Sunday, February 28, 2010

Thrifty Shopping Sunday 2/28

CVS
2 Cards - 2 Transactions - 1 Wrap Up:
Milk (Not Pictured): $2.69
-This should have rang up $2.49 & generated a $1ecb but did not
4x L'Oreal EverStrong & EverPur: $6.00 each
-4x $2.00 coupon
2x Softsoap Nutri Serum: $4.49 each
-1x $1.00 coupon
2x PowerBar Gel Blasts
Used 1 - $4/$20 coupon
Used $22.98 ecb
Total OOP: $4.33
Earned: $16.00 ecb
Total Saved: $41.62
*************************************************
WALGREENS2 Transactions - 1 Wrap Up:
Schick Intuitions: $8.99
-$4.00 coupon
6x Kleenex: $1.99 each (BOGO sale)
-2x $.50/3 coupons
2x Reach Toothbrushes: $.99 in ad coupon
-2x $1.00 coupons
Paper Plates: $.99 in ad coupon
*filler*
4x Easter Gift Sacks: 4/$1.00
*fillers*
2x Starbucks Fraps: $1.25 each in ad coupon
-2x $1.00 coupons
2x Nivea Lip Care: $.99 in ad coupon
-BOGO coupon
*cashier gave me $2.99 off with the BOGO coupon from the original price of the nivea making this a $2.00 MM!*
Colgate Toothpaste: $2.99
-$1.00 coupon
2x Purex 3in1: $3.50 each
-BOGO coupon
Used: $16.00 RR
Total OOP: $4.65
Earned: $9.00 RR
Total Saved: $55.32!
********************************
Grand Total Savings at CVS & Walgreens Today:
$96.94!!
********************************

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Thirfty Shopping Sunday 2/21

CVS
(2 Transactions/2 Cards)
**********
10x Tuna: $.49 each
-2x $1.00/5 coupons
2x EarRinse: $7.99 each
Used: $16.00 ecb
Total OOP: $1.61
Total ecb's earned: $15.98
Total Savings: $27.50
********************************
WALGREENS
(2 Transactions)
***************
4x Vick's NyQuil/DayQuil: $5.79 each
2x Puffs Tissues: $1.99 each
-3x $2.00 coupon for Vicks
- 2x coupons for FREE PUFFS when you buy 2 Vick's products
3x Hunt's Totmato Sauce: $.39 (with in ad coupon)
-$1.00/3 Hunts coupon
2x Excedrin: $2.50 each
-$2.00 coupon
-FREE Excedrin coupon
2x Vanilla Pudding: $.25 each (with in ad coupon)
Raisins: $1.00
Used: $10.00 RR
Total OOP: $8.40
Earned: $14.00 RR
Total Saved: $35.04

Monday, February 15, 2010

Thrifty Shopping Sunday 2/14

CVS
Transaction #1:
2x Covergirl Clean: $6.00 each
-BOGO coupon
-$1.00 coupon
Aussie Styler: $2.99
-$1.00 coupon
2x Crest Pro Health Rinse: $3.50 each
-2x $2.00 coupons
2x L'Oreal eyeshadows: $4.99 (2nd one: $2.50 w/ 50% off second one sale)
-2x $3.00 coupon
Used: $10.00 ecb
Total OOP: $3.06
Earned: $14.00 ecb
Total Savings: $38.26!
************************
Transaction #2
2x Crest Pro Health Rinse: $3.50 each
-2x $2.00 coupon
Aussie Styler: $2.99
-$1.00 coupon
~~~~~~~~~
Used: $4.00 ecb
Total OOP: $1.64
Earned: $9.00 ecb
Total Saved: 14.78!
~~~~~~~~~
Total OOP for both transactions: $4.70!
Total saved from both transactions: $53.04
************************************

