AuburnChick's Adventures

If you’re like me, Mondays are usually not good days.  We’ll just say that my alarm and I don’t get along very well.

That’s one reason why I find it refreshing to have Mondays off…just to make the adjustment easier.

Today, though, I woke up knowing I would be making a visit to my local auto repair shop.

Joy, joy (said sarcastically, of course).  I feared the worst, thinking that my car needed either a new starter or alternator…pricey parts.

Fortunately, all the car needed was a new battery.  Woo Hoo!  So, that news started off my day well.  I even managed to get in an hour of knitting while I waited.  Woo Hoo!

Oh, and if you’ve ever had problems starting your car, you know the sweet joy that comes over you when it purrs as you turn the key.

From Sears, I drove to Hobby Lobby, where I used a 40% coupon to pick up a skein of yarn for my newest project.  I’ll post pictures when I’m done, but no hints before that!

From Hobby Lobby, I went to Publix where I picked up three bottles of spices for $.49 each (saving $1.50 per bottle)!!

As I was leaving the parking lot, I got a call asking me to run by a restaurant to pick up money for an ad for Chicky’s high school soccer team’s program.  We are allowed to sell advertisements to help offset the player fees.  What an unexpected surprise!!

It was turning out to be a good morning, but the fun was only beginning.

I went to Target next, picking up the following goodies…

The soap was on sale for $7.29 each (ouch), but I had $1 mfr coupons.  The great thing about this purchase was that I got a $5 Target gift card, which I used to purchase the dog food.  Of course, I had $3 mfr coupons on the dog food, so they were only $1.26 each, leaving a little money on the card.

Next, I ran to Walmart, where I picked up the following…

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  I have dogs, not cats.  Why would I purchase cat treats?

Well, my friends, it’s because I cannot turn down a free deal.

One of the recent inserts had coupons for FREE cat treats.

Yep…totally free.

You know what I’m gonna do with them?

Feed them to Molly, who thinks she’s a cat anyhow.

No, seriously…I’m going to donate them.

The Green Works dish detergent was $2.98, and I had a $2 coupon.  How often do you find a large bottle of detergent for under a dollar?

After leaving Walmart, I went home to eat lunch with Chicky.

Now, I’ve gotta tell you something.  The longer you do the couponing thing, the more observant you become while you’re in stores.

You notice everything that’s on sale, making mental notes of prices because your mind vaguely remembers seeing coupons somewhere for those items.

That’s what happened today during my first (yes, I’m saying FIRST) trip to Target.

I had noticed Clean & Clear products on sale, and my heart dropped.

On Sunday, Chicky had purchased the facial oil wipes.  Before she left, I discovered that by registering at Clean & Clear’s web site, I could download a $2 coupon (of course, I printed two coupons by hitting my browser’s back button).  She had only used one of them.

Target had them marked on sale for $3.23!!  I just knew Chicky had paid more.  I couldn’t wait to get home and see.

Sure enough, she paid $4.99!

Ugh.

Here’s what I did.

I registered the other three members of my family and printed out six more coupons.  So, I had a total of seven because of the one that wasn’t used yesterday.  When I went to Target, I bought eight (one without a coupon) and turned around and returned the extra (since Chicky had already opened the package she bought yesterday) to Publix, getting my full-price back.

I don’t think Chicky will need to go shopping for this item any time soon!

Are you exhausted yet?

Yeah, so was I, but I wasn’t done shopping!

I went BACK to Publix one more time, returned the above-mentioned facial wipes, and then got these…

I had $1 mfr coupons, and these were priced at $.99.

So I got them for free.

 

There’s almost nothing better than getting something for free.  It’s like finding hidden treasure.  It’s there if you just look for it.

Then, it was time to go home, where I opened one of the packages of tuna and treated myself to some tuna salad.

Filed under: Saving Money | Tagged: couponing, grocery shopping, Saving Money |