Wanna Save Some Money?

After the toilet paper fiasco the other day, I've sorted and organized my coupons, and scanned through the weekly flyers to maximize my savings. 

Remember my resolution to use $1000 in coupons this year? I'm over $1900!!! and still have 3 months of the year to go, and pretty much took the summer off of coupon-ing.
Here's a couple of things I want to share with you.

(For Canadians only) you can get a coupon for a free package of Maple Leaf Bacon by logging on to FaceBook, and going to the Official Republic of Bacon fan page.

(For SW Ontarians) Goodwill is having a Back to School sale next week, and you can get a coupon for 50% off your entire purchase by again, logging on to FaceBook, and going to the Goodwill Industries Ontario Great Lakes page to get the printable coupon.

(For Canadians only) you can get a coupon for a free package of STAYFREE ULTRA THIN Regular with Wings (18 count). I can't use this product myself, but redeemed my coupon this morning to donate to the local shelter. I urge you to do the same, and give to your local shelter or food bank. I can well imagine that being without maxipads (they are expensive! $5.99 reg. price) to be a terrible hardship, and I bet there's many young mothers who have to make the choice between their own needs or bread & milk for their kids.

Along the same vein, I saw a poster at the Superstore this morning about a charitable project called "Keeping Kids Warm" -- I was very impressed by the number of agencies they contribute to, and I think I'll look for some yarn at Goodwill when I shop with my 50% off coupon next week, and see if I can't make some hats and mitts to contribute.

Goal ACHIEVED!!!

I DID IT!

My goal to use $1000 in coupons has been achieved!  In fact....if you scroll down to my ticker at the bottom, you'll see I went well over my goal today.  This weekend is Bonus Redemption Days at Shopper's Drug Mart, and I had enough Optimum Points to redeem $200 worth of free products, PLUS I used an additional $30 in coupons.

Now to set myself another goal....hmmmmmm.

It should probably be quilt related.  It's March.  How about finishing 9 UFO's before the end of the year?  That would be a challenge!  I know just where I will start.  I'd love to finish the Kaffe Fasset inspired shirt quilt (Shirt Stripe Boxes)I started last summer.

Oh Mr. Quilter Man!!! I'm bringing a quilt over for you!!!  ;)

I'm HALFWAY there!!!

Check my ticker at the bottom.  I'm over halfway to my goal of using $1000 in coupons in 2010, and we're only 6 weeks into the year!

I must slow down now, because I am fully stocked in all Health & Beauty items and laundry products.  Now that I have a stash, the numbers won't be adding up so fast.

Wanna see what I got today?  (I used $24.50 in coupons for this purchase)

Starting today, all yellow ticketed clearance Health & Beauty products are an additional 40 % off at Zellers.


Olay Ribbons Body Wash
4x $3.69 - 40% - 4x $1 off coupons = $4.84  ($1.21 each)

Crest Pro Health
2x $1.89 - 40% - 2x 50c off coupons = $1.26 ($0.63 each)

Reach Toothbrush
2x $3.49 - 40% - $1 & $1.50 coupons = $1.68 ($0.84 each)

Aqua Velva
1x $2.49 - 40% (no coupon!) = $1.49

Dove 4-pack soap
2 x $3.69 - 40% - 2x $1 coupons = $2.42 ($1.21 each) 

St. Ives lotion
1x $4.19 - 40% - $1.50 coupon = $1.01

Old Spice Body Wash
5x $2.99 - 40% - total of $7.50 in coupons = $1.45 ($0.29 each)

Old Spice deodorant
1x $2.19 - 40% - $1.50 coupon = -.19

Dial Pump Hand Soap
5x $1.69 - 40% - 5x 50c coupons = $2.55 ($0.49 each)

TOTAL = $16.47 (+tax)

...and I might as well brag

...have you scrolled down to look at my ticker lately?  I'm already 1/3 of the way to my goal for using $1000 worth of coupons in 2010.

I send Hubby and Itty Bitty to Walmart to get me some Advil Cold the other night - - $3.77 each - $3 coupon = $0.77!!!

I was there early this week myself, and bought 9 sticks of Secret Flawless deodorant, which was on sale for $1.66 (which is a darn good deal on it own, since Flawless is usually around $4 usually).  I had 3x $2 off when you buy 2, and 3x $1.50 off coupons. That's less than 50 cents each!!! And Secret is the only brand I use, so stocking up was a good idea.

So, it's Friday Night Sew-In...

...and I haven't done a thing!  Okay...I puttered around a little with a block, but it's still on the machine.

But I do need to blog about what a great BQF I have in Gail 

Knowing that my heart goes pitter-pat for scraps, she cheerfully shopped for some at the London Friendship Quilter's Guild rummage sale last night.  Just look what I have here! (Gail must know I have a weakness for blue too!)

And there was a big chunk of this Debbie Mumm fabric:

Which will likely make some fun quilt labels.  Here's a closer look: 

And I've been meaning to post a photo of the lovely candle mat Gail made for me for Christmas.  Love the Figgy Pudding fabrics!

So, are you wondering how I'm doing with my New Year's Resolution to use $1000 in coupons?  In just two weeks, I'm over $90 - - and I'm now addicted!

This is why I haven't been sewing tonight--I've been going through the weekly flyers to scout out some good deals.  Hubby even used coupons today!  Campell's soup is on sale for $.44 this weekend, and I had a bunch of Buy 3, Save $.50 coupons - - so he got 2 cases of soup.  If my math works out right, that's about $.27 a can.  (Good shopping sweetie!)

If you're inspired to join me in my resolution, here's a link I stumbled upon tonight (sorry, just Canadians)

Tide, Bounce and Downy coupons

A Change in Email Address

We've JUST switched internet provider services this past week, and now I have a new email address. 


