I’ve Got a Serious Case of the Shakes

Major emergency here, folks. I haven’t been to CVS in FOUR DAYS. The last time I was there was Monday, and I couldn’t even go to one of my “regular” CVSes because they were both CLOSED due to the power outages from Sunday’s windstorm. So, I went to a not-so-coupon-friendly location because I HAD to get Joshua’s Zyrtec.

My two fave CVSes did not re-open until Wednesday. I excitedly called Wednesday to see if they were open and was filled with GLEE when told that they were. However, scheduling snafus (started because SOPHIE wouldn’t nap. Little booger.) prevented me from actually going. I was very sad! Then yesterday, we had Joshua’s homeschool co-op all day and I was going to go to CVS on the way home but he FELL ASLEEP on the way home and ruined those plans. (See, I am not fanatic enough about CVS to wake my kid up to go. Aren’t you proud, Emily?)

So today’s the day. It’s gotta be, ’cause I am about to die. I have some seriously painful CVS withdrawal symptoms. I’ve got the shakes, dry mouth, my nails are bitten to shreds, I’m irritable, and I think I’ve gained five pounds. I need some sweet deals, some coupons, and some ECBs to make everything okay again! Today I need to go to CVS so bad I would go with dirty hair and no makeup (normally I pretty myself up for CVS. But I will go fugly to Walgreens), no breakfast, and I MAY just take my kids in their PJs.

We addicts will sometimes do anything for a score. For this junkie, that time has come.

(P.S. I had an article published at Blissfully Domestic today about Getting the Most Out of Your Coupons! Do me a favor and go check it out. Leave me a comment so they will think I am a really great writer and I won’t get fired. K? Thx!)

Post to Twitter

Time to Sharpen Your Claws, Ladies!

cat_fight-faces2.jpg

(Now you know Emily and I would never really fight each other. This was just a training session for the BIG EVENT)

Saturday was a day Emily and I had been looking forward to for…oh, about six months – the semi-annual mom’s market sale we go to religiously. Sometimes it’s crazy, sometimes it’s not so bad, but it is always not to be missed! To get ready for the sale, Em and I had to have everything on our checklist:

1) Fat wad of sweaty money and/or credit card
2) COFFEE (because we get in line at the butt crack of dawn, an hour before the doors open)
3) A firm idea of what we want to buy in order of importance
4) The will to take down and scratch the eyes out of any hag who tries to get to the exersaucer (Em) or 2T girl’s coat (Jenny) we’ve been coveting (in the most loving,Christian way possible of course!)

So…let’s see…check, check, check, check. Em and I arrived bright and early and we weren’t the craziest senoras in the casa because there were approximately 70 or so people in line in front of us. Nevertheless, we were VERY pleased with our place in line. Here are the poor suckers that were behind us, just a few minutes before the doors opened.

the-line.jpg

The line went all the way past that telephone pole you can see in the distance. It was insane.

But it got a whole lot crazier once those doors opened. Em and I had to “divide and conquer” as she hit the baby gear/toy room looking for that exersaucer and I booked it back to the infant room to get Sophie some 24 month fall clothes and the perfect 2T winter coat. The infant room is in the back of the building so I had to go through several hallways filled with older kids’ clothes on my way. I did a grab and run of a nice pair of 5T khaki pants for Joshua and shoved them in my bag without missing a beat as I sprinted to the infant room. Within about 5 minutes, I had DECIMATED the 24 month girl section. I loved seeing the crestfallen faces of the other moms as I left the section with my bag bulging with all the best Carter’s, Children’s Place, and Old Navy outfits. (Insert evil laugh here.) Nothing was over $2.50, except for this, the perfect Carter’s 2T winter coat. It was a steal at $8.

carters-coat.jpg

Can I get a “what what!?”

I then went back to the boys 5T section, where I scored Joshua a couple of pairs of PJs and a really nice fleece outfit. (He has a ton of hand-me-downs from his boy cousins so he didn’t need too much.)

Next I headed to the toy room, intent on finding some new toys for Sophie and maybe a Thomas the Tank Engine item to thrill Joshua with. THIS is where my plan broke down. You see, I am a raging tad claustrophobic, and the toy room was almost my undoing! There were so many other rabid moms in there, I couldn’t even get near any of the tables with the toys on them. I started to get a little hot and panicky, so I backed into a corner near the door and snapped this picture of the mayhem:

toy-room.jpg

(shaky hands from near panic attack = blurry picture! sorry!)

Then I tried to exit, but I COULDN’T GET OUT! There was a traffic jam!

traffic-jam.jpg

Had I not trained rigorously for this event, I would have seriously probably had a panic attack. But I took some deep breaths and just waited patiently for the line to start moving. Then, I went back to the infant room in search of Emily, but didn’t find her. (I did find all these people though!)

infant-room.jpg

(ooh that girl in front scored a BUMBO SEAT! way to go!)

