breakfast for the champions....

We have our own version of a champion breakfast around here. I've been trying to get some healthier foods in K's diet...(all of our diets)....for some time now. A few weeks ago, I hit the jackpot and found a combination that she enjoys. Actually, I enjoy it and "even Mikey likes it"!

One thing I know is that she likes yogurt. Up until a few weeks ago, she insisted that the only yogurt she really likes comes in little containers. We would buy them on sale, but what I really was hoping was that one day I could buy one of the big containers of vanilla and just go from there. Well, that day has come. Now, I feel like I can make something yummy and healthy AND still save a few pennies. Every little bit counts.

We start with a bowl of fresh fruit. Today's blend was strawberries, bananas and clementines. The strawberries were leftover from our little dessert experiment. I can hardly wait for summer fresh fruit!

Next, add some vanilla yogurt. We used Trader Joe's Whole Milk Organic Yogurt. Sometimes, we add a tablespoon of raspberry preserves to add some zip. Then I top it with ground flax seed (yippee, finally found a way to get that in our diets) and some chopped walnuts...for those that like nuts.

K doesn't....but we don't hold that against her!

CVS Run...

Today I ventured out to catch a few deals at our local CVS. There really wasn't a whole lot that I wanted, but enough to make it worth my while.

Here's what I got:

2- Xtra Laundry Detergents
3 Suave Body Washes
2 Herbal Essence Shampoos
1 Gillette Shampoo
1 Colgate Total Advance

My total oop (out of pocket) expense was $4.66. I used $8.00 in ECB's to get my total down to that, plus a $4 off $20 coupon that printed out for me and $8.00 in manufacturer coupons. To top it off they gave me $9.99 in ECB's for next time!!

There were a few items that I looked for, but they weren't in stock. Still, I was happy with the deal. I love walking out spending less then $5 and have more ECB then when I entered, along with two bags of merchandise. Makes me smile!! :)

CVS trip...

Right before Christmas, I took my CVS gift card and all my Extra Care Bucks and went shopping at CVS. I finished up on all my stocking stuffers and got a few other odds and ends to make the holiday special. Thanks to CVS, I walked out of there with close to $50 in free merchandise. Well, that and they gave me 1 Extra Care Buck!!

Hmm, that sounds like a challenge. With minimal expense on my part, I want to see how that $1 can roll into more ECB!! As long as CVS is still having their deals, I plan to see just how much I can accumulate in the year 2009!

Of course, being an impatient person, I didn't even wait until the clock struck midnight on the 31st! I grabbed a few coupons and headed out.

I picked up Nature's Bounty Vitamin C. It was buy one get one free AND get $3 in ecb's. I decided to hold onto my $1 ecb that I already had for the next deal. So, total out of my pocket was $6.50. It would have been less, but my CVS no longer accepts internet coupons. sigh.... I hope that doesn't last long. I got two bottles of vitamin C and $3 back. A $4 off $20 purchase coupon also printed out.

Next, I bought $21 in Excedrin. Sometimes it is the only thing that will work on my headaches....and the medicine will be good all year. I turned in my $4 off $20 coupon, bringing the total to $17. Then I gave $4 worth of Excedrin coupons, bringing the new total to $13. Next I turned in my $4 in ECB's....bringing my total down to $9. The best part was that I definitely would have purchased that much Excedrin over the year, which would have cost more then $9....plus, they turned around and gave me another $4 off $20 purchase coupon AND $10 ECB's.

So, yes...the trip cost me some money. However, that is expected in the beginning. I probably will not spend that much money on any one trip to CVS for the rest of the year. ;) Total spent out of my pocket.... $15.50 Started with $1 ecb, ended with $10 ecb. I think it's going to be a fun year.

another cvs trip...

Gosh...I just love my CVS trips. I only go when I find deals buying stuff that we can use....so, maybe every two weeks or so. However, when I go and it all works according to plan I walk out of that store on a cloud. Yep, getting deals does that to me. I was psyched for days!! So, what did I get? Let me share.

I walked into the store with $4 ECB(extra care bucks) that you can spend on anything in the store. I loaded my cart with my planned purchases and went to the checkout. I divided it up into three transactions to get the best deal.

