CVS Plan starting 9/10

CVS Plan

These items are on sale with the use of your extra care card. When you use your card you are also qualified to get extra care buck (ecb) specials which are advertised in the sales ad. There is a little trick too that I found out this month… This week’s ad is in effect through 5pm Saturday and next week’s add goes into effect 4pm Saturday. So you have a 1-hour window where you can shop and get all the sales for both weeks, which is sometimes helpful, like when you have to spend so much over time to get gift card specials. You can see both of their ads on their website. Cvs.com

#1 Saturday, October 10^th

2 Izze four-packs = $6

Total = $6

+ $1 ecb for next trip

#2 Sunday, October 11^th

3 Charmin 16-pack = $29.97

- $5 off $25 coupon

- $1 ecb from trans. #1

Total = $23.97

+ $10 ecb for next purchase

#3 Sunday, October 11^th

7 Finish 20-pack (dishwasher detergent) = $20.93

- 5 coupons (.75/1 pack) (total of $5.25 in coupons)

- $10 ecb from trans. #2

Total = $5.68

+ $10 ecb for next purchase

#4 Sometime next week after I get the coupons I ordered

5 Dawn liquid dish soap = $4.95

- 5 coupons (.50/1) ( total of 2.50 in coupons) = $2.45

6 Xtra laundry detergent = $8.94

- $10 ecb from trans. #3

Total = $1.39

Grand Total = $37.04

2 Izze (4-pack)

3 Charmin (16-pack)

7 Finish (20-pack)

5 Dawn dish soap

6 Xtra laundry detergent

If I purchased these items without coupons or sales the total would be $117.67, so this is a 66% savings.

Drawsting Studio Give Away

Remember how I said I received wonderful fabric the other day thanks to my awesome Heartsy deal? Well the Drawstring Studio is now having a give away on their blog. While I hope I win, of course, I'm letting you know now that you don't have very much time but if you hurry you can enter to win the drawing as well.

Etsy Craft Party: Be Mary By Hand

Jesse from Be Mary By Hand, a Tulsa Etsy shop has graciously donated a door prize for our event!

She is sharing "Ethelaia the American Shorthair Sweater Cat." She is a softy cat made out of a 100% cashmere sweater. Her face is hand-embroidered and she is adorned with a patchwork upcycled skirt and a green beaded elastic necklace. She is about 18" tall and comes in a coordinating handmade drawstring bag.

I asked Jesse to tell us about her and her shop. This is what she wrote:

"My Grandma Mary inspired me to create with my hands. I wish I could say that I actually learned to crochet, paint, or sew from her before she passed away, but I didn't catch the bug until it was too late. But I was always in awe of the gifts she made her four daughters every Christmas. Some elaborate, like afghans, and some simpler things as her health started deteriorating. I love that her home was filled with homemade things. I desire to create the same type of space, with love and detail in every corner, to one day leave a legacy for my family. I have two small children, and love to make things useful to mothers and babies. Things that are unique and beautiful and make me feel special. Mostly I have been making stuffed animals and bags with lots of pockets, occasionally I branch out, but I only have so much free time! I love to conserve and reuse materials like shirt and sweaters, but I also love to go to the fabric store and snatch up all the bright colors. "

Be sure to check out her shop. She has lots of cute items. I'm crushing on this dinosaur. :)

New Fabric!!! -Drawstring Studio

A week or two ago I saw a deal on Heartsy.me for Drawstring Studio fabric shop on Etsy. First, if you haven't found Heartsy.me then you need to visit this link and sign-up to get the deals! Second, Etsy is the place to buy and sell your handmade items.  I love Etsy so much, and am working towards opening my own shop in the near future.

So the Heartsy deal was for $30 worth of fabric from Drawstring Studio for only $14. At first I thought I was going to hold out for a cute elephant fabric I saw on their blog, but I quickly changed my mind when this fabric was listed!

I was able to get both yards of 54" home decor weight fabrics for only $14 thanks to the heartsy deal! My shipping was even covered. For people who don't necessarily look at decor weight it usually is more expensive than quilting cottons because of the weave and the width. If I had to guess it is usually more than $12 a yard, and even that is cheap. But Drawstring studio had one of the fabrics for $10 and the other for $11.50! Amazing! They even sent me a fat eight of a "MoMo" fabric, along with a coupon for 10% off my next order.  It is super awesome.  ...Maybe I will be able to get a little bit of the elephants later. (It will be a great "hope chest" fabric.)

