Finding Frugality

Here’s what I got at Kroger today.  The frosting and soups weren’t on sale, but I ate all the soup I keep at work for days I forget my lunch last week, and I wanted the frosting to go with the cake mix I bought.  I stocked up on chicken breasts since they were on sale, and we were running low. 

• Total coupon & Kroger Plus Savings: $31.47
• Total OOP: $59.95
• Saved: 34%

I hit CVS this morning and came home with this.  Here’s the breakdown

Store #1

• 1 - Almay Eye Shadow
• 1 - Quattro Razor
• 2 - Gatorade
• 1 - Diet Sunkist (not pictured since I drank it while I was out)

The Breakdown

• 1 - $3/$15 coupon
• 1 - $4 off the razor
• 1 - $3 CVS coupon for the eye shadow
• 1 - $1 off the eye shadow
• $2, $3, $5 in ECBs
• Total OOP (including tax): $1.91
• Total ECBs received: $8

Store #2

• 3 - Crest Toothpaste
• 2 - Purex
• 2 - Deoderant
• 1 - Snickers
• 1 - Magazine (total splurge)

The Breakdown

• 1 - $3/$15 coupon
• 2 - coupons for toothpaste totalling $1.50
• 2 - $1 off the Purex
• 2 - coupons for deoderant totalling $1.50
• $5, $10 in ECBs
• Total OOP (including tax): $1.33
• Total ECBs received: $5

Store #3

• 1 - Razor
• 2 - Purex

The Breakdown

• 1 - $3/$15 coupon
• 1 - $1 off the Purex
• $2, $2, & $4 in ECBs
• Total OOP (including tax): $2.14
• Total ECBs received: $3

Totals for all transactions:

• Total OOP: $5.38
• Total ECBs Spent: $33
• Total ECBs Received: $16\

Check out more great CVS Superstars over at The “Cent”sible Sawyer.

I ran out today for an unexpected CVS trip today.  It wasn’t a smashing success as far as CVS trip go, but I needed a few things that weren’t going to net me any ECBs.  Here’s how I made out.

• Total (before tax): $55.51
• Coupons: $13.50 off ($4/$20, $3/$15, $2/$10, $0.50 off Always, $3 & $2 & $1 off Revlon)
• ECBs Used: $22.65
• Total OOP (with tax): $20.96
• ECBs Received: $10.00

The Essence of Beauty Retractable Kabuki Brush, I got in order to do this!  I’ll be excited to see what I get in my bag.  The make-up is to replace the make-up I’m throwing out after getting a rash on my face this week.  The make-up didn’t give it to me.  But I figure that now it’s contaminated, and I don’t want this rash coming back.  I was out of tissue (hello allergies!) and Q-tips, so those were a necessary purchase. 

My next trip should be more successful savings-wise. 

Head over to The “Cents”able Sawyer for more CVS Superstars examples!

After reading this post at More Than Enough last week, I headed over to the Clinique website to make my e-card and get my coupon for a free purse-sized Clinique Happy Fragrance.  Making an e-card was quick and easy, and I actually just sent it to myself! 

On the way home from work today, I stopped off at Macy’s to pick up my free perfume.  The lady at the counter was nice but said that the free mini-bottles were actually supposed to be a gift with the purchase of a fragrance set.  Even though she didn’t seem to think it was a valid coupon, she gave me one anyway!  I thanked her and told her it was sweet of her to go ahead and let me have one. 

Then I headed straight for the door. 

Here’s a photo of my free perfume next to a quarter for size reference. 

It may be small, but it does make me Happy!

I headed out today armed with my CVS coupons and Grocery Game lists to get my groceries for the week.  Currently, I’m budgeting $100 for groceries for 2 weeks.  So I needed to be sure to save some of that for perishables for next week and any good sales that may be coming.  Here’s how I made out for the week.

CVS (At this point, I’m not including CVS as part of my grocery budget.  I may change that in the future.)

