What is my challenge? Spend as close to $20 a week
at Food Lion over the next 4 weeks while purchasing items we need or to
add to the stockpile based on sales. I am also going to give myself $10 a
week to spend at CVS to keep rolling ECB. So that is a total of $30 a
week for the next 4 weeks to feed our family of 6.
Week One Shopping:
I stopped at Food Lion after work on Wednesday. I purchased Coffee
Filters (a need), 2 12 pack rolls of toilet paper, 1 6 pack of paper
towels and 3# of ground beef. I used the 5/25 and 2 $0.75 coupons on the
toilet paper. Total spent $20.15, saved 12.50. I also got a Catalina
coupon for $2 off $10 of the house brand products. My plan is to save
this for next week to use to increase my saving.
CVS- After
looking at the ad on Thursday and Friday, I decided that their were
really only one deal that started on Sunday that I would be interested
in. So Friday night, Matt and I headed to CVS to use his card for
another Twizzlers deal , free candy and an I-Tunes card. I was surprised
to learn that I could not use ECB for the purchase of an I-Tunes card.
I ended up spending $12.01 with a total of 7 ECB for the next couple of
weeks!
Total Spent- $32.01
Week Two- Matt
and I went to Food Lion on Wednesday night. I had a list of four items
that we were completely out of. So I purchased Olive Oil, Sour Cream,
Freezer Bags, Sandwich Bags, 4 2L Sodas and a pack of gum. Total Spent
$19.00. I did receive another Catalina coupon for $1.50 off 10 of the
house brands. Fast forward to last Saturday, stops at both CVS and Food
Lion. CVS, I scan my card and received a free Children's Gummy Vitamin.
So I purchased a total of 4 AMP energy drinks and the vitamins total
spent $1 with 6 ECB earned. You can read the highlights of the Food Lion trip, we spent $64.24. Definitely, failure.
Total Spent- $84.24
Week 3- This
week started off much better. I stopped at CVS on Wednesday to complete
the Suave deal. Purchased 2 bottles of Kid's Shampoo and 4 bottles of
Body Wash. Total Spent $5.84 with 4 ECB earned. After looking over the
Food Lion ad and realizing that we were completely out of milk and
cheese, I decide that this week would also be a fail. We had to have the
car serviced in Winston so I planned at stop at Target and Costco.
Target was awesome, I purchased a swim top for me, dress for Lily,
school supplies and cups and napkins for the party for $43. In the
spirit of the challenge, I only purchased items at Costco that we were
out of. I spent $150.00 Part of the rationale for my decision was that
if I stuck to the challenge and purchased milk and cheese at Food Lion, I
would have spent the $20 this week in addition to another $150 or more
in 2 weeks when the challenge is over. In addition, I am on vacation
next week so I want to have options to eat at home without the urge to
spend money out on meals.
Thoughts?
Showing posts with label CVS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CVS. Show all posts
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Grocery Shopping Challenge
I love a good challenge. After several years of reading blogs and even writing. I have seen a lot different various on grocery challenges such as "feeding a family of four for $100 a week." or "Eating from pantry." This is my own version, the first of which I have attempted and shared from day one! Feel free to leave a comment and join me!
How I decided on this: I have slowly been adding to the stockpile since the first of the year, currently most of the cabinets are full. I received in the mail last week 4 coupons for $5 off $25 at Food Lion each one good for one week. I have already spent $312 on groceries this month and really need to take a big chunk out of the grocery budget to help pay some auto expenses. School starts in 4 weeks and prior to that I will have to restock on snacks and other lunch items. I definitely want to use the $5/25 coupons from Food Lion especially since I pass 2 on the way to work and historically they don't have a good coupon policy. I also realize that I could never do an eat out of the pantry challenge something always seems to come up and we need "x". So after thinking and deliberation I decided on the $35 a week Grocery challenge for the next 4 weeks starting today!
What is my challenge? Spend as close to $20 a week at Food Lion over the next 4 weeks while purchasing items we need or to add to the stockpile based on sales. I am also going to give myself $10 a week to spend at CVS to keep rolling ECB. So that is a total of $35 a week for the next 4 weeks to feed our family of 6.
I am going to make 2 exceptions or rule bending items up front. First, I will not be counting my final trip to Costco and/or produce stand to purchase last minute items for Kendall and Zach's Birthday Party. I have already purchased most of the paper product but plan to purchase watermelons and sweet items along with Pizza and drinks to serve. Second, the rumored Harris Teeter Triple event, if this occurs I will use the CVS budget to purchase items is there are too good of deals to pass up!
Week One Shopping: I stopped at Food Lion after work on Wednesday. I purchased Coffee Filters (a need), 2 12 pack rolls of toilet paper, 1 6 pack of paper towels and 3# of ground beef. I used the 5/25 and 2 $0.75 coupons on the toilet paper. Total spent $20.15, saved 12.50. I also got a catalina coupon for $2 off $10 of the house brand products. My plan is to save this for next week to use to increase my saving. Success so Far!!!!!
How I decided on this: I have slowly been adding to the stockpile since the first of the year, currently most of the cabinets are full. I received in the mail last week 4 coupons for $5 off $25 at Food Lion each one good for one week. I have already spent $312 on groceries this month and really need to take a big chunk out of the grocery budget to help pay some auto expenses. School starts in 4 weeks and prior to that I will have to restock on snacks and other lunch items. I definitely want to use the $5/25 coupons from Food Lion especially since I pass 2 on the way to work and historically they don't have a good coupon policy. I also realize that I could never do an eat out of the pantry challenge something always seems to come up and we need "x". So after thinking and deliberation I decided on the $35 a week Grocery challenge for the next 4 weeks starting today!
What is my challenge? Spend as close to $20 a week at Food Lion over the next 4 weeks while purchasing items we need or to add to the stockpile based on sales. I am also going to give myself $10 a week to spend at CVS to keep rolling ECB. So that is a total of $35 a week for the next 4 weeks to feed our family of 6.
I am going to make 2 exceptions or rule bending items up front. First, I will not be counting my final trip to Costco and/or produce stand to purchase last minute items for Kendall and Zach's Birthday Party. I have already purchased most of the paper product but plan to purchase watermelons and sweet items along with Pizza and drinks to serve. Second, the rumored Harris Teeter Triple event, if this occurs I will use the CVS budget to purchase items is there are too good of deals to pass up!