Oh yeah, I'm going to use these fabrics for pillows on the couch. Soft, more comfy pillows. That is a project for later in the month though.

Awesome!

For those who already read my Facebook I'm sorry for the repeat....

Everyone else...

I'm so very super excited. This was double coupon week at Harps. I spent more than I thought. I'm not going to take the time to break it down completely because it gets boring watching someone display their grocery list!

Basically my weekly grocery budget is $120, and like most people this includes my hygiene stuff also.  This week I spent roughly $180!! However, I was able to purchase 3 weeks worth of groceries, and start little bitty stockpiles of a few things.  I added to my napkin stockpile since they were free! I probably have enough body wash to last well into the fall. I shouldn't need disinfectant wipes for 6 months, and I use them quite a bit. I shouldn't need unmentionable female items for the rest of the year. I also have a couple things to take to my parents that I received for free, but don't use.

I was a little sad about the amount I spent until I put all the items away, and rough sketched the menu. We will safely be able to eat a different meal each day for two weeks if we wanted, but since we usually have left overs of some sort we will definitely last through 3 weeks, maybe even an extra day or two! So that is about $60 a week, not including a few staples we will have to get on weeks two and three.  After looking at it like that I think this couponing thing is definitely awesome!

CVS on Sunday

I did 3 transactions at CVS and saved lots on Sunday. Here is the break down.

Transaction 1

2 cases of water bottles: Retail $7.98 Sale $2.44

2 Glade Automatic things: Retail $21.58 Sale $14.00 With Coupons $6.00

Total (with tax) $12.01 +plus $4 EC on next order

Transaction 2

4 Xtra laundry detergent: Retail $11.96 Sale $5.96 with Coupons: $3.96

2 Cover Girl items: Retail $11.18 with MFR coupon $8.68 with CVS Coupon $5.68

Plus I used the $4EC from the previous transaction.

Total (with tax) $6.85 +plus $3EC on next order

Transaction 3

8 boxes of brownies: Retail $8 Sale $6.76 with Coupons $2.67

16 cups of cereal: Retail: $16 Sale $13.34 with Coupons $5.34

1 box of brownies I was charged for but didn't receive $0.83

Plus I used $3 EC from previous transaction and a coupon for $4 off purchase of $20

Total (with tax) $3.28

Across the board

Retail: $77.70

Sale: $56.42

with Coupons: $31.92

With store cash coupons $22.14

Coupon Binder

I've started and organized my coupon binder as far as I could this weekend, and I'm pretty pleased with it. So pleased, that I'm going to ignore reality and pretend that anyone reading this is interested in seeing a detailed tour of it. *smiles*

On the left side, I have saved all of the receipts from the grocery purchases this week. My total was $114 spent on at least 2 weeks worth of groceries.  This is pretty exciting to me because that is $6 under my weekly budget! (So, twice the groceries for a few dollars less than I normally spend equals success!) On the right, is my notebook for lists, coupon match-ups, etc.

This page has the coupons I'll use on the current trip at the top.  The coupons that I won't use or am ready to swap in the left pocket, and then the coupons that recently expired and are ready to be sent to a military base on the right-hand side.

Weekly sale ads, oh, and more coupons that I picked up at the store, that need to be clipped and sorted.

I have the sections separated with dividers.

Long food coupons.

I've put a color tab maker on the pockets that contain coupons that cannot be doubled. (In this case, the coupon I received for pineapples at Reasors.)

Short food coupons.

The coupons on each page are organized from most currently expiring coupon to the coupon that expires the latest. It is kind of a hassle to rearrange each time I have a new coupon, but I figure it is worth knowing.

Condiments

I'm pretty sure that "condiments" is going to be my first sub-category under food.

More labels

Non-food

Health and beauty

Cleaning

Extra dividers and page protectors.

I'm going to need a bigger binder soon. I started with a 1/2" ring binder and the pages are already having trouble turning due to the amount of content. *smiles*

Big coupon trip!

I went back to Harps today with all of my coupons, and I took my mom with me as back-up.  We had fun pulling boxes off the shelf, and basically chasing a crazy lady away from my cart. (I stepped about 6 feet from my cart and this lady comes up to it, eyeballing everything. My mom gave her the stink eye and warned me to get back to my cart. Ha! As if that lady would have made it far with my binder. I would have tackled her.)

