CVS

I started out with $5.00 ECB from a previous week.

Then I received $5.00 ECB for the Beauty Club Spending (Spend $50, get $5, if I remember rightly.)
Then I received a $4/$20 purchase coupon, which I added to my ExtraCare card. 

$4.99 Maxwell House K-cups
(Makes it 42¢ per cup. They are 49¢ per cup at Sam's, and even more at Walmart, so this is a good price even without coupons.)

$5.99 PediaCare Children's Meds
- 1.00 Pediacare IP
= 4.99

$2.37 CVS Body Wash
-2.37 Free Minute Clinic IP coupon (No longer available)
= Free

= $19.96
- $4/20
- $5.00 Beauty ECB
- $5.00 ECB

= $5.96 + tax = $6.50 oop

Received $5.00 ECB for Pedicare

Total Cost $1.50

Scrabble Tile Ornaments

I visited the Garage Sale thrift store, Half-off Sale again last week.
I didn't really want to, but I was hoping the Vintage glass Christmas Tree Toppers that I'd passed over two weeks ago might still be there (they weren't, natch).

I didn't buy much, a baggie of Cookie cutters.

I saw this bin full of Playmobil toys, marked $5.00, so on sale for $2.50, but I talked myself out of buying it.
Even though I love Playmobil as much as I love Lego.
Even though Playmobil toys are about as expensive as Lego.

But then I took my son on home and dropped him off, and on my way back, I couldn't stand it, I had to stop back in and get them (if they were still there).

What I didn't know until I brought it home and started digging through it was there was some other odd 'n ends toys in the bin, too.

Including a handful of Scrabble tiles.

Awhile back I had bought a couple of Scrabble games at a thrift store for 50¢ each to make ornaments out of, but hadn't gotten around to doing it yet.

While I had these right here, and my Christmas ribbons and such at hand, I went ahead and figured out what I could spell with them.

I tried to do the Family one, with our last name and first names intertwined, but was missing a few letters, so these were what I was able to come up with, with what I had:

I did some embellishing, but I'm not sure I really like them. I may end up re-doing them. Pretty sure the "Santa" one needs a Santa Hat, instead of the...whatever it is...part of a ribbon, hanging from it.

The others, I'm "Meh" about, but don't really have any other ideas.

They were colorful on my silver Tinsel tree, though.

Applesauce-Cinnamon Christmas Tree Ornaments

So last year I was looking for a little prezzie for my son, R's, co-workers at 911 Dispatch.
I ended up coming up with these Snow(wo)men Ornament Ball dispatchers.

I didn't think I was going to be able to come up with anything this year, but eventually an/some idea(s) came together, and I created these Applesauce-Cinnamon Gingerbread 911 Dispatcher.

I started out using 1 cup of cinnamon, 1 cup of applesauce, and 2 tablespoons of white glue. My mixture was too dry, so I added another tablespoon-glallup of applesauce.

I used homemade applesauce I had made and canned from apples my Dad gave me from his orchard, but you can get a jar of applesauce at the Dollar Tree, along with the container of Ground Cinnamon.
The glue also came from the Dollar Tree.

Mixed the cinnamon, applesauce and glue in a bowl. Used a spoon at first, but when it became a 'dough' I ended up having to use my hands and knead it.

Which is why there's no picture of me rolling and cutting the gingerbread men out.

I put the gingerbread men ornaments on wire racks on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven on 200* for an hour. Then I flipped them over and let them dry for another hour.

*If you want to make holes in the ornaments for a hanging ribbon, use a toothpick or straw while they're still wet. I decided to just glue a loop on the backside.
(Because I forgot to make the hole first, lol!)

I "iced" it with puffy paint, and hot glued the "head set" on.

For the head set I used some miniature wire candy canes and mini pom-poms I had in my craft stash.

I had some "gingerbread dough" leftover so I cut out some other shapes from other cookie cutters,

And hung them on my little red tinsel tree.

Putz/Glitter House: Church & Fire Station

Generally, I make one Putz/Glitter house/building at a time, but when I made the Putz/Glitter church, I had decided to make three at one time.

I think I might have had an idea of making extras to sell in my Etsy shop, but then I didn't love the way they turned out, or something.

Anyway, I ended up gifting them to my Aunts for Christmas.

I held onto these as pictured for a long time, because I couldn't find, or didn't really know what I wanted to embellish them with.

