Absolutely Unbelievable!!!

This is absolutely mind boggling!!!

I'm just shocked myself! So I wasn't going to share but I was asked for the details.

Earlier today one of the kids asked me how long was my longest receipt. I had no idea, but I knew it had to be one that prints rewards at the bottom of it. So I guessed it might be a Rite Aid receipt. We took a guess at maybe 6 feet.

Well...

Here is my lovely husband holding the receipt from today's purchases at Rite Aid.

He's 6'2".

This picture is before he knew...

I just MADE

$60! This is a picture of what I bought today and here are the details:

First of all Rite Aid is having a winter promotion where if you spend $100 on participating items you will get $20 back in UP rewards. This is a month long event and a few items I purchased last week go into me reaching the $100 mark.

Next...this one was the real shocker to me because I didn't know about this promotion until after I got it. So if you purchase $30 in select Heart Healthy items you get $10 Up reward or $50 in these same products you get $20 in UP rewards.

So here it goes:

* indicates participating item in winter promotion

HH indicates participating item in Heart Healthy promotion

Last week I purchased:

* 6 packages of light bulbs at $1.99 each

I got 6 $1.99 UP rewards back making them

FREE

$11.94 goes toward winter promotion

.

* Children's Mucinex (had to have this) $12.49 (I think)

Used $1.00 Rite Aid video coupon

Used $1.00 MFG coupon

making it $10.49

$12.49 goes toward winter promotion

.

Today's purchases:

.

* HH (both) 9 Colgate Toothpastes $2.99 each

Used $1.00 MFG coupon for each

Got $2.00 each back in UP rewards

Making them FREE

$26.91 goes toward winter promotion

$26.91 goes toward Healthy Heart promotion

.

*4 New York Style Bagel Chips 2 for $3.00

Used (4) $1.50 MFG coupons

making them FREE

$6.00 goes toward winter promotion

.

*2 Lay's Stax $1.00 each

Got $1.00 UP reward each

making them FREE

$2.00 goes toward winter promotion

.

*2 JIF peanut butter $1.99 each

Used $1.00/2 Rite Aid Video coupon

Got $1.00 each Up Reward

Making them $.49 each

$3.98 goes toward winter promotion

.

*14 Stayfree pads-----Sale B1G1 (ALL of these will be donated to the local women's shelter tomorrow or Tuesday.)

Used 7 B1G1 coupons

Making them all FREE

$30.93 goes toward winter promotion

.

*Complete Solution $7.99 (donating to my dear friend Dana since none of us wear contacts.)

Used $1.00 MFG coupon

Will get $7.99 back in form of rebate

Making it FREE and $1.00 Money Maker!

$7.99 goes toward winter promotion

.

*Children's Ibuprofen (needed) $4.49

$4.49 goes toward winter promotion

.

HH 5 Afrin $5.99

Used (5) $4.00 MFG coupons

Used (1) $2.00 Rite Aid Video coupon

Got $4 each in UP rewards

FREE and $12.05 money maker!!

$29.95 goes toward Heart Healthy promotion

.

Today's transaction:

.

I used: 28 coupons totaling $66.93

I used: $24.94 in UP rewards I had from previous purchases.

Saved $57.37 by shopping the sales.

Saved $149.24 all together.

.

Paid $30.58 out of pocket

.

Got $50 HH reward= $20 UP

Got $100 Winter reward= $20 UP

Got $38 UP from products

Got $6.01 Gift Card due to cashier mistake

Will get $7.99 in Rebate.

= $92.00

-$30.58

.

making it $61.42 PROFIT

Just one word for ya...

BOOYA!

(I hate it when Blogger takes out all of my spacing when I publish and I have to go back in and add a little dot so there will be spacing!)

WOW! WOW! WOW!

I certainly don't intend to show you every purchase I make, but I've had my best day yet!

