I realized I had not accounted for my Newspaper purchases! So I am adding a little spot in my yearly totals list on the side to keep track of newspapers I buy each week as well as in coupons I buy through The Coupon Clippers.

Some sale shopping and CVS!

Hit CVS again today for some more goodies and TP. Also nabbed some really good deals at Walmart (75% off Christmas now!) and Dollar General for some Electrasol.

CVS- 5 transactions
1 6 pack CVS Beauty Bar soap clearanced
2 CVS Kids Strawberry Body wash clearanced
1 CVS Beef Bouillion
2 CVS Chicken Bouillion
1 CVS 30 ct Tall Kitchen Bags
1 CVS 80ct Baby Wipes
1 CVS Single Big Roll paper towels
1 20 pack double roll Cottonelle TP (ECB deal)


Total- 37.53
Saved- 30.92
Spent- 6.61
Earned $4 ECB


Walmart-
2 Xmas Tees
3 Novelty Nightgowns (from Christmas present area so 75% off)
5 Individual Cocoa Kits


Total - 29.97
Saved- 21.00
Spent- 8.97

Dollar General-
5 Electrasol (purchased at 2 stores)
2 2ltr Cokes

Total- 18.31
Saved- 15.30
Spent- 3.01

Kroger-(As a favor to a friend, I went in and bought 2 things that were free with coupon. Nothing else though. They will not see my money except to pay tax on free stuff until they change that silly policy.)
2 Nestle Coffeemate Caramel Apple flavor sale 10/$10

Total - 5.40
Saved- 5.38
Spent- .02

Totals for the Day- 91.21
Saved- 72.60
Spent- 18.61

More CVS and few other places too!

I decided to change it up a bit today and visit a few other CVS's. I tend to be attached to *my* store and do not venture to others very often. Glad I did though! I forget that other stores carry different items sometimes. LOL It was fun to browse a different store.

CVS- 3 stores, 6 transactions
4 CVS Twin Blade Blue pack razors (each contains 3 razors)
1 CVS Baby Wipes 80ct
1 CVS 6 pack Beauty Bars Soap clearanced
1 CVS Kitchen Trash Bag 45ct
1 PEZ Christmas candy dispenser clearanced
2 CVS Bleach
1 CVS Antiseptic Mouthwash
1 CVS single roll Papertowels
1 Light-up Christmas Duck toy clearanced
1 Giant Christmas Hershey Kiss clearanced
5 Oceanspray Cranberry Jellies clearanced .42 each
1 After Eight Dinner Mints clearanced

Total- 49.67
Saved- 38.48
Used GC- 5.72
Spent- 5.47

Kroger- I had to go in there for work today and figured I would get my free TP. But nothing else. LOL
1 4 pack of Cottonelle

Total- 1.03
Saved- .99
Spent- .04

Walmart- I needed new tennis shoes! LOL
1 pair of tennis shoes

Total-12.84
Spent-12.84

Totals for the Day- 63.64
Saved- 45.19
Spent- 18.35

A few shopping trips in GALE FORCE WINDS!

Wow was the weather ever interesting in Greenville today. That wind was unreal! Not used to that stuff unless there is a hurricane blowing through. Anyway, managed a few shopping stops whilst out working today.

Dollar General-
5 Christmas items (mainly little books etc for next years stocking) 70% off
1 Electrasol 16 tab 3.00
(I figured that for the .99 or so most seem to be paying for 20 tabs, this is an even better deal! End up with more tabs for the same amount of money when you buy two here. Of course you have to use more coupons too, so depends on whether you want low OOP or more tabs overall.)

Total- 7.78
Saved- 6.00
Spent- 1.78

CVS- 2 transactions
1 CVS 80 ct Baby Wipes
1 CVS 30ct Qtips
3 Rolls of CVS Papertowels

Total- 7.51
Saved- 6.75
Used GC- .76
Spent- 0.00

Harris Teeter-
5 Old Orchard Healthy Balance Juices Buy2Get3Free
-$3 off next order CAT from the Colgate deal during Triples.
-had 2 old mailed Q's for .25 off one
** Sidenote go here to register for $5 in Q's and then here to see the offer for a free one with 10 UPC's. The first link, Ijust noticed, says 2007 at the beginning of the offer portion of the address so it may be too old and the link just collects your info for their mailers? We will see I guess.


Total- 15.33
Saved- 12.97
Spent- 2.36

Walmart-
Found shirts that match Little One's school uniform on sale, which NEVER happens. So bought 3 in a size bigger for next year.

Total- 18.96
Saved- 2.94
Spent- 16.02

Totals for the Day- 49.58
Saved- 29.42
Spent- 20.16

OMG Hickory Farms....

