Last little trip of the month

I've been having a craving for cinnamon rolls lately. I needed some cream cheese for the frosting and I also picked up some tortilla chips.

Total OOP = $3.27

Total saved = $0.25

Burger

Even though it is going to put us way over-budget for this month, we picked up some hamburger at CostCo. We had been waiting for a sale for a long time, but nothing was happening. It will probably go on sale this week now that I have bought some.

OOP= $17.67

This week's CVS trip

Hit up CVS this morning. Did pretty well. I needed some back up shampoo and conditioner, and have been wanting a rechargeable toothbrush. I bought these items in two transactions and used a $4/$20 CVS Q, a $4.99 ECB, a $13 ECB that I earned in the first transaction and several MQ. I also earned $10 in ECB that are leftover. Additionally with the purchase of the Olay and Oral-B products, I will be able to add that to the total I've purchased from Proctor and Gamble and send away for $110 worth of MQ.


Total before sales and Q = $57.35
Total sales and Q = $49.96
Total OOP w/ tax = $8 (savings of 87%)

Also, need to deduct $6.47 from grocery budget for eating out last night.

Out again

No meal plan, no sleep, and not feeling well lead to skipping boot camp and eating fattening food. But on the bright side I did get to watch the entire episode of Glee!

OOP = $8.74

One item at CVS

I stopped at CVS the other day for one item. I picked up the Soft Scrub Total cleaning product. OOP = free (used a $1 MQ and $0.99 ECB, the product was on sale for $1.99). Then I stopped at a local thrift shop looking for an ottoman. Mary (our oldest beast) is having a hard time jumping up on the bed so we are trying to find an ottoman to help her - I know it's crazy, but she's our baby. No luck with the ottoman...but I did find an old school paper cutter for $6. Super thrilled with that find!

Red Robin free meal

We went out celebrating a birthday last night and went to Red Robin to take advantage of a deal. We had a coupon for a free Gourmet Burger via the birthday club of Red Robin. We also had a $10 gift card. Cost of meal = ZERO! Amount saved = $20

Little bits

Needed some basics and got James a surprise.



HEB: (eggs and milk)
Total OOP = $2.48

CVS: (shower gel and Milano cookies)
Total before sales and Q = $7.98
Total sales and Q (including $5 ECB) = $7.74
Total OOP w/ tax = $0.31

Total from grocery budget = $2.72
Total saved = $0.76

Menu Plan 9/13 - 9/19

Hopefully we'll do well this week on our menu plan. We took advantage of some birthday freebies last week and will do that one more time this week.

Monday - Taco Corn Bread Squares (new)

Tuesday - Boca chicken burgers and chips

Wednesday - Tuna tacos

Thursday - birthday celebration

Friday - Beefy BQ macaroni (new)

Saturday - Crockpot BQ chicken and mac and cheese

Sunday - LO

Couple of items

We were in one part of town today and I had some Target coupons. I could get the chicken less expensive in another store, but it would have meant using more gas to drive farther, so we bought this.

Total OOP = $6.18

Total saved = $3

Neither one of us felt like cooking tonight after eating such a big meal at lunch with my parents and nieces, but we figured we would be hungry later. We decided to use another birthday coupon and went to Papa Murphy's.

Total OOP = $9.99

Total saved = $3.99

No cost dinner at Chili's!

Several of weeks ago, the builder that built our house stopped by and asked if he could take some pictures of the interior of our house for future reference. James checked him out online and decided to let him. A couple of weeks ago we received at $25 gift card to Chili's in the mail from him!! In addition, I received a coupon for a free brownie sundae from Chili's birthday program recently. So we headed off to the restaurant. It started out pretty bad because we weren't greeted by a server for a long time. Finally the manager came and got our order. When we ordered the 2 for $20 meal, she told me we couldn't use the free dessert coupon because you can only take advantage of one promotion at a time. I explained that it was my birthday coupon and she graciously let us use it.

Our meal ended up costing us nothing. I paid for most of the tip with the remainder of the gift card and left extra (does not come from grocery budget.)

Total saved: $27.44 ($21.65 for the meal and $5.79 for the free desser)t. Can't beat that action!

Shopping trips of the day.

