Friday, July 18, 2008

Mall Savings

Not only do I check other blogs for deals but I also seek them out via message boards. One of my favorites is Fishing For Deals This is a community of women who simply post what they are finding where they are so that you can check your stores. Most often I look at the Target thread and Kmart. It is also good reference to know when sales will be starting which is what I used it for yesterday. I noticed an Old Navy post mentioned 50% off all clearance.

For those not familiar with this wonderful sale, let me fill you in! ALL of the clearance stuff is an ADDITIONAL 50% off!! Old Navy usually has it twice each year; once in January and again in July. I usually go in January to load up on boys pants. In my opinion, these pants hold up incredibly well! I have six boys---I know of what I speak! In July, I just grab whatever we need at the moment--this time it was shirts for church and baby clothes.

I noticed in the post at FFD, that not all stores were having the sale so it was suggested that you call to make sure. Yesterday I called my local (and only) Old Navy. A friendly young man named, Thomas answered the phone. I said, "Can you tell me if you are having the add...." and he jumped in, "Additional 50% off clearance? Yes we are!! Come on in and get you some stuff!!" I told him I would!

Today I made my way to the mall. Our ON always has a bunch of stuff on clearance. Sometimes it is overwhelming (I know, that is hard to believe but it is true!) Today was no exception. Rack after rack of clothes. My two girls made their way to the young ladies stuff while I wandered through young mens, boys, infant and toddler. I did pretty good I think.

I tallied up what we had before we got the register so that I would know for sure--I didn't want to spend more than $60 (for 8 kids that is pretty low). At the register, I chatted with Aaron who was impressed with my "Cadillac of Strollers" I was apparently "rockin'" LOL. I found that his father had 11 children and we chatted about free babysitting and loving' my girls (me not him LOL). When he gave me my total it was about $66, then he handed me a $10 off coupon which I started to stick in my purse. He kind of quietly said, "Girl, hold up, read that...that is good from TODAY until the 31st." I smiled and said, "Oh, can I use this today???" acting very innocent. He said, "Sure, ma'am!" LOL

So in the end I purchased: 16 shirts; 1 pair of jeans; 1 set of PJs and 2 packs of socks (3 pr each) for a total of 55.38! A total discount savings of almost $72!! *woot*

After we left Old Navy our savings was not done! I remembered to bring an Aunt Annie's coupone with me so we also got 2 pretzels (B1G1). Then we sat in the food court eating our pretzels while I fed the baby.

Next stop was EB Games for the oldest son who was at home babysitting. I found 2 games he wanted for 7.99 each and another for 2.99 so everyone was happy.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

CVS Saturday Deals 7/12/2008

Again, no camera means no pictures. *boo hoo*

Transaction #1
4 Dawn dishwashing liquid 2/$2
2 Olay cleansing cloths 4.99/each
2 olay body wash 5.99/each

I had 4 Olay coupons but for some reason only 2 were allowed. I never had that happen before. And she rang up the lowest ones first so I didn't get as much off as I could have. And she had trouble with the $3 off $15 coupon but she punched it in.

Total coupons: 5.00
used $16 ECBs
OOP: 5.45
got $12 ECBs

Transaction #2 (different CVS)
3 Pringles $1/each
4 Dawn $1 each
3 Febreeze Air Effects 2.50/each
1 Febreeze fabric freshener 3.99

used:
2 Dawn q's; pringles q; 3 febreeze q's including the buy one get one free. Coupon total: 8.59
Didn't use any ECBs for some reason. LOL
OOP: 12.74
got back $8 ECBs

Not great but not bad either I guess. And now I have about 12 bottles of Dawn! That should last until the next time they go on sale. LOL

To see more CVS deals and Superstars check out The "Cent"sible Sawyer

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Stockpile

For several weeks, I have had on my to do list, "hall closet." This was a reminder to me that I needed to re-organize my stockpile and write down what we have there so that we know. I kept putting this job off because, well, other things came up, like playing on the computer and, um, well other stuff. LOL

Last night, dh came home from work and mentioned that he had cut himself at work (he works construction). When he got out of the shower he asked for a bandaid. I told him they were in the hall closet. He opened the door and his eyes grew very wide. I knew that trying to explain to him WHERE the bandaids were would be harder than just getting up and getting him one. I knew then that the hall closet job had to be done ASAP.

This is one of those posts that would be really cool with pictures showing before, during and after. But *sigh* I have no camera anymore. *sigh* I miss my camera. One of my friends suggested saving my ECBs to get a new one, which really isn't a bad idea. ::giggle::

Back to my stockpile, at one point my 15yo dd walked through the dining room where everything was sitting in nice little rows and said, "Um, are you opening a CVS?" *he he he*

Here is what I have:
19 tubes of toothpaste
4 Extra strength pain reliever
2 Advil PM
4 aspirin
2 Excedrin Migraine
5 mouthwash
5 ladies' deoderant
7 men's deoderant
2 air freshener spray
3 glade wisp candles
2 kids' shampoos
5 regular shampoo
3 conditioner
2 body wash type soap
3 big bottles of purell
3 little bottles of purell
3 face cleaner soap type things (noxema, etc)
2 hair gel
5 hand soap
3 women's razors
2 men's razors (but one is a 3-pack)
4 lip balm
9 manual toothbrushes
2 battery toothbrushes
4 packs of cotton swabs
2 boxes of PrepH wipes
3 boxes of Tums packet thingys

When my parents were here last month, I gave them several items. They take care of first aid at motorcycle events with the Christian Motorcycle Association. So I gave them the 3 glucose monitors I had along with several first aid type things. And since my dh prefers electric razors, I gave my Daddy some of the razors I had.

