CVS $31.89 for $6.32

I don't have a photo to post tonight.  But did want to tell about my CVS trip.

8 candy bars
1 bag of jelly beans
3 12 packs of diet root beer
5 bottles of SoBe

Retail price is $31.89.  After sales, coupons, and extra care bucks, I paid $6.32 (with $1.21 of that being sales tax since tax is paid on pre-coupon price), and I got $6 back in extra care bucks for the next time I shop at CVS.

$78 for $14 -- then free

Granted, once again I think CVS prices are high so to say this would have been $78, it certainly wouldn't have been that much at Wal-Mart or Dollar General, but I still had a good shopping trip tonight.  (The 90% off items were about $28 overpriced at their original price, but at 90% off I felt they were bargains.)

I walked in CVS and saw a cart of 90% off items.  I bought four packages of trial sized bottles that also included toothbrush holders.  Full sized toothbrush holders are my favorite for even at home, and sometimes it's difficult to find them at reasonable prices.  (Dollar Tree has them off and on, but doesn't seem to ALWAYS carry them.)

Also, there were packages of toy soldiers for 30 cents a package.  (I think an original price of $3 was high, as I see these at Dollar Tree.)  I have an ice cream party every summer, and one of the big "hits" with the children is a pinata.  Last year on a whim I bought a package of toy soldiers to include and even the girls were excited when those started falling from the pinata, so when I saw these, I decided to get them for this year.  (Who knew the kids would enjoy those junky toys so much?  Then again, kids tend to enjoy junky toys, so is it really a surprise?)

Also, on this trip I bought four packages of U by Kotex pads as well as two tubes of Colgate Total toothpaste.

Finally I bought 3 12 packs of Fresca.  My mother can't drink caffiene, she can't have sugar, and recently cola has been banned, so Fresca is a clear soda and it fits what she CAN drink.

After my coupons I paid $14.46.   Well, rather, I paid nothing.  I earned a CVS card with a points program online and used that, so really I paid NOTHING! 

I also received $10.58 back in Extra Care Bucks for next time I shop at CVS. 

For the price of a gallon of milk. . .

I tend to get lazy about bargain hunting this time of year.  It's the weather.  Don't know if you'll be snowed in, and what's the point of trying to find good bargains if you are snowed in. 

But I had about $25 of CVS Extra Care Bucks that were going to expire tomorrow if I didn't use them.  There were not lots of "free after ECB" offers this week (just a pack of gum) so I had to come up with the best way to use these for us.

I bought all this for the price of a gallon of milk.  (Milk is $2.99 at the cheapest place in town and I paid $2.99 for all this.)

2 boxes Quaker Maple and Brown sugar oatmeal
2 boxes Quaker Quick Oats
1 box Fiber One cereal
2 boxes Fiber One 90 calorie bars
1 box Kraft Easy Mac
1 box Velveeta Shells and cheese
1 package Trident gum
1 gallon milk

I paid $2.99.  I saved $37.96  All is stuff we will use.  In fact, my mother told me last night she needed more oatmeal soon.

I also have $11.99 in ECBs to use on future CVS purchases. 

The Shelter of God's Promises

I recently was given the opportunity to review the book:  The Shelter of God's Promises .  Here is my reveiw:

In “The Shelter of God's Promises”, Sheila Walsh takes the reader through some of the main ideas of promises in the Bible. She explores the ideas of peace, confidence, love, grace, and more. I'm usually a huge fan of Sheila Walsh's books, but this one didn't seem to be quite as good as some of her others, although it's still a very good read. It felt more of an instructional book than some of her other books which seem more like a chat with an old friend. That said, the story about her bolero and the missionary clothing drive made me laugh out loud and her personal tales woven into her books are what I enjoy so much about her writing. Having grown up in church, I can't say that there was anything new to me in this book, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of the basics that God has promised us. There is also a Bible study in the back of the book which would be helpful for either personal or group study. I did enjoy this book, and it would also make a great gift to someone who is struggling with – well basically – anything as it is a book of general comfort and encouragement.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review.

Christmas shopping!

We've been needing a vaporizer or humidifier.  I saw there was a $5 off coupon if you watched a Rite Aid Video Value, so I did that and headed off to Rite Aid.  For $16.70 I got a Vick's vaporizer and two packages of light bulbs.  I also got $3.98 back in UP+ Rewards for next time I shop at Rite Aid.  Considering the original price of the vaporizer was $16.49 I think that was a good bargain!