• Total (before tax): $18.85
• Coupons: $5 off
• ECBs spent: $12.79
• Total OOP: $1.06
• ECBs earned: $9.98

Kroger

• Total (before tax): $9.06
• Coupons & Kroger Plus Savings: $5.79
• Total OOP: $3.42
• Total Savings: 63%

HEB

• Total (before tax): $81.09
• Coupons : $29.61
• Total OOP: $51.48
• Total Savings: 43%

• 1 - pasta sauce (on sale & coupon)
• 1 - whole grain pasta (on sale & coupon)
• 1 - marinade packet (on sale & coupon)
• 1 - pantyliners (on sale & coupon)
• 1 - lemon
• 2 - mangos
• 1 - bunch of bananas
• 1 - bag of chicken breast tenders
• 1 - 4.2 pound bag of already marinaged fajita chicken meat
• 1 - 3 pound chuck roast (on sale)
• 2 - quarts of ice cream (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 2 - half gallons of lactose free whole milk (for The Bean)
• 1 - sliced deli cheese (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 1 - sliced deli meat
• 2 - frozen pizzas (on sale)
• 2 - half gallons low-fat milk (1 white and 1 chocolate)
• 2 - all natural yogurt (in-store coupon)
• 1 - premium sausage (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 1 - shredded colby jack cheese (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 1 - flour tortillas (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 1 - bag of shredded lettuce (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 1 - bag of romaine lettuce
• 1 - 2 liter diet cola (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 1 - ketchup (free with purchase & in-store coupon)
• 2 - boxes of granola bars (in-store coupon)
• 1 - fruit drink pouches (free with purchase & in-store coupon)

Budget Totals

• Total Grocery Budget Spent: $54.90
• Total Remaining for next week: $45.10

I spent some time this morning hitting a few of the CVS close to me to see if I could get some good deals.  All in all, I think I did pretty well, especially considering I had to change my plans mid-stream when the 2nd store I went to was out of nearly everything I had planned to get there.  Also adding to the mix was the fact that I had my 3 year-old with me!  But she did really well.

Here’s a photo of everything from my 3 stops.

Here’s what I did.

Store #1

1 - Colgate 360 Toothbrush

3 - CVS Allergy Relief

1 - Nad’s Hair Remover Strips

Total: $22.35 (before tax)

Used: $4/$20 Beauty (since it expires today)

         $2/$10 CVS brand purchase

        $1 off the toothbrush

        $11.97 in ECBs

Total OOP: $3.38 - Got $16.36 ECBs back

Store #2

5 - Rolaids 3 pack of 12 count rolls

Total: $10.95 (before tax)

Used: $9.68 ECBs

Total OOP: $1.27 - Got $10 ECBs back

Store #3

2 - Colgate 360 Toothbrushes

1 - Orapik Travler

1 - Tums QuickPak

1 - CVS Trial size mouthwash

6 - Essence of Beauty Makeup Applicators

1 - Snickers (My husband is going to think he hit the jackpot with Snickers 2 days in a row!)

Total: $26.18  (before tax)

Used: $3/$10 CVS brand purchase

         $1 off 2 toothbrushes

         $21.37 ECBs

Total OOP: $0.81 - Got $25.46 ECBs

Here’s the tally for the morning’s shopping.

Total (pre-tax) cost of all items: $59.48

Total coupon savings: $11.00

Total ECBs used: $43.02

Total OOP for all transactions: $5.46

Total ECBs leftover: $25.46

I’m pretty happy with my totals.  This is the best I’ve done so far!  I do have one more trip planned for tomorrow to get a few things in next week’s sales and see if I can get a few more ECB items.  We’ll see how that works out.

My style of doing things is to learn and watch and ponder and roll it over and over in my head until I feel it starting to seep into my thought patterns and perspective.  For quite a while, I’ve been convicted to be a better steward of our finances.  There have been some steps toward that but that past few months have started to bring more changes. 

I’ve been reading tons of “frugal” blogs andthinking about our budget and how we can change it to improve our financial situation.  I’ve played with CVSing but haven’t done it in a super dedicated way.  I’ve changed my grocery shopping habits to try to buy things only on sale with coupons to get the best deals.  Because of that, we’ve got a decent cushion of toiletries and pantry items.  But I haven’t done that in the framework of sticking to a set grocery budget for each week. 

Basically, I’ve been doing things halfway.  But all that ruminating and reading and observing other’s examples seems to have finally kicked me into gear. 

