Nails - Zip it Up!

This is a prime example of what has been going on lately with my nails.  A great idea that I just wasn't able to pull off in the end.

Sally Hansen's Blue Lagoon with Wet & Wild Black Creme zipper stamped on top.  Yes, the little notches at the top were planned.

Now back to kickin ass on Mario Cart....

June 1st, New Month, New Coupons!

This morning I woke up to find new coupons at coupons.com and couponnetwork.com which included some great FREEBIES!!!

A lot of the deals were for Walmart, so after a session with my printer and a shower (lol) we were on our way.

Let's start with the milk... I ad-matched to $1.57 at Fry's (which is our local Kroger store) and one of the coupons I found through my blogs was for $1 off Oreos when you buy a gallon of milk.  The shelf label was $2.28 but it scanned $2.98 so I made sure I got it for the $2.28.  The coupon should still be available through Nabisco's facebook so you can get your own as of this writing.

The lightbulbs were another find through cuckooforcoupondeals.com that was a killer deal.  Marked at $2.43 a box they were less than a dollar for both packages with my $2 off coupons from coupons.com !

The barbeque sauce was on clearance for 75 cents and had I printed the Sweet Baby Ray's coupon out last week, I probably could have gotten it for much less.  Lesson learned: If I will use it all, I need to get the coupon, add it to my binder and wait for a sale.  "Always be prepared" is the Boy Scout's motto but also applies to couponers!  LOL

Okay, now for the best part....
See all the Kotex?   The black ones cost me 24 cents a box and the white ones cost me.... drumroll please.... I made money on those!!!!  I made 36 cents by purchasing all 6 boxes.  For all the Kotex, I had $2 off 2 coupons, meaning that by buying the smaller packs (94 cents for the white and $1.24 for the black) I only paid $1.44 for all of them!  That's almost like buying one and getting 11 FREE!!!!

After a go-round with the cashier who said she couldn't take printed coupons (grrrrr "Wrong, Sweetie") I only paid $8.90 for $29 worth of merchandise which is a 69% savings!!  Woot Woot!!

Looking forward to all the CVS sales in the coming week!  50 cent Starbucks Refreshers, Venus razors for $1.45, 99cent mouthwash, another free toothbrush, free Speedstick.........
... til next time

Farmer John Bacon! Go Me!

Muffin checking out the popsicles

Starting last night, right after I got off work, I began shopping!  All stops, yesterday's and today's, have netted me $144 in merchandise for just $65!!

First stop, Walmart.
I ad matched the Cherrios to Kroger's (Fry's) price at $1.66 and used my collection of 50 cent off coupons to pay $1.16 for each box.   I also ad matched the milk to Kroger's price of $1.57.  The Hot Pocket snackers were on sale for $2.40 and I used my $1.10 off 2 coupon to get them for $1.85 each.  The Jello's (on top of the Cherrios) were on Rollback for $2 and I used two coupons for $1.10 off so I got them for 90 cents each.  I saved $9 by ad matching and my coupons.

This morning, after spending some time checking my coupon sites and following up on the couponing blogs I read, we hit Walgreen's, CVS, Albertson's, Fry's (which is the name of the Kroger stores here) and Target.

At Walgreen's, I picked up three more of the First Aid Cream (all three FREE after Register Rewards), the Wet n Wild nail polish (buy 2 get one free), the Irish Spring deoderant which was on clearance and gave me a $3 register reward so I got both of them for 50 cents each.  I also got 14 more Arizona Teas for 50 cents each.  I spent $19.03 on $60.85 worth of merchandise.

I went into CVS to take advantage of the Crest money-making deal.  (Buy Crest toothpaste for $2.87 and get extra bucks of $3.  My store didn't have the Crest though.  Boo.  BUT- silver lining time!  When I scanned my CVS card I got a second $1 off any toothbrush coupon so I bought the fourth toothbrush in less than a week for 18 cents and got another $2 extrabucks for next week!!  Colgate toothbrushes are on sale for $2.99, add my dollar off and add in the extrabucks I got for purchasing it and voila!  4 toothbrushes in less than a week for a total of under a dollar!! 

Then we went to Fry's.  This is what's frustrating, Kroger owns Fry's.  MOST of Kroger's ad prices are also Fry's ads and prices.  Only when I really want something do I ever find a difference.  Like today.  I had two coupons for a dollar off two Hormel Chili.  Kroger's sale price is 89 cents, that's 39 cents a can.  So of course... no Hormel sale at Fry's.  I did pick up a package of King Hawaiian rolls for $1.03 though so all was not lost.

Off to Target.  I had printed this morning 4 coupons for a dollar off Pure Leaf tea, sale price $1.  Our Target is currently getting remodeled and they didn't have the tea.  Dang.  Coupon is good 'til October though so hanging on to it.  They did have Ken's dressing on sale so I got two with my $1/2 coupon which wound up being an even better deal when they mistakenly put the wrong price on the larger size of Honey Mustard.

