Vacation and Prayer Requests

Hey Everyone - Greetings from FREEZING COLD Michigan.

It actually has been mostly nice and I already am starting to get rid of that "white girl" glow. However, when you are in the shade or once it gets to be late afternoon, the freezing cold sets in.
We are having a good time in Michigan, but have had a few glitches along the way. My Grandpa on my mom's side (who is 92) was supposed to arrive here on Saturday, but instead ended up spending the weekend in the hospital. The hospital staff wanted to keep him longer due to some concerns about his heart, but he demanded he be released so he could come on vacation. So this morning my parents drove three hours to their house to pick them up and bring them back, but he hasn't felt well since he got here. Within about three minutes of getting out of the car, he tripped on a rug and fell, causing a large cut on his elbow and general overall pain. He has been in bed since about 6:00 this evening complaining constantly of being cold. My dad and uncle are convinced this means that something is wrong with his heart and are highly concerned about him.

Then tonight we got a call from my aunt and found out that my Grandpa on my dad's side (who is 90) was about to go into surgery because apparently he has had a bunch of blood in his urine recently. They decided to try surgery to fix the problem. We got a call a little later from my aunt saying that they had to stop the surgery because his heart stopped. They were able to get it restarted, but they are watching him closely. Also, while they were in there, they found that his bladder lining is almost non-existent, so that is not a good thing either and I'm not sure there is much they can do about it at this point.

All in all, this leaves a large cloud looming over vacation. I've already heard one member of the family talking about what we all do if we lose Grandpa Staples in the next day or two, and another saying that we could lose both of them this week. While I'm not sure that isn't a little overly pessimistic, there are some serious concerns and we will wait to see how it all plays out. Thankfully we know that God is in control and whatever happens was already planned long in advance of this week.

I'll try to post some pictures later in the week so you can see how it is going. And yes, we miss our dogs. Mike wrote a blog about that a little earlier I think. We hope all is well with you.

Results - Score!

Well, I completed my ninth class for the week at the gym this morning. Whew! I'm tired. Now I get to take a shower and spend the day completing the tasks required to get everything ready for vacation.

I weighed in this morning. Since May 12, I have lost 9 pounds, 9 inches (spread out over 5 different areas that were measured) and approximately 5% of my body fat.

So the way I figure it is this: yes, I totally want to win, but with such great competition (the two ladies who were ahead of me at the beginning of this week have been working very hard too), I consider losing 9 pounds, 9 inches and 5% body fat as a victory.

I'll find out on Monday where I ended up. I'm kind of preparing myself for third and I'll be thankful no matter what. I love my gym. The trainers are awesome. Once we get back from vacation I'll be back in there. Not for 9 classes a week, but for a more reasonable long-term schedule.

Working Hard at Working Out

For those of you who know me even a little, you will know that I am an ultra-competitive person by nature. In high school and college, I exercised this crazy competitiveness through the avenue of organized sports. Since college, I've tried to find my outlet of that energy through coaching, but I'm always looking for opportunities to be competitive in other areas (just ask anyone who has ever played a board game with me).

Each summer, my sisters and I gather with our families for a week at Houghton Lake up in Michigan. Each summer, the competition is on (though it is mostly unspoken) to NOT be the heaviest/chunkiest sister at the lake. Some of you who live in a perpetual state of tiny being might not understand this. So, the beginning of June always tends to sneak up on me and then suddenly I'm in a frenzy over the fact that I have less than 4 weeks until the event. By the way, I think that although we've been married almost 5 years now, this never ceases to drive my husband crazy. His attitude is that whatever I do should be for myself and not out of some crazy "I-don't-want-to-be-the-heaviest-sister" competition. He does have a valid point and yet somehow it always happens like this.

