Monday, December 22, 2008

Caregivers Mail-in Rebate Form

When searching for a coupon the other day, I came across this website:

http://www.caregiversmarketplace.com/FrameSetup.asp

I immediately thought of Sherry and all the products she buys for Stephen. I sent her the link, and she says she has enough receipts to submit and get $50 back!

As a disclaimer, I don't know much about this rebate system, but I thought I'd post the link in case others (my very welcome visitors) would like to try it out. It appears that anyone with a child under 5 is eligible for rebates on certain Huggies diapers and skin products.

Hope this helps someone!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Today was better than Thanksgiving!

Oh, CVS...You've given me such a wonderful early Christmas present...

I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that I hit the CVS 2-Day sale after lunch and made a killing. Well, $26.03 to be exact, and that's not including the $9 in rebates I'll apply for.

I dragged Lance along as an accomplice. We loaded up our baskets with the carefully chosen free-after-rebate items, and used each of our cards to maximize the savings. The only item that was completely missing was the Arm & Hammer Essentials cleaner. And they only had one box of Benefiber, but luckily they had a few bottles of Complete left to fill the void in my transactions.

Everything went off without a hitch! I walked out with $107.71 worth of merchandise, having only paid $2.80 in cash, and ended up with $28.83 MORE in ExtraCare Bucks than I came in with! AAAAAAND I'll be submitting the rebate form for one Excedrin and one Zantac, which is another $8.98 back in my pocket!

Can you tell I'm stoked?

But do you know what REALLY excited me? When the receipts printed out, and they were both over six feet long! I used to joke to Lance that one day my receipt would be longer than me, and today it really happened. Twice. Ha ha!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Back and ready for action

Though it looks like I may have picked up a cold from my niece and nephew this weekend while in Pigeon Forge, I was nonetheless ready to hit CVS as SOON as we got into town. Oh, yes, the deals are good this week, especially for getting one's total up to $50 in order to use a $10/$50 purchase coupon.

I have made not one, but TWO trips to CVS in the 3 hours we've been back. The first trip was not as successful as I hoped. I ended up paying way too much, because I got hurried and a) forgot to give the cashier one of my $2 coupons, and b) bought two unnecessary items, thinking I needed them to get my total over $50. I hate when I mess up! So I'll be taking the two extra items back and then I think I'll be breaking even.

The second trip, however, was more of a success. I decided to try a different CVS to see if they had the money-making contact solution in stock. They did! AND they had the 12-pack of Rolaids softchews I've been searching for. Hooray!

Here's how the second trip went:
  • Complete contact solution, $8.99, get $8.99 ECBs
  • Earinse, $9.99, get $9.99 ECBs
  • SleepMD, $7.99, get $7.99 ECBs
  • Rolaids Softchews 12-pack, $2.89 each, get $2 ECBs for each
  • Colgate Total Advanced, $2.99, get $2 ECBs

Coupons used:

  • $2 Mfr. Q for Complete
  • two $1 Mfr. Q for Rolaids Softchews
  • $1 CVS Q for Colgate Total
  • $0.75 Mfr. Q for any Colgate toothpaste
  • $5 off a $30 CVS purchase (came in an email)

Total before coupons = $35.74. Total after coupons = $24.99. Used $24.76 ECBs from my Thanksgiving stash, and paid cash for the remaining $0.23 plus $0.46 tax. Earned a total of $32.97 ECBs, making a profit of $7.52!

If I had been thinking clearly, I could have easily thrown some other items on and been able to use the $10/$50 coupon. I could have made a few more bucks that way. But I won't worry too much about it, I guess. The fact that I can actually earn money by shopping is so amazing that it's hard to be too upset about not making MORE. I'm happy with what I've got.

And now, the question of the day: Does anyone actually USE saline ear rinse??

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thank you, Walgreens!

I had to go to Walgreens to return something (grrrr), so I figured I'd try to utilize the holiday rewards for this week (get $5 Register Reward for a $25 purchase). I wasn't interested in the deal previously, but then I read on MoneySavingMom about the L'Oreal raincheck. Since buying that would put about $15 towards the $25 total, I knew I could throw some extra things on there as filler and get the Register Reward.

I picked the following fillers: 2 4-packs of Scotch tape, 5-lb. bag of sugar, and a bottle of Arm & Hammer detergent. The tape was free after EasySaver rebate, and I had a $1 coupon off of two (money-maker!). The other two products were on sale with the ad coupon, plus I had Mfr. coupons.

