Today's Trip to Acme!

I don't usually shop at Acme, but I heard about a deal they have going on this week where if you buy $25 worth of specific General Mills products, you get $10 in catalinas (register reward coupons) back. The thing is - EVERYTHING included in this deal was on sale, but they were counting the shelf price toward the $25. So it was VERY easy to get to $25 in qualifying merchandise. The deal ended today, so I had to act quickly! You can read all about it HERE!

I did seven transactions in all and I just kept rolling those register rewards!

Transaction #1
Bought: 10 Hamburger Helpers (shelf $2.69, sale $1.00 each)
Used: (3) $1/3 Hamburger helper coupons
Paid: $5.50 out of pocket (remember - the coupons doubled!)
Received: (2) $5 catalinas

Transaction #2
Bought: 10 Totino's Pizza Rolls (shelf $2.60, sale $1.25 each) and 2 Betty Crocker instant mashed potato pouches ($1.00 knock down price)
Used: (2) $1/3 Totino's, (2) $1/2 Totino's, $10 catalinas from previous transaction
Paid: $.50 out of pocket
Received: $10.00 Catalinas

Transaction #3 - I actually ran into a little trouble with this one
Bought: (5) Betty Crocker Cake Mix and (5) Betty Crocker frosting
Used: (3) .75 off when you buy both cake mix and frosting and $5 catalina from previous trans.
Paid: $3.00 out of pocket
Received: $3.00 catalina (for buying 4 or more frostings)

**I didn't realize that the price of the frostings in my store was different than had been posted online. So I didn't hit the $25 mark on this transaction. Plus, this is when I realized that Acme doubles coupons, so I couldn't use both $5 catalinas, as I had planned. It all worked out in the end, though. But this deal could have been sweeter if I had been more on top of things! **

Transaction #4
Bought: (6) Chex Mix (4) Progresso Bread Crumbs and (1) Gold Medal Flour
Used: (4) .50/1 Progresso, (4) .50/1 Chex Mix, (1) .50/2 Chex Mix, and $8.00 in catalinas
Paid: $1.14 out of pocket
Received: $10.00 catalinas

Transaction #5
Bought: (3) Cinnamon Toast Crunch (3) Golden Grahams and (1) Betty Crocker instant mashed potatoes
Used: (3) .65/1 Cinnamon Toast Crunch, (1) $1/3 Any GM Cereal, $10.00 catalinas
Paid: $.50 out of pocket
Received: $10.00 catalinas AND $3.75 off a gallon of milk (surprise!)

Transaction #6
Bought: (4) Yoplait Splitz yogurts, (3) Betty Crocker Box Muffin Mix, (3) pouches of instant mashed potatoes, and a box of Cheerios
Used: (4) .50/1 Yoplait, (3) .50/1 Betty Crocker Muffin mix, (1) .75/1 Cheerios, and $10 catalinas
Paid: $.50 out of pocket
Received: $10.00 catalinas

Transaction #7 - I wanted to use up my catalinas since I don't regularly shop at Acme and I didn't want them to go to waste. I was all set with a gallon of milk and some other things, but then I got that coupon for the free milk, so I had to go back and get a few more things. Fun!!

Bought: 1 bag of Gold Medal Flour, 1 packet of Betty Crocker cookie mix, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a tub of margarine, and a pint of sour cream
Used: $10 catalinas and $3.75 off milk catalina
Paid: $.76 out of pocket
Received: NOTHING! I'm done!

Totals for the whole trip!
Shelf Price = $183.00
My out of pocket cost = $11.86!

I practically RAN out of that store and loaded it all into my car! I was afraid they were going to chase me away! Actually, I'm kind of surprised no one working there was watching over me while I was doing all this. I had, literally, TAKEN OVER half the self check-out area. Luckily, the store was completely dead at this hour. The folks working there just hung out around the customer service desk and only bothered with me when I beckoned them to help me because a coupon wouldn't scan or something. I tell ya - if I HAD been trying to get away with anything, it would have been EASY! I must look like an honest person! :)

But now my pantry is GOOD and stocked for the fall and winter. I even got some great baking supplies that I'll hold onto for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Special thanks to Living Rich with Coupons who posted all the deals!

Today's Drugstore Deals! Cost: +$10.02 Money Maker!

I headed out this morning shortly after Jack got on the bus. It's the end of the week and I figured I'd make one last go around to the drug stores. Boy, did I ever score!

