cheating on a budget

Is it really cheating on a budget if you claim an expense made on 9/28 on the October budget?

In other news, I saved 91% at Kroger yesterday :). I got 3 bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper for only $.64. I told my husband that and he thought I meant $.64 a piece... nope! They were $.21 a piece after various rebates I had received.

If only I could do that every week.

CVS deals for this week

Yesterday, I went to CVS to increase my stockpile of toiletries and other various sundries. Here is a breakdown of what I spent on what:

1- Cascade Diswashing Detergent: 6.49
CVS card discount: -2.50
Manufacturer's Coupon: -$1
Final Price: 2.99

2-Dawn Dishwashing Liquid: 1.69 a piece
CVS card discount: -.73 per item
Manufacturer's Coupons: -.50 and -.25
Final Price: $.59 a piece

1-Downy: 5.79
CVS card discount: -1.80
Manufacturer's Coupons: (if I had not forgotten to use it) -1.00
Final Price: 2.99

Colgate Total Toothpaste: 3.99
CVS card discount: -2.02
Manufacturer's Coupons: -.75
Final Price: 1.22

2-Arm and Hammer Laundry Detergent: 6.99
CVS card discount: Buy 1 get 1 free
Manufacturer's Coupons: -.25
Final Price: 3.37 a piece

2-CVS Batteries: 4.29
CVS card discount: Buy 1 get 1 free
Final Price: 2.15

2-Clean and Clear Face Wash: 5.99 a piece
CVS card discount: Buy 1 , get 1 for 50% off
Manufacturer's Coupons: (2) -$1
Final Price: 3.49 a piece

2- Clean and Clear Face Wash (a different kind): 5.49 a piece
CVS card discount: Buy 1, get 1 for 50% off
Manufacturer's Coupons: (2) -$1
Final Price: 3.12 a piece

Tampax Tampons: 5.79
CVS card discount: -2.80
Manufacturer's coupons: -$2
Final Price: .99

Always pads: 3.99
CVS card discount: -$1
Manufacturer's coupons: -$2
Final Price: .99

All in all, I saved a grand total of 42.13. I could have saved 44.93 if I had remembered to use my downy coupon and use my CVS bucks. Before tax, I only spent around $37 dollars on all of this stuff.

To make this an even better deal, if your CVS has the Oral B Vitality toothbrush, you could get it for $13 bucks and get $13 CVS bucks back. This would make the toothbrush free! Unfortunately, the Starkville CVS is out... but that's okay. When I asked if they had any, they wrote me a "raincheck", so I will be able to get the toothbrush at the awesome discount when it is back in stock (before 10/31, because that's when my coupon expires).

I think I finally got my stockpile of laundry detergent complete for the year. After this shopping trip, I think I now have enough toothpaste to last me and my husband for a year.

On a not so funny but sort of amusing note, I had gone to Sams a few months (5) back and bought a 2 quart (?) bottle of dishwashing liquid. I was running low and bough another bottle about a month ago. I had forgotten about this bottle until last night, after I had started stocking up on dishwashing liquid by using coupons at the local drug stores. So now, I have about a 2 year supply of dishwashing liquid!!!!! (oops)

I still make stuff... I promise

I've been in a creative drought recently (as you probably noticed). Also, I've been busy organizing my coupon collection and trying to set up a method to use them. BUT.... here is my latest creation:

A diaper cake!

My cousin and his wife are expecting and they are having a baby shower this weekend. I've never given a baby gift before, so I was at a complete loss for ideas on what to give them. I wanted to give them something practical, so I was torn between outlet covers and doorknob covers or a diaper cake (because every baby needs diapers).

The cousins on my dad's side of the family were discussing how expensive diapers were and how they were always needing them. I knew that I wanted to give diapers, I just didn't know how to present them in an appropriate manner. Most how-to videos online tell you to roll up the diapers like a cylindar and tie them with a rubber band. That just seems impractical. Either the mom will have to spend hours untieing them or they'll wait and when they need a diaper, they'll have to fight with the rubberband before fighting to put the diaper on the baby.

I thought about buying a diaper cake, but they're so expensive! (and overpriced, too). After an hour of off-and-on searching, I finally found a how-to that doesn't involve rolling up the diapers. Instead, you arrange the diapers in a spiral fashion in a cake pan, secure the big wad of diapers with a rubber band, and flip the pan over. To make a two-tiered one, just use a smaller pan for the second layer and secure them with a paper towel tube through the middle.