So, this year I lucked out. My gym started a contest on May 12 that would run until this Friday (which happens to be the day before we leave). PERFECT! The competitive side of me jumped at this idea and the opportunity. I went in and weighed and was measured at the start of the contest. The contest was set up to give points for attending the group classes as well as points for pounds lost, inches lost, attendance at an 1.5 hour aerobathon and more. I had never been to one of the group classes, so I decided to give it a try. The first 3-4 weeks I was going to about 3 classes a week, but not really going crazy about the whole thing. I enjoyed the spinning and liked having someone push me. It was much more exciting than trying not to be bored spending a long time on a cardio machine.

With each day drawing closer to vacation, I began starting to step up the exercise and being more careful about my eating. Last Saturday I had a cold. It was the same day as the aerobathon and I was determined to make it through anyway because you got a bunch of points for going and more points for finishing the torture session. Then on Saturday they announced that since this week was the last week, all points would be doubled. WHOHOO! I checked the class schedule and figured out that between Monday and Friday I could make it to 9 classes if I worked really hard at it. I thought it was a good plan.

On Monday, Ashley (one of the trainers), told me that I was currently in third place and had the potential to win it if I could make it to several of the classes this week. Exhilaration and the thrill of the competition raced through me as I told her that I was trying for 9 classes and I suddenly had a determination that if there was a chance I could win it, I was going to make it to every single one of those classes.

Then, I proceeded to go to two classes on Monday (boxing and whole body), one class on Tuesday (Yoga - yuck!) and three classes today (whole body, spin express and step express). Tomorrow I have two evening classes and then one morning class on Friday and then I'm done and gone on vacation.

I'm doing everything I can to finish strong. I'll find out Friday how I ended in the competition. I will find out Saturday how I did in the sister competition. No matter what the results of those events, I know that my body feels better right now. More than that, my mind does so much better and I feel so much better about myself when I'm exercising, so I'm thankful for the competition.

So, are any of you crazy competitive like I am?

Works of God Monday - Stretching and Inward Groanings

I'm thankful that God doesn't give up on us, but chooses to continually break us and mold us into what He wants us to be. For some reason, God has chosen at this time in my life to stretch me and I can only believe it is part of the overall big picture. I feel the stretching. As a sinner, I dread the pain and cannot wait for it to be over. Yet when I sit back and examine it, I'm thankful for the stretching because it means that God is still at work. Much more tragic would be the case if He wasn't working on me.

Yesterday morning as I was sitting in church, I heard the beginning chords of the special music and the inward groanings began. I knew the song by heart and knew that the chances were good to excellent that I would be crying by the end of the song. I'm pretty much sick of crying and wasn't thrilled that it was about to happen again.

Here are a few of the lyrics to the song that Amber, Jill and Erica sang:

"Lord, as I seek Your guidance for the day, I find my thoughts unyielding, confusion crowds my way. But then, when I bow to You, the challenges You guide me through, Your promises are ever new, I claim them for today. Your will cannot lead me where Your grace cannot keep me, Your hand will protect me, I rest in Your care. Your eyes will watch over me, Your love will forgive me, and when I am faltering, I still will find you there."

As I sat there, tears streaming down my face, the words "your love will forgive me, and when I am faltering, I still will find you there" continually hit me. What a blessing to know that even though I fail continually and I feel like my footsteps in life are faltering right now, He still loves me, forgives me and will guide me through this time.

Thank you to those who've been praying for me. Thank you for your words of encouragement. As you continue to pray for me, you might also think of my poor husband. I've been so emotional these past few weeks. I feel like I've cried more days than I haven't cried and he has been so patient with me.

My Awesome Husband - Happy Birthday To You!

Little did I know that LONG before I was born God had already created my husband. Did I mention that it was LONG before I was born? :)

Mike is the perfect husband for me. He takes great care of me and sacrifices daily for us. He is not the type of guy that needs a 12 course meal every time we sit down to eat, which is good because I'm the type of girl who is great at Campbells soup, macaroni and cheese, hamburger helper, hot dogs, etc. I do occasionally made homemade pizza, enchiladas and other better options. I'm working on learning new things and finding better, healthier options, but Mike is totally content with whatever I feed him. When we were dating this was one of my biggest fears - that I would never be able to feed him like a "good wife" could. He told me that even if we had to live on Taco Bell, it would be fine. :)

Today is his birthday. We both have colds. I spent much of the afternoon trying to sleep off my cold. He has spent most of the day vegging on the couch trying to get over his cold. We didn't go out for supper. We didn't have eggs so I couldn't make brownies or a cake and he didn't want me to go out to get them. I didn't have any gifts for him to open tonight (though he did remind me that we got all the Sears clothes for him last week and that was his birthday present). In my mind, the birthday was a disaster.

