Walmart & Meijer Run - $1.87!

Today I went to Meijer and picked up:
6 - Tummy Trays - $.40 each = $2.40
2 - Mini Meals - $1.00 each = $2.00
3 - Lifesaver Bags - $1.00 each = $3.00
3 - Progresso Soups - $1.00 each = $3.00
1 - Set of Ponytail holders - $2.49
TOTAL BEFORE TAX: $12.89
minus 8 - $1.00 Q's for Tummy Trays & Mini Meals (FREE)
minus 3 - $1.00 Q's for Lifesaver Bags (FREE)
minus 3 - $1.10 Q's for Progresso Soups (FREE)
minus 1 - $2.00 Q for ponytail holders ($.49)

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET AT MEIJER (*drum roll*) - $.87 !!!

On to Walmart...

I purchased:
2 - Ben & Jerry pints of ice cream - $3.28 each = $6.56
1 - Set of Ponytail holders - $2.28
TOTAL BEFORE TAX: $8.84
minus 2 - $3.00 Q's for Ben & Jerry ice cream ($.56)
minus 1 - $2.00 Q for ponytail holders ($.28)

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET AT WALMART (*drum roll*) - $1.00

Total for everything - $1.87!!! Yay!!

Free Soup

Campbell's Select soup is running a promotion right now where you can text the word "select" to 467467 and they will text you back and ask for your zip and address and such. Then they will mail out a coupon for a FREE can of Campbell's Select Harvest Soup. It only took me a few minutes to text all the info. I've never tried this soup because it's rather expense - but for free, I'll give it a whirl!

Things I "lost"

Well its been a few days since a tree buried my bedroom and I'm starting to find out what exactly I lost. I could remember the obvious things like the side tables and lamp and phone charger and such. But as I go on about my life it's the little things I'm discovering that I am going to miss.

Last night I went to find a couple of coupons that I ment to use before the end of the year, only to discover they were in my other purse - which was laying beside my bed. So I went to dig through the rubble and after a few minutes I found my purse - coupons intact, just very wet. I also discovered one of my fuzzy slippers in the rubble. I'm sure the other is somewhere near but I could not find him. Oh, and I found my phone.

The best discovery was a snowglobe that I was sure had perished under all the weight, but I found it without even a chip on it. I am hoping to go digging again when my husband gets home and looking for a couple of delicious smelling, vanilla soy candles that were beside my bed. Hopefully, they made it through - cross your fingers for me!

No Bargain Shopping For Me

Well, normally on Sundays I am scouring the newspapers looking over the new ads and coupons and finding every bargain, but not today. I spent today sweeping, vacuuming, and then sweeping some more. Oh, and washing clothes and blankets and everything. Ick. I think I will be sweeping insulation up for the next 10 years. So no bargains to report, but my house is starting to look normal again despite the fact the contents of my bedroom are now scattered throughout the house. :(

Our "Christmas Tree"

My Christmas did not go has wonderfully as planned. When a cold front moved in and the temperature dropped, the wind picked up, and down came a very large dead tree onto our house.

Thankfully, no one was in our bedroom at the time. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully no one in our family was hurt. But now the clean up begins.

Its been a LONG winter already.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Our gingerbread house

Our littlest one and I made a gingerbread house out of graham crackers. Here is the before picture:

And here is the finished masterpiece:

As you can tell, we used a lot of left over Easter and Halloween candy. It was a great way to empty out the candy bowl before Christmas.

Never say Hate

We have an ongoing rule in our house - try not to say the word 'hate'. I think it sounds so harsh and mean-spirited. That being said, I catch myself saying it sometimes. Especially when the weather gets to be as bad as it is now. "I strongly dislike this weather" but that statement does not seem to do my feelings justice.

We live at the end of a lane that begins with a very steep hill. It's so steep, the snow plows refuse to plow it in the winter. Most of the winter my trash does not get picked up, or my packages delivered, or anything else delivered! Its very frustrating because sometimes even we can't make it up the hill!

So for the record, rule or no rule - I hate my hill right now. I love, love, love it in the summer, but this winter, I officially hate it - and the weather too!

