Bargainz!

Recently I've had several people say they'd "love to know how I do it!" Save so much money on our grocery bill, that is. I've been couponing since the spring thanks to my cousin's wife Daisy, who gave me the tutorial I needed to wrap my head around how it all works. With working full-time, organizing the meetup group, having a two-year-old and organizing all my deals every week (practically a part-time job on its own) I just don't have the time I'd like to pull something together. I also think it helps to see some concrete examples, so I'm going to start chronicling my bargain finds here so that anyone who wants to can follow along.

There are two keys to doing this successfully: First, you must not be a loyal brand snob. Preferring a brand over generic isn't problem - I get brand-name items for significantly less than the generic all the time - but if you want to use one specific brand you'll have to plan ahead very carefully and keep your eye out for a sale on that item. Secondly, you must get your hot little hands on every coupon imaginable. It might not be a product you'll even use, but if it's free why not "buy" it? This means buying a lot of newspapers every week (and for you locals, skip the RRStar, their coupons are basically worthless. Buy the Tribune - it's more expensive but I've gotten it at Walgreens for $2.00 lately.) and saving the entire coupon inserts. It also means keeping your eye out for coupons you can print off the internet, special offers to sign up for to get coupons mailed to you, and watching out for coupon brochures, blinkie machines and tearpads in every store you go in, even the gas station. You can also buy coupons (which seems counterintuitive but it's not always - I'll get into this later) from coupon websites or ebay.

Today I hit CVS after work. CVS has an Extra Care cards that's essential if you're going to do any bargains there - one of those tags that goes on your keychain. Have the cashier scan your EC card no matter how little you're spending because it can add up - you'll earn $1 back for every 2 prescriptions you fill, as well as 2% back on your quarterly purchases. For me I've never gotten more than $1 back because my out-of-pocket (OOP) is so low, but every little bit counts as you'll see.

With the EC card, you can also earn Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) back on certain items every week, as advertised in the flier in your Sunday paper. The ECBs print out on your receipt and you can use them on your next transaction. I took advantage of several of these deals today:

My total OOP for this transaction was $1.22. Here's how I did it:

Bic razors 2x3.99 = 4.98

SoyJoy bars 4x1.00 = 4.00

Robitussin 2x8.00 = 16.00

Halls 2x1.50 = 3.00

Hand sanitizing spray 1x1.00 = 1.00

Total before coupons: 28.98+tax (came to 32.xx)

Coupons:

Bic 2x2.00 = 4.00

SoyJoy 2x1.00 = 2.00

Robitussin 2x3.00 = 6.00
Halls 2x.50 = 1.00

CVS $5/30 purchase 1x5.00 = 5.00

Total coupons = 18.00

32.xx - 18.00 = 14.xx

I paid with $13 in ECBs that I had from previous transactions, and after that my subtotal was .98 + .24 tax = 1.22. I also got $10 ECB back from the Robitussin/Halls/hand spray, and $4 back from the SoyJoy. Had I been paying a bit more attention, I would have noticed the razors I picked up were slightly different than the ones in the ad that were giving $4 ECBs per purchase, so I should have had $8 more in ECBs, but when I was getting all that for $1.22 I didn't feel that justified in complaining - it was my mistake, after all.

Earlier in the week I had gone to CVS to use some $1/1 Quaker oatmeal coupons I'd printed off the internet from bricks.coupons.com. Sometimes you can print more than one coupon from this site by hitting "back" then refreshing the page, depending on what the site has set the limit at. As it turned out, the limit for this one was 10, so I had more than enough coupons for what I wanted to do.

Quaker oatmeal was on sale for 2.50 a box, buy $20 worth and get $5 ECBs. I grabbed 8 boxes with Amelia's help, took them up to the register and walked out paying $2.10 OOP for all 8 boxes.

I also stopped at Hilander (our version of Kroger) on my way home tonight - I had some .50/1 Purex coupons expiring tomorrow and it was on sale for $1.99. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was 4 or 5 tables with a "Markdown Mania" sign in front of them. Couponer's heaven! I checked out what was there and ended up getting a bag of dog food (marked 2.99) and a Durex 2-pack (0.79), both of which I had $2.00/1 coupons for. Hilander also has a member card, so make sure you sign up for one of those too. They also double coupons up to .55. Here's my complete transaction:

Goodlife Puppy Food 1x2.99 = 2.99
Durex 1x0.79 = .79
Purex 3x1.99 = 5.97
Franks RedHot Sauce 1x1.25 = 1.25
Nailsaver sponges 2X1.00 = 2.00
Total = 13.00+tax

Coupons
Goodlife 1x2.00 = 2.00
Durex 1x2.00 = 2.00 (I got overage here)
Purex 3x(2x.50) = 3.00
Franks 1x(2x.55) = 1.10
Sponges 2x(2x.50) = 2.00
Total coupons = 10.10

Total OOP was 2.62, a great total for all these items!

