Giving Target A Try

After seeing free deals at Target on the Money Saving Mom website for a while, I decided to give in and give it a try. To tell you the truth, I have this impression of Target that everything is more expensive, so this was a step outside of my comfort zone.

Transaction 1. Bought two of the Perfect 10 Hair Coloring Kits and 7 of the samples. $30.72. Handed them 9 coupons. New Total $9.15 out of pocket. Received 2 $5.00 gift cards for next purchase. Net result -$0.85

Transaction 2. Two of the Perfect 10 Hair Coloring Kits and two Shout samples. $25.72. Handed them 4 coupons & 2 $5.00 gift cards. 94 cents out of pocket. Received 2 more $5.00 gift cards.

Transaction 3. Two of the Perfect 10 Hair Coloring Kits and two Tylenol samples. $25.72. Handed them 4 coupons and 2 $5.00 gift cards. 86 cents out of pocket. Received 2 more $5.00 gift cards.

End result: paid $10.95 out of pocket, got all of this stuff, ended up with $10.00 in gift cards for the next time around. Since I plan to use one of the hair coloring kits this weekend and since it normally costs $12.89, I consider this a big success.

Oh yeah...one more thing. Out of the 17 coupons I gave them, only 3 of them claimed to be correct. The first cashier challenged one, but when I pointed out that it qualified for what the coupon stated, she allowed every one after that to go through as it was (including some for $2.00 off a product that cost only 97 cents). The second cashier double checked each one, but found them all to be okay and let two $1.00 off coupons go through for a product that cost 97 cents. The third cashier told me that he had to adjust the coupons down to the 97 cents (thereby eliminating any overage), but that was okay. I just found it funny that each cashier handled things differently. Doesn't Target have any type of consistent policy on this? Interesting.

Missy & Fritsy

Hi! My name is Missy. I am 11 1/2 years old (but surprisingly spry for my age). I am Maltese and I weigh less than 6 pounds.
Hi! My name is Fritsy. I am almost 6 years old. I am a dachshund and I weigh 8 1/2 pounds.
We are Missy & Fritsy. We have grown up together our whole lives. Last week our owner passed away suddenly and now we are looking for a new home. Mr. Mike was nice enough to let us stay with him until that time (our owner was a client of his). Mr. Mike is seeing our vet today to try to find out all of our medical history. All we know is that we are TINY compared to the 70-105 pound GIANTS that live in this house already. We spent last night sleeping in the same crate and did fine. If you think you would like us to come live with you, just let Mr. Mike know. We really would prefer to live together since we've been together all of our lives and just lost our owner. We don't want the trauma of having to go somewhere alone. I, Fritsy, especially want to be with Missy because I act kind of scared sometimes but Missy helps make me brave.

Update on my nephew, Caleb

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for Caleb. He just had his adnoids & tonsils removed this past weekend and everyone was hoping this would be the turning point in his health.

I received this update from my sister, Danelle, this morning:

"Just wanted you to know that I had to take Caleb in to the ER last night. He had had a high fever of 103.4 Sunday night. Monday morning we called the surgeon's office. They said to call back if it spiked again. He was already on acetemetophin with codein and the fever wasn't going down. Monday, early evening it was back up to 102.4 and we couldn't give him anything else. We called again, and, this time, they told us to take him in to the ER here. They didn't think it had anything with the surgery, and that something else was going on in conjunction with the surgery recovery. It turns out that Caleb has pnuemonia. We switched antiobiotics for him, and are watching him carefully. Thankfully, our ER doctor was very good. Sometimes ER doctors aren't. If we don't see improvement soon, we'll get him admitted (probably to the same place he had his recent surgery). This morning his fever was still 102. This is definitely a huge concern. Please pray for him. Overall, he's still fragile. I am also not looking forward to another hospital stay."

I appreciate all of you who have been praying for him during this ongoing saga. Please also pray for Danelle and her husband, Mark (pictured above). I'm sure this has been very draining on them.

My Babies

Obviously my favorite of all in these pictures is the cutie in the green shorts. :) I thought I would give you an update picture on all my babies so you can see how they have grown. They are good "kids".

Thanks, CVS, for helping my sister too!

So, my sister, Danelle, lives in a deprived place in Michigan that doesn't have CVS. So I told her that if she would register for the card and send it to me, I'd do the shopping for her and bring the stuff with me when I come on vacation this summer. With four kids and all the health issues they've dealt with in their family recently, I'm hoping this can be a blessing for them.

