My Week at Walgreens

What a fun week at Walgreens, at first glance it didn't look to be that great, but Thanks to some help from my good friend :) Salee (are you there, I am waiting patiently to hear from you!), and Money Saving Mom I had a great trip.

That picture you see there, I paid 8.53 (on gift card) and I should receive 6.99 + 10% back on my gift card. Did I hear you ask how? I am so glad! I was dying to tell someone!

2 Cream Cheese - 1.79
on sale Buy One Get One (BOGO) Free

Final cost 1.79 for 2 (.90 each)

2 Ricola - 2.49 each
in ad coupon - .99 each
manufactures coupon - $1 off 2

Final cost .98 for 2 (.49 each)

2 Boxes Tea - Sale price 1.50 each
Easy Saver November coupon- $1 off 2
manufactures coupon -$1 off 1

Final cost $1 for 2 (.50 each)
Could be free if you have 2 manufactures coupons!

2 Alamay Mascara - 6.99 each
On Sale BOGO Free

Final Cost 6.99 for 2 (3.50 each)

Rebate 6.99 (November Easy Saver Catalog)

4 packs Extra Gum - 1.19 each
in ad coupon BOGO Free
manufactures coupon BOGO Free (used 2)

Final cost at Walgreens totally FREE!

3 Bumble Bee Tuna cans - 1.29
in ad coupon - .69 each
manufactures coupon $1 off 3

Final cost 1.07 for 3 (.36 each)

2 Quattro Disp Razors 5.99 each
manufactures coupon BOGO Free
manufactures coupon $2 off

*Final cost 3.99 for 2 (1.99 each)

I also used a $8 Register Reward that was to expire this week.

All of that totaled 8.53!!! YAY Esp when I plan to get 6.99 back on my gift card and there are a few grocery items in there!

*As I typed this up, I realized that I forgot to use a coupon from the November Easy Saver Catalog, that was $3 off one Quattro Razor. Therefore, I didn't post it when I planned. I waited till today, and I went back, talked to the manager and he gave me the $6 on my gift card!!!

That means that in the end, I used 2.53 on my gift card, but will get 6.99 back! That is exciting to me! YAY!

One fun and late night!

Well as I mentioned earlier, it is triple coupon time at Harris Teeter! Well, this is what happened tonight. I went to two different stores. Here is my cheat sheet I made that helps me when I am in the store.

The second store I spent (tax and all) 6.25, used 6 coupons and walked out with all this:


The FIRST store I spent (tax and all) 8.61, I used 18 coupons and I walked out with all this:


I proudly piled all my groceries into my car, along with my very organized coupon box and drove home to share the goodies with my sweetheart. (and you too, of course) When I got home, I jumped out of the car, ran around to the passenger side, opened the door and THIS is what happened...



Not exactly the way I had hoped to end the night, but it was fairly easy to pick up, and stayed somewhat in order. I am praising God that He blesses us the way He does. Through His provisions, for two months now, we have totally fed a family of 5 on $160 a month! That includes EVERYTHING! He is awesome!

Until tomorrow night, when I will likely go back :)

TRIPLE COUPONS

Well, today starts Triple Coupons at Harris Teeter, however, I haven't had the time to go through my coupons. I am very discouraged and sad. But I still have today to do that, though, I will be with my kids all day and that is not the easiest thing. Maybe I can get some done. I am really excited. The pantry is getting low and this is the best time to restock. I will try to let you know how it goes. I am looking forward to some sweet deals. We will see.

Well, I am off to start the day with my sweet kids. I hope I don't get too distracted in the laundry, dishes and baking...our days are so much better when I love on the kids all day. However, I am going crazy with the current state of our house. It is a disaster zone. Is that just how it is supposed to be with three? Gracious. I seem to get nothing done.

Banana Bonanza

Okay well this post is LONG overdue. But as I think I told you earlier, when I was supposed to tell you about this the "B" key and the "N" key went out on my computer keyboard. Making it hard to tell you about bananas...

So after LOTS of mashing we made the following recipes...


BANANA BREAD

I used this recipe to make 2 big loaves and 8 mini loaves of banana bread. One recipe makes either one loaf or 4 mini loaves.