I'll post in the next couple days with some of my favorite websites that I use as resources to help me out. I've gotten good at coming up with my own scenarios, but why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?

Just a vent

Many times, I think it would be better if my husband would just sit on his sorry ass rather than try to "help".

Today is one of those days.

Smart mouth!

I can just tell that's what my daughter is developing. I just can't believe how grown-up she's getting. She talks SO much now, and it's so cute. She tells little stories (sometimes I'm the only one who knows what she's talking about, but that's okay) and tells me what she did at daycare.

Everything she says just gets cuter and cuter, I swear. She's figured out how to hold up her fingers to correspond to numbers (1, 2, and 3 anyway). She thinks it's hilarious to tell me she's 3. When I call her on it and tell her she's two, she tells me, "I gon' be free on my burdaaaay". Apparently she's got her party all planned out and it involves chocolate cake, balloons, and presents. I suppose I can handle that.

Last week she was in our bedroom watching tv and jumping on the bed and she sat down and said to me, "I love you Mommy don' be scared". It was just too cute! I laughed and made her say it again and now it's all I hear. But it's so adorable, I don't mind.

Last night, though, was the kicker. She was standing by my nightstand with the monitor on it yelling so that it lit up (apparently Daddy taught her this wonderful trick). I said, "Look, Mommy can do it too," and yelled. She turned around and gave me her death look and said, "Don' yell, Mommy. Be good."

Where did she learn to talk to her momma like that?! Ok, probably from me. And I can see soon we're going to have to have the "I'm the parent, you're the child" talk. But secretly, I love seeing how she picks up on all these little things and pulls them out when you're least expecting it. And every girl needs a healthy dose of attitude in my opinion, as long as she knows when to use it. My girl's not gonna be a pushover!

Hawaiian Day

Last week Amelia's daycare had Hawaiian Day. She LOVES her daycare provider and has so much fun with her. We're so lucky to have found such a great place for her to stay while I'm working.

Today we have a birthday party and tomorrow we are going to the ZOO! So I'll have lots of cute pictures from that :) Amelia's been sick but is feeling better today - I was worried that our zoo trip would have to be postponed but as of now it looks like we're on. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow (hopefully).

Visiting Nonna and Papa

Just a few pics from Father's Day weekend - swimming at Mark's dad's house. Amelia's Uncle Eric brought his dog Ozzie along - he was just Amelia's size.

After a nap (with some M&Ms) Amelia was ready to go again. Lots of candy later we headed home.

Another Day, Another Picnic

Today was our playgroup's start-of-summer picnic. We were a little worried it was going to get rained out, because it monsooned all morning. However a little after noon the sun started to come out and we had beautiful weather for the picnic. The kids ran around the park and played games, it was a lot of fun! Now it is pouring again, like it has on and off for the past, I don't know, four days? This is getting really old!


Here's some pictures from today:


Amelia and Haven, playing "baseball":




Getting a lesson from Daddy:

Amelia LOVES Tiffany's daughter Chloe!

Heart Institute Picnic

Today was the annual Heart Institute for Children picnic. Families whose children have had surgery at Hope come back every year to see the doctors and nurses who treated them. We were so excited to go and see some of our favorite doctors and nurses. Lots of them were there and it was great to see them again, and for them to see how big Amelia has gotten.


Amelia's cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Ilbawi:

Our primary cardiologist, Dr. Husayni. There are not enough good things I can say about this man. I am so grateful for everything he's done for us in treating Amelia and in helping me stay calm and not freak out. I am so glad to have a doctor I can trust her care to completely.

Amelia had a blast - Daddy gave her lots of treats! She loved watching the other kids there and did her best with the hula hoop (which wasn't much, but she had fun).

What a great day! I'm so glad they have this picnic every year - for the first six months of Amelia's life, the hospital staff made up most of my social interactions. They are very special to us and we owe so much to them, they will probably never know. It's great to see them, to catch up, and for them to see how wonderful Amelia is doing. I just hope they realize how big a role they played in that, both by caring for her and reassuring me so much!