Here is how she did last week:

$195.68 in total original retail value
$116.69 in sale value
$60.31 in Extra Care Bucks used
$7.18 Out of Pocket
$95.33 in Extra Care Bucks earned
$14.69 Rebates Coming

Bottom Line: Made $42.53 Profit in Extra Care Bucks to Spend On Future CVS Purchases

3 Adidas Deoderants
1 Garnier Shampoo
1 Garnier Conditioner
1 Betty Crocker Brownies
1 Ice Breakers Sours (filler)
1 Johnson's Buddies Soap
1 Blood Glucose Monitor
1 Tums Quickpak
3 Packages Allergy Medication
1 Almay Eyeliner
1 Almay Mascara
3 Aquafresh Toothpastes
4 Colgate Toothbrushes
2 Oral-B Toothbrushes
3 Orapiks
1 Nail Polish Remover
2 Revlon Nail Polish Bottles
2 Sally Hanson Nail Polish Bottles

YAY!!! Thanks again, CVS.

I FOUGHT THE LAW (Well, Wal-mart) AND I WON

Oh yeah. Today I went to Wal-mart armed with a bunch of coupons and a specific list. I was getting only things I had coupons for that would make them free plus one package of hot dog buns.

I rounded everything up and figured that after coupons and tax, I would be paying less than the total of the hot dog buns. I got to the checkout and she rang everything through. I handed her the coupons and she got this frown on her face. One of the products I purchased was Kotex pantiliners for $1.00. I picked up seven boxes because I had seven $1.00 off coupons. FREE!!! She looks through them, hems and haws, and finally tells me that she can only apply one coupon to the whole order because it says "one coupon per purchase". I informed her that each item was a "purchase" of that product. She went on to insist that she could only use one coupon because that is not what it means. I asked her if she would check with a manager because I believe it could be done (please note at this point she hasn't even tried to run them through the machine - just assumed it couldn't be done).

She goes and talks to a manager. She comes over and says she can't accept more than one coupon. I told her to take off all but one and I would pay for my order (as I was trying to be respectful of the people waiting in line behind me). She starts putting them underneath. I then informed her that I would want them back because I was still going to purchase them and I would buy one at a time if they were going to stand behind that "policy". She calls for the manager. He comes over and informs me the same thing. I told him that not only do other stores recognize that each item qualifies as a purchase, but Wal-mart does too. I told him that I could go through any other line and have that cashier accept it and it would work. He is standing strong. I gave him the same speech and added that it was going to end up costing them time and money because I would stand there and check out one at a time (I could feel my face heating up at this point). He decides to talk to the group of managers standing nearby.

He shows them my coupons and two of them immediately told him that I was right. You can't apply seven coupons to one box, but you certainly can apply seven coupons to seven boxes. He came and said, "oh, I guess we can after all" (less than the stellar apology I was hoping for). He then sends me over to customer service to check out.

As I paid my 42 cents to customer service and took my six additional boxes with me, I couldn't help but humming the tune to the above-referenced song, yes indeedy, "I fought the law..." BUT I WON!!!!! Whohoo!

CVS & Walgreens Last Week

This week I ended up just about even. Here is the breakdown:

$232.10 in normal retail value
$143.30 in sale price value
$11.49 Out of Pocket
$78.26 Used in Extra Care Bucks & Walgreens Register Rewards
$57.98 Earned in Extra Care Bucks & Walgreens Register Rewards for future purchases
$31.96 Earned in Walgreens Rebate & Glucose Monitor Rebate

Bottom Line: Earned $0.19 on All of This

Here is what I ended up with:

2 Gallons Milk
10 Tubes Colgate Toothpaste
1 Schick Intuition Razor
1 Schick Intuition Razor Cartridges
2 St. Pete Times Papers (for the coupons)
4 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (fillers)
2 Glade Air Fresheners
5 Johnson's Bath Buddies Soaps
1 Adidas Deoderant
5 Bowl Appetite Lunch Meals
1 Crest Spinbrush Tops
1 EarRinse Ear Cleaner
1 Walgreens Light Bulbs
1 Orajel Kids Mouth Rinse
1 Kickers Energy Spray
1 Free Style Lite Blood Glucose Monitor ($10 profit)
3 CVS Salines (I found the sensitive eye formula was 3 times cheaper than the normal)
1 Hand Sanitizer
1 CVS Itch Relief (like Benadryl)
1 CVS Flossers
4 Bags Hershey's Kisses (needed for a dessert I was taking to a party)
1 Hershey's Reese's Single Servings Package of 8
1 York Patties Single Servings Package of 8

Yep, I'm addicted. I love taking all of this stuff and still making 19 cents. Whohoo!

