Monday, October 13, 2008

If you thought you knew how frugal I was....

I have kind of a reputation in my family for being frugal, I LOVE a good deal! I mean if you saw how little we lived on during college you would be shocked. We make more now obviously but there is still a part of me that feels like if I can get stuff for less, than I can get more of what I need and want. First let me show you the deals I have snagged in the last two weeks or so and then I will get boring and tell you how I got them! All of the prices have the sales tax figured into them so it the cost after sales tax is calculated in.Everything you see in this picture was free, except I paid 25 cents for the aspirin. Plus I have another weeks worth of women's personal products that I didn't want to display.


Walgreen's PAID me $.62 to buy this


Walgreen's PAID me $3.59 to buy this


Just his week at Rite Aid I got all of this (around $95 worth of medicines) for about $4.50 since you have to pay the tax but then I get 1% cash back on our credit card. That's like the cost of the one Triaminic in the picture, which happens to be my favorite cold medicine for the kiddos, and then I got the rest for free!

I found the blog Being Frugal is Fabulous and I'm telling you she has helped me find some great deals. I haven't become one of those that gets 6 newspapers and cuts out coupons. I mostly go for the deals that she can find when something is on sale, with an in store coupon, with Internet printable coupons, or a rebate. The best deals is when she gets you all of them, that is when you are getting paid to buy stuff! I do most of the shopping at Walgreen's and just this week I did my first Rite Aid rebate purchase. Some people find rebates annoying but at Walgreen's they will give you an additional 10% if you load it onto a gift card, these are reloadable so they don't take long to get your money back. Well, gift cards can be used to pick up prescriptions and since my prescriptions cost $70 a month right now and Caleb's asthma medicine costs us about $20 a month I just buy the stuff, redeem the rebates, and then use the card to get our prescriptions.

All the stuff you see in the first picture mostly comes from free samples that I order and get delivered to our mailbox (keep in mind I haven't even been doing this for 3 months). The other stuff is things that Walgreens offers FREE every month though their rebate program. I originally started to do this to help add to our Personal emergency supplies but I don't think I will ever have to buy shampoo, toothpaste, or shaving cream again. There are tons of shampoos that you can get for free and I ran out of shaving cream and now I just use the free shampoo to shave with and it works great.

Some of you may say but will you use all of that? The honest answer is no. But some of it I bought because I know some people who need it, so it now will go in their stockings for Christmas or I will just give it to them. Or how cute would it be if a friend was sick to take them a can of soup and a box of medicine. In reality though we will use most of that medicine this winter and what we don't use we will have in case of an emergency.

So there you go...if you are interested I would totally check out the blog...its on the right side of my blog. If you have questions shes great at answering them or I am totally willing too. It does take some time and at first I was not very good at recognising a good deal but now I not only look at what she can offer but I also can look at the weekly adds and find some deals for myself. It just takes some practice and a lot of organization since I think they do these rebate programs hoping you forget or things slip though the cracks.

Don't think this is just limited to these things too. I still price match each week at Walmart and there are coupons on the Internet for food. Just this week I bought food and paid $11 and saved over $20. But this post is way long enough as it is....so maybe that is for another day....

9 comments:

jakenapril said...

shmis, i am thoroughly impressed. i didn't know you were "frugal." i am, or at least i thought i was until i read your post. i guess i'm more of a deal finder on things other than food. i never pay retail...and i guess it helps that jake works at ebay! you are frugal...and that's fabulous!

Sara said...

I love that blog and am so glad you introduced me to it months ago. I've even converted one of my friends to it and Walgreens!

You totally scored! I don't think I'm that good yet, but I sure try! I love getting good deals too and it's come to the point that unless I can get toothpaste, toothbrushes, and shampoo for free or get money back, I'm not going to get them! It's so exhilarating!

Annie said...

That's amazing! I found that blog from your blog but haven't been keeping up on it - maybe I should!

Mae said...

I wish I were organized enough to do that! I am one of those people that let rebates slip through the cracks...sigh...

Way to go, Lis!

Larry and Leah said...

I'm proud of you! I love a good deal too.

Mark and/or Lisa said...

Two things are amazing about this post. Those prices...and the fact that Dad left a comment.

Does this mean we'll be getting Sucrets for Christmas this year? cuase I actually do love sucrets...remember how we used to sneak those as candy...no? oh, yeah...um, me neither

Grandma Caroline said...

OK, confession time! Sometimes I think that I never knew what you kids were really up to. That is a hair raising thought for a mother, you all just wait!

I'm proud of you too Lisa, you are a wonderful example to me.

Lisa Henderson said...

I think dad only left a comment because I bugged him to look at this post!

No, sorry the Sucrets are for us...

The Henderson Family said...

I love that blog and I am so grateful for all that it will save us! Thank you!