Week One Shopping: I stopped at Food Lion after work on Wednesday. I purchased Coffee Filters (a need), 2 12 pack rolls of toilet paper, 1 6 pack of paper towels and 3# of ground beef. I used the 5/25 and 2 $0.75 coupons on the toilet paper. Total spent $20.15, saved 12.50. I also got a catalina coupon for $2 off $10 of the house brand products. My plan is to save this for next week to use to increase my saving. Success so Far!!!!!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Shopping This Week Including Renovations
Sunday, our local Big Lots offered 20% off everything. My mom grabbed a coupon for me and then both Kendall and Zach stay at their house while we shopped. I was hoping to grab several things for the renovation. We purchased 2 bedding sets one for Haley and one for Lily, in addition we found a coordinating blanket for Kendall's bed. My current plan is to use the extra pillow shams as topper for windows. Matt has scraped and painted the ceiling and started working on the walls. It will take at least 2 coats of paint so no new pictures for a week or so!
Updated Spending Totals for Renovations
Budget information:$1000
Total spent $470 with $530 remaining.
Big Lots spent $55. for new bedding. Lowes- Spent 70. for blinds, wood for Lily's bed and miscellaneous. Total for the week $125
Total spent $595 with $405 left, we are half way with our budget. Hopefully the majority of the rest will be spent on new furniture at IKEA.
I also shopped at CVS on Sunday, I came away really disappointed because I spent $4 more than I should have because I forgot to use my ECB on my first transaction. I ended up spending $16 overall. I was able to purchase 4 bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo, 1 bottle of sunscreen, 1 candy bar, 5 2Liter Sodas, and 3 bags of Twizzlers candy. Not really a bad trip just one I screwed up and it took about 10 minute for me to rethink and fix the problems.
I also stopped at Food Lion today, but more details regarding this trip and my 4 week grocery challenge will be up tomorrow.
Updated Spending Totals for Renovations
Budget information:$1000
Big Lots spent $55. for new bedding. Lowes- Spent 70. for blinds, wood for Lily's bed and miscellaneous. Total for the week $125
Total spent $595 with $405 left, we are half way with our budget. Hopefully the majority of the rest will be spent on new furniture at IKEA.
I also shopped at CVS on Sunday, I came away really disappointed because I spent $4 more than I should have because I forgot to use my ECB on my first transaction. I ended up spending $16 overall. I was able to purchase 4 bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo, 1 bottle of sunscreen, 1 candy bar, 5 2Liter Sodas, and 3 bags of Twizzlers candy. Not really a bad trip just one I screwed up and it took about 10 minute for me to rethink and fix the problems.
I also stopped at Food Lion today, but more details regarding this trip and my 4 week grocery challenge will be up tomorrow.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
CVS Shopping- My Way
Typically, when you read most blogs about the best way to shop CVS, it includes rolling ECBs for each purchase. I don't follow this on most occasions. I use ECB as coupons on things that we need to purchase to lower our overall spending. Today, I ended up make 2 separate trips to CVS but am very pleased with the results.
First trip- Entire family was with me. I purchased 6 boxes of Pop tarts ($2.00 each with 2 $1/3 coupons), 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal ($2.50 each with $1/3 coupon) and 1 Hershey's candy ($0.67). My thoughts were that this would trigger my 5 ECB for groceries and the $0.67 ECB for candy. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a coupon for $5 off 15, the only downside it expired on Wednesday. I decided to use this coupon later in the week after I could decide the best use. I spent $17 out of pocket for this trip.
Second Trip- As I was making Rotel to freeze, I realized that I need more freezer bags so I decided to go back to CVS tonight to use my coupon for these. Haley drove me this trip. I ended up purchasing 1 2L Dr Pepper (Haley's request), 1 bag of twirlers candy (Matt's request), 1 box of Pop tarts, 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal ($2.50 each with $1/3 coupon) and 2 CVS brand freezer bags ($2.99 for one and $1.49 for second). Total out of pocket $7.76 and earned another 5 ECB for groceries.
In reality, had I just ran out to a grocery store or Walmart, I would have spent the same $8 on 2 boxes of freezer bags. So by using ECBs as coupons and the extra coupon they gave me I was able to stock up on Pop Tarts and Cereal as well as purchase the freezer bags that I needed tonight. I will hold on to my ECBs to see what is on sale or what we need in the next couple of weeks.
First trip- Entire family was with me. I purchased 6 boxes of Pop tarts ($2.00 each with 2 $1/3 coupons), 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal ($2.50 each with $1/3 coupon) and 1 Hershey's candy ($0.67). My thoughts were that this would trigger my 5 ECB for groceries and the $0.67 ECB for candy. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a coupon for $5 off 15, the only downside it expired on Wednesday. I decided to use this coupon later in the week after I could decide the best use. I spent $17 out of pocket for this trip.
Second Trip- As I was making Rotel to freeze, I realized that I need more freezer bags so I decided to go back to CVS tonight to use my coupon for these. Haley drove me this trip. I ended up purchasing 1 2L Dr Pepper (Haley's request), 1 bag of twirlers candy (Matt's request), 1 box of Pop tarts, 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal ($2.50 each with $1/3 coupon) and 2 CVS brand freezer bags ($2.99 for one and $1.49 for second). Total out of pocket $7.76 and earned another 5 ECB for groceries.
In reality, had I just ran out to a grocery store or Walmart, I would have spent the same $8 on 2 boxes of freezer bags. So by using ECBs as coupons and the extra coupon they gave me I was able to stock up on Pop Tarts and Cereal as well as purchase the freezer bags that I needed tonight. I will hold on to my ECBs to see what is on sale or what we need in the next couple of weeks.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Why I Went to CVS 4 Days in a Row!
Diet Coke of course!