I have a weakness for baked potato chips, but I never purchase them because of the expense. I am loving HEB's new ad campaigns designed to get you to buy their store brands. If you buy the name brand version, HEB gives you their version for free to compare (requires an in-store coupon.) This week I took part in three deals, including baked chips! YUMMY!



Total before sales and Q: $15.83
Total sales and Q: $8.57
Total OOP: $7.26

On my way home I decided to drop in at CVS to see if they had any of the BOGO Wisk and pick up a thing of gum. I could have made this deal even better by using my ECB, but I wanted to save those for food purchases or something that would earn my more ECB.

Total before sales and Q: $19.27
Total sales and Q: $15.29
Total OOP w/tax: $4.31 plus I received $0.99 ECB for the Dentyne

I'm glad the Wisk was in because I haven't been able to find any good deals on detergent lately. I might make another trip.

BzzReport - L'Oreal Collagen Micro-Pulse Total Eye Correction System

A couple of weeks ago, I was offered a spot in the BzzCampaign for L'Oreal's Collagen Micro-Pulse Total Eye Correction System. L'Oreal and BzzAgent (also there is a direct link on my blog you can use) sent me a full-size package of the product, pictured below. I looked up the retail value at my local CVS and this product sold for $18.99.



Here's how the product was described to me in the offer email:

• Immediately reduces the appearance of crow’s feet and eye bags
• Minimizes the appearance of eye bags, dark circles and crow’s feet in just four weeks
• Features a a ground-breaking micro-pulse massager to minimize eye puffiness

I went to the L'Oreal website and followed the links to the product to learn more. Here's the link to the page I read.

I have tried this product for over two weeks now and have to say that I haven't really noticed that much of a difference. I like using the product. The anti-wrinkle + dark circle cream is smooth and is easily applied. The "gentle micro-pulse massager" feels good and does make the area under my eyes and around my crows feet feel tighter. However, I think I have only noticed a small decrease in the visibility of my crow's feet and have noticed no change in the size or color of the bags under my eyes.

Having said that, I am willing to give the product some more time to work. I think the L'Oreal Collagen Micro-Pulse Total Eye Corrections System would work really well for people that are just developing crow's feet and bags under their eyes.

If you have any questions about my results, just leave me a message. Thanks for BzzAgent and L'Oreal for letting me be a part of this campaign, I enjoyed trying the product.

Rebate

Adding in an $8.97 rebate!

Menu Plan - late again

Yesterday was the last day for my summer job at the pool. I am glad it is over although I will miss my lifeguards. Late start to the menu plan, but at least I've got it up.

Tuesday - steak fajitas

Wednesday - lentil soup

Thursday - pita pizza

Friday - tuna steaks

Saturday - crockpot BBQ chicken and mac and cheese

Sunday - breakfast for dinner

Bad us

This is my last weekend to work at my summer job, and boy am I ready for it to be over. Unfortunately, I am also tired and don't feel like doing anything. Thus, we went out to eat for dinner last night at Taco Cabana. Good news is that I used a coupon.

OOP = $9.40
Savings = $4.99

We went hiking/geocaching this morning and James decided we needed donuts because he was going to be in a hurry to go to church.

OOP = $4.14

Shopping and savings

I had a plan of action today and started early. My original CVS plan was thwarted by the weirdos who buy all of one thing, leaving none for anyone else, buy I was still able to do okay.

CVS
Total value = $ 12.67
Total savings = $12.21
Total OOP w/ tax = $0.50

Next I headed to Walmart, where surprisingly I was not hassled by a cashier. I actually had a really friendly cashier! I also went to the Dollar General for the Tide.

Walmart
Total value = $9.89
Total savings = $7.81
Total OOP = $2.08

Dollar General - I love Tide, but don't usually buy it because of the expense.
Total value = $5
Total savings = $1
Total OOP w/ tax = $4.33

Finally I was off to HEB. I got some quick stuff for J's lunches and breakfasts. I also had a couple of coupons, making the big bags of HEB chips $0.50 each, so I grabbed a couple of bags. Please excuse Marshmallow's nose, he was checking things out...as usual.

Total value = $48.70
Total savings = $10.93
Total OOP = $37.77

For the day:

Total value = $76.26

Total savings = $31.95

Total OOP w/tax (if applicable) =$44.68

For the grocery budget:

Total value = $55.68

Total savings = $15.83

Total OOP = $39.85

Not too shabby for a mornings work.