I decided to head toward the checkout, and there was, like, no one in line. Sweet! My panic started subsiding. Then, I spotted my awesome cousin going through the spoils of her victory. Together we geekily and giddily shared our purchases with each other and then headed up to the checkout. We got separated at different checkout tables. I almost died with excitement when I saw this lovely lady checking people out at the table one over from mine:

drp.jpg

“Why,” you ask? “Who could this lovely lady be?” It’s none other than Emily’s and my OB-GYN, the wonderful Dr. who delivered all four of our kids, Dr. Trisha Pachiano! We *heart* her! I excitedly waved Emily over so we could say hello. She is a mom of four girls but we didn’t know she was involved with the moms group who puts on the sale! One more thing that makes her so awesome. I made a real nerd of myself and asked if I could take her picture for the blog, and she graciously agreed.

{Ok, sickening gushing about OB-GYN (that I may or may not have a platonic girl crush on) over.}

Anyhoo- when we left the sale we felt like we had run a marathon! Or at least a 5k. But it was SO WORTH IT!! Look at what I got, for $48.50 total!

kids-clothes.jpg

That’s a crap lot of kids clothes!

And I didn’t even have to scratch anyone’s eyes out. Sadly, that was kind of disappointing. (Maybe I need to lay off the Red Bull.) Well, there’s always the next sale…5 months and 28 days and counting!! I think I’ll sign up for kickboxing lessons and get some hypnosis for my claustrophobia so I can take no prisoners next time!

Post to Twitter

Clearance + Coupons = Happiness

I had some great savings at CVS this week and FINALLY got a good deal at the grocery too! Come see what I scored!

vivatide.JPG

This transaction was SO fun for me. I walked into my CVS on Sunday only to discover with joy that they had TIDE on clearance 75% off! They had these 39-load jugs for $3.00! And I had $1.00 off coupons! Woohoo! Here’s how it broke down

2 Tide $6
Viva paper towels (OHH how I LOVE them!) $6.49
Zipfizz energy drink $5.99
Kotex $1.49
CVS hand lotion $1.49

Total = $21.46
Coupons:
$5/$20 Walgreens coupon (my CVS takes competitor q’s)
$2/10 CVS coupon
Two $1 off Tide
$1 off Kotex
$1 off Kotex Walgreens coupon
$2 off CVS skincare product (gave me overage on the lotion)
75 cents off Viva
$1.50 off Viva CRT (from a previous CVS receipt)
Total = 6.21
I paid with 6 ECB and just 14 cents tax and got back 5.99 ECB for the zipfizz, 1.49 for the Kotex, and 1 ECB for the Viva! So I actually PROFITED on that! Amazing!

Next, I got some of my FAVORITE Mountain Dew products!

sobedew.JPG

Mountain Dew 4/$12
Sobe Water 5/$5
Milk $2.99
CVS hand lotion $1.49
zipfizz $5.99
Total = $27.47

Coupons:
Walgreens $5/$20
CVS $2/$10
Four $1 off Target Mountain Dew coupons
Four “Buy a 12-pk Pepsi product, get a free Sobe water”
$2 off CVS skincare

Total= $10.47
I paid with 10 ECB and 58 cents cash and got back 5.99 ECB for the zipfizz, 3 ECB for the Mountain Dew and 2 ECB for the Sobe. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 soooo HAPPY WITH THAT!

Ok, last one. This was a fun one. God is good. Before this week, we were down to about a box & a half of cereal. Thanks to CVS and Meijer this week, we now have TWELVE boxes!

maltomeal2.JPG

Four boxes of Malt-O-Meal cereal $4
Zipfizz energy drink $5.99
CVS hand lotion $1.49

Total = $10.48

Coupons: $2/$10 CVS
four $1 off Malt-o-Meal printables
$2 off CVS skincare product

Total = $2.48

I paid with 2.49 ECB, adjusted down to 2.48, which made my total a perfect ZERO, and I got back 5.99 ECB for the zipfizz. YAY!

Ok, on to Meijer. I FINALLY got some good grocery deals this week after weeks of NO GOOD SALES. Shew! I made an impromptu trip on Sunday night with NO LIST and still did pretty well so I was pumped. I got allthis for $26.72:

meijer2672.JPG

The Cheerios were $1.67 and I had 5 $1 off coupons from signing up for the Cheerios Challenge. The Fiber One bars ended up being 88 cents after doubled coupons. There were tear pads with “buy 3 Kraft products, get free Wheat Thins” coupons (also Oscar Mayer hot dogs!) so I got a couple of those and bought the 20 cent Kool-Aid packets to use as my three Kraft items. I also had a coupon like this for the cheese, which I got from “All You” magazine. So, free cheese! Before Coupons my total was 55 dollars and change, so I was thrilled with this trip! Then on my way out, I noticed a sign by the door. They were having a promotion where if you bought $10 worth of Nabisco cookies or crackers, you could get $10 off three packages of Fruit of the Loom basics. Well, the FREE Wheat Things are part of this promotion, so I went back and got this!

meijer959.JPG

All this for $9.59. I bought Kool-Aid packets to qualify as my 3 Kraft items to get the Wheat Thins and the hot dogs FREE. The Wheat Thins then took $10 off my three packages of socks (which were originally $4.59 EACH!!) I had $1 off coupons for the Lean Cuisine, which were on sale for $1.99, so I got them for 99 cents each. $9.59 for ALL THAT!? I was thrilled!

Allright, that’s all I got. Hope you did great this week too! To see more fabulous coupon action, check out CVS Superstars at the Centsible Sawyer and Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!

Post to Twitter