Batteries & ECBs

October 26, 2008
CVS

Darryl needed a 9V battery and it was lucky for him CVS had a special on them. If you bought $15 worth of Duracell Batteries you received $5 back. The Duracell Batteries were normally $8.50 but they were on sale for $5.99. Buying three cost me $17.97. After the $5 back they were $4.32 a pack. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth though because I had a $1 off coupon for each of those packs bringing my price down to $3.32.

Sure I’ve bought batteries at the Dollar Store but sometimes they don’t even work or they don’t last that long. Besides I used a $5 ECB bringing my out of pocket price down further. Out of pocket I paid $1.66 a pack

Colgate Total White was also on sale. Normally it was $3.29 and it was on sale for $2.49. I had two coupons for 75 cents off bringing the price down to $1.75. I had to spend $10 to get $4 back in ecbs. Thank goodness I had another couple of coupons for $1 off a tube bringing those prices down to $1.29. Out of pocket I spent $6.08 for that portion to get $4 in ecbs. With all that math hocus pocus I actually spent 52 cents on each tube of toothpaste.

Bic Comfort3 shavers were $5.89. I had a $2 off coupon bringing the price down to $3.89. Then for buying it I get back $4 in ecbs. Free with overage tee hee.

I paid $13.73 after taxes and I received $13 in ECBs. I love CVS!

Now I’m playing the stupid card game. I bought some things with Darryl’s card and some with mine. I hate that. I used my card to buy two Diabetes meters. One was normally $79.99 on sale for $30. Of course I won’t pay $30 because I have a $30 coupon. Free, free, free. The same goes for the other diabetes meter that normally sells for $59.99. It was on sale for $30 and of course I have another $30 coupon. No ecbs but it does go towards the amount I spent this year. I’m working on getting more of my ecb money back so I bought some soy joy bars and was rewarded with $4 for the four I bought.

I also bought another bic comfort 3. I had a coupon for $2 for that one so it was the same deal I bought under Darryl’s card.

Out of pocket $4.68 I got back $8.

I’m just pretty sad right now because I found some expired ECBss in the stuff that came back from the other house.

Thrifty Jinxy Contest

Hey what's there not to love about a site that tries to help you save money? I'm even signed up to get the newsletter check out Thrifty Jinxy at

http://thriftyjinxy.blogspot.com/

all the best info on living on the cheap.

Oh and did I mention you can win a $10 Starbucks card? I can just taste my tall green tea latte, no water, vanilla instead of mellon right now.

Hey It's Bloggy Carnival Time

Gosh where were blogs when I was young? I found this really great blog called Confetti by Kateedy. She's sponsoring a contest in honor of her BFF birthday. She's giving away a $25 gc to Amazon. Check out her blog.

http://www.kateedydconfetti.com/2008/10/yay-its-giveaway.html

Hey wish her a happy anniversary on November 2. BTW that's when this contest ends.

Randy Pausch Has Died

Earlier this summer I read the book "The Last Lecture". I'd seen the author briefly on a talk show segment. I hadn't even caught the whole segment. I did understand that Randy had terminal cancer and his last lecture was a phenomena. I promptly forgot to look it up on the internet. Then I was at the library a couple of weeks ago and there was the book.

My mind said, "Hey Cathy, that's that guy you saw on TV. This book's been on the best sellers list for awhile, might as well pick up the book." So pick it up I did.

Wow. In the last several years I'm trying to become more at peace with my mortality. I've read books like "For One More Day", "Weekends with Morie" and "The Seven People You Will Meet In Heaven" along with some Bible readings. I know you really don't get a choice to leave, when to leave, or how to leave. I think we all hope we will be over a hundred years old and die in our sleep. Even then how many of us will be ready to go?

In Tuesdays with Morie and the Last Lecture, the subject knows that he is dying. In each case he has time to say good bye and set things right for the loved ones he leaves behind. In each case the person has time to come to grips with the changes and morn their fate. They chose instead to celebrate their now.

Randy kept a blog for people who were following his story. I viewed it a few times since I read his book. I discussed the book with my principal who had also read the book and was touched by its message. I come away even more convinced that I should celebrate my inner tigger and that everyone should have a crayon. (It doesn't make sense unless you read the book).

In each day and in every moment there is something to celebrate and something to be grateful for. Sometimes it is hard to get past the difficulty that faces us but the joy is there if we chose to see it. Right now I'm camping in our old house. We've been broken into (this is like the second time and this time they stole the air conditioner for the copper). We had to cancel our trip to Niagra Falls and to Branson but both places will be there to be seen another time.

I can be angry and upset, which I was or I can say that this is the challenge that I need to face and I will face it with an open heart. Good will come out of this. I can't say what good or when it will come but in due time this to shall pass and in face of the challenges that others face it is insignificant.

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. I need to learn how to play to win rather than continue playing in a manner so that I don't lose. Trust me there is a difference.

I Have Two Masters Degrees

NOT!

