The Craziness of Black Friday

So yes I survived the craziness of Black Friday. Got to Walmart I thought a little early at 8:45 - nope not early enough - so did the rest of my small town. After parking at the very back of the parking lot, I walked the half mile in to realize there are no buggies left. Exactly how was I suppose to rack up in savings if I didn't have a buggy? Turned back around and walked around the parking lot until I found some guys who let me steal their buggy. Complete craziness!

Got back inside and pushed my way through the crowds. At times I just wanted to scream and give up but I kept pushing on thinking I was seriously insane for putting up with this. But after about 3 times around the store, I finally picked up a few of the items on my list and started to feel better. Of course walking around the store 3 times only took me 3 hours so by this time it was starting to clear out. I believe it was about 1:00 am when I finally checked out with everything that I had wrote down on my list. Mission completed!

Some of the highlights of my night/morning were the parents yelling at their kids to shut up, the teenagers who came just to "people watch" and block the aisles so you couldn't get through, the older gray hair man in Kmart the next morning at 5:30 am who got escorted out for fighting, and saw the same parents who told their kids to shut up at Kmart bright and early the next morning - seriously their poor kids didn't get any sleep! Oh yes you have got to LOVE the craziness of Black Friday!!!

Closing the Store Down

It's been awhile since I have been shopping. By shopping - I mean real, shop to you drop, much needed retail therapy kind of shopping! I didn't have to buy anything for anybody else. It was all for me and it felt good. Since I am really only able to do this once a year after my birthday, you can see why this is such a special time for me.

But for some reason when my husband came home, it took me awhile to get motivated to go out. Once I finally hit the stores, it felt just like the old days and I was grabbing clothes left and right. I knew I had to spend at least $80 to get use out of my $40 off coupon. Was you expecting anything less? Of course I had a coupon! This $80 total proved to be a bit more difficult to spend then I thought. Once I got to the register with my 5 items, the bill only totaled to $59 because a few of the items were either cheaper than the tag said or was on clearance which didn't count towards my coupon. I knew they were closing down shortly so I hurried to grab the $30 boots I was looking at but even those darn things were on sale too still making my total less than the required $80. By this time the other girl working there was pulling down the mall entrance gate and locking the front door so I started to panic. Thankfully the cashier offered me some $9.99 perfume up front and that ladies and gentleman is how I finally got my $40 off my final bill! So in conclusion I got 2 sweaters, 3 shirts, pair of black boots, and some really good smelling perfume all for a grand total of $65.80.

It's so funny because on any other day I would have been ecstatic see the prices lower than I expected. On this trip, I was throwing things at this poor woman just to get the $40 off! But now that I am home, I can appreciate my total savings of over $60 with Rue 21 and look forward to spending the $20 Rue Bucks I received for my next purchase. Hopefully next time, I won't be closing the store down with my insane need to save money!

Feeling the Love

I have to admit I am feeling the love today. I don't like getting any older but all the love and attention you get from family and friends just makes you feel good. My family took me out to celebrate with dinner last night which included an embarrassing serenade, a ridiculous hat, and whip cream shoved so sweetly up my nose. This morning I was awakened by my sweet Aidan who whispered in my ear "Happy birthday Momma! Wake up so you don't miss your birthday party." I also couldn't help but laugh when he wanted to put Toy Story gummies in goodie bags for all our guests. For those of you that are wondering...no, I am not having a birthday party, my boys just think it is required to have one to celebrate your special day!




Jaxson enjoying my special birthday hat :)


I have also felt the love from the stores I shop at lately. Just this past Saturday, my husband checked the mailbox and brought in mail from both Kroger and CVS. I received a free trial size Axe styling gel (which of course I gave to my husband) from CVS with a coupon for $1.00 off my next purchase. I also received an email today from CVS wishing me a happy birthday and included a coupon for $3.00 in extra care bucks to use on my next shopping trip. Kroger sent me a boat load of coupons thanking me for being a loyal customer this past year. These weren't just random coupons. They had done a report on what all I had purchased during the past year and sent me coupons on items that I buy on a regular basis. I was pretty excited to find four of the coupons were for FREE items!

Whether the love is from my family and friends or from the stores I regularly shop, I am certainly feeling the love today! Thank you so much for making me feel special on my birthday!



My Birthday Coupons! Thank you CVS and Kroger!



Trying Something New

If anyone has scrolled down lately and noticed a new widget on the right side of my blog, I just wanted to take a minute and let you know about the website Hubpages. It is a website where you can write about anything your heart desires and get it published on their site. People who travel to this site can either rate these articles or follow a particular author whose articles interest them. I figured it was worth a try since I have already been blogging away these past few months. A few of my articles, also known as "hubs" on their website, include subjects I have previously wrote about on here just updated a little. I have also published 3 new hubs in the last few days on different subjects so be sure to check those out. The whole Hubpages site has really interesting topics, great advice, and tips on just about anything you can think of. So if you would like to check it out, please click on the My Hubpage widget and enjoy the reading! Thanks in advance for supporting me in this new writing adventure!

P.S. If you love to write, are an expert in a particular field, or just give great tips and advice, I also encourage you to join in on the experience of Hubpages.  If this sounds like something that may interest you or just want to learn more about Hubpages, click on the following link: Create Your Own Hubpage

Successful Shopping Week

 After celebrating my husband's birthday on Sunday, it was back to the usual grind hunting the ads in Sunday's paper for this week's best deals matched with my available coupons. I was excited to see several things that I needed to stock up on on sale this week including Purex laundry detergent (the only detergent I can use on my sensitive skin), Pledge furniture polish, and Smuckers jelly for my boys. There was also several free items to be picked up thanks to my little cheat sheets (see my list of favorite blogs). One of these items was Softsoap handsoap which was on sale at CVS for $0.99. Matched with my $2.00 when you buy 2 coupon these came out to be absolutely free. I guess CVS figured out this pretty quick because hand written on the sale tags were "Limit 2". No problem...I drove to Walmart to price match and got 2 more to use with the other coupon I had clipped! My final cost with both shopping trips was $15.74 for a total of 25 products purchased. I also received $7 worth of extra care bucks to use at CVS next week. So really I only spent $8.74 for all the below products! I would say I had a pretty successful shopping week!



Shopping Results Week of 11/06/11

CVS:

4 Pledge Furniture Polish 4/$12 - (2) $1.00 coupons = $8.00 (Receive $4 ECB)

2 Smucker Jellies 2/$5 - $1.00 coupon = $4.00 (Receive $3 ECB)

2 Softsoaps $1.98 - $2.00 coupon = FREE
Used $12 ECB from last week
Final Cost = $0.91 and received $7 ECB for next week
(Total Savings $34.62)


Walmart:
2 Smucker Jellies $1.88 each - $1.00 coupon = $2.96
2 Travel Size First Aid Kits $0.97 each - (2) $1.00 coupons = FREE
2 Travel Size Aquafresh Toothpaste $0.97 each - (2) $1.00 coupons = FREE
2 Snuggle Dyer Sheets $1.87 each - (2) $0.75 coupons = $2.24
2 Softsoaps (price match to CVS ad) $0.99 each - $2.00 coupon = FREE
1 Folgers Coffee (price match to Walgreens) $3.49 each - $1.00 coupon = $2.49
2 Purex Detergent (price match to Walgreens) $1.99 each = $3.98
4 Sets of Vampire Teeth 16 count (Clearance 75% off ) $0.36 each = $1.54
Final Cost = $14.83 for 17 products
(Total Savings $15.00)




Need Retail Therapy?

So if you are counting down the days until Christmas like me, there are only 51 more shopping days left. Have you started your list yet or are you waiting until the all so glorious Black Friday? Well if you are one of those who refuse to stand the craziness of Black Friday or just need some retail therapy this weekend, here is a list of great coupons in our shopping area:

 

• Aeropostale - $10 off $50 Purchase exp 11/6
• Barnes & Nobles - 50% off 1 Print Book for Facebook Fans
• Bath & Body Works - $10 off $30 Purchase exp 11/20
• Express - $15 off $30 Purchase exp 11/06
• JCPenney - $10 off $25 Purchase exp 11/07
• Kohl's - 15% off Shopping Pass exp 11/06
• Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic - 30% off Friends and Family Pass exp 11/08

If you are not getting out this weekend and need a great gift idea, try the Snapfish website for a great deal. Until November 8th if you enter the code MYFALLBKS, you can buy 1 photo book and get 2 for free. These make a great gift for grandparents and then you get to keep one for yourself! I did this last year for mine and Jake's parents and they loved it!

Hope these deals will help you save some money this holiday season! A special thanks to the Krazy Coupon Lady and my other favorite blog sites for their help on these deals! I have put up links to their sites on the right side of my blog. Have a great shopping weekend everyone!

Free is Good

Even though I wasn't feeling too well, I got all my coupons cut and decided to hit up CVS before a family dinner this past Sunday. My plan was all laid out but when I got to the register not one, not two, but three of my deals would not work like I thought it would. I tried to be nice to the cashier but when the 3rd deal, an email that CVS sent me for $5 off a $30 purchase, did not work I started to get really annoyed. I had proof of the email in my hand and had spent a total of $40 before applying all my coupons.

So long story short, I told him that I did not want the lotions which was the 2nd deal that did not work. He had to credit back my card, gave me a gift card for the tax I was owed, and actually gave me an additional $5 in extra care bucks back since the email did not work properly. As I walked out with my two bags, it totally hit me that I just got all these things for FREE and still have over $12 in extra care bucks to spend next week! So even though it was a total headache, I still have love for my CVS because as everyone already knows...free is good!




***My Totally Free Shopping Trip!!!***
4 Bottles of Dawn Dish Soap
3-Pack of Orbit Gum
Bag of Kit Kat Candy Bars
Crest Toothpaste
Schick Quattro Razor
***Total $24 value for FREE!!!***

*Deal of the Week*
Check out Food Lion this week for a great deal on General Mills cereal. They have it on sale for 2 for $5. If you buy 4 boxes, they will instantly credit your bill $4.00 making it 4/$6. You can also use coupons to lower this deal. Today I printed (2) $1.00 off (when you buy 2 boxes) coupons from http://www.coupons.com/ to make this deal 4 boxes for a $1.00 each!