my feet. Yippee for money! One more day of normal work and then a three day weekend. (What's that? I haven't had one of those in forever!)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Saving Sunday - Mailbox!


Not much in the way of samples. Two BOGO coupons. I'm a little disappointed with the BOGO as I was under the impression they would be 'free' coupons. Hope there's a good sale to go with these. At least I'll have my Coffee Mate. ^_^

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

CVS - Small Trip

I wanted to get CVS posted 'on time' this week. That means that any other trips I make (Rite Aid?) are going to be posted later. I have lots of cleaning up to do around the apartment. The biggest projects involve cleaning up the bedroom completely & reorganizing the kitchen. That's what I'm going to spend my free time at home doing any way.


Dove Shampoo $1.19 (clearance, 75% off)
EOS Lip Balm $2.99
Physician's Formula Concealer Twins $8.29
Reese's Egg $.75 (SSHH! This is for Sweetheart later.)
Total Before Coupons: $13.22

$1/1 Dove Shampoo (mailed with a sample a while back)
$7 off Physician's Formula (Coupon Machine, from last week)
Total After Coupons: $5.22

Received:
$2.99 EB EOS Lip Balm
$.75 EB Reese's Egg
Net: $1.48

Not bad. I thought about getting the 'free' jelly beans and then wondered who would eat them? I'm very picky. Jelly Belly all the way! Although Gimbles isn't bad and peanut free to boot! (Which matters a lot for one of my cousins.) Better to leave it for someone else latter than to take home free and waste them.

Monday, February 21, 2011

CVS - Last week

Here's one of my shopping trips from last week. CVS didn't have much to peak my interest. Toothpaste, Honest Tea & Coke were the highlights for me. I'm more excited about some up coming sales with them though. ^_^ Free toothbrushes are coming up. Shh! I didn't say anything. Not that you can't find Ad scans out there already.

Sorry for the lack of quality. I was rushing.


Transaction 1:
Colgate $3.79
2 Honest Tea @ $1.00 = $2.00
Vitality Gum $1.29
Total Before Coupons: $7.08

$1/1 Colgate
$1.29 Free Vitality (Only see with employees?)
Total After Coupons: $4.79

Received:
$3.79 EB Colgate
Net: $1.00

Transaction 2:
Colgate $3.79
Honest Tea $1.00
Total Before Coupons: $4.79

$1/1 Colgate
Total After Coupons: $3.79 (used $3.79 EB from previous transaction)

Received:
$1 EB wyb 3 Coke products (listed in Ad Vitim water, Honest Tea, Smart Water etc)
$3.79 EB Colgate
Net: $1.00 profit

Grand Net: FREE (Love using overage to get other items free.)

Out of time. Hopefully I can get up a Rite Aid post tomorrow.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Appoligies

It's been a busy week and I haven't had the time to post. A friend of mine is moving so I'll be spending the evening with him before he goes. Then another fried who lives several hours a way is coming to see me for the weekend. Hopefully I can get something up soon. (With details, but probably not.)

Below are pictures of my hauls from CVS & Rite Aid. CVS is actually last week & Rite is this week. I did manage to squeeze in another shopping trip to each between jobs.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Belated V-Day

I'm not much for Valentine's Day. I didn't start dating until collage, so it's always had this slightly bitter taste. Working at CVS I'm amazed how many people wait until the last minute just to get a card. It's crazy! It's not like it was a surprise to everyone. We started putting out the VD stuff as soon as Christmas started to clear.

I was easily amazed at how much people were spending. $8 for a card? $5 for a single rose? I won't even talk about the guy who bought a balloon, two bears and resuarnt gift cards on top of things like that. All for one person. (He wanted it all in one gift bag!) It just doesn't feel like a day about love with all that rushing around.


Luckily I insist on doing it the day after. Or even waiting until a month latter on Pi day. No sense in paying twice as much for merchandise. I did however enjoy a quiet dinner at home with Sweetheart. He was really cute this year. He took a picture of the bunnies and wrote on it "Some Bunnies Loves You. You Make Us Very Hoppy!" He's corny like that, but sweet. He set it as the background on my computer so I was surprised when I turned it on. ^_^




I had fun 'making' the center piece for our meal. Still not quiet what I want for the metal spinner thing. (I ripped it off a display at work when we went to throw it out.) I'm hopping to get a large wooden plate to stick on it. My own Lazy Susan.