I work with a woman who generally finds some way to insert this statement into almost any conversation. For example, a few of the English teachers were thinking about starting the book club back up and this woman and I both showed up at the meeting. We each mentioned what we were reading. Well this Mrs. TWO MASTER's had mentioned what book she'd been reading and one of the other teachers said she just couldn't get into that book herself. She admitted that she had started to read it but with a small baby at home if a book couldn't draw her in she just put it aside.

I mentioned that I had just finished "Of Mice and Men" and that just before that I had read The Audacity of Hope." I confessed I was going back and checking out classics that I had never read I was really enjoying them far more than I thought I would. Well since the English Department requires of Mice and Men they gushed over the book and I confessed that one of the reasons I had chosen that particular book was because it was required. I will always comment when I see a student with a book, "Are you reading that for a class or did you pick it out because you were interested?" I will ask what they thought and what was going on in the book so far. If they admit that they aren't reading it I will tell them what I thought of the book when I read it.

Well this just tickled the English Department's fancy. They LOVED that. Their summer reading selections had been filled with books I had loved like "90 Minutes in Heaven" and "Tuesdays with Maurie" The kids had actually enjoyed these books more than I would have imagined. I had actually had some interesting conversations with the kids about the books.

I thought the meeting went well but with fixing up the house I didn't know if I would have the time to dedicate to the club. As we were leaving Mrs. TWO MASTERS caught up with me. She was pretty upset but not trying to show it. "I just can't believe that so and so didn't give the book more of a chance. Then again it seemed like many of the books that were thrown out there were pretty pedestrian. I have noticed that I often pick out books with a bit more substance but then I have two masters degrees.

Now I work in the same department as she does so I can't always avoid her. I've learned to just accept that she'll sneak her two degrees into almost any conversation but it's still annoying. I think it's a self-esteem issue.
Anyway, the other day one of our co-workers had to leave a few minutes early to go to the dentist. I think the exact words were "a couple of minutes early". Hey I understand. If I had a seventh period planning period I would have covered her class so she could go She wanted to avoid having to take sick leave time so what is the big deal in watching a class period that is almost over for someone who works in your department. This is not a person who does this all the time or for that matter asks people for much of anything.

Well the teacher who needed to leave asked the department secretary if she woud watch the class. The department secretary said yes but then discovered she had to leave early because her son was sick. She asked my pal two masters who agreed to sit with the class for a "couple of minutes". As she related the story to me, she had planned to go down during the afternoon announcements to cover the class. That would be essentially a couple or literally two minutes. Yet her phone rang with eight minutes to go and she told me she knew that this was the call to say come down and watch my class.

OK for me eight minutes, two minutes, it's not an all day thing. I'd have probably gone there ten minutes before the end of class anyway. That's just me. Well Two Masters was infuriated. After all she has two masters and her time is valuable. She told me she just ignored the call. Then the teacher had to send a student down to her to say "Mrs. So and So wants to know if you are coming." Keep in mind this is just a kid. Mrs. Two Masters says to the kid "Well I'm turning off all the computers in my room and when I'm finished I will come down there. You can tell her I will be down for the last two minutes like she originally asked."

Now her last class could have turned off all the computers. She could have come back and turned them off after watching the class. I asked her if she had some place she had to rush to after school and she told me no. "No it's just the principle of the thing. Two minutes is two minutes. I have two master's degrees and my time is pretty valuable. In a real workplace people would respect time but then I find most teachers have no real concept of time. I doubt many of them could handle the corporate world. I am certain most of them couldn't have handled the rigors of a MBA. I reminded her that this particular teacher had actually run her own restaurant for ten years. She didn't acknowledged that. The point was that two minutes are two minutes and eight minutes is six minutes longer.
I find her attitude to be pretty selfish. Maybe that's just me. What do you think? Am I really that clueless? Do you think getting two masters would make me a more self-actualized person? Am I really missing the point because for me six minutes goes towards goodwill to others and not anything more.

Thanks for letting me vent because this person is making me crazy. Trust me I try to avoid her but it's not always possible

Saving with CVS ECBs

I've done better but I needed soda. No scratch that I am addicted to soda. Not as bad as I once was when I drank nothing but caffeinated soda but still I start to get the DT's without it. First I but Four Diet Cokes at $3.25 a 12 pack. Ugh I hate that. Except it says normally I would pay $5.49 a 12 pack (as if) Yet it's also not bad if you consider that I received a $3 ECB for buying four twelve backs. That means I get back .75 for each of the twelve packs bringing the price down to $2.50 more reasonable. Thank goodness.

Then I bought a Gillete Fusion Shaver. Darryl loves those. They were on sale for $9.99. If you think that's bad check out the refill price. It's cheaper for us to buy the razor on sale with coupons and ecbs. The coupon in question was for $2.00. Let's see subtract that from $9.99 and get $7.99. Still not done with this because I received $5.00 in ecbs making the razor only $2.99. Darryl, Michael, and Dan say this is their favorite razor and they all insist it is the best they have ever used.

You can never have enough deodorant so I bought some heavy duty lady speed stick for $6.99. Normally $7.99 because it is "Clinical Strength" I had a coupon for $2.00 bringing it down to $4.99. You know it I received $2.00 in ecbs making it $2.99. About half price.

