Couponing and CVS

It is of little surprise to folks who know me in real life that I like to coupon.  I like saving money, watching others save money on Extreme Couponers.  Mostly I like the puzzle of seeing how I can use these coupons to get the best deal possible on my stuff. I am far from being an extreme coupon-er or joining the ranks of folks who write books and blogs like the Coupon Mom dedicated entirely to coupons, but I like to think I know a thing or two!

 

The main secret to my couponing success comes in three little letters - CVS.  While I do clip and use coupons at other stores, I always seem to get the best deals at CVS!

Here is last week's CVS "haul" which I brought home for a total $20.17
 

My "haul" included 2 All brand laundry detergents, 2 Cover Girl Mascaras, 6 bottles of Pantene shampoo and conditioner, 5 different hair styling products from Garnier & Pantene, hand lotion, and some feminine products.

 

My Tips for Couponing at CVS:

(1) Register your ExtraCare card.

Register your ExtraCare card online at CVS' website and receive coupons by email.  My $10 off $40 or more coupon was a big help in last week's deal.  Remember that if you have other coupons, the CVS money-off coupon can be applied before those other coupons.  (For example, my total came to about $42 before coupons, they took of the $10 off $40 coupon and I was still able to use other coupons).

(2) Print Coupons In Store

Make sure that your first stop every time you visit CVS is at the price-scanner and coupon printer where you can print additional coupons with your card.  These CVS store coupons can be combined with manufacturer's coupons and offer great additional deals.  Recently I have gotten 10% off Kotex products, 30% off hand lotion, and my favorite a $3 off $10 Garnier coupon which I combined with several other Garnier manufacturer's coupons for better savings.

(3) Multiple Transactions

While you should certainly be courteous of people behind you in line, don't be afraid to do multiple transactions, they are the key to great savings at CVS. Multiple transactions will allow you to best use those ExtraCare bucks that you earn when shopping sales.  Part of my success last week came from breaking up my transactions to that the $10 in ECB I received could be used toward other items I was buying.  I bought enough in one transaction to generate the ECBs and then did a second transaction in order to use those ExtraCare bucks immediately.  After all, who wants to lose free money?

(4) CVS Deal Blogs

Another great resource when coupon shopping at CVS is the blogs dedicated to doing exactly that!  They will tell you great deal scenarios and often have pictures of the next week's ad up well before you receive your Sunday paper. I <3 CVS is a blog dedicated exclusively to CVS but simply google "CVS coupon matchups" and you will find many other blogs discussing CVS deals!
 

Happy Couponing!

 

And I am curious readers - Do you coupon?  Want to try your hand at couponing at CVS?  I am giving away a $5 CVS gift card to one of my readers!  To enter please leave a comment answering one of these questions:

What is your favorite store to coupon at?  What are your best coupon tips?

This is not a sponsored post, all opinions are my own, as is the cost of the giveaway.  I will choose the winner at random on Sunday April 12th, I reserve the right to cancel the giveaway if there are insufficient entries. 





Budgets, Bagels and Blogs

I am still a day short and getting posts for A, B and likely C all up today!  I was a little late to the party this year so I never got hooked in to the Linky List but I am having fun with this anyway.

What are some of my favorite B things?
 

Budgets, Bagels and Blogs

Budgets

I have been slacking in the budget world the past few months, but I plan to get back on track because I have to say I love the freedom that comes with having a budget!  I love the guilt free spending of stopping for an iced coffee and knowing I can afford it, or being able to make an extra payment on my student loans :) 
Some of my favorite tools/websites for budgets are:

Dave Ramsey

LearnVest
SaveUp
The Penny Hoarder

Bagels

This one doesn't really fit in with the trend of links that are going on with my other two Bs, but I still enjoy bagels.  Specifically I love French Toast Bagels with Maple Cream Cheese from a little café near where I work!  If you are from Western MA it is definitely worth popping into Holyoke for a visit to the Dam Café.

Blogs

Since one of my goals in the AtoZ challenge is to build and participate in community, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite blogs.  It is an eclectic list, but these (in no special order) are the blogs I find myself visiting most frequently.

Modern Modesty
The Pioneer Woman

 The Humbled Homemaker
The Modest Mom Blog

Conversion Diary


This post is linked up at the following:
Create With Joy Friendship Friday, AtoZ Blog Challenge,SHINE Blog Hop



7 QT - Grateful for the New & Old Years

Yesterday I wrote about my theme for 2015 - Year of Gratefulness.  I am only two days into the new year, but thus far I am enjoying my theme!  As one year closes and another begins, I decided to share some of the things I am grateful for from 2014.
Linked up over at This Ain't the Lyceum for 7QT Friday.

