Last Walgreens trip of May

No pictures today, unfortunately.  I had a $1 off 1 U by Kotex coupon.  I also had $9 in Register Rewards I had gotten previously.

I ended up spending $3.43 including tax.

I got:

1 tube Luster White whitening toothpaste
1 bottle Ecotrin
1 box U by Kotex
24 count bottled water

Then I got back $9.50 in register rewards AND a coupon for a free package of Always pads.  Not bad for under $3.50.

"The Great Exchange" yardsale.

I went to yardsales until the cows came home today! :)  I was on a back road and this girl was so interested in me turning around near her pasture and no cars were coming I decided I could snap her photo!

I saw a couple people I knew today. Yardsales seemed almost as much of a social event as it did looking for both stuff to sell on ebay and stuff that I need. (I am losing weight and I NEED clothes that fit! I do better finding clothes at garage sales than I do in stores.)

The first sale I went to I bought a vintage tree topper. I love it! It's so 1970s. Unfortunately 1970s Christmas isn't the look my mother goes for so I'll probably sell it on eBay come Christmas. I paid $1 for it, and I saw a completed one on ebay for $13.50.
Next sale I bought a book I hope I can sell about creating a wine cellar. ($1)
I went to a church sale, and not sure what stuff was priced since at check out I was busy talking to a friend's mother. I handed them a $5 bill (wasn't quite five, but it was for a church!) and left with five vintage chidren's board games, one sealed. A commemorative plate of an orphanage, lawnchair webbing, a Starter jacket, and a shot glass made by Schott Glass commemorating Bausch and Lomb. I think I did good for $5.

Then I went to a thrift shop and bought some hot curlers and a Deluxe Scrabble game. Finally I went to a garage sale where it was called "The Great Exchange, not just another yardsale". Anything you wanted was free, but she asked you leave a prayer request. There I got a Rod Parsley sermon series and 26 sermon cds that someone downloaded from the internet and burned to cd.  The lady running the "sale" was extremely nice and she and I talked for a little while.

So in all I spent a total of $12. Total spent for the year: $46.

"Fanning" on Facebook

I wanted to say something about "fanning" pages on Facebook.  It's great!  Sometimes if you "fan" a company's page they will have special offers of freebies or even contests open only to their "fans".  (My mother joined Facebook solely to enter a contest, and she won a $100 gift card!)

This is the entirety of today's mail.:

All of this came from fanning sites.  I fanned the Kraft site and got three samples of Wehat Thins Baked tomato and basil.  They were good, but I wouldn't say they are my favorite snack cracker.  I did like the basin in a cracker, though.  I'm a very "spice" person.  Also, Kraft sent three samples of General Foods International Coffee which I have yet to try.  It's the Vanilla Caramel Latte flavor.  They sent a coupon for a free package of Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese (retails at $2) and a coupon for free mayo with olive oil.  Also, there is a refund form for $10 back when you spend $30 on Kraft products.  Not difficult to do with the huge list of qualifying products on the back!

Also, I got a free Butterfinger bar coupon from fanning the Butterfinger site.  Yesterday I got a coupon for a free box of Kraft Mac & Cheese explosion for fanning Kraft Mac & Cheese.

In other news, I used my Dollar General Gift card I won.  Well, I used part of it.  A new Dollar General opened in the next town and I received a $5 off $20 purchase coupon.   So I took it, another coupon, and my gift card to Dollar General.  I'm hoping for another $5 off $20 coupon to come in the mail as they sent one a few weeks ago, so I left $8 on my card just in case.   I have an ice cream party each year, started because Edy's had a contest where they gave away 1500 ice cream parties for a few years and now everyone has come to expect me to host one!  :)  So, I got some supplies for it.

