Behold, a great wonder!

See this?

This is what we CVSers would call a miracle. It's a free-after-ECB item...which was still available MID-WEEK!

I amuse myself sometimes with images of crazed coupon queens flooding the stores at 12:01 am Sunday morning, elbowing each other out of the way to grab the freebies off the shelf. But whatever the case may be, the reality is that if you wait until Monday to visit CVS, that freebie shelf will be empty. You snooze, you lose.

But not this week.

I ambled into my store after church on Wednesday night, husband in tow (I had to bribe him with promises of pistachios, which I knew to be on sale), prepared with my list and coupons, and just thought I'd swing by the L'Oreal area to see if they had any Age Perfect left. Imagine my shock when I saw TWO (!!!) packages sitting on the shelf. My jaw went slack, and I stood there for several seconds, just staring. How is this possible?

As elated as I was when placing the item in my basket, I knew that this would totally throw off my planned transaction. And it did. I could have worked a MUCH better deal than I did, and I could have actually used one of the eight $10/$50 CVS coupons I have amassed! Oh, well. Can't win 'em every time.

It still worked out to be a fantastic money-maker. It cost $15.99. I used a $1 Manufacturer coupon, a $2 off any L'Oreal product CVS coupon, and a $3 off any $15 face care CVS coupon. (Did I luck out at the coupon scanner or WHAT?) I got an ExtraCare Buck for $15.99 towards my next purchase. That, my friends, is a gain of $6!

Now my only problem is figuring out how to spend that $15.99 ECB. Good grief!

Kroger and Publix deals

Hi, all!

I finally went grocery shopping to get real food. As in, things other than evaporated milk and ice cream. We can't really subsist on those, sadly enough.

Believe it or not, at Kroger I used absolutely no paper coupons. *gasp* The only thing I used was a Shortcuts coupon for $0.45 off of Kroger cheese. The bag of shredded pizza cheese I got was on sale for $1.67, so I got it for $1.22. Not bad.

Where I REALLY racked up the savings was on the Manager's Specials in the meat department. I got some nice looking pork chops and an expensive cut of angus steak, both for about $3.40/lb. For less than $10, I have at least four meals-worth of good meat (meals for two). That's about $1.25 per individual meal, so I consider that a good deal. I plan on splitting up the cuts into dinner portions (for two), adding some marinade to the baggies, and popping them into the freezer. That way, when I pull out a dinner portion to thaw in the fridge, the meat will soak up the marinade as it thaws. Saves some time and effort.

I made a run to Publix while I was out (I'm thankful that they are within a few hundred feet of each other), and caught some great deals. Celery for $0.89, Jimmy Dean sausage rolls for $1.50 (sale price $2.50 minus $1 Mfr. coupon from Publix flyer), Uncle Ben's wild rice for $0.46 a box (sale price $0.80 minus $1/3 coupon from insert), and the best deal of all...Green Giant low-salt canned vegetables for -$.15 each (sale price $0.45 minus doubled $0.30 coupon = less than free)!

Since I got a $5/$35 Publix coupon in the mail this week, I tacked on some other things, like Dr. Peppers (on sale for $3 each) and got my total up to just over $35. Why is it that I can easily drop $60 at Publix on any other day, but when I have a $5/$35 coupon I struggle to spend enough?

God bless Publix and their $/$$ coupons! Whoever says Publix is too expensive just isn't paying enough attention. I've found that Publix produce is of much better quality than Kroger, and they always price their lettuce heads at least 20 cents lower than Kroger (today I got Green Leaf lettuce at Publix for $1.99, instead of $2.29 at Kroger). And you can't beat their BOGO deals, coupled with coupons. You can always find something to get for free or almost-free. Why, Publix is where I got Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes for less than free a few months ago!

Anyway, it was a good grocery run. I spent about $58 between both places, but considering that included about 3 or 4 months-worth of sodas and enough meat to last a month, I'm happy.

Now I'm off to portion up the meat! (It's odd that this stuff makes me so happy...)

Fall

I love our backyard this time of year...

Warm puppy

Baxter crawled under the heated blanket I keep on my feet:

Kroger Mega Event

And what a Mega Event it was!

Have you ever seen a register tape this long with coupons? Yes, that whole section is ONLY coupons! The cashier wasn't thrilled.

The whole lot (at sale prices) came to $63.07 before coupons and taxes. After coupons, the total was $23.22, plus another $4.96 in tax. (Why, oh, why do I get taxed for the pre-coupon total?)

Sure, my bottom line wasn't as amazing as a lot of other folks', but I added in a few impulse buys, like marshmallows. : )



Here's what I got for free:

• 3 huge bottles of spring water
• 4 cans Carnation Evaporated milk (holiday baking!)
• 4 small bottles of Tylenol PM
• 3 10-packs disposable razors
• 3 small lint brushes
• 1 4-pack of Cottonelle

For cheap:

• 2 cans of Progresso soup, $0.30 each
• 2 boxes Betty Crocker potatoes, $0.28 each
• 3 cans Beefaroni, $0.77 each (Yes, I still eat this stuff!)
• big tub Breyers ice cream, $1.50

I got a lot of things (about $11 worth, to be exact) to make some white chicken chili tomorrow to take to Lance's boss's harvest party. $11 seems like a lot to me, but I guess a big crockpot of soup feeds at least ten, so $1 a meal isn't too bad. These days I think of everything in terms of cost-per-meal. It's a sickness.

