Woo-Hoo ... I Won Coupons

Thanks to Emily I won free grocery coupons! It pays to blog around!

New CVS Coupon!!

Check your inbox!! I have a coupon for $5/$30 purchase valid this Saturday only! Making my list now ...

Tying Loose Ends

I just finished making this bow to go with DD2's elephant birthday dress. Almost everything is ready for the big party. I still can't believe she will be 2 in just 7 days. Waaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Bi-Lo just keeps giving me FREE stuff!!!

Bi-Lo does not have many great deals this week. Actually, I only wrote a few items on my list from the sales ad. I have my best luck checking every aisle for un-advertised deals and close outs.
Here are my best deals:
SH Chicken & Wild Rice Soup: FREE (coupon in bilo mailer)
Nestle Choc & Caramel swirl chips: .23 cents
Chinet Crystal Cups: .25 cents
Ziplock Steam Bags: .47 cents
Swiffer Duster Kit: $1.90
Swiffer Sweeper Refills: $2.90
Cheerios Snack Mix: $1
YoPlus Yogurt: $1
Pampers: $6

Gas Token Deals: I earned 3 tokens total
3 packs of Oreos: on sale for $3/pack ... used 3 $1 coupons
3 of any Luvs, Gain, &/or Bounty Basic: I bought 1 of each using $5 Luvs coupon, and $1.50 in bounty coupons
Spent over $50 for one more token

I earned 1 milk token and there was a $1 coupon the milk making it only $3.59 (I'll take any coupon for milk ... its so expensive)!

My overall savings were not super great, my subtotal before savings was $96, after coupons and sales it was $53. I'm used to getting over 50% savings. I was kinda bummed at my total but when the catalina started printing out gas & milk tokens I also got a coupon for $5 off my next purchase and I got a FREE $20 eBags gift card for spending over $25 in P&G products in one transaction!! I am really excited about this, I've been pouring over bags since I got home!! My rebate form is filled out and ready to go to the post office in the morning!

I <3 Target

I LOVE Target! Love it, love it, love it! I went in tonight (Friday) to get poster board for a yard sale we are having on Saturday but I can never just go in and get what I need. I ALWAYS have to hit the clearance end caps. Tonight I hit the jackpot. Having 2 kids and being a stay at home mom equals peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, alot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I still have 5 unopened jars of Skippy from the last great sale at CVS, but I could not pass up this deal. Skippy peanut butter (reduced fat) was on clearance for $1.60, Smuckers Grape Jelly was on clearance for $1.32. Here was my deal:
10 jars of Skippy @ $1.60
4 jars of Smuckers @ 1.32

Total Before Coupons: $21.28

Coupons used:

10 $1 Skippy Target coupons
4 $1 Smucker's Target Coupons
4 $.35 Smucker's Manu Coupons

Total Before Tax: $5.88

Make sure you check out Target's coupons on their homepage and always check those clearance end caps!!

CVS Superstar!

One trip to CVS tonight and I made $8.98 ECBs!!!

Small Photobook: $3.99
Big Photobook: $7.99
2 Sure Deodorants: $5.38

- $3 photobook
- $3 photobook
- $1 sure
- $1 sure
- $$3/$15
- $6 ECB

Total Out of Pocket: $0.86
ECBs Earned $14.98

I plan on going back tomorrow to make another photobook!!
For more CVS Superstars visit The Centsible Sawyer

Moo--volous, Absolutely Moo-volous!

Did y'all dress up to get free food at Chick-fil-a last Friday? Being that I love anything cheap, but especially anything free I decided not to pass this one up. It started with just making outfits for my girls. I made white pillowcase dresses for them and let them paint black spots on them. I picked up some white with black polk-a-dots ribbon at Hobby Lobby to tie them up with.



