Still Here

For all my followers, I am still here. I haven't posted much because things have just been hectic. I haven't done a whole lot at the drugstores, mostly because there's not a whole lot I need right now. I could have stocked up on Halloween candy, but we're still going through our candy from last year! Plus, all that candy will go to on serious clearance after Halloween. Then I can get some butterfingers and starbursts. How come Haribo gummi treats are never on sale?! What can be more delicious that a red or green Haribo gummi bear? Maybe a gummi whale.....

Anyways, I've gotten in the habit of going to 2 or 3 grocerys stores. When time permits, of course. Sometimes the deals are just that good, that I need to make a few trips. For example, each week, Harris Teeter (HT) has an e-Vic item that is super cheap. Like 1lb of butter for $.37 or a dozen eggs for $.89. Stuff like that is hard to pass up AND you don't have to purchase a minimum amount of food to get the deal.

So, I haven't been in couponing mode, but have been in cooking, baking and doing fun fall activity mode.

I have been stock piling frozen meat for many months now. My grandmother had a tall freezer full of meat and when she was moving to a smaller place, she was convinced that everyone would fight over and steal the meat. Now, I understand. This is like a nest neg for a rainy day. When all else fails, pull something from the freezer. Well, I had 2 pork tenderloins sitting in there and we were having 10 -12 people over for my husband's birthday. So, oven roasted pork it was!! I had plenty of potatoes because they were on sale at Publix for $1.99 for a 5 pound bag. However, most of them had a bunch of bad spots, but they were salvageable. I was making caesar salad and had a few items to buy for that as well as a vegetable, asparagus.

I spent my week worth of $ for grocery on this past weekend, but it was worth it. I bought some frozen shrimp from HT because it was B1G2 free and a great deal. But sometimes when you have a specific menu in mind, it's hard to save money. Anchovy paste is never on sale!!

Additionally, we were having friends from church over on Sunday so I had to prepare food for that. Well, I could have done boxed brownies and subs, but why do that when you can have meatballs, bread bowl artichoke dip, pumpkin bread and refrigerated cookie dough cookies??

Free Panties - Pink Nation

If you sign up for Pink Nation, a Victoria's secret thing, you get a coupon for a pair of free panties, no purchase required. Just something for my lady friends out there. They also give you a coupon for $10 off any full priced bra, excluding a few :)

Small Purchases

I didn't take a picture, but it was a great trip anyway! I had in mind to get some pumpkin carvings knives and mascara. I don't like paying $7 for mascara. It lasts me, but still, $7!! I know how far I can stretch $7 now, so it kills me to pay more than I have to. I started my CVS trip with a $5 ECB and a $2.50 ECB. So, here's how it went.

First: I purchased 1 Halloween candy bag ($.99)
1 Pumpkin Carving Knife ($1.99)

I Used: $2.50 in ECB

Total: $.52 (incl. tax)
I got: ECBs for $1.99 and $.99

I purchased: 1 box of Kashi ($3), 2 Revon Mascaras (B1G1, $7.49), 1 pumpkin carving knife ($1.99, get $1.99 in ECBs). I used $6 in manufacturer coupons, $7.98 in ECB's
Total: $.25

I then got $1.99 in ECBs and I got CVS bucks for $2.00 off Pullups, which were on sale, so I bought a package of Pull Ups for $5.01.

So, I could've left CVS for under $1 OOP, but I wanted to get a deal on Pull-ups. Sometimes the small transactions are the most satisfying.

New Organization System

I've been frustrated with my organization system for some time now. It just takes too long to find and cut out my coupons. At first, I cut out everything and filed it by brand name. But the cutting took way too long. Then I had 2 files. One file had cut out coupons and the other file held the sunday inserts by date. But I was still spending too much time finding the coupon. So, I was talking with my Father in Law and he told me they changed the way they were filing too. They decided to cut out all coupons that they would ever use and then file by category. Great idea!! So, my coupons will fit in these categories:
Baby
Personal / Meds
Pantry
Drinks/Refrigeration
Frozen
Candy/Pets
Betty Crocker
Pillsbury
Cereal
Household/Cleaning

So, let's see if this works.