But that isn't my husband. He is fine with not making a big deal about it. He had homemade pizza for supper and he was happy with it. He didn't need brownies or a cake (but he did let me make him some butterscotch pudding to make me feel better about the lack of cake). He is content. So, I guess I must force myself to be content with it as well.

In reality, Mike is perfect for me. Things that I stress out about are no big deal to him and he calms me down over them. He balances me in an amazing, only possible with God, way. No matter what the future holds for us, I'm thankful that God has allowed me to make the journey with Mike.

So, happy birthday, Michael. I love you.

My Awesome Wife

Well, I have hi-jacked the blog again. I love do this from time to time.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that Sandra is so amazing. Currently, I am sick. Normally, she would try to wait on me hand and foot. But, like always, she knew exactly what to do. She recognized that what I needed most was sleep. So, she let me sleep and took care of my doggies.

Some may think that this is minor, but many would also recognize that what our bodies need most is sleep. God has designed our bodies to heal itself and when we sleep we are allowing our bodies to do just that.

So, Sandra, you are truly awesome. I love you.

Works of God Monday...ahem...Tuesday?

Well, I started this post yesterday but found that I really needed to concentrate and wasn't successful. So I figured I could finish it today.

A little background before I go into how God specifically showed Himself mighty to me this week...

While I do well most of the time with the whole adoption process/waiting/not having our own biological kids/etc, the last month or so has been hard for me. We had Mother's Day at church. While a day meant to celebrate motherhood is fine in and of itself, it just seemed like the whole world was celebrating the women who were able to have kids and if you don't have kids, you are a second-class citizen. It is on days like that when I have to remind myself that God is good all the time - even when I hurt because what I have wanted now has not been what God planned for us now. I know all the Christian canned sayings about how everything will work out, how God is in control, how He will bring the perfect child for us in the perfect timing. Unfortunately, in my carnal state, knowing those things doesn't take away the pain, frustration, longing, alone feeling and just general desire to get out of this stage of life.

This past week was especially difficult. We are coming up on vacation up north with my family in Michigan. All of my sisters and their families will be there. Since we started the adoption process, I have been praying that God would give us a baby before this vacation because I didn't want to have another year where Mike and I are the only one without kids. I wanted to be able to take our baby up for this week to spend with my sisters, parents, grandparents, etc. so they could meet him/her as well. With each day that draws closer to vacation, I ache as I know the likelihood of that happening decreases. I'm not discounting that God could still make it work... my nature is just to plan for the worst possible situation so that no matter what happens, the hurt will somehow be less.

So, this is where I was last week. I was frustrated with myself for my growing lack of belief and generally hurting over the whole situation. Believe it or not, I was having to fight the bitterness that I wouldn't be able to be a huge, pregnant woman with all the waddling, stretch marks, labor pains, birth story and everything else that comes with the process. Everyone else might dread it or think that it is just something you have to go through, but I ache for it. I ache for the entire process. I was fighting the hurt and bitterness, knowing that would not make me who I'm supposed to be. Then...

I saw God at work through a friend. I received a small package in the mail that included a card, a CD and a poem she wrote.

The CD was from our Sunday night service last week. Mike had to work and I wasn't feeling good, so we both missed the service. Pastor Monroe was preaching about Sarah's faith. We listened to the CD on the way to and from church on Sunday and the sermon was very good. I told Mike that I was glad I wasn't at church myself because I would probably have sat in the pew crying the whole time. I don't like to cry very often and certainly not in public, but when it comes to this topic, I don't always have the control I would like.