I had $40 in Register Rewards that were expiring today or sometime this week. First of all to those who do not know what Register Rewards are, they are coupons that print out by making certain purchases at Walgreens to be used like cash on your next purchase. I was a little bummed that Walgreen's didn't have anything that I really wanted on sale this week. But I went in there to see what I could buy. And lo and behold they had 100s of toys half price.

I got:

8 off brand Lego sets,

a Barbie car

and a Littlest Pet Shop set.

Had I been thinking straight I should have bought one more thing so I could have used another $10 Register Reward and got everything for about $2.50. But I didn't think about it and I had to pay a whopping

$8.97.

After reading my friend's blog post today, I've started a gift closet. She just started this blog called Clippin' & Savin' so go and read all of her posts.

I literally ran into Kroger today to get just a few things. Take a look at the picture below and take a guess how much I paid.

Let me start by saying I expected to pay $1 + tax.

But I paid:

$.35

I was pleasantly surprised to see $1 e-coupon come off. The man behind me said, "Wow! Can you do that to my order?"

So the details:

I saved $9.00 in coupons alone.

Include the sales and I saved $19.60.

That is the first time I have ever seen my receipt say my total savings was 100%!

By the way I also told them my margerine from yesterday rang up wrong and they indeed refunded me the entire amount and I still got to keep the products. So they gave me back $5.66.

Then I ran into Publix and picked up some salad.

$1.08 which includes the tax.

I paid for everything with cash today, so out of pocket plus the return was

$4.74!!!
(You so can't get mad at me for that Greg!)

Oh Yes I'm Bragging!

Oh yes I am bragging!

Ashley said, "Isn't bragging wrong?"

Well baby girl it is wrong if I would say nah nah nuh boo boo you can't get this.

But you can!

And I can teach you if you want me to!

I had a small Publix run today. I spent $4.50

I saved $5.75 in coupons alone.

I saved $13.32 all together.

They paid me $.45 to take the Mac. and Cheese home.

Next Stop Staples:

I ran out of ink so why not pick up the freebies this week?

I paid $38.38

Saved $12 with coupons alone.

They paid me $2 to take home the package of pens.

I will get back $27.98 to use at Staples in the future in the mail.

Last Stop Kroger:

Spent $29.11

Saved $21.40 in coupons alone.

Saved $54.59 all together.

They paid me:

$.50 for Hormel Chili

$.46 each for the 3 Hunt's diced tomatoes

$.01 each for 2 Pepperidge Farm goldfish

$.25 each for 3 bottles of Honest Tea.

The Best Life butter was supposed to be free, but they rung up wrong. I will be returning them tomorrow. I believe Kroger will refund the entire price when there is an error. I hope so! They rung up at $2.59 each. They were supposed to be $1 and I had a $1 coupon for each.

I would say that's not too shabby!

BUT

I have a friend who has a rule she won't buy it unless it is a quarter or less! (Unless it is something that will never be a quarter like meat and milk.)

So I'm starting a little business, don't know if it will go anywhere but I thought I would give it a shot. I'll tell you more about it in tomorrow's post.

Here's a hint:

It has something to do with couponing.

Childhood Memories

I have a funny but fond childhood memory I wanted to share with you.

When I was young I remember going to visit my Great Grandma Rosie. This was my Father's Grandma. I would always look at a picture and smile. One day I decided to ask my Mom if the person in the picture was Grandma Rosie's husband...

My Mom giggled and said, "No that's a picture of Jesus." Of course she had to explain to me that that is what some people thought Jesus might have looked like.

And that is a much better memory than the one I have of my other Great Grandma Minnie.

I only remember seeing her one time.

She was my Dad's Grandma from his Mom's side.

She wanted me to so desperately come sit on her lap, but I was absolutely terrified to do so because I couldn't find her lap.

I tried to embed a video but for some reason I'm not able to. So click on the link called Groovin' Granny below if you want to get a good belly laugh!

Groovin' Granny

And now you understand why I feared sitting on my Great Grandma Minnie's lap.

Publix Run 1/19/11

I Love Me Some Publix!!!!