One of the principles that I use to build and keep a stockpile is that I am not very brand conscience. I will usually try anything well except one thing. I have only been drinking Diet Coke for the past ummm 20 something years. On occasion, I do drink other Diet soda but NEVER diet Pepsi!!! So this week when I saw the deal at CVS for Diet Cokes for 0.79 each, I knew I would be visiting often. The normal price for these 2L are $1.80, I only purchase when they are $1.00 or less, but I have not seen these less than 0.99 in almost a year. This is the reason that I did make a trip all four days of the sale. My store manager did ask me that I only do one transaction per card per day. I have 2 cards so that was a total of 12 drinks each day. I now have enough Diet Cokes for probably 2-3 month plus I was nice and purchased some others for Matt and the kids to share. In addition to the 48 bottles of soda, I purchased 4 bottles of Dawn dish detergent, 4 bottles of Tide, 2 bottles of shampoo, 2 make up items and 2 physician formula facial care for dark circles under my eyes. My store offered both American Express and CVS gift cards instead of the gas cards as advertised. I counted both of these in my total saved because I treated these as ECBs. I am excited to be able to stock up on items that we use by playing the drug store game.
Just the numbers: Spent $45.62 on $215 worth of products for a savings of 79%.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sunday Shopping
My favorite time to shop is on Sunday afternoons during nap time. This usually is the most stress free time for me plus the local CVS ad does not change till Sunday mornings so they usually have most items in stock still. Lily is growing up, in fact she is becoming so grown up that unless we have been our way late (9pm) several nights in a row, she doesn't need a nap during the day. So I invited her to go along with me today.
Lily said that her favorite part was pushing the buggy at CVS. My goal at CVS was to purchase 8 boxes of cereal at my stock up price of less than $2. While reading blogs to plan ahead for my trip, I realized that the CVS ads were very different. I decided to check out mine prior to going. In addition to most of the items I had been reading about VO5 shampoo and conditioners were on sale for $0.66. The red machine gave Lily several coupons and I ended up purchasing 8 boxes of cereal, 3 bottles of shampoo, 2 bottles of conditioner, 2 boxes of eye patches and 2 bottles of body wash for $20, a saving of 73%. I also obtained a rain check for the shampoo and conditioners since they only had 4 in stock.
Our next stop was Food Lion, a friend had told me of some interesting deals. I usually hate shopping at Food Lion simply because they are not coupon friendly and the prices are usually much higher. I was able to save 50% today using only coupons that were printed from their "red box" I am really pleased.
Overall I spent $41, saved 72 or 73%. The best part of the day was coming home, the little kids were so excited that we had sugary cereal, they all wanted cereal as snack! I even got a huge "thank you" from Zach for cereal!
Lily said that her favorite part was pushing the buggy at CVS. My goal at CVS was to purchase 8 boxes of cereal at my stock up price of less than $2. While reading blogs to plan ahead for my trip, I realized that the CVS ads were very different. I decided to check out mine prior to going. In addition to most of the items I had been reading about VO5 shampoo and conditioners were on sale for $0.66. The red machine gave Lily several coupons and I ended up purchasing 8 boxes of cereal, 3 bottles of shampoo, 2 bottles of conditioner, 2 boxes of eye patches and 2 bottles of body wash for $20, a saving of 73%. I also obtained a rain check for the shampoo and conditioners since they only had 4 in stock.
Our next stop was Food Lion, a friend had told me of some interesting deals. I usually hate shopping at Food Lion simply because they are not coupon friendly and the prices are usually much higher. I was able to save 50% today using only coupons that were printed from their "red box" I am really pleased.
Overall I spent $41, saved 72 or 73%. The best part of the day was coming home, the little kids were so excited that we had sugary cereal, they all wanted cereal as snack! I even got a huge "thank you" from Zach for cereal!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday CVS Trip
This was an unusual trip for me to CVS today. I checked the ads and Southern Savers but was not at all thrilled. My plan was to stop by one day purchase 5 Diet Cokes and get free toothpaste. The plan made a major changed this morning when I realized that I was using my last deodorant, my last shampoo and was totally out of make up removal cloths. Luckily, I remember that I had a raincheck for Speed Stick and also a BOGO coupon in the coupons on Sunday. After a little bit of searching I was able to add 2 tubes of Toothpaste, 5 sticks of deodorant, 3 packs of make-up wipes, 4 bottles of shampoo and 5 Diet Cokes for $23. My savings was $61 or 73%. This may not seem like a stellar performance but as I have talked about before, these were on products that we were running low on or out of . I could have easily purchased just one of each of the items and spent the same amount. In case you are curious, I did use both Matt and my card for 2 transactions each or a total of 4 transactions. I spend less than an hour total between searching, organizing and shopping.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Shopping with Kids
I will be the first to admit, I prefer to shop alone, especially when I am using coupons. The reason sound logically, at least I hope they do. I can't give my whole attention to the transactions when I have to keep an eye on the kids. At best, if I go to the store with more than one of the little kids, Matt is always along. But today, that all changed. I realized this morning that we needed to go to Walmart to get ink. I have been working on organizing and catching up with coupons all week (10 minutes) at a time, so I had in the back of my mind to check out some items. Matt had a dentist appointment this morning at 9:30am and since he has missed 2 because of my scheduling, I was determined not to have him miss another one. The four of us, Matt, myself, Kendall and Zach, headed out the door just after 8am. We were able to get gas and find everything in Walmart, even managed to check out with coupons and not need a manager! But the time was going too quick for us to hit CVS...so I got brave..dropped Matt at the dentist and headed to CVS with Zach and Kendall. Surprisingly enough the trip was much easier and less eventful than I had envisioned. Zach did manage to set off the panic alarm on my car, as well as dart 5 feet in the parking lot just after I explained to Kendall why holding on to the car was important. I also had to stop and go back to the register because of forgetting about ECB from a rain check but that was actually easy as well.
So here is what I managed to do today... spent $7 and saved $15, 63%. I had 5 different transactions,using 2 CVS cards and a rain check. Overall this is not a great saving % but I consider anything over 60% a success especially with the slim picking from CVS and coupons lately.
So here is what I managed to do today... spent $7 and saved $15, 63%. I had 5 different transactions,using 2 CVS cards and a rain check. Overall this is not a great saving % but I consider anything over 60% a success especially with the slim picking from CVS and coupons lately.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saving Money- $0.85 at CVS
For the record
I purchased 8 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, 1 jar of peanuts and a pack of eye shadow applicators. I used 9 ECB and my out of pocket was $0.85, saving $11.81 or 93%.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Saving Money- CVS trip
Thursday's have turned out to be the day that we end up shopping especially for groceries since we have to travel to Winston (30 minutes) most of the time for the best deals. Today we went to CVS, Harris Teeters (2 orders) and Costco. By far the best trip saving wise was CVS.
Matt noticed this morning that he was out of shaving cream. After a few minutes of thought, I decided to use the 5 ECB I earned for completing a survey on line to buy the shaving creme. I used Southern savers to find at least one coupon. I was pleasantly surprised when I scanned my card at the red box and got another 5 ECB for beauty club purchases. Here is what I purchased for $0.36
I used a 0.55 coupon on the edge, the gum was on sale BOGO. I ended up grabbing these at the checkout so I would not waste any of the ECBs. So I saved 95%, have 9 ECB left for next week and earn 0.25 for using my green bag tag.
Well worth the extra 5 minutes and stop at CVS
Matt noticed this morning that he was out of shaving cream. After a few minutes of thought, I decided to use the 5 ECB I earned for completing a survey on line to buy the shaving creme. I used Southern savers to find at least one coupon. I was pleasantly surprised when I scanned my card at the red box and got another 5 ECB for beauty club purchases. Here is what I purchased for $0.36
I used a 0.55 coupon on the edge, the gum was on sale BOGO. I ended up grabbing these at the checkout so I would not waste any of the ECBs. So I saved 95%, have 9 ECB left for next week and earn 0.25 for using my green bag tag.
Well worth the extra 5 minutes and stop at CVS
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Thirteen Dollars at CVS
Since Thanksgiving, CVS has really had some slim pickens for sales, there have weeks that I have not even gone to CVS for the sale but instead a need. But this week was one of the best I have seen in a long time. This is an excellent example of rolling ECBs to cut down on expenses.
This is actually 2 trips to CVS as the first store did not have enough of the deodorant for me to purchase so we headed to the CVS in Winston-Salem since we were headed that way anyway. I spent $12, saved $53.27 and ended up with 4ECBs and a total of 81% savings. These are all items that we will use infact both the Dawn and the Deodrant were on my list to purchase this week. I started these with no ECB nor gift cards so these can be duplicated except for the mouthwash!
Transaction 1- Canbury Easter Egg 0.87 on sale, total was $0.93 and received 1 ECB.
Transaction 2- (2) bottles of Dawn Dish Detergent with Hand Renewal, used 2- 0.50 off coupons from PG 1/1, and ECB from Transaction #1. My total was 0.02! Even better the nice cashier looks down and goes I have 0.02 that someone left, so they were entirely free! I did include 0.02 for totals on this post just so you can't complain!
Second Store
Transaction 3- (2) Tom's of Maine Wicked Fresh Mouthwash clearance priced $2.74 Total was 5.85, received 6 ECB back
Transaction 4-MY FAVORITE! (2) Irish Spring Body Washes $2.49 each, (4) sticks of Men Speed Stick, $1.99 each (2) 24 bottle case of CVS water 2.22 each
Used (2) 1.00 off Body Wash
(2) BOGO Coupons for the Speed Stick each rang up at $3.99
6 ECB from Transaction 3
Paid $1.32 earned 6 ECB
Transaction 5 (3) 12 packs of Pespi products 3/10.00
Used 6ECB from Transaction 4
Paid 4.68 or $1.56 each or 0.13 a can
Earned 4 ECB
This is actually 2 trips to CVS as the first store did not have enough of the deodorant for me to purchase so we headed to the CVS in Winston-Salem since we were headed that way anyway. I spent $12, saved $53.27 and ended up with 4ECBs and a total of 81% savings. These are all items that we will use infact both the Dawn and the Deodrant were on my list to purchase this week. I started these with no ECB nor gift cards so these can be duplicated except for the mouthwash!
Transaction 1- Canbury Easter Egg 0.87 on sale, total was $0.93 and received 1 ECB.
Transaction 2- (2) bottles of Dawn Dish Detergent with Hand Renewal, used 2- 0.50 off coupons from PG 1/1, and ECB from Transaction #1. My total was 0.02! Even better the nice cashier looks down and goes I have 0.02 that someone left, so they were entirely free! I did include 0.02 for totals on this post just so you can't complain!
Second Store
Transaction 3- (2) Tom's of Maine Wicked Fresh Mouthwash clearance priced $2.74 Total was 5.85, received 6 ECB back
Transaction 4-MY FAVORITE! (2) Irish Spring Body Washes $2.49 each, (4) sticks of Men Speed Stick, $1.99 each (2) 24 bottle case of CVS water 2.22 each
Used (2) 1.00 off Body Wash
(2) BOGO Coupons for the Speed Stick each rang up at $3.99
6 ECB from Transaction 3
Paid $1.32 earned 6 ECB
Transaction 5 (3) 12 packs of Pespi products 3/10.00
Used 6ECB from Transaction 4
Paid 4.68 or $1.56 each or 0.13 a can
Earned 4 ECB
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
January in Review
I am actually excited to write this first update for the year! I also am including some important changes we are starting to implement this month. I will be the first to admit that most of my excitement is due to the fact that with alot of conscience effort, I have met most of the goals this month.
Blogging: This post will make 16 for the month!! I can honestly say that I have had to think about blogging this month. But have been successful in at least getting something on paper.
Goal: 15 per month
Devotions: Major improvements this month including meeting the goal for the month. I need to continue with this focus and also add some meat to it. I am also extremely excited that Matt has "stepped up" and is taking an active role in being the spiritual head of the house!
Goal is 3 a week.
Groceries: So this is the major ouch I am way behind goal on this one. I spent $1120. So my explanations is as following: stock-pile. Food Lion the one local grocery store has been running an awesome "Brand sale". I have made 3 separate trips spending approximately $85 each trip. This is a store that I normally don't even shop. The other part of the explanation is that we are attempting to stock up on items during the first 3-4 month of the year so that during the remainder of the year, it will make all things easier.
I am planning on making some major changes in= the way I keep up with our budget in this area. I am going to pull out the designated money on Monday and keep a cash envelope for it each week. This first week will be the hardest since I usually shop at CVS on Sundays, so I may just end up taking a week off or at least
Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.
Financially: After looking at our spending and income for the month, we are $450 over budget. I can account for all of this in the medical bills that were paid during the month. In order, to continue without this overage tanking our budget for February, we will be using our unexpected tax return to cover. Other plans for the return including the completion of our addition with gutters going up!
I realize that we need to place money in our budget for medical expenses and will begin this in March. No debt was paid off this month but we should begin to see one or more a month starting in February.
Goal: To be Debt free except for mortgage by the end of the year.
Weight- I lost 7 pounds in the month of January! An awesome start..at this rate I will reach my goal prior to December of this year! Currently I am exercising 4 days a week and drink 8+ glasses of water
Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150
Blogging: This post will make 16 for the month!! I can honestly say that I have had to think about blogging this month. But have been successful in at least getting something on paper.
Goal: 15 per month
Devotions: Major improvements this month including meeting the goal for the month. I need to continue with this focus and also add some meat to it. I am also extremely excited that Matt has "stepped up" and is taking an active role in being the spiritual head of the house!
Goal is 3 a week.
Groceries: So this is the major ouch I am way behind goal on this one. I spent $1120. So my explanations is as following: stock-pile. Food Lion the one local grocery store has been running an awesome "Brand sale". I have made 3 separate trips spending approximately $85 each trip. This is a store that I normally don't even shop. The other part of the explanation is that we are attempting to stock up on items during the first 3-4 month of the year so that during the remainder of the year, it will make all things easier.
I am planning on making some major changes in= the way I keep up with our budget in this area. I am going to pull out the designated money on Monday and keep a cash envelope for it each week. This first week will be the hardest since I usually shop at CVS on Sundays, so I may just end up taking a week off or at least
Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.
Financially: After looking at our spending and income for the month, we are $450 over budget. I can account for all of this in the medical bills that were paid during the month. In order, to continue without this overage tanking our budget for February, we will be using our unexpected tax return to cover. Other plans for the return including the completion of our addition with gutters going up!
I realize that we need to place money in our budget for medical expenses and will begin this in March. No debt was paid off this month but we should begin to see one or more a month starting in February.
Goal: To be Debt free except for mortgage by the end of the year.
Weight- I lost 7 pounds in the month of January! An awesome start..at this rate I will reach my goal prior to December of this year! Currently I am exercising 4 days a week and drink 8+ glasses of water
Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Saving Money- A look at the Numbers!
I have made multiple shopping trips since Thursday. The main reason why is that our local grocery store has a stock up deal on Diet Cokes and paper products. I discovered these by accident on Thursday and since it seems we pass a Food Lion almost anywhere we go, I am trying to stock up. Diet Coke 2 liters are on sale for 0.88 each when you buy four. This is the cheapest I have seen them since September and I have gone through my stockpile and actually have been paying around $1.25 each for the past couple of weeks.
So let's look at these numbers. Standard price for a 2L is $1.25, so far I have purchased 16 at a savings of 0.37 each for 5.92
While picking up a third round of drinks on Friday, I discovered that Hefty paper products are on sale BOGO free, with a coupon on display for 1.00 off 2. So far I have picked up around 300 paper plates, 60 paper bowls and 50 cups. I did send a set home with my mother to use at Christmas. I figured out that by using these products instead of the dishwasher twice a day, I am saving at minimum $1.00 a day by reducing our use of the dishwasher by half. I should have easily enough products to last a month so that is a savings of $30.
Finally, I made a trip out to CVS today because of the information I found on-line, I hoped to get a coupon for 3 12-packs of Diet Coke for $8.00. I was excited to get this coupon. I combined sales and coupons today in order to purchase 9 12-packs of Diet Coke and 4 bags of candy for $25.00. In my calculations, I see the candy as all free because I would not normally purchase it. My per can cost then is 0.24. I go through roughly one 12 pack of drinks a week at work. We do have a machine that sells cans for 0.65 each. So by stocking up today I saved 0.42 a can or $4.92 a week. A grand total of $44.98.
Today, I place a whole chicken in the crock pot with several cups of water. After it cooking all night, I was able to freeze 7 cups of chicken broth. A can of chicken broth is typically 14-15oz or just shy of 2 cups. I saw today that a stock up price on broth was $2.00 for the container, so by freezing the broth I had today I saved at least $6.00. I also was able to shred the cooked chicken that can be used for soups or pies instead of cans. I should add here that this chicken from Angel Food so I am not sure of the cost. I figure a good estimate of the savings is $5.00.
My final savings by planning ahead today is $94.00 off our normal grocery bill.
So let's look at these numbers. Standard price for a 2L is $1.25, so far I have purchased 16 at a savings of 0.37 each for 5.92
While picking up a third round of drinks on Friday, I discovered that Hefty paper products are on sale BOGO free, with a coupon on display for 1.00 off 2. So far I have picked up around 300 paper plates, 60 paper bowls and 50 cups. I did send a set home with my mother to use at Christmas. I figured out that by using these products instead of the dishwasher twice a day, I am saving at minimum $1.00 a day by reducing our use of the dishwasher by half. I should have easily enough products to last a month so that is a savings of $30.
Finally, I made a trip out to CVS today because of the information I found on-line, I hoped to get a coupon for 3 12-packs of Diet Coke for $8.00. I was excited to get this coupon. I combined sales and coupons today in order to purchase 9 12-packs of Diet Coke and 4 bags of candy for $25.00. In my calculations, I see the candy as all free because I would not normally purchase it. My per can cost then is 0.24. I go through roughly one 12 pack of drinks a week at work. We do have a machine that sells cans for 0.65 each. So by stocking up today I saved 0.42 a can or $4.92 a week. A grand total of $44.98.
Today, I place a whole chicken in the crock pot with several cups of water. After it cooking all night, I was able to freeze 7 cups of chicken broth. A can of chicken broth is typically 14-15oz or just shy of 2 cups. I saw today that a stock up price on broth was $2.00 for the container, so by freezing the broth I had today I saved at least $6.00. I also was able to shred the cooked chicken that can be used for soups or pies instead of cans. I should add here that this chicken from Angel Food so I am not sure of the cost. I figure a good estimate of the savings is $5.00.