First, I bought 2 palmolive dish liquids, 1 garnier fructis conditioner and 1 - 1 liter bottle of smart water. I used two $1.00 off manufacturer coupons(1 - $1.00 off 2 bottles of palmolive and 1 - $1.00 off any garnier fructis), plus I used my $4 ECB. This made my total for those items, $1.78. I was given $5.59 in ECB to use on a future purchase. (their deals were $1.00 back for each bottle of palmolive that you buy, $2.00 for buying the conditioner and $1.59 for buying the smart water...the water deal was limited to one time, as was the conditioner) I was also given a $4.00 off a $20.00 purchase! (which came in play later on)

Second up, I bought 2 more palmolive dish liquids and 2 bottles of Listerine Agent Blue. (that is to turn kid's teeth blue to show them where to brush) I had $3.00 in manufacturer coupons($1.00 of 2 bottles of palmolive and 2 - $1.00 off Listerine Agent Blue), plus I used my 5.59 ECB that I earned in transaction #1. This brought my total down to $2.37. I was also given $8.00 in ECB. ($2 for the dish liquid and $3 for each Listerine)

Next, came my biggie....

CVS had a deal if you buy $20.00 in Hershey chocolates you would get $10.00 back in ECB. S0, I bought 6 bags of Hershey Bliss chocolates. (a girl can never have too much chocolate!) They were on sale for $3.00 each. So, my total was $18.00. I picked up 4 individual candy bars that were 50 cents each to make my total $20.00. I used that $4.00 off 20.00 purchase coupon they gave me earlier. Also, I had 3 manufacture coupons each for $2.50 off 2 bags of Bliss. That brought another 7.50 off my total. Then I gave them my $8.00 in ECB. That brought my total for $20 of chocolate down to .98!! (.48 of that was tax!!)


My total out of pocket for the trip was $5.13. The sale price total of the merchandise before coupons was $39.22. I also have $10.00 in ECB to use on the next deal. :) I hope they have something good on sale tomorrow!!

~Tightwad Tuesday~

hosted by Canada Girl

Thanks to KymPossible, I discovered a fun way to share some frugal tips! I love sharing ideas and information with our blogs, so this was a Make Me Smile moment. (we all know it is about making us smile, right?)

Kym shared that she saved money by saving the leftover coffee and making iced coffee drinks which saves a couple of dollars each drink! What a great thought. I know we often throw old yucky coffee down the drain, but if I thought about it I would have put it to use before it got old and yucky.

Now, I have a recipe to make my own mocha frappucinos and I will share that. Then I will share a thought I have about making it even more of a frugal idea. ;o)

Makes 2 "Grande" Drinks

COFFEE

3/4 cup double-strength coffee, cold

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 cup low-fat milk

2 cups ice

Make double-strength coffee by brewing with twice the coffee required by your coffee maker: That should be 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per each cup of coffee. Chill before using. To make drink, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until ice is crushed and drink is smooth. Pour into two 16-ounce glasses, and serve with a straw.

MOCHA For this version, add 3 tablespoons Hershey's chocolate syrup to the original recipe and prepare as described. Top each glass with whipped cream, if desired.

Ok, now here are my thoughts on this. I don't drink plain coffee and don't have a coffee habit that causes me to crash in the morning if I don't give my body a shot of caffeine. I just like the fru-fru drinks once in a while, but their price hinders me from enjoying them. Now, my son that still lives at home and my husband love coffee and drink it often. They like strong coffee. So, instead of me making a pot of double strength coffee when I want to make a batch of these fru fru drinks, I bet I could just use their leftovers. (this is a big 'duh moment here for me!!)

I would suggest mixing the sugar in with the coffee while it is still warm and then adding the milk right into a pitcher that you put in the fridge. (that's what I was doing with the special pot I was making on weekends for me to enjoy my mochas) I am guessing that it will still be strong enough for me to enjoy the taste, esp. since I am not going for the caffeine rush. I'm going to try it this week....and who knows....I just may get to have a daily mocha! (they are soooooo expensive in the stores!)

Oh, and one more recipe for you. I like this better then Hershey's Syrup and it goes perfectly in your mocha frap! Not to mention it has no yucky ingredients that you can't pronounce.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup from Lynette

1/2 cup cocoa, packed

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon butter

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix the cocoa and water with a whisk; add sugar and dissolve. Over medium-high heat bring mixture to a boil and continue soft boil about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; add salt, vanilla and butter. Stir to combine then let sit until cool. Store in refrigerator. This makes thin, but delicious syrup.