2 tsp butter
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C oil
1 C sugar
2 eggs beated
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs milk

Mix together the flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate, larger bowl, combine sugar and oil. Beat in the eggs, bananas, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture and blend until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean...maybe 1 hr, 15 min ish... If you make the mini loaves, they only need about 45 min to bake. Very good frozen!

And what in the world would I do with 8 mini loaves in the freezer...can we say Christmas gifts for Sunday School, Awana and Choir teachers. Joshua was thrilled to know what he was making would be a gift for his teachers! FUN! (the big loaves we are/have eaten)

We also made:

BANANA PANCAKES

(this photo is not behaving)





1 c all-purpose flour
1 Tbs white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 c milk
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed


Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.

Stir both the banana mixture and the flour mixture, batter will be a little lumpy.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the griddle using about 1/4 cup per pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides (like mine, hahaha ;))

The boys loved this recipe. I loved it b/c I could give them something good for them, and they never even asked for syrup. YAY! That is a nice low mess breakfast...which is always the goal in my house :)


Finally we made

BANANA-PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/3 c firmly backed light brown sugar
1/4 c creamy or chunky peanut butter (we used creamy)
1/4 c margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl. In a med mixing bowl beat together banana, brown sugar, margarine spread and peanut butter until light and fluffy (using an electric mixer on med speed). Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture until dough forms. Shape into 1 inch balls, place them 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Use a fork and make the cute little criss-cross pattern. Bake at 375 for about 10 min.



Again the boys LOVED these. And I didn't feel too bad about letting them enjoy, since they weren't overly sweet.

I Spy With My Little Eye

Okay well, at first glance, I saw NOTHING this week. Well except the Dawn for .99, which is the case the first week of every month. So, I plan to get some, since there will likely be coupons for .25-.50 off in the P&G coupon section in the morning. (it .99 at CVS and Walgreens)

I have not seen anything more at CVS, though I am looking at a partial ad, for whatever reason, it is not the full ad, so I am not 100% sure I have seen everything.

SO...at Walgreens this week, I plan to get the .99 Dawn, since it will be cheap, and for some reason we always have dirty dishes.

I also see that they have Schick Quattro razors, they are on sale for 5.99. The Easy Saver Catalog has a $3 coupon. There are two manufactures coupons I see that will work with this deal. One is a BOGO free coupon. The other is a $2 off. My suggestion is :

Buy 2 for 11.98
use one BOGO -5.99
use ESC coupon-6.00 (should double automatically)
that would give you 2 for free!

Sometimes in some stores, they will let you use another coupon with the BOGO coupon. So what I would do is give them the BOGO coupon first, then the Easy Saver Coupon, THEN the other $2 MC. That way if they decide not to take it, no loss.

They also have cream cheese 1.79 each, but they are BOGO, so when you buy two that is roughly .90 cent each, that is not bad.

This is all I see at the moment. However, I am VERY tired and ready for the bed. I have some pumpkin to tend to and then I am going to CRASH. I will share more a little later. Goodnight ;)

A Good Deal at Target!

Well, much to my surprise today I got a really good deal at target. Those seem few and far between for me, however, it was a good day today! As you can see in the photo above, we got a new keyboard (which was $29.99) It was a HUGE splurge for us, but something we have really wanted. So here is the rest

3 Green Giant Carrots 1.69 each
2 Fiber One Yogurts 2.49 each
2 Starkist Tuna pouches 1.40 each
1 TGIFriday frozen Quesadilla 1.84
1 Market Pantry Applesauce 1.79

I had $1 off manufacture's coupons for every item except the keyboard and applesauce.

We saved 10% b/c of Matt working there that was $4.35

After tax-2.06

I spent 36.18

I was very happy with that considering the cost of the keyboard. YAY for Target.

I'm Back!

Well, now that I know you are not really there :) I am back! It has been a crazy week at the Chilson house. The keyboard on our computer decided to turn against us earlier in the week, mainly just the B and N, which made it very hard to post about the Banana Bread...so I just decided to wait on that. My sweet husband had his wisdom teeth pulled yesterday and now my precious three year old has pink eye. I look forward to catching up this week and telling you all about the bananas, and maybe a little about some deals. I have truly missed blogging this week. I know now that even if there is no one out there reading this, it is good for me!