Good luck, a little planning, $2.00 or less spent

I've shopped for next to nothing for a couple of my "in-between" major shopping trips lately.

If you haven't heard me say it before, I enjoy shopping where you could literally set up a picnic on the floor and not worry about eating there. A couple of my local stores fit that profile, CVS drugstore and Randall's grocery store.

Both stores offer loyalty programs. CVS offers those wonderful CVS free bucks, in addition to giving $3.00 - $4.00 off every $15.00 - 20.00 spent. These coupons print at the bottom of your receipt, which probably tells you why my wallet is always overflowing even though there's no money in it. I take advantage of these free bucks.

Last night at CVS, I paid $1.36 for the following items: 1 gallon of milk, 1 Lever body wash, 2 bags of Goldfish crackers, and 2 pints of ice cream. Here's how I did it. I had a $1.00 coupon for the Lever body wash, I had the $10.00 freebie bucks from recent prescription purchases ($10.00 off for every 5 prescriptions purchased - I save on the prescriptions, too - that's another article in itself!), and a $3.00 coupon off for $15.00 spent. Hurrah, just enough groceries to make it to payday!

I came across a similar deal at Randall's approx. 2 weeks ago. I always ask for the extra coupons that are sitting on the register. Guess what? Two of those coupons ended up to be freebie bucks adding up to $13.00. In addition, I found an in-store grocery coupon for one of the items in my cart. I ended up paying only $2.00 that night for $15.00 worth of groceries.

Both of these shopping trips needed a bit of pre-planning, yet I think the 15 minutes I spent prior to each of the two shopping trips paid off. I'm not the world's best couponer; however, I do enjoy "free"!

Good luck, and think before you buy...Terre

Thanks to The Stretcher Community!

I've got to say a huge "Thanks!" to the Dollar Stretcher community, especially Pat Veretto, for their help in giving my site a second look. It's a great incentive to keep writing.

Here's the link to the discussion/bulletin boards at stretcher.com:
http://community.stretcher.com/

I promise I'll get out there and create a profile soon!

Regarding the stretcher.com website, be sure to give their website a view, also. They have several areas in their website, everything from the bulletin boards with how-to's and advice on frugal living to articles on credit cards and how to stay out/payoff debt, to the pros/cons of renting vs. owning your home. It certainly pays to be an informed consumer.

Good luck, and think before you buy...Terre

Sticker shock, everywhere !

I just came home from the grocery store after using all my best shopping skills to shop frugally at my local store without driving 10 miles to the superstore. Total Price: $100, for one adult, one teenager, and one dog. Kitty didn't get anything this weekend. And, I still need to go back Sunday night for one more week's worth of school lunch supplies. It's all frustrating at best.

Currently, gas here in West Houston is $2.94/gallon, so that made me think twice before running my Honda all over town to go bargain shopping. So, I'll probably do more bargain shopping on Sunday after church, while I'm out in the area of town where two of the good discount stores sit side by side (Dollar Tree and 99 Cent Store). Believe it or not, sometimes the sacks of potatoes I buy for .99 are better quality than the ones at my neighborhood market. Also, the dollar stores are a great place to stock up on canned goods for hurricane season.

I'd be interested in hearing what's going on in the rest of the USA, as far as gas prices and grocereis go. Take care, Terre