Eventually I decided on a Tree and some People figurines from the Dollar Tree Village sets.

The small Trees I had were a Tree-Green, a suitable color for Trees, but didn't really seem to go with the White and Pink of the Church too well IMO.

I had read that you could Bleach the Trees, so I gave that a try.
I just poured Bleach into a jar and swished the tree around with tongs until the Green disappeared.

Bleached Tree.

Then I used Food Coloring to dye the Trees (what is supposed to be) Turquoise and Pink.
They look more green and orange. But oh well, better than the dark Green they were previously.
My Aunts (said they) Loved them.

I had been wanting to make a Putz/Glitter Firehouse, but had trouble locating a pattern (I can't make the patterns myself...no good with measurements).
I had been working on converting another building into a firehouse, but it wasn't going too well, so finally I decided to take a chance and email the gentleman at the Glitter House site, even though there hadn't been any new patterns posted in a couple of years.

Very awesomely, he answered right back, and soon after that emailed me his pattern for the firehouse he'd created.

Instead of paint, for this one I printed out a Brick pattern and glued it on.

I was afraid Glittering it wouldn't look right, kind of like the Log Cabin, where the glitter hid a lot of the "log siding" detail, so I decided to use "Snow" instead.
I think I should have used a smaller sized Snow, but oh well, it doesn't look too bad.

The Beginning of my 'Cereal Box Village'...

Free Christmas Tree

Have you heard of Freecycle?

A lot of times people have things they no longer want for whatever reason, but don't have the time or inclination to sell it, or don't want to throw it in the garbage.

You can sign up with your local Freecycle group and post the item(s) and someone who needs or wants the item(s) will take it and get some use out of it.


Earlier this year, someone posted this artificial Christmas tree, they no longer wanted because the lights didn't work.

We put our own lights on it and decorations and it's perfect.
(I know it needs some more decorations. I hadn't planned on putting up a tree yesterday and didn't get them all out.)

There are also local Facebook Freebie groups you can join to give stuff away, or find things you need. Just search for keywords such as your city or county name, and free or freebie, etc.

Also, Craigslist has a Free section you can post items, and often find things you might be looking for.

You can get a lot of free things in practically perfect condition...people just get tired of their things and want to get rid of them and buy new stuff.

But some things won't be in new, clean or great condition. People don't want to bother with cleaning or fixing the things. This can be a great opportunity to get some nice things, all you need to be willing to do is put some effort into cleaning or repairing the item(s).

CVS

It's the First Half of Black Friday Sale week at CVS, and they have a lot of stuff Free, or cheap!
(Remember, this sale is only 4 days, so go by Wednesday.)

I'm too tired to type out every one, so check out all the deals and coupon matches at Hip2Save blog, where she has already done the work.

Walgreens

It's also the First Half of Black Friday Sale Week at Walgreens, and they have a good many items for Free or very cheap. It's a good, good time for stocking up if you use any of these items. (Or trying new things.)

I don't use most of the items on sale this first part of the week.
I did go in for the Scope because I had the coupon that made it free after Register Reward,
and the razor deal I ended up paying about 49¢ each for the packages. Can't hardly beat 49¢ for razors!
And Angel Soft 9 Big Roll TP is on sale for $2.99, which is just a good price.

Total Spent $12.63 oop
Got back 6,000 Balance Rewards points ($6.00)

Total Cost $6.63

Kmart/Shop Your Way

Shop Your Way Rewards Members, check your inbox for a possible free 20,000 Surprise Points! That's $20.00 to help with your Christmas shopping - or to treat yourself.

I purchased these bags of Frosty and Glittering Snow Flakes with some of my points. These will be awesome for decorating my Putz/Glitter houses, or to fill glass Christmas tree ornaments.

I also ordered another Brown Curtain Panel, but it's still in delivery. 

Publix

It's a great week for shopping at Publix, they have a ton of sales, great for stocking up before the coming Holidays, with the kids home from school and possibly relatives coming to visit.