CVS Bargains for the week of 12/21

Today it was only 13 degrees outside with a wind chill that doesn't really matter because if it's only 13 degrees outside its too cold out already, right? Anywho, I did make it into CVS despite the weather. I went in the afternoon and expected to see many of the 'free after ECB' to be gone, but I was pleasantly surprised to see them all nearly untouched. I didn't feel like shopping today - and my dear husband didn't feel like me shopping today (he drove me in) - so I just grabbed the sale items that I really wanted which was the nail polish and eye shadow.

I grabbed 2 Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Nail Colors (black and deep purple for me) and one L'Oreal HIP Metallic eye shadow duos (brown shades).

So my deal was:
2 Nail Colors = $5.99 each
1 Eye Shadow = $6.99 each
Minus $17.98 ECB from Black Friday sales

Total Out of Pocket = $1.06
AND I got back a $11.98 ECB for the nail color and a $6.99 ECB for the eye shadow.

I may go back and get another eye shadow if I have time since the limit is two, but only if I have time tomorrow.

Walmart.com Clearance

There are few things in this house that gather the same attention from littlest one as the video games he dearly loves. That one creature would be Spiderman. I imagine when he is old enough to play a video game with Spiderman in it, he may explode from excitement. Anywho, Walmart online has a great clearance section with some awesome bargains. The key to getting the best deal is to check the site often. I usually check several times a day. They are constantly marking down the price of their clearance and once it gets to $4.00 and under, it usually gets sold out pretty fast.

I picked up a pair of a pair Spiderman shoes for my littlest one - which also comes with a comic book and a Spiderman action figure. I used the free site to store shipping and my order should be ready to pick up before Christmas at my local Walmart. All this for a grand total of $4.00!

Trade Ins

At our house, we have what are different generations of video games. My oldest played video games on a different system then my youngest now does. So we had several video games and console systems that were going unused. Normally, I sell our unused items on Ebay, but video games are not the best sellers on Ebay, especially older ones.

However, we have a local store here in town that recently opened up, that takes trade ins of used video games - and for store credit. This is great for us because we still love our video games in this household.

Anywho, I was able to take a boat-load of our older games and consoles and trade them in for store credit of some new and used video games. This ReaLLy helped out my Christmas spending. Video games can be so expense. So I encourage you to look into trading in your older, unused video games. We were able to purchase several video games and videos for next to nothing!

Kohls $5 off coupon

I felt rather jaded when the Kohls opened up in our town a couple of months ago. It seemed like everyone in our small, sleepy, little town got a $10 off coupon in the mail from Kohls - but me. But I recently signed up for their email alerts online, and received a $5 off coupon for my next purchase. Since I have a couple of email addresses - yep, you bet, I signed up for, and received a couple of $5 off coupons. Now, I don't recommend signing up more than once, because it does state one $5 off per household, and I don't want to ruin this deal for the next deal shopper, but I never received my $10 off coupon and using 2 of these coupons, took that chip off my shoulder. I used my coupons with in-store sale items for a couple of inexpensive, but very nice, Christmas presents. Thank you Kohls, I now will shop there without a grudge. :)

Auctiva - Don't Ebay without it.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am addicted to Ebay. It is the ultimate bargain shop. I like to search for auctions that are listed wrong or spelled wrong and go places on Ebay that I can really get a great bargain.

I also sell a lot of items on Ebay for extra spending cash. I list items for my extended family and take a small cut of the profits. So here is my tip of the day - I highly recommend that anyone who lists on Ebay use Auctiva.com. It is free and gives your listings that extra touch that makes them look professional. I use it almost everytime I list. On the rare occasion I am listing a book or something very straight forward, I use the Ebay lister, but that is rare. I've found that using Auctiva does actually increase my profits. It looks like you put a lot more time and thought into your listing and I think buyers trust that more over a rushed, boring auction listing.

Trust me on this - Auctiva, Don't Ebay without it.

Re-start :)

I know I have posted my many coupon successes and bargains since starting this blog earlier this year, however, I wanted a fresh start. I have also chosen a new layout to go with my re-start. I hope you like it and I look forward to sharing more ideas with all of you!