What I got for $17 off my gift card (or really free because of the gift card)

• 
  
  mascara
• 
  
  2 packages disposable bowls
• 
  
  package of napkins
• 
  
  2 packages disposable plates
• 
  
  2 plastic tablecloths
• 
  
  package clothespins
• 
  
  2 bottles Clorox bleach
• 
  
  package of Bic highlighters
• 
  
  2 jars of olives

I don't think that's bad at all, and now I have all the supplies for my party except for the food!  I'd needed the mascara and clothespins, and we eat quite a few olives.  I know I only saved $6 with coupons, but still I think this is a good deal.  If I get another $5 of $20 purchase coupon, it will mean in total I will pay $5 for $40 of stuff.  Not bad.   Love it when I can stretch a gift card I won even further!

"Loose Change"

Today I did my big CVS and Walgreens trip of the week.  After I receive back my $5 mail in refund, the total for today will be a whopping 83¢ (And confusingly $1.10 of that 83¢ is sales tax!  I do understand it, but it still is confusing when I say that!)

What I got for 83¢:

4 packs (12 cans) of Diet Pepsi

5 bottles of Dawn dishwashing liquid
1 Revlon nail polish
1 Revlon eye shadow
1 package Bic pens
Old Spice Body wash
Old Spice deoderant
Windex wipes
Fantastic spray cleaner
Shout laundry cleaner

AND I have $4.50 to spend next time I go back to Walgreens, and I have $8 to spend next time I go back to CVS.

Not a bad way to spend 83¢!  Approximately 5 cents per item spent:

UPCs on fruit???

I haven't done much with refunding in some time.  I've gotten to the point where I have mainly only been doing BEER refunds because the laws here are such that it is illegal to require an alcohol purchase for a promotion, so usually I get refund forms with offers like "Buy $10 in fresh chicken and get $6 back" or sometimes "Buy $10.01 in (a whole list of picnic items) get $10 back".  Okay, who wouldn't want to do these?  And it really stretches the grocery budget.

Recently I got a form for $10 back on $20 of fresh meat and another for $10 back on $20 of fresh produce.

Reading the requirements on the forms, it said I had to cut the proof of purchase off each qualifying item I bought.  Now I usually buy FRESH, LOOSE produce.  But for this one I had to try and find stuff in bags.  Even the celery I buy doesn't come in a bag!  Okay, well, I didn't use the calculator on my phone to make sure I had $20 and I needed to send in the wires from around the parsley with the code on it (it rings in at 4899.  I know that as much as I buy for the guinea pigs.)

I had to put extra postage on the envelope because of it being bulky because of all the UPCs.  (I got scads of stuff for $20.)

Okay, the fresh meat.  That's easy to take the UPCs off of them, but I wonder how many people actually wash them before they mail them in.  I felt sorry for the people who have to have labels off of meat packages to see if the person really qualifies for the refund.  Gross.

Thankfully most companies only require the cash register tape. 

Wins lately:  coupon for a free bag of Jelly Bellies.

Party On!

Tonight I hosted a House Party through House Party! This is a great site where you can sign up to host a party, and they send you a box of stuff, sometimes food, sometimes gifts to give out, etc. This one was a Shutterfly party where everyone who attended was able to make their own Shutterfly photo book -- an 8 inch by 8 inch hardcover, plus they all get 12 photo cards. I had nine ladies plus some kids show up. It was a blast, and everyone loved the sample books that I had here. (Although they did make fun of my hair in the one I made of high school. Hey, it was the 1980s.) Here's a photo of the group who came.  We also ate the potato chips mentioned in an earlier post.

My mail has been quite eventful the last few days.  I have won:  Wired for Work: Get a Job FAST using LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter as well as Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions / with more than 50 recipes which that book was autographed by the author.  I got a sample of men's body wash in the male -- I mean mail, as well as a NewWorldSon prize pack with handwritten lyrics by the band that arrived crumpled.  :(  Would have been cool to frame.  But there was also a coffee mug, mini backpack and the Newworldson self-titled cd.

Also, I won a $25 Dollar General gift card.  Great timing as the store in the next town just moved to a larger location and they sent out a coupon  for $5 off a $20 purchase, so I can get $30 of stuff for free.  (I thought I could turn it into $40 of stuff for $5 but the coupon I thought expired tomorrow expired today.  Darn it!  I would have ran over there real quick before the party!)  I'm low on party supplies and this will help with my annual ice cream party approaching in a few months.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for either another coupon to arrive in the mail or that maybe my aunt or someone has theirs and won't be using it.

