Rebates!

I thought I would let you all know of another way that I am making the most of our money. Mail in rebates! Just in the last couple weeks I have gotten back 5 rebates. And those total $44.99!

And to top it off, for most of them, the out of pocket was far less than what I got back in rebates. I still have several others that I am still waiting to get back and I just sent in 2 more yesterday.
And the Olay cleansers I got yesterday are part of a mail in rebate as well. They are on sale this week at Walgreens for 20%off. So they were 5.83 each and I had 2 $3.00 off one coupons. So I paid $5.66 for both of them and I will be submitting the recipt for a $15.00 dollars back from Olay for purchasing both at one time! Oh and I technically did not pay anything out of pocket for them because I used Walgreens Register Rewards to pay for them. So really nothing out of pocket to get a $15.00 check in the mail! And free face wash! The Ivory bar soap was free after a coupon at CVS this week. It is on sale for .99 and I had a 1.00 off coupon from last weeks Sunday paper.

I know that you may be thinking that it is not much to get a $5.00 check in the mail. But if you are already going to buy the product or you can get it for free why not do the rebate. You can put that money back into your grocery budget or set it aside and save it for something special. Or even cash it and use it right away for a coffee treat! It really will add up if you just keep sending them in! And it is so awesome to get the checks in the mail!
So, always be on the look out for rebates and make sure to follow through and send them out!

Savings!

Since I did not have a photo to go with yesterdays post, I thought I would post todays savings! I went to publix today and I did not have a ton to get but we needed bread and I had a few money making coupons to use that were going to expire in the next couple days so I thought I would get a few things.
For these groceries it would have cost $66.48 and I only paid $8.46 for it!
Here is all I got!

The money making coupons that I got were for the Sundown Vitamin D. They were 2.99 each and I used a store coupon for $6.00 off of 2 and a Manufactures coupon for $3.00 off of 2. So that was a 3 dollar overage.
And then the Rachel Ray Magazine was the other. It was 3.99 and I used a store coupon for $3.75 off the Magazine if I bought 2 Sorento cheeses. And a manufactures coupons for exactly the same. So that made for a $3.51 overage! And for the Sorento cheese that I had to buy to use those coupons, They were on sale for 2.50 each and I used a store coupon for $1.00 off 1 and a manufactures coupon for $1.00 off 1. So for 2Lbs of mozzarella cheese for $1.00!
The Ritz crackers and the wheat thin crackers will finish out what I needed for a $10.00 mail in rebate. And for all that I needed for that I spent well under the 10.00. SO that is a money maker too!
Here is a list of all that I got...
2- 1 gallon of Iced tea, Al's favorite!
1- Box Wheat Thin crackers
1- box of triscuts
2- Boxes Ritz crackers
1- Infusium shampoo
1- Infusium Conditioner
2- Loaves of Wheat bread
2- Yakisoba noodles
2- packs of Pillsbury crescent rolls
2- 8oz packages of Kraft shredded cheese
1- Rachel Ray Magazine
2- 1lb Sorrento Mozzarella cheese
2- 100 count Vitamin D caps

That is 21 items for only $8.46!!
WAHOO!!
Thanks for letting me share,
Chris

More deals!

It has been a while since I posted any deals. But no worries there have been lots more that I have gotten. So I thought that I would share one today that all can do!
Target has a couple of things on sale this week. Pepsi product 12 packs are on sale for 4 for $11.00. And Swiss Miss hot chocolate 10 pk box is on sale for .97. The Hot chocolate was marked 1.52 at my store so I scanned it at one of the price check scanners and confirmed that is was on sale for .97 cents.
Now before you just head out to the store, go to the Target website and on the home page scroll down to the bottom and click on the link for Grocery coupons. There you will find lots of coupons but the ones you are looking for are the ones for the 2 products listed above. There is a 1.00 off Pepsi products 12 pack and a 1.00 off Swiss Miss hot cocoa. So with the sales and the coupons the hot cocoa will be free!! and the Pepsi 12 packs will be 1.75 each!!
You can print each of these coupons 2 times. I printed 2 from both our laptop, desk top and Al printed our 2 more from his work. So I was able to get 6 boxes of hot Chocolate for free!! And 6 12 packs of Pepsi ( 3 Pepsi and 3 Mt. Dew) for $10.50. That is .14 cents a can!! And I was able to get enough to last us a very long time!
And now we have free Hot Chocolate for the 2 cold days a year here in Florida!
So go out and get yourself some great deals!!
Merry Christmas!
Chris

Interesting Money Management Ideas

Due to various financial issues, we have found ourselves living much more meagerly lately. Thankfully Chris has wholeheartedly stumbled upon the couponing idea to help us save money on our groceries.

