Menu Plan Monday

This week, I continue to use up some of our stockpile to make sure we are getting good rotation, so this week we are eating what we have on hand (when we aren't out). I did do a quick grocery trip to pick up a few necessities, but mostly to take advantage of coupons that were expiring.

At our house, we don't eat breakfast or lunch together during the week, so there is minimal planning that goes into those meals. For us, the focus is dinner.

Sunday
Cereal
Blueberry Pancakes, Sausage, Spaghetti & Eggs, Toast
Out for Mexican

Monday
Buffalo Bites and Bagel Bites

Tuesday
Potato Soup, Salad and Beer Bread

Wednesday
Pizza

Thursday
Women's club carry-in for me/grab what you can for the home bunch

Friday
Fajita Burritos (didn't have last week)

Saturday
Cereal
Sandwiches
Spaghetti and meat sauce

Weekdays breakfast is at daycare for my daughter, the rest of us eat cold cereal, frozen waffles, oatmeal, toast or whatever strikes our fancy. Lunch we pack, usually leftovers for me. My son either packs or buys lunch at school. If he packs, it is generally a lunch meat sandwich or a PB&J with some sides.

Check out other menu plans for the week at I'm An Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

K-mart Super Doubles

The K-mart in my area is participating in the Super Double coupons deal this week. I have a number of high value coupons, some that expire today, so I think I might try to make it over to K-mart to take advantage of some deals. I am somewhat limited since my store only has a pantry and not a full grocery, but I am hoping to take advantage of some of these deals. You can review the KMart Super Doubles Price Book at Hot Coupon World for some other coupon matches.

Nestle Morsels 3/$7.
-$1 instantly with 3.
-$1/3 mfg coupon
-$1 doubled coupon

3/$5 for Nestle Morsels

French's French Fried Onions $1.99
-$.75 Mfg coupon
-$.75 doubled coupon

$.49 each (I have 2 coupons)

Cascade Powder $4.29

-$1 Mfg coupon
-$1 doubled coupon

$2.29.

I also have the following coupons (some expiring), I hope to use:

$.40/2 Hunt's tomato products
$1/2 Sunmaid Raisins
$1 Fisher Baking Product
$1/2 Christmas "mini" candy bags

CVS Scenarios - week of 11/30

There wasn't much in this week's ad that I feel that I need. I probably will stop by to pick up my December ECB book and while I'm there, I might pick up a couple of things.

Here are the deals I am considering this week:

Transaction #1
3 - Venus/Fusion razors

-$12 (3x$4 Venus coupons from vocalpoint and/or Fusion coupons from the paper)

Total $5.97 OOP. Earn $5 ECBs.

Transaction #2
4 - Febreeze Air Effects

-$4 (4x$1 Febreeze Air Effects coupons)

Total $6.00. Pay with $5 ECBs from transaction #1 and $1.00 OOP. Earn $5 ECBs.

Transaction #3
2 - Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner

-$1 $1/2 Pantene coupon

Total $5.98. Pay with $5 ECBs from transaction #2 and $0.98 OOP. Earn $2 ECBs.

Transaction #4
1 - Holiday M&Ms
1 - Snickers Nutcracker

Total $2.38. Pay with $2 ECBs from transaction #3 and $.38 OOP.

$8.33 OOP for 3 razors, 4 air sprays, 2 shampoos and some candy for Christmas.

For more scenarios, check out Money Saving Mom, Deal Seeking Mom and the "Cent"sible Sawyer.

$5 CVS Challenge
I really struggled with the $5 CVS Challenge Scenario for this week, but here it is at just over $5 - maybe a "have a penny, give a penny; need a penny, take a penny" dish will be there to keep you at $5.

Transaction #1
1 - Extreme Energy drink

$4.99 OOP, earn $4.99.

Transaction #2
1 - Cascade
1 - Shout Gel
1 - 3L Ice Mountain Spring Water

-$1 Cascade (expires today)
-$.75 Shout mfg coupon.

Total $5.01. Pay with $4.99 ECB from transaction #1 and $.02 OOP.

Your total OOP will be $5.01.

For more $5 CVS scenarios, check out $5 CVS Challenge at Keeping the Kingdom First

Samples and Freebies

Free samples week of 11/24

Kirkland Signature Diaper sample

Covergirl Exact Eyelights Giveaway – first 1000 entered in contest

Signed up for our free Dr Pepper coupons.

Crest headband for VocalPoint members

Lipstock Chapstock

I received a lot of stuff in the mail this week.

Orville Redenbacher – Smartcakes and single serve natural microwave popcorn with coupons.

Ziploc bag with paper with Saturday coupon.

ob small & mighty sample – 3 plus a travel case and coupon

Avon product as part of Mom Select program, watch for an upcoming giveaway.

Kashi Cereal Bar and coupon for Free Box from VocalPoint.

Giveaway: Walmart $100 gift card

Tara over at Deal Seeking Mom is having a giveaway for $100 Walmart Gift Card. To enter, leave a comment letting her know what you would do with a $100 gift card. The contest ends on Monday, so enter now at Deal Seeking Mom.

Giveaway: I Wanted to Wonder

Over at Stretching a Buck, there is a giveaway going on right now for a Custom Hair Bow Organizer from I Wanted to Wonder. You have to check them out. They are really cute wall hangings with ribbons to attach hair bows, clips and the like to.

You can enter to win, but heading over to Stretching a Buck and leaving a comment about your favorite.

Black Friday

I wasn't really sure if I planned to go out for Black Friday or not, but there were some gifts that I felt inclined to pick up. I didn't start my day very early. In fact, the kids let me sleep until 7, which was very welcome.

I took my youngest with me and headed to Toys R Us. I should have known that I was in for it when I had to park in a different lot. I was wise enough to snag a cart in the parking lot and take it in with me, since they were sparse inside. I was able to get quite a few gifts for the kids (nearly done) and take advantage of some coupons that I had gotten in the mail - one for $5/$25 and one for $10/$100. In addition, I had received a $100 gift card for opening a new account at a local bank. I applied that to my purchase and did really well, only $67 OOP. Part of that was a box of diapers (100ct) I got for only $10! I will also be returning an item I got cheaper later. The biggest draw back was the 1 1/2 hours in line, with a 2 year old, who was very well behaved for sitting in a cart that long.

I stopped at Michael's to pick up some chocolates for my Christmas baking. They had a great sale and when coupled with a 25% off coupon, I got 4 bags of Wilton Chocolate discs for under $4 - now that is a deal.