Walgreens
3x Airwick Scented Oil Warmers: $3.99
-3x $4.00 coupons
1x Airwick Compact: $3.99
-$4.00 coupon
1x Sunday Newspaper: $1.50
~~~~~~~~~~
Total OOP: $2.50
Total Saved: $32.00!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love and happiness! We had a family holiday at home. I have lots of pictures to share with you! Also I'll be sharing some of the ideas I had for saving money while decorating for Valentine's Day.
This banner I designed on my computer using a digital scrapbooking kit. You can find many free kits by googling. I folded over the top of the triangles and used jute to hang it. A little red raffia in between each letter added an extra special touch.
Close up of the banner

I printed out the "papers" from the same digital scrapbooking kit and cut out hearts. I attached the hearts to kabob skewers and then into a painted pot with foam to keep the heart upright.

I, again, used the same digital scrapbooking kit to make photos to insert into this picture frame. Using digital scrapbook kits is a great and inexpensive way to create and carry out a theme.

This was our Valentine's Day dinner table

The centerpiece was an Eiffel Tower that was already an item from the house. The round circle is an after Christmas clearance find (the other side has snowflakes on it!). The heart and candle holders are all items from around the house

This was our daughter's place setting. I had a couple of those plastic cups from Walgreen fillers - they do come in handy! And also you must notice I'm using Chinet Plates = Less Clean Up!

Here was an adult setting with the wine glass. I dug through my daughter's construction paper for the red and pink "place mats"


I used white heart doilies for the coaster which came from the $1 bins from Target. I couldn't find my white napkins, so I took Tranformer napkins from a previous party and turned them inside out. I wrapped the silverware in red scrapbook paper strips for napkin rings. The hearts on the napkin rings came from a note card that I cut up.

The desert bar!

I got this cupcake tower at Walmart for $5 during Christmas!

The cupcake toppers are from $1 Store Valentine's. I took the stickers from the Valentine's and added them to toothpicks.

Can't forget the Chocolate!

My favorite part! I made angel food cake and cut it into cubes. I got frozen strawberry's in sugar on sale for $1 at the grocery store and had the cool whip on hand. Also had short bread cookies from Walmart - $1.50 for those

This dip chiller had an American flag on the front so I covered the outside with tissue paper I had on hand and it worked great!

I still hadn't used the Welch's sparkling grape juice I'd gotten back during the holidays (I think I got them for $.75 each??) So thought now was a good time to pull them out. My almost 4 year old said it was like soda and was tickled to drink juice with bubbles!

It's hard to see here, but I bought a heart ice cube mold from the $1 Store and filled them with the Welch's sparkling grape juice and added the cubes to the glasses for a special little touch.
Our dinner was crock pot pulled pork (a family favorite), loaded baked potatoes, and peas.
We really enjoyed our Valentine's Day, hope everyone else enjoyed theirs too!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Easy Dinner Idea

I always have ground beef in the freezer. The family gets tired of the same old thing, so I try to make burgers in different ways so it's not just a plain old hamburger. This is our new favorite (for now)!
Mushroom Burgers

1 Medium onion - sliced
1 c. white button mushrooms - sliced
1 lb. ground beef
seasonings you have on hand
hamburger buns
slice of swiss or cheddar cheese

Patty ground beef (I sprinkle seasons over burger, but you can incorporate it into the beef before pattying). Start cooking in skillet.
Add mushrooms and onions to a different skillet with a touch of extra virgin olive oil and saute till the onions start to look transparent.
Once burgers are done, top with cheese, add to bun, and top with mushroom & onion mixture.

Add additonal topping is desired!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Thrify Shopping Sunday 2/7

Walgreens
2x Pencils: $.40 (w/ 5/$1 ad coupon)
1x Activity Pad: $.33 (w/ 3/$1 ad coupon)
Dove for Men: $5.99
-$1.25 coupon
Gillette Fusion Razor: $8.99
-$4.00 coupon
Used: $8.00 RR
Total OOP: $2.47
Earned: $10.00 RR
Total Saved: $16.10


CVS

1st Transaction:


5x Nabisco Crackers: $10.00
-5x $1.00 coupons

Gillette Deoderant: $3.99
-$1.00 coupon
-Buy Gillette Deoderant Get Gillette Body Wash FREE

Used: $6.49 ecb
Total OOP: 2.36
Earned: $5.00 ecb


2nd Transaction:

Gillette Deoderant: $3.99
-$1.00 coupon
-Buy Gillette Deoderant Get Gillette Body Wash FREE

4x Nivea Lip Care: $11.96 ($2.99 each)
-2x BOGO Free coupons

Gillette Fusion Razor: $8.99
-$4.00 coupon

Used: 10.98 ecb
Total OOP: $3.18
Earned: $10.00 ecb


Total OOP for Both transactions: $5.54
Total Saved for Both transactions: $61.80


Monday, February 1, 2010

Aldi Shopping

This Sunday I went to Aldi on-a-mission!
Their ads the last month have had the best deals on fruit and veggies!
This week on my list were:
Broccoli Crowns: $.69/pack
Cauliflower: $.59/pack
Baby Carrots: $.39/pack
I got 2 Packages each of Broccoli & Cauliflower chopped it all up and blanched them (not sure if I was suppsed to do that or not!) and bagged them up for freezing. I got 3 bags for freezing out of the 4 packages.
My grocery ad had Broccoli & Cauliflower on sale for $1.79/bag
I got 3 bags for a little over $2.50
I also got 5 bags of baby carrots $.39 per bag
This is the CHEAPEST I've ever seen it!
(I usually buy them when they are $1.00 a bag)
I kept one bag for the fridge and blanched the rest
I got 5 smaller bags from the 4 packages I blanched for the freezer
This was my first experience buying veggies to freeze and it wasn't too bad!
With prices that low, it's worth it to stock up now and save for later

Thrify Shopping Sunday 1/31

CVS
Hubby got 2 Dove for Men and I got 1 Dove for Men
Each priced at: $5.49 each
Used: 3x $1.25 coupon
Used: $12 ecb
Total OOP: $1.79
Earned: $16.47

WALGREENS

1x Blink Tears: $7.99
-$1.50 coupon
2x Post Shredded Wheat: $1.00 each
-$2.00 coupon
2x Sunday Newspapers: $1.50 each
2x V-Day Tumblers: $.17 each w/ in ad coupon
1x Vitamin Chapstick: $1.99
Scalpicin Wipes: $5.99
-$1.00 coupon
2x Plastic Forks: $.50 each w/ in ad coupon
*Not pictured*
Used: $13.00 RR
Total OOP: $4.93
Earned: $8.00 RR

K-MART

We also went to K-Mart for the Hershey's Deal

Read about that HERE


Valentine's Day Outfit







This outfit was fun to make. I made my own bird design and appliqued it onto the shirt. I used a skirt of my daughter's as a guide to make this one. Of course I made the bow and clip, which you can purchase at my online store currently:
I think the tights and red glitter shoes really pull the outfit together.
We are getting into the Valentine's Day spirit at our house!