I ventured out to yardsales today, but didn't buy anything.  One sale was pretty much a few suncatchers, a Thighmaster, and scads of homemade frilly Christmas ornaments.  (It was a church sale, which was disappointing.)  One moving sale, I found the road and there were only three houses on that street, but no sale as advertised.  Finally, I went to another church sale.  TONS of clothes but little else.  One thing that confused me was a carousel style horse mounted on a wooden base like used for awards or trophies.  On the plaque on the base it has a metal sign that read "Noah's Ark".  Hmmm, did Noah take carousel horses on the ark?  :)

Another book win

I need to stop entering for books for a little bit, I think!  I have too many to read!  LOL!   Today's mail brought a used book that I won.  (Used because the blogger I won it from read it before she mailed it!  But I read used books all the time, not a problem.)

The Right Call: A Novel (Sophie Trace Trilogy) is the book that arrived today.  It's a Christian suspense book, and looks good!

What 72 cents buys

I had some coupons for items on sale at CVS.  I had $1 off 1 Kotex, $3 off 2 Right Guard, and $1 off 2 Crest.

So after my coupons I paid 72 cents tax for:

2 tube Crest Pro Health toothpaste
1 box U by Kotex
2 Right Guard deoderant
4 cans of tuna

I used $14 in Extra Care Bucks from last time, and came out with $16 of Extra Care Bucks.  Not bad for 72 cents.  (And I used a CVS gift card to pay that.  I had earned that free from Mypoints, so really I got all this free and turned my $14 Extra Care Bucks into $16!)  My receipt said I saved almost $30 (of course that's including sale prices, but still, not a bad shopping day!)

"Too Many Coupons"

My coupon story actually begins YESTERDAY.   I had a coupon for a buy a breakfast sub and a lunch sub at Subway and get them for $5.  Not one but BOTH workers at Subway kept telling me it was cheaper to buy them each at $3.75 than to pay $5 for both.  (I know our county school system is bad but I would think that anyone would know that $7.50 is more than $5.)  I think they didn't want to ring in the coupon, but to use THAT as the reason?  Unbelievable!  (Then they started saying they couldn't use the coupon because it wasn't good for subs on WHEAT bread.  WHAT?)  Finally they allowed me to use the coupon.  (And then forgot to ring in the hash brown.  I asked if she had gotten that and she rolled her eyes so hard I was surprised they didn't pop off and roll out the door.  I was just wanting to be honest, and wasn't trying to cause a problem.) 

Today I went to Walgreen's.  I had a $5 off a hydro razor coupon.  (On sale for $8, so after coupon it was $3 and a $5 Register Reward comes out for your next purchase, so in essence you're making $2 in Register Rewards.)  I also had four Register Rewards from previous purchases to use.

The cashier told me that even though I was buying 9 items, I had too many coupons.  (I had five.)  I was only allowed to use four.  I decided not to say anything about it.  But I wasn't too happy with it.  What SHOULD have been 45 cents cost me $5.45.  Still a very good deal, but there is no reason I shouldn't have been allowed to use my other Register Rewards from my last purchase at Walgreens.

For $5.45 I got:

Hydro razor
shaving cream
2 packages of paper plates
5 two liters of Pepsi.

I'm not thrilled with Walgreens at the moment.  Last week they had a wrong week's circullar out and when I complained that register rewards were not printing I was told I should know to look at the CURRENT circullar.  (How can I when the wrong week is in the rack by the door?) 

I know I'll end up continuing to shop there because they have such good deals after coupons IF you can use the coupons and IF you can find the current circullar.  Guess that's one reason to buy the paper.  I can get coupons AND have my own circullar to take in to Walgreens.  My usual cashier wasn't working today.  She's always excellent with coupons and has never hassled me.  I need to just go when she's working, I think.   When I find a good cashier, I like to stick with them.  (One time at a grocery store about 15 years ago a cashier cussed me off and refused to use my coupons or give them back saying "I had saved enough".  Needless to say, I got the manager, and he also told me that enough people had complained to him about her that day she was going to be fired.  I never saw her there again.)  So when I find a great cashier, I like to return them them.  So many cashiers are great, but then it seems the bad apples turn rotten when they see a coupon.  Needless to say I appriciate the cashier I get at Walgreens most often so much more today!