Then, because my mom had asked me to swap some items for larger sizes at the Children's Place, I headed to the mall. It was clear that parking was sparse, even the far out spaces were full. I happened upon a woman just getting in her car to leave and got a parking space in short order. I headed in to Children's Place, arriving at 10:57 - just moments before their roll in early take an additional 20% off your purchase was about to end. I got a "tag" that would allow me to get the discount at check out, even though it would be after the sale ended at 11. Turns out, I couldn't exchange my mom's gifts for the next size (supposed to check the outlet), but I got some great deals. They have already clearanced their Christmas outfits, and had them with an additional 30% off marked price. So, I got a skirt, shirt, sweater and patent leather shoes for my daughter and a pair of slacks, shirt and cardigan for my son, as well as a winter coat for next year for my daughter. At check out, I asked, can I use my 15% off coupon with the sale - they said YES! I was psyched. I got all of the above, plus 6 pairs of socks for about $80. And...I will get a Place Perks reward to boot - $10 off of $10. I clearly was meant to stop there today.

I made a mistake in stopping at JoAnn's for some fabric. When I saw that there was a line to get fabric cut (the number I drew was 30 away from what they were calling), I debated leaving. When I saw how far the check out line wrapped, I decided that the $7 I might save was probably not worth the headache. So, I hit the road, having lost about 30 minutes.

Next stop was Target, one gift and some household supplies before heading home.

Of course, as I was going back through the ads, I discovered that one of the items I purchased at Toys R Us, was $15 cheaper (only a $25 toy) at Radio Shack. After a call to confirm availability, I headed there to purchase. So, now tomorrow, I will be back to Toys R Us to return the item and save my money.

How about you? Did you get any great deals?

Head over to Money Saving Mom, Super Savings Saturday to see what other deals everyone got.

CVS Deals - Thanksgiving Day (Black Friday Sale)

I went to CVS with a plan and they actually had everything on my list, but I did learn that I had made a mistake in my plan. I had bought two of the Johnson's Lotions, but the limit was 1. I was able to return the lotion and use the credit towards my next purchase, otherwise, since I had paid in ECBs, I would have only gotten back $.97 of the $5.69.

Here's what I got:

Transaction #1
1 - Hershey Kit Kat King Size
1 - Bic Soleil Razor
1 - Johnson & Johnson Soft Lotion
1 - Schick Quattro
2 - 4oz Colgate Total Advanced Clean
3 - 20 oz G2 Gatorade

-$3 Bic Soleil Coupon
-$1 Johnson & Johnson Soft Lotion
-$4 Schick Quattro coupon
-$1 Colgate coupon
-$1 Colgate coupon
-$1 Colgate CRT
-$5 $5/30 CVS coupon from E-mail

Paid with $15 ECBs and $0.72 on a gift card. Earned $1, $5.99, $5.69, $6.00, 5.98 and $3.47 ECBs.

Transaction #2
2 - Aussie Haircare
1 - J&&J Soft lotion
2 - L'oreal Lipgloss

-$1 Aussie coupon
-$1 J&J Soft lotion coupon
-$1 Loreal coupon
-$1 Loreal coupon
-$4 $4/20 CVS beauty coupon from e-mail

Paid with $2, $6 and $8.99 ECBs and $0.97 on gift card. Earned $5.98 adn $13.98 in ECBs.

Transaction #3
1 - Garnier Towelettes
1 - Covergirl Powder
1 - Covergirl Foundation

-$1 Garnier coupon
-$1 Covergirl coupon
-$1 Covergirl coupon
-$3 $3/15 Face care CRT

Paid with $13.98 ECB, adjust down to $13.97 and $.20 on a gift card.

Transaction #4
Return J&J lotion
2 - A&W Rootbeer 12 pk
1 - Phillips Ear Headphones

Paid with $1 and $5.99 in ECBs and $1.05 on gift card. Earned $6.99 ECBs.

I started the day with $25.99 in ECBs and ended the day with $49.08 in ECBs. I spent 2.94 off of my gift card. So, I improved ECBs by $23.09, for a net profit of $20.15. Not bad for less than an hour on a holiday.

See more great deals at Money Saving Mom Super Savings Saturday.

CVS - Black Friday Scenarios

After much deliberation and consideration of how to put together the deals to take advantage of the ECBs and coupons that I have, here are the 3 transactions I have come up with. I will pay $.78 (plus tax) OOP and improve my ECBs from $25.99 to $53.77.

Here is what I plan to do:

Transaction #1
1 - Bic Soleil
3 - Gatorade G2
1 - Hershey King Size Candy Bar
2 - Aussie Haircare
2 - Colgate Advanced Clean
1 - Schick Quattro

-$3 Bic Soleil coupon
-$1 Aussie Hair Care coupon
-$1 Colgate CRT
-$1 Colgate coupon
-$1 Colgate coupon
-$4 Schick Quattro coupon
-$5 $5/30 CVS coupon

$15.41. Pay with $15 ECBs, plus $.41 (+ tax) OOP. Earn, $29.42 worth of ECBs.

Transaction #2
2 - Loreal Lip Gloss
2 - Johnson's Lotion

-$2 2x$! Loreal Coupon
-$2 2x$1 Johnson's lotion coupon
-$4 $4/20 Beauty coupon

Total $17.36. Pay with $8.99, $6 and $2 ECBs, plus $.38 (plus tax) OOP. Earn $25.36 worth of ECBs.

Transaction #3
1 - CG smoothers Powder
1 - CG smoothers Liquid Foundation
1 - Garnier Cleaning clothes

-$1 CG coupon
-$1 CG coupon
-$1 CG coupon
-$3 $3/15 CRT

Total $13.97. Pay with $13.98 ECB, reduced to $13.97.

I will start with $25.99 in ECBs and end with $53.77 in ECBs, a gain of $27.78.

Check out Money Saving Mom and The "Cent"sible Sawyer for more scenarios.

Shaving Cream Alternative

One thing that I haven't seen many deals on since I started the "Drugstore Game" at CVS earlier this summer has been Shaving Cream. But, I'm not too worried. I rarely use shaving cream anymore.

