Adventures in Pumpkin carving.

This year I have been elected to carve the pumpkins. I don't know why. Its not as if I do it all the time or even know what the heck I am doing, but the hubs ignores any and all requests regarding the pumpkins. At first I thought maybe he just wasn't hearing me, but no I realized that he was purposefully ignoring me. hmph. Lets hope we don't wake up with pumpkin guts in your pajamas one morning.

We have 5 kids. I don't do 5 pumpkins so we bought 3 the boys chose 1 design, the girls chose 1 design and since I'm carving *I* am choosing the design for the last pumpkin.

I also decided I am going to roast the pumpkin seeds. I found a few recipes aside from the regular salted ones. Wish me luck on the pumpkin carving I will post pics when I am done. lets hope they aren't crooked.....

Who says a penny can't buy anything these days?

Ok so I didn't really physically pay a penny for all these products. But I pretty nearly did.

For this particular transaction I paid out of pocket $5.01. I received $5 in register rewards which made this purchase for all intents and purposes $.01

How did I do this... well let me start at the beginning.

This was my original purchase plan. ( well minus the laundry soap and purex crystals)

Originally I was going to purchase the Theramist spray since it would generate an $8 register reward. This would then pay for my second transaction nearly in full.

Here was my plan.

Transaction 1: Theramax spray Cost. $7.99

Register Reward ( RR) $8

Transaction 2: 2 dentek flossers on sale at 2 for $4 but I had 2 $1 off coupons making this only 2 for $2 and I would receive a $2 RR for these.

2 colgate toothpastes 2 for $6 with 2 $1 off coupons making them 2 for $4 and it generates a $4 RR

2 carmex bogo at $1.59 for 2, but I had 2 $.35 off 1 coupons ( which at walgreens can be used on a bogo) making it $.90 for 2 carmex.

2 pencils with walgreens coupon making them $.25 a piece.

and a soda to push it over $8 to use the reward.

These 2 transactions combined would at most cost me at most $10. (7.99+tax for the first one and then the tax plus change for the second)

What happened instead: the walgreens closest to me was wiped of dentek. boooo rain check time and an adjustment to my strategy.

Transaction1: Theramax spray $7.99

2 Colgate toothpastes ( bought as stated)

2 carmex ( bought as stated)

Total cost after coupons:

14.04

However I received $12 in RR

Second Walgreens: I had $12 in RR to spend so I wanted to make the most of it.

I decided to buy the laundry soap since I was trying to slowly stock up. and the Purex Crystals had a RR and a coupon so I had to get it.

So this is how it went down:

Transaction 1:

2 bags of dentek ( this wags had them YAY) purchased as stated

2 laundry soap, it was bogo at 6.99 and I had a $1/2 coupon making them just 5.99 for 2.

1 Purex crystals $4.99 with $1/1 coupon making it just $3.99 and it generated a $1 RR

2 carmex purchased as stated

and 2 pencils as filler for my previously earned RR.

This transaction total before coupons was: $19.91

after $12 in RR, a $.50 coupon for the pencils ( making them just $.25 ea) and $4.70 in regular coupons I walked away paying just $2.71 and received $3 in RR.

Transaction 2:

2 packages of dentek purchased as stated above

payed $2.30 but received $2.00 in RR

All in all for everything pictured in the second picture I paid out of pocket $19.05, but at a value of $40.95.

Not bad for a first timer.

I want to apologize if all this is a bit garbled. I foolishly decided I needed to post this at midnight. I'll be rereading in the AM to make sure I am not making stuff up. lol

Couponing Adventures at Target.

I actually had plans to go to both Albertson's and Target, but trunk issues interfered so I only made it to Target.

This was my list:

Butt Paste

Burt's Bees Face wipes

Dove Men+care body wash

Degree deodorant

Listerine

boogie wipes

My coupons:

Degree 2 $1 off target coupons

Dove Men+care body wash 2 ea manufacture and target coupon $1 off

Butt Paste 1 ea manufacture and target coupon $1 off

1 $1 off Burt's bees face wipes target coupon

1 $.50 off boogie wipes target coupon

Ok that was my list.

I was dying to get the degree deodorant because I noticed it on the clearance shelf when I went to get the listerine. It was only $2.78 for a 2 pack, with the dollar off coupon each deodorant wound up being $.89 I got 2 2packs

Dove Men+care was $3.50 I had 2 $1/1 stacked coupons. I bought the one with a free travel size bonus. Each body wash was just $1.50

Boudreaux's butt paste its $4.99 with a stacked $1/1 I got it for a whopping $2.99

Boogies wipes on sale for $3.59 with a $.50 off coupon it came out to $3.09

Burt's bees face wipes not on sale, but I wanted to try them regular price $5.99 with a $1.00 off coupon final price $4.99

My surprise steals:

While I was at the clearance rack they had 3 pack of reach toothbrushes for $4.24 with a peelie $1.00 off coupon. Making each toothbrush $1.08

I still had a Listerine manufacture coupon and they were still on clearance with a peelie for an additional $1.00 off so I again scored another listerine for just $2.24

St Ives face scrub, on sale for $2.88 with a target $.75 off coupon. Final price $2.13

Aleve is $5.99 for 50 ct ( regular price sadly)$2.00 off coupon made it just $3.99 ea

Sadly I forgot to add my Aleve, but I did buy it, bonus they came with $1.00 off coupons each box. Total price ( tax not included) 36.46.