Over at $1200 Frugal Challenge 2009 she posted about an AMAZING deal right now. Hickory Farms has everything on their site at 75% off plus use CLIPPER in the source code box at checkout and get another 15% off. Hurry though, I noticed alot of the stuff she listed is no longer on the site so I am assuming things are selling fast at those prices!!!

I got the following:

1 5.5 to 6lb Presliced Boneless Ham Reg. $45.00 Sale $11.25
1 Warm & Hearty Welcome Gift Box Reg. $25.00 Sale $6.25
1 Holiday Treasure Chest Reg. $35.00 Sale $8.75
1 Dobosh Torte Reg. $19.00 Sale $4.75
-Discount of $4.65
+Shipping of 11.99
+Tax of 1.74

Total before sales- 144.67 (tax and shipping included)
Saved 104.59
Spent 40.08

Breakdown of what I am actually getting:
1 -5.5-6lb boneless ham
2 -7 oz. Beef Summer Sausage
1 -7 oz Ham Summer Sausage
1 -7 oz. Turkey Summer Sausage
1 - 8 oz Big Barn Cheddar®
1 - 4 oz Three Cheese and Onion Wedge
1 - 4 oz Creamy Swiss Blend
1 - 6 oz. Smoked Gouda Blend
2 - 3 oz Sweet Hot Mustard
1 Dobosh Torte
1 - 4 oz. Mini Melt Away Mints
1 - 2 oz. The Chocolate Collection
1 - 5 oz. Golden Toasted Crackers
1 - Hickory Farms Cleaver
1 - Customized Holiday Gift Box
Strawberry Bon Bons

Helpful Tip

Do you live in a small(ish) town or do your shopping one area all of the time? Do you have a *regular* set of drugstores/grocery stores? Do you have employees that , altho not coupon haters, may be a little cranky some times when you use all of those coupons?

If so, take the time to get to know them. Are they maybe interested in coupons and the negativity towards you is a little bit of jealousy of all those great deals you get all the time??? (Obviously don't ask them this!! LOL) Here is a couple of examples of how myself and another couponer I know (Hey Tipsy!!) turned things around in a store that could have gone either for us or against us!

1- Tipsy generall shops at a CVS on the other side of the town we live in, one where I had not had good experiences in. Being that store is not really convenient to me it was no big loss, I have one just up the road. But for her, this was the best location to stop at. After shopping there all of the time and getting to know the folks, she still felt that occasionally there could be a twinge of resistance when a coupon would beep or cause problems. But she kept going and then on Thanksgiving day when going in to get all of those great ECB deals, she took them a plate of homemade cookies. Just because she felt bad for them having to work on Thanksgiving. They were HUGELY touched and appreciative and if she has any problems there in the future I would be very very surprised.

2- I love my CVS but.. there were DEFINITELY cashiers I perferred to see when I walked in over others. One in particular is a younger girl who would just give all kinds of grief about coupons. Scrutinizing every single thing knowing I would end up with little to no OOP usually and a huge list of ECB's. But I have kept a smile on my face and super nice every time. Yesterday while in their getting all of my CVS cheapies, one of the assistant managers asked me where I got all of my coupons. I explained that I bought alot of Sunday papers for the inserts and used the online sites to find tons of printables. The *cranky* cashier said that she had missed getting the Sunday paper this week and was so mad at herself. So I told her that next time I came in I would bring her a set as I had bought 7 and had MORE than enough. I figured a 1.50 investment could help smooth out some of that crankiness. I also printed a few of the $3 off coupons for her. When I went in today with the 5 inserts and CVS Q's she actually came around and HUGGED ME! I was so happy to be able to help her out and by doing so I can already tell that I have made my future couponing there so much easier! I also found out while talking to her that she trys to use coupons but *it never seems to work out like she thought it would*. That sound familiar??? LOL I explained that for most of us *couponers* we were in the same boat UNTIL we found the forums and blogs out there where others had found the deals or figured them out and posted about them. I told her that I would bring her a list of good sites that will help her get the hang of this *couponing thing* . Again she was sooo excited and I think I may have brought someone into the *frugal* fold!

Moral of these stories? Be nice and spread the couponing love! Have coupons you NEVER use (For me it is makeup as I do not wear it.) but while talking to the cashier you find out she LOVES makeup? Take a few minutes to clip those out for her each week and drop them off to her. It takes only a few minutes of your time but helps someone else out and , let's be honest here, benefits you by making the cashiers your biggest ALLIES!

CVS Tuesday.. lol

So for today's CVS shopping trips. First let me say that it was apparently a fluke the other day that the most expensive item rang 50% off not the cheapest one. So make your deals based on an expensive one and then one that will ring 50% off that is cheaper or same price if you are getting stuff that will throw you under the 3.00 mark with the coupon.

7 Transactions total-
1 CVS 30 ct Tall Kitchen Trashbags
1 CVS Beef Bouillion
1 3 pk CVS Papertowels
2 Big Roll CVS papertowels
2 CVS Garlic Powder
2 CVS Liquid Bleach
3 CVS brand 72 ct Baby Wipes
1 CVS paprika
1 CVS Onion Powder
1 CVS 75ft Aluminum Foil

Total- 31.56
Saved- 25.20
Used GC- 6.36
Spent- 0.00

Still have 6.48 on the GC too and 11 more days to use those Q's!!!

Really cool Mac and Cheese Recipe

I love good, old fashioned, southern mac and cheese. Not that creamy stuff but the kind with real cheese and milk that is not saucey but more of a crumbly texture almost. I found the COOLEST recipe to make this.
Using my nearly free Muellers Elbow Macaroni from Triples, 2 packages of shredded cheese from the freezer from when they were on sale 3/$5, some Land O Lakes margarine that was on sale with Q from a few months ago and 4 cups of milk. It made for an amazing rich and tasty mac cheese. AND it was cheap too, roughly around 5.00 for a huge 9x13 casserole full!!!

Now for the super COOL part. You do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT cook the macaroni first!!!

I know, craziness right??? Insanity ??? Well it works!

I got the original recipe from Allrecipes.com. But as I am prone to do, I tweaked it a bit. If you follow the original recipe you only use one package of cheese but we like it extra cheesy. (Using one package of cheese would have also cut way down on the price for it too.)

Since I tweaked it so much I am going to post how I did it, but please see the original recipe linked above as well.

MomIsCrazy's EASY Mac and Cheese

6 Tbs of margarine
(Seasonings are to taste , I do not measure typically, just eyeball it knowing what my tastes are. Just remember a whole box of elbow macaroni is ALOT and needs alot of seasoning in my opinion.)
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. of each of the following:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Dry Mustard
Paprika
1 box of UNCOOKED Elbow Pasta
4 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
4 cups 2% Milk
(I added a touch more to make sure it had enough, maybe 1/4 cup more or so, just eyeball it.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put 6 Tbs margarine in 9x13 pan and place in oven until completely melted.
3. Take pan with melted margarine out of oven and dump whole box of elbow macaroni UNCOOKED in. Add seasonings to taste. Mix together well to cover all the pasta with the seasonings and melted margarine.
4. Add cheese in a layer on top of pasta. Do not stir.
5. Pour in milk. Still NO stirring at this point. Just pour milk in making sure it covers the cheese and pasta.
6. Place in oven at 350 for around 60 mins. About 30 minsutes in I took the pan out and stirred everything together, then place back in oven for 30 more minutes.
7. After the hour total cooking time the top will be golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes.

How much easier does it get than that???? All mixed in the pan you cook it in!!! No preboiling the pasta!! Again, this is NOT a creamy version of mac and cheese. Some of you will know what I am referring to when I say this is the old time southern version of mac and cheese. I LOVE IT! If you make this, let me know what you thought of it!

Get used to the CVS posts, probably daily!

At least until the 17th I will be visiting CVS almost daily to use those $3/1 CVS brand coupons. I also noticed on my receipt that the register *appears* to be taking the 1/2 off discount on the second item scanned, not the cheapest one!!! So if doing this deal be sure to give them the cheapest one first to scan, then the more expensive item in case this wasn't a fluke!!! I also stopped at Walgreens for my free/moneymaker Electrasol.
Sooooo for today it was:

CVS (had to do 3 transactions per the stores rules. The coupon will only work once per transaction.)
#1-
2 CVS Bleach 2.39 (2nd one 1/2 off with store sale)
-3.00 Q

#2
1 CVS single roll Papertowel 1.99
1 CVS Baby Wipes 80ct tub 1.49 (1/2 off)
-3.00 Q

#3
1 CVS 75ft Aluminum Foil 3.79 (this one is WAY better than the Walgreens deal if you do not have the insert Q's for the Reynolds. 75ft vs 20ft /.79 vs .99x4 to get same amount of foil=3.97)
-3.00 Q

Final Total- 13.68
Saved- 11.70
Used Gift Card- 1.98
Spent- 0.00

Walgreens-
1 Electrasol 3.49 sale price
-2.50 insert Q

Total before- 6.23
Saved- 5.00
Spent- 1.23
Submit for ESR of 1.50

Totals for the Day- 19.91
Saved- 18.68
Spent- 1.23

Just for fun after a shopping BONANZA like triples, I like to write everything down in one big list to see the totals for the week! 145 items for $76 and change (around .53 per item!)...just WOW!

Food Items-
15 FL brand Colas
14 Mueller pasta
12 Smucker Jelly's
8 Minute rice
7 Pringles Mini's
5 Shamrock single serve chocolate Milks
4 French's Fried Onions
3 Reynolds Oven Bags
3 Chex Mix
3 Betty Crocker Pouch Potatoes
2 Franks Hot Sauce
2 Heluva Good Dip
2 Kellogg Applejacks
2 Kellogg Corn Pops
2 Kellogg Frosted Flakes
1 Kellogg Fruit Loops
1 Honey Nut Cheerios
1 Lucky Charms
1 Fritos Scoops
1 Ranch dressing
1 Heinz Chili Sauce
1 HT Trader Salsa
1 HT Loaf Bread
1 HT Hamburger Buns
1 Gallon Milk
1 Success Rice
1 Nesquick Single Chocolate Milk

HBA-
6 Pantene Shampoo
6 Colgate tp
4 CVS Kids Blueberry Bodywash
3 Aquafresh
2 CVS Antibacterial Hand Soap Refill
1 Colgate toothbrush
1 2 pack Childs Gum toothbrush

Cleaning/Paper/Misc-
9 Dawn Dishwashing
6 3 packs CVS Paper Towels
2 20pk Cottonelle Toilet Paper Double Rolls
1 Dawn Simple Pleasures
1 Cascade Powder
1 Cascade Gel Pacs
1 CVS Kitchen trashbag 45ct
1 CVS Kitchen trashbag 20ct
1 Clorox Bleach
1 Spyguy Toy set
1 RX
1 2 pack Bic Lighters

Ok I am gonna stop now... I PROMISE!

I just couldn't resist it... Had a few more coupons that would triple at HT and CVS kept calling to me to come back and get more free/cheap CVS brand things!!!!

HT trip tonight-
1 Minute rice
4 Mueller Pasta
1 HT Ranch dressing
1 Colgate 360 Toothbrush
3 Colgate TP

Total- 28.77
Saved- 24.70
Spent- 4.07
Received $3 oyno cat from the colgate deal (spend $10 get $3)

CVS- 3 seperate transactions so I could use a $3 Q each time but I am posting the total trip.
1 CVS Antibacterial Hand Soap Refill
3 CVS Kids Blueberry Bodywash
1 Clorox Bleach
4 3 packs CVS Paper Towels

Total -23.32
Saved- 18.45
Used GC- 4.87
Spent- 0.00

Food Lion-
9 FL brand Colas
1 Fritos Scoops
Spent- 8.89

Totals tonight-60.98
Saved- 48.02
Spent- 12.96

Oh how I love thee CVS!

It amazes me CONSTANTLY how they pay me to take merchandise out of the store...
CVS is running a sale on all CVS brand products, Buy One Get One 50% off. There is a 3.00/1 CVS brand purchase coupon floating around. (Only one coupon per customer, this as always will vary depending on your local store. Mine allows more but in seperate transactions only.) Also there was a $5/$25 purchase coupon sent in email to people signed up on the CVS website. I highly recommend signing up with all the stores websites! And finally, my CVS accepts competitor transfer/new RX coupons. I had one for $30 Gift Card at Rite Aid. And finally, CVS is getting ready to implement their new planograms for the store so TONS of merchandise are marked down from 25% to 75% off. And tons of that are the CVS branded items!! With the 3.00 Q that makes for ALOT of freebie possibilities.

Transaction 1-
10.00 RX for hubbie
2 CVS brand 3 pack Paper Towels (B1G1 1/2 off) 1.99 regular price
-3.00 CVS brand Q

Total before sales/Q's 13.98
Saved 4.00
Used old GC for 2.97
Spent 7.01
Received 30.00 Gift Card
Received 2.00 ExtraBucks reward for 4th quarter spending last year.