I read somewhere a while back about the advantages of using conditioner in place of shaving cream or soap when you shave. I have been using conditioner for months now and it works great. It provides a better lubricant than soap and it is a lot cheaper than shaving cream. The conditioner softens the hair and since it usually has moisturizers, also hydrates your legs. I recently was able to pick up 6 bottles of V-05 conditioner with vitamins A C & E for 50 cents a piece. The bottle lasts for a long period of time compared to shaving cream and it is a lot easier to pack for travel then a bottle of shaving cream.

Check out Rocks In My Dryer for other Works for Me Wednesday tips.

(I'll confess, this is a repost from before I participated in Works for Me Wednesday - but I loved this tip that I had read and wanted to share it - plus with Thanksgiving a day away, I've been busy.)

Thanksgiving Desserts - Pumpkin Surprise Pie

This year, I am trying a new dessert at Thanksgiving. I probably will still make the traditional pumpkin pie, but my husband loves both Cheesecake and Pumpkin Pie, so I thought I would try a recipe I came across a few months ago (where oh where did I find it though?). It is a pumpkin pie, but beneath the pumpkin pie is a layer of cheesecake. I have made Pumpkin Cheesecakes before, but I thought this unique dessert was worth a shot.

Pumpkin Surprise Pie

INGREDIENTS
1 pie crust

Cream cheese layer
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
Pumpkin Layer:
1 can pumpkin puree
3/4 c evaporated milk
1/2 c packed light-brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Fit piecrust inot 9-inch pie plate and crimp edges.

Cream Cheese layer: Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, & egg until smooth. Spread evenly into bottom of pie crust.

Pumpkin layer: Beat together pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice & salt until smooth. Gently spoon this mixture over cream cheese layer.

Brush the edge of the pie crust with egg water. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes.

Check out other Thanksgiving Desserts at the Recipe Swap at Life as Mom.

CVS Deals - 11/24

Okay, I didn't consider this deal worthy of a picture. I only picked up one item to roll (and grow) some extra bucks in preparation for this weekend.

Here is what I got:

1 - Maybelline Mineral Power Foundation

-$3 Maybelline foundation coupon

Paid with $3.49 and $2.00 in ECBs and $0.72 on a gift card. Earned $8.99 ECBs. A net "profit" of $2.78 ($3.50 growth in ECBs, but I had to pay OOP).

Check back soon for my Black Friday CVS Scenarios.

Menu Plan Monday

We started the week out at one my cousin's, followed by dinner at Grandma's house with the other side of the family. This is the first time I can remember that Thanksgiving at Grandma's was not on Thanksgiving. It allowed us to join, so for that I am thankful.

This week, I continue to use up some of our stockpile to make sure we are getting good rotation, so this week we are eating what we have on hand. I will head to the grocery store mid-week to get what we will need for our Thanksgiving meal and some sides for the week.

We are all home Thursday and Friday this weekend, so there are more meals together. My family is considering coming up for part of the weekend, so that portion of the menu is subject to change.

At our house, we don't eat breakfast or lunch together during the week, so there is minimal planning that goes into those meals. For us, the focus is dinner.

Sunday
Pumpkin Muffins/Cereal
Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma's
Pasta

Monday
Cube Steaks and rice

Tuesday
Sloppy Joes

Wednesday
TGIF Skillet Meals Chicken Fajita and Rice

Thursday
Cereal
Thanksgiving meal
Leftovers

Friday
Cereal
Sandwiches
Chicken Parmesan

Saturday
Cereal
Leftovers
Buffalo Chicken Salad (to try Buffalo Chicken Bites from Market Day)

Weekdays breakfast is at daycare for my daughter, the rest of us eat cold cereal, frozen waffles, oatmeal, toast or whatever strikes our fancy. Lunch we pack, usually leftovers for me. My son either packs or buys lunch at school. If he packs, it is generally a lunch meat sandwich or a PB&J with some sides.

Check out other menu plans for the week at I'm An Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

Don't Forget - Free Dr. Pepper

There are just a few more hours to claim your free Dr. Pepper 20 oz coupon. There is a 1-800 number posted for those of you, like me that are experiencing difficulty in signing up.

My original post here with details.

CVS Scenarios - week of 11/23

There are a couple of free after ECB deals that when paired with coupons, are money makers. I think I will stop in to take advantage of these deals. I also understand that for the Black Friday sale there are supposed to be a number of free after ECB deals.

Here is my plan:

Transaction #1
1 - Maybelline Mineral Power Foundation

-$3 Maybelline Foundation mfg coupon

Total $5.99, earn $8.99 ECBs.

Transaction #2
1 - Multipurpose Solution
1 - Dial Multipack

-$2 Multipurpose Solution IP

Total $8.98, use $8.99 ECB from Transaction #1, adjusted down to $8.98. Earn $8.99 + $1 ECBs.

Transaction #3
1 - Right Guard Professional
1 - Dial Multipack

Total $9.98. Use $8.99 and $1 ECBs from Transaction #2, adjusted down to $9.98. Earn $7 and $1 ECBs.

Transaction #4
1 - Spinbrush Pro
1 - Reese Cluster
1 - Dial Multipack

-$2 Crest Spinbrush IP
-$1 Reese Cluster coupon

Total $7.98. Use $7 and $1 ECBs from Transaction #3, adjusted down to $7.98. Earn $2 and $1 ECBs.

Hang onto the $3 ECBs to use on Black Friday or use them to pick up some other need.

For more scenarios, check out Deal Seeking Mom, Money Saving Mom and the "Cent"sible Sawyer.

CVS $5 Challenge

Transaction #1
1 - Crest Spinbrush

-$2 Crest Spinbrush IP

$3.99 OOP, earn $2 ECBs.

Transaction #2
1 - Dial Multipack

Total $1.99. Pay with $2 ECBs adjusted down to $1.99. Earn $1 ECB.

Transaction #3
1 - Dial Multipack

Total $1.99. Pay with $1 ECB and $.99 OOP. Earn $1 ECB.

Total $4.98 OOP with $1 ECB to roll. Keep it for Black Friday or use it to pick up something little.

Check out more $5 CVS Challenge Scenarios at Keeping the Kingdom First.

Samples and Freebies

Free samples week of 11/17

Bertolli Microwaveable Pouch
Earthbound Farm Organic coupons - complete a short survey; plus the the first 9,000 quiz winners will also receive coupons worth $3.30 off delicious Horizon Organic dairy products! I'm hoping that I might have been one of them. I loved their milk when I tried it.
Aquaphor Healing Ointment

This week in the mail, I received a $10 check from Arquest for a diaper study I participated in. I received my $10 Fuel for School rebate from Kellogg's.

