Savin' Maven Monday: How Sweet Does It Get?

Hello my lovelies and Happy Monday to you all. I hope that your weekend was fabulous.  Mine was spent hanging out with family and friends and preparing myself to go back to work after an all too short summer break.   You may notice that my posts may be few and far between over these next couple of months only because I'm starting a completely new position and I don't want to overwhelm myself. I want to make totally certain that I'm focusing all of my thoughts on putting my best foot forward on the job.

I had some rather great shopping trips this past week.  Really good deals at Walgreens. Surprisingly, they had all of their advertised items in stock this week so I was super excited about that.  I also purchased a couple of items from Rite Aid and Farm Fresh but I combined all of the items so that I would only have to take one pic.

Here's my haul:

Savin' Maven

Two separate trips to Walgreens and 6 separate transactions later, I ended up spending $10.79 there. The Revlon polishes were on an even better special this week. They were priced at $3.99 and get this...with the purchase of any Revlon polish they were giving you $3 back to use on a future purchase. I had store coupons for $2 off and combined with the $1 off manufacturer's coupons, I ended up paying $.99 for the polishes plus getting $3 back. How sweet is that!? The Stayfree pads were B1G1 FREE and combined with my B1G1 FREE coupon I spent $2.00 for both packages. The Cottonelle tissues were $3.25 each after store specials and coupons. The deodorants were 2 for $5 with a $3 instant register reward. The Skittles and eyeliner pencils were all 'filler' items. The Gain, which was purchased at Farm Fresh, was $.05 after coupons and the polish removers, purchased from Rite Aid, were B1G1 50% off with a $2 instant register reward.

Before coupons and specials, my total was $67.68

My total out of pocket was $12.39

For a total savings of $55.29 (82% savings)

What do you all think?

Did you find any great deals this past week?

Post Title from: Sweet Amber by Metallica

Savin' Maven Monday: My Goodies

Good Monday friends! I hope everyone has had a great weekend. Mine was a little trying but I will save that for another day, another post.

I did some minor shopping this past week so I won't waste any time sharing my goods. My first stop was at Farm Fresh. FF has now become my weekly couponing store because they double coupons up to $1.00 each Wednesday. A couple of weeks ago, they were doubling all $2 coupons but I missed out on that deal. I didn't need to stock up on much in the way of food, so I just purchased some inexpensive items using coupons that were soon to expire.  Here's my haul:




Savin' Maven (Farm Fresh)

I spent $6.24 here. After using coupons, the Carefree liners were FREE as well as the Mueller's pasta.  The Edward's single serve pies were $.50 each (they are de-lish), Tyson Anytizers were $.99, Texas Pete was $.70, Oral B Wisps were $.50 each, LA Looks Hair Gel was $.99, and the M&Ms were $.30 (prices after using coupons)-no tax added.

My next stop was Walgreens. If you've been following for a while then you are well aware of my continuous disgust with them.  They never have any of their advertised items in stock by the time I visit on Wednesday's so then I end up having to get rainchecks, which most times are forgotten about by the time I leave out of the store. Since I'm hosting a DIY Manicure party this Friday for FBFF (initiated by ModlyChic), I decided to scope out their cosmetics section. Lo and behold they were running a great special on Revlon polishes.  These polishes are regularly priced at about $6.49 a pop, but select colors were marked down to $3.99.  The store was advertisitng a B1G1 50% off (Revlon Cosmetics) special and to top it off, I had store coupons for $2 off Revlon cosmetics.  I believe they ended up being about $1 a piece.  The lipliner pencils pictured were on clearance for $.25 so I got 2 of each color. I also purchased some mailing envelopes (not pictured) for $1.99. I spent $8.84 here.



Savin' Maven (Walgreens)

Ladies, when shopping, make sure to pay close attention to your totals both while items are being scanned and while coupons are being taken off. Sometimes the register will ring items up for different amounts and/or fail to take coupons off (some coupons have to be taken off manually). This has happened to me on more than one instance and I have to end up going back into the store to get a price adjustment.  That is soooo annoying!

Anyhow, my total this week was $60.24

My total out of pocket was $15.08

For a total savings of $45.16 (75% savings)

What do you think?

Did you find any great deals this past week?

****Don't forget to get your pretty manicures ready! I'm hosting a DIY Manicure Party on August 12 for FBFF. I would love to see you link up!****

Post Title from My Goodies by Ciara

You'n Wanna Start With Me...Because the 'F' is For Finisha

AWKWARD

-My attempt to recreate this weeks Inspiration Monday look. Here is the inspiration:

Kim Kardashian

And here's my awful interpretation

Inspiration Monday

White is so incredibly hard to wear-no matter what time of the year it is. It looks gorgeous but you have to be dead on when styling it, otherwise you look like a complete fool as I do in the pictures above. I didn't post this on Monday because I was totally embarrased by the way it turned out-it looked good in my mind but in all actuality, I think it sucks. So much so that I think I'm gonna go ahead and donate these white cotton chinos to someone who can wear them better than I can. Anyways, you can learn more about and participate in the Inspiration Monday challenge by visiting TwoBirds.