 

(1) Memories

I am grateful for all the fun times and good memories from 2014.  Some of my highlights included: frequent meals at a new favorite restaurant Mexicali; spending a week w/ my family at the beach; a special birthday date; a visit from my long-distance friend from grad school including a day trip down to Rhode Island & Mystic with her as well as an evening in Boston; seeing the Improv Asylum in Boston with friends from College; St. Patrick's Day Parade weekend;  a daytrip to Mystic Aquarium & the beach; a family weekend trip to CT to celebrate my grandfather's 90th Birthday!; and a lot of fun holiday celebrations to round out the year.

 

(2) Dating a Great Guy

We are going through a season of change right now and not really sure where our relationship will go, but I am still grateful I had the chance to love and be loved by a really awesome guy, and to have a lot of fun together.

 

(3) New Friends

I am happy that 2014 gave me the opportunity to make new friends, and deepen some existing friendships.  I am glad I have a great group of ladies with whom I can enjoy both fun times and fellowship.

 

(4) Family

This one is nothing new, but I am still very grateful for my family!

 

(5) My Job(s)

As of October I have now been at my full-time job for a little over a year.  I recently had the chance to help with the training of some newer employees, and it really made me realize just how much I have learned in those fifteen months. I am really grateful to have a job I enjoy, the opportunity to work with good co-workers and a supervisor who I can learn a lot from.  I am also grateful to work for a company which treats its employees well, and where there is opportunity for career growth.

 

(6) Learning About Relationships

Before dating that great guy I mentioned in take 2, I didn't really have much dating experience.  I had been on dates but no real serious relationships.  As someone with mental illness, relationships have always been a struggle for me.  Whether it is a friendship a love relationship etc. I always struggle with knowing when to open up and how much. I act confident, but still constantly worry what others think of me. I wondered if I was even capable of love. I am grateful that 2014 taught me that I am lovable and capable of love.

 

(7) God's Faithfulness

I am grateful that God remains faithful to us at all times!


Linked up at This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 QT Friday.  Also linked up at:
Missional Women



2015 - Year of Gratefulness

I did make some career goals for 2015, and I do want to increase my fitness so that I can enjoy hiking this summer, but I am not really into the New Year's resolution thing this year. So, in lieu of a New Year's Resolution, I have adopted a theme for the year 2015:


YEAR OF GRATEFULNESS

 

In 2015 I am challenging myself - and you - to be grateful.

At first glance this seems like a very simple challenge.  After all, everyone reading this no doubt already has a lot to be grateful for.  A computer or mobile device and internet access to start (and I can only assume you made sure your basic needs were taken care of first).  I am sure most of us already spent the holiday season in appreciation for time with family, gifts received, time off work etc.  But I am not challenging us to be grateful on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I am not challenging us to be grateful on the good days.  I am challenging us to be grateful not only on the days of family parties, payday, birthdays and happy moments, but on every day in between as well.

 

I am challenging you to be thankful on the just okay days.  And the less than okay days.  And the flat out crappy days.

 

 I challenge you, and me, to find at least one thing to be grateful for.  Every. single. day.

 

Throughout the year I will be sharing many of the things I am thankful for.  Here on my blog and also on Facebook and other social media, using #yearofgratefulness.  Please join me!

Linked up at:
The Modest Mom Blog, Spiritual Sundays, Serving Joyfully , Missional Women

 



7 Quick, Quick Takes

I don't even know the last time I participated in seven quick takes!  I have still been there as a reader on occasion, but I've been very much out of the blog circuit lately.  C'est la vie....

 

Here's What I've Been Up To Instead ---

 

 

(1) Working

I work. A lot.  So do all of you.  It's not all too interesting.

 

(2) Dating

I have a boyfriend.  I like him.  Sometimes we go on dates.  Sometimes we both work 60+ hour weeks and there are no dates. Sometimes we fight.  I love him.

 

(3) Budgeting

I am working on a Total Money Makeover ala Dave Ramsey.  It is part of the reason I'm back to blogging - it's a cheap hobby, and has the potential for side income.

(4) Shopping

I like to shop.  Yes I know I am on a budget.  Hence why I am all about thrift stores and thredUP!  Is anyone else digging thredUP's cute "GiftUP" section as much as me?
(P.S.  If you're not already a thredUP user here is a link, to get $10 off your first purchase!)