CVS Deals - 11/21

After returning from my shopping trip to CVS on Sunday, I discovered that two of the candy bars were expired. When I went to the store to exchange them for fresh ones, I decided to repeat the battery deal. I had no luck finding the $5/2 coupon tearpads at my store, but still had one more $.75/1 coupon left.

I got the following:
1 - 4pk Duracell 9V
1 - 16pk Duracell AAA
1 - Right Guard Deoderant

- $.75 Duracell Mfg coupon
- $.55 Right Guard peelie

I paid with $15, $1.59 and $3.49 in ECBs and put the other $1.78 on a gift card I have. I earned $15 and $2 ECBs. Not too bad $4.86 net for all of those batteries and some deoderant.

Check out my deals from earlier this week here.

Check out other CVS deals at CVS Superstars at the "Cent"sible Sawyer. Find more deals at Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom.

Free Dr. Pepper

Evidently, Dr Pepper made a promise of free soda to everyone if Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" was released in 2008. It has been delayed since the recording began in 1994 and is now scheduled to go on sale Sunday.

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 am, you can go to Dr Pepper's web site for a free coupon for a 20 oz Dr. Pepper. They will only be available for 24 hours. The coupon is good until February 28th.

Corn Souffle

Jessica over at Life As Mom has been hosting some Thanksgiving recipe swaps. This one might have qualified last week for the vegetable dish swap, but I didn't find the chance to post.

A few years back (okay, it's been more like 10 or 12 years ago), we started occasionally hosting Thanksgiving at our house, for those that weren't headed home. Along the way, I have picked up some recipes from dishes my guests made. This is one that I really enjoy. The recipe is easy, yet somehow, I only think to make it on occasion.

Corn Souffle

1 8 oz can Cream Corn
1 8 oz can Corn
1 8 oz container Sour Cream
1 stick margarine/butter
2 eggs
1 box Corn Muffin Mix

Mix all ingredients and bake at 325 for 1 1/4 hours or 350 for 45 minutes.

I usually use a casserole dish and spray it with cooking spray before pouring in the mixture. I haven't tried it, but have thought about getting a can of the corn with the diced peppers in it to give it a little extra flare.

You can check out other Thanksgiving side dishes in the Recipe Swap at Life As Mom. You can find more recipes at The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap as well.

Time...

Where does it go? I have so many things that I intended to post and yet, none of it seems to happen. Hopefully, things are slowing down a little bit and I will get back into a regular posting habit again.

Il Divo: The Promise

Recently, as a participant in One2One Network, I was given the opportunity to preview and review a copy of Il Divo The Promise. I was not familiar with Il Divo prior to this opportunity arising.

Their music is described as "POPera". The group was brought together by Simon Cowell back in 2004 and this is their fourth album. Three of the members have an operatic background and one a pop background.

The songs on The Promise are sung in Spanish, Italian and English. They apply operatic touches to pop music. The result is a very rich and wonderful sound. Not only do the four members have excellent voices, but their songs also are accompanied by strings.

On first listen, two comparisons came to mind (although, it definitely is a unique style). The first is the Moody Blues, who sing their songs against the orchestral backdrop. The second is one of my favorite albums, Michael Crawford performs Andrew Lloyd Weber with his strong voice. There is just something that draws me in with the combination of strong voices and the orchestral music.

I really enjoy the way the music fills the room, but I do struggle with many of the songs not being in English - not that I can't enjoy them because of the language barrier, but I can't sing along...which I love to do, especially in the car (despite the fact that I probably can't sing).

I'd say they covered some songs, but it seems strange to hear a cover song in another language. Their version of ABBA's The Winner Takes it All, I really enjoyed. Their version of Amazing Grace, the only one in English on the album, is beautiful.

You may have caught them today on Good Morning America, but if you did not, you can catch them on Regis and Kelly on Friday morning (11/21).

You can learn more about Il Divo at their website: Il Divo.com

Money Saving Milestone...

So, as I was logging my CVS receipt in my spreadsheet (yes, I am a geek), I noticed that I passed a milestone. I have now saved over $1000 at CVS since I started shopping there and using the ECB program back in June. Not bad, over $1000 saved in just over 5 mos.

How much did you have to spend though to save $1000, you ask. Well, my out of pocket since June is just $54.54 and I have sent in and received $10.49 in rebates and $2.25 of my OOP was from a free $25 GC I got with filling a prescription. So, essentially, I have spent $41.80 and still have $22.75 available on the free gift card.

Saving money is so much fun!

CVS Deals - 11/16

Well, I made my first trip for the week to CVS on Sunday. I think I will likely go back and get some more batteries. It just too good of a deal to not repeat. I just need to see if I can get my hands on some coupons. My store didn't have any sort of tear pad at the battery display that many others had referenced finding.

Here is what I got:
Transaction #1
1 - Loreal Age Perfect
1 - Crest Pro Health Whitening
2 - 2ct Duracell C Batteries
1 - Kotex Lightdays

-$5 $5/$30 e-mail coupon
-$1 Crest Pro Health coupon
-$.75 Duracell coupon
-$.75 Lightdays coupon
-$1.49 $2 CRT for Lightdays adjusted down to $1.49

Paid with $22 ECBs and $.76 on a Gift Card (free from a prescription fill). Earned $15.99 and $3.49 ECBs.

Transaction #2
4 - Hershey's candy bars
1 - Right Guard Deodarant
1 - 16ct Duracell AA Batteries
1 - Crest Pro Health Whitening

-$.75 Duracell coupon
-$.75 Crest Pro Health coupon
-$.50 B4GO CRT for Hershey's
-$.50 BOGO Hershey's Special Dark coupon

Paid with $15.99 ECB adjusted down to $15.97. Earned $15, $3.49, and $2 ECBs.

I paid $.76 in free money and improved my ECB position by $1.98 (started with $22 in ECBs, ended with $23.98). Not too shabby for all of those batteries.

I likely will head back later this week. I might wait to see if they send another e-mail coupon before heading back.

You can see more CVS deals at CVS Superstars at the "Cent"sible Sawyer.

Fun Website Find

Every week in the newspaper, there is a little blurb about new stuff to check out in the Home section. I have found some really interesting stuff in the little blurb. This week was no exception. They featured a site called Spoonflower.

Spoonflower is an online business that allows you to upload a design to be printed on cotton fabric. Yardage of the custom fabric is $18. It sounds though, like you can also get swatches and fat quarters as well for a lesser cost.