Living Large

I was always the one that never wanted to drive a minivan even. I thought that wasn't "cool". Give me my mustang convertible and the wind in my hair. I find it ironic that now at the age of 31, I'm the proud (?) co-owner of a 15 passenger van. Yes, we are crazy. We purchased this van from a church down the road from us for a GREAT deal. It only has 55,000 miles on it. We are selling our Saturn. We'll end up better off financially and now have a vehicle that if we wanted to pack up the dogs and take a trip, we could. I think the plan is to sell off all but one of the seats. Thankfully, Mike will be driving this beast much more than I will, so I guess I can still be sort of cool for a few more years.

I do consider this as a good Works of God Monday post because we had been looking for vans for a while and they all seemed too expensive and not what we really wanted. Then when we were out walking the dogs one day, we "happened" to see this van for sale. We were the first to call about the van and they were willing to hold it for us until the weekend when we could get it checked out by a mechanic. They were willing to lower their asking price to offset for some of the repairs needed (nothing major, thankfully). Even the mechanics said we were getting a great deal on the van. So, even though I don't think it is cool to drive a 15 passenger van, I'm still thankful that God worked out all the details on this for us.

Free Samples This Week - Whohoo!
Sensodyne Toothpaste, Aquafresh Toothpaste, Tide with Dawn Laundry Detergent, Vasoline Hand Lotion (Perfect Purse Size)

We have 4 Giant Dogs.

4 Giant Dogs eat A LOT of dog food.

I've been trying to figure out how to save some money on dog food.

We normally buy Purina One in the 37.5 pound bags. Those bags have been running us $24.99 a piece. We go through several a month (and will be tracking this month to see just how long it takes us to go through what we got today).

So we had to go to get some dog food today. I came armed with coupons to save $1.50 a bag (better than nothing). We found two of the 37.5 pound bags for $24.99. Then I figured out that they changed the size to 34 pounds and the price to $25.99. SNEAKY. We started looking around to see if there was a cheaper kind of Purina that could work. We found some for $20.00 a bag for 37.5 pounds. We decided that to save money we would go that route and I knew I had coupons in the car for this other brand.

So on the way out the door, I spotted this stuff in the picture. 55 pound bags. Normally $18.49, on sale for $16.49. WHAT??? I called Mike and told him to come up front and scope it out. Then I went to the car and found out I had three coupons for $2.50 off a bag and one coupon for a free doggie treat with a bag. So, we ended up walking out of there with 220 pounds of dog food for $63.16. With the new price structure and smaller bags on the other kind, we would have had to pay $168.17 for the same amount of food.

My dogs will learn to love this new kind or they will starve. I'm going to save $105 every time from now on! :)

CVS & Walgreens for the Past Week

Well, I gave in and decided to give Walgreens a try. My sister convinced me due to the Cascade deal, but I'm pretty sure that CVS is WAY better in my mind than Walgreens. I might have to do a complete other post about that topic so I don't get high on my soapbox here.

So, here is the breakdown of my week.

$309.56 in regular retail value
$154.31 in sale retail value
$45.68 Out of Pocket (higher than normal due to the way Walgreens works)
$77.27 Used in CVS Extra Care Bucks & Walgreens Register Rewards
$110.70 Earned in CVS Extra Care Bucks & Walgreens Register Rewards (for future purchases)
$7.13 Earned in Walgreens Rebate
$6.99 Earned in CVS Return (I ended up returning the contact solution because I came up with a plan to better save money on getting it another way)

Bottom Line: Made Profit of $1.87 on all of this

Here is what I ended up with:

8 Cascade Dish Detergent Bottles
3 Old Spice Men's Body Wash
2 Freestyle Light Blood Glucose Meters
2 Tums Quickpaks
1 Venus Embrace Razor
1 Walgreens Maxi Pads
1 Honey Nut Cheerios
2 Boxes of Crest Toothpaste
4 Kiss Nail Glue (I'll be selling this on Ebay)
3 Pringles
2 Adidas Men's Deoderant
1 Oral B Toothbrush
3 Garnier Hair Color
2 Mr. Clean Cleaning Wipes
1 8 X 10 Picture of Our Awesome Dogs (free at Walgreens on Wednesday)
1 24 Pack of Zephyrhills Water Bottles
1 CVS Contact Solution (to be returned)
3 Boxes of Charmin Fresh Wipes
5 Copies of the St Petersburg Sunday paper (5 sets of coupons!)

So while my out of pocket was higher this week than I prefer, I did get a large stock up of Walgreens Register Rewards and CVS Extra Care Bucks to outweigh it AND we were able to get products that we currently use (Cascade, Old Spice, Cleaning Wipes, Pringles, Cheerios, etc.), so I consider this week a success.