Essentially we are out of debt, other than our house. However, we find ourselves still using credit cards all of the time for various purchases. And it always feels like we are just one step away from ... (who knows what).

Do you ever have that feeling?

I saw this article and was intrigued by a couple ideas presented in it.

Most importantly were these 2:

1. Opening ING Direct savings accounts that automatically withdraw money from your checking account into an interest bearing savings account that you can use later.
Essentially, he is proposing creating different savings accounts for different goals you have - vacations, electronic gear, new vehicles, etc - so you can slowly save up and pay for them.

2. Using prepaid credit cards - instead of traditional credit cards (which rack on fees and interest rate hikes, etc).
This idea says you will use these prepaid cards to maintain any ongoing accounts, online orders, hotel booking, etc. - instead of using traditional credit cards.

Both of these seem like very interesting ideas to help people move out of dependency on credit cards and banks who think of us as money instead of people anyhow.

I just thought I would share, and see what you think about the idea.
I'm not sure I'm ready to go this route yet. But it is a very intriguing way to battle back against the insanity of the current economic environment we face.

Merry Christmas!
Al

Toilet paper for .45cents!!

Today I was able to get this package of toilet paper for .45cents! Here is how!
I went to Publix this morning and purchased everything with store and Manufactures coupons and got this.
The Benevia juice was on sale for $6.99, I used a store coupon for $3.00 off and a manufactures coupon for $5.00 off. So that gave me an overage of $1.01.
The Vitamin D Caps were $2.99 each. I got 2 and used a store coupon for $6.00 of the purchase of 2 Sundown Vitamins coupon. And I also used 2 manufactures coupons for $1.00 off one bottle. So that gave me a $2.00 overage!!
and the Revlon nail clippers were $1.49 and I used a store coupon for $2.50 off one Revlon tool and a manufactures coupon for $1.00 off. That is an overage of $2.01!
The toilet paper was on sale for $6.49, I used a manufactures coupon for $1.00 off.
The overage from the other coupons was $5.04 so I ended up paying .45 cents for the toilet paper and all the rest!
I could have used the overage and bought anything. We were needing toilet paper and I think that is one of the most overpriced things in the store so I chose to use it for that.
And I have enough coupons to do it one more time!

Deals

So yesterday I did a little shopping. We went to 3 stores. Publix (grocery), Target and CVS. Here is everything that I got.
The total spent for all of this was $1.68!
First stop was Target where I got all of the Crackers. They were on sale and I used coupons for them all. I had 4/$1.50 off of the Wheatables and All brann crackers. And I used 2/$1.00 Target store coupons and 2/$1.00 Manufactures coupons for the pepperidge farms pretzel thins. The total was $2.96 and I paid for it with the free $5.00 gift card that I got from last week.
Then next stop was Publix where I got 6 bags of Fisher Trail mix. It was on sale BOGO which made it .89 a bag. I used 6/$1.00 off manufactures coupons to get them free with an .11 overage for each bag! So I got the Apple sauce on sale BOGO making them $1.16 each. I used 2/.75 of manufactures coupons and the overage from the trail mix coupons and the total came to .20 cents!! That is right .20cents!
Next stop was CVS. They had the shampoo and conditioner on clearance for .99 each. I got 8 bottles and I used 4/.55off 2 manufactures coupons. Also when I got there I scanned my CVS card and got a coupon for $5.00 off a $15.00 purchase. That is before coupons! So I also got the Revlon lipstick. It was on sale BOGO and I had 2/$2.00 manufactures coupons. The total for purchases at CVS was 1.48! And I have $4.00 in CVS credit to spen next time I go in!
Not too bad for a little shopping trip. Thankfully all the stores are close together and basically just down the road from us. So I do not spend much in gas going to 3 different stores. I actually made another stop at Winn Dixie to use a rain check that I have but they still do not have what I wanted back in stock. So that would have been added too but I guess it will have to wait till next time.
I have started my weekly Publix list and it looks like it will be a good one with lots of free and money maker things! The new sale start on Thursday here. So that is when I plan my shopping trip for the week. I usually don't go twice in a sale but I was able to get more coupons for the trail mix so why not go and get something that you enjoy for free?!