The design you upload needs to be no larger than 25MB and at a resolution of 150 dpi ("The print size of your image in pixel dimensions will be 150x the number of inches.") They will tile your design to fill the fabric, unless of course your design is larger than the piece you order, in which case they indicate they will crop from the lower left corner.

I think this has some really great opportunities.

You can use a drawing by your budding Picasso or a photograph that you took or just something that you created in Photoshop or other graphic software. Your design private unless you decide to make it public.

I'd like to suggest that I might use them for a quilt, but I started a quilt nearly 15 years ago and I still haven't finished it. Perhaps I was too ambitious planning to hand piece and quilt a queen size quilt for my first project, but that is a whole other story. Perhaps though, with custom fabric, I might feel that I could stick with simple squares and machine piece it.

I think it might be a fun way to make some custom pillow cases or covers. You could use the fabric in your favorite pattern to make some custom clothing - shorts, skirts, shirts. A crafty person could use the fabric to make some simple curtains for their house.

The company is located in North Carolina. They launched their Beta site in May of 2008, so they are a relatively new online entity, but boast over 10,000 crafters signed up to use the site already.

What design would you use for custom fabric? What would you do with the fabric?

Menu Plan Monday

This week, I continue to use up some of our stockpile to make sure we are getting good rotation, so this week we are eating what we have on hand. I did a quick stop to the grocery store today, where I spent about $22 and got my sugars (white, brown and powdered) and some butter for the upcoming Christmas baking season. Other than a block of cheddar for shredding for tonight's dinner and some bologna for my son to pack this week, I also got some fresh fruit and vegetables for use during the week.

At our house, we don't eat breakfast or lunch together during the week, so there is minimal planning that goes into those meals. For us, the focus is dinner.

Sunday
Cereal
Bagel Bites
Skyline Chili (homemade knock off)

Monday
Leftover chili

Tuesday
Chicken Gravy over Biscuits

Wednesday
Sloppy Joes

Thursday
Leftover Chicken Gravy

Friday
Pork Chops and Mashed Potatoes

Saturday
Cereal
Out
Out

Weekdays breakfast is at daycare for my daughter, the rest of us eat cold cereal, frozen waffles, oatmeal, toast or whatever strikes our fancy. Lunch we pack, usually leftovers for me. My son either packs or buys lunch at school. If he packs, it is generally a lunch meat sandwich or a PB&J with some sides.

Check out other menu plans for the week at I'm An Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

CVS Scenarios - week of 11/16 (OOPS!)

I hate it when I learn that I made a mistake. Better to learn it before I leave home than once I was at the store. It is a lot easier to regroup before heading to the store than to try to figure it all out on the fly.

I just discovered that my coupon was actually $5 / $30. Guess I will need to add an $8 item to transaction #1. Given that, I would add the $9.99 pack of batteries to the order. With another $.75 coupon, it would bring the OOP for Transaction #1 to $24.49. (Less if you have ECBs to roll like I do.)

Then, I would add transaction #5:

1 pk of Duracell $9.99.

(out of coupons, but maybe you have just one more?)

$9.99 total. Pay with $5 ECB from Transaction #3 and $4.99 ECB from Transaction #4. Earn $15 ECBs.

So, my total OOP would be $26.43 and I would have $21 ($15, $2 and $4) ECBs to roll to next week. My net cost would be $5.43 ($4.23 more) and I would have twice as many batteries as in my original post.

You can see my original post for full scenario details here.

CVS Scenarios - week of 11/16

There are a lot of good deals at CVS this week. I hope to head over later today in hopes of getting some of the deals and use the $5/$20 coupon that I recieved via e-mail this week. (I realized this was a $5/$30, see the revision here) The $5 CVS Challenge is at the bottom of the post.

Scenario #1:

Transaction #1:
1 - Loreal Age Perfect...
1 - Duracell Batteries @ 5.99

-$5 $5/$20
-$1 Loreal Mfg Coupon
-$.75 Duracell Mfg Coupon

Total $15.25, Earn $15.99 ECBs. If you have ECBs to roll, like I do, your OOP could be less.

Transaction #2:
2 - Crest Pro Health Toothpaste
1 - Duracell Batteries @9.99
2 - Glade Glass Scents

-$2 2x $1 Crest Pro Health Mfg Coupons
-$.75 Duracell Mfg Coupon
-$2.50 BOGO Glade Mfg Coupon

Total $16.72. Pay with $15.99 ECBs from Transaction #1 and $.73 OOP. Earn $6.98 ECBs.

Transaction #3:
2 - Glade Glass Scents
1 - Duracell Batteries @5.99

-$2.50 BOGO Glade Mfg Coupon
-$.75 Duracell Mfg Coupon

Total $7.74. Pay with $6.99 ECBs from Transaction #2 and $.75 OOP. Earn $15 and $5 ECBs.

Transaction #4:
1 - Vaseline Clinical
1 - Zantrex 3 2-pk
2 - Right Guard Deodorant

-$1.50 Vaseline Clinical Mfg coupon

Total $15.46. Pay with $15 ECBs from Transaction #3 and $.46 OOP. Earn $2, $4.99, and $4 ECBs.

You will have spent $17.19 OOP and have $15.99 ($5, $2, $4.99, and $4) ECBs to roll to next week. So, for a net cost of $1.20 (OOP - ECBs earned), you will have batteries for all of your Christmas toys, 2 tubes of toothpaste, Air Fresheners, Facial Moisturizer, Lotion, 2 sticks of Deodorant and some energy drinks.

For more great CVS scenarios, check out Deal Seeking Mom, Money Saving Mom and the "Cent"sible Sawyer.

CVS $5 Challenge
With the $5 Challenge, the goal as always is to maximize product while minimizing out of pocket. Frequently, this means a number of small transactions are needed.

Transaction #1
4 - Glade Glass Scents

-$5 2xBOGO Glade Coupon

$5 OOP, earn $5 ECBs.

Transaction #2
1 - Zantrex 3 2-pk

$4.99. Pay with $5 ECB from Transaction #1, adjusted down to $4.99. Earn $4.99 ECBs.

Transaction #3
2 - Crest Pro Health

-$2 2x$1 Crest Mfg Coupon

Total $4.98. Pay with $4.99 ECBs from Transaction #2, adjusted down to $4.98. Earn $6.98 ECBs.