It was really easy to make. Also, it's a very cute way to display diapers. (did I mention that I got the diapers at an uber cheap price because of a sale at Walgreens and a $3 off coupon)

... I had to throw coupons in there somewhere ;)

another coupon post

If you're wondering why I post so many coupon posts, it's primarily so that I can see what I've saved (and point out to my husband when needed, that couponing actually does save money ;) )

My first big save/spending was at Walgreens. (and as a disclaimer, I'm not going to include the Claritin in my "saving/spending" total because it was not "grocery" related ( and excluding it makes my total look better :)

Total Groceries before coupons: 43.99
Discounts: 22.07
Total spent at Walgreens: 21.92.

I got some register rewards from this transaction and applied them to my next transaction:
Here are the numbers from that:
Total Groceries before coupons: 14.87
Discounts: 8.51
Total Spent on second trip at Walgreens: 6.36

In order to use my register rewards, I had to have some "fillers" to make my total be high enough to use the coupons. My fillers were M&M's. I think the fillers are going to make me fat :) .

The second store that I visited (and will post about since I saved more than I spent) was CVS. They had some really good deals this week, and when combined with coupons from the papers/online, it was a really really big discount.

Here are the numbers:
Total before Coupons: 41.27
Discounts: 25.90 (yay!!!-and I haven't even really started racking up ECB's yet)
Total spent: 15.37

I just can't seem to get the savings to add up at Kroger and Walmart. I save money, but the amount of savings doesn't go over what I had spent. I'll keep working on that and maybe one day, I'll be able to make money from them too.

This week's coupon deals

Instead of posting every transaction I make with coupons, I decided to only blog about savings that equal to more than I spent at the register. This happened today at Walgreens.

I went in to take advantage of their sale on Arm and Hammer detergent (buy one get one free). I also had a coupon for $1 off two. Instead of paying 13.98 for two bottles, I only paid 5.99 for two.

The next deal was a coupon that they had in their sale paper-$.99 for Palmolive dish washing liquid. This was $1.00 off the original price.

I also had a coupon for $5 off from the purchase earlier in the week.

Without coupons, my total would have been 22.96. After coupons, I spent a grand total of $8.97 (before tax). This equals to be a savings of 13.99.

I knew that in order to use the coupon, I had to spend at least $5. I panicked and probably bought more than I could have, but in the end, I essentially got a large bottle of Herbal Essences shampoo for only $1.99. This was the only item that I didn't have a coupon for (and it is rumored that there will be a coupon for Herbal Essences in tomorrow's paper).

always clip the coupon...

Well, coupons are good and all, but not necessarily when you forget to cut them out of the sale paper! Today, I went to Walgreens and took advantage of their deals.

Some of the deals that I took advantage were:

Dial soap: buy 1 get 1 free
Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner: 14.99 (which is a deal in itself, considering it's originally 24.99 at Walgreens), plus a $5 coupon that I had, PLUS $5 register rewards. That means that the shower cleaner only cost $4.99!
and lastly, they had flour on sale for 1.79 (with coupon)... but guess what genius forgot to clip the coupon.... Me! So, I paid full price for the flour (2.99) and also learned a lesson to always clip coupons from the sales paper before I go into the store.

Today's savings from Walgreens (hold your breath) : $20.99!!!!

Another deal that is going on is that if you access drugstore.com through ebates.com, you can get 5 items for a penny (yes, $.01) each. I took advantage of this, got a ton of lotion and body wash, and spent only $6.04. ($5.99 shipping). I saved a total of $30.90.

I should be set for a while on bathroom supplies.

Another couponing post

So, tonight I went on a couponing shopping spree. First stop, Kroger.

Here were some of the deals:
Deals Without coupons:
Tyson boneless, skinless chicken breasts - $6.99 a bag.
Kroger Italian sausage - $2.99

Deals with coupons:
Ronzoni pasta - $1 before coupon, FREE with coupon clipped from magazines ( I had 2 coupons)
Bryan Beefy Jumbos - $8.78 for two, a dollar off with coupon
Diet Dr. Pepper - $1.89 before coupon, .50 off with e-coupon on Kroger card


At Kroger, I saved $3.98 with the Kroger card and $3.50 using coupons. Total savings equal 7.48. Overall, I only paid 31.10.

