Spent 1.68 to make 8.97

Love the CVS Schick deal this week. I bought:
1 Can of Planter's nuts
2 Soft Soap (a good buy at 12/$10)
1 Schick Hydro razor
spent 1.68 oop and will submit for 8.97 rebate.
so for me all these items and a 7.29 MM. love CVS
and rebates!!!!

Swagcode until 4pm PDT

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Are there deals to be had at Sam's Club?

I think there are. I have been going back and forth over it is worth it to keep my membership and my husband and I have decided it is. These are the deals I feel are worth  the cost of membership and help me to save.
1)Dairy. Milk alone is a bargain there and as much as my family drinks, it is probably enough to pay for the membership right there. We also use Soymilk and it is the cheapest around unless a good coupon is out. Cheese is another big saving. We seem to have very high prices for cheese here and I find the big blocks are the cheapest way for me to go. I cut them and freeze in sections. This works fine as long as we are shredding it otherwise it gets a little crumbly.
2)Bread and tortillas are a good buy there too. I do find occasional deals at the market but buy most at Sam's.
3)Organic berries and apples, tomatoes and lettuce are always  available  and today I found organic 
     peaches.  Yes!!
4) Olives. We eat a lot of olives so I always buy a big pack.
5) Water softener salt. Cheapest price I've found outside of a good coupon to use at Walmart.
6) Some OTC medications I use regularly. Oh and don't forget eggs!!!
   I am sure there are many others but this is what I usually always pick up when there. I've found lots of things I see people coming out with that I know they can get cheaper shoppin the deals, but hey it's less people clearing the shelves right?

Free Pool Test Kit

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Free Home Depot Coupons & Savings

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Today to save money...

I didn't go anywhere except to take my daughter to a b-day party. All fun was had in the yard with the little one and just hanging out doing chores.
I called DSL to see if they would match an offer I recvd in the mail and they DID. They even bumped me up to faster service.
I submitted claims for our FSA acct. I have been putting this off but I buckled down and sent in $300 in claims.
Ate only leftovers for lunch and dinner as hubby is working out of town.
Wanted to go to Starbucks for an afternoon coffee so badly but just poured a little more water and coffee into the pot and made some at home.
Hung one of my loads of laundry to dry.
Organized and cleaned up my coupon area so I would be better able to find some straggling coupons next time I shop and...
checked websites to see what deals can be had for the new week.

See this is why...

This is why we chase those deals right? I had wanted to keep spending to a minimum this week so I took some of my accumulated ECBs to CVS, used the $5 off of $15 I got the other day and the wonderful machine gave me a $2 ECB when I scanned my card. So here I am already $7 ECBs ahead. So I bought the TP I needed, eggs, some noodles, some wart remover my daughter needed (almost $10-ouch) and some Flipz. The Flipz are all I had a cpn for. Spent some but not all of my ECB's and my oop was only 2.66.

Free Sample Playtex Gentle Glide Tampons

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Time to Buckle Down

     In the last few weeks our income has been reduced and I am trying to adjust my spending. Thankfully this is temporary but I need to watch what I spend for a couple more weeks. This IS why we stockpile right?  I need to keep shopping to a minimum and make my stockpile work for me. I just went thru my freezer which is low in meat to see what meals can be made so I will need as little as possible from the store. I will make a strata with frozen sausage and bread that has needed to be used and I will have dogs and sausages from all the odds and ends that get put in the freezer. I am glad for my stockpile as it will feed us and diaper my little one and keep us clean with shampoo and soap and all other toiletries well stocked. I do need TP though.
     Tomorrow I plan a trip to CVS and WAGS to use up a lot of bucks and RRs that I need to use and will get milk and eggs and other groceries I might need for the week and  and then to the grocery store to fill in. Stockpiling is such a blessing. It allows us to cut expenses when we need to and I am thankful that I have it.

A few things I've learned

I've learned a few things on my recent couponing journey:

1. Coupons are great. They truly are like money and I take good care of them.
2. Couponing takes time. Time to clip, time to hunt deals, and extra time when you are shopping. At least for me.
3. You must read the coupon/and or tags carefully. I've blown plenty a deal by not buying the right amount or item. And then you've wasted your coupon too.
4. To snag all the deals is impossible for me. Right now I am mainly using CVS, Walgreens, and Target and of course the grocery store, but I don't even go into Rite Aid which is super close to my house because I just don't have enough time.
5. Couponing can be messy. Even though I have a designated space in my closet to store all my cpning stuff, I still seem to have piles on my dining room table. I am coming up with ways to sort of store what I am working on but it is taking time to figure out a good system.
6. UUgghh! Make sure you do separate transactions when you are going to be submitting for rebates. Just yesterday I forgot to do this and will not be able to submit one of my rebates.

I'm still learning but I will never go back to not couponing. I will take breaks which I did last week but it saves so much money. Any comments on how to do any of the above better are greatly appreciated. I am still learning and checking other blogs to see how the pros do it.