Hope everyone had a good time celebrating love.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Saving Sunday - Mailbox!



Too tired. It's been a long and busy weekend at CVS. I wonder why everyone procrastinates for Christmas and Valentines Day? I think it's strange.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

+Ups to Cash!

I'm very excited this week to be turning a number of my +ups into cash. When I counted them I had over $60 worth. Yikes! I think I'm going to take my rebate check and put it into savings to build that emergency fund back up. With all the 'profit' I've made at Rite Aid the past few weeks there should be no issues about not having the money to keep things circling 'round.


4 BC Cookie Bags @ $2.00 each = $8.00
2 BC Cake Mixes @ $2.00 each = $4.00
2 BC Chocolate Frosting @ $2.00 each = $4.00
Chestal Cough $6.99
Chestal Children Cough $4.99
Coldcalm 60ct $5.99
Coldcalm Children $6.99
Mini Drop Therapy 30ct $4.99
3 Newspapers @ $1.67 each = $5.01 (10% discount ^_^)
Oscillococcium $8.99
Revitalensmps $4.49 (10% discount)
Scrubbing Bubbles $3.49
Scrubbing Bubbles FREE (BOGO Sale)
Total Before Coupons: $67.93

$1/2 BC VV
4 $.40/1 BC Cookie Mix 17.5oz+
2 $1 off wyb bother BC Cake Mix & Frosting
$1/1 Childrens Chestal
$2/1 Oscillococcium
2 $2/1 Scrubbing Bubbles (no longer available)
Total After Coupons: $56.33 (used $56 +up, total came to .03? not sure how that happened)



Received/Will Receive:
4 $2 +up wyb 2 BC products
8 $1 +up food/snacks (BC products included in monthly sale)
$6.00 SCR Chestial Cough
$4.00 SCR Chestial Children Cough
$5.99 SCR Coldcalm 60ct
$6.99 SCR Coldcalm Children
$4.00 SCR Mini Drop Therapy 30ct
$8.00 SCR Oscillococcium
$4.49 SCR Revitalensmps (up to $4.99 purchase price)
Net: $.86 cost (That's great for 3 newspapers! LOL)

I could have made a larger profit with the Boiron products if I had used more of their coupons. I'm tired of having them beep all the time. I tried the ones from coupons.com, but they still beep. The cashier double checked the items and then pushed it through. Now I kind of wish I had used some of the $3/1 for the children med. I needed to burn through some +ups any way.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Last Call Rite Aid

This is the last trip to Rite Aid for the week. They have already gotten their delivery and will not get any more stock for the week. What's more, I don't have any more coupons to make the Colgate or Chex Mix free. (Still loads at the store.) There weren't many dog treats left, but I was able to get two boxes. One for each of my parents dogs isn't bad. I forgot to look for my dixie plates, so there is a small chance I'll run out to see if they have them. Also forgot to get a raincheck for the Lays. I want to get two or three plain ones for Sweetheart. (He doesn't like flavored chips or Chex Mix.)


5 Colgate Clinical 4oz @ $2.99 each = $14.95
8 Chex Mix @ $1.50 each = $12.00
2 Hartz Crunch & Clean @ $2.99 each = $5.98
Total Before Coupons: $32.93

5 $1/1 Colgate 4.0oz+
4 $1/2 Chex Mix
2 $1/1 Hartz
Total After Coupons: $21.93 (used $21 +up, paid $.93 cash)

Received:
5 $2 +up Colgate
8 $1 +up Chex Mix (Monthly food promo)
2 $1 +up Hartz (weekly promo)
2 $1 +up Hartz (Monthly?)
Net: $.07 profit

If you haven't tried the dark chocolate mix you really need to. It's awesome!

Stock Up CVS!