Transaction 2-
1 CVS Antibacterial liquid handsoap refill bottle (1/2 off) 1.60
1 CVS Kids Blueberry Bodywash (1/2 off) 1.50
1 Spyguy toy set permanently reduced 75% off 2.49
-2.00 ECB
-3.00 CVS brand Q

Total before sales/Q's 16.21
Saved 15.58
Used GC .63
Spent 0.00

Transaction 3-
2 20pk Cottonelle Toilet Paper sale for 12.97
1 CVS Kitchen trashbag 45ct 6.99
1 CVS Kitchen trashbag 20ct 50% off 2.49
-.75 Cottonelle Q blinkie found at HT
-.75 Cottonelle Q blinkie found at HT
-3.00 CVS brand Q
-$5/$25 Q
-2.99 ECB
-3.00 ECB
-3.99 ECB
-6.99 ECB

Total before sales/Q's 38.69
Saved 29.01
Used GC 9.68
Spent 0.00
Received 8.00 in ECB's from the Cottonelle ($4 per package)

Total for the Day- 68.88
Saved- 61.87
Spent- 7.01
Still have 19.69 on Gift Card
Earned 8.00 ECB's
In the end a HUGE money maker of 27.69!!!

LOTS of new coupons and Last day for HT Triples!

Well learning from past experiences.. LOL... I was out of the house at 5:30am to snag several papers (not to worry Greenville area ladies, I left plenty for everyone else.) and get to HT before everyone else.
Using mainly coupons from today's inserts plus a few left over from the other day-

Store#1-
6 Smucker Jelly's (.55/2 Q)
3 Pantene Shampoo's (2.00 Q)
2 Colgate Total (.75 Q)
1 Aquafresh (.75Q)
1 Honey Nut Cheerios (.75 Q)
3 Minute Rice (.50 Q)
4 Mueller Pasta (.50/2)
3 Pringles Mini's ($1.00 Q)

Total 65.54
Total Saved- 59.61
Total Spent- 5.93

Store#2-
1 Heinz Chili Sauce (.45 Q)
3 Minute Rice (.50 Q)
6 Mueller Pasta (.55/2 Q)
3 Dawn Dishwashing (.50 Q)
1 Pringles Mini (1.00 Q)
6 Smucker Jelly (.55/2 Q)
1 Colgate Total (.75 Q)
2 Aquafresh (.75 Q)
1 Pantene Shampoo (2.00 Q)
1 HT Trader Salsa
1 HT Loaf Bread
1 HT Hamburger Buns
1 Gallon Milk

Total 66.53
Total Saved-53.14
Total Spent- 13.39

Overall saved 112.75
Total spent- 19.31
85%

2009 Goals?

I have been reading on alot of blogs about goals and resolutions. Since I am so new to couponing I am unsure how successful I will be but.. My goal is no more than $300 month on groceries/drug store purchases. That breaks down to roughly $75 week, $10.71 per day for 3 people. I am hoping to do even better than that but we will have to see. I am also considering the *cash only* method to pay for those items. Pulling $300 out at the first of the month and then only using that money to pay at the store. I wonder if it will matter? I may wait and see before trying that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY TRIPLES!

Soooo all good intentions aside, I woke up late and didn't make it to HT until 11:30!!! The whole way there I was sure I had missed out on all the free/close to free stuff. Guess what? I didn't!!! Lots of stock left at both the Greenville stores. They were only out of one or two things I wanted but said that they should be on the truck tomorrow. Then I stopped by Food Lion to grab some cheap Kelloggs cereal and Chex Mix.

HT Store #1-
2 Reynolds Oven Bags
1 Lucky Charms
1 Success Rice
1 Minute Rice
3 Dawn Dishwashing Liquid 1.79 (small ones)
1 Dawn Simple Pleasures
2 Pringles Mini's
1 Cascade Powder
1 Cascade Gel Pacs
1 French's Fried Onions
1 Franks Hot Sauce
1 Gum toothbrush
1 Heluva Good Dip
3 Shamrock single serve chocolate Milks

Total- 63.01
Total Saved- 48.79
Total Spent- 14.22
77%

HT Store #2-
1 Reynolds Oven Bags
3 Betty Crocker Pouch Potatoes
1 Lucky Charms
3 Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
1 Pringles Mini
3 French's Fried Onions
1 Franks Hot Sauce
2 Pantene Shampoos
1 Helluva Good Dip
1 Nesquick Single Chocolate Milk
2 Shamrock Single Chocolate Milk

Total- 49.56
Total Saved- 43.19
Total Spent- 6.37
90%

Food Lion#1-
6 FL brand 2 ltr Colas
1 Kellogg Applejacks
1 Kellogg Corn Pops
1 Kellogg Frosted Flakes
3 Chex Mix

Total- 22.24
Total Saved- 12.62
Total Spent- 9.62

Food Lion#2-
1 2 pack Bic Lighters
1 Kellogg Corn Pops
1 Kellogg Applejacks
1 Kellogg Fruit Loops
1 Kellogg Frosted Flakes

Total- 15.50
Total Saved- 8.68
Total Spent- 6.82

Totals for the Day-
Total- 150.31
Total Saved- 113.28
Total Spent- 37.03
75%