Transaction #4
2 - Right Guard Deoderant
1 - Candy Bar (or other $1 filler)

Total $6.98. Pay with $6.98 ECBs from Transaction #3. Earn $4 ECBs.

Total OOP $5, and you have $4 ECBs to roll to next week. So, for a net cost of $1 (OOP - ECBs earned), you will have 4 air fresheners, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 2 deoderants and a candy bar treat.

For more $5 Scenarios, check out the $5 CVS Challenge at Keeping the Kingdom First.

Samples and Freebies

All was quiet on the Samples and Freebies front this week.

I don't think I requested or received anything. Perhaps I should go and search. If I find somethings, I will update this post with the requests I made.

Update!!!!

Okay, so not a quiet week anymore.

Tonight, I signed up for a free can of No Salt Diced Tomatoes from Del Monte. (Limited to the first 50,000) and also signed up get 2 free issues of Cooking Light through the same sign-up.
I also requested a sample Schick Quattro Titanium razor.
I also signed up for a free shopping list from Marie Callender's.

I also recieved in the mail today, my Vaseline Intensive Rescue sample. I requested that here, just two weeks ago.

Making Dinner

One of the things I struggle with as a working mom is how to keep things interesting at meal time and not spend my life in the kitchen. I love to cook, I just don't want to miss out on the precious few hours with my children each evening.

I have found that by planning out my menu each weekend for the coming week that I can save time and plan an efficient group of meals. When possible, I like to multipurpose what I am cooking. If I am grilling chicken on one night, why not throw on a couple of extra pieces to incorporate into a meal the next night. In some ways, it is like creative leftover-ing (not a word, but it describes it well) - using something from a previous dinner in a new way. As example, this week, we had Turkey on Saturday for my daughter's birthday party. Then, on Monday for dinner, we used some of the nice white pieces in place of chicken breast in a recipe. It worked well, allowed us to use up leftovers without feeling like we were eating leftovers again and cut the meal prep time. The balance of the turkey, I cut up and froze in 2 cup portions for use later in Leftover Pot Pie which can be assembled with frozen ingredients and placed in the oven - almost no prep time needed.

The other benefit of menu planning is making sure that you have the ingredients you need on-hand. I plan my menu and then my grocery list. Some weeks, like this one, I only needed two ingredients for meals I was planning - I added in a couple of deals but I was able to keep my shopping trip quick and cheap. Having the ingredients on-hand also can include prepping the night before. If I am making something that needs diced peppers, I can dice it the night before after the kids are in bed. The alternative is to buy prepped ingredients - this can be convenient, but for some things the price isn't worth the convenience. My goal is to be prepared, so that I can minimize the amount of time it takes to get something delicious on the table for my family.

Another benefit of menu planning is ensuring you don't eat the same thing every week. When I don't menu plan, because we were traveling or something, and I don't have time on the weekend to hit the store, it seems like we fall back on the same 3 or 4 meals - which can quickly get boring and make meal prep something that I dread. When I plan my menu, I fill in a few days based on on-hand food in the freezer/pantry and any deals that there are at the store. Then, I usually ask my husband what we haven't had in a while that he would like to have this week. It helps me because it is one less meal that I have to choose and it ensures that he gets to have some of his favorites as well.

I also rely on leftovers for my lunch, so keeping dinner diverse can help keep my lunch from getting boring. I have found that boring lunches lead me to eating out for variety, which can get expensive and unhealthy. A few weeks ago, an article was shared with me about how to rework leftovers into a tasty lunch (or dinner depending on how much you have). You can read that article here. Some of the ideas like the pulled pork will work well with beef roast or chicken as well. I like to make chicken salad for lunch sometimes. Just grill/bake/broil an extra chicken breast when you make dinner. Take the chicken and either shred it or cube it, add mayo, sour cream, diced onions/celery, add in some cut grapes and a little salt and pepper. It makes a tasty treat for lunch and keeps leftover boredom from setting in.

For other tips and tricks, check out Works For Me Wednesday over at Rocks in my Dryer.

CVS Deals - 11/9

I headed over to CVS on Sunday to use the $5/$25 coupon I had received via e-mail. There hadn't been anything last week that I needed, so I decided to wait until Sunday (the day it expired) to use it. Of course, when I got to my store, the Revitalift, which I had included in my plan was not available. The store manager (or at least shift manager) informed me that they could no longer write rain checks on 2 day ECB deals (news to me) and that two of the other nearby stores were also out. I asked if there was a way to substitute and scan it as the ECB item (they had offered this as an option in the past). She indicated this was not an option. I explained that I had wanted to use the coupon and that there wasn't anything else that I needed, she offered to accept the coupon (had to be manually entered since the computer wouldn't accept it), I said thank you. Here is what I got:

1 - Fructis Shampoo/Conditioner
1 - Glaceua Vitamin Water
2 - St. Ives Body Wash
1 - Speedstick deodorant

- $1 Fructis Mfg coupon
- $4 2x$2 St Ives IP
- $5 $5/$25 coupon

Paid with $1.98 and $2.58 ECBs and put $1.49 on a gift card (got it when I filled a prescription). Earned $2, $1.59 and $6 ECBs. So, I made a profit of $3.54 (ECBs earned - ECBs spent - OOP). Not too shabby.

Check out other savings at Super Savings Saturday on Money Saving Mom. Check out other CVS savings at CVS Superstars at the "Cent"sible Sawyer.

Menu Plan Monday

This week started out with the wrap up of birthday party weekend for my daughter. We had guests through lunch and took an easy out for dinner.

I decided that we really need to use up some of our stockpile to make sure we are getting good rotation, so this week we are eating what we have on hand. I did a quick stop to the grocery store today, where I spent under $20. I didn't really buy any meal items other than some Velveeta for Monday's dinner, some egg noodles for Tuesday and a TGIF Skillet Meal that was on sale, just for having on hand. The rest of my order was brownies, spices, and food coloring.

At our house, we don't eat breakfast or lunch together during the week, so there is minimal planning that goes into those meals. For us, the focus is dinner.

Sunday
Donuts and Bagels
Leftover Turkey dinner
Pizza out

Monday
Chicken Sonora Pasta

Tuesday
Beef and Noodles

Wednesday
Cheeseburgers

Thursday
Pancakes

Friday
Cube Steaks and Rice

Saturday
Cereal
Sandwiches
Out? Not decided yet.