There are a few things that were on sale this week at CVS that I really needed to get. Early this month we ran out of Mayo & ended up paying full price because no one had it on sale! On my limited food budget that hurt. So this week I was excited! Sale prices for peanut butter & mayo are about the same at all the stores right now. The CVS advantage? Extra Bucks! ^_^


3 Hellmanns Mayo @ $3.00 each = $9.00
5 Skippy @ 3/$5.00 = $8.33 (I miscalculated and bought one more than I needed.)
Conair Brush $2.74 (75% clearance)
Conair Brush $2.49 (75% clearance) ~ Love cheap hair brushes. (I have long hair.)
2 Snickers Peanut Butter @ $.89 each = $1.78
Snicker Peanut Butter FREE (Buy 2 get 1 Free)
2 Snickers Original @ $.89 each = $1.78
Snickers Original FREE (Buy 2 get 1 Free)
Nature Made Folic Acid $6.99
Nature Made Vitamin C FREE (BOGO, orional $6.89)
Total Before Coupons: $33.11

$1/3 Hellmanns Mayo (Wasn't happy about the 3. These use to be 2.)
2 $1/2 Skippy
3 Snickers BOGO @ $.89 each = $2.67
2 $3/1 Nature Made (I think I got these from some magazine.)
Total After Coupons: $21.44

Received:
$5 EB wyb $15 Unilever products
Net: $16.44

Got this in the mail yesterday. This should pair with a good sale then.

Friday, February 4, 2011

February Budget & Climbing

Time again for the recap. I'm in a budget crunch due to taking out a large portion of my emergency fund to buy a car. The good news is I now have a car that works & does not stall from point A to point B.


Meet Kori. She's a '99 Toyota Corolla. She currently has a little over 160,000 miles, but runs strong. Best part is I got her within 'budget' and I will not have any car payments. And I didn't have to borrow any money from my parents. She is mine free & clear. Yippie!

Not sure what's going to happen with Lizzy. She's a good car, but needs some work. Hopefully once I get a little extra money ($200?) I can take her to another mechanic and get a second opinion. If she's really easy to fix I'll get her fixed and give (sell for the price to fix) to my sister who doesn't have a car yet. That's what I'm hoping for. I really think she could go for another 50,000 miles or more. She runs great except for that stalling problem!

That all being said, my emergency fund was wiped out to about $200. Ouch! I need to rebuild that stat! Luckily January was a very kind month in the way of working. So I've doubled what was left in the emergency fund. February is not looking to be so lucky. This is going to take some time. With that in mind some adjustments are to be made.

Ice storm took out a few tress around here.


The Budget:
Bills (Electric) $103
Bunnies $30
Car Insurance $36 *Stayed the same!
Cellphone $36
Free Money $40 *$10 a week isn't much, but it's enough
Gas $180 *Small adjustment. Kori uses far less gas already, but I don't want leap before I take a good hard look. I'll give it some more time.
Groceries $100
Rent $280
Student Loans $472

Grand Total: $1277/month (Take home pay.)

Extra Funds Notes:
1. Everything extra goes to rebuild the emergency fund. There are no 'savings' as this fund gets rebuilt.
2. Categories on hold: Car Repair, Clothing, Health & Savings. All current funds in these areas are holding steady until the emergency fund is full. These will be treated temporarily as emergency funds if a situation warrants between now and then.


Emergency Fund:
Last Month: $202.84
This Month: $419.32
Goal: $1,000.00


It looks so pretty!


I'm not doing to well on a lot of non-finical goals. Really, it's been a bad month for it. Maybe it has to do with having a lot of hours at work? Things are slowing down so here's hoping for free time and a chance to make good on those goals. Although that will slow down the finical goals.

2011 Goals

Finical Goals

1. Buy A Car (A Reliable Car)
2. Rebuild Emergency Fund
3. Pay my parents Back Not applicable
4. Pay off another smaller loan
5. Save $750 for Cruise 2012!
6. Start a Gift Fund for Presents

Non-Finical Goals

1. Develop a sleep pattern - Getting there. I need to try and get up on time. Going to bed isn't too bad.
2. Lose 20lbs. - This is the next one to really work on. I need to plan exercise time.
3. Do more stuff that doesn't involve sitting & playing games on the 'couch'. - Um . . working on it . . .
4. No more dirty dishes in the sink @ the end of the night. - Getting closer?
5. Clean the apartment more often. - Totally didn't happen. Time for a major clean up this weekend.


Monthly Climb!!!
Grand Total Last Month: $43,140.15
New Grand Total: $42,844.31
Amount Paid Off: $295.84



This is going to be SLOW!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Got the Munchies Rite Aid?

