What a Weekend

This weekend was wonderful!! I will post details later but Saturday I spent $61.74 on groceries and saved $113.00. Not to mention one of my girlfriends and I met for breakfast and went shopping together without kids or husbands. Also, went to a wonderful wedding that afternoon/evening. Come sunday we all slept in, even the girls slept past 9:00!!!! Had a wondeful home cooked breakfast, hubs finished the wainscotting and trim in the masterbath, I cleaned the house, did laundry and coupons. Then had dinner with/at the in law's house. A GREAT weekend. Not to mention we are planning our trip (sans kids) for next month!!! Yay!!!
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Ulta Deal

If you got two papers last week there were coupons for Buy one Herbal Essence or Aussie product and get a styler (same brands) for free.  There was also a $3.50 off $10 purchase for Ulta in their weekly ad.  Herbal Essence and Aussie products are on sale for $2.50 each.

Scenario

Buy 4 Herbal Essence and/or Aussie products (two do not have to be a styler unless you get a coupon Nazi at the checkout counter but they will not beep if you buy all shampoo and conditioner) = $10

Use the $3.50 coupon first = $10 - 3.50 = $6.50

Then, use the 2 coupons for BOGO = $6.50 -5.00 (2.50 x 2) = $1.50

After tax the total is $1.62

I did this Wednesday at lunch and it did work!  This will work today and tomorrow.  The ad resets on Sunday so you must do before then.  See, good deals are not only to be had at the drug stores, so keep your eyes open and keep all coupons you come across because you never know when they will come in handy.

Side note:  Ulta does have a reward program.  These can add up quickly if you shop there regularly or buy some of your products there.  I use their makeup and by the time I spend $50 I normally have enough points to get $9 off my next purchase.  This works even better if I wait to get something in the mail that will multiply my points on a purchase (sometimes get 3x point coupons on my next purchase).

 

Frugal

For those that don’t know, I am a very frugal minded person.  I like to see our accounts climb and for the money to grow.  A few years ago we had a very rough time that we got through and luckily didn’t have to go to anyone needing money, but it was an experience that definitely opened our eyes to the unexpected and needing to plan for it.  This year we are saving for the unexpected and living like we have no money.  Well, not really, but we control what we can control.

We have a budget for how much we spend on groceries, eating out, and weekly allowances for each of us.  I just made a tiny splurge to help keep us on our budget and be able to go out and enjoy more things.  I bought a Citi Pass book for our local area.  This book has TONS of coupons that you can use towards restaurants, golf, movies, Great Wolf Lodge, kids activities (museums, zoos, pottery places, bead stores, jump house places, etc.) and I think this book will be a great addition to keep us within our budgets for having fun!  Most of them are buy one get one free and who doesn’t like having a fabulous meal for half the price.  This will allow us to have more “date” nights to spend at nice places and be able to live even better within our means.  I am really thinking about getting some of these for Christmas presents!  There is even a $5 off $50 coupon for a local grocery store that doubles coupons! 

That’s one more way of living frugally without cutting out things you like or want to do!

Three pairs of sandals for $3.98!!!

Go to JCPenny’s website and right now all shoes ship for free.  Then you have a code you can use “TEN2YOU” to get $10 off any order of $10 or more.  Your order has to come to at least $10.00, not $9.99 to use the code.  I got a pair of cute sandals for $9.99 and two pairs of flip flops for $3.99… total $13.98 - $10 = $3.98 for all three pairs.  The flip flops I actually got are solid white and solid black, not those pictured, but are the same style.  I think that is an awesome deal!

$3 Toy Deal

I played the Play-Doh Instant Win Game.  I used code KDN185UV9JN34 (copy it and then paste in).  If you don’t win the game, no big deal, you get to print out a coupon for $5 off the Play Doh Ice Cream Shoppe set.  Target has these on sale for $8 this week, making them only $3!!!!  I played and didn’t win and printed out the coupon, I hit my “back” button three times and printed it out again.  I am going to get two today at lunch and will save for Christmas.  Yes, I’m already thinking about Christmas but if you have children, nieces (or nephews) and other “littles” to buy for this would make a great inexpensive gift. 

 

Trying to look out so you can save some moolah like I do!!  LOL  Pass this one to other parents, grandparents, etc. that could use this deal!

Death by Cheesecake: Update

I received an email from The Cheesecake Factory in response to my contacting them…

“Thank you for contacting The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. 

I am happy to hear that you are okay but I am very sorry that you were not able to finish your cheesecake.  As you already know, we are not able to include all of the ingredients in the description of the cheesecake.  The next time you are in please inform our staff of your allergy so we can help you with a choice that you can enjoy.

Please look for a little something in the mail from me.  Have a wonderful day!”

As most who know me already know… I was not writing them to get anything free.  I wrote to them just to let them know how wonderful their cheesecake was and even though it was making me “sick” I still contemplated risking that for their cheesecake.  I am on the phone day in and day out with customers that do nothing but gripe, so I thought I would send a smile via email for someone in their customer service department.  I hope they smiled anyways!

Another Example

The girls and I packed up and went to the beach this weekend since hubs was working.  He got off almost the entire Saturday.  Perfect Imperfection!  We only went because he wouldn’t be home and got to have a lovely time at the beach but perfectly imperfect because he ended up with almost the whole day off so missed spending time with him.  He worked all last week, horribly long, tiring hours training.  Since they had training all last week he got to get some much needed rest and relaxed the whole day watching TV and napping… perfect imperfection!