Goodies

This week at CVS I was able to get 5 12-packs of Coca-Cola products.

On sale 5/$15, used $10ECB from Pepsi deal, paid $6.02 OOP, received $5.00 ECB back.

That's $1.02 for 60 cans, or .02/can :)


An even cooler thing I did this week was go to a colleague's No Gift Receipt Party. The gist is that you bring in something you own that you no longer want (new or very gently used) and swap for something you do want. Kind of like a white elephant but aimed at better quality. I brought 4 things...

• A set of 4 little pink plastic bins from Wal*Mart, I believe I paid $4.00
• Christmas garland with white lights, was $7.00 but I know I got it for 50% off
• 3 candle holders (put together as a set), sticker on the bottom said $6.99 for each, but I got them for 75% off
• Photo Refill Pages, $2.00

So if my math serves me correctly, I spent $14.75 on everything I brought.

Well I am SO STOKED to tell you what I came home with!
A set of 3 different bath & body items, a spray, bubble bath, and lotion
Glee CD
A hand-crocheted hat and a shower cap
A humungous bag full of all kinds of NEW Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, etc. items!! Seriously, I am still amazed... I was told the lady who brought it's sister works for the Limited so she gets all kinds of goodies... So it was one person's leftovers became someone else's treasure!! Retail, all those items cost HUNDREDS... There's perfumes, make-up, hair products, bath salts... I am in tightwad HEAVEN!

Online earnings for January

This is what I have made for the month of January, through the various programs I participate in.

$20 CVS gift card from SBKC
$1.00 from QuickRewards
$5.00 from Swagbucks
$10.00 Darden Restaurants gift card from My Points
$3.10 for an article on Associated Content
$11.38 for Performance Views on Associated Content

January totals: $50.48

Big Giant Eagle trip... 1/23

Went today to stock up on essentials and got the ingredients for 7 dinners:

• Raisin-Apple Pork Tenderloin
• Cheddar Corn Chowder
• Slow Cooker Chicken Dinner
  
• Black Bean Burritos
• Chicken Enchilada Casserole
• Bacon & Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Garlicky Spinach
• Mediterranean Shrimp Saute & Asparagus with Parmesan

Everything you see cost $109.12. I saved $28.28 due to specials, coupons, and foodperks. Some of the deals I got:

Zone Perfect Bar @ .99 -.55q doubled=FREE
Land 'o' Lakes margarine @ 1.00-.35q doubled=.30
2 boxes of Ronzoni Smart Taste @ 1.00 each -1.00/2 q=.50 each
6 Renuzit @ 1.00 each-B3G3Fq=.50 each
10 cans of chicken broth @ 1.00 each -(2).25/4 q's doubled -1.00/2 q=8.00 and (2)2.00 off Goldfish crackers wyb 5 soups= 8.00 for 10 cans of broth & 2 bags of Goldfish

Although I'm sure I could have done better, one of the things I'm trying to work on is to simply plan dinners and make them. We eat out a lot :( So $110/7 meals/2 people=$7.85. As I keep buying staples and stockpiling, that number will go down and down!

Thoughts

Some days, either after I've had a long hard day at work, or when my break from work is nearing its end, I get to thinking about whether or not I would like to someday quit my job and be a stay-at-home wife (some day becoming a SAHM). It seems like more and more often, I'm seriously considering it. Before, it never crossed my mind. And currently, financially it's not doable. But maybe one day it will be. I would be solely responsible for cooking, cleaning, and general upkeep of the house... Could easily be a full-time job. Also I could earn a small amount of money online... Just thinking out loud or rather typing out loud...

Is it pop, or soda?

DH & I drink wayyy too much diet pop. This week at CVS 12-packs of Pepsi products were 3/$10 and when you bought $20 worth, you got a $10 ECB.

So...

6 12-packs=$20.00

- $2.00 ECB from toothpaste deal earlier this week

$18.00 + $1.35 tax

Spent $19.35 OOP, got back $10 ECB

$9.35 for 6 12-packs, or .13 per can!

Our Debt

It's kind of embarrassing and scary to put this out there, but, I'm going to tell you how far in debt we are. I really want to get out of debt as soon as possible, and then never, if humanly possible, get into debt again. We have a total of 5 credit cards, 1 student loan, 1 car, and 1 mortgage. I have no problem with having the mortgage-- we come from lower/working middle class backgrounds and that's just how it is. My car is paid off and I will drive it till it dies. Same with hubs' car, which we are still paying for. Once we get our credit cards paid off, I never plan on getting another one. I want to start building our savings accounts. But we are both so young, full-time jobs, no children, I see a great financial future ahead of us as long as we continue being frugal!