The best deal of the day was some cover girl make up. It was buy one get one free. I also had a coupon for a FREE Cover Girl foundation when you buy one. That's two cover girl foundations free. Normally each one is $5.49. Making it an even better deal I received an ECB for $5.49 meaning they paid me to walk out with the makeup.

Colgate toothpaste was on sale 2 for $5.00. I don't know when the last time I paid full price for toothpaste. I had a coupon for $1.50 off two. This brought the price down to 2 for $3.50 or $1.75 each. Out came my new ecb for $2 off. Bringing the price down to 2 tubes of Colgate for $1.50 or 75 cents a tube.

Gillette now makes men's hair care products like shampoo and conditioner. Sort of that manly man thing going on. Anyway, they were on sale two for $9. I had a coupon for 75 cents off each one. Making it two for $7.50. The $2 ecb made them 2 for $5.50 or about $2.75 each.

When paying my bill I used $16 worth of ecb's I had received from previous purchases bringing the amount I owed to $22.47 oop. Another way of looking at it would be that I paid about $1.87 per item out of pocket. That's because I bought 12 items. There are people who do coupons better but I don't think this is a bad haul at all.

My Last FREE Groceries At Krogers

Free groceries you say? Yes this is the last bit of money I have on my three $500 Kroger cards that I won. Originally I figured it would last three months. Instead it lasted until October 12, 2008. As you might remember I had to try to keep this trip under $85. Was I going to make it? What did I buy and how much did I save?

Admittedly at first I felt like I'd messed up. The cash register came up with the figure $113.34. I was a bit nervous but I knew I had some FREE coupons that would be coming off. The best deal of course was the FREE Edy's ice cream bars. FREE from another win and they would have been $3.39. Nothing is better than free.

Speaking of FREE, this week's AJC had an unexpected surprise in it. There were coupons for these new Pedigree dog treats that seemed to have Big Dog's name all over them. You could get one which is basically a vitamin treat or a hip and joint treat which is steak flavored. Since I normally get the two for one papers for $2.50 I had two coupons for these treats. That's great. They are normally $3.99 a piece. So another $7.98 came off my bill.

I bought the DiGiorno Pizza on sale for $5.49 with a coupon for $1 off which brought the price down to $4.49 and luckily they had the flavor Darryl likes which is the garlic bread crust with pepperoni. The other one was a plain cheese pizza.

Since we've been living over at the Cartersville house during the week we've been eating TV dinners. Stouffer's LC was on sale buy 5 get one free. This made the price six for $10 or $1.67 a piece. Lately every time I buy ten I get a coupon for $1.50 off my next purchase of ten. I bought 12 for $18.50 after coupon making them $1.57 per dinner.

Barb's Puffin Cereal was on sale today, buy one get one free. Look at all the things that make it great: 100% Natural, Good Source of Fiber, Multigrain, Low Fat, No Hydrogenated Oils or Trans-Fats, Dairy Free, No Cholesterol, No Artificial, Colors or Preservatives, and Kosher. I've been wanting to try it for awhile but at $4.50 a 12 ounce box it was too expensive to try. Now even at $2.25 a box I was a little leery. Miracle of miracles though I actually had two one dollar coupons. So instead of two for $4.50 I was able to buy two boxes for $2.50 about a dollar and a quarter a box. Now that's a no brainer. I hear they are good but we'll see. I had a hard time deciding between the peanut butter ones and the cinnamon. In the end I figured Darryl would eat the cinnamon. I had another coupon for buy ten get $1.00 off alpo canned dog food. Since they are normally 61 cents a piece it brings them down to 51 cents a piece. I also bought a 22 pound bag of Gravy Train Dog food. It was on sale for $7.59 and with a $1 coupon it was $6.59. Darryl needed bread, cheese and meat. Sara lee bread was on sale buy one get one free. They are really pushing it so a loaf of fancy bread was $1.40. I bought him some bologna on sale but with no coupon. I bought him some of the Butterball fried turkey slices on sale for $2.50 a pack and I had a dollar off making it $1.50 a pack. I hope he likes it.

When I got home I found the other butterball coupon. My one complaint is they tried to charge me $4.49 for my 12 packs of Pepsi. I didn't buy coke there because they had it "on sale" for 2 packs for $8. What were they thinking? Pepsi was on sale for 3 for $11. It didn't ring up as that I said something and they fixed it.

Now comes the important question is how much did I save? I used $29.65 worth of manufactured coupons. I received a .75 bonus coupon for one purchase that I don't know about. Then I received $29.10 in store coupons & Kroger plus savings. Did I make it under $85? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I paid $83.69. If I had bought all this without sales or coupons I would have paid $143.19. Heck just without the coupons I would have spent $113. As it was I saved 58% on my groceries.

Interesting, since I saw one woman brag about her goal to save at least 10% on her groceries. So that's the end of it. I did get an invitation to participate in a store survey to win one of five $500 gift cards. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Oh by the way I thought I only had $85 left. Guess I had a little more than that because it shows a card balance of $5.02 not bad.