This week marks the beginning of me putting focused effort into utilizing the savings that can be found at CVS.  Starting this week, I’m also trying a trial the Grocery Game to see if it is as good a deal as it sounds.  I’m setting myself a grocery budget of $100 for 2 weeks.  Since I don’t have a huge stockpile, I know there will be weeks here and there that I need to get things even if they aren’t on sale.  I also am not entirely sure yet how low I can get my weekly grocery budget.  That’s something that I’ll be determining over the next month or two. 

My plan is to post my CVS shopping excursions here as well as a weekly update on how well I’m sticking to my grocery budget.  I’m thinking a little accountability is a good thing.  It will also give me a place to celebrate when I am successful in my endeavors. 

The time may come when I become more open about where we are with our debt reduction, but I’m not quite ready to do that yet.  I will say that we may be on track to get our car paid off by the end of this year.  This would mean that BOTH cars are paid for.  Once that happens, we plan to roll the money we’ve been putting toward the car payment towards paying off some other debt.  It will take us a while, but we are moving towards becoming debt free. 

Our tax stimulus check will be used to establish an emergency fund for those unexpected things that pop up in life.  We also are considering opening a separate bank account for my husband’s check to be directly deposited into with the intent of saving as much of his salary as possible.  At present, I’m fairly confident that we should be able to either save or use to pay toward debt at least half of his monthly salary.  I think that sending this money to an entirely separate account will make a huge difference in us not spending it on things we shouldn’t. 

I know I’m rambling in this post, but there are so many things running through my head when it comes to changing our financial picture.  Tons of possibilities and options to consider.  I’m still trying to sift through it all to determine which ones will work best for us.  My thought is that this blog will be a place for me to share successes and to process through decisions as we find our way to frugality. 

So…Here I go…Off into the green yonder!

Okay, here’s what I’ve done this week at CVS. 

First Transaction:

1 - Colgate 360 Toothbrush - $3.99

3 - Aquafresh Toothpastes - $9.67 for all three

Total: $13.66

Used 1 - $1 off coupon for the toothbrush

Used 3 - $1 off coupons for the toothpaste

Used $5 in ECB

Total OOP: $4.66 - Got $9.97 in ECBs back

Second Transaction:

1 - Colgate 360 Toothbrush - $3.99

1 - Aquafresh Toothpaste - $2.99

1 - Tums QuickPak - $4.69

1 - Adidas Deoderant - $4.99

1 - Snickers bar $0.79 (for filler and since my hubby loves them)

Total: $17.45

Used 1 - $1 off the toothbrush

Used 1 - $1 off the toothpaste

Used 1 - get it free coupon ($4.99 off) for the deoderant (It was actually expired, but they took it anyway!)

Used $9.97 in ECBs from the first transaction

Total OOP: $$0.49 - Got $16.66 in ECBs back

I’m still absorbing how to work the deals as well as so many of the people I’ve seen out there in the blogosphere.  I know it will get easier as I do it more.  I’m already not happy about spending more than a dollar or two in a transaction.  I’ve been planning some possible scenarios to use this coming Sunday.  If they work, I should come home with a good amount of merchandise for not too much.  I’ll post on how it all turns out.

I stopped off at Target tonight to see if I could take advantage of a few deals.  Here’s what I ended up with.

1 jar of Classico Alfredo sauce: on sale for $2.29

2 - Chewy Chips Ahoy Cookies: on sale 2 for $3.88

2 - Nature Valley nut/granola bars: on sale for 2 for $4

Total: $10.19 (before tax)

1 - Target coupon for $1 off the alfredo sauce

1 - Target coupon for $1 off 2 Nabisco cookies

1 - coupon for $0.80 off 2 nut/granola bars

2 - Target coupons for $0.75 off each box of the nut/granola bars

Final total (including tax): $5.87

I received a couple of $25 gift cards to Avenue for Christmas that I’ve been holding on to.  Today, armed with several coupons and the knowledge that they were having a sale, I decided to see if they had anything I was interested in.

I ended up with 3 shirts and spent a total of $40.25 (including tax).  I still have $9.75 left on one of my gift cards and a 25% off one item coupon that I can use at a later time. 

1 blouse: regular price - $39.99 - on sale for 20% off - used a 40% off one item coupon - final price: $19.18

1 shirt: regular price - $19.99 on sale - used a 40% off one item coupon - final price: $12.00

1 shirt: clearance priced at $7.99 - used a 25% off one item coupon - final price: $6.00