The card she sent was a huge encouragement and let me know that she understands and that she and her husband are praying for us.

The poem was incredible and talked about letting go of what we most want and then when our hands are empty they are available to hold God's hand. I can't really do it justice without posting it and since it isn't my work, I'm not going to post it. However, suffice it to say that she obviously understands where I am right now and opened up enough to show me something personal like that to be an encouragement to me. Since originally posting this, she has given me permission to share the poem with you, so if you would like, you can read it here.

So this week I'm choosing to see God in the act of a friend. I'm choosing to trust God that He does indeed know what is best for me. I'm seriously working on being content with where He has me (I say "seriously working" because this is an issue I have to continue to give back over to God).

While being thankful for this friend and for God not giving up on me, I'm also working to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He prompts me to do something for someone else. You never know when what you may view as a simple act can become a work of God in someone else's life.

Cereal, Anyone?

Okay, here is my week at you-know-where.

Some highlights:

12 Boxes of Cereal
12 Eclipse/Orbit Gum Packages
4 Coke 12-packs (which we needed for when Mike's Dad comes - it's on his list)
11 Dove Trial Deoderants
12 Cans of Nivea for Men Extreme Comfort Shave Gel
2 Dove Shampoo/Conditioner
12 Packages of Peppermints/Gum Balls/Candy Necklaces
4 Garnier Skin Care Face Scrub

Bandaids, Milk, Reese's (for Mike), Listerine, Oral-B Toothbrushes, Brut Deoderant, Cotton Swabs, Wart Remover and etc...

Bottom Line:
$334.16 Original Retail Value of Product
-$4.39 Out of Pocket (Okay, I know this one must have you confused...I ended up returning two items that didn't generate extra care bucks, and they gave me back $12.82 cash, so by the end of the week, I actually had more cash then I started with)
$31.89 Fewer Extra Care Bucks @ End of the Week Than At Beginning
So...cost was $27.50 for all of this stuff.

Now, normally I like to end the week with more extra care bucks than I started, however, this week allowed me to get some things we were going to need, without spending "real" money. Since most of those extra care bucks were earned by using coupons, I don't really feel like this week was a loss.

Things we needed (not just purchased because they ended up free or money makers):

$8.00 Coke we needed to get for Mike's Dad
$3.99 Milk
$5.99 Wart Remover

Plus, I figure I ended up paying less than 75 cents a box on Cheerios - something I eat every morning anyway. Finally, the 12 packages of Orbit/Eclipse Gum in 60 pieces each is huge. Mike and I both like to keep one of these always in our cars and they normally cost $3.50 each. I figured I got each one for less than $1.00.

So anyway, I'm happy with this week and stocking up on some of these things.

Thanks, All You

Last month I found out about a great little magazine called "All You" that you can purchase at Walmart for $1.77. Inside this magazine are tons of little coupons as well as some good articles. Last month this magazine helped me make a bunch of money because CVS had Adidas deoderant for $4.99 that was giving back $4.99 in extra care bucks. I think I bought 9 of these magazines and between my card and friends that I hooked up with coupons, those 9 free deoderant coupons turned out to be a build up of almost $45 in extra care bucks at CVS. There were also several other coupons in the magazine that helped with other deals I did as well. As I was going through the magazines, one of them had an "All You" survey in it that said I would be sent a $10.00 check for completing the survey. I did it and received the $10.00 check this week. Now I love their magazine even more. :)

Walgreens $5.00 off $20.00 Friday

On Friday there was a deal going on at Walgreens where you could use a $5.00 off your purchase of $20.00 or more coupon. So I did two transactions.

First Transaction: Two Dr. Scholls Gel Insoles and two Nivea for Men Shaving Products. Before Coupons and sales tax: $30.00. After coupons $18.75. Paid with my Walgreens gift card so $0 out of pocket. Then the printer spit out $15.00 towards my next purchase. So basically the end result was that I paid $3.75 for those items.

