One Man's Trash

I told my husband awhile ago that I was thinking about getting our daughter a play kitchen either for her birthday or Christmas. So we've been checking them out in the stores, comparing prices and so forth. They are a bit pricey so we hadn't purchased one yet. Well, the other day I was very surprised when he came home with one. He said he saw it out in the trash when he was driving by so he stopped to check it out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, we just need to clean it up. I have seen kitchens in worse shape at yard sales. It just completely amazes me that someone would throw away a perfectly good kitchen play set. Haven't these people heard of craigslist or even Salvation Army?

Have you ever gotten something you wanted this way? I had heard stories from people before about situations like this, but this is the first time I've experienced it. Do you ever throw away something that is in perfectly good shape just because you don't want it anymore?

I hate the idea of throwing away something that is in perfectly good condition. So we always try to pass it on to someone who can use it, list it on craigslist or donate it. How do you get rid of the items you no longer need or want?

Monday Shopping

Rite Aid had some pretty good deals for shampoo that's free after rebates this week. One of the items is only on rebate through tomorrow so I decided to head over there tonight. Here what I got:

Transaction 1:
Natural Instincts Hair Color $5.99
Head & Shoulders Shampoo $8.00 (2 * $4.00)
Aqua Fresh Advanced Toothpaste $2.49
Secret Flawless Deodorant $3.99
Samy iStyle Mousse $4.49

Coupons
Hair Color ($4.00)
Head & Shoulders ($4.00) buy 1 get 1 free
Secret ($1.00)

Total OOP $16.98

Rebates:
Natural Instincts $1.99
Head & Shoulders $4.00
Aqua Fresh $2.49
Secret $2.00
Samy iStyle $4.49
Total Rebates Pending: $14.98

So once I get my rebate back, all of this will have only cost me $2.00

Transaction #2 at Rite Aid
Pantene Beautiful Lengths shampoo & conditioner $6.00
Coupon ($1.50)
Total OOP $4.86
Rebate pending $1.50
Net cost will be $3.36
This one would have been a much better transaction if I had only gotten the shampoo, but I wound up getting both because the clerk was nice enough to go in the back and get these for me. She said the truck had just dropped them off so none of them were out yet. I didn't want to upset her after she was nice enough to help me. I may be able to use her help again in the future.

Walgreens:
Trash Bags $3.50
Baby Food $1.69
M&Ms $1.49
WAG Calcium Chewies $5.99
Gillette Shave Gel $2.00
Coupons:
WAG Coupon for Shave Gel ($1.00)
Manuf. coupon for Shave Gel ($1.00)
Redeemed Register Rewards ($5.00)
Total OOP: $8.09
Rebate Pending: $6.59 (for the WAG chewies)

This transaction would have been much better if my husband hadn't added the m&ms while I was checking out. Also, we added the baby food because we weren't heading right back home and I didn't have a jar of baby food in my bag like I thought. My daughter was hungry and I had to feed her. So this one was just bad planning on my part. At least I did get some free shave gel.

Planning Shopping Trips

I find that I do much better with saving money when I take the time to plan out my shopping trips. In the area where I live, the grocery ads are delivered on Thursday evening and all the other ads and coupon inserts are in the Sunday paper.

For all of my general, non grocery shopping trips, I like to plan them on Saturday night. On Saturday I go out and get the early edition of the Sunday paper. After I get my daughter to bed Saturday night I go through the paper and pull out all the coupon inserts and ads that I'm interested in. I like to go through the coupon inserts first and cut out all the coupons I'm interested in. While I'm cutting the coupons I sort them into one pile for me and one pile for the ones I'm giving away. My reasoning for looking at the coupons first is so that I know what coupons I have when I'm looking at the ads and will know if it's a good deal or not. When I look at the ads first I find myself having to flip back and try to find which ad had that good price when I find a good coupon to go with it.

Once all of my coupons are clipped, I start going through the sales papers. I like to look at the drug store ads first since they seem to give the better deals. Only then to I look at the Target ad. While I'm looking at the ad I write up a list of everything that I might want from that store and note if I also have a coupon. Once I have my lists for all the stores I go back and edit them figuring out which one has the best deal for which product.

When my final list is ready I pull the coupons that correspond with that sale and create one envelope for each store. Then I write my list on the envelope. I find that it's so much easier to have my list and coupons together like that to reference while I'm walking around the store.The envelopes are also convenient to keep in your purse.

Of course I also carry my whole coupon file with me. Sometimes it stays in the car and sometimes I take it in with me. It all depends on if I have the time to look around for clearance or other non-advertised bargains on that trip. I plan to go into more detail on my coupon files and how I use them in a future post.

For the grocery ads, I like to look through them either Thursday night or Friday night, depending on how late they are delivered on Thursday. I always start with the ad for the store where I do the bulk of my grocery shopping. While I'm going through the ad I try to write my list and plan my menus for the week. Once that's done, I flip through the other grocery ads to see if they have any specials worth stopping there for. These lists may get revised once I get my coupons Saturday night, but not always.