*Just a side note: I LOVE http://www.shortcuts.com/! It's a wonderful way to get extra savings. I loaded a $0.50 Cottonelle Q, a $0.35 Betty Crocker potato Q, and a $0.50/2 Progresso soups Q, and THEN used manufacturer's coupons for each! The $0.25 Cottonelle Mfr. coupon (doubled) made the toilet paper free!

*Another side note: With all the free Cottonelle I keep getting at Kroger, it seems I'll never have to dip into that truck load I bought at CVS a few months ago...Ha ha!

Raised bed, Part Two

Hooray, the bed is finished! On Saturday morning, Lance secured the rest of the side braces and put boards across the middle for stability. Cedar is really light and flexible, so we didn't want the heaviness of the dirt to make the sides bow out. It's not going anywhere now!

As you can see, I put down pieces of cardboard along the inside. It's sitting on top of the expensive landscaping fabric. You can never be too careful when it comes to keeping Bermuda grass at bay. Once that stuff gets in, you might as well give up.

With the leftover cardboard (which all came from big boxes during renovation), I folded up pieces and laid them around the perimeter of the bed, even in between the bed and the fence. I then went around and laid a good 4 inch deep layer of mulch on top of that. I'm serious about my grass control!

You may notice a little red bush at the end of the bed on the right. That's my blueberry bush, which has been in a pot for a couple of years now. I'm hoping it will do better in the ground. I'll have to amend the pH of the soil some, but hopefully it'll be happier there.

Well, Dad is going to help us get good compost to fill the bed with in a few weeks, so stay tuned for more!

Diabetes monitor count = 4

Being a non-diabetic, I never thought I'd buy so many diabetes monitors. It's starting to get ridiculous.


Today's CVS Transaction:

• Bayer Contour monitor, $30
• Nova Max monitor, $9.99, get $9.99 ECBs
• 10 Ice Cubes gum; Buy 10 specified items, get $5 ECBs
• Crest Pro-Health toothpaste, $3.49, get $3.49 ECBs

Coupons used:

• $30 Bayer Contour Mfr. Q from recent insert
• 5 $1/2 Ice Cubes gum Mfr. Q from recent insert
• $1 Crest Mfr. Q from mid-October P&G insert
• $10/$50 CVS Q

Paid with $3.57 ECBs, put remaining $3.79 on gift card ($3.37 was tax, ugh!), got back a total of $14.99 in ECBs. That's a profit of $7.63 for the night! ($14.99 ECBs earned minus $3.57 ECBs used minus $3.79 on gift card.)

Know what bothers me? When people try to say they earned a lot more than they really did, because they don't "count" the ECBs they used to pay. Grrrr. Yeah, I COULD say that I earned $14.99 tonight, but that would be a little misleading, wouldn't it?

I bet those same people lied about being subscribers in order to get that last $3/$15 CVS coupon. I wasn't willing to stoop that low just to save a few bucks.

Climbing down from my soapbox now. : )

Oh, and PS: Don't worry...I will find a good home for these diabetes monitors!

Mwa-ha-haaaaa!

Happy Howl-oween!

(At least that's what it is over here tonight. Baxter barks at every single kid that DARES to darken our doorstep.)

I stopped in CVS on the way home from work, because last night was "stock night", and I thought I just might be able to find the items I need on the shelves. I was right!

Oh, and "need" is a relative term.



I got:

• Bayer Contour diabetes monitor, on sale for $30
• 2 3-pack WellPatch, $5.99 each, get $5.99 ECBs back for each
• 2 4-packs of Bic Comfort 3 disposable razors, $5.89 each, get $4 ECBs back for each
• 5 SoyJoy bars, on sale for $1 each, get $4 ECB per 4
• 2 bags of CVS brand peppermints, $0.99 each

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS AND TAX = $60.74

Coupons used:

• CVS coupon for $10 off $50 purchase
• $30 off Bayer Contour from Sunday's insert
• 2 $1 off WellPatch from a past insert
• 2 $2 off Bic Comfort 3 razors
• $3 off purchase of 5 SoyJoy bars (printed from SoyJoy website)
• CVS coupon for $1 off 2 CVS brand candies (from coupon machine)

TOTAL AFTER COUPONS = $10.74, plus tax

Paid with $9.96 ECBs, and put the remaining balance of $4.39 on my gift card. ($3.61 of that was TAX!)

Got back $23.98 in ECBs to spend next time, meaning I just made $9.63 by buying this stuff. ($23.98 ECBs earned minus $9.96 ECBs used minus $4.39 cash paid)

Woohoo! Happy early birthday to me!

Raised bed

Here's a shot of the big L-shaped bed once Lance was almost finished building it out on the driveway. It's made of 1x6 cedar boards, 10 feet long on the outside, 8 feet long on the inside, and 2 feet deep. It will hold up to 18 inches of soil.

We didn't have a formal building plan, just a sketch of what I wanted it to look like. Lance took that and decided what supports to use and such. (That's why I married an engineer!)

Here's the bed once installed in the corner of the corner of the picket fence. It's flipped over, with 6 inches of the galvanized brackets in the ground for support. I started folding up carboard and placing it around the edges to keep the bermuda grass at bay. I'll go back and cover all the carboard layers with mulch on Saturday. More pictures coming!

Job interview went extremely well!

Just wanted folks to know that I had a job interview with Sarah Cannon Research Institute (yes, the "How-DEEEEEEEE!" Sarah Cannon) today. Everything went really extremely well, and I fully expect to get a phone call any day to start salary negotiations! At this point, I'd take the job even if they offer me what I'm making now. I'm ready for a change.

Mom and Dad also had good news today: they closed on the flip house, and the money is in the bank! They didn't make as much as they expected, but they both learned a lot of valuable lessons.