Revolution Money Exchange

Well, I found out that you can still sign up for Revolution Money Exchange from now until May 15th and still get the $25 opening bonus. If you sign up yourself and then send a link to your spouse and have him or her sign up, you each get $25 and you'll also get a $10 bonus for the referral. Quickest way to make $60. Then start referring your friends. You can make up to $500 in referrals. I've already transferred the money directly to our bank account and made $120 without much effort, but if you don't want to give them your bank account information, you can request a check. They'll take out $2.50 for the check, but it is legitimate free money.

You do have to give your social security number because they are FDIC insured and an actual bank. Here is an article you can check out if you aren't sure about it: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2007-11-06-ted-leonis-steve-case_N.htm

If you are interested in joining, you can follow my referral link on the right side.

So, Sandra, what do you do with all that CVS stuff?

Thanks for asking. Well, first I take out the items I purchased because we needed them (hair spray, milk, shampoo, etc.). Then I take out any items that I think we might need in the next 6 months (a couple tubes of toothpaste, gum, etc.). Then I call my sisters, mom and mother-in-law and offer up to them what I have left. Since I'll see all of them this summer, I've started boxes for each of them of the items that they said they would use. Then I take the rest and donate it to the missionary closet at church. I'm excited that this new adventure of getting paid to take stuff from CVS is something that allows me to provide for our family as well as extended family and the missionaries!

Whohoo!

One more thing...blood glucose monitors? Why purchase so many of them? Well, any time CVS is going to allow me to purchase for $19.99 a $72.99 item, then give me $19.99 in Extra Care Bucks for doing so, and allow me to use a $3 off any purchase over $15.00, I'm going to make $3.00 and take the item off their hands. If we don't have missionaries who can use them, I can find a group to donate them to. I wouldn't buy them if I wasn't getting them free with overage.

Thanks for asking.

CVS - SCORE!

Okay, this is my week at CVS and I have to tell you about it because if you have a CVS in your area and haven't considered saving money using their deals, maybe this will inspire you to take a look at it.

I do have two different CVS cards. We were told that we could have one per adult member in the household. I have registered both under our names and same address, and have had no problems. I do have to keep track of which purchases were made using which card in order to make sure I'm getting the correct limit on each one per product and can only use the extra care bucks earned on that specific card, but this only requires a minimum of organization before going.

So here is the bottom line from the picture:
13 Transactions
$416.34 original retail value
$12. 39 Out of Pocket (that's less than $1.00 per transaction - you should see the look on the cashier's face when you ring up a bunch of stuff, hand her a few coupons and pay $0.21 for it all).
$154.92 Extra Care Bucks spent over the course of the week
$192.30 Extra Care Bucks earned over the course of the week
So if you subtract the Extra Care Bucks spent and the Out of Pocket from the Extra Care Bucks earned, I earned $24.99 to spend on other items by taking these items off their hands!!!

Here is what I got:
3 Orbit Gum 60-Pak
6 CVS Allergy Medication Packages
3 Men's Adidas Deoderant
7 Colgate 360 Toothbrushes
3 Orapik Traveler
6 Aquafresh Toothpastes
2 Tums Quickpaks
1 Freedom Lite Blood Glucose Monitor
1 Precision Blood Glucose Monitor
1 White Rain Hairspray
3 Bic Soleil Razors
3 Bic Soleil Razor Cartridges
2 All Laundry Detergents
2 Boxes CVS Brand Neosporin
2 Gift Bags
1 Exfoliating Facial Sponge
3 Bath Sponges
1 Dove Shampoo
1 Dove Conditioner
1 Dove Creme Oil Lotion
8 3M Post-It Flags
2 Just for Men Haircolor
3 Trident Gum Packages
1 Suave For Men Shampoo
1 Gallon Milk

Air Show

Yesterday my really cool friend Julie hooked up a bunch of us from our Sunday School class and got us on McDill Air Force base to see some of the air show stunts. It was the military friends and family day and a practice time, so they didn't do the whole show but there weren't huge crowds and we were able to hang out under the plane and watch them. After supper, we went to the beach and watched a few more planes including one at the end that show fireworks and had streams of fireworks coming out the sides while it was flying. We had a great time and enjoyed the food and fellowship. Thanks, Julie!

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Well, all I can say (even though I have said it before) is that I have THE proverbs 31 woman! I think of this often. And when I see the success she has had with Ebay, sports, CVS and so many other things I can only say WHAT A WOMAN!!!

Thank you all for the friendship and support you have given to her. It brings a smile to my heart when she is able to spend time with her friends.