Last Week's Deals

Couponing and I have a love-hate relationship. I love the savings, but hate the learning curve. Since I seriously started trying to learn how to coupon well about seven months ago, I've told James at least once every two weeks that I quit. I had a million good reasons: it was too hard, I messed up, I didn't get the coupons in the right order and ended up paying more than I should have, I didn't get to the store before the week was up and wasted all that precious time gathering coupons for nothing, etc, etc.

Well, I didn't quit. I kept getting drawn in by good deals. And slowly but surely I'm starting to get the hang of it! I've started tracking my savings since January 1st and was shocked to see the totals today. $408 worth of products for $133!! Couponing (and catching clearance sales at the right time) and I are finally getting along!

Here's some of what I scored...

CVS

I had heard a rumor that the ECB coupon machine was printing out $10 off $10 purchases for Physicians Formula make-up at CVS. So, of course, I had to check it out with my CVS card and see if it was true. Unfortunately, when I scanned my card, all I got was $0.20/1 Dove candy bar. Sigh. Oh well. While walking around the store, Ian and I noticed a bunch of Christmas clearance still left. We got these cute shatterproof ornaments (I had already decided I was going with a peppermint themed tree next year, so these were perfect!), a few gift bags, bows, gift tags, and several gift boxes. (The tins were $0.30 each at Wal-Mart's 90% off clearance sale!)

Ian and I actually went to CVS several times this last week to see if I could get that wonderful coupon. No such luck. Sigh. BUT they were having a sale on Physicians Formula make-up, and I was able to get lipstick and blush for under $5 for both ($20 for both at regular price)! And I used my Dove coupon to get a candy bar, which was on sale.

Tonight Ian and I went to CVS for one more great deal. There is a coupon here for B1G1 (buy one, get one free) - pair that with CVS's sale for B1G1 free Orbit gum this week and you end up with lots of free gum. :-)

Wal-Mart

Ian and I lucked out Sunday! Unbeknownst to us, the Cowboys were at our Wal-Mart. Why? I have no idea. It was super packed though and I almost turned around and left once we got in the store and saw the lines. Instead I bought Ian a pack of cookies and decided to brave it. In the pretzel aisle, I heard people talking about storage tubs having just gone on sale for $1.50 each! As I walked to the next aisle, I started noticing people with carts piled high with red and green storage tubs. I decided it was something worth checking out and headed to the garden section. It was a ZOO!! People were being very nice, but those tubs were going fast! I only took a few...I knew I didn't need thirty million of them.

Maybe now we'll get our Christmas stuff put away. :-)

Target

Last week, Target did their semi-annual (unadvertised) 75% off toy clearance sale. I went to my first one back in July. This time, I knew I didn't need anything and didn't want to spend the money, so really wasn't planning on going. The way our errands worked this week, Ian and I ended up at Target on the day of the sale. Just for kicks, we went to the toy aisle. Yeah...nothing left!

One aisle over, where everything was only 50% off, I saw this cute little monster toy for the tub. You squirt the monsters and they make fun little noises. I decided to window shop instead of getting it though.

Half-way through the store, I realized my shopping list and envelope of coupons was missing! I just about had a heart attack! There was at least $30 worth of savings in that envelope. I prayed hard and retraced my steps. Fortunately, I had left it on the Hanes shelf back in the Big Sale section of the store. Whew!

Back home with all the goodies. $76 worth of groceries, diapers, and clothes for $40! Would have been less, except for I couldn't stay out of the clothes in the Big Sale section.

Ian had fun helping me stack everything.

Staples

While we were out, we also ran by Staples. I had $25 worth of rewards money from getting brochures printed for a workshop last year and decided to use it to buy myself an official couponing notebook (now that we are getting along) and baseball card inserts to put my coupons in. All of this was free for me using the rewards!

Naturalizer

I have definitely been needing new tennis shoes. Mine are probably four years old now and in desperate need of replacement. I've been looking for a while, but haven't been able to find any in colors or styles I liked or at a price I was willing to pay. This week, one of my coupon ladies posted a deal about getting $10 off at Naturalizer just for signing up for their newsletter. I decided to look around on their site and found these shoes for only $30 (normally $100)! They are the toning style, which I have never worn before, so hopefully they are comfy! With the $10 off, I got them for $20 (plus $6.50 shipping).


Couponing is still very time intensive for me, but it is starting to pay off! I'm excited to see what other deals come our way this year.

P.S. For those that are interested, I get most of my deal scenarios from www.hookedonbargains.com and www.totallytarget.com.