After coupons and tax, my total came to $18.38. I will get a full rebate on the L'Oreal and Scotch tape, plus get the extra 10% for putting the balance on my gift card, so I'll get back a total of $18.69! That's a profit of $0.31 PLUS the $5 Register Reward that printed out!

Yeah, that rocks. I love free stuff.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Silent night

We got a surprising amount of snow this evening. It's so pretty and peaceful. I figured this was a good time to try using my camera for a night shot. I only recently read (on someone's blog, of course!) about how to accomplish this. It takes a very slow shutter speed, a 2 second delay, and a tripod (a tiny one, set on top of the grill). The shot turned out nice. It really captures the way the snow and clouds reflect a pinkish light.

So pretty.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Blogosphere + coupons + Kroger = STEALS!

Look what I got for under $6 (including tax) at Kroger today:
The only things I really PAID for were the croutons (our absolute favorite brand) and the cookie dough. And of course I had coupons for both of those. : )

The total came to right around $5.50 for the three transactions, of which $1.50 was tax. I did three transactions, because each of the Fleischmann's yeast packets gave a $0.50 Catalina, which I turned around and used to buy another package and a can of chili (on sale for $1 each). I only had to pay $0.18 for each yeast and chili transaction. If I had known that it would have worked so well, I would have taken more Fleischmann's coupons!

I got a tip from another blog about the freebies to be had. I know that reading other peoples' blogs seems like a waste of time, but it's worth it to find these kinds of deals. If I remembered where I heard about these deals, I would post the link and give that person the credit, but I honestly don't recall! I'll have to pay more attention from now on.

Well, it sounds like the bread machine is done making the dough for my rolls, so I best get to the kitchen.

Ta ta!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The scientist in the kitchen

I must admit to approaching my kitchen counter as I do the lab bench: I have a detailed plan to follow and a hypothesis in mind. And just like in the lab, things don't always turn out how you want them to do.

Saturday's experiment was chicken pot pie. (How can I call myself a Southern woman without knowing how to make this, the very epitome of comfort food?) I had a yummy-sounding recipe (http://www.lifeasmom.com/2008/08/recipe-swap-whats-dish-that-you-deliver.html), all the ingredients, but no pie plate. I decided to try breaking the recipe up into individual pies. I scrounged up the best containers I could find: four heart-shaped ramekins from Valentine's Day. I knew they looked kind of small, but I figured it didn't matter, because they were all I had.

With my ramekins ready, I went to work making the crusts. (Wow, what a time-consuming step! Next time I will try using a food processor like others do.) With the crusts finally rolled out and chilling in the fridge, I started chopping vegetables for the filling. When I cut into the onion I had just bought from Kroger that morning, it was completely rotten inside! I was so disgusted and frustrated. There goes one ingredient. (Thank goodness I had minced onion and onion powder to substitute.)

It seemed to take forever, but I finally got the filling ready to go. I got the crusts out, and began laying them in the ramekins...and recognized a rookie mistake: I had made the crusts all the same size instead of making some large enough to cover the bottom AND sides! Rats. I did the best I could to stretch them, but finally had to give up and move along. So I poured in the filling, and noticed that I would have a lot of unused filling if I didn't top them off as high as possible. With the ramekins almost overflowing (and that's with filling left over!), I topped them with more crust, pricked the tops, and put them in the oven on a baking sheet.

Forty minutes later, I pulled out some nicely browned pot pies...which sat in a pool of filling. Oh, well. As messy as they were, they actually tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself. Lance was happy. And the portion was just right. I still think I'll check the thrift stores for some larger (10 ounce) round ramekins for next time I give this a whirl.

That said, I'd say this experiment was successful. I filled our bellies with some good comfort food and learned some lessons. The scientist in me is pleased.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Now THAT'S what I call Customer Service!

I just want to brag on CVS a little bit...

As I explained before, my bottom line on Thanksgiving was affected by the Maybelline Mineral Powder foundation ECB not printing like it should. Well, I went online and left a message for CVS Customer Service, explaining what happened and politely asking for advice on rectifying the situation.

In two days, I received an email from a representative saying that they have now credited my ExtraCare account with $9, which will print out next time I make a purchase! (Since the product was only $8.99, I guess I just made a penny, ha ha!)

I just love CVS. Eight months ago, I didn't even acknowledge its existence, but now I'm a loyal customer. Who needs Wal-mart, anyway?