Bet ya can't mail just one

I recently entered a blog giveaway where grand prize was a $200 airline gift card.  I didn't win.  I was a runner up and won a bag of potato chips.  (Wow, large difference in prizes, but I'm having a House Party Friday night, so potato chips are welcome!)

Today, I got a box in the mail.  There was over $8 spent in postage, not to mention the cost of the box.

And inside?  A bag of potato chips that costs $4 if you buy it at the store.  I can't believe the company spent double the amount of the bag of chips to mail it to me?  Why not send me $4?  LOL!  Oh well, I'll enjoy the chips!  They did wrap the bag in one layer of bubble wrap.

And this is what a bag of potato chips looks like after being mailed a couple thousand miles:

More reading material

I love to read and it seems that lately I've been winning a lot more books than ever.  Today's mail brought me:

Fall Asleep Forgetting

and

Wildflower Bride (Montana Marriages)

Run of the Mill

I went to one of my favorite thifts today.  Favorite because for the most part it's filled with JUNK, but many times I'll find one or two treasures from a trip.  Tonight was no exception.  I left buying three things, but still feel I did well.

I found a signed, numbered print of a local grist mill.  I've looked it up online and this print sells for $50.  I spent three.  This will make a great Christmas gift to my aunt.   I also bought two Brown Bag cookie molds of cats.  I spent a total of $6.00.  (Grand total spent out of garage sale money for the year:  $34.)

My mail day was really great as well.  I recently won a giveaway where I got seven products from the SoftLips line.  I have never tried these before and I must say I give them a two thumbs up.  They feel great, and they are so lightly tinted that there's just a hint of color but looks so natural!  I really am pleased.  (I won from their tinted line.  They do have non-tinted ones.)  I really am pleased with them.

Also, my "Fridge Makeover Pack" came today.  It was a $100 pre-paid Visa, butter spreader, flash drive, sponge, and coupons for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and a disposable camera.   (Does anyone use those anymore?)  What a fantastic prize!  :)

Picture This

I recently was accepted to host a House Party.  Each guest will get a free photo book from Shutterfly.  I get one as well, and I needed to make mine in advance to show off.  I decided to make one of our blizzard this winter, and it came today.  It was a soft cover book, which I definately think the hard cover ones are nicer, but for free, it will be a great monument to our horrible winter. 

Also in today's mail was a freebie from KLM airlines.  If you became a fan of theirs on facebook you could upload a photo and have luggage tags made with whatever photo you chose.  I flew them to St. Petersburg, Russia last year, and decided to have a photo of me in front of a Russian Orthodox Church put on the luggage tags.   This is a great freebie because I was running around wondering where my luggage tags were before I left for Russia (they weren't on my suitcases.)  Going to stick these in my suitcases, and I'll be ready.  Also love how they are pre-printed with my name and address on the back.

How True

Recently I was accepted into a True Lemon study.  My box of True Lemon arrived on Friday, which was fantastic timing.  I was sick, 7Up was hard on my stomach, but plain water wasn't QUITE what I wanted.  So a packet of True Lemon, and I was good to go, and to keep hydrated.  I had never used True Lemon before but I love it!  I definately will buy it again.  I have only used it in water, but it really made it taste a lot better, and as much as I drank this weekend, I've nearly used my entire box.  (Which they said would probably last for the month.  Ooops.  Maybe I was TOO serious about the study!) ;)

$5 free to Amazon

I've been sick for a few days and will catch up in the next day or two, but today's e-mail brought me  a $5 gift certificate to Amazon thanks to searching at Swagbucks.  It's easy and I earn $5 about every month and a half for searches I'd do anyway!  Sign up and get yours!