Thankfully, during the last quarter of 2010 when my life was insanely busy and stressful, I didn't have to worry about running out of any basics, because I was so well stocked from shopping the deals over the summer. Household expenses stayed in budget, but we did go overboard on eating out, and I splurged a bit on Christmas gifts. Despite all that, we remain debt-free, except for our mortgage, and have savings in the bank.
Now that my stockpile is shrinking it's time to spend some quality time with my Google Reader. The frugal bloggers I follow do most of the work for me, and all I really do is pick and choose from deal scenarios that they post and click coupon and freebie links that they provide. I do like to browse the sale flyers on my own, just because I like to, and sometimes pick up items with my savings that aren't listed on the blogs.
The end of the year brought some freebies to my mailbox. I got two kinds of coffee, dog food, lotion, dental care, and rebate certificates. Not pictured, a free sample of guinea pig food.and $105 in Amazon.com rewards!
Now that we're into the second week in January, I am ready to begin my search for a new big screen TV and BluRay player. January and February are good months for sales on TVs. I am hiring a friend's husband to help me choose, and to install our new home entertainment system. I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime, I'm saving my electronics sales flyers.
I have done very well at CVS so far, except that those ECB deal items fly off their shelves. I was unable to work one deal last week because four different CVS stores were out of stock on Wisk. I'm in no danger of running out of laundry detergent this month, so I'll just keep watching the sales.
Here are the deals I've run so far:
Last week:
TARGET Quaker Quick Oats $1.92 MQ $1, TQ $1 FREE
Kraft shredded cheese (8 oz) $2 MQ $1 $1 ($2/lb)
Simply Juice (32 oz) 2/$3
WAGS Sensodyne, Extra Gum, sugarfree candy, & mushrooms. With coupons and sale prices I
paid $13.77 OOP with a 47% savings. Not my best trip to Wags, but the hubby needed
his special toothpaste and it was B1G150% and I had coupons.
JC PENNEY Katie needed black pants for school. She found 2 pairs on sale and I picked up a
turtleneck shirt for myself. With sale prices and a text coupon code we saved 58.22%.
VONS I bought only sale items, and had coupons for most. Highlight was Honey Nut Cheerios
and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereals for the girls for ..79 per box. My savings were 48%.
I also submitted a MIR for $5 from Naked Juice.
CVS Awesome ECB deals which I rolled to this week:
3 Frosted Mini Wheats 3/$10
1 Excedrin PM (20 ct) $4.99 MQ 3.50
1 Excedrin Extra Strength (20 ct) $5.39 MQ for FREE bottle
1 Excedrin Back and Body (100 ct) $9.79 MQ $1
Used $5/$30 CVS Q and $5 ECBs (quarterly reward)
Paid $10.86 OOP and got $14 ECBs back! I made $3.14. Before ECBs my savings were 69%
TODAY: CVS
Scott paper towels 10 pack $10 MQ $1
Cottonelle Toilet Paper 24 dbl rolls $10 MQ .50
Cottonelle Wipes 42 ct $2 MQ .50
Kleenex 110 ct 3-pack bundle $3 MQ $1
2 bottles Diet Coke 20 oz $1.59 ea CVS Q BOGO
Used $14 ECBs (wishing i had a $5/25)
Paid $12.16 OOP and got $10 ECBs back. Savings before ECBs was 71%
So far, I have spent $23.02 OOP at CVS, but I still have $10 ECBs which don't don't expire until 2/9. There are some other good deals there now, but nothing I need. I'm going to be looking for laundry soap deals. I have a hard time finding deals that work for HE detergent, and when I do the stores always seem to sell out before I get there.
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