I am sure my stockpile is not as impressive as some others but I think this is pretty good for only doing this about 6 months or so. And now I know what I have and what we might want more of and what we DON'T need. LOL

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

School Supplies!!

I love this time of year when I can get school supplies for cheap!!!

Until tomorrow, you can get pencils, folder and Purell for 1 penny. They also have 3 ring binders for 25 cents. Since I am a homeschooler, I have a teacher reward card, this allowed me to get double the limit of stuff. So for about $2.50 we got: 20 2-pocket folders; 4 Purell; 4 pks of pencils; and 8 3 ring binders. Since Staple's is less than a mile from us, I might make another trip this afternoon and maybe tomorrow too. LOL

I also hit Walmart school supplies yesterday. Last year, we purchased about 300 notebooks for 10 cents each--not all at once, I would get about 100 each time. We might have gotten more than 300 but I don't remember. This year notebooks are 5 cents each!! *woot* I bought 50 yesterday (total 2.50). I will probably get more as time goes on. My little boys like to draw in these and for 5 cents each---I say, Draw Away!!

I don't get a lot of school stuff until Target has its big clearance. Then we tend to load up on scissors and other stuff like that.

Not to figure out where to put all this stuff. Hmmm....

Walgreen's Take 2

I wanted to do the diaper deal again at Walgreen's last week.

So I bought:
3 Scunci hair things
2 Honey Bunches of Oats cereal
1 Sunsilk shampoo
1 Sunsilk styler

I used $5 RR from the previous diaper deal and 2 Sunsilk q's

When my transaction was finished, I asked about my RR (should have been $5 for scunci and $2 for HBO). She said, "You used a coupon." I said, "Yeah, for the shampoo." She shrugged and said, "All I know if someone used a coupon yesterday and she didn't get the RR" It made no sense to me! LOL

I did the diaper deal then--3 pk of diapers. I used the q from the Easy Saver and got 7.50 off and THIS time got my $5 RR.

I still don't understand why my RR from the first transaction didn't print but oh well.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

CVS 7/3/2008

It has been a few weeks since I have been to CVS. There just hasn't been anything to really make me want to go. After cruisin' some other blogs and message boards I decided to try and see if I could get in on some of the hidden ECBs or ECBs that were ringing up wrong. Well....that didn't work out too good. Of course, I might have read wrong or just I mighthave just been an air head. LOL At any rate, here is my sorry pathetic CVS trip today. LOL

2 CVS pantyliners 99 cents/each
2 Dr Peppers 1.39/each
2 Mt Dew 1.39/each
1 CVS makeup cleansing cloth 2.99
1 CVS petroleum jelly 1.99
1 revlon tweezer 2.99
1 revlon fingernail clippers 2.99

I used a $2 cvs q and a 1.50 q. Then I used 14.98 in ECBs thinking that I was going to get back about 13.96. So I paid 19 cents oop and got back a whole 6.48 in ECBs. *blech* a loss of 8.50 but I guess that is OK--live and learn. I think maybe my deal from Walgreens made up for it. LOL

Walgreens 7/3/2008

I have been lax in posting deals I have been getting. It just isn't as fun to post when you cannot show pictures but *sigh* my digital camera has died due to being "passed" between two of my children AND now it is missing altogether. We suspect that one of the smaller children understanding that the camera was broke, did what we tell them to do when something is broken--and threw it away. So until I get a new camera or find and fix the old one, posts without pictures will have to do.

I am still getting the hang of Walgreens but this week had a deal that I knew I could benefit from--diapers! I have 2 in diapers so every time I can save on them I do!

Today I bought:
Sunsilk Shampoo
Sunsilk style stuff
2 boxes of Honey bunches of Oats
3 jumbo pks of diapers
1 pk of batteries (not part of the deal, just something I remembered I needed when we got there LOL)

Sunsilk was B1G1 in the ad and I had Sunsilk q's--1.50 and 1.00 off so 4.29-2.50=1.79 for both
Diapers were on sale 5.99/each--I used the Easy Saver q. It took off 7.50. So 17.97-7.50=10.47
Cereal was 2 for $5 unfortunately I didn't have any q's

I paid about $20 oop and got back $7 in RR (5 for diapers and 2 for cereal). I plan to go back again at least once for more diapers. And I figure it is a good way to build up some RRs for stuff I need.

There is also the Scunci hair accessories which are 3 for $10 and get $5 RR back. That might be the next trip! LOL And of course, more cereal. LOL