Swagcode

Check the swidget!! It's worth five. It's good until 1:15 pm PDT.

CVS Diapers $2.37 a pack

If you are in need of diapers hurry over to CVS as they have their brand of diapers on clearance for 2.37 a package. That is a good price for something that will be peed and pooped in. I stocked up but they still had plenty left on the shelves.

Redeemed

After my so-so day at Target last week and not getting one of my $5 GCs because of my own mistake, I headed back to Target yesterday sans kids. I, being somewhat coupon challenged, must be able to concentrate when I shop. Able to read tags and make sure I am purchasing the right item for whatever deal. Anyway, I wanted to finish up what coupons I had left for the .42 Shout deal. I really needed to stock up on this so was so happy to see this deal last week. I printed as many coupons as I could off our computers and now am good for a while. Target has had some good deals these last few weeks.
I had a good trip and stocked up on some of the candy that was on clearance for the movies this summer, got the free pampers wipes and stocked up on Vitamin waters on sale with a deal right now. It was a good trip. $19 oop but not bad considering I needed to buy a few essentials (bras & undies) for my 12 yr. old. I feel much better now.

Target: Huge Candy Clearance

If you are looking for candy for the movies then head to Target. My Target had two end-caps full of candy on clearance. I picked up 3 of the big 3 Muskateers double bars priced .92 and used 3 .25 cpns making them. .67 a piece. Not bad. My daughter is headed to the movies so she is set. They have eveything on there from Milk Duds to Hersheys to 1000 Grand. Lots of variety but people were snatchin them up so if you are headed today see if your Target is clearancing the candy as well. I picked up 3 of the Almond Joy large sized for less than a dollar a piece but my kids will never see those. Muw-Ha-Ha!

The 1st Swagcode is Up!!

Check the blog as the first swagcode is up!!  Woo-Hoo!!!

Free Grilled Sandwich from Jack in the Box

Click on the link to print a coupon for a free grilled sandwich from Jack in the Box.
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Aww!!!

I have hardly shopped for deals in the last two weeks and it has been nice. I haven't even been out of the house this weekend (in the car that is). My hubby is leaving for a week tomorrow so I will do some shopping during the week. I am looking forward to getting some of the deals at CVS and Wags and need to use up bucks and RRs. Anyway, I have been trying to watch money very closely as my oldest daughter has her first huge tuition payment due in August. So we have spent a quiet but blissful weekend at home playing in the pool with my kids and working in the yard, taking walks to the park and bbqing. All free except for the price of food for grilling but that is a constant that never goes away. I am bummed at finally having to turn on our AC. It has been the coolest spring in So. Cal. I can ever remember and it has saved us a bunch to not run our air. This weekend has been hot though so on went the air. Off to get dressed finally for the day and think about what we will grill for dinner tonight.

I COULD CRY!!

You ever have this happen? You get to Target, you find some good deals but you are so rushed by your kids and time constraints that you get to the check out, hand over your coupons for the Fiber One's you're getting such a good deal on, that you don't realize you bought 4 instead of 5 boxes, so no $5 GC for you. AAgghh! I don't know what I did not buying the right amount, but with 5 people behind me and a two year old about ready to pop, I just had to eat it and go. I am not kidding that I thought I was gonna cry. You know you are so addicted to getting the deals when this happens to you. I just have to accept that life for me is not going to be the mega super saving, coupon queen kinda status right now. Too many things going on at home and busyness of life just get in the way of me achieving any such status. Oh well, like my kids were saying gee mom what's the big deal, your bill went from $69 to $41 and that is good right? Yes, that is great considering what I used to spend at Target. This is an example of  why I am "coupon challenged".

Garbage Can Soup

We have a funny name for a dinner we all love. We call it garbage can soup because it is a pot of soup made from all the leftovers that would make soup tasty, but would otherwise end up in the garbage. I keep a plastic container in the freezer that I just dump small amounts of leftovers into as they need to be ate or dumped. I don't add things that don't go into soup but all veggies and meat leftovers usually make it in. When the container is full I just make up a pot of soup with whatever broth would go well with the majority of meat in the container.
My kids love it when I make it and tell their friends they are eating garbage can soup for a laugh. I just whip up some corn bread from scratch and we have a very cheap meal. I love meals I can serve that I call free. Those I didn't have to shop for.

Cottonelle Free Sample

Make sure you click on the "sample both" button to the right to get wipes too.
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Free Always at Walgreens

Went in and bought the U by Kotex pads today and got two coupons for free boxes of Always pads. Already a $1 moneymaker and free stuff to boot. Yeah!! Don't know why it gave me two coupons but I will take them gladly. Good week at Walgreens!!

