I haven't fallen off the wagon

That is to say that Yes! I'm still getting good deals but haven't had much time to write about them.  We were out of town for one week and recovering the other weeks, so blah, blah, blah.  But here are a few deals that I've made at CVS:

*I had to buy 8 Cover Girl brow markers and paid $2.22 and got 8 ECBs back.  Those 8 ECBs went to diapers, I believe. 

*I was able to buy 2 packs of diapers for $5 and get 5 ECBs back.

* Today I went to buy some diapers but they were out of my size so instead, I bought 4 huge 13 gallon sized tupperwares for $2.25 each....Not too bad.  Anything that says 75% off current price is bound to grab my attention.

As for groceries...I haven't had as much time to keep up with things but my pantry is pretty well stocked. So, I've just been buying meat and fresh veggies.  My husband requested more fresh veggies and it's a good thing because it's market time!!

Oops...

I keep writing my blogs under my other blog site. Sorry....If you're interested check out the blog on the right: The Holdgate's..

The Tour

So my mom is in town and I couldn't wait to get her to CVS!! I was so excited to show her the ropes, so I grilled her on all the products that she uses. Toothepaste, soap, shampoo, etc. It just so happens that CVS had a great deal on deoderant this week, so I gathered up my coupons and off we went.

The bottom line: Spent $7.50 and got: 9 sticks of deoderant, 2 tubes of toothepaste, and 2 toothebrushes. Not too bad. So, I"m sending her home with 2 sticks of deoderant, 2 tubes of toothepast and a toothebrush....

Anybody else need some Degree?

Were you wondering?

Where I've been? Maybe not, but maybe you were wondering how grocery shopping did this week. Well, my goal was to not shop except for essentials like eggs, milk, fresh veggies, etc. And it worked! Although my father came to visit, which meant I needed to buy a few special things for him, I did not do a big grocery trip. Yea!!

Nothing saves money like not spending any :)

I couldn't help it

And I didn't take a picture. This past week I was planning on not going grocery shopping because I wanted to use up some food I'd been stockpiling. However, HT decided to have a great week and I ended up buying $252 worth of groceries for $70. They had their B2B3 free 2 lb frozen shrimps ($4.33/lb) and a special deal that if you bought a certain amount of specified products, you get $4 and $5 off your total order.

So, I stocked up on shrimp, frozen vegetables, refrigerated doughs (pizza, cinnamon rolls, etc), fruit snacks and cinnamon toast crunch (my husband's favorite). So, REALLY! my freezer is stuffed with food. I can't buy anything else for the freezer! So, we'll be having pizza and shrimp this week, although not together. And I'll be starting Freezer Friday! Where I make 1 item from a freezer item. I mean, we gots to have room for ice cream!

Are you bored?

I asked Alex this the other night. When was the last time you were bored? I can't think of the last time when I had enough time to be bored!! Now, if someone asked me when the last time I was so tired I couldn't drive straight, I could point to the exact date.

As I was reading through some of the other blogs on my favorites list, I felt a little embarassed that mine wasn't very interesting. By now, it's getting kind of old to see how little I spent on a bunch of groceries. Still exciting, but not as much fun to write about. So I'm going to try to get a little more interesting and post 'exciting' deals.

At my HT, they usually have carts and bins with old products, discounted items and post seasonal items. I always check this out for steals. I've been keeping an eye on the Valentine's cart but how much post Valentine's hershey kisses can you really eat?! But they had these super cute baskets discounted down...So, I bought all 8 baskets for $3.47! This leads me to my next subject of Quantity.

Normally, in my past shopping life, I would've bought one or two. But I remembered that I might not see this low price for a long time. What could I use all these baskets for? Well, the wicker ones are lined so I can put my herbs in them and the other big ones would be good for something potted also. Or I could do a flower arrangement and give it as a gift or use them as popcorn bowls...The possibilities are endless and for $.49 I grabbed a bunch!

It's always hard for me to buy a large quantity of things. But I felt like the $3.47 was spent wisely and with a purpose. I also do this with shoes that I love. I buy 2 pair because it drives me nuts when I love a pair of shoes that eventually I can't find again.

What $4.47 can get you...

Harris Teeter had never been on my radar until my perspective on shopping changed. I was diligently going to Publix and buying the same things every week.

Then I learned about couponing and my simple world opened up into this vast universe of freebies and super deals!

Hence, Harris Teeter (HT - as I call it) become one of my favorite stores. Here's why:

1. Each week, HT has an EVic item. That is an item that is marked below the sale price. They also send me an email giving me some personal discounts on items that I routinely shop for like Tropicana OJ for $2.27. OJ is usually 2/$6 or 2/$5 so $2.27 is a good deal, especially if I have a coupon.

2. HT has their sad fruit section. This is the 'old' veggies and fruit that are marked down immensely because they're about to go bad. So, this was my latest find. A bag of zucchini, bag of squash, bag of lemons and a bag of potatoes, all for $4.47! I love it.

3. I used to hate things like Buy 2 Get 3 free, but I've embraced that concept now!! That's how I get my 6 lbs of frozen shrimp for $25 and 12 pack cokes for $2.50...

The point is, I try to keep my options open. Another reason to shop at higher priced stores, is that they sometimes have better sales and discounts...