Quality time with Qs

Since I had fever last time and when I cough I sound like I have the croup, I decided to stay home from my part time job today and spend some quality time with my Qs (short for coupons of course). I actually slept until 10 this morning. I was up part of the night feeling bad, so I guess I was catching up. I'm feeling better right now and I have the tv on Lifetime. I'm sorting through my coupon bag and getting organized for the new year. There are loads of coupons expiring today!

feelin yucky

I'm under the weather and not doin any shopping today-maybe tomorrow I can get to CVS and Walgreens.

Lookin at 2010

What a day I had yesterday.
I received a very sad e-mail yesterday from an old friend's husband from high school. My friend had passed away from cancer. I'm no spring chicken, but 53 is just too young! She battled her cancer for 4 years. I'm just so saddened by this news.

After grabbing a deal at Walgreens, I witnessed a robbery at a neighborhood gas station yesterday. I saw 2 young men carrying several large boxes of beer and putting them in a car. As they were getting in the car, the cashier was screaming into the speaker near the gas tank, get the license plates, get the license plates. So I started chanting the license plate number and was able to give the number to the cashier so he could call in the report. I can't tell you the color or type of car, but I know the license plate number!

Then, I made a boat load of King Ranch Chicken and pinto beans for kids and grandkids. I witnessed another robbery-Jeri's convenience store has been "robbed" (ha ha- the kids had a shopping spree-leaving with bags and boxes filled) and my step daughter donated a shelf for the convenience store! We had some serious Wii competitions going on-it was really a great night!

2010 is just a couple of days away and it's time reflect.
1. We would really like to do some serious saving this year. Put some money away for taxes etc.
2. We would like to pay off some of our pesky bills.
3. We need to take better care of our health.

Bussssssy week

This last week has been soo busy! I was able to snag 7 tubes of revlon lipstick at CVS!! I didn't have any manu. coupons, so I burned some EBs. It's been a long, long time since I bought some good lipstick for myself. Merry Christmas to ME!

We had a spectular Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We had all our children and grandchildren with us. It's a night we'll never forget. I have lots of food left over and I'm giving away and freezing so we don't waste anything.

I'm posting CVS and Walgreen's deals for this week in a bit.
CVS

Walgreen's 15% off coupon

Don't forget to take advantage of this coupon today!!

Wonderful Company Christmas Present

My husband brought home his Christmas present from the non-profit organization he works for-a Christmas dinner! The company had decided that instead of a company party, they would provide a Christmas dinner for each employee.
Inside an HEB re-usable bag was a $25 ham, 5 pounds of potatoes, gravy mix, frozen green beans, large HEB brand cheese product (like Velveeta), bag of tortilla chips, Bratwurst sausage, breakfast sausage, and a 12 pack of HEB brand soda. Isn't that thoughtful?
I have a turkey in the freezer from Thanksgiving, so our Christmas Eve feast is just about complete! We will have about 17 people over Christmas Eve. We are very excited to have all the kids and grandkids with us for Christmas Eve dinner.

Trying to be frugal in Vegas pt. 2

We did not rent a car this trip. We have either walked or ridden the free shuttle to Harrah's. I've put a ton of steps on my Healthmiles pedometer. This will eventually earn me some money.

We ate again for free today. The buffet at Harrah's is really good and with coupons we got in the mail and some vouchers we got at a presentation, we got 2 very nice meals for $0. With my coupon/frugal mentality, I knew with our combo of coupons and vouchers we could probably eat for cheap/free. Today. we ate a late lunch/early dinner (before 3:00) so we could take advantage of the lunch prices.

I packed some coffee, creamer, sweetener, individual lemonade crystal lite and peach tea, and assorted snacks. This has really come in handy for snacking after we get back to our suite. I make us some lemonade and we break open a snack.

Tonight we saw our free show, V. It was great. It was a variety show and we loved it (especially because it was free). We won a little today in the casino, so we will not be going home with $0.

We're leaving early in the morning. I'm glad-less time to lose in the casino. We are both bone tired.

Trying to be Frugal in Vegas

We are having a blast in Vegas.....we've eaten every meal for free and have used comps to do some gambling. We will see a free show tomorrow called V. We even went to Walgreens and got some almost free batteries for the camera using a $5 holiday RR. We didn't rent a car this time, so we've done a heck of alot of walking and used a free shuttle from the Wyndham.