Second Transaction: 2 Dove Shampoos, 2 Dove Conditioners, 1 Walgreens 60 count calcium creamies, 1 multi-betic vitamins. Before coupons and sales tax: $31.98. After coupons $19.75. Paid with the $15.00 above and then $4.75 on my Walgreens gift card, so $0 out of pocket. The printer spit out $5.00 towards my next purchase (from the Dove). Also, the multi-betic vitamins and calcium creamies are free after rebate this month, so I'll be getting $17.58 back on my Walgreens gift card at the end of the month from this transaction. So basically the end result was that I made $2.83 to take these items.

Overall, 92 cent loss on my Walgreens card to take home all of this stuff this past week. Not bad since the shampoo and conditioner will never get old and will get used, I expect to sell some of the other stuff either on Ebay, Amazon or a garage sale for more than that, and all of it came for $0 out of pocket actual cash.

Finally, a deal that I did with Cascade and other cleaning stuff several weeks back became even better this week. You see, when I purchased the items, I was supposed to get $20.00 off coupons, but only one $10.00 spit out. When I talked to the Walgreens people about it, they gave me paperwork to send in to get the other $10.00 by mail (apparently there was something wrong with the printer). I sent in my receipt and the paperwork and they sent me $20.00 towards my next Walgreens purchase instead of $10.00!! So, Walgreens was good to me this week.

Publix $22.05 Turns Into Home Depot $25.00

Thanks again to Money Saving Mom for the tip about the Publix deal going on right now. If you buy $20.00 worth of select products (including those shown above), and then mail in the receipt and form, you receive a $25.00 gift card to Home Depot. YAY! Mike eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch on a regular basis and Mike's dad is coming for a week when we go on vacation and one of the things on his list of foods for the week was pudding. So, I was able to get 4 peanut butter jars and 5 pudding packages for $22.05. I mailed in the receipt and look forward to receiving our $25.00 home depot gift card. Mike is wanting to get a rake and I like to buy our kitchen garbage bags at Lowe's or Home Depot. We'll definitely use the card and the food. WHOHOO.

Happy Father's Day, Mike's Birthday, etc.

Sorry for the weird colors on the picture. Our camera battery needed recharging, so Mike took the picture with his cell phone. I think you can still get the point. :)

Thanks to MoneySavingMom.com for the tip off about the great deal at Sears going on now through Sunday night. The deal is that if you buy $100 worth of Dockers products, you mail in your receipts and get a $75 Shell gas card in return (limit of one per person, two per household).
We went to scope it out because Mike can always use new dress clothes and we called Mike's dad to find out what he needed so we can hook him up for Father's Day. The best part was that when we arrived there, we discovered many Dockers items were more than 50% off. Since Mike wears dress clothes every day for work, this was a needed boost to his dressy wardrobe.

We ended up doing three rounds of the deal - two rounds for Mike and one for his dad. We will submit two for our household and one for Mike's dad. We'll give him the clothes we got on his deal and he'll mail us the gas gift card when it comes. That works for all of us.

The first round we bought 5 dress shirts and 2 pairs of dress pants for Mike's dad and paid $112.28. The product at full retail was $254.98. Once we get the $75 in Shell gas card, the total cost to us for this was $37.28. Anytime I can get my father-in-law $255 worth of dress clothes for $37 is a happy time. He's a teacher and will definitely be able to use this gift.

The second round we bought 5 dress shirts and one pair of dress pants for Mike and paid $109.63. The product at full retail was $245.00. Once we get the $75 in Shell gas card, the total cost to us for this was $34.63. The one pair of dress pants alone would have been $55.00, so I'm happy.

The third round we bought 2 dress shirts, 2 dress pants and one new wallet for Mike (which I think he is the most excited about of everything, other than the fact that he could get all that stuff for his dad) and paid $117.66. The product at full retail was $226.00. Once we get the $75 in Shell gas card, the total cost to us for this was $42.66. This transaction included higher quality dress pants that were both originally $65.00 each.

