Living better, spending less.
This is an absurd thing, but a few weeks ago, I made a new friend. At CVS. She had a baby and some coupons and so clearly, we had a lot in common! So I gave her my email address and it turns out we DO have a lot in common. It also turns out that scheduling things with small children is more difficult than one might expect, but we finally got a chance to go shopping together on Friday. We mainly hit up Kohl’s, but we also stopped in at Target, where I had a lot of fun.
I paid $8.58 for all of this stuff ($2.60 of which was tax.) The best part, though? I’ll submit my receipt, and the UPCs from all ten boxes of Pop-Tarts for the Kellogg’s Fuel for School rebate (link goes directly to .pdf rebate form), and get back $10 for a $1.42 profit.
The Elmo bubble thing was on clearance for $3.62 and I thought it was pretty cute so I bought it for her. Paid for by Kellogg’s, thank you very much!
The Sharpie highlighters, Nexcare bandages, sample-sized laundry detergents and first-aid kits were all free after coupon. My favorite deal, though, was the Bounty/Charmin thing. See those tubes just above the highlighters? Those are dorky little travel-sized toilet papers. They’re $1, which is really just another name for highway robbery, but I guess maybe they’ll be nice to have in the car. I had a $.25 coupon for ANY Charmin. Then, I had a $.25 coupon for ANY Bounty, and those paper towels are $.99. But the best part was that I had a stack of $1.50 Target coupons, good when you buy one Bounty and one Charmin. So, I bought $1 Charmin + $.99 Bounty = $1.99 cost for each set of Bounty + Charmin. Then, I used coupons for $1.50 + $.25 + $.25 = $2 savings… making them both free. Yay for free paper towels! (and dorky travel TP.)
(Sidenote, as I was making fun of the Charmin to my family later, I said, "who would BUY those??" And someone casually pointed out, "Well, YOU did." So, uh, yeah, I guess that answers my question alright.)
When I became a stay-at-home-mom, I promised I could save our family money by shopping sales and maybe even using a few coupons. I had no idea what I was getting into. These days, I am on a first-name basis with the cashiers at the local drugstores, I haven't paid for toothpaste or shampoo in over a year and I spend my free time here, helping others do the same. So please, make yourself at home while you learn how to save, and when to spend!
Helloheather
August 10th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
You should totally use those TPs for stocking stuffers. Ha ha!
Kisha
August 10th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I should! That may be very well what I do with them. I don’t know. I can’t imagine anyone buying them in a yard sale but then again, I can’t imagine anyone seriously buying them in the store, either, so what do I know? If nothing else, I guess I could just use them as free toilet paper..hehe.