Weekdays breakfast is at daycare for my daughter, the rest of us eat cold cereal, frozen waffles, oatmeal, toast or whatever strikes our fancy. Lunch we pack, usually leftovers for me. My son either packs or buys lunch at school. If he packs, it is generally a lunch meat sandwich or a PB&J with some sides.

Check out other menu plans for the week at I'm An Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

CVS Scenarios - week of 11/9

It seems to be a pretty good CVS week. There are a variety of things you can stock up on and stay within a budget of $5 OOP. For a "larger" budget, I have included a second set of scenarios for under $15 OOP for a load of stuff.

Transaction #1
1 - Palmolive Dish Soap
1 - Fructis Shampoo
1 - Glaceau Smart Water

- $.25 Palmolive Mfg coupon
- $1. Fructis Mfg Coupon (there are a few different ones out there)

Total $4.82, earn $4.59 in ECBs.

Transaction #2
1 - Listerene Cool Blue

-$1 Listerne IP

Total $2.99. Pay with $2 & $1 ECBs from Transaction #1, adjusted down to $2.99; earn $3 ECBs.

Transaction #3
1 - St Ive's Body Wash (ECB deal only Sunday/Monday)
1 - Hershey Candy Bar (filler)

Total $4.49. Pay with $3 ECB from Transaction #2 and $1.59 ECB from Transaction #1, adjusted down to $4.49 (or use a bigger filler for a higher OOP). Earn $3 ECBs.

You can either roll the $3 ECBs for something that you need, or hold it for next week.

For more $5 scenarios, check out the CVS $5 Challenge at Keeping the Kingdom First.

As an alternate, if you are not looking to stay within a $5 budget and you can make it to CVS on Sunday or Monday, here is a second set of scenarios:

Transaction #1
1 - Loreal Advanced Revitalift Anti-Wrinkle

-$1 Loreal Moisturizer Mfg Coupon

Total $10.99, earn $11.99.

Transaction #2
1 - Palmolive
1 - Fructis
1 - Glaceua Smart Water
1 - Listerine Cool Blue
1 - St Ives Body Wash
1 - Hershey Candy Bar

- $.25 Palmolive Mfg coupon
- $1 Fructis Mfg coupon
- $1 Listerne IP

Total $12.30. Pay with $11.99 ECBs from Transaction #1 and $.31 OOP. Earn $1, $2, $1.59, $3, and $3 ECBs.

Transaction #3
5 - Hershey Special Dark Candy Bars
2 - Reese's Granola Bars/Snacksters
4 - Hershey's Bliss

- $1 2xBOGO Hershey Special Dark Mfg Coupon
- $5 2x$2.50/2 Hershey Bliss Mfg Coupon

Total $13.50, pay with $10.59 in ECBs from Transaction #2 and $2.91 OOP. Earn $10 ECBs.

Transaction #4
1 - Listerene Cool Blue
1 - Rimmel Mascara
1 - Palmolive Dish Soap

- $1 Listerene IP (you can print two)
- $1 Rimmel Mfg Coupon
- $.25 Palmolive Mfg Coupon

Total $10.22, pay with $10 ECBs from Transaction #3 and $.22 OOP. Earn $3, $4, and $1 ECBs.

Transaction #5
1 - Always Infinity
1 - Stayfree Pad

- $1 Always Infinity Mfg Coupon
- $1 Stayfree IP

Total $7.48, pay with $3 and $4 ECBs from Transaction #4 and $.48 OOP. Earn $1 and $1.50 ECBs.

You can either roll the $3.50 in ECBs for something you need, or hold them for next week. Your total OOP for these five transactions is $14.91.

Check out other scenarios at Deal Seeking Mom, Money Saving Mom and the "Cent"sible Sawyer.

I'm Back...

I wasn't really gone, just really busy. We had a birthday party for my two year old this weekend. Birthday parties at our house are a weekend affair. My family lives about 3 hours away and my husband's family about 8, so they come in for the weekend. I really enjoy hosting parties and don't mind house guests. The kids are still young enough that for the most part, birthday parties are family affairs, but we do have a couple of local friends of the family that we also include.

I don't get to host Thanksgiving at my house, so our daughter's party has turned into what my mom dubbed a practice run for Thanksgiving. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, honey glazed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower casserole, spinach salad, and dinner rolls. It was wonderful. There are a lot of my favorite foods included in a Thanksgiving-style meal and the house smells so wonderful when you are roasting a turkey.

We skipped the pumpkin pie and had birthday cake and ice cream. This year's theme was The Wiggles. I crafted a Wiggles Big Red Car cake, using Wilton's 3D Cruiser Pan. I borrowed the Wiggles from the Big Red Car toy we have. I think it turned out pretty well and my daughter was excited to see the Wiggles on her cake:













I have a lot of fun with birthday party themes. I usually search high and low for ways to capture our theme in a cake. I've never taken cake decorating (but would love too) so I am an amateur to be sure. My husband and I put together a creative, related invitation - for this party, it was Tickets to a Wiggly Birthday Party. We couldn't find Wiggles themed party supplies, so we used Red, Blue, Yellow and Purple napkins and cake plates. We got 4 latex balloons in Red, Blue, Yellow and Purple.

You can see the Solar System cake I did for my son's spaced themed party here.

Now, I guess I will go and try to get ready for my "regular" posts.

Samples and Freebies

mystery shampoo samples from WalMart
Therappe Luxurious Moisturizing Shampoo and Humectress Ultimate Moisturizing Conditioner
Huggies Natural Fit
Orville Redenbacher Lime and Salt Popcorn
Glad Food Bags Sample
ob tampons
Fizzy Wizzies sample (bath water tablets)
Teasta Tea sample

I received a lot of stuff in the mail this week. I got both my October Single Check Rebate check from Rite Aid, as well as the one for a rain-checked item from September. I received
• Starkist TunaVision packet from VocalPoint – includes coupons
• Post It note pack – large wall pad (5 sheets) and oversized post it notes
• Iams coupon for a free 4# bag and $1 off 4 cans. My cat will be pleased.

Toys, Toys, Toys

With Christmas fast approaching, there is the question of what the children want/need for Christmas. When it comes to toys, sometimes I wonder where we are going to put something new. I wonder if it is a passing phase or something worth getting.

I like to practice a few simple approaches to try to ensure that we get the maximum life out of a toy.

