Week 50

CVS
CVS has some pretty good deals to be had this week.

Got all this for 3.76. Now, of course, I had some ECBs to pay with. If you're starting from scratch, it would cost significantly more. And I earned 15.50 in ECBs, and had a savings of 51.38.

Walgreens
FANTASTIC deals at Walgreens this week.
The best one for me was a surprise. Some Tylenol Cold products were on sale for 4.99, and if you buy two of them, you get 5 in Register Rewards back. Not to great, but not bad. Wait a minute... coupons on the boxes? Sweet. $2 off each box. Now we're talking. So, I got two boxes, and when I peel the coupons off, it's not just a single coupon- there are 10 dollars worth of coupons for other Tylenol products! Sweet! So, I bought these two boxes for 6.00 total, and got 5.00 back, and have $20 in coupons to put towards other Tylenol deals I find.

I got all this for 18.02 out of pocket, and ended up with 10 in Register Rewards for my next trip, with savings of 49.64. I'll probably hit Walgreen's a few times this week.

Well, the week went by and I never went back to Walgreen's. That's OK, because I overdid it at Meijer. I had my trip all planned out before I went, so that I would come in under my about 40 that I had left in my budget. Forgot to include produce, and they had toilet paper on price drop... oh well.

That's a lot of chicken nuggets, a lot of cheese, some free Ritz (free box when you buy 3 Kraft cheeses!), frozen chicken breasts, etc.
Out of pocket: 54.74
Savings: 61.70, and I earned 8.00 towards my next purchase.

I also hit County Market for fruit and juice using their awesome Penny Pincher coupon book. Spent about 5.00, and saved about 7.00. (can't find the receipt.)

Weekly spending total: 81.18
Weekly savings total: 169.72
YTD spending total: 2494.90
YTD savings total: 3696.31

Week 49

Well, I did it. A week where I only had to buy milk. Seriously. That's all we bought this week. Two gallons of milk from CVS on Wednesday. Whoo-hoo!

Weekly spending total: 5.00
Weekly savings total: 0.00
YTD spending total: 2313.72
YTD savings total: 3526.59

Of course, I've seen some of the ads for next week... it'll probably make up for the small spending this week!

Week 48

This is the week of February 14th.

Good Deal Alert!

CVS has a few great offers this week.

Crest Pro-Health Enamel Shield rinse and toothpaste. On sale for 3.50, and you get 3.50 in Extra Care Bucks back. The limit is 2 (which means you can do the deal 2 times).
BONUS- there were coupons in last week's paper for 2.00 off Crest rinses. If you can get two of them...

2 x 3.50 = 7.00
- 2 coupons x 2.00 = -4.00
= 3.00 out of pocket. AND GET SEVEN EXTRA CARE BUCKS BACK!

Even if you don't have the coupons, this is a great deal to get your feet wet with.

Also, certain Cover Girl cosmetics are Buy 2, get 5 ECBs. One of the items included in this sale happens to be the powder that I prefer at $6 each. And, of course, there were coupons in last week's paper. The limit is 1 deal.
2 x 6.00 = 12.00
- 1 coupon for $1.00 off any Cover Girl cosmetic = -1.00
- 1 coupon for a free CG face product when you buy a CG face product = -6.00
= 5.00. And get 5 ECBs back. Breaking even is great!

Aussie shampoo/conditioner/stylers on sale for 2.99, get 2.00 ECBs. There was a coupon in this Sunday's paper for 1.00 off any Aussie.
1 x 2.99 = 2.99
- 1 coupon x 1.00 = -1.00
= 1.99. And get 2.00 ECBs back.

They have a few other items that are pretty good, but nothing is as good as free!

If you are a newbie and don't have any Extra Care Bucks yet, but do have all the coupons, here is what I suggest:

Do the Crest deal. Spend about 3.50 out of pocket, and get 7.00 ECBs.
In a separate transaction, get the Aussie and the Cover Girl and a small filler that costs as little as you can get. (TIP: CVS knows people like us are going to need small fillers, and they often have bins of these really good caramels on the counter that are about 35 cents. Also, this week would be a good week to hit the V-Day clearance candy. Find yourself something yummy to use as a filler.)
So, you'd have stuff that ends up costing just over 7.00, pay with the 7 ECBs you earned in the first transaction and some change from the bottom of your purse, and get another 7 back!