$3.99 Sabra Hummus BOGO ($1.99 each)
- $1.00 printable mq
- $1.00 Pq, All The Trimmings coupon booklet
= Free

$1.00 Dannon Creamery yogurt ($5/5 sale)
- 50¢ printable mq (doubled)
- $1/2 Pq, Winter Family Savings coupon booklet
= 50¢ overage each

69¢lb Publix Turkey
- $1.50/$7.00 Market Pantry item Target q
= $6.28

$3.29 Nestle Tollhouse Morsels BOGO ($1.65 each)
- $1/2 printable mq
- $1/3 Tq
= 81¢ each

$2.49 Tetley Tea
- $1/1 printable mq
- $1.50/2 Pq, All the Trimmings booklet
= 74¢ each

$2.29 Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake BOGO ($1.14 each)
- 50¢ printable mq (doubled)
= 14¢ each

99¢ Publix Soda BOGO (49¢ each)
No coupons, great price.

$4.74 Hellman's Real Mayo BOGO ($2.37 each)
- 50¢ RP 11/16 (doubled)
- $1.50 Pq printable, Best Meals at Home (must sign up to receive coupons in email)
= 14¢ overage

$5.04 Lipton BOGO ($2.52 each)
- $3/2 printable mq
= $1.02 each

99¢ Pioneer Brand BROWN gravy only BOGO (49¢ each)
- .65/2 SS printable mq, and SS 11/16 insert
= 17¢ each

$5/2 Publix Butter ($2.50 each)
No coupons, best price I've seen recently

$1.50 Angel Soft facial tissue
- .50/2 printable mq (doubled)
- .50 Pq, Health & Beauty Flyer
= 50¢ each

Total $26.80

I also used a Target coupon for "Get a free $10.00 Target Gift Card with $50.00 Food/Beverage Purchase" and got a free $10.00 Publix Gift Card.

Final total: $16.80

Saved $88.97

CVS

Another late, last-minute, deal ending tonight CVS run.

The CVS Glucose tablets 10-ct are on sale for $1.50, and you get $1.50 ECB back, making it Free.

I had, in my online Extra Care account a (CVS) coupon for $5 off any $10 Mouthwash purchase.

CVS had a sale this week, buy $10 worth of (mouthwash? Listerine?) and get $5.00 ECB.

I had also printed (2) $1.00 off Listerine manufacturer coupons.

After coupons I paid $2.98, and got back a $5.00 ECB, making it about a $2.00 money-maker.

CVS

At CVS this week, they have a "Spend $10.00, Get $3.00 ECB" on Lipton, Skippy, Ragu, and Hellman's.

Lipton tea is on sale 2/$6.00, and there's a $3/2 printable coupon,
Skippy is on sale $2.00 each, and there's a 55¢ printable coupon.

You pay $5.90, and get back $3.00 ECB, making your final cost $2.90 for everything, or 73¢ per item.

I paid with my $3.00 ECB from last week, so I only had to spend the $2.90 (+ tax) cash out of pocket.

*Visit Southern Savers,  Hip2Save, or search using Swagbucks and earn free gift cards for more deals and match-ups.*

*In Case You Didn't Know:
CVS tracks most deals by your Card, so you don't have to buy all the items at the same time, or same store.
I tried (3) different CVS stores before I was able to find the boxes of Lipton tea bags.
I went ahead and bought the Skippy at one of the stores, and planned to try looking for the Lipton again later in the week after, hopefully, a truck would bring more stock.
At the last store I tried on the way home, I was able to find the tea, and they were out of Skippy!

I also had a $4.00 ECB from last week, I ended up spending it on a bunch of 90% off Halloween candy and items I found still remaining at one out-of-the-way store.
They had Reese's Nutrageous fun-size bags for 45¢ - my husband loves these candies,
Fun-size bags of Peanut M&M's for 39¢,
I found 2 more of the witch cauldron candy container, at 19¢ each,
a sheet of "Welcome Fall" window clings, a mask, a Pez dispenser...
I can't remember if I'm forgetting anything else. 

Thrift Store Shopping Again

My kid is a bad influence on me.
 (Hey, kids blame parents for everything, it works both ways! LOL)

The Garage Sale thrift store had another 50% off everything sale this morning. It was rainy and windy and nasty outside, and I tried to talk myself out of going, but.... As you see, it didn't work too well.

The cast iron pan was $2.50, and everything else was 50¢ each.

I love little lamps. It's a newish thing, so I don't have very many lamps, but I think these three will do nicely.  I didn't know if they worked but was willing to gamble on it for 50¢, because you can get lamp kits at Hobby Lobby for a few bucks and make an old/broken lamp new again.
However, turned out all of these worked great!

The shade was separate and also 50¢, but it went perfectly with that lamp. I had said I could spray paint or cover it, but I kinda think it looks fine as it is.