-How to correctly rock the color white! Comments are encouraged.

-My job telling me that the tuition reimbursement funds have been depleted for the year which means that I have to pay 100% of the out of pocket costs for any classes that I will be taking this summer. UGGHHH! Speaking of which, I still have a balance from last semester so they won't even let me register for any new classes. They are soooo gonna kick me out of school!

-Old ladies having 'fun' parties.

AWESOME

-The after holiday sales. That's the only time I can rack up on seasonal decorations and gifts without feeling like I've spent a fortune.

-Good music. I'm a huuuuggggeee music fan-a lover of all types!! So I couldn't resist this one. This is my new favorite band! They go by the name of Karmin and they are straight ANIMALS! Loves them:

-Old ladies having 'fun' parties that are more fun than the parties thrown by the ladies who are my age.

-My 'spur of the moment' purchases for the week:

Savin' Maven (Walgreens)

$1.26 Walgreens purchase.

Everything listed was on sale and I had coupons for each one of the items. The Butterfingers were $.39 and I used 2 ($1 off 2) coupons which made them FREE. The Skittles were $.44 and I used 1 ($.50 off 2) coupon. The Capt. Crunch (my favorite) was $1.99 and I used a $.50 off coupon, so $1.50 for my favorite cereal= me being psyched!

Savin' Maven (Rite Aid)

$1.83 Rite Aid purchase

I got 6 packages of candy for the price of 2-how great is that!! How I spent more on this trip than I did on the other one is beyond me though. If you've been following me and ny weekly trips, you should be fully aware of the fact that I have enough candy to last until hell freezes over! (J/K)

-My 'Spring Break Beauty' Giveaway. A lil' of this, a lil' of that-all beauty related. Entry begins on Monday.

What's in your beauty bag?

Stacks On Deck...

Good Monday!!

I'm right back up and at 'em today. It seems as if my Spring Break was nowhere near long enough. I think I need another week off. I can honestly say that I wasn't productive at all during this break (at least not enough to my liking)-very little to no spring cleaning went on around my part of town. But hey, at least I found these goodies when I checked my mailbox. (This, by the way, is two weeks worth)  

Mailbox Monday

Tons of magazine subscriptions, samples, and coupons. And being that my Spring Break has practically flown by me, I'm not sure when I will ever get around to reading all of these new magazines. Maybe I should send them off to someone who does have the time to read them.

Let me know if any of you are interested in receiving either of these mags.

(You can leave me a comment of click on the 'Email Me' button on my sidebar).

 And go to AFrugalFriend to see what everyone else got in their mailboxes this past week. 

Though I didn't get much accomplished in the cleaning department last week, I was able to catch some sweet deals at my favorite local stores. I believe I visited 5 stores-Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target, CVS, and lastly Walmart, which I very rarely venture to these days.

My first stops were Rite Aid and Walgreens.



Savin' Maven Monday (Rite Aid/Walgreens)



This was the best trip ever!! I spent $31.52 on all of this stuff. Rite Aid was offering a special for $10 RR (credit that can be used like cash towards a future purchase) when you purchased $30 worth of cleaning products. Can we say 'stacks on deck'! My stockpile is growing bigger by the week. On top of all the other cleaning supplies that I have purchased throughout the weeks, I will NOT be needing any more of these supplies anytime soon.  The Airwick aerosols that you see were on special B1G1 FREE-when stacked with 3 (B1G1 FREE) coupons, they were absolutely free of charge. The Loreal makeup, of course, was not a part of the 'spring cleaning' special but they were B1G1 50% off, all of which I had coupons for. Annnddd a $5RR was rewarded with a $15 purchase of Loreal cosmetics. All of the remaining items were purchased at Walgreens. The deal with the eggs was that if you purchased 2 dozen, then you would receive 2 FREE Redbox rentals. I needed eggs and I love Redbox so this deal was perfect for me.

Just a little sidenote-I am really beginning to despise Walgreens. The weekly sales begin on Sunday and by the time I shopped there on Tuesday, the shelves were totally cleared of all of the specials that they were advertising in the paper. Needless to say, they are on my shit list right about now.

