Monday, May 31, 2010

Brian & Jamie's Wedding and Walgreens 5/31

First I will start with my stop at Walgreens I just had. It is an amazing week there for free things! I paid $3.41 Out of Pocket, but overall ended up making $3.59 with the extra Register Rewards I got. I started with $12 and ended with $19 to play with next week...or more this week :) I won't give the break down because everything was basically free after I worked my magic! Plus I have $6 worth of mail in rebates to send in too. Here is a picture of what I got.

Now for the wedding. There is really no way to describe it. Everything was absolutely beautiful and we had a great time. It was very hot and sticky though as it was outside and it rained before the wedding and a little bit during the wedding. Crazy thing is, it was raining when the bridesmaids and groomsmen were walking down, but the second Jamie walked around from the curtain to walk, the sun came out and shined right on her. Wish I got a picture of how perfect it was. The only bad thing that happened was the the night before the wedding. We were at the rehearsal dinner/gathering and the window on our car was shot out with a BB gun. Another couple at the dinner was also unfortunate to experience this as well. When the cops came they had told us that there were seven reported windows shot, two people and a child. That's pretty bad when they are shooting at people! Someone got a plate number and description of the people so that's good. I have so many pictures of Haylee so I will do my best to pick and choose here. Enjoy!



This was on the car ride home!

Savings Blog to Date:

Coupons: $326.09

RR/ECB: $155

Rebates: $29.88

Loyalty: $31.25

Total: $542.22

Friday, May 28, 2010

5/28 Walgreens and Target

Ok, so today I truly think I did great and couldn't wait to post. I stopped by Walgreens to see if the Ironman Muscle Rub was in yet and yay...it was. So I had four transactions and the GREATEST cashier ever. She was so patient and I think she was having fun too :) So here is what I got:
I started of with two $8 RR from Complete Solution from previous visits.
1st Transaction
Ironman Muscle Rub $5.99 - $1 Q
Goody Headbands $2.99
Hunts Sauce $.25
Paid With: $8 RR and $.23 Out of Pocket
Received: $5 RR for Ironman and $3 RR for Headbands
2nd Transaction
Complete Solution $7.99 - $1 Q
(5) Hunts Sauce $1.25
Paid With: $5 RR and $3 RR from Transaction 1 and $.24 Out of Pocket
Received: $8 RR for Solution

3rd Transaction
Exactly the same as the first

4th Transaction
Exactly the same as the second

So overall, I started with $16 in RR and ended with $16 in RR. I only paid a total of $.94 Out of Pocket and got everything in the picture above :) And then I went to Target....
Tuna had to get in this picture! Notice that you can tell that almost everything has a clearance sticker on it! This is how I was able to get all of this stuff for just over $22. I don't have the break down because my receipt is in an envelope for a $5 mail in rebate. I originally went in to get the Listerine on the right. I read another blog that said it was on clearance for $1.98 a bottle and there was $2/1 printables. Then when I got home I read that you can get a $10 Mail in Rebate for buying just one Listerine product. Since that receipt is already being used for the other rebate, I have to go get one more bottle so I can get the $10. Overall, it was an excellent day for me :)

Here is a picture of Haylee in the bath tub and also one of her in her bassinet that she has already outgrown. When we get back to Nebraska next week, she will be sleeping in her crib!


Savings Blog to Date:
Coupons: $292.37
RR/ECB: $108
Rebates: $12.89
Loyalty: $31.25
Total: $444.51

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Walgreens, CVS and Target all in One - The Best Deals!

So, the last two days I have made multiple stops. I have been to 4 different Walgreens (looking for the Ironman Muscle Rub) and none of them have it yet. Each time there, I bought either a Complete Contacts Solution or the Goody Headbands that are free.
In total from Walgreen's I have gotten :

Complete Solution (MM with $1Q)
2 Goody Headbands (Free)
2 Huggies ($4.49 each)
Pantene Hair Gel (Clearance $1.25 with $1 Q = $.25)
2 Hunts Tomato Sauce ($.50)

I paid $10.48 Out of Pocket for all of this and have $16 in RR left right now.

I had to go to two different CVS because the first one was out of Old Spice Body Wash. But my good deals at both were:

Pampers Swaddlers (CVSQ & MQ=$4.49)
2 Sobe Life Water (Both free after BOGO and MQ)
Colgate Wisp (Clearance and $.75 Q= $1.50)
2 Old Spice Body Wash (BOGO Q and $1Q = $2.01) This gave me $8 ECB too!

I paid $5.56 Out of Pocket and have $8 in ECB left for next time. I got some other things, but these were my good deals!

My Target transaction was messed up by the cashier (who was not very nice!) I had to go to customer service to get $4.75 back and now I see that it should have been $6.81. I am going to go back and get my $2.06 and report my Target savings after I do so!