Also got this little Santa lamp with shade that I'll use on my mantel when I decorate it for Christmas, 50¢.
(Is it just me, or does it maybe need a larger shade?)

This 2-foot red tinsel tree with go great with my silver and turquoise trees. It's missing 2 of it's legs, but I can get my husband to fabricate some, or figure out some other way of keeping it standing, 50¢.

I love these wood hangers, too. I have one hanging on the back porch and another in the carport. This one may go in the mudroom, or maybe laundry room. They're great for hanging jackets and outwear, hats, grill utensils, gardening tools, coffee cups, and all sorts of things, 50¢.

After the Garage Sale thrift store, I needed to go by the bank, which is just down the street from the Goodwill. Decided to stop in and see what was new while we were there.

I had been looking for a new (to me) pair of white Keds sneakers for awhile, and my patience finally paid off.

Don't worry, I won't wear them until after next Easter.  Just don't hesitate to buy things in the off-seasons if it means saving money.

I also found (2) silver bowls - not sure if vintage or not, probably not, but they had a tarnished patina that would have looked great filled with some of my antique glass Christmas ball ornaments - a wooden apple sign, and (2) packs of miniature Christmas figures that I could have used with my Putz/Glitter houses, that I was able to talk myself out of bringing home with me.

I already have other bowls that look nice filled with my antique Christmas ball ornaments, the wooden sign was just basically useless, and I also already have some miniature things to use to decorate my Putz/Glitter houses - which, by the way, I haven't even made any more of lately.

It also probably helped that the things were more than 50¢, lol. I get spoiled getting things for free or so cheap that I hate to pay even full thrift store price. 

Publix

Picked up a few things at Publix's new week sale while I was out this morning.

$2.00 Quaker Oatmeal
- 1.00/1 mq
- 1.00/2 Target q (Not all Publix stores accepts Target as a competitor. Check with your store.)
= 50¢ each

$2.75 BOGO ($1.38 each) V8 Vegetable juice
- 1.00/2 mq
- 1.50/1 Publix q (Best Meals Start at Home, sign up for email coupons)
= +2.50 overage/4

$2.95 BOGO ($1.48 each) M&M's
- 1.00/2 Target q
- 1.50/3 Target q
= 97¢ each

$1.29 Success Boil-in-Bag Rice
- 50¢ mq (Doubled)
= 29¢ each

Total Spent $7.53
Total Saved $39.09

Big Shopping Day

Peeps, all I can tell you is, if a store has a (free) Rewards program, join it!

I've been a Shop Your Way rewards member with Sears/Kmart for a few years.
Around this time of the year, it seems they like to start giving away money.

Several days ago I got an email telling me to Click to see how many Surprise Points they'd given me.
I got lucky, lucky and got the $20.00 reward!

I found this Charlie Brown Christmas Tree on sale for $10.12 (it's even less now).
I've been wanting one of these for a long time, but was always too cheap to buy one. I had planned to just cut a scraggly pine and make my own, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Now I don't have to.

I found this Mario throw blanket for $14.88, so I only paid $4.88 for it.
It's going to make a great Christmas gift for my oldest son.

Not long after that, within just a day or two it seems, they had given me another $10.00, and another $4.00 in Surprise Points.

I have been needing another small room heater, so put $10 towards that and paid about $21.00.
Seems like a lot, but if I hadn't gotten it with $10 off, I'd have ended up paying about $35.00 or more full price for one at Walmart. 

With the $4.00 Surprise Points, I bought this cute Mason Jar wax melt/warmer.

It plugs into an electrical socket like a nightlight, and heats wax or liquid smelly stuff in the cap.

It was $7.19, so I paid $3.19.

But I liked it so much - and probably as Sears/Kmart intended to happen - I went back and bought several more to give to as Christmas gifts to my Mom and some of my Aunts and cousins.
My Mom's (and her sisters') Family name is Mason, so that's what makes it so awesome.

I drove to Kmart today to pick up the Mason jar warmers. The Charlie Brown tree and the blanket are being delivered to Sears and hadn't arrived yet.

This evening I logged on to my Shop Your Way account to check on the status of my order(s), and saw they had given me another $15.00 Surprise Points at Kmart, and another $10.00 Surprise Points at Sears!

I bought (2) curtain rods with the $10.00. They were $5.99 each, total of $11.98, but I had earned some points from buying the heater and mason jar warmers, so I paid the difference with those.

