Scattered thoughts

I tell you people, there are just too many deals out there for me to write them all out for you! I'm just not as good as my fave coupon bloggers. Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to doing some deals at Rite Aide and a few at Target. The LA Times is such a lovely paper for having Target coupons mixed right in with their manufacturer's coupons! My local paper looks lame next to the stuff I get from the Times. Thanks to a friend for that tip!
Also, thanks to my "Coupon Sharers"! I have 3-5 copies of most coupons in my binder. If it wasn't for you I would not have near as many jars of Skippy and Ragu, and certainly not the stash of shampoo and conditioner in my cabinets!

HG had a birthday this week, so he is treating himself to a much coveted massage at the chiropractor's office. Lucky duck.
Tomorrow marks our one month anniversary of being debt-free. Yes, we still like it. In fact we liked it even more today when the title for our car arrived in the mail! If you haven't already, I suggest you try it. Being, debt-free, that is. Oh, and carry cash too. I've found I really like that.

The vote is in, and you're ready for a change. As soon as I'm sure what to change it to, this blog will appear with it's new look for Baby Step 3. Stay tuned.

So you want free food at Red Robin too...

Ok, so about the free food at Red Robin we got a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't supposed to be free, but we did have a $3/off coupon. I'll explain.
When you sign up on Red Robin's eClub, you will receive a free burger/entree for your birthday. But you also get other coupons in your email. Hegazelle received one for $3/off any entree. So we went there for dinner and presented the coupon with our cash when the bill came. The waitress took it in the back and didn't read the coupon. Apparently it looks much like the free burger birthday coupon, so she just assumed that's what it was and brought our money back to us. HG went to find her and explained that the coupon was only for $3/off, and that his birthday was not until the end of August. We waited at the table for our change. Pretty soon she came back and said since HG was honest about the situation his meal would be free! We still get to come back for HG's birthday for another free meal.
While you aren't likely to get two free meals like we did, you can get one free and other great coupons. Click here to sign up.

Rite Aid Deals

I did a few deals tonight at Rite Aid. I think this trip was more satisfying because I actually discovered the deals at the store myself, rather than having read them on my favorite coupon blogs beforehand. If you're a beginner, this week is a great week to try your hand at getting some free stuff at Rite Aid. Last Sunday's ad (which you can pick up in-store until 8/9) spells out exactly which items you can get free after rebates, coupons, etc.
Here are the deals I chose to do tonight:

• Pledge Duster Refills (not pictured) and Pledge Duster Starter Kit, $2.99 each. -$3/off coupon (came in the mail with a Pledge sample I ordered online) and -$2.00 SCR (Single Check Rebate) Total= $1.00 for both.
• Old Spice High Endurance Razors, $3.99. -$3.99 SCR Total= FREE
• Old Spice Shaving Cream, $ .99. -$ .99/off peelie (it was on the razors) Total= FREE
• Gillette Fusion Razor + Bonus Fusion Shave Gel, $9.00. -$4.00/off from 8/3 P&G Saver and -$5.00 SCR Total= FREE
• Gillette Men's Shampoo, $4.49. -$1.00/off from 8/3 P&G Saver and -$3.49 SCR Total=FREE
• Infusium 23 Shampoo, $5.99. -$3.00/off from 8/3 P&G Saver and -$1.99 SCR Total= $1.00
• ReNu MultiPlus Solution Twin Pack, $9.99. -$1.00/off (printable coupon) and -$9.99 SCR Total= FREE + $1.00 overage!

There were several other deals available that I didn't do, many of which were free after SCR. If you give it a try, let me know how it works out for you!

Want to see more Drugstore Savings? Visit the "Cent"sible Sawyer's Drugstore Divas.

I still like it

It's been nearly two weeks and I have decided that I still like being debt-free. It seems as though a worldwide memo went out to all the credit card spammers because since the day after we paid off the car I've received about 4 credit card offers by email each day. It's ever so annoying. One thing I have found since we've become debt-free except for the house- I'm suddenly greatly irritated by our mortgage. The thought that it may be ten years before the debt on our home is paid off seems like an eternity. I'll be nearly 38 years old by then! Yeah, that seems like forever from now.

On another note, I've accumulated a nice little stash of coupons. I have tried a couple different methods for organizing them, but as my stash has grown the methods I have used made it difficult to find coupons quickly. This past week I reorganized them for what I hope is the last time. Instead of organizing them by categories, they are now organized alphabetically. And I grew out of the little expandable coupon file in my purse. They're now easily viewed in a binder with plastic baseball card protectors. So far I like it pretty well. All the blogs I read about couponing have different organizing methods, so it seems like you just try stuff 'till one works for you. Here's a couple blurry photos I took with my phone of my binder:

Front

Inside

Coupon Beggar (again)

Unless you're using them (of course) may I have your coupons from Sunday's paper?

