It's a Lifestyle.

Sometimes, "hidden savings" mean more than the ones printed on your receipt. For instance, you may pay $20 ("full price") when buying a haircutting system, but you'll save $15 every other month when hubby doesn't have to visit the barber.

Or you may pay a premium when buying "organic" produce, but when you use it to make your own baby food, you've saved tons of money!

Of course, the best deals are the ones that "stack" hidden savings with the more visible type, e.g., you may get a great deal on all-natural applesauce and feed it to your baby (if it only consists of apples and maybe Vitamin C) instead of buying "baby" applesauce in jars. 

I made my own baby food last week and I'm pretty proud of myself. Yes, I paid full price for organic apples (one of the "dirty dozen"), but I saved a bunch by avoiding those cute little jars (and it tasted purdy awesome!).

I took a short cut with the carrots and used the "baby-style" ones (not "organic"), so all I had to do was dump them into a pan with some water and let 'em go!

Honestly, peeling 3 pounds of apples wasn't really worth my time. Next time, I'm just going to go "label shopping" and get the adult applesauce with just apples in it.

A friend mentioned that frozen vegetables whirred in the blender makes great baby food. I definitely plan on trying that!

By the way, yesterday, I cut hubby's hair for the first time.  I think I did a pretty good job! What's your best "hidden savings" tip? I'd love to hear it!

Money Monday

I had some twists and turns to my coupon adventure yesterday.  Toys R Us was running a $5  diaper sale.  Come to find out, the Huggies diapers were BOGO50% also (unadvertised).  I took my merry old time getting over there and not only were they out of the diapers at Toys R Us (judging by the holes, they hadn't even "stocked up" for the sale--did they not think people would want $5 diapers??), but apparently other people had the same idea I had and they were out of stock at the Target down the street (Target and Wal-Mart will price-match an advertised deal--$5 is still a DEAL).  Much as it saddens me, I think I'm gonna let this one go.  On a brighter note, I got diapers with my ECB profit today and only paid $2 in tax for everything, so I'm not hurting for diapers (like I was).  I also used my stale gas points from Weis to get half off gasoline today!


Here's what I got:

Here's how I did it:

Transaction #1

Bought:
(2) Schick Slimtwin $8.99 ea.
(1) Skintimate Shave gel $2.49

Notes: The prices were slightly different than the deal idea I shared earlier, so I had to adapt my plan. By the time I got to the store, they were out of the cream shave (which was on sale for $2.49 with a $1.50/1 printable coupon).  I could have gotten a rain check for the whole deal at that point but I prefer the gel anyway.

Used:
25% off all reg. price items (coupon in my email)
Note: The register took $3.81 off–it seems to work on full price products that PRODUCE ECBs (razors), but if you USE ECBs, it counts against the total.  I wasn't sure it would do anything, so this was a nice bonus for me!
(2) $2/1 CVS store coupons for Schick disposable
Note: The register beeped on my second CVS coupon.  I'm not sure why because you should be able to use 2 CVS coupons with 2 qualifying items.  There is a Limit 1 per purchase (of specified products), but no where in CVS's unofficial policy nor on the coupon does it limit to 1 CVS coupon per transaction. 
(1) BOGO disposable coupon
(1) 0.75/1 Skintimate
3 ECBs (from last week)
Paid:
$0.71 in tax (negative subtotal)
Recieved:
10 ECBs

Transaction #2

Bought:
(2) Jumbo Packs of Huggies Jean Diapers $8.99 ea.
(1) Kotex U $3.49

Used:
(2) $2/1 Huggies Jumbo or larger (home mailers)
(1) $1/1 Huggies Jumbo or larger CVS coupon (printed at the red coupon machine--happy dance!)
(1) $3/15 Baby Care purchase CVS coupon (also from the magic coupon machine :D)
(1) $1/1 Kotex U product
2 ECBs (from last week), 10 ECBs (from last transaction)

Paid:
$1.30

Received:
2 ECBs (Kotex)

So, I got $52 worth of necessities for $2!  WooHoo!  The packages of diapers each had a $2/1 coupon in them, which is great because I had just used my last 2 coupons.  Plus, there's a Buy 6, get 1 Huggies jumbo pack deal at CVS for the  "summer" (details, anyone?).  I only need to buy one more to get my free pack!