Rite Aid has loads of goodies this week. I mean tons of stuff! It's unbelievable all the freebies people can get this week. Some of them don't require manufacture coupons at all. Just amazing. I've done three transactions at two different stores thus far. I really itching to run around and get more, but don't know if I really have the time.

I ran out to the store quick on Sunday. I was working until 6pm, but didn't actually get out until 6:20 because there were so many people in the store right at closing. It was really weird. There's never more than one person in the store at closing. Not sure what bug bit everyone. Even as I stood there open the door to let people out at least four groups tried to come in to go shopping. By the time I got home there was about 15 minutes until my normal Rite Aid where I shopped was closing. I went further out to one that closes an hour latter. Didn't want to get some cashier stuck until 20 minutes after closing!

I must say I was quiet pleased to find most items in stock. I thought for sure the ice cream would be long gone and nothing to say of snacks. While the Lay's Stax were not in stock there were plenty of Chex Mix to be had. I had some choice in ice cream and was satisfied. What really surprised me was all the Dixie plates and bowls were gone! What? Hopefully they will get more in soon. (Out at my normal store as well.) I might just have to get a raincheck.



Transaction 1 (Separated out to be sure I didn't have to many +up on one receipt & to be sure the Up Your Game +up printed. Colgate was thrown on so I could use the $16 +up I had)
4 Edy's Ice Cream @ $2.99 each = $11.96 (Two went to Sweetheart's parents)
4 Chex Mix @ $1.50 each = $6.00
Colgate Clinical Enamel $2.99
Total Before Coupons: $20.95

2 $.50/1 Chex Mix VV (Jan & Feb)
2 $1/2 Chex Mix GM insert (forget date)
$1/1 Colgate 4.0oz+
Total After Coupons: $16.95 (used $16+up, $.95 cash)

Received:
$5 +up wyb $15+ Up Your Game (limit 1!)
4 $2 +up Edy's
4 $1 +up Chex Mix (Monthly deal)
$2 +up Colgate
Net: $2.05 profit



Transaction 2:
3 Afrin @ $5.99 each = $17.97
AMO Complete $7.99
2 Colgate Clinical Enamel @ $2.99 each = $5.98
4 Coricidin @ $5.99 each = $23.96
4 Halls @ $1.50 each = $6.00
Total Before Coupons: $61.90

2 $3/1 Afrin (tried to ring a third one, but it beeped. I thought perhaps I gave her to many coupons, so I took it back. Oh well)
$2/1 Afrin VV
2 $1/1 Colgate 4.0oz+
4 $2/1 Coricdin
$2/1 Coricdin VV
2 $1.50 BOGO Halls (found these on a tear pad in K-mart. I have one left)
2 $.50/1 Halls VV (Jan & Feb)
Total After Coupons: $37.90 (used $37.00 +up, $.90 + $.16 tax cash)

Received/Will Receive:
3 $4 +up Afrin
$7.99 SCR AMO Complete
2 $2 +up Colgate
4 $4 +up Coricdin
2 $1 +up Halls wyb 2
$10 +up Heart Healthy Promo (makes a total of $20 +up received, limit 1)
Net: $14.09 profit (-$.16 tax)

I really wanted the Lay's Stax. I need to get some rabbit food for Snickers & Skittles and my normal Rite Aid was right there. I thought it couldn't hurt to stop and see if they had any left. Good thing I did as there were 4 left on the shelf. Two more bags of Chex Mix as I had another $1/2 q and another Affrin to use up that other coupon. (Discovered the lack of Dixie plates.)


Afrin $5.99
Andes' Mint $.12 (sale? Didn't want to pay much cash)
2 Chex Mix @ $1.50 each = $3.00
4 Lay's Stax (sour cream & onion) @ $1.00 each = $4.00
Total Before Coupons: $13.11

$3/a Affrin
$1/2 Chex Mix
Total After Coupons: $9.11 (used $9 +up & $.11 cash)

Received:
$4 +up Afrin
2 $1 +up Chex Mix
4 $1 +up Lay's Stax
Net: $.89 profit

Grand Net: $2.05 profit + $14.09 profit - $.16 tax + $.89 profit = $16.87
Also @ $80.74 for the Winter Rewards!