My explanation probably makes my system seem more complicated then it really is. Do you have a system that works for you? I'm curious how many people have a system and how many people just wing it.

Sunday Shopping

Before the trip to the mall I mentioned in my previous post, I also did quick shopping trips to Target and CVS. Here's what I got:

Target:
2 Butt Paste trial size $1.98
1 Oral B Floss trial size $0.97
1 Gillette Clinical Deodorant on clearance $6.78
2 Fusion Razors $15.98
1 Pepsi $1.29

Coupons:
2 * $4.00 off Fusion razor ($8.00)
2 * $1.00 off any Butt Paste ($2.00)
1 * $1.00 off any Oral B Floss ($1.00)
1 * $2.00 off Gillette Clinical Deodorant ($2.00)

Total Out of Pocket $14.91 (includes sales tax)

I also got a $10.00 gift card for purchasing the two Fusion razors.
The trial size butt paste will be great for my daughter's diaper bag, especially since it was free. The floss was also free. I have another of the floss coupons so I will be using that when I go back to redeem my gift card. It also printed out a Target coupon for $0.75 off Charmin bath tissue with my receipt.

CVS Trip:
2 Chex Mix $2.00
4 Dawn Dish Soap $4.00 ($1.00 ECB when you buy 2)
2 Listerine Kids Rinse $6.98 (free after ECB this month)

Coupons:
2 * $1.00 off Chex Mix ($2.00)
4 * $0.20 off Dawn dish soap ($0.80)
2 * $1.00 off Listerine rinse ($2.00)

ECB used $4.99
Total Out of Pocket $3.19
ECB Earned $8.98

I love it when I am able to use a coupon on an item that is already free after ECB.

FYI, the Chex Mix coupons came from coupons.com and I think the Listerine and Butt Paste coupons did too. The Dawn, Oral B floss and Fusion razor coupons were in today's P&G Super Saver. I've had the Gillette coupon for awhile so I don't remember where I got it, but there was one for $1.00 in today's P&G Super Saver insert.

A Cheap Trip to the Mall

In the mail Friday I got one of Penny's $10 off a $10 or more purchase coupons. It was valid starting today so we headed over there to use it. I absolutely love these coupons. This time we got a shirt and a onesie for my daughter. The onesie was on clearance and the shirt was 50% off. I refuse to pay full price for baby clothes even when I have a coupon. My total out of pocket for these items was $1.05. Not too bad. I love shopping at Penny's because they have some great clearance items and sales, even without these coupons.

Our second stop at the mall was Macy's where I used my coupon to pick up some free panties. That was all we got there today. Click here for your coupon. It's only good through Friday so don't wait.

The only other things we picked up while we were at the mall was a shirt for my daughter and a stuffed shark for my dog from Dollar Tree. I have never bought baby clothes there before so we'll see how this holds up.

Total spent at the mall today was $3.17 for five items.

May Monthly Summary

I have been keeping a spreadsheet listing all of my expenditures and savings for the last few weeks. I just completed it for May and I am completely surprised at how much I spent. My savings is currently at 48%, but my spending is still too high. So for June I am going to work on getting my out of pocket expenditures down. I need to be much more careful in the future. Since I was $200 over budget this month, I would like to make that up in June.

Do you track your spending and savings? Do you find that you ever spend more then you anticipated in your excitement over a deal? I'm taking this as a newbie mistake and I will work on improving my self control.

Since we are pretty much stocked up on everything I do not need to buy anything unless it is very cheap. I'm supposed to be spending less money, not more. I'll console myself with the realization that half of my overage was for formula which is an expense we didn't really have before. Now we have enough to last her through the summer as long as I can keep nursing as much as I am now. Formula is just crazy expensive even when it's on sale.

Frugal Friday

Last night was a pretty good night for us. I had my husband go use a $10 off of $30 coupon at Walgreens. Here is what he got:

2 WAG Formula $13.99 + $6.99 (They were buy 1 get 1 50% off)
2 SAMY Shampoo/Conditioner $11.00
Subtotal $31.98
$10 on $30 coupon
Total after sales tax $22.04
We also got a $5 register reward to use on our next purchase. Not bad for two containers of formula that we needed. The shampoo was just a bonus for me.

Our second stop of the night was at Safeway. They had some really good specials listed in their paper. Of course they didn't have any of them in stock and don't even carry some of the items. It was so bad there that I will never go to that Safeway again and I will be contacting their corporate offices about the experience.

The final stop for the evening was at Weis. I find this to be a much more pleasant store and with better prices in general. This is where we do the bulk of our grocery shopping. We didn't pick up much last night, but I did want to take advantage of their $2 off of milk deal when you buy 2 12 packs of Pop Tarts. Their milk was already on sale for $2.49 so we got a gallon of milk for $0.49 after buying the Pop Tarts which were on sale for 2 for $5.00. I think it's a great deal and it's even sweeter if you have coupons for pop tarts. Even if you don't do the pop tart deal, $2.49 for a gallon of milk is great.