ETA:  I got the details from CVS via facebook:  Huggies jumbo packs are included in the buy 6, get 1 free.  Boxes and larger are not included.  The promotion runs through December 31st.  It takes a few days to update the total and get your coupon (kinda like beauty club works).  I just got my 6th pack (at $5 no less) and hope to get my free coupon soon.  I'll let y'all know!

Make money getting paper!

There's a great deal at Staples this coming week just waiting to happen--make a profit getting paper!  Here's how:

Buy:
(1) Kodak photo paper $13.99 ($12.99 easy rebate)
(2) Staples multipurpose paper 500 sheets/ream $5.99 each ($5.49 easy rebate)

Use:
(1) $5/$25 Staples purchase coupon (in circular and online)

Total due:
$20.97 ($22.23 incl. 6% sales tax)

Submit for easy rebates and receive:
$23.97

You've effectively covered your tax and made a little profit getting some really nice paper! If you have the storage space, go ahead and get 2 Kodak photo paper packs, and you'll basically get everything free after tax and rebate (note: you're only going to save $$ if you actually submit the rebate ;P).  If you decide to do the deal, you might go ahead and pick up the $0.01 items and the FREE after rebate items.  If you don't need them, there is a drop box at the front of the store for school supplies for low income children and I'm sure they'd love them!  Or, save them for Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes!  That's my plan!

Thrifty Thursday and Deal Idea!

Well, CVS disappointed my this weekend: not even one lil' freebie.  I went on Saturday because they had sent me a 5/25 coupon and I needed diapers.  I was hoping to hit that sweet spot on Saturday evening (there was a descent diaper deal "last week" and a good price on Zantac "this week").  But, I guess CVS has gotten wise to the issues streaming from running two sales at once because there was a sign on the door that they would no longer change over the sales on Saturday night.  Oh well.  I had a backup plan and got 2 packages of diapers and 4-12 packs of coke for $20 total and I'll save my extrabucks for the awesome Schick deal next week. 

Here is my haul from Weis (yes, I did just call it a haul--I guess that makes me "extreme").  I got almost $100 worth of groceries for $50.  Some of the highlights of my trip were: $0.20 bagged salad, 24 jars of baby food for $6, half off feeding supplies, and 8 packs of Gatorade for $4 each (makes it $0.50 each).  I didn't make it to 50% this week, but I splurged on full price organic apples (I'm going to try making my own baby food) and O.J.(a necessity when I'm sick).

CVS has a GREAT deal this coming week and the best news is: you don't need newspapers! 

The deal is: when you buy $20 worth of products (BEFORE coupons), you get 10 ExtraBucks.  If you've been saving your inserts like me, I have a great deal idea for you:

Buy:

(1) Schick slim triple disposable for her ($8.39)

(1) Schick Slim Twin Disposable (7.99)

(1) Skintimate cream shave (3.99)

(note, these are the "shelf prices" at my store--your store may have slightly different ones, but you want to hit $20 according to the shelf price at your store)

Use:

(1) BOGO Schick disposable razor (Smart Source 6/26) (will take off $7.99)

(1) $1.50/1 Skintimate cream shave (printable)

(2) $2/1 CVS coupon for any Schick disposable razor (printable) (It says ENERGIZER in red)

Total due:

$6.88

Get back:

10 ECBs

It's like getting paid $3 to take their razors!!

If you haven't been saving coupons, you can still get free razors.  Here's how:

Buy:

(2) Schick Xtreme3 disposable razors ($8.49)

(1) Skintimate cream shave ($3.99)

Use:

(2) $3/1 Schick Xtreme3 disposable coupons (you have to "like" them on Facebook) (printable)

(1) $1.50/1 Skintimate cream shave (printable)

(2) $2/1 CVS coupon for any disposable razor (printable) (It says ENERGIZER in red)

Due:

$9.47

Get Back:

10 ECBs

Schweet!  I love making money on stuff I need!  I'm also hoping to work some diapers into the mix.  I'm pretty certain that CVS is going to be decimated by the time I get there on Sunday evening, but that's okay, CVS's rain check policy is awesome, so, now or later, it's a great deal!  There are actually a number of great deals at CVS this week.  Check out Southern Savers for great coupon match ups.