Living better, spending less.
I used two $5/$20 at Rite Aid yesterday, plus a coupon for a free Bayer Contour (to get my total up over $20) to purchase two brand new books by two of my favorite authors for $3.17 each. I paid with a $25 gift card that I got for free.
There are things other than health and beauty and overpriced junk foods at drugstores, you know. :)
The funny thing is that before I went shopping yesterday, I spent an hour sorting books in the sunroom. We switched our bedroom with Evelyn’s and in our new room, we don’t have a logical place for the bookcase that used to be in there. We were trying to figure out where to put it and couldn’t come up with a good place for it–that’s how it ended up in our room to begin with. So, I suggested that we consolidate our books until they fit on two bookcases instead of three instead, and move the third bookcase to the basement and use it for general storage. Most of these books won’t get read again anyway, so why are we holding on to them? So I spent the morning looking at my books and thinking, “Can I justify the space in my home for this book?” and the afternoon buying two new books. :)
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Blink for their eye drops. Blink has had several different promotions over the last couple of years that made them free, so I had a bottle in my storage area but had never tried them. I woke up with a terrible eye irritation. I’ve been using Visine and eye washes and stuff all morning, and while the Visine helped a little bit, it stung like crazy and then finally I noticed that it was expired. (Not sure if expiration dates on eye drops are that important? But I don’t know for sure.) Anyway, I happened to see a bottle of Blink sitting around a little while later and thought I’d try it and it has helped IMMENSELY. My eye feels better than it’s felt all day. So, YAY BLINK. And also, I would like to note that people used to ask me all the time why stores/companies do these sales that involve giving their product away for free. This is why. If this drop helped my eye this much, I would pay for it gladly. If I run out and I am buying more eye drops, I will remember this and I will purchase accordingly.
With a coupon, of course. I may have suddenly switched brand loyalties but I haven’t, you know, become a different person. ;)
Now, my apologies to those certain persons who have nagged me about not updating this blog. It has occured to me, now that Evelyn is no longer napping and I don’t really have a good chunk of time in the afternoon to blog, that I don’t really enjoy making certain kinds of posts. Although I’m thankful to the bloggers who do post daily deals and coupon matchups, I don’t like committing to that sort of posting schedule, and I don’t like feeling like I am just reposting every single thing I see online. And, I do enjoy posting photos of my shopping trips, but I would enjoy it MUCH more if I didn’t feel like I should do it every time. I don’t know, those things sort of stress me out and then I don’t post anything.
So, maybe now I will feel less stress about posting, now that I have officially given up on those things. I mean, I wasn’t DOING them already so there’s no reason to feel guilty. :)
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!
Jasmine
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:08 am
I think these are some of the reasons I like your blog so much. I can get coupon match-ups in several other places, so there’s no need for that (and I don’t do those on my blog either, for the same reason). I like just seeing your shopping trips and how you use your coupon IQ ( I just made that term up, haha) to “beat the system”. And I also like how your blog is less robotic than some others. I feel like it is a little more personal and that adds a different dimension that makes it more enjoyable.
Just sayin.
Even though you don’t post 200 times a day, your blog is still one of my faves (and maybe that is actually part of the reason why).
Kisha
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:39 am
Thank you so much! That was the nicest comment ever. :) I’m glad you agree with me. The coupon matchups are great but how many places do you really need to see them? ;) One of the biggest problems that I personally have with the coupon blog community as a whole is that there is so little personality in the posts of some of them. I’ve been reading some blogs for years now and I barely know anything about them even though they post twelve times per day. Anyway, thanks for making me start my day with a smile!
p.s. Sorry if you get this more than once. It’s giving me problems this morning. :)