CVS - Honest Tea & Blink

Small trip at CVS this week. I'm very happy that I was able to get 4 FREE Honest Tea. I love that stuff so much! Imagine my surprise when I told our coke rep I couldn't wait for our delivery of Honest Tea. He told me I was the only one. I suppose everyone has their preference, but no one? Maybe the stores don't like getting it in because it use to come from the warehouse and have a relatively short expiration date? Matters not, more for me! ^_^

Blink Tears $7.99
4 Honest Tea 2 $.99 each = $3.96
Godiva Gems White Chocolate $2.49 (clearance, the apple caramel is also clearance)
Total Before Coupons: $14.44

$4/1 Blink Tears (Peelie! I felt very lucky to have found it.)
2 $.99/1 BOGO Honest Tea
2 $.99/1 Honest Tea (Adjusted down from $1)
$1/1 Godiva Gems CVS Coupon Center
Total After Coupons: $5.48

Received:
$7.99 EB Blink
Net: $2.51 profit!

CVS - Last week

Passover/Easter dinner. Makes dinner interesting.

Busy week/weekend. I got the chance to enjoy some time with my parents and latter my Sweetheart's parents this weekend. Just a good time to relax. I'm happy to say with the holiday I'm able to take an extra day off this week from CVS. Yippee! I could have used the extra to pay for student loans, but I'm just so tired of working. (Even though I got a short 'vacation' right before this. It was only one day worth!)

Any who . . . On ward with the shopping! My mom asked for some Godiva Chocolate. She said she saw it on sale at CVS. Alas I think she got her weeks confused. Matters not as one of her favorites was on clearance for 75% off! With $1/2 coupons from the papers I was happy to buy up all we had.

6 Godiva Chocolate Orange Bars @ $1.04 each
Total Before Coupons: $6.24

3 $1/2 Godiva Bars or Bags (I forget how much it had to weigh.)
Net: $3.24 cost! $.54/bar is great!

We ran out of the Aqua Fresh toothpaste & toothbrushes for kids before I had even gotten to work at the beginning of the week. I grabbed rain checks to be sure I could get them latter. Some of the toothpaste came in on the truck. I briefly thought about buying them all, but only grabbed two. I figured if they were on the shelf when I was leaving Saturday I would get them. They were gone. I'll just wait. It's not like I need to make a special trip or something. :-P Also found bath sponges (or whatever they're called) on clearance!

2 Aqua Fresh Kids Toothpaste @ $1.00 each = $2.00
5 Bath Sponges @ $.50 each = $2.50 (90% off clearance!)
2 Head & Shoulders @ $4.99 each = $9.98
Orbit Gum $1.49
Orbit Gum FREE (BOGO sale)
Reach Toothbrush $1.00 (Not regularly carried? Somehow we had one.)
Total Before Coupons: $16.97

2 $1/1 Aqua Fresh Kids Toothpaste
$4.99 BOGO Head & Shoulders
$2/1 Head & Shoulders (P&G Have You Tried This mailer)
$1/2 Orbit Gum
$1/1 Reach Toothbrush (listed w/ a bunch of other J&J oral items)
Total After Coupons: $5.98

Received:
$2 EB Head & Shoulders
$1 EB Green Bag Tag (I'll try to put this in when I remember it.)
Net: $2.98 cost

Let's go for another good week!

Saving Sunday - Mailbox!

These are all items that I actually got last week. I hope I can get to my CVS post tomorrow. At the latest Tuesday. I want to spend some one on one time with my Sweetheart. Loads of time with the families this weekend. (Although I did work Saturday morning.)

A little of this & a little of that

Not much shopping this week. I got back from my weekend away late Sunday night. Monday was a day off, but Sweetheart had gotten food poisoning. He was sick early, early Monday morning and then the rest of the day. Not much got done around here. When he's sick at home & I'm around I don't feel like doing anything. I mean nothing! I didn't even want to get out of bed. It's not a bad way to spend the day, just unproductive. Tuesday I played catch up with chores, Wedneday had a friend, Christian over for dinner and Thursday was all day (9:00am-9:30pm) at work between the two jobs.

I did get a chance to head out to Walmart for a quick trip. I wanted to test the overage policy. I did get anything drastic, just some floss, toothbrushes and more Always Infinity. (Of coarse now Target is including the Infinity in the $5 GC deal. I only have two coupons left! ARG! See here.) I've got enough Infinity to last for a long time at this point. I'll use my last coupons and be done with it.