Bathroom re-do for 11.99

My hubby offered to paint my bathroom today so off to Ace I went with my $5 coupon. I bought the Royal paint on sale for $21.99 minus the $5 coupon and the $5 paint rebate for a total of 11.99 (minus tax). Can't beat that. I have picked up a few new things on clearance so will have a freshly painted, re-decorated bathroom for under $20 with the new picture I bought.

Free Sample Olay Body Wash

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Free Samples / Freebies / Free

swagbucks = YUM!!

Just enjoyed a caramel machhiato from Starbucks for free. Used my $10 gift card from Swagbucks. Yeah, I love it!!

Almost Free Organic Veggies

Just finished putting in a last few plants to our veggie garden this last weekend. I love to garden so this is not a chore for me but very relaxing. It is so economical to grow your own veggies if you plan ahead and start some plants by seed. Living in So. California we can just plop seeds in the ground and they will come up but I am already picking tomatoes from one of my volunteer plants that comes up every year from seeds that must re-seed from a few dropped tomatoes. I only have to buy one or two bags of compost as I make my own to supplement with and I lovingly tend my pile. Compost is expensive to buy so I try to make as much as I can and the plants love the homemade stuff. Every year I grow tomatoes, cukes, peppers, basil, parsley, dill, pumpkins and various squash that will be coming out of my ears soon. This year I am trying some potatoes too. It has been the coolest spring I can ever remember here so it seems the garden is a little slow growing but it is coming along. I use only organic fish emulsion and bugs are not much of a problem. Love sending one of my kids out to pick organic goodies for dinner.

FREE 7 DAY SUPPLY NATURE MADE FISH OIL

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Ever Tired of Couponing?

I am this week. I have had a slew of problems at CVS with my ECBs not generating and I am giving myself permission to not go to one more store until I either have to burn ECBs or RRs. That is why I did this blog and am taking a little break from shopping. I have so many toiletries already that I can handle a couple of days off right? So until next week, I will clean out my spice cabinet. Been wanting to get to that anyway. I love couponing but don't want to get burned out chasing deals. Simplified chasing is my motto.

Rebates for Vacation

I love rebates. I have decided to save our rebate money for vacation spending money. I can't believe I missed out on these for so many years. I have 17.99 in checks. Waiting on 50.49 in rebates and hunting down more. Let me know if you find any good ones. Jealous of the folks in other states that get those great liquor rebates where you can buy food. Oh, how I wish.

How I Spend Less than $10 a Year on Laundry Soap

      One of my kids has very sensitive skin so I had to start buying the more expensive fragrance free
detergents for our laundry. And why if they are leaving something out do you have to pay more for it? Anyway. I decided to try and make my own detergent to save money over the expensive store bought bottles. We have now been using my home-made recipe for two years and my daughter has had no problems with it and it is so inexpensive and does a great job. I figure I have spent less than $10 a year to make our detergent. I have had the box of Borax for the entire time and I believe it was only about $5-$6 dollars to buy it. Below is the recipe.
Hot Water
1/2 grated bar of Fels Naptha or Zote laundry bar soap (Zote is only .59 at the 99cents store)
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing soda (I just use a couple of heaping scoops of Oxy Clean cause I couldn't find the washing soda)
1/2 cup of Borax
Take a very large cooking pot and fill about a third full with water and put on the stove to heat. Grate the bar soap and dissolve in water. You don't have to boil it just get it hot enough to dissolve the soap. After that is done turn off the flame and pour in the other ingredients and stir to dissolve. Then add enough hot water to again double the amount. Let sit a few hours or over night. It will thicken a great deal. If it is too thick to pour just keep dilluting and you can even just heat it up a little. That is what I do. Then I take my funnel and pour into some empty laundry containers I saved and fill about half way and fill the rest with hot water and shake. I keep a really big container to just pour in the concentrate and refill my bottle as needed dilluting with half water and shaking well. Use a full cap or around a 3/4 cup amount per load. Some people like to add essential oils for fragrance but that is what I am trying to avoid.  The detergent does not suds up but that is not what cleans your clothes. Our clothes are as clean as before, my daughter is better off and I save a lot of money making my own. Less plastic bottles used too. I have to make it about every 6 weeks or so but it takes only a few minutes.

CVS hot Revlon moneymaker

At CVS they have the Revlon buy $10 get 4ECB. Well the CVS near me had various cosmetics 75% if they had a tag on the item so the lipgloss I found was 9.99 and after 75% off and the $2/1 Revlon coupon you pay .49 but they give you the full value of 9.99 so buy two lipglosses and spend .98 (plus tax) and come away with a 4ECB for a profit of $3 minus tax if I did all my math right. I am heading back now to do another one of these since you can do it twice.
**Update...Just got back from a different CVS and it did not generate the ECB's. This worked for me twice at a different CVS. So this is a big time YMMV deal but it is cheap to try and see if it works. You still get two Revlon lipglosses for .98 by using the $2 coupons so I didn't lose much by trying it.