Our Shopping Trip

Guess what my fiancé and I did tonight? We went shopping!!! As I was looking through the ads on Sunday I wasn’t really finding that many good sales that matched up with coupons I had. Plus, we had just gone shopping on Friday so we didn’t really need that much this week. But, I found some things on sale that we could use for the beach so we made a small trip.

First up was Five Below. They have these cute totes for the beach for $5!! While we were there, we noticed these small coolers right beside the totes so we decided to get one of those. We have a bigger cooler that we are going to take some lunchmeat and cheese in but my fiancé thought we needed a smaller cooler to take with us when we go from the hotel to the beach. I also needed more baseball card holders for my coupon binder so I got another pack of 30. Oh, and my fiancé got his first drink of the night, a 7-up.

Our total ended up being $17.16.
We spent about $7 more than I thought we would because I was only planning on getting the tote and baseball card holders.

Next stop…CVS. I was only getting 2 things here: 4 boxes of Nabisco crackers or cookies and a 6 pack of Bounty paper towels. The first thing I did after getting inside was scan my card at the coupon kiosk. I got 3 coupons: 50 cents off 2 dove large bars, $1.00 off Twizzlers, and $1.00 Pringles to go. I had read about the Pringles one online and knew that you could get the Pringles for free since they cost $1.00. So I definitely knew I was getting that. That was the only extra thing I got at CVS, which really didn’t make a difference since it was free.

So the total came out to be $6.22 with a total savings of $12.40!!!

I didn’t realize how small the boxes of Nabisco crackers and cookies were but they are going to be perfect for the beach.

Next up we went to Acmoore. Remember that lamp I was talking about in this post that I found at Goodwill that I want to paint? Well, I needed to get some fabric paint so I can do that. So I got that and some fabric paint brushes. And my fiancé needed a red bandana for airsoft so he got a red one and black one because they were on sale.  I had a coupon for 55% off one item and the total was $10.81.

 

Our last stop of the night was Giant. After getting our rewards card we proceeded to go up and down every aisle looking for what was on the list. Here is what we got: 10 yogurts, 9 cans of vegetables, 2 loafs of bread, 3 bags of baby carrots, 1 can of shaving cream, 1 bottle of mouthwash, 3 cans of Pringles, 3 tubs of dip, 5 bottles of flavored sparkling water, a 20 oz. soda (I forget what kind), and the newest Rachael Ray magazine. I was only expecting the total of this trip to be around $30 but we got a little more than what was on the list. I had to get mouthwash because when I went to the dentist yesterday he told me I had to start using mouthwash. He told me that the last time I was there and I did use it…but only for a few months. My fiancé found the sparkling water and wanted to get that so we did. And we thought the bread was $1 each but the white bread wasn’t on sale, so it was $1.19, but that’s not that bad.

Our total before savings was $60.31
Our savings was $12.81
And our total after savings was $48.48

I don’t think that’s too bad considering it was only about $18 more than I thought it would have been.

So overall we spent $82.67. We’ll probably skip the store next week unless I find some really good deals because we have a lot of food now. Our pantry is almost overflowing!!! So how do you think I did? Did I get some good deals or what? Leave me comments!!!

Weekend Recap

Another weekend has come to an end. Friday night I did my first shopping as an extreme couponing! If you missed that post, be sure to check it out here. My fiancé and I also stopped by the Goodwill near us because it had just reopened. It got burned down in a fire back in 2009 and was relocated somewhere else temporarily. Well, Friday was the new grand opening at it’s original location. I wanted to stop by and look for a lamp because I need one to put beside our bed so I can read before bed. I found one but I think I’m going to make it my next DIY project. It’s mostly purple with some green on it but I’m not a fan of the green. So I’m going to get some fabric paint sometime and then fix that up.

On Saturday I worked from 8-4. It was an okay day at work, slow in the morning but busier around lunch time. Then me, my fiancé, and step-mom went to see Cars 2!! I thought the movie was awesome!! It was definitely action-packed from the very beginning!! There were also a ton of previews for movies that I want to see. This Christmas, there will be another Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. The Smurfs Movie comes out sometime this summer. And I really want to see Winnie the Pooh!!

Today, I worked from 8-4 yet again. Then I went right from work to the Dollar Tree to get my 2 newspapers. I also had to go to the grocery store to get an apple and some onions for dinner. I made a recipe from Betty Crocker called Impossibly Easy Ham and Cheddar Pie. It had an apple in it but you could hardly taste it. It was really good!!! We had my dad and step-mom up for dinner and they liked it as well. I made a strawberry cake with chocolate icing for dessert. Usually when I make a cake, I wait a few hours or even overnight before I put the icing on because otherwise I ruin the cake. My step-mom said that you can put the icing on the cake an hour and a half after it comes out of the oven. My fiance really wanted a piece of the cake so he tried to cool it off by holding it in front of the AC.