Since we were that far, we decided to go on into Morgantown (okay, so it's 25 more miles from that town, but we decided to go anyway.)

Next stop:  Barnes and Noble.  I was in luck.  They had a number of items marked down to $2   I have a Barnes and Noble membership card and got each item for $1.80

What I bought

Dover Pictura Letters and Alphabets CD-ROM and book (original price $39.95)
4 Ravensburger puzzles (original price $16.95 each)
iSpy puzzle (original price $9.95)
3 mini Coke puzzles (original price $9.95 each)
box of Christmas cards of a lady with two Wii remotes and a box in front of her that says Wii knitting (original price $14.50)
box of Hanukkah cards (original price $12.99)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer game (original price $19.99)
Mr. Owl Tootsie pop blank book (original price $9.95)

Original price for all this would have been: $204.98.  My price after tax, disounts, and rebate? $23.70  All of the puzzles are Christmas themes but those work fine for Christmas gifts!  :)  I think I have a nice start on Christmas for 2011!  :) 

Then I stopped at Kroger, got the overcharge straightened out, and they even refunded the tax I had to spend on their error!  :)

When I arrived home, there was a package on the porch.  It was a win of children's books.
Inside the package:

The Beginner's Guide to Living
Bridget's Beret
Birdy's Smile Book (Christy Ottaviano Books)
Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy
Last Song

First Thifting of 2011

Yesterday I went to my first two thrift shops in 2011.  I think I had a pretty good day.

I bought 41 books by Oliver Greene from Back to the Bible.

I also bought a stack of other books including a number of Christian puppetry books. 

Not pictured:  vintage Masonic glass, two Fire King saucers.

Total spent?  $29.83

Book Review: The Real Skinny on Losing It

I recently had the opportunity to review the book  The Real Skinny on Losing It: True Confessions and Divine Revelations of a Former Yo-Yo Dieter By Michelle McKinney Hammond.  Here is my review:

I've read a number of Michell McKinney Hammond's books and I must say this is my favorite. Unlike most diet and weight loss books, she talks about what didn't work for her, including poking some fun about some of the radical things she's done to try and lose weight. (Cabbage soup, anyone?) I very much enjoyed the light-hearted look she took at weight loss before getting down to business at the end of the book and instead of setting forth a miracle weight loss plan, she encouraged healthy eating and eating right for your body. Unlike other Christian “diet” books I've read, she doesn't go off the deep end saying how prayer is THE answer to weight loss, but does mention that prayer can help. She pretty much covers it all in this book, everything from the “stretchy” clothes we keep in the back of our closet to the fact that we can't always rely on pre-packaged meals. Like most people who need to lose weight, she mourns the fact that some of her favorite foods are no longer her friends, but then she discusses what that means in the long term, and maybe that chocolate bar never was your friend to begin with. I really liked her approach of discussing her struggles with her weight because it felt like she knows what it's like to step on the scales and groan whereas in other diet and weight loss books the authors looks like they have never wanted a bonbon on a bad day! I'm not sure anyone would find anything in this book they didn't already know, but it's certainly worth a read for entertainment purposes as well as to know you are not alone on your weight loss journey!
Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review. The opinion are my own.

Book Review: Lioness Arising

I recently was given the opportunity to review Lioness Arising: Wake Up and Change Your World

In Lioness Arising, Lisa Bevere challenges women to awaken the lioness within each of us. No longer should be be tame and caged, but lioness who will arise to the challenges of life, awaken to the strategy of hunting, and develop the prowess we possess. Be it helping to rescue women and girls who have been sold into prostitution, or “grooming” our young, we all have lioness instincts, and Bevere doesn't want us to ignore them any longer. While I did think this book went a little overboard with the lioness comparisons, it was still a great metaphor of how to live our lives. In community. With strategy. Playful. Watchful. Stealthy. Fierce. Fearless. With a mother's heart to all children, not just our own. As women, no two women are alike. Single. Married. Many children. No children. But that doesn't change the basic instincts many women have of compassion. Use that to change your world! Bevere does a great job of weaving her story of how she learned these concepts into this book. Talking with prostitutes in India to how she always makes her children hug her goodnight and how one benefit of that is she can smell them and often tell if they have been somewhere they shouldn't. She allows us to see the questions and concerns and challenges she faced as she started to develop the lioness within her. Yet she doesn't chart the course for each individual. She encourages every woman to find what inspires them and come into that strength that is unique for each person.