Savings Blog to Date:
Coupons: $102.85
RR/ECB: $62
Rebates: $2.89
Loyalty: $31.06
Total: $198.80

And for a picture of Haylee!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Walgreens 5/23 Visit

So we went to Fort Worth this weekend so Jason could take Brian out before his wedding next weekend. Haylee is honeslty the worst car rider ever! I thought babies are supposed to crash when they hit the car seat, but not her! She screamed the whole time (4 hours) so it made for a very stressful trip. Luckily she was better on the way home though :) We have this same drive to make next weekend for the actual wedding, so hopefully it is better than this weekend. This also makes me dread the 15 hour car ride we have back to Nebraska in ten day. We'll get through it though! Here are a few pictures of Haylee with mom and dad before we left for Fort Worth.

When we got home Jason and Haylee both took naps while I went to Walgreens! I think I did pretty well, but take a look at the picture and I'll give the break down. Keep in mind that I had to do 3 transactions to get everything to work out in my favor. Luckily I had a very nice, young, male cashier! (They always seem to be the best)

Transaction 1:
Complete Contact Solution $7.99
Goody Headbands $2.99
Hunts Tomato Sauce $.25 (filler item)
--------------------------------------
Paid with:
$2 Q for Complete Solution
$9 RR from last week
$.23 Out of Pocket
-------------------------------------
Received:
$8 RR for Complete Solution
$3 RR for Goody Headbands
-------------------------------------
Transaction 2:
Huggies (2) $18.00
Cheez-It (4) $6.72 - these were on clearance!
Scrubbing Bubbles Extend-a-Clean $7.99
Colgate Toothpaste $2.99
--------------------------------------
Paid with:
$.75 Q for Colgate
$5 Q for Scrubbing Bubbles
$3 Q for Huggies
$3 Q for Huggies
$11 RR for transaction 1
$13.08 Out of Pocket
-------------------------------------
Received:
$3 RR for Huggies
$5 RR for Cheez-its (this made each box $.43)
$2 RR for Scrubbing Bubbles
$2 RR for Colgate
-------------------------------------
Transaction 3:
Complete Contacts Solution $7.99
Goody Headbands $2.99
Almay Lip Gloss $2.19 (clearance)
Hunts Tomato Sauce (2) $.50 (filler items)
--------------------------------------
Paid with:
$2 Q for Complete Solution
$1 Q for Almay Lip Gloss
$10 RR from Transaction 2
$.68 Out of Pocket
--------------------------------------
Received:
$8 RR for Complete Solution
$3 RR for Goody Headbands
--------------------------------------
All together I spent $13.99 Out of Pocket and I have $13 in RR to spend on my next Walgreens purchases. I wanted to get the Ironman Muscle Rub but the Walgreens I went to didn't have it in stock yet as it is a new product. I will try to find it this week though and use my RR and get new ones as well :) My receipts show a total savings of $74.69 which is 82%!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Savings Blog to Date:
Coupons: $82.27
RR/ECB: $36
Rebates: $2.89
Loyalty: $31.06
Total: $152.22


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Kroger 5/20

Wow, I have done absolutely nothing today besides go to Kroger and the whole family laid down to take a nap. While Jason and Haylee are still sleeping, I am writing this entry so I won't feel like I completely wasted the day!

We didn't really need anything at the store besides milk and spaghetti sauce, but I pulled out all my coupons that would get doubled and tripled and decided to see if I could get some good deals that way. I am seriously very sad that the only place in Lincoln that doubles coupons is the store on 11th and Cornhusker! Anyways, here are the good deals that I got today, but not everything plus my updates savings BTD.

Huggies Diapers (2) $8.99 each
- store promo buy $15 in huggies products get $3 off instantly
- $3/1 Huggies (printable)
-made these two packs of diapers $4.49 each

Huggies Wips (2) $1.99 each
- $2/2 (prinatble) made these wipes $.99 each

Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce $2.89
-$2/1 (printable)
-Try it Free mail in rebate attached to bottle
-When I get the rebate this was a $2 MM!

Yoplait Greek Yogurt (2) $.89 each
-(2) $.30 (printables) tripled to make them a $.02 MM!

Coffeemate Powder Creamer Packets $1.19
-$.50/1 (5/2/10 SS)
-Doubled made these $.19

Wacky Mac $1.39
-$.50/1 (5/16/10 SS)
-Doubled made this $.39

Orville Redenbacher Carmel Popcorn (2) $3.49 each
-BOGO Kroger sale
-$.40/1 (5/16/10 SS)
-BOGO and doubled coupon made these $1.35 each

Warm Delights $1.99
-$.50 cellfire coupon on card
-$.50/1 (printable) doubled
- After both coupons $.49

There were some other things, but I can't remember the prices and my receipt is already in the envelope for my Rebate! Here are my savings. The double and triple coupons really brought that total up :)

Savings Blog to Date:
Coupons: $65.52
RR/ECB: $6
Rebates: $2.89
Loyalty: $31.06
Total: $105.47