They had so much fun! Unfortunately the dresses were placed out in the warm sunshine to dry and a sudden swift storm (alliteration .. Mrs. Lawly would be proud) washed away all the cow spots. Take two: We used washable markers inside yielding the same cute cow clothing! I then took a permantent marker and drew spots on white ribbon for their ears and tail. I also made ears (ribbon tied to a headband) and a tail for myself. I put the cow spot stickers chick-fil-a gave away on white t-shirts for dh and I and he wore the cow hat.

Here are the mini-cows on their way to get free food!



The whole herd!



DD1 with the Chick-fil-a cow, DD2 was terrified of the cow getting too close to her. From a safe distance she was friendly, just stay on the other side of the place and we'll be good!




Oh, and I almost forgot. This Chick-fil-a was having a contest and our family won! They picked our family herd picture as the grand prize winner! Our prize ... free milkshakes! YUM

Drugstore Diva

Rite Aid
Electrasol Dishwashing Gel $2.99 ($2 rebate)
Bic Mark-It (like Sharpies) $3.99 ($3 printable coupon)

Total: $4.24 on a gift card, plus I'll get $2 back on the Electrasol. As I mentioned in my Bi-Lo post, I don't get all the great coupons that some of you get in your Sunday paper. Many of you got electrasol coupons ranging for $1.50-$2.50 ... we got nothing!


Walgreens
Have I ever told you that my oldest DD calls it Greenwals? I think it is too cute!

4 Nature Valley Bars $8 ($2.40 in printable coupons)
1 Glad Cling Wrap $1.99 (in ad coupon)
2 Colgate Totals $1.99 with in-ad coupon, plus $2 off 2 in July Easy Saver, plus 2 $1.50 coupons from All-You (FREE plus overage)

Total: $7 something

For More Drugstore Divas visit The Centsible Sawyer

Free Food!

I was able to go to Bi-Lo yesterday and what a great trip I had! My subtotal before savings was $125, my subtotal after savings was $49!! That's around 63% savings! I don't think I can remember everything I bought and I wasn't able to get a picture as I had to put it all away as quickly as I could, we were late for church. Just thought I would highlight some of the great deals!

Meal Deal
2 DiGiorno Pizzas - $12.90
Kraft Dressing - FREE
Totino's Pizza Rolls - FREE
Lipton Tea - FREE
S.H. Ice Cream - FREE
(making this deal sweeter was a coupon for 70 cents off the totinos, bringing my deal down to $12.20)

Breakfast Deal
Hungry Jack Pancake Syrup - $2.99
Hungry Jack Pancake Mix - FREE

Other Free Items
2 Boxes of Trix
1 Box of Honey Nut Cheerios
1 Box of Cocoa Puffs
1 Box of Full Circle Organic Popcorn

Other Great Deals

Chinet Paper Plates are on sale 2/$5
I used 2 manu coupons .. one for $1 off Chinet Casuals, one for $.75 off a value pack, I also used a Bi-Lo coupon (in the paper a couple weeks ago) for $1 off w/purchase of 2 and there was a tear pad for free Chinet Cut Crystal cups with purchase of a value pack ....
Total:$2.25 for 2 packs of plates and a pack of cups!

Cheerios Snack Mix on sale for 2/$4
There are lots of coupons for these, printable and from the newspaper. I got 5 bags for $4.40

Kellogg's Poptarts 12 pack on sale 2/$5 which allows you to use the $2 off a gallon of milk coupon in the sales paper

Powerade on sale 4/$3 There is a coupon in the sales paper for 5 free powerades when you purchase 10. I bought 15 bottles for $7.50, making them 50 cents a bottle. For those of you who get good coupons in your paper there were powerade coupons to make the deal even better (I don't get all the great coupons!).

Milk I got a gallon of Southern Home Milk for $1.59!!! I used the $2 coupon from the poptarts deal and there was a $1 coupon stuck to the milk itself! Plus, I earned a milk token!

My total out of pocket after tax was just over $55 earning another gas token!

For other deals at Bi-Lo visit http://southernsavers.com/

I'll never share my secret ....

Look at these great shots we got of a visiting butterfly a week or so ago, he was rather cooperative.