My next stop was Target



Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

  

Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

I spent $17.76 on all of this stuff! It would've been about $6 cheaper than this but I didn't realize until after my purchase that the cashier missed one of my coupons and also that I had a Target gift card that I could've used.  It is particularly important that you watch intently when the cashier is scanning your coupons to make sure that nothing is missed. The coupon that she skipped happened to be for $4 off so I was hot when I looked over my receipt-as luck would have it, this was after I was already long gone from the store. Anyhow, the Reach flosses were all $.97 for which I used 7 ($1 off 1) coupons that I found in last Sunday's coupon insert. So they were all FREE! There wasn't anything too special about the rest of the stuff from Target-I just used regular coupons with those items.

All in all, these items totaled $200.19 (this include purchases made here)

My Savin' Maven out of pocket total was $56.14

which means I saved $144.05!! (woot woot)

What do you think?

What kind of deals did you find this past week?

You Must Not Know 'Bout Me!!!

AWKWARD

-I was about to give up on couponing this week.  All because of a rude a$$ sales associate at Walgreens. Excuse my language, but this heifer had the nerve to rudely tell me that she wouldn't accept my coupons because they weren't printed in color.  What the fudge! Since when did it become a requirement that people use color ink? I don't even think about purchasing color ink. She then very slickly tried to accuse me of making copies of the coupons. So I very gracefully told her that I wouldn't be making a purchase and I left the cart full of goodies sitting right there at the register. She's lucky that I didn't have my coupon policy on hand. But best believe that Walgreens got a nasty gram from me the next day. Then the sales manager had a nerve to call my phone. At that point I was over it and didn't feel like discussing it any further because I clearly expressed all that I had to say about the situation within the email. Therefore, his phone call was irrelevant.

Have you ever had any encounters with rude sales associates?

If so, please share!

-Okay so my officemate and I like to lock the door to our office during business hours to ward off unwanted guests from barging in...and each time someone knocks on the door she yells 'come in' as if she's unaware that the door is locked. And then she has the nerve to 'tsssk' and suck her teeth when they yell that they can't get in because....the door is locked. Some people are sooooo simple. I declare!!!

AWESOME

-My BFF. We've been friends for about 21 years now (OMG-I'm telling my age). We met in the neighborhood that we grew up in. From the very first day we met it was just us against the world. We roller skated our way to a lifelong friendship and even though she's a zillion miles away from me, I couldn't ask for a better bestie.  I just love her. Her name is Vernae and she's one of the reasons I started this blog. She was super frugal and thrifty before I even knew what the words meant. Now she can keep up with me and what goes on in my life;  it also  makes for great conversation topics when we do get a chance to talk.

-I went to my girlfriend's 'fun' party this past weekend. Nothing like a night with the ladies-drinking good wine and conversating about sex toys! And yes, I did purchase some things!!!

-My super frugalicious OOTD (outfit of the day). I mentioned yesterday that I'm participating in the

Color Rotation hosted by Colleen at ScrapandRun

Color Rotation

soooooo.....

this is the second color in my first installment-RED. It's my absolute favorite color so putting this fit together was a cinch! Read below about how much I spent on it!

Vest..Cords..Shoes-Thrifted/Chambray-NY & Co

-Gotta love a thrifty find. 80% of my outfit was found during my 'thrifty escapades'. The

kitten heeled flats are Mossimo (Target) brand but were thrifted for $4.98. The cords were a $2.99 find from CHKD (btw what's your take on wearing cords in warm weather?). The chambray was found on a $9.99 NY & Co clearance rack and the Sag Harbor vest was 99 cents at my local thrift store. Might I add that I love the chambray shirt and would gladly wear it everyday if I could. In fact I love it so much that I have at least 4 of them in varying shades!

For the love of Chambray!

How do you rock your red?

 SN: Link up your Awkward and Awesome posts to the originator, Syd, at The Daybook

And She Got the Goods....



Happy Monday to all and I hope you had a great weekend!!

My first matter of business is giving a couple of shoutouts.....

to my followers, of course!!!

I just want to say

to those of you who have dropped by, left nice comments, and found my blog interesting enough to follow thus far. I appreciate 'cha!!

Now....

on to the good stuff!!