I figured the best way to pass my new email address on is to ask that interested parties post a 'comment' on my blog here - - which will generate an email to arrive in my new inbox - - and I will reply to each message individually. 


Hopefully by protecting my new addy as best I can manage, I will not have too many "Enlarge your penis" and "viagra" spam mails!  ;)


School is FANTASTIC!  I love social work-ing!!!  Practicum is just the medicine I needed.

And, my coupon count is up - - I'm creeping towards $40, and it's only the 11th of January.  I used $1.75 today.

Time for a photo or two, eh?

I've got 20 blocks done in my Black & Bright quilt top, and I'm not sure how big it will go - - but I have 8 more blocks cut and ready to sew, so it could go on for some time. :

I managed to go out to ONE thrift store this weekend.  I'm really pleased with the 'cutter' shirt ($2) - it's brand new, XXL, and probably some man got it as a gift and thought....ya, like I'm gonna wear FLOWERS!!!  I don't know what I'll ever do with the little pink vase, but it called out to me (50¢) and a couple of little embroidered napkins (25¢ each) which may just get turned into quilt labels - particularly the hand embroidered one with the flower basket.

I also did a little shopping this morning, and can now add another $7.35 to my coupon ticker!  A little closer to my $1000 goal.

Here's a (Canadian) tip - - there's a BOGO (buy one get one free) coupon that's printable from the SC Johnson website for Pledge furniture polish or multi-surface cleaner.

There's actually several good printable coupons there, so take a look. AND Pledge is on sale at Canadian Tire this week for $4 (reg. $4.99).   2 for $4.00 is a nice savings from the regular price of $9.98, and I was allllllll out of furniture polish (from all the lively dusting I do!).  Plus, I used $2.35 of CT money, so that was an even bigger savings.  I wish I had had some Royale bathroom tissue coupons today - - 12 double rolls for $3.77 is an awesome deal, but would have been even sweeter with a coupon!

I hope to do some sewing tomorrow - - once I get some HOMEWORK done!!! - - hope everyone is having a GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!

I start my practicum tomorrow - as a student social worker at a very large high school.  I'm so excited!! 

I went to the University library this afternoon and photocopied some course Reserve Readings.  I'll be taking 4 courses at the same time.  It was a little screwy - - two of my profs haven't exactly gotten around to RESERVING the books that they want us to read from....so several of them aren't even in the library, never have been in this campus library (although two of them are at Main campus), or are articles so old, they will have to be specially ordered up from the archives.  (ugh)  The librarian took the course numbers, and the prof's names and email addresses in order to personally harass them.

Petsmart is on the way home from school, so I pulled in to make use of some cat food coupons.  There I learned that they have special sales for "PetPerks" card holders - - and this week, I had coupons for two of the special PetPerk sales...I know...I'm so confusing!  But let's just say I got a PetPerks card, and I can add another $13.78 to my $1000 challenge. 

New Year: New Resolutions?

 

I hadn't intended to make any New Year's Resolutions, but how can I resist?  The New Year always feels like the best time to take a challenge in hand and declare war.  According to a survey I found somewhere on the net (so it's completely scientific-y, by gosh!) here are the TOP TEN resolutions:

1. Stop smoking  

2. Get Fit 

3. Lose Weight

4. Enjoy Life More  

5. Quit Drinking  

6. Get Organized  

7. Learn Something New  

8. Get Out of Debt  

9. Spend more time with the Family  

10. Help Others

If you've learned anything about me....you know for sure I'm CHEAP!!!  Not thrifty, not frugal, just plain cheap.  Something I started a few months ago was to start using store coupons, and I'm always quite tickled when I get a particularly amazing bargain.  Of course, I limit my coupon use to items we actually USE in this house, and always try to maximize my savings by waiting until the items are on sale if possible. 

But, if you'll scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see I've added a ticker to my blog, and challenged myself to use $1000 worth of coupons this year.  That's a pretty stiff challenge, but I'm going to include the redemption of Canadian Tire money and Shopper's Drug Mart Optimum points.

 

I also do my best to optimize my CT money and Optimum points by buying my gas at Canadian Tire, paying cash, and using a coupon to get bonus CT money (usually amounts to somewhere between $1.40 to $2.00 a week) and do my shopping a SDM on bonus points day.

So, how am I doing so far?  Well, you'll see I'm up to $12 and it's only the 2nd day of the year.  I went to SDM this morning, and collected 30,000 points (it's 20x the points day) and used $12 in coupons.  See, Kleenex products (click the link to learn everything you wanted to know about the history of Kleenex!) were 40% off, and I had a handful of Buy 2, save $1 coupons.  I used 9 of those coupons, buying 18 boxes of Kleenex tissue for $.99 each -- 18 boxes of tissue for $8.82. 

Where did I get the Kleenex coupons?  They were right on the shelf at the store!

Lever 2000 soap is usually priced at $5.69 for four 89g bars.  But this week, it's on sale for $1.69, and I had a $1 off coupon, so I bought three packages: $2.07 for 12 bars of name brand soap (roughly 17¢ a bar). The coupons were on the shelf in the store a few months back, and I helped myself to a few, and put them in my stash.

You'll have to forgive the length of this blog post, and that the following information is probably only going to be useful for Canadian readers.

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  SmartCanucks : I subscribe to this blog to learn about the best deals, and occasionally check out the forum to see what bargains other shoppers are getting, and find the links to PRINTABLE coupons.
  
  
  
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  Save.ca : Pick the coupons you want, and they will be mailed to you in a few days.
  
  
  
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  GoCoupons.ca : Pick the coupons you want, and they will be mailed to you in a few days.