Walmart Deals

While not all of my deals were "killer deals", there were enough of them to satisfy me and give me some overage to use on some things I actually needed. The items I needed were hairspray, shampoo, conditioner, soap and Lactaid. I purchased these items and threw in plenty of nearly free items and free items + overage. I'm not sure I can spell it all out as well as some of my favorite couponing blogs, but I'll try to share my deals (if no one else cares I know Becky does!)

• Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal- $1.98+ $2 off coupon= Free + 2 cents overage

• Planters Peanuts- these were $2.68. Planters has a lovely coupon for $3 off their products when you buy any 3 Kraft, Nabisco or Oscar Meyer products. So I bought 3 packs of Kool-Aid (per can of peanuts) for .20/each making each can of peanuts only .28/each.
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• Gold Bond Lotion (trial size)- $ .97+ $1 off coupon= Free + 3 cents overage
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• Post It Page Markers- 2 @ $1.24/ea + $3.00 off 2 coupon= Free + 52 cents overage
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• Zantac- $3.98+ $5.00 off coupon= Free + $1.02 overage
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• Lactaid- $3.47 + $1.50 off coupon= $1.97
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• Herbal Essence Shampoo and Conditioner- 2 @ $2.94/ea + $3.00 off 2 coupon= $2.88 total for both plus a free manicure or pedicure (see specially marked bottles)
  
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• Aussie Hairsprays- 2 @ $2.94/ea + $2.00 off 2 coupon = $3.88 total for both
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• Olay bar soap- $2.36 + $1.50 off coupon= .86
  

My total before coupons: $39.11
Total After Coupons: $11.11

Peanuts anyone?

Coupon Madness

Ok, so for about a week and a half now I've seriously taken up my new hobby- couponing. With the help of some super frugal bloggers and their readers who share their deals, I'm getting a ton of free and nearly free items. Some of the ones I frequent are:

• The "Cent"sible Sawyer
• Mommy Making Money
• Money Saving Mom
• Centsible Shopper
• Mommy Snacks

I'm not going to turn this blog into a coupon/super-duper deals blog- these folks do a great job of that already. But since it's so new to me and is actually apart of my journey to financial peace, I'm sharing some of my early bargains with you.
I made the rounds tonight- Walgreens, Target and Walmart. Let me tell you, we've got cereal coming out our ears now. Hegazelle joked that we should invite people over for cereal sometime.

Here's what I scored at Walgreens:

• A rain check for $.99 Band Aids from last week along with a $ .75/off coupon= Band Aids for $ .24.
• General Mills Cereal, 3 for $7 this week plus you get $2 Register Rewards along with 2 $1/off coupons= cereal for $1/box.
• Aquafresh toothpaste, on sale this week for $ .99 paired with a $ .75/off coupon= toothpaste for $ .24.

And my Target deals:

• Kelloggs cereal, 5 for $11 this week plus you get a $5 Target Gift Card for buying 5 boxes, one of the boxes has a "Try It Free" manufacturers rebate, along with 2 $1/off coupons= $ .36/box. SWEET!
• Zyrtec Allergy medicine (children's chewables) are $5.49, paired with a $1/off Target store coupon and a $5.00/off manufacturers coupon= FREE+ $ .51 overage! (Target doesn't usually do overage, but for some reason it worked this time.)
• Clean & Clear trial size cleanser is $ .97 paired with my $2.00/off manufacturers coupon= FREE (no overage, she adjusted the coupon down.)
• Colgate Total Advanced Toothpaste is $2.79, paired with a $1/off Target store coupon and a $1.50/off manufacturers coupon= toothpaste for $ .29.

I had other coupons and other items, but the cashier was so frazzled and totally unaware that it was indeed legit to use a store coupon in conjunction with a manufacturers coupon, that I just took those items out and took the corresponding coupons back. I had seven coupons and it TOTALLY messed her up. Had to call her supervisor over for help and everything. It's sort of a drag to have to inform poorly trained employees of their stores coupon policy. Walmart is MUCH easier when it comes to coupons. Which brings me to my...

Walmart Deals:

• $3.00/off any two Post-it flags- found 2 items for $.97/each= FREE+ $1.06 overage
• V8 Fusion @ $2.98 paired with my $2/off coupon= $.98, but FREE with my overage from the Post-it notes!

So the final tally- I got all these goodies for $5.57! I'm sure you understand now why this has become my new hobby! Let me know if you go for any of these deals...once you try it, I'll bet you can't stop!

8 boxes of dirt cheap cereal



The rest of my freebies and dirt cheap loot