My final savings by planning ahead today is $94.00 off our normal grocery bill.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
CVS-Awesome Trip
So if you have been catching up on reading the blog lately you will remember from yesterday that I really spent more than I planned at CVS on Thursday. I was not to upset because I knew that I would use the ECB in the next couple of weeks to make some really good deals. Today I took my first trip, I was also able to grab a couple of rain checks that I cashed in today. Overall I spent $3.36 and saved $90 for a 96% saving, even better all the items are thing we use regularly. I did split my transaction up into 2 just to make it easier for me to use the ECB.
Transaction 1
4 bags of Combos on sale 1.50 each received a $2 off 4 bags at the red coupon machine
Revita Lens contact solution 8.99 (8.99 in ECB back)
1 Poster board $1.19
1 Breath Right Strip 12 count (raincheck from Thanksgiving)
1 LA Looks hair gel (Raincheck from Thanksgiving)
USE $22.89 in ECB and $2 off coupon above
Total out of pocket 0.29 (tax was $1.10)
Transaction 2
2 Packs Pampers Cruisers $9.50 each (2.00 off 2 coupon)
1 Tide with Bleach $5.94 (2.00 coupon)
2 Panatene Shampoo/Conditioners $3.94 (1.00 off 2 coupon)
1 Nyquil liquid and tablet pack $9.99 (3.00 off coupon from red box last week)
Used Coupons above plus 33.45 in ECB from Above and Thanksgiving
Total out of pocket $3.07, In addition I received a $10 gift card for spending 30 in P&G products and will also get a free pack of diapers for buying 6 next time I scanned my card.
I still have approximately $20 in ECB and will do the P&G gift card again this week.
Transaction 1
4 bags of Combos on sale 1.50 each received a $2 off 4 bags at the red coupon machine
Revita Lens contact solution 8.99 (8.99 in ECB back)
1 Poster board $1.19
1 Breath Right Strip 12 count (raincheck from Thanksgiving)
1 LA Looks hair gel (Raincheck from Thanksgiving)
USE $22.89 in ECB and $2 off coupon above
Total out of pocket 0.29 (tax was $1.10)
Transaction 2
2 Packs Pampers Cruisers $9.50 each (2.00 off 2 coupon)
1 Tide with Bleach $5.94 (2.00 coupon)
2 Panatene Shampoo/Conditioners $3.94 (1.00 off 2 coupon)
1 Nyquil liquid and tablet pack $9.99 (3.00 off coupon from red box last week)
Used Coupons above plus 33.45 in ECB from Above and Thanksgiving
Total out of pocket $3.07, In addition I received a $10 gift card for spending 30 in P&G products and will also get a free pack of diapers for buying 6 next time I scanned my card.
I still have approximately $20 in ECB and will do the P&G gift card again this week.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Back to Shopping-CVS secrets
So after the adventure of having my teeth removed, I returned to shopping on Sunday. Matt was nice enough to drive me around on Sunday due to my medicated state. We hit CVS, Food Lion and Walmart. I was really pleased with Food Lion, where we re-stocked on breakfast foods. I noticed as we left CVS that I need to purchase one more bag of skittles to earn $1 ECB. So I mentioned that I would able to run by one morning this week to pick those up. Today, I picked up 4 bags of candy and a small bag of Skittles. I used 4 $1 off coupons for the candy, as well as 5 ECBs from the beauty club. I paid $1.87 on my gift card and earned an additional 4 ECBs. In reality I was paid to take candy today. I am going to try and list all the secrets of CVS below.Remember to get the most bang for your buck, combine as many of these as you can in each trip.
Currently, in addition to earning ECB if you spend $30 (before coupons) on certain items you earn a $10 gift card. This week the items included paper towels and toilet paper. I am using my gift card now to shop completely free!
Another secret to CVS is the diaper deal, basically after you purchase 5 bags of diapers of either Huggies or Pampers they give you a sixth bag. This also can be combined with any ECB, coupons and sales on diapers.Currently this total is at the bottom of your receipt as well. The part I don't like is that pull ups and easy ups do not count in this total.
Green Bag tags are another way to earn money. These tags are placed on your bags, each 4th scan of this tag generates 1 ECB. There is only one rule that applies to this tag you can only scan the tag one time per day regardless of the number of transactions and/or stores you visit. I use the same tag on both Amanda's and my CVS card so the tags are not card specific. In the past year, I have been able to get at least 5 of these tags for free. They usually cost $1 but each of the ones I have purchased generated 1ECB. But in reality, even if purchasing a green bag tag, it will pay for itself on your 4th trip. Some cashiers will ring the tags without a bag others will not. But I keep one in my coupon binder and have been known to use my purse if they refused to scan the tag without a bag. You can easily keep up with the number of times you have used your tag at the bottom of the receipt.
The final offer that I am aware of at CVS is called the "Beauty club". The way this one works is for every $50 you spend before coupons on beauty products including body wash and all hair items you earn 5 ECBs. This total is also at the bottom of your receipt. It runs usually one transaction day behind, For example, I spent over my next 50 mark on Sunday but the ECBs didn't print until today.
By combining all the things above I was paid to shop today and boy is my family enjoying it!
Currently, in addition to earning ECB if you spend $30 (before coupons) on certain items you earn a $10 gift card. This week the items included paper towels and toilet paper. I am using my gift card now to shop completely free!
Another secret to CVS is the diaper deal, basically after you purchase 5 bags of diapers of either Huggies or Pampers they give you a sixth bag. This also can be combined with any ECB, coupons and sales on diapers.Currently this total is at the bottom of your receipt as well. The part I don't like is that pull ups and easy ups do not count in this total.
Green Bag tags are another way to earn money. These tags are placed on your bags, each 4th scan of this tag generates 1 ECB. There is only one rule that applies to this tag you can only scan the tag one time per day regardless of the number of transactions and/or stores you visit. I use the same tag on both Amanda's and my CVS card so the tags are not card specific. In the past year, I have been able to get at least 5 of these tags for free. They usually cost $1 but each of the ones I have purchased generated 1ECB. But in reality, even if purchasing a green bag tag, it will pay for itself on your 4th trip. Some cashiers will ring the tags without a bag others will not. But I keep one in my coupon binder and have been known to use my purse if they refused to scan the tag without a bag. You can easily keep up with the number of times you have used your tag at the bottom of the receipt.
