Last Day...

Of unemployment that is! Tomorrow morning I will start my training at the bank and am very excited to have a reason to get dressed in the morning and to get out of this house. I don't have much planned for the day so it should be nice and relaxing.

I have already taken the weekly trip to the grocery store and I must say that I am very proud of myself! I only spend 65 bucks and I saved 39.09 which was a savings of around 35%! I shop at Brookshire's and they have really good loyalty savings, so if you shop the sales you can really save some money. My best purchase today was 4 for $12 coke zero and Oscar Meyer lunch meat 2 for $4 and I had 2 75 cent coupons! So I guess I am getting better at my coupon and deal shopping abilities!

Tonight we are having "Brinner" or breakfast for dinner for all of you non-Scrub watching readers! I will be using my favorite french toast recipe and I will definitely be sharing it tomorrow IF I remember to take pictures! I try my best to not post recipes without pictures, but sometimes we are just too hungry for me to take the time!

My First CVS Couponing Trip!

As I am sure many of you have read, CVS is one of the best places for a bargain shopper. As I am really starting to get into this couponing thing with all that spare time thanks to the job having been so slow and now my 1 week of unemployment before the part time job starts on the 12th, I decided to try it out today. Let's just say I was pretty impressed with myself!

So here is what I got and the breakdown...

Special K:
Regular Price $4.49
3/$10 price 3.34
Had $1 off coupon
PAID: $2.34

Frosted Flakes:
Regular Price $5.19
3/10 price 3.34 (*2 $6.64)
Had $1 off coupon
PAID: $5.64
Cereal:$10.00 and received $5 in Extra Care bucks so REALLY only paid $5!

Listerine Total Care:

Regular Price $6.49

CVS Price $3.49
Had $2 off coupon
PAID: $1.49 (That's almost 80% off!!!!)

Renu Contact Solution:
Regular Price: $8.99
CVS Price $7.99
Had $1 off coupon
PAID: $6.99 and received $2 in Extra Care bucks so REALLY only paid $4.99

Colgate Maxfresh Toothpaste:
Regular Price: $3.39
CVS Price $2.99 (*2) 5.98
Had $1 off 2 coupon
PAID: 4.98 and received $4 in Extra Care bucks so REALLY only paid $.98!

So my total after Coupons and discounts I paid $23.46 and received $11 in Extra Care bucks for my next purchase... If I had paid full price for each of the items, my total would have been $37.13 and no Free Money to spend on my next purchase! That is a 37% difference!

I have to say for my first try at CVS I did pretty good! Next time I hope to spend even less, but for 7 items that usually aren't too cheap, I must give myself a pat on the back!

You can read about other bloggers CVS shopping experiences here, here, and here! One day I will get that good!

Perfect Post...

Here is a perfect post to go along with my couponing post from one of my favorite bloggers, Erin at $5 Dinners

http://www.5dollardinners.com/2009/04/power-of-coupons.html

Ahh... Much Better

Well I have finally calmed down from my job search rant earlier and I guess today is getting better. As you can see I redid the background and header... AGAIN! I know you are probably tired of me changing it but I have too much free time on my hands with the job coming to an end and to make it worse, it is raining here so I really don't have much to do. Plus it has been ridiculoulsy quiet on the blog front today so I haven't had much reading material to tide me over! Where is everyone????

So a topic I have always been amazed by and have read so much about through blogging in the past few months is couponing and circular shopping. With the end of my job coming, we have really decided that we need to start doing some cutbacks and saving as much money as possible, and I have found that at the grocery store is the best way. I never thought I would be able to save as much as those hard-core couponers out there, but I am really starting to get amazed at how much I have been able to save. In the past two weeks by reviewing the circulars, shopping the deals (which sometimes means going to multiple stores), using my reward card and using coupons I saved $92.31. I have to say that is pretty impressive! If you also add in my 198 bucks I saved at JCPenney's this past weekend, that is almost 300 dollars that I have saved us in just a few weeks time! I am still working on stockpiling my coupons and also working on where to get the best deals on things, but it is getting easier for me to do and really doesn't take up much time at all!

If you want to read more about couponing you can go to www.couponmom.com, that is where I learned a lot about how to start. You can also go to this blog to find grocery deals in your area! I really recommend it to anyone out there that is trying to save money and has 15-20 minutes to spare in their week!

Oh Hobby Lobby... How I Love Thee!

So I am yet to express my dear love for Hobby Lobby. But yes... I love it and I am slightly obsessed. When we first moved to Tyler and needed some decor for them home, I think I spent at least 500 bucks there... yes, it is ridiculous! Oh and at Christmas time, we bought at least 250 bucks of Christmas decor. Now I never buy anything there at full price, always 50% off, so double those amounts and that is what I would have spent. Now why Hobby Lobby doesn't just cut their prices in half, as I seriously don't know anyone that does buy at full price, I just don't know!

Well I had to take a break for awhile from Hobby Lobby, but we had received a gift card for Christmas, so I figured it was time to go and spend it. So off we went on Saturday afternoon, and we probably spent at least an hour there! So here is what I purchased... 104 dollars worth of stuff at 50% off... so 52 bucks... with a 30 dollar gift card... got 6 things for $22... Wonderful!

Also, Hobby Lobby has the Wilton Cake Classes and I have been eyeing them for the past 9 months... so I have finally decided to sign up for Class 1 and it starts April 6th! So excited! I will definitely share about it once the classes start.

I have also become very fond of cooking with fresh herbs lately thanks to all of my Food Network watching. So yesterday, off we went to Lowe's to make a small herb garden and to add a little decoration to the front of our house (saying the people that lived here before us destroyed the bushes in front of our door).
So there is our new little garden. I now have fresh cilantro, sweet basil, mint, rosemary, Greek oregano, and sage. I can't wait to use them in my cooking! I tried to find purple and gold flowers for accent, but they didn't seem to have them, so I had to go with a pinkish-purple flower and a orange-gold one.

Other than those 2 outings, the rest of our weekend was very uneventful. Just church and some grocery shopping. I am trying to do my best to clip coupons and search for the sales, and I saved 25 dollars between Wal-mart and Brookshire's. Not bad for my first try!