You can download chapter one here:  http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/2010/08/04/sneak-peek-lioness-arising/?ref=BloggingForBooks_Chapter1Link

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my review. The opinions are my own.

Please CLICK HERE to rate the quality of my review (not if you would enjoy the book, but how well I did reviewing it.)  Thank you!

Snow Photos

While we certainly don't have the amount of snow we did last year, here's a few photos I took recently. . .

Our garage door sometimes doesn't like to go down when it gets too cold, and here's snow on a shelf of paint in our garage.

Backyard:

Main road in my town:

I saw this bear in the next town when I was out the other day, and thought it looked like it could "bear"ly stand the snow.

Where do you live?

After a recent post about swapping books, someone asked why I don't get them from the library.  After thinking about this a bit, it seems like so much of how we save money is based on where we live.

How many of you went into your bank last summer and left with FREE fresh vegetables?  I would highly suspect I'm the only one who did.  Same with driving down the road and seeing "Free" signs beside of a pile of vegetables.  Or a cart of green peppers with a little container by it and a sign "15 cents each". 

In a city that's unheard of!

I am very lucky that a Walgreens went in near me about a year ago.  Before that it was about an hour to the closest Walgreens.  It was somewhere I never shopped because of the distance.

It is an hour to the closest in-state library that does inter-library loans.  About 95% of the books I read are non-fiction and often things most people aren't interested in, so that would mean needing inter-library loans for the majority of what I read. (There is one public library near me that doesn't even have a telephone or computer and is only open about 9 hours a week.  To someone who lives in a larger place this is likely unfathomable.)   The IRS allows anywhere from 14 cents to 50 cents per mile deduction when you drive somewhere.  (Not that it would be tax deductable, but let's say it does cost 50 cents per mile wear and tear on the car plus gas.)  A round trip to this library would be $35.  At 14 cents it would  be almost $10. Many of the books I read are paperback and I could order them from Amazon for the $10 range, so why not just buy it and be able to keep the book.  And that's not counting the trip to return the book!  This is just not an economical option for me. 

Last year I read 94 books.  I earn a lot of free Barnes and Noble gift certificates.  I would watch for coupons for anywhere from 15 - 40% off.  (I just received a 40% off coupon in my e-mail today.  Need to decide what to buy.)  I would then combine the coupon and gift certificate.  Then often times, once I'm finished I will sell the book.  Last year, I read 94 books.  Because of also buying books at thrift shops, yardsales, book sales, etc. I actually MADE money instead of spending any reading my books.  (Yes, this even takes in account postage spent from swapping books.  And keep in mind, there's a rule on the book swapping site you cannot sell books you got from there, you are to swap them if you don't want to keep them.)  Plus I always have the option of keeping a book if it's going to be something I want to refer to in the future.

Where you live can make a large difference in how you save money.  There used to be a man near here who used to sell FIFTY POUNDS of potatoes for $6.  I'm not sure if he still does it or not, but I doubt anyone in a city could find that many potatoes for that price.

Even in the best frugal book ever, The Complete Tightwad Gazette the author talked about how her ways to save money changed after she moved to the country from the city.  Before I read that, I never thought about how it is easier for city-folk to save money in some ways.  They have public transportation, multiple grocery stores, larger libraries, etc.  But we have lower housing costs and when buying locally you can get lower prices on foods that rarely have coupons available (fresh meat, vegetables, etc.)

Learning to save money needs to be adjusted for where you live.  For instance, I lived a summer in Asia.  What's one of the cheapest meals to make in the USA?  Spaghetti.  Over there it was a lot more expensive because sauce was imported from Australia (and I didn't like Australian sauce, and Ragu was like $6 a jar 12 years ago.)  So, it was much cheaper to eat what the locals did.  Ramen noodles were just as cheap if not cheaper there!  McDonalds for some reason was about half the price it was in the USA.  Although I did eat spaghetti a couple times, I considered it a "treat" and wasn't something that I would fix often because of the price!