Super Savings Saturday

I've been home with a sick kid all week and wasn't able to go CVSing until Saturday morning but I wasn't having any luck. When I made my first transaction the register tape jammed and so my ECB were superimposed on each other making it impossible to use them. The cashier told me that I could call the number on my Extra Care Card and that they could reset them so they would print the next time I made a purchase. Well after sitting on hold for 30 min they inform me that yes they can set them to reprint but they won't show up in their system until 48 hours after the transaction and that they would be available on Wednesday. This put somewhat of a damper on my plans. I am now without my $20.00 in ECB and still have lots of purchases to make. So unfortunately I then asked my sister if she wanted to go shopping with me and used her CVS card, I didn't want to mess up the reprinting of my ECB in any way ( I was only able to do this because I can't convince her of the great benefits of CVSing).

My first purchase on my card was 12 soy joy bars and 2 24/7 deodorants. I used a $3 off 15 CVS coupon, a $3 off of purchase of 10 soy joy bars coupon, 1 free soy joy coupon, and $11 in ECB . Before coupons my total was 19.97, after coupons and ECB $1.98 and I would receive $19.98 in ECB. This is when disaster struck I have no ECBs so I start over using my sister's card.

My first transaction is to purchase the 2 free toothbrushes total oop $6.47 and I received $5.98 in ECBs.

Next I purchased 4 bags of M&M's total oop after ECBs $1.08. ok now I have $6 in ECBs. We then leave this CVS because they are out of the 24/7 deodorant.

At the next CVS I purchase 2 bags of M&Ms and 1 24/7 deodorant for $1.48 out of pocket.

My sister purchases 3 deodorants using a $2 off $10 I didn't have a $3 off $15 with me :( and my 6.99 in ECBs so I paid $2.98.

So this weekend doesn't look that great because of my little mishap but I now have over $30 in ECBs between two cards (not sure how well this will work for me) but at least I didn't miss the deals. Total before coupons and Extra Care Savings minus tax would have been $62.86 I spent $12.98.

Vision Forum Giveaway

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood is hosting a $100 gift card giveaway to Vision Forum. The products at Vision Forum are wonderful resources for any family. If you are interested in this giveaway visit Crystal's blog and enter for your chance to win. http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm

Frugal Friday

This is my first Frugal Friday post and I was not really sure where to begin so I decided to write about my attempts to become more frugal. I have been reading Crystal's blogs MoneySavingMom.com and Biblicalwomanhoodonline.com and am amazed and inspired. I have decided to try to feed my family of 4 on $35 a week following Crystal's example. I am happy to say that the first two weeks went buy and I was able to stay in budget, but this week I have to admit that I went $10 over when we ran out of lunch meat and sliced cheese (I picked up some organic butter that I found on clearance for $1.99, I know this isn't an awesome price but it made the organic butter cost the same as regular butter and some sausage that with my coupon was $1.50). Hey $45 a week still isn't all that bad. I have found that to accomplish staying on budget I have to make a menu and stick to it, give up alot of convenience foods, and make my own snack food. I have been trying to eat healthier so it didn't break my heart to steer away from these highly processed foods, and I have always made a menu for the week as I make my shopping list. While my stores don't do markdowns like the ones Crystal has posted about I am convinced that I can feed my family a healthy balanced diet on my new budget.

Frugal Finds

You must be patient with me as I learn the art of blogging, but I wanted to share a few frugal finds with you.

Home Depot Kid's Workshops
These workshops are held the first Saturday of each month so mark your calender for February 2 9am - 12 noon and take the kids to Home Depot for a great free activity.
www.homedepotclinics.com

IHOP free breakfast
On February 12, 2008 from 7-10am you can enjoy a free short stack of 3 pancakes.
http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

I found this great Walgreen's deal on Money Saving Mom

There is an unadvertised Register Rewards deal going on with Glade PlugIns right now-When you buy 3 Glade PlugIns, you get $2 in RR.When you buy 4, you get $3 in RR.When you buy 5 or more, you get $4 in RR.Glade PlugIns are on sale B1G1 this week (2 for $3.29). Use two $1.oo/1 coupons from Coupons.com to get them for $1.29 for two. Buy four for $2.60 total plus tax and get a $3 RR back making them free plus giving you a little overage after the RR!

HEB deal (I also found this deal on MoneySavingMom.com )

Purchase 2 Chicken of the Sea Tuna cups and get $3 off with in store coupon. The tuna cups are priced at $1.39 each giving you an overage of $0.22 so be sure to have a little something in your cart to bring to total above $3 or you won't be able to use the coupon.
I was able to verify this deal last night at my local HEB where I was able to purchase 4 packs of tuna cups and a can of pumpkin for $0.02 (they did have to call the manager over to do an override but they were very nice about it).