Dinner this week was a breeze

Since I pre-cooked our chicken and ground beef on Sunday, our dinners were a breeze this week.
We had Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread on Monday.
We had King Ranch Chicken on Tuesday.
We had Chicken Pot Pie on Wednesday.
We had Chili Skillet Bake on Thursday.
Tonight was our dinner on Walgreens night-Red Baron Frozen Pepperoni Pizza.
I still have 1 pkg of cooked ground beef and 2 pks of patties for hamburgers or hamburger steaks left for next week.
It has been sooooo chilly in warm San Antonio this week. It was so nice to have a warm meal every night-with very little stress or energy. I'm catchin' on to this cook ahead stuff.

All is a good deal at Walgreens this week

All laundry detergent is 2/$7 this week and there is a $2 Q from the 12/6 RP. This makes each bottle $1.50. You can use some holiday RRs to pay or even make a little Walgreens money by buying 4 All with the money maker Triaminic deal. I figured if you buy 4 All, 2 Triaminic, a $2 RR item and some cheap fillers= $26 + change, you can get a sweet deal. Use 4 $2 All Qs, use 2 $2 Triaminic Qs, use the $2 healthy savings booklet Q= $16 in Qs, pay with $10 in RRs +change ( don't use any holiday RRs or Triaminic RRs or the same $2RR) and get back $12 in RR---$5RR, $2RR, and a $5 holiday RR. This can also be done with Snuggle fabric softener, if you can find any-or a combo of All and Snuggle!! We can be set with laundry detergent for the year ( if you have plenty of Qs and RRs)

Rolling Holiday RR's to regular RR's

I know that if we use the special $5 holiday RR in a transaction totaling $25 that we will not get another $5 holiday RR, so I came up with a little scheme-buy something with the $5 holiday RR that will generate a regular RR. I bought a Just for men at $6.99 and a $ .39 Christmas candy. I used the $5 holiday RR and a $2 Goody RR and a some change and got back a $7 RR for the Just for men. Now I can use this RR to do another $25 deal that will generate a $5 holiday RR.

Today I bought an adorable tree skirt for 33% off-it was still about $10, but I used RRs. I really wanted this tree skirt for the new tree I bought a couple of weeks at Walgreens for 1/2 price!

Walgreens 4 day sale!

I am taking advantage of the 4 day sale-buy $25 and get a $5 holiday RR-$25 before Qs and RRs! Just need to make sure your subtotal is over $25. I actually have more than $100 in RRs counting the $5 holiday RRs!! I bought my DarlinDan a Jupiter Jack on sale for $9.99 with RRs!!
I'm starting to call RRs my Walgreens money!

So how was the weekend?

Why did I wake up with another weekend hangover ;) I asked myself this question when a co-worker asked me how I was doing and how was my weekend..............
Saturday-
1. Made breakfast
2.worked for 3 hours at part time job
3. went to 6 Walgreens and 1 Walmart
4.did 3 loads of laundry
5. made dinner
6.got coupons ready for Sunday

Sunday
1. Shopped at 2 CVS
2. Numerous Walgreens-got 10 Sunday papers for under $2
3. Shopped at Kohl's with Amanda-got NICE cake pans with Kohl'sKAsh
4. made lunch
5. back to CVS with Amanda
5. back to Walgreens
6. Defrosted freezer
7. made dinner-hamburgers
8. boiled chicken breasts for the weeks casserole and soup
9. fried up ground beef-divided it up and put in freezer
10. cleaned up the kitchen
12. cleaned out fridge

Wow-guess I need to get back to work to get some rest!

How I am getting my Sunday papers for very little OOP today at Walgreens

I decided that I would use my moneymaker Triaminic Thin Strips deal to get my Sunday papers for almost free! Here's what I did- I bought 2 Triaminc Thin Strips, 2 Sunday papers, 2 Chinet 25 pack paper plates, 1 pk. of frozen sausage patties, and a cheap filler, such as $ .39 Christmas items, or $ .59 can of pork and beans (beans and weenies are a blast from the past!).

I paid with 3 x $2 RRs ( I have a boat load of $2 RRs-Goody, Dentek, SC Johson) and $ .37! I got back a $5 RR. ( I lose $1 on RR for each purchase-but will make this up very easily this week)

Buy 2 Triaminic 2/$10

1 frozen brkfast sausage $ .99

2 chinet plates 2.50each = $5.00

1 winterball $ .99

2 SA Express News $2.00 = $4.00

=$20.98

-2/$1 Q for Chinet plate

-2/$3 Triaminic strips Q

-$4 in Wags Q for Triaminic

-$2.01 in ad Q for Chinet

-$ .61 in ad for Winterball

- 3 x $2 RRs

= $ .37OOP

get back $5RR......rinsed and repeated until I got my 10 papers! Done 5 times, I lose $5 in RRs and pay $1.85OOP-a heck of a lot better than $20 cash for 10 Sunday papers!