Publix heavy whipping cream $1.95 (not on sale)

2 Publix paper towels (penny item) $0.01 each

4 Halls cough drops Woot Woot Money Maker!! (1= $.77 profit other 3 earned $.31 each)

10 Yoplait Yogurt $.25 each

5 Yoplait Yo Plus FREE

2 Breyer’s Ice cream B1G1 $2.74 each

3 Quaker bars $.25 each

8 Ragu Sauce $.84 each

2 Almond Accents $1.25 each

2 Hostess doughnuts $1.50 each

7 Yakisoba noodles Woot Woot Money Maker!! ( $.21 profit each)

2 packages Kings Hawaiian bread $1.50 each

2 Trop50 OJ $1.35 each

2 Tropicana OJ $3.00 each

6 Kraft homestyle Mac N Cheese $.29 each

Out of Pocket $38.53

Saved in coupons alone $40.41

Saved altogether using coupons and shopping the sales $86.11

Snow Cream

Well we actually made snow cream today. I was skeptical but I was quite surprised! It was actually good!

I got outside with the kids today in hopes to make a nice big snowman. Even though there is plenty of snow out there, it just didn't pack well. So I ended up just making a really little one on the table on our back porch.


She is kind of cute though!

Pretty Snow!

It was a beautiful snow day here today. We stayed at home, but the kids got out and played in the snow. I stood on the porch and took pictures. I just might get out there tomorrow and help them make a snowman.

Apparently the thing to do here in the south is to make snow cream. I've never done this, but am curious to what goes into making it. I just did a little google search to find it is 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 3 quarts of snow.
I think I might try it tomorrow.

Schools were closed today. They were reported they were going to be closed the night before, before it even started snowing. So weird. But I would say that I approve of them closing school today. Greg worked from home. And even though metro was off school, we still did school here.

The kids are learning how to write a paragraph. I absolutely hate teaching English! The book I have is great, but it sure isn't my subject.

Tonight the roads are supposed to refreeze and we are supposed to get even more snow. Greg is hoping to have a photo shoot tomorrow for the upcoming play he is producing in February. And I am hoping to get out and see Dana and her boys at McDonald's playground. So we are hoping for good roads tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

One thing we do every Christmas day is go to church for a luncheon. When we can't be with extended family this is the next best thing.And every year we make a birthday cake for Jesus. This year I was running out of time. I actually got in a 2 hour nap after opening presents and before lunch. When I woke up I hurried to make the cake. In the car I tried to decorate it. The cake was still warm, the icing was melting, the chocolate chips that I was "trying" to spell Jesus with were sliding.

It looked pitiful! Even though you can't tell in this picture the chocolate chips continued to slide to where it was unreadable. So I just covered the whole thing in chocolate chips. (It tasted good!) As I was decorating, I silently prayed, "Jesus, I'm sorry for how this cake looks. I wanted it to be special for you." Instantly I heard his reply to me. He said, "I'm just glad you thought of me!"

Wow! I thought that was awesome to hear him so clearly!

The snow was so pretty! Here are a couple pictures by our church.
Did you know that tomorrow is actually the last day of Christmas?

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning was a blast! Greg came in as I was carefully placing the presents around the tree Christmas Eve. We had a little conversation in which Greg best explained in a Facebook post. It made me laugh so I'll share it here:

As Chelle places present #40 of probably 60- none of which I bought or wrapped or even know about- I tell her, "Wow what kind of Dad would I be without you?"

"Rich", she replies.

The kids woke us up around 7:30 (not too bad.)

Greg is playing with Mason's new Paper Jam guitar.

Ready Set Go!

I made them pose for me before they opened any presents.

Ashley got the Zhu Zhu pet airport she wanted.

Ashley got a lot of stuff for her American Girl doll. She cleaned out the little house and set it up. Tonight she was telling me she needs to move it somewhere because the boys want to play in there.

And here is a little clip of Ashley opening up her doll. I love her expression!



Next post...Christmas Afternoon.