It seems like you're doing a lot of work to get just a few items, but if you do that just once a week, you'll soon have a closet full of stuff that you can use.

If you can get items for free, even if you will never use them, you should buy them. There are several local charities that would be thrilled to get the toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, bodywash, soup, fruit roll-ups, etc, etc, that you paid nothing for.

Weekly spending total: 27.35
Weekly savings total: 76.56
YTD spending total: 2308.72
YTD savings total: 3526.59

Week 47

CVS for 2 gallons of milk- about 5.00.

County Market- toilet paper, ham, clothes detergent, crackers, eggs, etc. Nothing too great a deal.
Out of pocket: 48.99
Savings: 36.32
Even though nothing was spectacularly priced, I still saved 36 dollars. Meaning that just a few years ago, I would have spent 85 dollars for what was in my cart that day.

I really should have gone to Walgreen's about 12 times this week. They had excellent deals on diapers and body wash. But, it was just too cold to leave the house unless I had to. Once I am in for the night, I am IN. I had Doug stop at CVS to get milk after work one night, and I ran to County Market Saturday because we were out (or close to out of) of several staples that they had decent prices on. I probably could have skipped County Market altogether, and had a 5.00 out of pocket week. That would have been neat.

Weekly spending total: 53.99
Weekly savings total: 36.32
YTD spending total: 2281.37
YTD savings total: 3450.03

I am trying to think of another direction for this blog to go.... something more interesting than listing my deals. I am getting soooo bored of that. I've already proven to myself that I can save the money if I want to. I want to keep saving like crazy, but it's getting boring listing my deals.

Week 46

Meijer all the way, this week. The other stores have barely had sales worth going in the door for the last few weeks. We did stop by CVS to get some milk, but that was all the other shopping this week.
Meijer had another good week, and my budget thanks them. They had a lot of mealbox coupons that were stackable with manufacturer coupons, for items that were on sale. That also gave back money towards your next order.

That's CRAZY cheap groceries. The best example this week was Kraft cheese. There was an OYNO (On Your Next Order) promotion with Kraft cheese where if you bought 5 Kraft dairy products, you got $5 off your next order (OYNO).
Kraft shreds and singles were on sale for 1.67 this week.
5 x 1.67 = 8.35, and you get $5 OYNO.
AND, if you bought at least 3, you automatically got $1 off at the register.
So, 7.35 and you get the 5 OYNO.
AND- there were manufacturer coupons for $1 off if you bought 2 Kraft cheese.
So, - 2 of those coupons = 6.35, and you still get the OYNO.
AND, there were mealbox coupons they handed out in-store a couple of weeks ago for $1 off if you bought 2 Kraft singles. I only had 1 of these coupons...
So, - 1 of this mealbox coupon = 5.35, and you still get the OYNO.

Now, it was actually a better deal to get 6 cheeses, instead of the 5 you needed for the OYNO.
Because....
6 x 1.66 = 9.96
- 2 x instant $1 savings when you buy 3 = -2.00
- 3 x 1.00 when you buy 2 manufacturer coupons = -3.00
- 1 mealbox coupon when you buy 2 Kraft singles = -1.00
= 3.96, and get the OYNO. Did they just pay me to buy cheese?! Awesome.

I got over 9 pounds worth when it was all said and done.


Out of pocket: 29.71
Savings: 65.08, and I ended up with a $5 OYNO coupon

My second trip to Meijer this week:

Wow, lots of meat product...anyway,
Out of pocket: 16.28
Savings: 46.71, and I ended up with a $3 OYNO coupon from the dressing.

Weekly spending total: 50.99
Weekly savings total: 111.79
YTD spending total: 2227.28
YTD savings total: 3413.71

All this talk of cheese makes me want a snack... cheese and crackers, of course!