I have had a few people ask me why I buy things I don't 'need' at the time. I have tried to describe to them why I do it and how I do it, then this morning I found the perfect post to explain why at Mommy Making Money.

It is so nice to have the items you know your family needs, on hand BEFORE you need it! What makes it even better is knowing that you didn't go over your budget to get these things, AND the majority of it was free, close to free, or purchased with very low OOP.

Having a mini store in your house is not only beneficial to you and your family, but also to extended family or even others in need. I haven't even been doing this for very long, but I already have plenty of extra toothpaste and razors, etc, that I can happily share with others! My parents were over yesterday and they left here with a Venus razor, 2 packages of Zantac and a sample of Prilosec, which was helpful to both them and myself. God knows I have enough razors on hand and we don't have any need for Zantac here. Both items were money makers when I purchased them which allowed for me to buy items that were 'needs' for my family last week.

So, go get your Sunday paper tomorrow, check out the ads, clip your coupons and take them with you when you do your shopping. I get excited about it every week. The fun part is thinking, "I wonder how much I can get for $____ amount of money this time", and not thinking "I wonder how much all of this is gonna cost me?"


Happy shopping!

Friday Freebies

• Click here for a free Excedrin sample, thanks to Wal-Mart.
• Click here for a Tide w/ Dawn sample. (wait for Kelly to get out of the way, hehe)
  
• Click here for a Free Quaker Simple Harvest Granola Bar or Hot Cereal sample.
• Need some caulk? Here is a free sample of GE's new 'Caulk Singles'
• I just received this potty training dvd sample in the mail a few days ago, I won't be needing it for awhile but hopefully it will be helpful when baby D is big enough for the potty!

CVS Shoppin' article

People are really starting to catch on to how much money you can save by shopping and stockpiling at CVS and Walgreens. Click here to read the article posted on MSN Money. A few of my favorite blogs are mentioned as well! There are also some great links to answer questions you may have about all of this! CHECK IT OUT!

A few freebies..

• Click here for a free sample of Advil and a $2.00 coupon.
• Click here for a free Playtex Sport sample.
  

• How would you like 2 Regular Chili Cheese Coney combos at Sonic for $5? Click here to get your coupon, expires July 31st!

5/14

Last night I ordered a FREE Roadside Emergency Kit! This will be nice to have! To find out how you can get yours, & a few other goodies visit JANE4girls $800 Annual Budget For A Family of 4!

*Thanks to Denise at The "Cent"sible Sawyer I found about these freebies:

Visit Dunkin' Donuts anytime between 10 am to 10 pm tomorrow, May 15th if you would like a FREE 16oz. Iced Coffee! Gotta love free coffee!

Visit Dippin' Dots anytime between 4 - close on May 20th to get a FREE cup of Birthday Cake Flavored Dippin' Dots in honor of their 20th Birthday!

and..

Also visit Dippin' Dots between May 27th and June 24th for their "Two-fer Tuesdays." Buy one get the second for $0.20!!

5/13

I just wanted to apologize for not posting any CVS scenarios for the week. To be honest I never really knew what I was going to do until right before I got there yesterday. So I will go ahead and post about the 'scenario' that I did.

CVS:



ECB's to start with: $ 31.74

Ajax .77
Colgate 4oz 2.99 (-1.50 coupon)
Colgate 4oz 2.99 (-1.50 coupon)
Schick Intuition 9.99 (-4.00 coupon)
(2)CVS Allergy 5ct 3.79 (May freebie)
(2) Hawaiian Tropic lip balm 1.99ea.

Total: $28.30
- $7 coupons
= $21.30
-2.79, 3.99, 4, 4.99, 5 ($20.77 ECB's)

Subtotal: $.53
+ .61 tax
=$1.14 OOP

Earned: $27.58 ECB's

Ending ECB amount: *$38.55 ECB's*

Thanks to a couple of friendly posters at Slick Deals and Hot Coupon World I learned that the 'buy 2 Hawaiian Tropic items get $10 ECB' promotion this week includes the lip balms which are $1.99 each. So you spend $3.98 and receive $10 ECB's back! That is $6.02 profit! Yay!

***Note to above: I walked around CVS trying to find these and right before I was about to give up I found them. The Hawaiian Tropic display was in the back of the store at the endcap of the office supply aisle? Hehe, kind of strange.... they had sunblock in different areas all around the store. So you may have to hunt around to find them, but its worth it!

$ Want to see more CVS savings? Visit the Centsible Sawyer's CVS Superstars! Here

*For more CVS savings and other stores as well visit Money Saving Mom!

Walgreens:



RR's to start with: $22.00

Trans #1:

Pert Plus 3.49 (-1.00 coupon)
Kleenex .59
(2) Stayfree @ 3.00 ea. (-2.00/2 coupon) (-2.00 Easy Saver catalog coupon)
Walgreens brand pads 1.99

Total: $12.07
-$5.00 coupons
-$6.00 RR

Subtotal: $1.07
+.97 tax
=$2.04 OOP

*I will earn $2.50 for the Pert Plus, and $1.99 for the Walgreens pads back w/ the monthly rebates.

*My original plan didn't work out. I had a $2.00 off coupon for Pert Plus which would have made it $1.49 so I bought the Kleenex as a filler item so my total would be at least $6 to use my RR. I checked out with the store manager and he noticed that the coupon was only for 'botanical blends Pert Plus' or something so I couldn't use it. I forgot to have him take the Kleenex off too since I no longer needed it for a filler, but its ok...I can always use Kleenex.



RR to start with: $16.00

Trans #2:

(2) Stayfree @ 3.00 ea. (-2.00/2 coupon) (-2.00 Easy Saver catalog coupon)
Walgreens light bulbs 1.69

Total: $7.69
-$4.00 coupons
-$3.00 RR

Subtotal: $.69
+$.46 tax
=$1.15 OOP

*I will earn $1.69 for the light bulbs back w/ the monthly rebates.

*I also used a Gillette body wash RR to get another free bottle! (-3.49) :)


I will probably pay another visit to CVS this week because I would really like to take advantage of the Eucerin deal. I have a lot of coupons! I am just on the look out for a -$/$ CVS coupon!

Last night we went to Red Robin so that my husband could get his free birthday burger! We went a few weeks ago for my birthday too. I gotta say it sure is nice to pay $9.00 and get 2 awesome burgers! I tried the Banzai Burger and it was out of this world good! Make sure you sign up for the Red Robin eClub so you can a free burger on your birthday!

Thank you Walgreens RR!

A big thank you to Walgreens! I had a lot of fun shopping your ad this week! I used some RR this evening to score 2 packs of FREE Huggies! Gosh, I love free diapers, hehe! I also got a package of Skittles and Peanut Butter M&M's for a nice Saturday treat. A real nice Saturday treat when they are free....now only if we didn't have to pay tax on them.....oh well. I still have RR to spend! YAY!

Thanks again, Walgreens!

Oh yeah, a little FYI - I did two transactions and at the end of both of them I received a $2.00 off Pampers catalina coupon. Apparently the Huggies = a Pampers coupon!