Mommin' It Up!

December 18, 2007

Which is Worse? Junkie or Addict?

It’s official. I am HOOKED on couponing and bargain shopping! I just returned from an amazing trip to Target and CVS. I got some AWESOME deals! When I called my husband to tell him I was coming home, I said, “No offense, honey, but I think I’ve just had the most exhilarating night of my life!” (He WAS, indeed, offended.) It’s almost midnight, I usually go to bed around ten, and I’m so hyper I’m annoying myself. I’m on a couponing HIGH! I am ADDICTED! Bobby just asked me, “WHAT are you on?” ’cause I’ve been dancing around the living room like a 13-year-old mixing Pop Rocks with Red Bull!! What’s got me sooo excited? How about the fact that I got all THIS:

for $6.03 out-of-pocket at Target. That’s four glade scented oil candle trios, six travel packs of Huggies Wipes, a Hudson Hornet car for Joshua (Merry Christmas!) and two packages of post-it-notes. I LOVE Target and I usually spend WAY TOO MUCH there. Not tonight!! Thanks to my BFF Crystal at Money Saving Mom, I learned that when you buy said Glade candle or the Glade Wisp Flameless Candle, you get a $5 Target gift card. Well, I had two B1G1 Free coupons from Coupons.com for the scented oil candles, plus, coupons for $4 off from a newspaper insert a few weeks ago. Crystal also alerted her blog readers to a $3 off two huggies products coupon good only at Target. Those travel packs of wipes were 97 cents each, and so the coupon took an extra $1.06 off my total! So, I paid $5.27 for two candles and two packs of wipes and got $10 in gift cards. THEN, I went back and did the deal again, but this time I got FOUR packs of Huggies wipes, and used TWO $3 off coupons in addition to my B1G1 and $4 off Glade coupon. This time my total was only $4.14, and I put it on a GIFT CARD and got $10 back in GIFT CARDS! Making my total profit $15.86. HOLLA! I then used those gift cards and some $2 off post-it-note coupons (post-its were $1.19) to buy my rubbermaid drawer which we really needed, and the Hudson Hornet car for Joshua for Christmas. My out-of-pocket total was 76 cents on this final transaction. So all in all, I spend $6.03. NOT. TOO. SHABBY!!!!

My CVS haul was awesome too. My kids now have plenty of stocking stuffers, but I will save that post for SUPER SAVINGS SATURDAY!

Allright, I am starting to come down from my shopping high now…better get to bed before I start getting the shakes!!

December 17, 2007December 17, 2007

What exactly are we in for?

On Friday, we hosted a holiday party for my husband’s co-workers. In the course of the evening, I had the exact same conversation with two different men… both dads, one of two and one of three. Here’s the basic idea…

“Having two kids is SO DIFFERENT than having one. I mean, with one, one parent can be on duty while the other one does something completely separate. Then when you have two, ugh, it’s just so complicated!”

I’ve been thinking about these conversations on and off for the last couple days, and it’s really gotten me wondering… and I thought I’d turn to you all for advice.

Is the switch from having one child to two more or less dramatic than going from zero to one? What are the biggest challenges that come with having more than one? Is what those guys told me just man code for “My wife let me go out with the boys even less after Number Two was born?”

And (for the love of God) please tell me the good things, too!! ‘Cause really, it’s too late to turn this train around, and I could use some optimism. I mean there must be something to it… right???

Then, after you all figure this out for me, maybe we can work on answering the number one most popular question of Friday evening… “Emily, where on earth are you going to put pictures of the new baby? You’re going to have to build more walls!”

December 15, 2007

Super Savings Saturday: Stocking Stuffing thanks to CVS!

This week I am particiapting in Super Savings Saturday, hosted by Money Saving Mom. I had a great week at CVS this week! I went several times due to the amazing Energizer battery deal. This week at CVS, if you bought $15 worth of Energizer batteries, you got $5 back in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). Well, CVS also had this coupon available for $5 off of Energizer Max batteries! Many of the batteries were on sale for $5.29. So, you could go in, buy one pack of batteries, use the coupon, and pay $.32. Do this three times, and on your third transaction, you also get $5 back in ECBs! So basically, they are paying you to buy Energizer batteries! But IT GETS BETTER! I had a $1 off manufacturer’s coupon for the batteries, which I was able to stack with the CVS coupon on one transaction, and on the other two transactions, there were $1 off “peelie” coupons on the actual package of batteries themselves. So I got an overage both times in addition to the ECBs, WOOHOO! Now we have TONS of batteries which is great with all the new battery-requiring toys I am sure the kids wil get for Christmas.

Here was my best non-battery transaction this week at CVS.

I got 2 Nivea for Men Skin products at $4.99 each for my hubby’s stocking, one Oasis mouthwash, one Johnson’s Shea Butter baby wash, and two bags of Dove Milk Chocolate. The total pre-tax was $28.24.

I used:
$4/$20 CVS coupon that printed off the bottom of my receipt on a previous transaction
$5/$15 CVS coupon
$3/$15 CVS coupon
Two $1 off Nivea for Men manufacturer coupons
$2 off Johnson’s baby product CVS coupon
$1 off Johnson’s manufacturer coupon
Buy one get one free Dove manufacturer coupon
$2 off Dove CVS coupon (which CVS sent my mom in the mail – thanks Mom!)
$5 ECB’s

My grand total was 25 cents!!!! I spent $5 ECBs but I got $6.99 back in ECBs! I got one ECB for the Johnson’s baby wash – this is apparently an unadvertised December monthly deal with a limit of 5! Because you can stack the $2 off CVS coupon with the many available $1 off printable Johnson’s coupons, this is a GREAT DEAL! It ends up making the baby wash 29 cents after coupons and ECBs. I am just guessing that it will be for the whole month of December, I don’t really know. I know it worked last Friday the 7th and Tuesday the 11th! It appears that only the 15 oz Head-to-Toe and the 15 oz Shea Butter wash work for the ECBs though.

I LOVE CVS! They have got me as a customer for life. Since I can also get things I regularly need there for practically free such as milk, bread, and peanut butter, it’s awesome!! Make sure to check out Money Saving Mom for more great Super Saving Saturday reports!