 I love shopping. I love the thrill that comes along with entering my favorite store and mindlessly stumbling upon a great deal. No matter the day, no matter the product! I particularly love discounted and sale merchandise, coupons, promotions, and all of the above! It's my ultimate obsession, my weakness, my number one

'innocent' pleasure.(I say innocent because I hardly ever feel guilty after finding a good deal) 

And to top it off

Source

I found some great things to share with you for the second installment of

Savin' Maven Monday

My besty (love you Vernae) suggested that I list where I found my coupons and what stores I found my goodies at so I will try my hand at it. I visited Target and Walgreens this week and found these goods:


 

Savin' Maven Monday #2

  -1 9 double roll package of Walgreens brand toilet tissue

-4 boxes of Fruit Roll Ups

-4 packages of panty liners (Carefree-on clearance for $.78 @ Target & Walgreens brand)

-1 bottle of Dial Nutriskin lotion

-2 3-packs of Irish Spring soap

-5 Spring Sensations Glade candles

-1 can of Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner

-1 package of Scrubbing Bubbles Wipes

-1 bottle of Purex Washing Detergent

-1 bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener

-1 bottle of Tilex cleaner

-2 packages of Renuzit Crystal Elements air freshening crystals

-1 2L bottle of Diet Pepsi

-1 bottle of NYC 'Fushia Shock' nail polish

-1 tube of Jemma Kidd 'A-List' lipstick

for a grand total of $92.85

my total out of pocket expenses were $31.79

for a total savings of $61.06

Even with all my coupons, I still feel as though I spent alot but then after I looked at exactly what I purchased (which was mostly cleaning products) I think I did pretty swell.

What do y'all think? 

 Most of the coupons that I used this week were gathered from the Sunday paper inserts along with the random inserts that come in the mail on Wednesday's (yes, the ones that most of you throw away because you think it's junk mail).  Also Target was offering a free $5 gift card (with the purchase of 5 Glade items) and I received $5 in Register Rewards from Walgreens by purchasing some of their featured weekly items. As I stated before, this coupon clipping thing takes patience, both when planning out your shopping list and also when preparing how you are going to ring up your transactions so as to save yourself the most money.

This week, I also used my $25 off $50 'text' coupon at the GAP which was perfect because they were already running a 30% off sale. Lastly, I used a spring promotion code at Snapfish to get some of my digital pictures printed. I ended up getting 130 prints for $6.36 including shipping. All new members receive 30 free prints upon signing up so don't waste time. GO THERE NOW!!!

That about sums it up ladies (and gents, maybe).

Feel free to leave me any comments, questions, or concerns.

Have a great Monday!!

Let's Go On a Living Spree...They Say the Best Things in Life Are Free

As you know....

I like free.

True indeed that most things in life aren't free but great savings are! They come in the form of coupons, promotions, codes, and maybe even being subscribed to some type of rewards programs at your favorite stores. This requires a somewhat tedious amount of time but hey if it saves me a few bucks I'm all for it. My BF used to look at me like I was crazy when we went out for dinner and with bill in hand I said, "Oh wait babe, use this coupon".

I bet he thought I was cheap!

Nope, just super frugally thrifty!!

Needless to say, once he found out how much money I saved us, he no longer gives me those 'looks'.

In an effort to save more money this year, I have taken on a hobby that I thought was only reserved for the elderly-clipping coupons. It's not an easy task by far-there is a certain amount of patience and skill you have to possess to be successful with this. In other words, it's an art. But it amazing how much you can save! Manufacturers practically give their products away because they are constantly trying to get rid of old stuff to make room for new products that need to be tested.

When I initially began my blog, I was only going to highlight my thrifty fashions, however, as I thought about it I figured that there was soooo much more to talk about. The whole theme of my blog title is 'being thrifty and frugal' and that entails much more than fashion. So, since I have yet to come up with a theme for Mondays, I'm gonna embark on this:

Savin' Maven Monday

where I will share with you my purchases over the week and let you know how much I have saved.  This is going to be combined with Mailbox Monday where I share all of the cool things that came in my mailbox over the week-most of which were free.

Savin' Maven Monday #1

This week I got:

-2 Dove Men's Deoderants

-2 Degree Women's Deoderants

-1 pair of tights

-1 pair of argyle knee high trouser socks

-4 pair of knee highs

-4 boxes of Fruit Roll Ups

-2 boxes of granola bars

-1 tube of Colgate Total toothpaste

-2 tubes of Aveeno lotion

-1 bar of Aveeno soap

-2 pair of gloves

-1 pack of Shout wipes

-1 pack of dental floss

-1 pack of Orbit gum

-2 eyeshadows (Covergirl/Rimmel)

-1 box of Thermacare

-2 pairs of Mossimo jeans

-1 Merona dress shirt

for a grand total of  $51.44

my out of pocket costs were $12.94

for a total savings of $38.50

If that ain't frugal, I don't know what is!!!

I want to hear from you...

Feel free to share your thoughts, comments, questions, and even your savings!!

Stay tuned for the first installment of the Color Rotation Challenge.

It's a challenge created by Colleen over at Scrap and Run to get us out of the habit of wearing the same colors all the time. The colors pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and any pattern will be rotated 1-3 times. You may read more about it and sign up here.