Minimize Character Themed Products: When it comes to board games, I have insisted that only the original game will do - no character themed version. Sure, it probably is more exciting to a toddler to see their friend Dora on their board game, but one thing I have noticed is that some cartoon stay and some go...would they be uninterested in the game if it had a character that they were no longer into? Additionally, it helps avoid the "it works for my son, but not my daughter" syndrome causing a need to own two copies of a game. I will tell you that we have Wiggles guitars and cars, but in general, if a standard version and a character version are available, I stick with the general version.

What did we play with as kids?: I think the classic toys are classic for a reason. My son loves to play for hours with his Legos. They are simple...you can build according to directions (a great skill set to develop) and you can build free form (also very important skill set) and yet they entertain for hours. Thomas the Train is another toy that we have played with for years. Initially, mom and dad had to build the tracks and my son would just watch the trains go around with excitement. Now, he builds the tracks (complex crossing over tracks using toys to form bridges) and my daughter watches with excitement. For my daughter, right now it is her Dolly. She loves it. She mothers it, which gives me the biggest warm, fuzzy feeling in the world - as the way she mothers is a reflection on me. There is always the toy kitchen and dishes. Children love to mirror what they see. Both of my kids love to cook with the toy dishes (or the dishes in my cupboards for that matter). A few years ago, my son wanted a vacuum and a mop. I never did find a good toy vacuum (none were "real" enough), but we got him a mop. He gets upset if I mop without him!

Books, books, books: Books are a great thing. Reading books. Coloring books. Activity books. Puzzle books. They are all enjoyed by children. My son can spend hours doing Word Find puzzles. They help a car trip pass quickly.

K.I.S.S. - Some other toys that we have especially liked and gotten a lot of use out of sort of stick with the KISS theory (Keep it Simple Silly), which in some ways goes back to the classics. Toys don't need to be complicated or equipped with bells or whistles to be enjoyed by kids. One toy is the Playskool Step Start Walk N' Ride. We found it on sale and have really gotten a lot of value out of this simple toy. First as a tool to help the kids learn to walk and then as a ride on toy that we kept inside. Another is a tent and tunnel that we bought a few years ago at Ikea. When the kids were younger, they loved to crawl through the tunnel, which we had set up in the middle of the room. It makes a great "Peek-a-boo" toy. Now, the tunnel leads into the tent. The kids have pillows and coloring books and books in the tent, they love to spend time in there. We have a Sit n Spin that now comes standard with music, but we have never used batteries in it...the toy works just fine on its own (and I don't have to listen to the noise as it drowns out the happy noises of play). The kids also have a Magna Doodle and an Aqua Doodle. Two simple toys that have provided hours of entertainment. An easel is another great toy for a budding artist and it works well for learning to write as well. The one we have is a chalkboard on one side and a white board on the other.

Some of the best toys aren't toys: Laundry baskets, shopping bags, boxes, mixing bowls, wooden spoons...they can entertain a child and their imagination for hours. My daughter will climb in and out of a laundry basket. She will gather up her favorite things and put them in the basket. It is funny to watch her drag it from the laundry room to the family room to play. Forts - a few well positioned chairs, cushions, laundry baskets and blankets can provide hours of entertainment.

Works For Me Wednesday today is themed, Toys Worth Buying. Check it out over at Rocks In My Dryer to see what other parents have found and liked for their kids.

Menu Plan Monday

This week started out with a breakfast with Elmo. The youngest, who the trip was really for, predictably didn't want to sit with Elmo. She finally settled in enough to give him a high five. The week will end with a birthday celebration for the youngest.

At our house, we don't eat breakfast or lunch together during the week, so there is minimal planning that goes into those meals. For us, the focus is dinner.

Sunday
Continental Breakfast with Elmo
Dinner out

Monday
Pork Tenderloin

Tuesday
Tomato Soup/Grilled Cheese

Wednesday
Cube Steaks/Rice

Thursday
Pizza

Friday
Pasta

Saturday
Cereal
Sandwiches
Birthday party - Turkey dinner

Weekdays breakfast is at daycare for my daughter, the rest of us eat cold cereal, frozen waffles, oatmeal, toast or whatever strikes our fancy. Lunch we pack, usually leftovers for me. My son either packs or buys lunch at school. If he packs, it is generally a lunch meat sandwich or a PB&J with some sides.

Check out other menu plans for the week at I'm An Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

CVS Scenarios - week of 11/2

For me, the CVS deals this week seem light. There weren't many things on deal that I need since my stockpiles are pretty well established, but here are three transactions that can get you some good stuff for under $4 OOP.

Transaction #1:
Crest ProHealth Toothpaste

-$1 Crest ProHealth Mfg coupon

$2.49 OOP, earn $3.49 ECBs.

Transaction #2:
Colgate 360 Toothbrush

-$1 Colgate IP

$3.99 Total. Pay with $3.49 ECBs from Transaction #1 and $.50 OOP. Earn $2 ECBs.

Transaction #3:
Always Infinity

-$2 Always Infinity Mfg coupon

$2.99 total. Pay with $2 ECBs from Transaction #2 and $0.99 OOP. Earn $1 ECBs.

You will have spent $3.98 OOP (less if you have ECBs from last week) and you will have $1 ECB to roll for next week.

Some other potential deals to pick up:

Jumbo Pack Pampers Diapers or Easy Ups 2/$20. Use assorted $1 and $1.50 coupons and earn $5 ECBs when you buy two.

Coke 12pk cans 4/$12. Earn $3 ECBs on 4.

Hershey Candies on sale, earn $5 ECBs when you spend $10. If you have some of those BOGO coupons on the Hershey Special Dark, you can get a pretty good deal.

For more $5 Scenarios, check out $5 CVS Challenge at Keeping the Kingdom First. For other CVS scenarios, check out the "Cent"sible Sawyer and Deal Seeking Mom.

CVS Deals - 11/1 & Discount Drug Mart

I made a couple of quick trips today to use up some coupons/ECBs.

CVS:

4 - 50 oz Arm & Hammer Detergent
5 - Soy Joy Bars
1 - Halloween pack of Raisins

- $5 $5/$30 CVS e-mail coupon
- $1 $1/5 Soy Joy coupon
- $4 4x$1 Arm & Hammer Detergent

Paid with $6.98 in ECBs adjusted down to $6.63. $0 OOP. Earned $4 ECBs and a $10 ECB (I think this was from a prescription coupon I had last month).

Discount Drug Mart:

2 - 11.5 oz Nestle Candy

-$2 2x$1 Nestely Coupon

$0.98 OOP.

See other deals at CVS Superstars at The "Cent"sible Sawyer and Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom.