The Coupon Board!

Tada! Here is my restaurant coupon board.Isn't it a beauty?No?Oh well, I like it. It was my boyfriend's idea and a way to compromise on me going completely nuts over couponing, and him trying to stay sane.He comes from a family that loves to eat out almost as much as they love to cook. We both have long days with school and work so sometimes being able to pick up a burger or pizza is just going to have to cut it. How do you organize coupons from restaurants ?

Walgreens, CVS, and more Walgreens

I should posted my $10/40 purchase last week but didnt have the camera so here's the loot I picked up this week for under $25!

Check you Inboxes!

CVS sent an email out with a $/$$ coupon.

Mine was for $5/30 but there are also reports of $3/$15 and $4/$20

As always thanks to the wonderful people at HCW!

My Motivation

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson

Super Savings Saturday

I went to Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, and Kroger this week. Here's what I got:
2 Right Bites
2 Poptarts
2 Fudge Shoppe Cookies
2 Rice Krispies Treats
3 Cheez-it
1 Elf Fudge Cookies
1 Kashi Strawberry cereal bars
1 Kashi Mighty Bites cereal
1 Kashi Trail Mix granola bars
1 Kashi Peanut Butter granola bars
4 CleanTeam baby wipes
1 J&J Buddies Soap
1 Cottonelle 4-pak toilet paper
2 Schick Quarto disposable 4-paks
1 ACT mouthwash
1 CVS cotton swabs 50 ct
1 Revlon ColorStay nail polish
1 Skin Genesis towelettes
3 Robitussin
4 SB Action Scrubbers
2 SB Sprays
1 SB Shower Foamer
2 Oust Air sprays
4 Chex Mix
2 Candy bars

Total OOP: $30.47
Plus: $10.99 in ECBs, $10 in RR, and $17 on a gift card to Target.

WOW!What a week for me.

The Danger of Double Counting Your Savings at Stores

We see it all the time. It is one of the best marketing techniques around and even the eagle-eyed, non-brand-loyalty frugal bloggers fall for it. I'm talking about the "Price of X after Y savings" technique. Let's take a look.

In the CVS ad for 9/7 through 9/11 we see this:

Right Guard Professional Strength

SALE!

it’s like getting it for...$1.99

after extra bucks

thru Sep 11

Deodorant solid 1.8 oz or aerosol 6 oz.
you pay $6.99 - $5.00 extra bucks® rewards = $1.99 after extra bucks

Extra Bucks® offer limit of 3 per household with car

Because I worked at CVS I know a lot of people get confused and think they are only supposed to be charged $1.99 instead of the $6.99.They are wrong.

You will pay 6.99 OOP if you do not pay with a gift card, money card or ECBs.You will lose $6.99 of your money not $1.99.You will however get 5 ECBs towards a future purchase.

The danger in that is customers are double counting their savings in their mind. A lot of people think in this situation "Oh well, it IS just like paying $1.99 afterwards". But than later on a future purchase they use that $5 ECB on a $4.99 purchase and think "I can't believe I'm getting this free."

They didn't get that item for free. They paid for it when they choose to spend $7 on deodorant.

Am I saying there is anything wrong with thinking that way?Yes.If you are not careful you could be spending way more than what you intended because you are letting marketing departments play tricks on you. If you keep an eye on you expenses that's great! If however your new to "the game" it is important to not get stuck in this mind trick.

My Apologies

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a few days, I've been a little bit under the weather due to a sickness that's been going around the area. I hope to be posting regularly again soon.

September Financial Goals

Well since this blog is a way for me to on up and record my progress I'm going to join Crystal's monthly update. Since I didn't do this in August there really isn't much to update so instead I'm going to post the goals I'd like to achieve this month.

1. Find a job. I had to quit the job I had at U-Haul because of poor employeer practices. I have enough money to cover expenses this month and next but I need to find employment soon to bring in a steady flow of income.
2. Create a budget. I think I'm going to do this one with my boyfriend.He has agreed to help me pay bills at my apartment because he uses as much if not more of the electricity and water and tv than me. We've also been dating for almost 2 years and this will be a good exercise to see where we both stand on our views towards money and where we need to compromise when we choose to get married.
3. Maintain at least a 2.7 GPA. Although not primarily a financial goal, I must have a 2.7 GPA at the university in order to move up to junior level courses in the spring(this is my first semester there). This is more like protecting an investment so I don't go wasting money and time on classes this spring that don't go toward my degree.
4. Save up $500 for a winter course. This is a multi-month goal to be completed after I get a job but before December. Before I can take any junior levels I have to get this histor class out of the way at a community college. I rather not take finiancial aid out on it.

So those are my goals. How about you?

CVS trip for August 31-Sept 6

It was a decent week at CVS.I'm still trying to figure out the best possible scenarios each week so I probably could have done better.I still need to go to my parent's house and pickup their coupons so I may be doing a little bit more shopping before the week is over but here is the result of my first trip:

Transaction 1:

2 Cover Girl Aqua Smoothers Foundations $15.98
1 Earth Essentials Paper Towels 3-pack $1.99

Total before Coupons $ 17.97

- CVS BOGO Covergirl Sale -$7.99
- Covergirl BOGO coupon -$7.99
- $1/1 Covergirl coupon -$1.00
- $1/1 CVS Brand Paper Towels CRT -$1.00

Total after Coupons -$0.01


Transaction 2:

1 Dawn Ultra Dish Soap $0.99
1 Febreeze Noticeables Kit $6.99
2 Kiss Nail Glues $3.98
2 Glade Scented Oil Warmers $9.98

Total before Coupons $21.94

- $0.50/1 Dawn Dishsoap -$0.50
- $4/1 Glade Scented Oil Warmer -$4.00
- BOGO Glade Scented Oil Warmer -$4.99
- $5/1 Febreeze Noticeables Kit -$5.00
- Extra Care Bucks -$5.79

Total after Coupons $1.80

Transaction 3:

1 Cover Girl Wetslicks Amazmint $5.99
2 CVS Chocolate Covered Peanuts $1.98

Total before Coupons $7.97

- $1/1 CoverGirl Item -$1.00
-$2/2 Gold Emblem Nuts -$2.00
-ECBs -$5.00

Total after Coupons -$0.03

Total Money Spent $ 1.80
Total Money Saved: $46.08

Total ECBs Spent $10.79
Total ECBs Earned $10.99

All in all a good trip. I love my CVS store's employees. I strive to have good relationships with them and in return they don't mind adding taxable items to make my balance positive or take coupons expiring 8/31 at 12:30 AM on September 1st. And yes that is when I do most of my shopping.

How did you do this week?