Anyway... Here is the damage :-/

Bill Me Later: $500.00
Citi CC: $9,197.89
Discover CC: $1,650.18
Goodyear CC: $861.05
Capital One CC: $702.77
Student Loan: $6,900.85
Car: $17,021.30
House: $153,953.15

Spent less than $10

Since both DH & I had today off due to Martin Luther King, Jr. day, we went out to a breakfast buffet. On the way home, we visited a new (to me) thrift store called The Country Closet. It's owned by a Mennonite Church. I was very impressed. It was very clean with everything organized perfectly. They had a huge selection of books with everything sorted into categories, neat bags full of toys and school supplies, etc. Plus the prices were super reasonable; the cheapest I've seen in a long time! After our stop at the thrift store, we visited the scratch & dent grocery outlet to pick up a few things. Here's what we got today...

@ the thrift store:

3 shirts, all on the bargain rack for .50 each

a Tamagotchi, still in its packaging for .50, I think we'll try our luck at selling this on Ebay

a little Tinkerbell tin for .20, will use in my class store

a pack of 8 little buttons for .20 to use in class store

a puzzle to use for my ESL kindergarteners, .50

a book to sell in my class store, .25

a book for myself, I believe it was .50

@ Dings & Dents:

DH had to get himself 2 boxes of Christmas Tree Cakes, 1.00 each

cinnamon, .99

a cake pan, 1.49

a can of corn, .49

English muffins, FREE

CVS & Giant Eagle 1/16

I'm back in the game! :)

After watching TLC's show, Extreme Couponing, I've gotten inspired to get back to couponing again. I cleaned out my coupon stash, keeping the small amount that had not yet expired, and dumpster dived for a few inserts to begin building my collection back up. Here is what I nabbed today.

CVS
Crest Pro-Health toothpaste, on sale for $2.99
Used $1 q
Paid $2.20 OOP
Got back $2 ECB

Giant Eagle
Newspaper, $2.00
Wasa Rye Crackers, $2.79
2 Horizon Milks, $1 each, used 2 $1 off q's=FREE
Trial Size Secret, .99, had $1 q which the cashier had to bring down to .99. However, it doubled, so *they* paid *me* .99 to take this!
Don Miguel 3 pack tacos, $1.05-$1q=.05
8 Smart Ones Meals, $2 each=$16.00-promotion wyb 6 you get one free=$14.00, plus I had 2 .50 off wyb 4 coupons which doubled=$12.00, or $1.50 each

Total before coupons would have been $24.85, but I paid $13.85 :)

Daisy couldn't help but find her way into the picture!

The Quotable Chesterton: The Wit and Wisdom of G.K. Chesterton, edited by Kevin Belmonte

This book caught my eye because I had never heard of G.K. Chesterton. I wanted to see what kind of wit and wisdom this man actually possessed.

G.K. Chesterton, I learned, was an English writer from the late 1800s. This book is a collection of quotations he was credited with saying and passages from books that he had written. I expected it to be a short gift book with humorous sayings, but it is actually close to 300 pages long and filled with both heavy and light material. All of the quotes are arranged in alphabetical order, by category. There are many categories, ranging from topics such as Atheism, Democracy, Magic, Responsibility, and Trade Unions. I like that the editor broke the quotes up like this, so if the reader is looking for information on a certain topic, it is all there together.

Honestly, I found this book to be extremely boring. There is a reason that this guy is not better known; he isn't all that special. First of all, a lot of the quotations he coined seem to be more like rants, and they are hard to make sense of. I searched to find a quote that I really liked, but came up short. In fact, I disagreed with several of the quotes, like Chesterton's belief on Darwinism, and one of his quips about education. I suppose you could take quotations from this book to use for a debate in a classroom or in a civic group, but I wouldn't recommend it for leisure reading.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher by participating in the blogger review program from BookSneeze. I did not receive any other compensation. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinion here is my own.

Not too frugal lately

So ever since the school year has started, my hobby of saving money has halted. Not on purpose, but just because I don't have time for much else that doesn't involve teaching! I can never get completely caught up on lesson plans and all that stuff.

Of course I still try to make good decisions, but I haven't clipped coupons in months, and I've neglected the drugstore game. Want to get back in the swing of things, when life allows me to.