With the $15.00 Points I bought (2) curtain panels (can you believe they sell curtains as a single panel, rather than a set these days?! What a rip off!). They were $8.90 each, a total of $17.80. Again, I paid the difference with Points I had earned.

Last time we went to buy the boys' some shoes - we always go to the Mall shoes stores, where the shoes are priced Buy One, Get One Half Off - I signed up with Rack Room Shoes new Rewards program.

The other day they sent me a Birthday present in my email. $10.00!
I bought me (2) pair of knee-high socks, and some spiral, no-lace, shoes laces. Spent 51¢.

I had also received a coupon in the mail from JCPenney for $10.00 off a $10.00 (or more) purchase.

I had been wanting some tension curtain rods for the kitchen windows, and found them on clearance for $3.99 each at Penney's!

After my $10 off coupon, I only paid $2.11!

Also pictured is my free paper towels from CVS, and my super, awesome, great day surprise find!
Okay, it wasn't that awesome, but I had been wanting a witches cauldron candy bowl, and I found one at CVS, priced only 49¢. Sweet!

Grocerying

While I was going to Kmart anyway to pick up my order, I decided to check the sales for all the stores and see if I could make my 30 minute drive worthwhile.

Ingles

I ran across this deal by accidental, it wasn't really highlighted in the ad-matchups, but someone pointed it out in the comments (always read the comments!).

Ingles had a Quaker Buy 5 Items, Save $4.00 Instantly deal.

I had figured out if I bought (4) of the oatmeal at BOGO $2.98, and a box of cereal for $2.50, each item would end up costing 89¢ after the instant savings.

What I hadn't noticed was that Pasta Roni, Rice-a-Roni, Quaker Popped snacks (and Muller Corner Greek yogurt, which I didn't get any of, because we don't like yogurt) was on sale 10/$10, or $1.00 each.
So when you bought 5 of the items, and instantly saved $4.00, they only cost $1.00, or 20¢ each!
No coupons even needed.

My cost before Instant Savings was $55.07,
After saving $40.00, I paid $13.87.

Publix

$1.99 BOGO (99¢ each) Green Giant frozen vegetables
- .80/4 Publix Digital coupon
= 80¢ each

$2.47 BOGO ($1.24 each) NY Frozen Bread
- .50/1mq (Doubled)
- .75/1 mq
= 24¢ or 49¢ each

$1.33 BOGO (67¢ each) Campbell's Cream of Chicken/Mushroom Soups
- $1/5 mq
- $1/5 Publix q
= 26¢ each

$1.29 BOGO (65¢ each) Chef Boy R Dee Canned Pasta
(No coupons, good buy price)

$2.19 BOGO ($1.10 each) Hormel Chili
- .55/2 mq
= 82¢ each

$3.49 BOGO ($1.75 each) Kellogg's Nutri-grain Bars
- $1.00 mq
= 75¢ each

$0.99 each Domino Confectioner Sugar
- .50/2 mq (Doubled)
= 49¢ each

$1.99 Dixie Crystals 4lb Sugar
- 40¢ mq (Doubled)
= $1.19 each

$1.25 Jolly Time Popcorn
- 50¢ mq (Doubled)
= 25¢ each

$3.09 Lipton Tea bags
- $1.00 mq
- .75 Publix q
= $1.34 each

$0.79 Reynolds Baking Cups
- $1/2 mq
= 29¢ each

Spent $24.68
Saved $56.69

Kroger

Kroger is going into the 2nd week of a Mega sale. You can find the prices and match-ups at I Heart Kroger.

In summary, I bought:
20 boxes of Cereal ($1.79 or less..I had some coupons, but not for all)
9 boxes of Pillsbury Cake Mix (14¢ each after coupon)
5 cans Del Monte Tomatoes (38¢ each - Mega price, no coupon)
4 cans Carnation Evap Milk (22¢ each after coupon)
4 cans Dole Mandarian oranges (40¢ each after coupon & catalina)
4 cans Chunky soup (74¢ each after coupon)
5 cans Campbells Tomato/Chicken Noodle soup (59¢ each after coupon - Didn't get Catalina)
2 packs Oreos ($1.99 each after coupon)
1 bag Ruffles ($1.99 - Mega price, no coupon)
1 bottle Minute Maid OJ ($1.99 - Mega price, no coupon)

Spent $52.75
Saved $77.37