Once again, thanks to Deal Seeking Mom for helping me put together these bargains! Also, I'm reading The Thrifty Mama too, to get more and better ideas for saving money (among other savings bloggers, if you want to know - ask!). Thrifty Mama spent less than $2,000 OOP (out of pocket) in 2009 on groceries for her family. Two grand for the entire YEAR! She is my new hero!
All this awesome deal-shopping means we are starting to get tons of toiletries & cleaning supplies stocked up now, so I have a large Rubbermaid tote to store everything. I think I'm giong to start keeping a spreadsheet of my savings and spending for 2010 so I can see how I stack up next to the masters listed above. ☺
CVS
I got all of the above at CVS for $26.53 out of pocket after sales, coupons and ECBs (Extra Care Bucks), and still came home with $6 in ECBs for next time! The toilet paper alone sells for $15.99! I had to do it in six different transations to maximize my money, but the CVS ladies were super nice and helpful, and they told me they want me to shop for them from now on! The list is:
- (6) 1.5-oz packages of Cadbury Mini Eggs (which will work for two days of snacks in the kids' lunches this week!)
- (4) Six-packs of Soy Joy bars (paid absolutely nothing for those, and Rob likes 'em!)
- 20-pack of Cottonelle TP (biggest OOP expense, but we seriously needed it for our 3 bathrooms; caught Sophia wiping with the edge of her dress this weekend, even though we had Cottonelle wipes right in front of her!! Ew.)
- (4) Hot Wheels cars (which Jack has already bought with his saved Dad Dollars)
- (2) 5-packs of oats & chocolate Fiber One Chewy bars (yum!)
- (2) 4-packs of 60-Watt GE Reveal bulbs (always needed here, since our electrical system is screwy and our bulbs pop off constantly)
- L'Oréal single-color eye shadow
- L'Oréal dual-color eye shadow
- Pantene Pro-V shampoo
- Pantene Pro-V conditioner
- (2) 20-oz bottles of Caffeine-Free Diet Coke (my go-to drink when I'm sick of protein shakes)
- Bottle of CVS nail polish remover
- (2) 14-oz boxes of regular Cheerios (what house with kids doesn't need plenty of this?)
- (2) CVS Green Bag Tags (of which I can only use one, so if you're a CVSer - or want to be - and don't have yours, let me know and I'll mail you my extra! You get an extra ECB every fourth time you use this and a canvas bag!)
Pretty good, I think! Of course, there were lots more ECB deals to be had, but I only buy the things we can actually use, unless they are free or money-makers, in which case I get them to bless someone else.
Walgreens
I got all of the above for $22.58 OOP at Wags, and still came home with $6 in Register Rewards (RRs) for my next visit! My receipts say I saved $61.66 after coupons and RRs, but it's even more if you account for sale prices. This represents only two transactions. I could probably have done a little better, rolling my RRs over and over, but the Wags employees are not nearly so nice as the CVS ones, and I always get flustered and have them ring everything up at once. I could use a little more backbone, please! Here's the list:
- (2) Betty Crocker Warm Delights caramel cake packages (dessert for the girls last night)
- (1) Betty Crocker Warm Delights brownie package (dessert for Jack)
- (2) single-ct.Thermacare Heat Wraps (Rob's using a lot of these for his old man aches and pains lately)
- (2) cans of Oust Air Sanitizer (always good for stinky litter box issues)
- Rembrandt whitening toothpaste ($5 a pack normally!)
- (2) Jimmy Dean egg & sausage breakfast bowls (will feed my man before work in the morning)
- (2) tubs Betty Crocker chocolate frosting (really good since I have to bring dessert to Bunco on Wednesday night and planned on cake or cupcakes)
- (2) big bags of Lifesavers hard candy
- (2) 4-count Bic Soleil razors
- Colgate whitening toothpaste
- Hellmann's mayo (since I finally finished Rob's icky Miracle Whip and am eating lots of egg salad lately, to get my protein in)
- Hall's sugar-free lemon & honey cough drops
- Dryel kit (we don't have a lot of dry-clean only clothes, but it'll be nice not to pay for the ones we do!)
Michaels
In the evening, I remembered I had to use my Michael's coupon for 20% off everything, including sale and clearance items, by 7 pm, plus a 40% off coupon for one item. I got all this for $53.13 out of the troop money, since it's all for scouting items! Here's the breakdown:
$15.07 of that will be reimbursed by us, since it's actually stuff for Rob and Jack to build his Pinewood Derby car for the upcoming race. I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to get 20% off, so I combined everything on one total. They got some paint, better wheels (all official, of course), and other stuff. Jack is SO excited about building his car, and it's really coming along nicely! Rob is a pro and has won awards for his Pinewood Derby cars, so Jack's a lucky boy!
Lots of pretty and practically-free Christmas ribbon, which I'm going to use to make cookie bundles for selling at our booth sales in Feb and March. Hopefully they'll sell well, and buyers will get a free recipe book (made by me and Chloë) for using the cookies in their bundles!
I'm going to make prize packages for each of the 8 girls for doing a great job in our Cookie Walk-About next month! This is our first year participating, so I really want to encourage them to do a great job. I found almost all of this stuff on sale for 33¢ (plus 20% off) in the stocking stuffer clearance aisle. Each girl will get:
- A box of four homemade (by me) cupcakes, decorated pretty
- Magnetic photo frame (one of four, themed with classic childhood games)
- foam animal stickers (ladybug, bee, bear or alligator)
- one of four Sticker Station packages
- (2) body glitter tubes, in pink & purple
- one of four wooden puzzles
- keychain photo frame (and we're going to give Chloë her own house key when she gets hers!)
- lip gloss & lip butter
- 1 bubble necklace
- 1-2 pencil toppers that have Valentine's stamps on the other end
- 1-2 Valentines pins
- 6 Disney pencils, either fairies or princesses
Chloë was there when I was sorting everything, and she thinks it looks like a pretty great prize package. I'm glad she think so, and I hope the other girls do, too! Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to package them up. If you can think of something, please do share!
So. Lots of good deals this week, eh?
Fin.
WOW! I gotta get on the ball and start saving! I usually do really good at Michaels... but that's because I have an addiction... Good job Mel!
Posted by: Gloria | 11 January 2010 at 16:29