Saturday shopping and my favs for next week

We had quite a cold spell in good old San Antonio and that put a crimp in my frugaling this week. I went out this afternoon-after we finally got up over 32 degrees and I guess all the Ecotrin on sale at Walgreens had been bought! I had a VERY hard time finding any more Acai (I really wanted to gain some mm RRs on this deal) and some stores were sold out of Goody sale items. My darlin Dan doesn't like me to be out after dark- and it's getting dark soooo early these days, so I had to hurry. Anyway, I did all the damage I could do--and got some more groceries at WAGs too. I am all stocked up on cheese, Quaker Oatmeal pancake mix, frozen pizza (I found a WAGs that still offered them at $1.99), and Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits.

I'm now at my dining room table getting ready for next week. I will be out early tomorrow-CVS is my target.

CVS deals 12/6/-12/12
1. Contour Breeze $14.99 get $5 EB Limit1
10/25/09 RP Q
2. Emergen C $3.99 get $3.99EB Limit 1
3. Merrybrite mini ornaments $1.99 get $1.99 EB Limit2
4. Merrybrite Santa hat $3.99 get $3.99EB Limit2
5.Zantac $8.99 get $8.99EB Limit1
11/15 SS Q $1
6. Essence of Beauty product $4.99 get $4EB Limit2
7. Shave gel $1.99
$1 P & G Q 11/29 and $1/1 Q from CVS flu coupon booklet

Walgreens deals 12/6-12/12
I'm going for the Triaminic thin strips! $5 MM
Buy 2 packs of thin strips 2/$10
use 2 $3/1 Q from 12/6SS (I hope we get this Q)
use $2/1 Q from Walgreens Healthy Savings booklet
pay $0 and get back $5 RR

I plan to get the Chinet paper plates $2.99 BOGO
use 2 $1/1 Q from 11/22SS
$ .99 for 2 after q's

THEN ON 12/9-12/12 I will get these goodies:

1. Just for men Touch of gray $6.99 get $7 RR
2. Neutrogena Men's skincare $4.99 get $5RR
3.Renu multipurpose plus solution $9.99 get $10RR
4.Stayfree $1.99 get $2RR
5.Con Air brushes or Scunchi hair accessories $2 get $2RR
6. Sim u Dent 100 pk $2 get $2RR
and take advantage of the get $5RR wyb $25!

This time next week, I'll be in VEGAS!

Walgreens Acai Deal

This package works for the current Acai deal at Walgreens-and each box has a $3 coupon inside!!
This deal is pay $4 get $4RR-it is already free-use $3 off coupon and make some money!!

Walgreens 4 day sale

I went to Walgreens to take advantage of the 4 day sale starting today. I was able to get the Natrol Acai (used $3 off coupon), Goody ouchless hair elastics, Dentek Dental Care, and Soft and Beautiful Relaxer kit. I also did the 3 coke products deal and it is not working properly. The manager had to wrestle with the RR machine and finally just printed out another Goody RR for me. I also bought some printer ink on sale for $14.99-not a bad price. Since I grab so many hot deals from Walgreens, I decided to actually pay for my ink!

Last night I got up the nerve to try the Olay deal-It worked for me, but I know some cashiers/managers/etc. could get strick with this one. Wags is offering a free Olay in Shower Body lotion with purchase of Olay Quench Body lotion this week. There is a BOGO coupon in the P&G insert from Sunday for buy any Olay Body Wash and get a Free Olay body lotion. I bought all 3 items, got the in shower body lotion and Quench body lotion free. I paid $2.99 for the small Olay Body wash-it is on special for $2.99!
It isn't free, but it is a great deal.

Free Aveeno Tote Bag ($8 value)

Free Aveeno Tote Bag ($8 value)
Common Sense with Money has this on her blog. I already signed up for one. It's super easy!

ordering inserts

I've started ordering inserts from Coupons and Things when there is only 1 insert in the Sunday paper. This service is super fast. I ordered my inserts on Monday and got them in the mail on Tuesday!! When there is only 1 insert I feel this is the way to go-it's cheaper than buying 10 or more Sunday papers at $2 each. Thanks DeDe for being sooooooooooo quick!