All in all, a GREAT night. While we did have to pay more out of pocket than I'm used to with all my other great shopping deals, we know that we'll use the gas cards up quickly when they come and that will offset the gas part of the budget at that time. We covered Father's Day and Mike's birthday and mainly just saved us money down the road because Mike won't need new shirts or pants for a LONG time.

WHOHOO! Thanks, Sears!

Mike Joins the Blogging World

Mike decided to join the blogging world. He started a rottweiler blog to showcase our babies and to put up information on any rescue animals we come across who might need a new home. It is still very much in the beginning stages, but I've added a link under my links so that you can check it out anytime.

Down to 5 - DOUBLE WHOHOO!!!

Yes, last night we delivered Missy & Fritsy to their new owners! WHOHOO!!!! I'm super happy. It was such a relief to come home, take down the crate they were in and reclaim the space. I'm also enjoying not hearing their tiny annoying barks. I do wish them the best of luck in their new home - I'm just thrilled it isn't MY home.

Spoiled and Loving It

Oh yeah, I admit to being spoiled. My husband takes great care of me in every way. I can't imagine my life without him and I'm so thankful for who he is. He works hard at work every day and then comes home and has no problem with helping out at home. In fact, just last night I think he folded nearly every piece of clothing we own (okay, not quite, but there was quite a HUGE pile of folding built up since I had gotten a little behind on laundry).

Awhile back I was visiting a friend in Michigan and they had a laptop with wireless internet in the living room. We watched a movie while I emailed on that laptop. She pulled her laptop out and we were both online and watching a movie together at the same time. I loved it! I'm the type that can't just sit around and watch tv. I totally have to multi-task. So, I came home and began talking to Mike about how much I would love that. With wireless internet, I could sit in the living room with a laptop and get stuff done while he watches history channel, "How It Was Made" or some other such program that he enjoys but I don't so much. Plus, during the day, when I'm home working on Ebay or whatever, I can be in the living room hanging out with the dogs. Since we already have a laptop, all we had to do was get a wireless card and router and get it set up.

We had some difficulties getting everything configured, but my wonderful husband was able to get his technologically advanced co-worker to come over and help us. So, at this moment, I'm sitting on the couch with my feet up in the living room and working on the internet. WHOHOO!

Spoiled and loving it.

Down to 7 - WHOHOO

Who would have thought that I would be excited to be DOWN to seven dogs in the house? This little guy is a three month old pit bull puppy that we've had since Saturday evening. He is going to be a HUGE dog if he is only three months right now. Anyway, how he came into our temporary possession: we followed a policeman home on Saturday night and watched as he pulled behind and blocked off our new neighbor's vehicle. We've met her once. She was arrested that night for attempted vehicular homicide - she apparently tried to run over a lady on our street who owed her $40.00. This little guy was running loose at the time and she asked the policeman if Mike could keep him until she got out. We did have an extra kennel and ended up with him and several plastic bags of refridgerator stuff she was getting ready to move into the house. Tonight at around 10:20 p.m. the doorbell rang. It was two guys apparently related to her who had come to collect the dog and food. YAY!!!! He was a sweet little guy, but I was a little stressed about the growing number of animals in the house. For awhile I was thinking maybe it was a God thing that she asked us to watch the dog. I had planned to invite her to church when she came to retrieve him. I guess I'll just have to make a point to do that whenever/if ever she is released from jail and back across the street from us.

Pray though...we are meeting with a lady tomorrow after work who might take the Maltese. We didn't really want to split them up, but if it means a good home for each of them, we are willing to. We've had several calls on the Dachsund too, so hopefully he'll find his new home soon. I'll let you know when that happens. I'll be celebrating. My dogs don't bark. These little things do. :(

CVS Ideas for You

Okay, I thought I would give some of you a breakdown of a few of the CVS opportunities this week that I have already capitalized on. I'll be more specific for those of you who want to also give a try. Here goes:

Transaction 1:

2 Dawn Dish Detergent $2.00 Total
1 9 Large Rolls Charmin Ultra Soft $4.99 Total

2 Listerine Smart Rinse 250m, $6.98 Total

1 Brut Deoderant 2.5oz, $2.69 Total

Coupons:

-$0.25 Dawn Detergent Coupon

-$0.25 Charmin Coupon

- 2 $1.00 off Listerine Coupons

-1 $3.00 off a purchase over $15 CVS coupon (which thanks to Caroline I do have a PDF of it, so I can email it to you if you would like.
Used $10.98 in ECB's earned previously

Paid $0.37 Out of Pocket

Received:

$1.00 Dawn ECB

$6.98 Listerine ECB

$3.00 Brut ECB

Overall: Earned back exactly as many ECB's as spent (term is called rolled over - especially since one was going to expire today) paid $0.37 for all this stuff. Oh yeah, and I have $4.99 now towards the buy $20 of charmin and get $10 back. I will finish that deal later in the week and my ECB's will print out when the last item is paid taking me over $20.00 in charmin.

Okay, so this is seriously my favorite transaction of the week so far. Here is the breakdown:

1 Listerine Smart Rinse 250m, $3.49

2 CVS Plastic Bandaids, 40, $3.98 Total

1 Lifesaver Bin, $0.50 (filler)

2 Brut Deoderant, 2.5oz, $5.38

2 CVS Cotton Swabs 500, $6.38 Total

Coupons:

-$1.00 Listerine - can print online

-$3.00 off $15.00 CVS purchase

-$3.00 off $10.00 purchase CVS Brand (bandaids and Cotton swabs - these print out on the little coupon printer in the store. Just scan your card).

Used $12.36 in previously earned ECB's

Paid $0.37 Out of Pocket

Received:

$4.00 CVS Cotton Swabs ECB

$6.00 Brut ECB

$3.49 Listerine ECB

$3.98 CVS Bandaid ECB

Overall: Earned back $17.47 in ECB's to spend at next purchase (thereby gaining $5.11 in ECB's more than I had before this purchase). Because I paid $0.37 out of pocket, when you subtract that from the $5.11, you come up with an overall profit of $4.74 just for taking this stuff off their hands. The most exciting part is that this stuff is for my sister, Danelle, so I have more cool stuff to take to them free when we go to Michigan on vacation (only 26 days from now, but who is counting).

So, that is how I did. Maybe you can try one of these deals. The last one should be easy for anyone. You need a CVS card, the pdf to print off the $3.00 off $15.00 purchase coupon (let me know if you need it), the $3.00 off $10.00 coupon you get in store when you scan your card at the little coupon printer and a listerine coupon which you can find here: http://www.listerinekids.com/smart-rinse-coupon.jsp

Have fun!

Target Training

Yes, tonight I was able to do a little training at Target. Mike and I stopped after church. I had two coupons for $2.00 off ANY Schick disposable razors that expired tonight. We also happened to be needing bread. The Schick disposable razors in the trial size come two to a pack and cost $0.97. I grabbed two and headed for the bread. The bread only cost $1.19, so I suggested that we should probably grab two because if the cashier did accept the entire coupon, that way our total would be in the positive (negative totals tend to stress out cashiers and would probably have caused them to drop the coupon value to the cost of the item).

So we proceed to checkout, whereupon he scans the items and then I hand him the coupons. He scans the first one and it comes up with this message (item is not located) which basically says the coupon doesn't apply to anything I bought (which by the way, I have had all but 2 coupons have this message of my Target purchases this past week). I basically pointed out that the coupon does say $2.00 off ANY Schick disposable and they are disposable. He looks at the screen with a confused expression and starts looking around like he should call a manager and even puts his hand down on the radio. I choose that opportune moment to point out that the screen says K1 - accept anyway and that all he needs to do is verify that the item is indeed what the coupon is for and then push K1. He says, "Oh, okay, thanks!" and pushes K1. It goes through. He says "Cool!". He then scans the next one and pushes K1 almost with a flourish (you can just imagine him being so proud that he knows how). Then he announces my new total is 50 cents.

50 cents for 2 loaves of bread and 2 packages of disposable razors. I'll take it.

Maybe Target should cut me a check for helping to train their cashiers?

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.