The final offer that I am aware of at CVS is called the "Beauty club". The way this one works is for every $50 you spend before coupons on beauty products including body wash and all hair items you earn 5 ECBs. This total is also at the bottom of your receipt. It runs usually one transaction day behind, For example, I spent over my next 50 mark on Sunday but the ECBs didn't print until today.
By combining all the things above I was paid to shop today and boy is my family enjoying it!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
I still Love CVS
My first patient on Tuesday morning cancelled so I decided to make a quick trip to CVS on my way to work. The main reason for this trip was to use a rain check for 2 L Diet Cokes for 0.79. I also planned to get a couple of free items and some cheap toothpaste because my stockpile was down to one tube. But I found an awesome deal, the Crest Complete toothpaste is changing packaging and some were marked down to $1.95! So for $6.11 I was able to purchase 5 2L of Diet Coke, 6 tubes of toothpaste, 2 8 ct bottles of Excedrin and 1 thermcare wrap. Total saved 34.02 or 82%
So last night I was given 3 more coupons for the toothpaste and decided to use them. today I spent 5.66 and saved 15.77 or 74%. I also received an additional 4 ECB back to use on my next purchase.
CVS is still my favorite store!
So last night I was given 3 more coupons for the toothpaste and decided to use them. today I spent 5.66 and saved 15.77 or 74%. I also received an additional 4 ECB back to use on my next purchase.
CVS is still my favorite store!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
What I Bought for $1
I made a quick trip to CVS today. The only thing that is slight different is that I used both my CVS card and Amanda's with one transaction each. I purchased 4 boxes of Crackerfuls, 2 packs of gum and a bottle of Baby Bubble Wash. I used (2) Free Crackerful CVS coupon that printed from the machine, a $2 off Johnson Baby items that printed from the red machine and 6 ECB. Total spent $1.01, total saved $25.50 or 96%, 1 ECB printed for the 4th use of my green bag tag!
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Good, the Bad , the Crazy Week in Review
I knew that this past week would be busy as normal and so when I thought about posting for this week, I came up with this list format. Hope you enjoy...
- I got to have a meeting with my supervisor at work this week, so I am feeling alot more at ease about my position and there is a chance that by the end of the year, I may only be working 1 job which still will keep us on track financially.
-After a somewhat rough start to the Bible Quizzing year, Haley has joined a team from the church in Greensboro. We had our first competition on Saturday. Haley did awesome and is currently 6 out of 27 quizzers. This also was an awesome event for me. I came home not exhausted and I really enjoyed interacting with the quizzers.
- We are still gathering peppers from our Square Foot Garden
-I was able to make several good trips to CVS this week, including today (Sunday) where I spent $10 and saved $36 or 78%. I was also able to bring home 3ECB which is only 1 less than what I started with. I hopefully will be able to do the same transactions on Amanda's card later on in the week. One of the big sale item is Diet Coke cans!
-Kendall and Zach are both enjoying "preschool" at least once a week!
-God has supplied all our needs. See the bad to understand more.
Haley is entering the Crazy Hairstyle contest at Youth tonight and she really wanted to win and to have it posted here! This leaves a smile on my face after a long week!
The Good
-Lily has had a blue or purple light/dot all week, so she got a prize. I had lunch with Lily on Thursday and Matt meet briefly with her teacher Thursday night. Lily is very well-behavior and is exceeding in reading and writing! We don't have a good reading level on her yet but at the end of first grade, all students should be reading on a Level I, currently Lily has passed Level E with plans to test at Level F this week.- I got to have a meeting with my supervisor at work this week, so I am feeling alot more at ease about my position and there is a chance that by the end of the year, I may only be working 1 job which still will keep us on track financially.
-After a somewhat rough start to the Bible Quizzing year, Haley has joined a team from the church in Greensboro. We had our first competition on Saturday. Haley did awesome and is currently 6 out of 27 quizzers. This also was an awesome event for me. I came home not exhausted and I really enjoyed interacting with the quizzers.
- We are still gathering peppers from our Square Foot Garden
-I was able to make several good trips to CVS this week, including today (Sunday) where I spent $10 and saved $36 or 78%. I was also able to bring home 3ECB which is only 1 less than what I started with. I hopefully will be able to do the same transactions on Amanda's card later on in the week. One of the big sale item is Diet Coke cans!
-Kendall and Zach are both enjoying "preschool" at least once a week!
-God has supplied all our needs. See the bad to understand more.
THE BAD
- Haley is currently grounded from the computer and the phone.
-On Wednesday night our dryer developed a sound that could give anyone a headache and it sound like it could stop at any moment, add to this it was taking 2 hours or more per load. We knew we needed to buy a replacement. Matt was able to locate and purchase a dryer for $150. After bringing it home it is much better than we expected. It is a higher end "digtal" dryer that is quiet and dries even a full load of towels in an hour. This was a huge answer to prayer so that we can hopefully purchase the new windows and start our debt snowball next month.
- On Saturday, about an hour prior to leaving for Greensboro, we discovered a flat tire on my car. Thankfully, my parents came over and help Matt with the little ones so he could get the tire fixed and back on the car.
- We discovered late Friday night that "Angel Food Ministries" will not be disturbing food in September. This is one of the main ways we have been purchasing meat over the past year. We are both shocked that after 17 years that have stopped. Our prayer is that they will be able to reorganize and begin again before the end of the year but we have no information to go on so at this point it is very doubtful.
-On Wednesday night our dryer developed a sound that could give anyone a headache and it sound like it could stop at any moment, add to this it was taking 2 hours or more per load. We knew we needed to buy a replacement. Matt was able to locate and purchase a dryer for $150. After bringing it home it is much better than we expected. It is a higher end "digtal" dryer that is quiet and dries even a full load of towels in an hour. This was a huge answer to prayer so that we can hopefully purchase the new windows and start our debt snowball next month.
- On Saturday, about an hour prior to leaving for Greensboro, we discovered a flat tire on my car. Thankfully, my parents came over and help Matt with the little ones so he could get the tire fixed and back on the car.