3 Advantage Toothbrush @ $1.97 each = $5.91
Always Infinity $3.97
2 Reach Floss @ $.88 each = $1.76
Total Before Coupons: $11.64

3 $2/1 Oral-B Toothbrush (Specific types listed)
$2/1 Always Infinity
2 $1/1 Reach Floss (No size restriction)
Total After Coupons: $1.64 cost

The cashier hardly looked at me as he took the coupons. I had one on top of each item so it would be easily visible. He just scooped them all up and took a quick glance. The first one beeped asking him to verify the amount. He took another look at it and just entered it all through. (I'm assuming the beeping was because the coupon was higher than the item was priced, because the Always coupon did not beep.) It was nice to use the overage to help pay for something else. Not sure if I want to test the giving me money back portion. I would feel weird.

In other news, I managed to find some of the free rebates I've seen circling around the blogs. (Actually found them a while ago.) I will say that Freschetta By the Slice is AWESOME! I just wish it wasn't twice as much as the Celeste. If only I was as happy with the Snapple. I don't normally purchase diet because sweet diet drinks have a very strange after taste. I didn't spot Aspartame on the label and decided to give it a try. (Aspartame usually means it's got that nasty taste to it.) It's dinkable, but not what I was hopping for. Yep. I'm staying away from diet drinks. (Not worth it!) At least when I have Christian (a diabetic) over he can have something other than water for a while.

I hope I can get my CVS shopping done tonight. I doubt I will remember about it tomorrow. As today is truck day I'm hoping some of the free after coupon items come in. I would like to get another green bag tag to throw on reusable bags & the kids oral care items. We'll see what tonight brings.

I'm alive!

I'm alive, really I am. Just far too busy. I hope I can post something tomorrow morning. I didn't forget, just out of time. Gotta run!

CVS - Special K & Schick Hydro

It's a bit late for me to be posting this. I'll be away for the weekend and will not have another chance until Monday at best. Yippie for deals!

Always Infinity 16ct $3.99
Essense of Beauty Anti-Bacterial Soap $4.19
Schick Hydro 5 Raiser $10.49
Schick Hydro 5 Raiser FREE (BOGO)
Schick Hydro Shaving Gel $4.29
Schick Hydro Shaving Gel FREE (BOGO)
2 Special K 'Chips' @ $1.99 each = $3.98
Special k Crackers $1.99
Total Before Coupons: $28.93

$2/1 Always Infinity
$3.99 Essense of Beauty (Facebook offer)
2 $3/1 Schick Hydro Raiser (Facebook offer)
2 $2/1 Schick Hydro Shaving Gel (Look for peelies!)
$2/3 Special K products
Total After Coupons: $10.94

Received:
$1 EB Always Infinity ~ Limit 1 :(
Net: $9.94 cost

A bit higher than normal. Sweetheart prefers Schick Hydro 5 to the Gillette Pro-Glide and this was the best deal I've seen on them in a while. ($4.49 for two raisers or $2.25 each.) The shaving gel was an awesome find! My co-worker spotted it and offered them to me. ^_^ I don't need them, but I think my dad & brother do! ($.29 for two!) I had also hoped to use the free shave gel coupons left over from when these raisers were free, but they expired 4/1/11. Ah well.

I was also hoping the EB deal would still print with the Special K, but alas this week sale cancels it out. (Crackers & 'Chips' for $1.99 is flagged in the system as the better deal. Sometimes it doesn't effect the EB though. Thought I would give it a try.) I did however get a raincheck for the crackers as there were no more to be had. Still not a bad deal and they're tasty!

Trying Target

I tried my hand at Target again last week. I had see something about OLAY deal here & some Aveeno (see here). When I got there I kept looking at my coupons and couldn't seem to match the product. I had $2 off OLAY in shower body wash, soap or body wash and all I was seeing was face cleansers. So I didn't get it. I went home a bit confused.

More confusion: I thought I spotted a great deal on Always Infinity. I was excited and made a special trip just for the 'deal' today. (Also for the OLAY, only to realize it ended on Saturday!) Turns out while the Infinity had signs advertising 'new lower price' they weren't apart of the buy 3 get a $5 GC. I didn't figure this out until I got to the register. A manager was nice enough to check out the signs for me and even offered to bring up the correct products to the register. My coupons were only for the Infinity though. Disappointing. Just not my day Target!