K-mart Double Coupon Deal

I love double coupons, especially when a store offers to double coupons valued at $2.00. Our local K-mart is running that special right now until October 5th. So, I went through my stash and pulled some of the bigger value coupons and headed over. I did make one mistake that had me kicking myself there...but oh, well! The mistake? Oh, yeah...I left a $5.00 off entire purchase coupon at home! Grrrr. I just have to get over it.

Anyway, we got there and found we were not the only ones walking around with a handful of coupons. ;o) I got some items that I needed and paid a little for them. Then I got some items that I didn't really need at the moment, but paid nothing for them! They are things we will use...like toothpaste, but we happen to have a few tubes stocked already. I added a few more. hehe I can't help it when I am looking at free. Yes, you can go overboard and have more toothpaste then you can possibly use in a year....but that isn't the case here, so don't worry!!

Let me show you a picture before we go any further.

Quite a few of these items were on sale. Even with the sale the total came to over $92.00. I paid $21.63. (still wish I had that $5 off coupon, but let's not go there)

I got 9 Johnson Bath Buddies Soap bars for free. Five tubes of toothpaste were also free. Another good deal was the fabric softener. Those two big bottles cost me $2.58, but they will last me a year. Here's what I do..... I put some fabric softener in a spray bottle and add water. About 1 part softener to 3 parts water. Then I spray a little on a washcloth and pop it in the dryer. It's just like a fabric softener sheet. I have a little basket in my laundry room filled with cheap white washcloths bought just for this reason. :) I paid full price for the deodorant because I needed it and all my coupons were for 2. I didn't see the need to buy two, so I just got something on sale.

I could go on about all the other deals...but I don't need to bore you to tears. Just check your local K-mart and see if they are participating. Super K-Marts are also participating in certain areas and that would be wonderful, because you could use more food coupons! Our K-mart has a very limited stock of groceries. Have fun shopping!!

Bitten by the CVS Bug....

I've been reading some money saving blogs the past few weeks. Many of them mention the deals that are to be had at CVS. Saving money always interests me, making money interests me MORE!! It helps that we happen to have a CVS right around the corner....or two. I read all that I could and then decided to jump right into playing the CVS game.

First off, I already have a CVS Extra Care Card. So, that was one step that I could skip. I looked on their website and found that if I registered online in their photo lab and used my card number I could get 50 free prints! Ok, that is cool. So, I uploaded 50 pictures and pushed the button to submit my order. (not very hard) You know what was really cool? Going to CVS and picking up my free photos. ;o)

I took the opportunity to look around the store and get a feel for their layout. I picked up some computer paper(we were out) that happened to be on sale and went to checkout. I got a coupon for a free CVS toothbrush up to 1.99. I also got a coupon asking me to update my email address and give it to the cashier. I will then get a coupon via email for $4 off a $20 purchase.

So, I am taking baby steps to insure that I don't wind up spending way more then I should. You know....like buying boxes of denture cream cheap, even though none of us here have dentures!! This game can get confusing.....but let me tell you about the next trip. :)

I headed back to CVS. They had Alavert on sale. Instead of $8.99, it was $5.99. To sweeten the pot further, if you bought a box of Alavert they would give you $3.00 in Extra Care Bucks to spend in the store on whatever you wanted. Sweet, huh!? Well, to make it even BETTER.... I printed a coupon for $4.00 off a box of Alavert. Then when I went to get it, I realized that instead of a 12 count box, it was a bonus 18 count box. (Not bad...even put a smile on my face!) But you know what really had me smiling? Walking away from the cashier with my bag of allergy medicine and a toothbrush that cost me a whopping $1.99, PLUS having a $3 coupon to spend there next time. hehe....they paid me a dollar to carry my bag out of the store.

So, fast forward to the next week. I notice a deal on Crest Toothpaste. They have it on sale for $1.99. This happens to be cheaper then the sale at my local grocery store. To sweeten the deal, they offered $1 ECB(extra care buck) for every tube up to a total of 5 tubes. I just happened to have 3 - $1 off coupons for Crest. So, I swung by my local CVS and picked up three tubes of Crest. I gave them my three ECB from my Alavert deal AND my 3 - $1 off coupons. That brought my total to 15 cents (tax) AND I again walked out of the store with $3 more to spend next time!! HOW fun is that????

I told kid #4 to remember everytime she brushes her teeth that it's a free cleaning. (she got the free toothbrush and a tube of Crest!)

I am HOOKED!!