When we were finished and ready to check out the cashier said that we could only have 1 transaction per person, but I told her that it was necessarily true because Thursday ladies were having several transactions when I was there. She kind of glared and so I told her that if she insisted I would carry everything out to my car then come back in for the next transaction. Since we had already loaded everything onto the grocery belt she didn't argue any more.  Next time I will be better prepared for that sort of incident.

Anyway, for a break down of the shopping trip:

(Order from cheapest to most expensive.)

Colgate Toothpaste

Retail: $1.99

Coupon: $1/1 doubled to $2/1 =$2 saved

Total = Free

Napkins

Retail: $17.40 (1.45 each)

Coupon: $0.75/1 doubled to $1.50/1 = $18

Total = Free (They don't give you any overages, like the extra five cents covered by doubling the coupon.)

Rhodes Rolls

Retail: $3.96 ($1.98 each)

Coupon: $1/1 doubled to $2/1 = $4 saved

Total = Free

Crest Toothpase

Retail: $2.19

Coupon: $1/1 doubled to $2/1 = $2 saved

Total = $0.19

5 Rain Gum

Retail: $2.76 ($1.38 each)

Coupon: $1/2 doubled to $2/2 = $2 saved

Total: $0.76 ($0.38 each)

Texas Toast Croutons

Retail: $1.38

Coupon: $0.50/1 doubled to $1/1 = $1 saved

Total = $0.38

Dole Canned Pineapple

Retail: $12.00 ($1.00 each)

Coupon: $0.50/2 doubled to $1/2 = $6 saved

Total = $6 ($0.50 each) 

Act II Popcorn (3 pack)

Retail: $1.50

Coupon: $0.50/1 doubled to $1/1 = saved $1

Total = $0.50

French's Mustard Spicy Brown

Retail: $9.00 ($1.50 each)

Coupon: $0.50/1 doubled to $1/1 = $6

Total = $3.00 ($0.50 each)

Simply Lemonade (Personal Size -I was thirsty!)

Retail: $1.69

Coupon: $0.50/1 doubled to $1/1 = $1 saved

Total = $0.69 

French's Dijon Mustard

Retail $5.70 ($2.85 each)

Coupon: $1/1 doubled to $2/1 = $4 saved

Total = $1.70 ($0.85 each)

Toaster Strudels (Normally wouldn't get this because of HFCS so this is considered a splurge.)

Retail: $1.88

Coupon: $0.50/1 doubled to $1/1 = $1 saved

Total = $0.88

Raspberry Tea (Hot tea)

Retail: $2.95

Coupon: $1/1 doubled to $2/1 = $2 saved

Total = $0.95

Pillsbury Ready-to-bake cookies

Retail: $5.54 ($2.77 each)

Coupon: $1/2 doubled to $2/2 = $2 saved

Total: $3.54 ($1.77 each)

My total on all three of my transactions after taxes was $74.32.

My total savings from coupons was $49.51.

My final out of pocket cost was $24.81.

That is a 69% savings. 

I definitely call this a successful trip. Tomorrow I'm going to the regular grocery store to get things like bread, deli, and regular meat - things I don't have coupons for.  Then I'll begin collection coupons for next month's double coupon event.

First "Couponing" Trip!

Today, I went to Harps for the first time because I heard about their double coupon promotion each month. I will be going back this weekend with the rest of my coupons after they restock, but this is what I purchased tonight.  I may not be the most extreme couponer, but I'm pleased with a 50% savings on things we will actually use.

12 packages of vegetable/rice steamers

Retail: $12.96 ($1.08 each)

Coupon: .75/3 doubled to $1.50/3 = $6 saved

Total = $6.96 ($0.58 each)

5 packages of Gardetto's

Retail: $8.40 ($1.68 each)

Coupon: .50/1 doubled to $1/1 = $5 saved

Total = $3.40 ($0.68 each)

2 cans Comet

Retail: $2.26 ($1.18 each)

Coupon: .25/1 doubled to .50/1 = $1 saved

Total: $1.26 ($0.63 each)

2 packages of crutons

Retail: $3.78 ($1.89 each)

Coupon: $1/2 doubled to $2/2 = $2 saved

Total: $1.78 ($0.89 each)

Totals:

Retail: $27.40

Coupon Savings: $14.00

Spent: $13.40

(Taxes not included)