I did do a quick price check on Nivea Body wash. I peaked a head at the CVS ads and there's suppose to be an awesome coupon for it! (See here. They're priced @ $3.04! Now I'm excited.

At least I didn't go home empty handed this time.

Aveeno = Free, Always Infinity = $3.99 - $2/1 Q - $.05 reusable bag = $1.94

My coupons for the Aveeno would have resulted in overage, but the cashier adjusted it down. (Still free Aveeno.) The day shift cashiers seem well trained with the coupon use. I only wish it was more consitant for evenings and weekends. At least my cashier was really nice about adjusting the coupon. As it was only going to save me $.39 she asked it I would like to save it and use it another time. (No I want to get the product free. That was the point this time. LOL.) She also remembered to scan for $.05 off because I brought in a reusable bag. YEA!

CVS - Finished the Out Of Stocks

It's a relatively quiet sale week for CVS after last. There are two good freebies for Sunday - Tuesday, but that's about it. (Bubbles & one piece of candy.) I plan on getting in the Airwick sale, but that will have to be latter. For now I managed to get a hold of the hot sale items of last week that we ran out of on Sunday! Truck isn't until Friday. Going like mad as soon as we started unloading! I wrote a LOT of rain checks last week.

Last Week (Saturday, Morning! Gone by the afternoon):
Glide Floss $3.49
Gold Bond Body Wash $5.88
GUM Flossers $2.00
4 Snickers Creme Egg @ $.50 each = $2.00
Total Before Coupons: $13.37

$1/1 Glide Floss
$2/1 Gold Bond Body Wash
$.75 GUM Flosser (IP, no prints available)
2 $1/2 Mars Product (Took forever to find the single snickers listed.)
Total After Coupons: $7.62

Received:
$2.50 EB Glide
$3.00 EB Gold Bond Body Wash
$2.00 GUM Flosser
Net: $.12 cost

This Week:
Bubbles $1.99
Russel Stover Truffle $.74 (not pictured, it's all gone!)
Total: $2.73

No Coupons!

Received:
$1.99 EB Bubbles
$.74 Truffle
Net: FREE! (Gotta love that.)

Rite Aid - Catchup Time!

While I didn't post about Rite Aid last week, I did shop there. I made one trip earlier in the week and one latter. The first one was great! The second one I left empty handed. I had forgotten my coupons for the poligrip for my earlier trip. There were none to be found when I went back latter. No raincheck. I don't bother getting rain checks for SCR items because I think it's too much of a pain. Who knows when it will show up again anyway?

~This was two transactions, summarized for simplicity.

Gillette Pro Glide $9.99
Neli Nasal Dock $6.00
2 Scunci @ $1.99 each = $3.98
2 Tena Ultra Thins @ $9.99 each = $19.98
Total Before Coupons: $35.95

$5/1 Gillette Pro Glide (P&G "Have You Tried" Mailer)
2 $2.50/1 Tena Ultra Thins (IP)
$3 off $15 purchase
Total After Coupons: $26.95 + $.13 tax ($21 +up used)

Received/Will Receive:
$5 +up Gillette Pro Glide
$6 +up Neli Dock
2 $1.99 +up Scunci (Limit 2 per card)
2 $9.99 SCR Tena(Limit 2 per household)
Net: $7.88 profit

This week there's an awesome deal on John Fredia Root Awakening. (Or just John Fredia if you were lucky enough to get the coupons in the Sunday inserts a while back.) I'm more than happy to create a bountiful supply of shampoo. I have in the past spoiled myself with buying salon brand, but I wanted to see if I could cut back. I know Pantene, Aussie, Dove and several others haven't worked for my hair. I'm hoping the 'Salon Inspired' kind will. Fingers crossed!

Lucky me! I found some bonus sizes! Yes I took all three. Still lots more of the regular size on the shelf.