First up, I hit Rite Aid. I read last night on Hip2Save that there was a good unadvertized deal on candy - and with Halloween at the end of this month and Jack's birthday party next month, I thought it would be a good idea to stock up. Here's how the transactions went down.

Transaction #1

Purchased:

(4) Crest toothpastes ($2.69 each)

(4) Oral B toothbrushes ($2.69 each)

= $21.52

Used:

$4/20 Rite Aid Video Values Coupon

(2) $1/2 Crest Toothpaste coupons (9/26 P&G insert)

$1 Oral Care Wellness coupon

$13.34 +UP rewards (from earlier this week)

= $20.34

Paid $1.18 Out of Pocket, Received $21.52 in +UP Rewards on my receipt! A $7.00 Money Maker!

They didn't have a very good selection of the candy I was looking for, so I pocketed my UP rewards and headed to the Rite Aid up the road. (We seem to have them on every corner here!)

At that store, I purchased:

(6) bags of Jolly Ranchers 2/$5

(4) bags of Star Bursts 2/$5

(2) bags of Skittles2/$5

= $30.00

Used:

$5/25 Rite Aid Coupon (this PDF expires on October 31 and can be printed as many times as you want.)

$21.52 UP rewards from my last transaction

$2.69 UP rewards from earlier in the week

= $29.21

Paid: $.79 out of pocket and received $30 in UP rewards on my receipt! This transaction was a $5 money-maker!

Basically, I spent $1.97 in cash today and Rite Aid paid me $12 in UP rewards for taking this merchandise off their hands. And it's all stuff my family will use and enjoy - especially the candy, which is so expensive! I will use a bag or two for Halloween and the rest will be saved for Jack's birthday party goody bags.

K. Werner Color Inspiration #56

Love the colors in this week's Color Inspiration challenge and thought they'd look great paired up with some kraft paper. I haven't done much card-making in a while - so these fun colors really helped me get out of my slump!
I have been crocheting some dishcloths recently for our kitchen (to replace some pretty shabby ones that I bought at the Dollar Store, like, a year ago). So when Nichole Heady gave a pattern for and demonstrated how to make these adorable crocheted flowers out of embroidery floss, I knew they were right up my alley! I had TONS of beautiful embroidery floss already, but I did have to pick up a tiny crochet hook at Walmart, since none of mine were small enough to work with the embroidery floss.

Thanks for looking! And OH, I just noticed that I need to change my blog banner in a bad way. It's definitely not winter here any longer! I'm sitting here, sweating! I'll add that to the list!

Independence Day Weekend

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Independence Day weekend. John and Jack are heading to a parade tomorrow morning, leaving me with some independence of my own. My craft supplies are calling me.

Enjoy the weekend!

For Aunt Kay

Really, this is for anyone who has kids and is looking for something fun and free to do this summer. I signed Jack up at www.kidsbowlfree.com and got coupons for Jack to go bowling for free - up to two games a day, every day, all summer. I told my friend, Nakia, about it and she signed all four of her kids up. We're going to the Conchester Lanes tomorrow to do a little bowling. Well, the kids will do the bowling. Nakia and I will sit at the sides and pretend to be the babysitters.

KWerner Designs Color Inspiration #51

Whoa. I haven't blogged in a very long time. Heck - I haven't stamped in a very long time! When I saw the new Color Inspiration challenge on Kristina Werner's blog, I was inspired to get out a stamp set that I haven't used in a while! Boards and Beams by Papertrey Ink. I love, love this stamp set, but just don't use it that often.

I'm kind of disappointed with the way this photo came out. You can hardly see all the coloring I did on the house or the tree - I guess because I used such a light pink for the tree leaves and most of the house. And the orange in real life is a little more yellow-ish. Well, I guess I have to brush up on my photography skills!

Thanks for looking!

Getting settled in.

We're back home from our trip. The drive down to Florida was fun (we made lots of stops) and Lauren's wedding was beautiful. Just getting settled in here - doing laundry, cleaning, and getting back into our usual routines. I'll be back to some crafting soon, I hope.

OH! And I got my Project 365 Kit - FINALLY! Thanks to my dear mom, who ordered them for us on January 1st! I've been so busy getting the house back in order after our trip, I haven't even taken it out of the box yet! But I can't wait to dig into it, get my pictures printed, and start putting it together!