Then the big one of the day, Albertson's.  They had a 10/$10 sale and I picked up 6 Hamburger Helper (I also had two $1/3 coupons), two boxes of popsicles, a pack of hot dogs and a carton of eggs on that sale.  I also happened to find Kool-aid on clearance for $2.80 for a large canister of mix, so I used my Buy two Kraft bbq sauce and get $2 off kool-aid coupon.  I also found Caramel Milky Ways for 75 cents and bought four with my buy-one-get-one coupons making them 39 cents each.  Then I found an instore coupon for free eggs when you buy Farmer John bacon.  I've been carrying around this Farmer John bacon coupon for a while figuring I wouldn't use it but when you couple that with the free eggs it was worth it so SCORE!!!

In all, I saved $78.78!! A 55% savings average for all trips!!! Go Me!!!

Why No New Nails?

The last time I posted about my nails... or cooking... or anything was over a month ago.  It was right before I left on vacation and I was super excited about said vacation and promised to post photos and would post right after I got back. 
Well...
I wound up needing a vacation from the emotionally draining, chaotic, exhausting and frustrating vacation and I've just found other things to do to try to recoup my mental state for the last couple of weeks. 

Honestly, it is WAY too hot to cook, much less eat, here.  I live in far southern Arizona, literally south of the California/Mexico border and the temps have been around 110 for the last couple weeks.  So I haven't set foot in the kitchen and don't really know when I will.  The last few nail projects have bit the big one and I have broken several nails anyway.  The thing that has given me the most pleasure of late is Couponing and planning shopping trips which just goes to show how truly odd I am - But I LOVE it!!

So, I have just written a post about my last couple of shopping trips and I think I will start doing those regularly in addition to the other things I do here.

 And here are some photos from my trip to Milwaukee.

This is my mom at the O&H stand in the Iron Skillet in South Milwaukee or North Racine, not sure which.  To the people who saw me pull in.... Yessirree, all Alabammer folks drive lahk that there what you done saw.

(Alabama plates on the rental car.  Thank God)

First night - Sobelman's for dinner.  Saw it on Food Wars and had to go. 
Pretty good.  Apparently, I gave our waiter a much larger tip than he is used to.  Think he practically killed himself to come say "thank you" as we left.  The experience was worth the tip, honestly, so .... No Marcus, Thank YOU!

 My Grandparent's grave.  I hadn't seen them since I was a baby and then they were gone.

The hospital where I was born. 

I'm not THAT old!!

The first house where I ever lived.  We lived upstairs.

It's for sale now as you can see.  This place is dear to my heart, but mostly because of my brother, which he doesn't understand.

A VERY old grave stone I found while we were looking for my grandparent's graves.  I just thought it was neat.

Thank you for your service Mr Carver.

And in closing....
Thumper says "sweet dreams".

He's dreaming of Fruit Punch.


Til next time....

My New Hobby

 Ok.  Consider yourself warned.
I have a new hobby.  I don't know how or why I became interested in this new hobby - but here it is.
My new hobby is....
Extreme Couponing.
Yes that's right, you read correctly.  See that picture on the right?  That was Friday's shopping trip.  I went to CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, bought all of that and some clothes that didn't make the photo and spent $247 on $360 worth of merchandise.
Yes, the meat is markdown.  Yes, you see some store brand stuff.  But see that little brown box next to the toothbrushes?  I got that FREE!  See the Gatorade?  Got those for 69 cents at Walmart by ad matching with Albertson's.   See all the cereal?  Got all 7 boxes for less than $11.  See the floss picks (front left in front of the meat) and the Salonpas (yellow package by the lunchmeat)?  I got those for FREE also.  So!  Freaking!  Excited!

These two photos are from today's CVS trip.  I spent $28 on $43 worth of merchandise.  The Combos - $1 a bag!!

All the snacks were $1 each.  Perfect to send on with my son on his fishing trip with Grandpa.

 This is "things that were forgotten in my daughter's purse so didn't make the first CVS photo". 

The makeup - regular price $12.99.  I got it for $7.99!!

Snickers bar - FREE!!!

But it gets better.  I actually got paid to take the toothbrush out of the store!!  Regular price $2.99.  $2 back for purchasing plus a $1 coupon = I MADE A PENNY!!!!  This makes 3 toothbrushes I have purchased in the last three days for a total of about a dollar!

This was my Walgreen's trip today.  I paid $20.14 for $60.46 worth of merchandise.  A 66% savings!!

See those boxes of cereal?  Guess how much I paid for them. 
8 cents!!!!  Yep, I actually ran a purchase on my debit card for 8 cents at Walgreens!  Un-Freakin-Believable right?

The toothpaste - 99 cents.  The Soap - $1.50.  The First Aid creme in front?  FREE!!!

The sugar and Napkins were less than I would have paid at work and that's WITH my discount!  I am so amazed by how easy all of this is!  

Can't wait for next week!