The next stop, I went to Walmart. That was an adventure in itself. Walmart was having a sale on Diet Dr. Pepper - $1 a piece. That was a much better deal than Kroger. At Walmart, they also had a clearance sale going on with excess college dorm room supplies (such as bedding and clotheshangers). I got a new set of sheets for $9 and clotheshangers for $1.

I had coupons for a some pet products and groceries. I got a bunch of groceries (enough to last a week... hopefully).

My subtotal was $84.04 before coupons, and 64.51 after coupons. That's a savings of $19.53. I'm still trying to get a hang of this whole coupon thing. My goal is to get to where I can buy $100 worth of groceries for $5. ( a little extravagant but the principle is there ;) )

A penny saved is a penny earned....

So, on the coattails of the last post, I have started couponing (is that a word?) . Yesterday, I made the rounds of the stores that I had coupons for. First stop, Walgreens.

At Walgreens, I was able to get aluminum foil, packing tape, my ink cartridge refilled, and multi-grain cheerios for a grand total of $21.76 (pre-tax). I then used coupons, and paid $15.96. I saved a grand total of $5.80.

Next stop, Wal-mart. There, I was able to get a bunch of stuff using coupons that I had collected from the P&G coupon insert. Before the coupons, the total was 26.63... after coupons, 20.38. A savings of $6.25.



My biggest savings happened today. After doing a little research online (a.k.a. reading blogs), I discovered that you can put coupons on your Kroger card. So, without any prodding at all, I put those suckers on my Kroger card and went shopping.



Some items were already on sale for Kroger customers. From the picture, I'm sure you can guess what was the first Kroger discount I made full use of. Yeah... we like Diet Dr. Pepper. (or DDP as it is affectionately known as around my house). DDP was 4/$5, and after purchasing 4, you get 1 free! So, basically the DDP was $1 a piece. We drink a lot of DDP around here, so let me tell you, $1 a piece is a steal! For comparison, when DDP isn't on sale at Kroger, it is $1.89. Then, we go to Dollar General, which sells DDP for $1.25.

Another discount that I was pretty proud of was the fact that the potato chips were 1.67 after a Kroger discount, and then I got a $.25 discount with an e-coupon. That means the chips were only $1.42.

I'm sure you don't want a play-by-play of each item I bought, so I'll tell you the savings:
Manufacturer Coupons: 5.65
Kroger Plus Savings: 14.40
Total Savings: 20.05!

All of those items, after coupons only cost me 39.65.

I'm not a pro at it, but just these past 3 days have encouraged me to continue to clip coupons. I even have a coupon folder!

Coupon clipping

The other day, my husband came in and was amazed that someone that he works with's wife had bought approximately $50 of groceries for only $8. I'm impressed too. He had never realized that coupons could save so much money. (I've been trying to tell him that, though ;) )

Anyway, since he's now on board with using coupons, I've decided to be proactive and start using coupons more effectively.

The only problem is that I really don't know where to start. Last night, I decided to try to look up coupons online. The first place I went was Walgreens and found some pretty good coupons.. especially since they had coupons for things that I had run out of (such as aluminum foil and $10 ink refills). Next, I went to Smart Source and printed out some coupons. The only problem is that my printer then began to run out of ink. I guess I need to rethink my strategy to getting coupons... First thing on the list.... BUY INK!!! ( and now I have a coupon for that)

Another thing that I did was compare prescription prices. I usually go to Walgreens, but decided to give CVS a try.... (long story short, traffic was terrible the first week of school and I decided that I didn't want to drive the extra distance to go to Walgreens). At first, I thought the $12 for my prescription was really good, especially since that's what I've been paying at Walgreens for my prescription. However, I had recently gotten my doctor to lower the dosage of my prescription. Because of this lower dosage, I was able to qualify for the Prescription Savings Club price of $12 for a 90-day supply! That's $4 a month. To get the Prescriptions Savings Club price, you must first be a member of the club, which requires a $20 fee. But still.... that's $1.66 a month (plus the $4 for the prescription) that equals $5.66- a savings of $6.34.

My next goal is to get Christopher to only buy groceries for the week instead of going to the store every 2 days...