And now for the daily Haylee picture! I was cooking soup for Jason and Haylee just has to be held when she is awake so I put her in her sling so I could do two things at once. (something I haven't quite mastered being a new mom) She actually fell asleep in my arms so that was good!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

7 Weeks Old Already!


No shopping endeavors today, but tomorrow I plan on going to Kroger. Today's post is all about Haylee. It's hard to believe that she is already 7 weeks old today! She is a very big girl too. Because I just started this blog I wasn't able to put her stats up from her 6 week appointment, so here goes. I'll put her others from when she was born and 2 weeks too:


Born:
Length 20 1/4 inches (49%)
Weight 7 lbs 14 oz (29%)

2 Weeks:
Length 21 1/4 inches (84%)
Weight 9 lbs (66%)

6 Weeks:
Length 23 3/4 inches (Off the Charts!)
Weight 11 lbs 14 oz (72%)

She is a growing girl! Both areas have increased alot with both visits. She'll probably be off the charts in weight at her next appointment too! That won't be for over two months though, so we will have to wait and see :)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

5/18 CVS Run

I talked Jason, my husband, into letting me run to CVS tonight while he watched Haylee. I had my shopping list all wrote out with Qs ready as well. There was a couple of things I didn't get and one thing I added. Here is what I walked out with today:

Covergirl Wetslicks (2) $.50 each = $.99
- BOGO at CVS
- $5/2 (from Tampax Pearl Tampons)

Glade Sense and Spray $2.00
-Deal I stumbled on originally $9.99 on sale for $6
-$4/1 (5/9/10 SS)

Renuzit Crytal Elements $.99
-$3/1 (5/16/10 RP)

Dove Trial Deoderant $Free!
-$1.50/1 (printable Q for signing up on website)

Reach Floss (2) $.02 MM with ECB!
-$1/1 (printable Q for signing up on website)
-$1.50/2 (printable)
-There are many Reach coupons out there to use!
-This ECB wasn't advertised but I seen it on another blog and decided to try it and it worked :)

For these seven items, I paid $.49 out of pocket and got $4 in ECB to use on my next purchase. I also used $6 ECB to pay that I had from previous purchases. Overall, I was very pleased with my stop here tonight :)

Savings Blog to Date:
Coupons: $31.69
RR/ECB: $6
Rebates:
Loyalty: $12.98

I seen on another blog someone that kept track of their savings like I am doing above. Each shopping trip I post, I will update at the bottom of the trip. Note that this is only for two shopping trips, one to Walgreens and one to CVS. $31.69 in coupons alone isn't bad :)

Now for the finale....here is the picture that aunt Anna took for us when they came down to Houston to visit when Haylee was born. Believe it or not, but this was already about a month ago! I think Haylee is about 3 weeks old here. (maybe 3 1/2) The only ones missing are the annoying cats! Aysha did great for all of the pictures though :)

5/17 Walgreen's Visit

Yesterday I was able to walk out of Walgreen's with:

Stride Gum(2) $.25 each = $.50
-Walgreens Q
-BOGO 5/16/10 SS

Old Spice Body Wash $4.49 = $4.49 (but free after RR)
-There are a ton of good coupons out there for this, but I used all mine already!

Right Guard Deoderant(2) $.50 each = $.99
-Walgreens has these BOGO
-$3/2 Q at coupons.com

Deli Creations $.99 = $.99
-Walgreens Q
-$1/1 5/16/10 SS

Reach Toothbrush (3) $.66 each = $1.99
-Walgreens Q $6.99/3
-BOGO 5/16/10 RP
-$1/1 5/16/10 RP or there are printables by signing up on the "Reach" website.


I took home these nine items for $9.70 out of pocket and received a $4.49 Register Reward to use on my next shopping visit at Walgreens! So really, I paid $5.29 for all of this and I could have done better if I would have saved an Old Spice Q :)

OK, enough about my shopping visit...here is a picture of Haylee to enjoy with this reading material! I know this is only the second picture of her and again she is naked! It is hot and humid in Houston and she is more comfortable this way :) Can't wait to move back home to Nebraska! That's just over two weeks away and those two weeks can't come and go fast enough!


Monday, May 17, 2010


The first post to my new blog so bear with me as I am new to this. I decided to try it for two reasons, make that three reasons. One, my sister in-law has a blog and I enjoy reading hers, so I decided to start one up myself. Two, I had a baby on March 31st this year and what better way to show her off to the world?! Lastly, because I just had a baby, I have been home for the past seven weeks reading others blog about saving money using coupons. In the past month or so, I have become addicted to getting things for free and cheap. (Hence the title of the blog :) I wanted to start this blog to tell everyone of the great deals I find and hopefully you all can go out and get them yourselves. However, my sister in-law, Kristin, is more excited to follow this blog for the Haylee (my daughter) content! Enjoy and if you have any suggestions for me (since I am new) feel free to leave them!