{savings recap}

I've been slack about posting my shopping trips - I know everyone is devastated. Instead of doing a detailed report from every store, here' s a recap instead. This includes the following trips:
- Quick Harris Teeter trip last week (before triples)
- Big Harris Teeter trip with triple coupons
- Quick run to Bi-Lo by my husband (no coupons)
- Big Food Lion trip this week
- Quick Food Lion trip this week

Notes:
In addition to triples at Harris Teeter, I was very excited because of a couple rebates they were offering and the sales that went along with them. I worked very hard to come up with a list of 15 General Mills items for a $5 rebate. Though this wasn't a great deal on its own, almost everything on my list was on sale plus had a coupon, and they were items we use alot. And I incorporated another $3.50 rebate on Nature Valley granola bars. NEITHER one worked at the register and I literally had to argue with the lady at customer service to get my $8.50. Though I got it, it took the fun out of it! I was also disappointed that most of the Pillsbury items I wanted were already sold out (I went on the 2nd day of the sale).

Here are some of the deals worth noting (saved at least 75% if listed):
- Gerber cereal = 34 cents
- Gerber Stage 3 food = 11 cents
- Nature Valley granola bars (5 boxes) = 27 cents each (used 5 $0.40 coupons which were all tripled + sale price of $2.50 + $3.50 rebate if you buy 5 + part of the $5 General Mills rebate)
- Betty Crocker cookie mix = $0.14
- Free rice
- Lysol tub & tile cleaner = 9 cents
- Lysol cling toilet bowl cleaner = 49 cents
- Lysol dual action wipes (2) = 62 cents
- free jar of Earth's Best baby food
- ziploc bags 100ct = 94 cents
- ziploc containers = 14 cents
Just an FYI...I saved almost 80% at Harris Teeter during the triples trip.

I took two trips to Food Lion this week to take advantage of a decent deal on formula (24 oz for $18.99 after sale + FLIP coupon), and a VERY good deal on Huggies ($3.49 after sale + manu coupon + FLIP coupon). On my second trip (same store), the sale tags for the diapers had been removed and they rang up full price. The store adjusted the price with no fan fare but this is a brand new store and it put a sour taste in my mouth because I felt like they were being dishonest. The ad has them on sale the whole week, why did it change?
Other great baby deals using FLIP coupons:
- Beech Nut baby food jars for $0.06 each on one trip and $0.15 on the other (the latter should've been free but they missed a coupon apparently).
- Gerber 2packs for $0.62 each (about half off) and jars for $0.20 each.
- 40ct wipes for $0.12
- this new store doesn't carry the baby bibs that I normally get free, but I was able to utilize the FLIP with a BOGO on lightbulbs and got those free instead.


Summary
Total @ Full Retail = $284.45
Total after Sales = $216.48
Total coupon/rebate savings = $76.82
TOTAL SAVINGS = $144.79 (51%)
Total Paid = $139.66

Coleman's Portraits {part 4}

These are the last of Coleman's portraits...how flippin' cute are those overalls????

money monday part 2 {8.10}

i'm a little late posting, but i swung by bi-lo on the way home yesterday to get a few things we needed. i did OK considering this was more of a "things we need" instead of "get all the deals" kind of stop :)

The best deals I got were on some cleaning products, which were BOGO and I had a coupon.
Windex Multi-Purpose Cleaner @ $1.61 after BOGO + $1.00 coupon = $0.61
Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner @ $1.52 after BOGO + $0.75 coupon doubled = $0.02
ALL laundry detergent @ $2.83 after BOGO + $1.00 coupon = $1.83
Shout @ $1.49 after BOGO + $0.55 coupon doubled = $0.39

Summary
Total @ Full Retail = $56.31
Bonuscard Savings = $17.35
Coupon Savings = $7.10
Total Savings = $24.45 (43%)
Total Paid = $33.74

Coleman's Portraits {part 3}

one more group needs to be posted, but i need to go to bed, so this is it for tonight...

Coleman's Portraits {part 2}

Coleman's Portraits {part 1}

saturday, i took coleman to have his first professional portraits taken (yes, i'm slack). i wasn't going to post them right away so my family could see them "in real life" first, but i am just not that patient. we had them done at portrait innovations (ayrsley location in charlotte) and i got the cd, which is why there are so many shots. we got a ton of prints, but not nearly as many as i'm posting :) here's a storyboard of this part of the photo shoot...more to come.

mosaic monday {8.10}

are you ready for some football?????

ok, i am not a huge nfl fan. i like the panthers (but will not support them if they actually take michael vick...no can do). anyway...the start of the pre-season nfl is exciting because it means that college football is right around the corner. woohoo!!! also, this weekend, we are taking spencer to "fan appreciation day" down in columbia. i can't wait!

