Bloggy GiveAway Carnival!

Check it out! So many fun things you can win!

http://www.donttryit.com/bloggy_giveaways/

Have fun!

My loot so far....

2 trips to CVS already:

-2 ultra min diabetic monitors for my sis

-2 packs of trident

-1 pkg band-aids

-1 pkg neosporin

-2 lifesaver gummies bags

-cvs bandages

-cvs first aid tape

-revlon eye shadow

-----------------------------

Retail value=68.00

total OOP=7.53

ECBs earned=10.99

CVS Excitement

Fellow San Antonio-ians.....


DID YOU SEE IT? The $30 gift card for xferring a prescription in the newspaper today? Yipeee! I have a few I can transfer. I was so excited. (is that sad?--some people ski, some people sky dive, I CVS.......)

All Free and Clear

Hello there!

Wanted to put a remnder out there about ALL Detergent at CVS--it is BOGO through Saturday. You can score 2 32 load All Free and Clear detergents for $7.00 including tax.

We use this to wash baby Koala's clothes along with Dreft (when we can find it on sale). It seems to be gentler on his sensitive skin.

Happy Shopping!

Christmas in July--my favorite Christmas tool...

It is Toolin' Up Tuesday at Life as Mom, and this is my first time joining in....

http://www.lifeasmom.com/

She is having a fun Christmas in July series--including recipes and giveaways. Go check it out!

Christmas time=Cookie time at our house, and my favorite tool for cookies? My KitchenAid Mixer! It is a pricey tool, but has been well worth it.

What is your favorite Christmas tool?

More posts to come soon, I've been TAGGED by Janie at

http://memoriesathome.blogspot.com/

Check out her awesome site, and I'll post my response to the the "TAG" soon!

Homemade Baby!

Thanks to Mercedes at Common Sense with Money--

http://moneycommonsense.blogspot.com/

--for the tips on making your own baby food. We will be attempting this, and hope baby Koala enjoys the creations we make for him!

Check out her great tips here:

http://moneycommonsense.blogspot.com/2008/07/dos-and-donts-of-making-your-own-baby.html

CVS Preview!

Coupon Cravings has the CVS Preview posted here:

http://www.couponcravings.com/2008/07/cvs-weekly-preview-720-726.html

Some good deals for you Pepsi drinkers, no huge ECB earners this week....

Robeez Giveaway!

Check out this cool Robeez giveaway:

http://www.clementinenw.com/blog/

The shoes are adorable! Good luck.

Free Baby Food? A chance to win.....

Check out Tara's giveaway (not this Tara, another Tara:-) at: http://www.dealseekingmom.com/

She is giving away some Gerber Organics baby food!

Just post a comment for a chance to win.

Good luck!

Shampoo/Conditioner for $1.00

If any of you have the Herbal Essence Coupons--$3.00 off of 2 products--from a recent insert, it makes for a good deal at CVS this week.

Herbal Essence on sale 2/$5
-$3.00

$2.00 Out of Pocket=$1.00 per bottle

A great deal, although sadly no Extra Care Bucks are earned in this transaction.

Compliments=Coupons

I had some free coupons mailed to me recently, and just because I paid a compliment to a company!

My son is nursing and has a milk sensitivity. I've recently discovered Vanilla Rice Dream and love it! I sent an e-mail with my sincere appreciation to the company--I can have cereal and "chocolate milk" now:-) , and they responded by asking for my address to mail me some coupons.

I received 6 (.55 cent off) coupons. Yahoo!

Thanks Rice Dream!

Tracking Savings?

I'm looking for a good system to track my savings (especially CVS--factoring in the ECBs)....any suggestions? I'd love to have an organized way to see the dollars "grow" to keep me motivated with couponing!

I've created this blog to share deals, money saving ideas, links to my favorite sites and of course to share how little I spend for my "loot"! I've only been couponing since mid-May, and have learned SO much from the blogging community.

Happy Shopping!

CVS 7/13/08

2 neutrogena mascaras
1 mini airwick starter kit
1 herbal essence shampoo
1 herbal essence conditioner

AFTER coupons and ECBs:

paid .52 on gift card (free for xfer of RX)

got $8.00 in ECB Back:-)

It was a happy shopping trip (including drive time 20 minutes to save $35 plus on things we will definitely use)!

CVS Trip 7/6

4 Sure deodorants
1 CVS pantiliner
2 cans of pringles

After sales and coupons/extra care bucks:

total: .67

(spent 8.67 in ECB and on gift card, got 8 ECB back)

Getting my thoughts organized...

I've had a few requests for info on how to get started with couponing, so I am going to use this post as a way to try to get my thoughts organized on coming up with a "tutorial."

1) try to get rid of your brand loyalty--at least try "other" brands IF it is a good deal (obviously you won't want to compromise on all of this--like me, I'm not willing to change my AngelSoft TP:-)

2) get a CVS Extra care Card--more to come on this!

3) Subscribe to the newspaper (at least in SA this is much cheaper than buying each week--I'll be doing this for SUNDAY ONLY--and it is only $1 per week)

4) total up how much you currently spend on food and toiletries (groceries and eating out)--this was a HUGE expense for us, but we have significantly cut it back over the last month by using a list, CVSing, using coupons and shopping sales

5) start a spreadsheet to track how much you are saving--this is a good motivator to stick with it

6) buy only things you need, but not necessarily what you need right now--start a stockpile

7) I'm trying to figure out a way to better organize my coupons--I use envelopes now--more to come on this.

8) sign up for a "dummy" e-mail account i.e. hotmail so when you sign up for coupons you won't get spam to your normal account

9) when signing up for mailings or even coupons online, you can use "valued customer" as your name if you don't want to use your own

that's all for now...more later