(5) SellingPart of my job involves sales.  I thought I would dislike that part.  It is actually my favorite part! And I am pretty good at it.  Like more than 150% to my goal good at it.

(6) Moving
I moved.  This is my first "on my own" big girl apartment. It was a bit overdue. 

(7) Forgetting
Moving has been humorous when I do things like go to cook and forget that I have no silverware.  On the plus side, I can scramble an egg with a spoon.  (Literally I had a spoon. One spoon.)

 

(7b) Decorating

That first "big girl" apartment means I get to decorate.  It is fun!  Me and my $5 thrift store budget managed to get several decorations :)



Catching Up and My TMMO

Once again I am here "catching up," I guess the question is how many times can I start a post with "so long, no blog" or something similar.  Anyways, hopefully I am back here for more frequent blogging but given my track record I make no promises!

 

My life has been heading all sorts of directions lately, and unfortunately many of those directions have led me away from God.  Yes I still believe life is a journey.  Yes the goals I have set for my Journey are still important.  But I was ignoring them for awhile, and even now my approach to them is a bit different.  I am back to praying regularly, but I can't say the same for regular Church attendance.  I cannot say I have been doing much to model Christ-like living for others so I suppose both goals 1 and 2 need some major work.  Goal 3, being able to see Christ in others and treat them accordingly, is almost second-nature to me though I suppose lately I have been treating people well more from a humanistic approach than a truly Christ-centered one.  Goals 4 and 5 are both much less religious in nature, and I suppose I can say I have been doing very well at 4, making a positive difference in the lives of others, and not quite as well on 5, which is to work everyday at being the best version of myself.  I definitely want to be the best me possible, but lately there has been a lot of room for more work!  So friends, whether I continue with more frequent blogging or not, I would love to be in your prayers!

 

As you may have seen in the pages I am now working on a Total Money Makeover to help me with the big goal of becoming debt free!  This is a major focus of my journey right now, one I am very excited about and plan to blog more about!  The other big change in my journey is that I am preparing to move into my own apartment.  After living back home with my folks for almost five years after college/graduate school I am excited to leave the nest again.  That means you can also expect some fun posts about setting up house and all things domestic.  While I did live in the dorms and an apartment in college, and in a rental house with roommates during my graduate program this is my first time really being "out on my own" and I am both excited and nervous about the prospect!  Pretty grateful to all the family members offering me extra dishes, lamps, tag sale items etc. to help me move on a budget.

 I am curious if any other bloggers/readers are working on or have completed a TMMO of their own?  Did you make any big changes like a move or have a big change in expenses during your Makeover? Do you have any tips to share! 

My Apolgies from the Letters E, F, G, and H

My apologies from the letters E, F, G and H.  They are sad that they have missed the fun here in the blogging world.  Originally my E post was to be about "Everything,"  a quick little update of what's going on in life.  But then life itself caught up in the form of working first shift at my day job, followed by an awake overnight shift, followed by working an Easter Bunny event at a Children's Museum the next day, and then babysitting that evening.  So while that E post was more or less written in my head, sleep won.

 

And so you are going to get one lovely combined post from my friends E, F and G. 

 

Everything Fails, Great....

 

Whether you want to say my life is a joke, everything in my life is a series of failures right now, or omigod if something else happens I might cry - they all summarize the past few days for me, and should be followed by a nice sarcastic "Great."

 

It started when I went to the mall to pick up a phone charger since mine had broken.  While in the mall (with an almost dead uncharged phone), I lost my keys. Over the course of the next TWO HOURS I searched the entire mall for them. Went back to eveyr store I visited, searched under and around my car in the parking lot, called mall security.  Yes, two hours, no keys, and now a dead phone.  I called AAA for a lockout hoping my keys would be in the car, still no keys.  My dad came to pick me up and I ended up calling AAA again, to have the car towed.  Did you know its very difficult to tow a car without the keys?  It is....no keys, no neutral.  AKA they had to drag my car. 

 

We can add to this some also humorous moments such as me putting money in the wrong straps at work, dropping coin all over another tellers feet and breaking a wrap of nickels in the process, falling over a chair, almost being late to work, and then the internet in my house not working for two days...

 

So no, don't write me out of the AtoZ challenge quite yet.  Just accept my apologies from the letters E, F, G and H (my lovely friend H will have her own post later today) and remember that sometimes you just need to laugh and say...

 

Everything Fails, Great.....