Madagascar 3 Party!

Your friends Melman, Gloria, Marty, and Alex are coming back for a new installment of Madagascar!

To celebrate, Crowdtap (my link), invited me to host a Madagascar party!

We celebrated over Memorial Day weekend with a Circus Party!

We colored masks,

Ate camp out food,

And spent time with family and friends.

At the end of the day,

Everyone enjoyed their very own Crackalackin' Zebra Cake!

Better than Free at CVS!

I had fun at CVS this week, though I'm going to admit it: I didn't need any of these items.  I got them (1) because I made money on them and (2) I know people who want (most) of them.  CVS sent me a $4/$20 coupon (which is like printed gold) this week.  I waited until Thursday to be sure there was nothing I wanted in NEXT week's ad, and then used it for stuff to give away/make Extra Bucks.  It was an ego boost to make money on Pantene because it doesn't normally go under $1.50 in it's low price cycle.  I took some BOGO coupons I had from the beginning of the month and a $3/2 coupon from Sunday to bring the price of 4 bottles down to $2.  I also used some free item coupons that were about to expire to get my pre-coupon price up over $20.  So, here's what I did:

(4) Pantene shampoo/conditioner $13.94
-(2) B1G1 coupons ($3.48 ea.)
-$3/2 coupon (the two I paid for)
(2) Starbucks Refreshers (apparently yucky...at least it was free to try) $3.98
-(2) FREE Starbucks Refreshers (in the Pepsico Moments to Save insert) ($1.99 ea.)
(1) CVS vanilla body wash $2.37
-FREE body wash (CVS gave them out for Mother's Day) ($2.37)
-$4 off a $20 purchase (adjusted down to $3.98)
+$0.84 in tax
=$0.84

ECBs received: 2 (for the Pantene)

So, I paid $1 in tax for $26 worth of products and got 2 ExtraCare Bucks back!  I also got $15 in my beauty bucks account, so I'll be getting $1.50 back later.  All in all, I saved 113% on my purchase!  I think that may be my best savings quotient yet!

Saved 64% at Weis--No Coupons!

Even though hubby has been gone for two weeks, I'm way behind on my blogging/bragging. =D  Something about chasing a one year old ...all...day... makes a girl want to sleep at 9 pm.  But I wanted to show you my awesome grocery trip!  I literally had no plans to get anything other than a paper and bread, but while I was there, I couldn't resist doing a couple of deals.  So, without coupons, I got $32 worth of groceries for less than $12.  The main tactic that saved me money this week was their "Instant Savings" deal.  When you buy $15 worth of select products, you get $5 off instantly.  Here's the trick though, it's the regular price of the items that has to add up to $15, not the sale price listed in the circular.  So, my mayo, which was on sale for $3 counts as $6, because that's what it costs at full price.  The combination of 4 jars of spaghetti sauce and 1 jar of mayo is over $15 at full price, but a mere $8 on sale.  Add to that the $5 instant savings, and you get over $15 worth of food for just $3! 

So, here's a breakdown of my deals:

(1) Newspaper $2
(1) Bread $2.50
(1) Hellman's mayo $3
(4) Ragu pasta sauce $5
-$5 instant savings
(2) Ocean Spray juice $4
(1) O.S. sparkling juice $2
-$2 FREE sparkling juice wyb 2 juice
+tax
=$11.62
Total saved: $20.55

So, there you go: one great deal, one okay deal, and some necessities--no coupons--64% saved!

Diapers and Groceries at CVS

It was certainly fun this week.  The best part was cheap diapers in quantity!  I was actually able to do the diaper deal twice because my mother-in-law gave me her ExtraBucks and card to use =D.  This lady knows the way to my heart: give me coupons and I'll love you forever (really though, my mil is one of the most awesome ladies I know).  I did a total of 4 transactions between our cards and saved 75%!  Here's how:


(With my mil's card)
Transaction #1

(3) Huggies jumbo packs $30
-(3)$3/1 Huggies
-$3/15 baby care purchase
(1) Coke 12 pack $0.99
(with in-ad coupon)
-$1.50 ECBs
+tax
=$19.29
ECBs received: 10

Transaction #2

(2) Cottonelle wipe tubs $3.98
(3) Cottonelle wipe refills $5.97
-10 ECBs
+tax
=$0.60


(With my card now)
Transaction #1

(3) Huggies jumbo packs $30
-(2) $2/1 Huggies
-$3/1 Huggies
(1) Coke 12 pack $0.99
(with in-ad coupon)
(2) Dove chocolate bars $1.50
-$0.50/2 Dove bars
-$3/$15 (for sharing my pharmacist story)
-21.97 ECBs (from previous weeks)
+tax
=$1.49
ECBs received: 10 (Huggies), 0.75 (Dove)

Transaction #2

(1) 24 pack of water $2.44
(4) Bumble Bee Tuna $3.08
-(2)$1/2 Bumble Bee product
(1) Kotex $3.99
-$1/1 Kotex
(1) Children's Allegra $9.99
-$5/1 Allegra
-11 ECBs
+tax
=$0.64
ECBs received: 3 (Kotex), 4.99 (Allegra)


Including the 14 ExtraBucks I "lost" in the process, I spent $36.25 for $140.07 worth of groceries and diapers!  I was pretty excited that the diapers ended up averaging $3.50 for each pack!  I also got pretty excited over the $1 Cokes and free Kotex.  =D  Ah, I love saving money in the morning...or afternoon...or the middle of the night...

Cheap Diapers at CVS!

I got some fun coupons from the magic coupon machine yesterday, so I did a little better than I thought I would!  Timothy was running low on diapers, so with the $3 coupon in the Reinventing Beauty magazine and a 25% off your regularly priced purchase, I can get a jumbo pack for $6, which is a good price in a pinch.  Profit on my other purchases helped get my total even lower.  Here's what I did:


Transaction #1

(3) Hallmark cards $2.97
-B2G1 CRT from red coupon box ($0.99)
-$2/3 tearpad coupon (from Walmart)
-25% off  full-priced purchase (adjusted) $0.70

(1) RIB magazine $0.99
-25% off $0.23

(1) Colgate Maxfresh $2.99
-$1/1 toothpaste any CRT
-$1/1 Colgate Maxfresh (from the RIB magazine)

(1) Huggies jumbo pack $11.99
-$3/1 Huggies (from the RIB magazine)
-25% off coupon ($2.85)

-7 ECBs  (I think this is what "messed up" my 25% off, but I was able to lower my oop without too much loss)
+tax
=$1.03

ECBs received: 2.49 (for the toothpaste), 1 (green bag tag)

So, I spent $1.03 and 7 ECBs and got back 3.49 in ECBs, so it's like I paid $4.54 for $20.80 in products!  For diapers alone, $4.50 is a great price, so I'm pretty happy!