4 John Fredia Root Awakening @ $5.00 each = $20
Total Before Coupons: $20.00

4 $2/1 Root Awakening (IP, see iheartriteaid.com or houndingwithfrugalsuz)
$2 off $10 select hair care products VV (Hair care brands featured in videos)
$1 off any purchase
Total After Coupons: $9.00 ($8.98 +up used, no tax)

Received:
$10 +up wyb $20 John Fredia, Boire & Curel
Net: $1.00 profit

I used my +up from this transaction to pay for the next. I made small oopps on my part as I didn't mean to give the cashier both of my $1 off any purchase coupons. It resulted in a negative total. I was ready to through on a pack of gum, but she said "It's only $.12. We'll just have to watch it more carefully next time."

WHAT?! *blinks*

You're policy says no overage! Have me grab a piece of candy or void off a manufacture's coupon. It was to late as she already hit a button and her drawer popped open. She handed me the $.12 and I kept asking "Are you sure?" I did watch the total closely . . . there was $10.xx before tax and discount and $10.xx after tax and discount. I figured it would be maybe $.25? Nope, went under somehow. One day I'll figure out their registers.

AMO Complete $7.99
BIC Hybrid 6pk $4.99
BIC Flex4 4pk $4.99
2 Gillette Body wash @ $2.99 each = $5.98
4 Sinkers Creme Eggs 2 $.50 each = $2.00
Visine for Contacts $4.76 (10% discount)
Total Before Coupons: $31.71

$1/1 AMO Complete (kept the peelie on the package for latter)
2 $3/1 BIC (specific ones listed on coupon, I matched them in the store)
$2.99 BOGO Gillette
2 $1/2 M&M Candy (Had to read the coupons twice before I found these specifically listed. It's a long list with tiny words.)
$2/1 Visine in-ad coupon
$2/1 Visine (IP, they're everywhere!)
$3 off $15 purchase
2 $1 off purchase VV (limited by item not transaction)
Total After Coupons: $9.72 + $.16 tax (used $10+up)

Received/Will Receive:
$7.99 SCR AMO Complete
$2 +up BIC
2 $2 +up Gillette (limit 2)
$1 +up Visine
Net: $5.23 profit

*I get it now. The $10 +up must have lowered my tax! The 10% discount gets shown 'after' the subtotal. hmmm . . . must be more careful next time.

CVS x2!

I shopped some sales on Saturday night this week. It's unusual as I don't normally work on Saturday night. (I get days on Saturday! ^_^) We start are sales at 6pm after the Pharmacy is closed for the day. That gives about three hours to put up all of our signs. For the most part they get finished, although there have been a few times with cosmetics or seasonal to put up Sunday morning.

2 Colgate Toothbrushes @ $2.75 each = $5.50
Gum Eez-Thru Flosser 90ct $2.00
2 Right Guard Body Wash @ $3.88 each = $7.76
2 Salnpas Patch 4ct @ $2.49 each = $4.98
Total Before Coupons: $20.24

2 $1/1 Colgate Toothbrush
$.75/1 Gum Eez-Thru (Forgot my second coupon at home)
$3.88 BOGO Right Guard Body Wash
$3/1 Salnpas
$1.98/1 Salnpas (Adjusted down from $3)
Total After Coupons: $8.63

Received:
$4 EB Colgate Toothbrush
$2 EB Gum Eez-Thru
$3 EB Right Guard Body Wash
Net: $.37 profit

CVS on facebook put out a great $5 off $40 purchase coupon. I just had to find a good deal. I ended up rushing around before work one day to make my purchase. We were out of all the body wash & floss deals. I had to switch things up on the fly. Luckily I had my coupon booklet with the Gas-X preventive coupons from a while back. The buy $20 get $10 EB deal allowed me to rack up the $40 needed quickly.

Complete Contact Solution $8.99
Crest Complete Mouth Wash $3.49
Flinstones w/ Iron $8.29 (for mom, had a CVS coupon expiring that day)
3 Gas X Prevent @ $6.79 each = $20.37
2 John Fredia Shampoo @ $5.00 each = $10.00
2 Oral-B Toothbrushes @ $2.99 each = $5.98
4 Schick Women 2ct @ $1.29 each = $5.16
Total Before Coupons: $62.28 (Went a little over what I had planned)

$1/1 Complete
$1/1 Crest Mouth Wash
$3/1 Flinstones (CVS Coupon Machine!)
3 $4/1 Gas X Prevent
2 $2/1 John Fredia
$2.99 BOGO Oral-B selected types
$2/1 Oral-B
4 $1/1 Schick Raisers (No size restriction, for the donation box)
$5 off $40+ purchase
Total After Coupons: $27.29

Received:
$8.99 EB Complete
$2.50 EB Mouth Wash
$10 EB Gas X (buy $20 get $10)
$3 EB John Fredia (Buy $10 get $3)
$4 EB Oral-B Toothbrush (2 offers)
Net: $1.20 profit!

