Sunday Savings

Well, there was still so much snow this morning that we didn't make it to church...but we watched it on live-stream video. Welcome to the 21st Century.

By after lunch, Mike tried the roads and got me some newspapers. He ok'd it since it was already up to 53! Crazy. Snowed in this morning, shopping this afternoon.

Keep in mind, I'm still new at all this, so even though several websites do most of the work for you, I still go through everything myself to see if I can find some additional items, which usually I can find a few. So, going through everything to make my list and compile my coupons this afternoon took me about 3 hours. Keep in mind there were a few interruptions from a 4 year old and a 46 year old and I occasionally glanced at the television, so it wasn't necessarily 3 solid hours but ALMOST! :-)

Thanks go to http://www.becentsable.net/, http://bargainbriana.com/ and http://www.acupfull.com/

Ok, first I went to Walgreens. Before I start, I want to state that this could have been better, but I forgot to turn in a $5 register reward! I was not happy. Anyway, my retail amount was 62.78. I had 22.27 in savings from sales and coupons making my subtotal 40.51. Walgreens then gave me $16 in register rewards including a coupon for a free SoftSoap body wash making my final cost 24.51. That's a savings of 61%.

Some of my best deals at Walgreens this week were:

• Halls Cough Drops: On sale for 1.39, I had a coupon for $1 off (SS 3/29) making the final price .39.
• Chapstick: 1.99 You receive register rewards for 1.99 which means that it's free.
• I purchased 2 Miralax and 3 Tums. Total on sale for those items were $34. I had $3 in coupons and received $10 register rewards because I bought 5 items. That means that I bought those 5 items for $21 which means I pretty much got the 3 bottles of Tums for free. The Miralax coupons are at http://www.miralax.com/miralax/consumer/default.jsp

Ok, onto CVS. My total retail was 63.93. After coupons and sales, my subtotal was 30.77. I actually remembered to turn in my 5.49 in extra bucks making my total 25.28. I received 3.99 back in extra bucks making my final total 21.29 and a savings of 67%.

My deals from here are:

• Lysol products were 2/$5 with you extra care card. I had a coupon for B1G1 for Lysol Neutra air and a coupon for .75 of Lysol wipes meaning I got all 3 items for 1.42 each. sorry, I don't know where I got those coupons.
• Colgate total toothpaste was 2/$5. You get $1 extra buck back making it 2/$4. I had two coupons for $1 off meaning I got them 2/$2 or $1 each. Coupons where in SS 3/15 and 3/29.
• All Mennen Speed Sticks are 1.99. There were $1 off coupons for Speed Stick 24/7 in SS 3/29 making the deodorant .99.
• Paas Egg Decorating Kit: You pay 1.99 and receive 1.99 ECB making it free. This sale is only today and tomorrow.

Well, those are all the things I can remember right now. I need to remember to write down the coupons before I go, so I remember what I used and where I got them!

I still need to go back to CVS for some Soft Soap hand soap and some All and to Walgreens to at least get my free Soft Soap body wash among other things.

BTW, thanks for all the positive feedback and comments I've received!

My Deals from Friday

Tried to find some more deals. I'll try to post the links for the coupons for my really good deals as well.

First, I went to Walmart. The retail price for the things I purchased was 16.32. After coupons, the price was 4.82 which means I had a savings of 70%.

Here's some of my best deals:

• Glucerna Cereal (in healthcare aisle): It was $3.94 and I had a coupon for $5 which means Walmart paid me $1.06 to take the cereal off their shelf. https://glucerna.com/offer/coupon.aspx?s=ruby
• Fiber One Toaster Pastries: Price was 1.98 and I had a coupon for a $1 making my price 98 cents. Coupon from Eat Better America http://lm.logicalmedia.com/z/8204/CD3274/
• Arm and Hammer Essentials Cleaners: Priced at $2 and I had a coupon for $1 off. http://www.armandhammer.com/coupon.html

After Micki went to bed, I ran to Price Chopper. I was a little disappointed because some of the things I wanted were out of stock. Even so, the retail was 12.81 and after sales and coupons the price was 9.61 meaning of savings of 25%.

But wait! There's more. I have a $5 rebate which will make my final price 4.61 which is a 64% savings. The deal is Lenders Frozen bagels were on sale for 1.29. There's a rebate for $5 if you buy 5 of certain frozen items. So after I get the rebate back, the bagels will be .29 cents for each pack. The rebate is at: http://www.therealmealdeal.com/

That's another thing I'm learning, heavy duty couponers also work the rebates and free samples. Again, I'm amazed at how much easier this all has become with the help of the Internet!

Thanks to Dealseekingmom.com and BeCentsAble.net for showing me the deals. BTW, iheartcvs.com and iheartwags.com already have the deals listed for CVS and Walgreens that come out tomorrow.

A Proverbial Beginning

This is all started because of Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I read her challenge to go through Proverbs 31 every day for a month. I did it and actually continue to review it quite frequently. When you read it that much, it actually becomes less intimidating but just as challenging.

One verse that I could never really figure out and most commentaries I've checked just seem to avoid is verse 14, "She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar" (ESV). Reading it daily gave me a chance to really digest and dissect it.

I thought about what merchants did back then (and basically now, as well, for that matter). They are willing to go to several different ports to get the best price on what they want or need. They want quality and variety. They are willing to buy a lot of a good deal and hold until they can get the most out of it.

I then wondered how that applied to me. Proverbs said that she was this way regarding her family's food. That's when I thought about couponing. I actually didn't think I could get thing as a better deal than going to Aldi's, but then with some research, I realized that there are times when you can do better. It would mean some effort and some extra trips to different stores, but it would be one more way that I could help my family financially while staying home.

So, here we are. Couponing. There are so many great resources out there that do so much of the work for you. The idea of saving inserts instead of clipping individual coupons saves time and sorting. The internet makes it even easier to score coupons; you don't have to wait until Sunday anymore.

Welcome to my Proverbial couponing journey. Want to come along?