One Day Sale at CVS

I got an email earlier from CVS talking about a great one day sale going on tomorrow Saturday, December 17th. If you have the CVS card, go to your local CVS store and swipe the card in the coupon center to receive $25 worth of coupons. One of these coupons is for a great deal on 12 packs of cokes. You can get 3 for $8! They have not released details on the other deals available, but I will definitely be making the trip to pick up some 12 packs for our family.

Then after CVS I will be finishing up my Christmas shopping - just 3 more people and my list will be done! Only 7 more shopping days left...happy shopping everyone!

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!

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)




Love Your Teachers

As I was checking my Facebook the other day, a friend from college was excited about getting a free admission ticket to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, TN for simply asking if they gave a teacher discount and showing her school ID. My family is all the time looking for fun things to do but on my husband's teacher salary it can be hard to throw down a $100 or more on a day of fun. That post inspired me to search the internet for other places that may offer free admission or discounted offers for teachers in Tennessee. Below are just a few of the offers that I found:

• Adventure Science Center in Nashville offers free admission with school ID http://www.adventuresci.com/
• Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga is hosting Teacher Appreciation Day Jan.16th 2012. Free Admission for Teachers with one guest. http://www.tnaqua.org/Education/TeacherOpportunities.aspx 
• Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville offers free admission with school ID http://countrymusichalloffame.org/teacher-s-resources/
• Nashville Zoo offers $10 off family membership with school ID/teacher license or $1 off general admission with TEA membership card. http://www.nashvillezoo.org/membership

If you have an active TEA membership card please go to http://www.teateachers.org/ and enter your membership ID number to search for many more great offers including:

• Save up to 30% on movie tickets when you preorder online.
• Free admission to Zanies Comedy Club with purchase of ticket of equal or greater value.
• Free pass to BounceU with purchase of ticket of equal or greater value.
• Free admission to Nashville Opera with purchase of ticket of equal or greater value.
• Free admission to Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville (Now don't get too crazy!)
• Free admission to Sam Davis Home and James K Polk Home with purchase of ticket of equal or greater value.

Trust me there are too many to list! So anytime the family is in need of a family day of fun, please plan ahead and surf the web for great deals in your area! If you are not the planning type, don't be afraid to ask an employee of the place where you are visiting to see if they offer any special discounts for teachers, military, senior citizens, etc...if you don't you could be missing out on a great deal!

Sweet Family Deal on Groupon

Since I'm always looking for anyway to save a few bucks, I was pretty excited to check my email and find this great deal on Groupon to The Discovery Center in Murfreesboro. We took my oldest son there for his birthday last year and we had so much fun that he has already been asking me if we could go back this year. So YAY now i just have to decide which deal to get - the $12 for four admissions (a $24 value) or spring for the $25 for 10 admission punch card (a $60 value). Since it doesn't expire until April 2012, I may go ahead and get the $25 deal so we can go again on my youngest son's birthday. To get this same deal for your family, click on this link:  http://www.groupon.com/r/uu19234159

*Here are a few pics of all the fun we had last year!*

 

 

A Different Kind of Retail Therapy

My husband was talking to my 5 yr old the other night about how mommy use to go shopping every week and would always come home with bags full of clothes. Of course that kind of shopping came to an abrupt halt when I decided to stay home with my boys. I thought to myself...wow I really miss those days! But then it hit me that I have replaced that kind of shopping with a different kind of retail therapy. Let me just give you an example...

CVS - (4) Dove Shampoo/Conditioner, Dove Deo, Cover Girl Foundation, Cover Girl Powder,

Febreze Air Effects, Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kit, and Swiffer Wet Cloth Refills

Total Price for these Products = $64.95

*Paid $12.17 Out of Pocket & Got $5 Extra Care Bucks to use next week*

Walmart - (2) Cover Girl Blush, (4) Johnson & Johnson Travel Size First Aid Kits, and

 (2) Old Spice Travel Size Body Wash

Total Price for these Products = $13.70

*Paid $0.70 + Tax Out of Pocket*

So its definitely not clothes but I am pretty excited about my new makeup and all the other items are things that my family will use. I mean you can never have too many first aid kits with two lil boys running around! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and a very special thank u to my lil coupon cutter who faithfully helps me every Sunday morning!!! Love him!!!



Mommy's Big Helper :)





My Love/Hate Relationship with Coupons

Let me take you back when I was little going down the cereal aisle at the grocery store with my mom. The question was usually "Mom can we get Fruity Pebbles?" which was my all time favorite cereal. The answer was always the same "No I don't have a coupon for that." I vowed to never torture my children like that! That was until the budget got a little tight and that oh so popular show Extreme Couponing came on and it was like a light bulb went on inside my head. Why am I not using coupons? So about 6 months ago I started torturing my husband to get up at the crack of dawn for that all important Sunday paper. He quickly learned that this was no easy task and that the coupon crazies would steal all the coupon inserts from every paper out of a machine. But bless him...he stuck with it and realized Walgreen's who sells their papers inside the store opens at 9:00 a.m. so this is where you can find this wonderful man every Sunday morning.

Now to the present I am one of those crazy coupon ladies carrying a large black notebook filled with coupons telling my boys "No I don't have a coupon for that." I still have a love/hate relationship with the darn things...I love cutting my grocery bill in half every month but I hate the cutting, organizing, and giving myself a headache searching all the sale ads to get the best deal possible. But I will admit the pain is totally worth it to be able to stay at home a little longer with my precious little ones!