A good week at CVS.

April Budget & Climbming

Only small changes in budget this month. I've considered pushing down my gas budget again, but prices are jumping like mad. I've heard rumors about it jumping to over $4/gallon before summer starts. Yikes! I think I'll keep my budget as is. I'll need some extra gas money for a trip latter this month. Extra money can just go to the car fund for Kori's inspection.

Speaking of Kori, she was expensive the other week. Her oil light kept popping on and off, so I decided to get her oil changed. (Which was listed as being done at the end of October, but she's only gone about 2,000 miles since then.) Since she's an older car with high millage I need to get a more expensive oil. As it turned out she also need a tail light replaced and a new serpentine belt. (The old belt was cracked.) There were a few other small items putting my grand total at about $190! I hope her inspection goes better than that. (All these items would have been caught at inspection anyway.)

On the brighter side of that same weekend I did my taxes. I swear I hear people groaning. Tax time is generally a good thing for me as I get some money back. I got enough back to finish off my emergency fund! And enough to finish off my goal savings for my 2012 girls trip, with some left over! The left over part I split between Kori's future inspection & paying off one of my loans. I just need to keep it handy.


Emergency Fund:
Last Month: $782.92
This Month: $1,000.00
Goal: $1,000

GOAL MET!

The Budget:
Bills (Electric) $103
Bunnies $30
Car Insurance $36
Cellphone $36
Free Money $40
Gas $140 (works out to $35 a week)
Groceries $100
Rent $310
Student Loans $472

Grand Total: $1267/month (Take home pay.)

Extra Funds Notes:
1. Health $20
2. Clothing $20
3. Car Repair $60

*Extra money tallied up at the end of the month. Each category lists a maximum contribution. Any additional funds are to pay off one of my student loans.

2011 Goals

Finical Goals

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

*Not much left for the finical goals. ^_^

Non-Finical Goals

1. Develop a sleep pattern - Get up in the morning still kills me. I'm getting a little better at it. Maybe I should just get up when Sweetheart takes his shower?
2. Lose 20lbs.
-Not even going there . . . I've been terrible. Not exercising in the least. :( I would today, but I'm not feeling that good. (Fevers are not fun.) Good things: I've swapped soda for seltzer water. (mostly) And I've been reading menus more carefully so I choose better options. (I look for those 'healthy choice' symbols and pick from there.)
3. Do more stuff that doesn't involve sitting & playing games on the 'couch'.
- . . . shame on me. (Remember? Not exercising in the least?)
4. No more dirty dishes in the sink @ the end of the night. - This is one I've actually done! There might be an occasional cup or two, but that's it. ^_^
5. Clean the apartment more often. - Schedule is set! For the most part Sweetheart and I have been sticking to it. The bathroom is getting clean almost regularly. (Quick cleans in between the big cleans.) The living room is being vacuumed. (Almost weekly actually.) Now if only we can keep the kitchen neat and the bedroom straightened up. Focusing on just one area a week is helping.

Monthly Climb!!!
Grand Total Last Month: $42,547.41
New Grand Total: $42,204.69
Amount Paid Off: $342.72


Last month was just under $300. Where did that extra pay off come from? It took me a bit to figure it out. My Upromise savings was transferred in the middle of March. Yeah! Let's keep on plugging away! I'll get there some day.

Saving Sunday - Mailbox!

Free pancakes! Dog food sample & Pyrex Pot Holder!

Donation Box

Baby items! Thought it could be useful at a women's shelter.

I don't have enough time today to actually post my budget. (I'm picking up a few unexpected hours at work.) Instead I thought I would share the pictures I took of my donation box. Unfortunately I could take one nice large photo. To much stuff at roughly all the same height.

This 'box' is different than the previous one. All medical related items are actually going to Africa. An older couple came into to CVS looking for donations. While the store couldn't I could as an individual. I was hoping to get more items together, but sales just haven't been that great. (Or lack of stock.) The rest of the items are going to a local women's shelter.

I didn't know what I was going to do with those vitamins, but they were on the list!

TP! Everyone could use some TP and dish soap.