1. American Football, 2. A little football!!!, 3. Football here I come!, 4. Football in Grass

money monday {8.10}

Free Mocha Mondays are over...what a shame...

Anyway, went to Walgreen's + Rite Aid on my lunch hour. There's nothing at CVS (for me) this week. I hope there is next week since I have $15 in ECBs to use soon...

Walgreen's
- 2 packs of BIC pens for free (on sale for 2/$1 and I had one more $1/2 coupon)
- 2 tubes of Neosporin for 99 cents each (on sale for $3.99 each + two $1 coupons + $4RR on two)

I don't know what my total savings was, but I only paid $1.25 OOP after coupons and $3 in RR from previous visit. Speaking of old RRs, I lost $5 worth because I was sick and didn't get to use them before they expired...bummer. I picked up a Back-to-School coupon booklet, but was unable to find the children's coloring books that have coupons in them.

Rite Aid
I only went in to buy one thing...

45ct Zyrtec: Regular price of $30.99, used $5 off $25 coupon + $3 Rite Aid coupon from this week's ad + $4 coupon from insert or printable. I paid $20.01 OOP after taxes (saved about 35% before rebates). The purchase qualifies for both the J&J rebate and for the ongoing Zyrtec rebate.

While paying I noticed some candy bars were 2 for $1. I checked my coupons in the car and sure enough, it was the same as the ones for which I had a $1/2 coupon. So, I got a Snickers and a Milky Way for 7 cents (tax).

When entering my receipts online, I realized that I over-calculated last week's purchases that qualify for the J&J Reward. I thought my two bottles of Aveeno shampoo qualified, but they don't :( So, after today's purchase I should be at about $35. That means I'll definitely get the $5 reward (for spending $25) and that I still need to spend $15 more in order to get the $25 reward. But, at this point...it's stupid not to. I will spend $15 more to get $20 more back...make sense??? I'm just waiting to see if they put some J&J items on super sale the next couple of weeks. For the Zyrtec reward, I need to spend $20 more, but I have until February...

frugal friday {8.7}

two stops today: food lion + cvs

CVS
What I bought:
2 pkgs of Pampers @ $10 sale price each + 2 $1 coupons + $5 ecb = $6.50 each
Blink Tears @ $7.99 sale price + $1.50 coupon + $7.99 ECB = Free + $1.50 overage
Irish Spring body wash @ 4.99 + $2 coupon + $2 ECB = $0.99

Summary:
Total @ Full Retail = $38.96
Sale savings = $5.98
Coupons = $5.50
Paid out of pocket before taxes = $20.48 (used $5 off $25 and $2 ECBs)
Total Savings (after ECBs) = $26.47 (68%)
ECBs for next time: $14.99

Food Lion
One disappointing thing on this trip... the cashier was having some trouble getting a few coupons to scan so she had a couple of piles going. When she claimed to be done, I thought there were a couple she hadn't scanned, but I wasn't sure. Turns out I was right and should've spoken up (but I didn't). So, I should've gotten six jars of Beech Nut baby food for 4 cents each, but she didn't ring up two coupons so I didn't :( What's annoying is that since she took the coupons, they are wasted. Oh well.

Deals Worth Talking About:
Baby bib: $0.99 + $1 FL Home 360 coupon = free
40 wipes: $1.62 + $1.50 FL coupon = $0.12
Hand Sanitizer: on sale @ $1.29 + $1.00 FL coupon = $0.29
Lysol dual action wipes: on closeout @ $1.44 + $1 on 2 coupon = $0.94 each
Gerber baby food (3 jars): $2.37 + $1.00 FL coupon + $.75 catalina coupon = $0.21 each

Summary
Total @ Full Retail = $118.04
MVP savings = $28.88
Coupons = $16.90
Paid OOP = $72.26
Total Savings = $45.78 (39%)

free-for-all friday {8.7}

Both of my brothers-in-law have July birthdays.

So...Happy Belated Birthdays to these two fellas:

This is just a cute doodle from the blog, homegrown hospitality, which i find fun :)

142 days to Christmas - seriously, I can't even think about it.

above doodle, also from homegrown hospitality

Kevin & Amanda
Super cute **free** fonts here. They make handwriting fonts from other folk's writing, and she also designs fonts specifically for scrapbooking (though, of course, they could be used for anything). I'm definitely snatching up a bunch of these!

recently we've watched two kids movies - Kung Fu Panda and Horton Hears a Who. I expected to like Kung Fu Panda better, but the Dr Suess movie was actually my favorite of the two. However, they were both cute & funny and I'd recommend!