Recap of the week

Since this whole blog idea is new, I figured I'd look back over the week at how I saved/spent money.  Keep in mind I'm not an extreme couponer, nor do I plan to be, so I'm sure there are people who could score a better deal than I could.  I'm really just trying to save money as simply as I can.

Last Sunday, I hit up Walgreen's and Rite Aid for a few items.  We were completely out of trash bags and it just so happened that Walgreen's had trash bags on sale!

Here is a list of what I bought:

Walgreens:
Dawn dish soap: on sale for $.99, used $.50 coupon= $.49
Glad trash bags: on sale for $6.99, used 2 $1/1 (one store, one manufacturer) coupons= $4.99
I also had a $1 Register Reward from the previous week that was about to expire, so my total cost was $4.88 and I saved $7.00.

I was pretty excited about this considering before we went to Walgreen's we stopped by Walmart to price check Glad trash bags and they were $7.48 for the same box that I bought.

Rite Aid:
(Okay, this trip is nothing special, in fact it's pretty bad.  We needed toothbrushes though and I'll admit I bought these only for the UP Rewards.)
2 Oral B toothbrushes for $3.65, with tax, got $3.20 in UR's, only saved $2.84.

On Wednesday, I couldn't pass up the chance to go to Farm Fresh for double coupons.  I didn't do such a great job of sticking to my list, but it's because I found other sale items not advertised once I got to the store.  I didn't have coupons for everything (if you ever find a coupon for potatoes, let me know!). but I still did alright.

Farm Fresh:
Without going into specific detail as to what I bought because that's tedious, I had 44% savings, which isn't TOO bad.  I would have done better except I bought apples, potatoes, bread, and sandwich meat because we needed those items for the week.  I did, however, end up getting a few good deals:
2 free bottles of Hunt's ketchup
Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner .50/ea
Free Crest toothpaste
Yoplait Smoothie Starters for .49/ea
Cheerios for .89/ea

I also had a $5 off $25 coupon for signing up for Farm Fresh's newsletter. 

Today, I went to Food Lion for toilet paper (I'll admit, I've held out till today just so I could get the better deal--don't worry, we still had 1 roll left :)).

Food Lion:
2 6-packs Charmin Mega Roll: $4.99/ea, had 2 $1/1 coupons=2/$7.98
2 Breyer's ice cream BOGO=2/normal price I pay at Walmart, but I'm out of ice cream.  That shouldn't happen.

Petsmart:
(Doggie needed food!  And treats.  And flea spray.)
Wellness dog food: $56.99 (ugh!)
Wellness dog treats: $7.99
Sentry Flea and Tick Natural Spray: $12.99

So, this looks a little scary (because it is), but I had a $5.00 off any Wellness product that I used for the treats (making them $2.99), and a 15% off entire purchase Petsmart coupon that I used for the other items.
In the end, I saved $15.95 and spent a whole lot on that ridiculous dog, who I actually really like a whole bunch.

This week, I turned down the chance to go out to lunch when I would have gone any other time.  I also didn't make any 7-11 purchases--that's pretty big!  I even returned a pair of shoes I bought at Payless because I realized I just didn't need them.  AND, we sold a book on Amazon for $27.  Pretty decent week, minus the Petsmart run.  Gets me every time.