- We discovered late Friday night that "Angel Food Ministries" will not be disturbing food in September. This is one of the main ways we have been purchasing meat over the past year. We are both shocked that after 17 years that have stopped. Our prayer is that they will be able to reorganize and begin again before the end of the year but we have no information to go on so at this point it is very doubtful.
The Crazy Hairstyle
Haley is entering the Crazy Hairstyle contest at Youth tonight and she really wanted to win and to have it posted here! This leaves a smile on my face after a long week!
Friday, August 26, 2011
$10 on Groceries this week
How? Did I hear you ask that? In one word consistency. I have been using coupons for over a year now and I have to say that sticking to it will let you have a $10 week every couple of months. Now on to a better explaination and the numbers.
CVS has not been having all that great of deals lately and I just have not been making it to the store on Sunday like I did before the summer. Because of this combination, I have been gathering rainchecks. Last week, I received another 10 off 50 and after scoping out the store realized I could cash in on some of the deals I missed. I made 2 seperate trips to CVS and spent around 25 each time. My reward was 12 ECB on Amanda's card. This week I noticed that we only had enough patches for Tuesday so I stopped by CVS. I had printed 2 coupons for Starburst 1 off 1 and heard the Red box was scanning an BOGO as well. My nice suprise was that the eye patches rang up BO get 50% off the second. This is the first time ever I have see the eye patches on sale. So I was able to purchase 4 boxes of patches, 2 bags of skittles and 2 packs of gum for $4.33 including tax. I should add that a box of patches usually cost $4.99 at CVS which is the cheapest we have found.
Thursday, we headed to Winston to get Zach pictures made. Harris Teeter is an easy stop when we are at the mall. During the last Super Doubles event I had made one pick up using the Express Lane. These coupons carry over so I had approximately $20.00 in coupon credit waiting. I was amazed to find that both the Milk and Apple Juice we needed were on sale. I purchased 2 gallons of milk and 6 gallons of Apple juice, 2 jars of Peanut Butter and a jar of Apple Butter for $3.23! I debated on the Peanutt butter but actually turned in 2 coupons which will carry to my next order.
CVS= 4.33
Harris Teeter= 3.23
Total spent on Groceries this week $7.56. This should help my grocery budget stay on track this month!
CVS has not been having all that great of deals lately and I just have not been making it to the store on Sunday like I did before the summer. Because of this combination, I have been gathering rainchecks. Last week, I received another 10 off 50 and after scoping out the store realized I could cash in on some of the deals I missed. I made 2 seperate trips to CVS and spent around 25 each time. My reward was 12 ECB on Amanda's card. This week I noticed that we only had enough patches for Tuesday so I stopped by CVS. I had printed 2 coupons for Starburst 1 off 1 and heard the Red box was scanning an BOGO as well. My nice suprise was that the eye patches rang up BO get 50% off the second. This is the first time ever I have see the eye patches on sale. So I was able to purchase 4 boxes of patches, 2 bags of skittles and 2 packs of gum for $4.33 including tax. I should add that a box of patches usually cost $4.99 at CVS which is the cheapest we have found.
Thursday, we headed to Winston to get Zach pictures made. Harris Teeter is an easy stop when we are at the mall. During the last Super Doubles event I had made one pick up using the Express Lane. These coupons carry over so I had approximately $20.00 in coupon credit waiting. I was amazed to find that both the Milk and Apple Juice we needed were on sale. I purchased 2 gallons of milk and 6 gallons of Apple juice, 2 jars of Peanut Butter and a jar of Apple Butter for $3.23! I debated on the Peanutt butter but actually turned in 2 coupons which will carry to my next order.
CVS= 4.33
Harris Teeter= 3.23
Total spent on Groceries this week $7.56. This should help my grocery budget stay on track this month!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Couponing on Vacation?
One of the "hard" decision that I had to make last week was if I want to bring my coupons on vacation with us or not. I knew I would be bring my netbook but did not have plans to go shopping at all. I have gotten WAY behind on organizing my coupons. Several people at church have been taking part in our "coupon blessing", by bring coupons in to be used. Several weeks we have gotten full inserts as well as envelopes of already cut coupons and some inserts that have one or alot of coupons already cut but even more left in the insert. The whole insert are the easiest for me because I simply file them with the ones I purchase, the others I have been placing in a bag. One of the reason I was avoiding these was because I really dislike filing in my baseball card inserts, it seems too time consuming for me. I also have fallen about 2 months behind on going thur my insert and send some to my niece in Alaska and throwing out the rest. I knew that I would most likely have the time to work on the coupons but I was still debating on what to actually do with them, so by not bringing them I could continue to ignore the issues.
I finally came up with a solution so I brought ALL of the coupons with me. So far I have spend about 3 hours on them and Matt spent almost 2 helping me last night with the first stage of organization of them. Currently, I have completed stage 2 and now am ready to go back and catch up on the sorting out of expired coupons. So what is that solution? First any whole insert that I receive or buy will remain filed by date in my organizer. Next all partially cut insert, I am going to first cut out the coupons and then file by expiration date in a second organizer. The idea being that if I am looking for a coupon I will first find it in my whole inserts, check the expiration date and then locate any or all others by locating by expiration date. So currently, I have cut all coupon, sorted by month of expiration and then resorted first by like coupons together and then by expiration date in order. So I have coupons that expire on 7/29 before the ones that expire on 7/30. I also have these coupons sorted in separate tabs by month they expire. Coupons that expire in the month of July are also listed in red on southern savers so that gives me a additional place to start. I plan to spend at least an hour each of the remaining nights of vacation pulling out expired coupons. My goal is to have all the coupons in order prior to Monday so that I can start just maintaining the inserts and new coupons that come in each week. In reality this will mean an hour or so each Sunday to keep on top of these.
Now to the real reason I am so glad I brought my coupons with me. I realized today that we are using sunscreen about double my expectation, so I need to purchase additional sunscreen today. I decided to stop by CVS, use my ECBs and purchase some sunscreen. I was able to save 50% on sunscreen tonight at CVS!! I think this is awesome especially considering that prices at that CVS here were the same or less that that I purchased at home! I did use a 10 off $50 purchase and one $1 off sunscreen!
Couponing is FUN again!
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