Well, that was my weekend. Now I have to do some dishes and then organize my coupons and look at the ads! I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Weekend Recap

Another weekend has come to an end. Here is what I did this weekend:

Friday night my fiancé and I went to Rita’s for the first time this year. I was going to get the new pear flavor, but then just decided to get my usual: Swedish Fish!! The gelati’s are the best!!!! What really sucks is that I have some coupons for Rita’s, but they can’t be used at the one closest to us.

Saturday I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for supper. We didn’t have any milk so I had to make the tomato soup with water and it didn’t turn out as well as it does with milk. I should have just gone to the store real quick to get some milk. Now I know for next time: never make tomato soup with water! I was doing fine with my grilled cheese but then I got impatient and turned the heat up a little bit. I shouldn’t have done that because then I burnt my grilled cheese. Oh well, out of the 4 pieces I made, only 2 of them were burnt. Then after dinner we walked down to my dad and step-mom’s and then went to down to my aunt’s house for game night.

Then today I worked from 8-4. It was alright, slow at times but we had a few little rushes. Then after work I came home and I organized my coupons. Before, I just had my coupons in this:

And they weren’t organized at all. So I decided that I wanted to organize my coupons into categories. My fiancé was talking to someone at his work that coupons and she told him about the site The Krazy Coupon Lady. I remember seeing the lady that runs the site on the TLC show, Extreme Couponing. So I went onto the site, and found a list of different sections for coupons that she puts her coupons in. Here is what my coupons look like now:

A few of my coupon sections:

They are just paper-clipped together with a piece of paper saying what the category is. I’m going so start out by just keeping them clipped together and in my blue folder for now. When I really get into couponing (and this method drives me crazy) then I’ll get a binder and put my coupons in that.

Then my fiancé and I went down to my dad and step-mom’s house for dinner. We had chicken that was coated in bread crumbs and spices. It was really good!!! For dessert was cake with homemade chocolate peanut butter icing!

After that, we needed to get milk and bread. We went to the Dollar Tree first and decided to buy 2 papers so we could get more coupons!! On the way home, I started looking at the ads and I was so excited looking through the ads and going “I have a coupon for that! And that!!And that!!” So now I’m going to clip my coupons, look through the ads, and plan my next grocery trip! Oh, and I’m going to do that while watching the 19 Kids and Counting: First Grandson special on TLC and The Glee Project on Oxygen! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Don’t forget to enter my two giveaways. One of them ends this Wednesday! Have a great evening!!!

Dumb money saving tips

So I found an article on Yahoo titled “6 Dumb Money ‘Saving’ Mistakes”. It talks about 6 things that people do to try to save money, but these 6 things don’t actually save you that much.

The first one is falling for free. The promotions that are absolutely free are alright, but it’s the ones that are buy-one-get-one-free or “free shipping with a $150 purchase”, that aren’t really worth it because we spend more money in the end. Dan Ariely wrote in his book Predictably Irrational that when something is free, it suggests to the consumer that there is no downside. This isn’t always the case because if the deal is buy 2 get one free, you are spending extra money if you didn’t plan on buying the first two items.

The next one is overdosing at the Dollar Store. Yes you can find some great things at the Dollar Store, but not everything is worth it. According to Consumer Reports, some items can actually be dangerous. Some of these items are extension cords, lamps, and other items that might have make UL labels that certify their safety. Also, over-the-counter medicine such as aspirin may be on the shelves past their expiration date.

Buying in bulk is next on the list. Sure it can save you money with some things, but it’s a waste of money when you get too much that you can’t use it before the expiration date and it goes bad. I think that the best things to get at places like Sam’s Club or Costco is anything that has a long expiration date.

Next is excessive couponing. I’m sure almost everyone has heard of TLC’s new show Extreme Couponing. The second season started at the beginning of April which surprises me because I’ve never heard of the show before. The people on that show are crazy. I’ve read that they buy tons of stuff like housecleaning supplies, dry goods, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, and more, in bulk just because they have coupons for it. I like coupons, but I don’t see why you would need to fill your whole house with a million things of laundry detergent just because it was really cheap.

Fast-food dining doesn’t save you money? I would have never guessed that!! (Sarcasm..in case you can’t tell) Sure the dollar menus may satisfy your hunger for less today, but if you do it often it can carry a bigger price tag. Most items that are on value menus are high in saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol. They are also linked to an increased risk of cancer.

The last one on the list is making repairs yourself. For services that take up a lot of your time or require a lot of expertise, it is just cheaper to pay a professional to do it. Some examples are re-flooring or re-carpeting your house, changing your car’s oil, and estate planning.

Be sure to check out the blog hop I’m hosting for the very first time and the other hops that I found from other bloggers. Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

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