If it looks a little staged, well, it was. This little butterfly was still alive though, we were trying to nurture him back to health but it seems it may have been too late for that. DH works for a company treating trees & shrubs and found the little fellow while he was out. He place him in a cup and brought him home to show off to the girls. They thought the butterfly was beautiful. We took the lovely winged creature out and placed him on a daisy thinking he would be ever so grateful and flutter away, instead he just sat there. Slowly he opened and closed his wings but he never took flight. We moved him to the hydrangea thinking blue might be his color of choice but he still just kinda sat there. We thought maybe he might be a little shy and left him to his own. When we returned several hours later he was gone.... well partially.
But, it was pretty while it lasted!!

Date Night

DH and I have been talking forever about how we need to alternate date nights with the girls so that they each get a lil one on one time with us. Tonight, DD1 and I did just that and we had a great time! First stop was to the movies to see Kit Kittredge, An American Girl. What a great movie! It was very cute and taught a great lesson about helping others and being thankful for what you have. DD loved it and couldn't stop talking about it.
After that we made a quick trip to the mall to pick up something and then we went to Starbucks. She had a chocolate milk and lemon cookie, I had a mocha frap and cream cheese danish -- YUM! We talked more about the movie and shared our desserts.
Talking to DD1 is something I try to never take for granted. Two years ago we wondered if we would ever be able to sit down and have these candid conversations with her. This is about the time 2 years ago that she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She had very few words at the time and understanding basic requests was such a challenge. Frustrating for us to stay the least, but much more so for her. She works very hard in therapy though and has made dramatic improvements. Her speech therapist was very, very pleased with her last therapy session. Though we still don't understand even 80% of what she says it is truly a blessing to be able to hear and understand all of her innocent little 4 year old thoughts.
Tomorrow she is planning on sharing the rest of her lemon cookie with her little sister and telling her all about the movie. That is what it is all about ....

My baby is turning 2

It amazes me how quickly time goes by. My youngest DD will be 2 in just a couple weeks. I've had in mind a zoo party for a while but I have just gotten on the ball about getting things together. She loves elephants and so I had planned on centering the theme of the party around those ginormous creatures. I was browsing Target the other night when I found the cutest plates and napkins in the baby shower section, they have little elephants and giraffes with a blue/pink/green/yellow color scheme. Very cute. So then the rusty creative wheels in my brain started turning. She would need a dress to wear for her birthday. First I checked GAP where I found that once upon a time not so very long ago they had just what I needed. I found cute things on EBAY but wasn't willing to pay those high prices. So I headed to Hobby Lobby, bought material and made the perfect party dress!





I learned how to make pillowcase dresses last spring. I love how they look and are so simple to make! This was my first attempt at embroidery and sadly you can tell, but I am so very happy the dress.

So is DD!

2 1/2 Weeks Behind, Will I Ever Catch Up??

Life has been awfully busy here. I am ready for it to slow down, way down. I have been shopping with the best of you but unable to keep up with how much I spent where and when. I do have a few pictures but without all the details they would be awfully boring. Here are a few highlights. Last week I bought $200 in groceries for $59!!! That is quite possibly my best deal ever. Here is the greatest part in it, I was able to get 56 bottles of Sobe Life Water FREE!!! Well, a few cents in tax, but free!! How you ask? Well, Bi-Lo had them on sale for 10/$10. The wonderful Pepsi guy so kindly stuck 50 cent coupons on some of the bottles. Bi-Lo doubles coupons up to 60 cents which means those coupons equalled $1, the cost of the water!! Yay for DH!! He has lots of work water for these hot, hot days we are in the midst of!
Also in the list of greats, I made $7 in ECBs at CVS on the last day of June! I forget all the logistics, but here is a pic of my bargains, costing me less than $1 out of pocket!

Those Dora vitamins were just 82 cents!! I love CVS clearance carts! More great deals to come, I plan on hitting CVS one more time this week!