Average Couponing.

I totally got addicted to watching Extreme couponing on TLC. Yes I know that its nearly impossible to save that much in a single trip and most of them are doing coupon fraud, but I figured I could try to do some coupon clipping and see how that saves me. I call it average couponing.

I was at Target last week and they had some Listerine on the clearance shelf. It was only 15% off, but I had 2 $1 off coupons ( one manufacture coupon and 1 target coupon) which would bring the price down $2. The clearance price was 4.24 ( reg price 4.99) so the 1L of Listerine WITH a travel bottle wound up costing me a whopping $2.24. Now I did not clear the shelf, did not swipe them all. I bought 2 of them and that was it.

My big score of the week however was tonight's shopping trip. I went to Albertson's to pick up some essentials. I need cereal ( don't we always) cake mix ( making a cake for a cake walk for one of the kid's carnival next week) some yogurt since we are out, frozen pizzas ( always a good thing) soups and some roast and chicken breasts and biscuits.

Right now my Albertson's is having a sale mix and match save $4 when you buy 8 of the marked items. There's a catch max of $8 savings per transaction. After checking my ad and coupons I realized I had at least 4 of the mix and match so damn this would require either 2 trips to the store or take my husband along. Well tonight since its Monday and we are a busy family, I had to go alone. This meant strategizing. What did I need most? I decided I would get the cereal, cake mix, soup and the biscuits.

My coupons were as followed. 3 General Mills cereal coupons 2-$1/2 and 1 $1.10/2 the cereal was on sale for 1.99 but with the mix and match it was really 1.49 ea. I was limited to only Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cheerios, or Cookie Crisp. So I bought 2 Cookie Crisp, 2 Cinnamon Toast Crunch and 2 Banana nut Cheerios. With coupons and in store savings each box of cereal was only $.97 ea. Not bad for a first timer huh? I paired the cereal with my biscuits, they were $.99ea ( in store special) with a $.40 off 2 coupon this made each can $.79. There was one of my $4.00 off savings.

My second one was 4 cans of progresso soup and 2 frosting and 2 cake mix. I had a coupon for $1/4 for the soup and 1 coupon .60/2 one frosting and cake mix and 1 coupon .50/2 frosting and cake mix. The soups were 1.07 ea with my coupon they turned out to be .82ea. Each cake mix and frosting were .99ea with coupons they wound up being .72 ea.

My big score of the night however had to be the yogurt. I stumbled upon the Albertson's savings book and was thumbing around and noticed that yoplait was 10/6 with free eggs on the next visit. I always seem to have yoplait coupons around the two I had was a $.60/8 and a $.40/6, but I decided to check online and low and behold they have a $1/10 coupon. Each yogurt came out to be just .50 ea PLUS when I go back tomorrow... er later today. I get 2 dozen free eggs. SCORE!

I did manage to score some really nice roasts which are BOGO. so I got 2 nice sized roasts for about $10 a piece. I really wanted to get the chicken deal which is buy 1 get 2 free. Yes you read that right. its either chicken breasts or tenders, but yeah 1 for 2. amazing deal, which they were out of chicken. boo hoo. I have another albertson's I'm hittin up tomorrow for that. But whilst I was cruising the meat area I came across some ground sirloin for 1.99 a pound yes!! 1.99 a pound!! you bet I scooped that up.

I managed today to save about $36. not bad for a first timer.

I realized a few things about average couponing. 1 It will take time. Time to print out the coupons and find the deals. 2. I will need a binder. This one pains me a bit... but I'll live with it. 3. I may not get things for free or even mega cheap, but I will save money. I vow not to drive around town wasting more money and time looking for the cheapest price, I will use the tools available to me, the internet and my weekly circulars, and my good sense.

A little tip for anyone reading.. anyone??? Right now if you got the Target ad with Target coupons in the mail they have a $1 off degree deoderant, which at my target is clearanced 2 pack for 2.82. Just a little tip. Oh and there is a dove mens target coupon plus dove men+care online has a printable coupon. So you know you can double up a bit.

Happy Couponing.

Balloon Fiesta

I'm behind. I apologize. I have a lot of things coming up that I want to blog about, but lets start with Balloon Fiesta.

Truthfully I didn't think I'd ever go. I mean big deal balloons take off. Pshaw. Its awesome. Indescribable.

Its near impossible to shoot a moving, glowing balloon when your lens is wide open and... you didn't bring your tripod. =/ These are just a few ( I use that word lightly) of the pics I took that day. It. was awesome.