Hey everyone!

First trip a failure!

It's okay. I'm fine with it now. I know this was a big lesson learned on my part. I had a coupon for Soy sauce $1 off. The soy sauce was marked $1.42 on sale. I should have gotten for .42 cents. Instead it rung up as $2.50. Also my Floss which was suppose to be free with coupon didn't go thru. Guess I must have matched it up to the wrong item. The eyeshadow was .42 cents as planned. That's the ONLY thing that went good. I got myself a new coupon file that is smaller and fits better in my purse. I will be switching things over when Jacob naps. I will eventually get a coupon binder which I've found the lady who's blog helped to inspire me to do this, will be selling fully stocked coupon binders. So I'm keeping my eye out for that!

OH! And I forgot to say the Walgreens clerk didn't know how the Register Rewards worked. She thinks you just get a coupon back. I'm hoping that coupon can be used for whatever you want, I'll look further into it. I'll be doing my CVS trip when dear hubby gets home so he can watch Jacob.

Lessons learned today:

#1 Go on your shopping trips on a full stomach so you feel good.
#2 Go on your shopping trips WITHOUT a screaming baby!
#3 CHECK all prices as they ring up and SPEAK UP when you notice something not right
#4 MATCH the coupon to the right product. I'm still not sure if this was the issue or if the old man just didn't know what he was doing. Either way check rule #2 because at the moment Jacob was screaming so loud I didn't feel like checking what was wrong! I just wanted out of there! LOL!

CVS and Walgreens

CVS has a program called Extra Bucks (EB) and Walgreens has a program called Register Rewards (RR). You get money back on a card to use in the store at a later date. I will count these as money spent and then when I use the bucks call that free. That way I don't risk counting the items free twice when money was actually spent.

Say I spend $20 and get $20 in EB. I will say I spent $20. Then when I use those EB, I will count that as free. You still come out ahead because you got $40 worth of stuff for $20. I hope this makes sense! LOL!

I plan to use these EB and RR on other sale items to futher maximize the saving potential.

Starting Out

Okay so I've found a few great resources online to help me as a beginner in all of this. I will post the links here later or in the next post. So far I've come up with a couple of shopping plans and I've just started this whole thing last night before bed. Here is what I will do to test this experience out:

*After each shopping trip I will make a post of what I got and the total price.
*Those items will go in a box. If I really need it I will document the item with a photo.
*After each trip I will continue to add to my box of goodies. At the end of the month I will gather them all up for a final photo of all the products and the final total for all of them.

I'm really excited to get started. Wish me luck!

I have also started entering online giveaways. I will also be documenting that as well. I have won 2 things in one week already!! YAY! Just one more way I will share with you how to save more money or just get something good for yourself for free!

Couponing

Have you seen those women on TV buy $300 of groceries for a few bucks? I'd love to do that! That is where this whole blog is steeming from. Truthfully, I have tried this couponing thing a few times and you know what? It just seemed way to difficult for me and way to time consuming to. Well this year I vow not to use my credit cards and to pay cash for everything we need. This gave me a bit more motivation to find out how to save some money and stretching each dollar to the max. Well, I'm happy to say that I've found some great rescourses and my journey into the couponing world is just begining and I'm taking those who want to join me along for the ride. I will outline the resources that I use and also some small tricks and tips on how to earn a few dollars here and there along the way.