Back-To-School Shopping for the College Student

The back-to-school adventure is even more fun this year for me. Not only are all 3 of my kids going back to school next month, #1 son is heading off to college on the other end of the state. This translates into even more outlay of $$$ for him, as he will require a laptop computer and items for daily living in his dorm room.
What makes this a challenge is the fact that #1 son is living away from home this summer and after his summer job is over, he will only be home for 6 DAYS before having to leave for college, so it's been left up to me to pick out/up all these items he'll be needing BEFORE he comes home.

And you know I am all about being frugal, so the mission is to get what he needs for as little as I have to spend, while still getting him decent stuff.

He'll be sleeping on a twin sized bed at school. As he has a full size bed at home, I've been on the look-out for sheets for him. I finally found a deal on bedding.

I know these are NOT high quality luxury sheets but this is a college dorm situation for an 18 yr. old. It's highly probable that either #1 son will ruin these doing his own laundry or they will get 'lost' or just walk away at some point in the year, so I'm not wanting to spend big buck$ on sheets. I found these bedding separates at a local discount/discontinued item store.
I got 2 whole sheet sets(1 flat/1 fitted/2 pillowcased)for $18.16.....that's $9.08 per set.
I bought blue sheets. I figure this way, he won't have to deal with bleach as they aren't white sheets, so less chance of him ruining them. And the color will hide stains too.lolol
I may go back and get a couple more fitted sheets because they tend to wear out faster than top sheets.

I am all about buying used whenever possible. I was reticent about buying these WALMART Sheets, as they are made in China. But I figure buying them from a discontinued item store is as close to buying used as I want to get with sheets. Walmart got pennies on the dollar selling these items to my local odd-lot store so Walmart isn't seeing a profit on this purchase.

So I've gotten the bath towels and the sheets. I'll let #1 son pick out the comforter when he gets home.

Sluggy

Soft Soap Body Wash Update.....Success!

I finally was able to use my FREE SOFT SOAP BODY WASH COUPON talked about in the post HERE.

One of the WAGS near my home got some more in before it expired on Sat. July 25th.


5x Soft Soap Body Wash @ $2.99=$14.95
12x One-A-Day Vitamin Drink Powder clearanced $.75=$9.00
SubTotal $23.95

Coupons Used
1x FREE Soft Soap=$2.99
4x $2/1 Soft Soap=$8.00
3x $3/1 O-A-D Product=$9.00
Coupon Total $19.99

$3.96+$.72tax=$4.68OOP

I had NO RRs to use and received no RRs. That hasn't happened in months!lol
I was just going to get the Free SoftSoap Wash and the One-A-Day Powders because they were free with the last of the O-A-D Qs I had. But I had those $2/1 Soft Soap Qs so the Body Washes on sale only cost me .99¢ + tax each. I couldn't say no at that price.

I am just relieved that they had 1 for my free Q and I didn't have to go another round with the Catalina company on the phone to try to get another replacement for that Freebie Q AGAIN!
I'm so glad to close the book on this saga....

Sluggy

CVS Totals for 7/18-7/25

So after the visit Sat. the 18th to the CVS where you can get the current week's deals as well as the next week's deals(except that the next week's deals ECBs don't print!)that I talked about HERE, I made a quick trip to a different CVS last week.

2x Speed Stick Pro @$2.99=$5.98
2x Band-Aids @$3.29=$6.58
1x Duracell Batteries @$2.99=$2.99
1x CVS Pantiliners @.89¢
1x J&J Mini First Aid Kit @.99¢
SubTotal $17.43

Coupons Used
2x Speed Stick $1.50/1=$3.00
2x Band-Aids $1/1=$2.00
1x Duracell Batteries $1/1=$1.00
1x J&J Item $1/1=$1.00
Coupon Total $7.00

ECBs Used
$10

$17.43-$17.00=$.43+.06¢tax=$.49¢OOP

$.49OOP

Spent $10 ECBs.
Received $5 ECBs(for buying $10 in J&J items over the course of the week), $4 ECBs for 2 Speed Stick Deodorants, $1 ECB for Duracell Batteries, $.89 ECB for CVS Pantiliners=$10.89 ECBs

I didn't start out the week trying to get the $5 ECBS for the J&J items. I had bought 3 Mini 1st Aid Kits as I needed to get to $20 to use a CRT Q for $4/20 on Saturday and I had Qs to make the Kits free. I found 1 more Kit(free with another J&J Q)so I bought 2 Band-Aid boxes for $6.58($4.58 after 2 $1/1 Qs)to get over the $10 mark. So basically, all 4 Kits and the Band-aids were free with .42 Overage after the $5 ECBs.

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday....July 27th Edition

Well, last week's Meal Plan went well until Tuesday. If you are a regular reader you know that my 4 yr. old glass top range decided to spontaneously CRACK while I was reheating the leftover Pork BBQ for Monday night's dinner on one of the burners.
Just cracked.
And it will be A MONTH before the replacement glass will arrive to replace.....meaning no cooking for a month.
And it will cost half what we paid for this range.
Can you tell I am NOT amused?? 8-P

Even with a busted evil stove, I was able to stick to the Meal Plan fairly well. Luckily the only meal affected was the Fish Fry.....obviously can't fry fish without a stove top, right?lol So we worked around having to use the stove top. I made grilled cheese sandwiches one night, using a baking sheet on the gas grill instead. I tried to cook the BBQ Chicken Pizza I made on Thursday on the grill too but alas, my pizza pan was too large to fit, so it went into the oven of the Cursed Stove.

Needless to say, hubby went out and purchased a new range on Saturday after I struck out finding one used locally, on Craigslist or eBay during the week.
So until they deliver the new range(thursday) we are either cooking out on the grill or using some FREE FOOD Coupons/Certificates.

Here's what our family of 3 will be eating this week...

Monday-Sausage Patty Sandwiches(from freezer/local meat), Grilled Onions, Cabbage(leftover from Corned Beef dinner last Sunday)
Tuesday-KFC Free Grilled 2 piece Meals
Wednesday-Grilled Fish, Grilled Squash(from the garden), Cheddar Biscuits(from Bisquick mix)
Thursday-Pizza(frozen), Salad(from the garden)
Friday-Rigatoni with Meat Sauce, Sauted Swiss Chard w/Bacon(from the garden)
Saturday-Ham Slices, Mac & Cheese, Veggie(whatever is ripe from the garden)
Sunday-Eating Out($4 Restaurant.com Certificate)

Desserts-M&M Cookies, Peaches

The cookies will only be made IF the weather isn't too hot. Otherwise, we'll suffer through the week with Ice Cream instead.....poor, poor us.lol
I'll be making my Meat Sauce for the pasta from scratch in the Crockpot. I'll do a play-by-play on Friday on how to make that the low & slow way w/out heating up your kitchen.

My shopping list for this week's meals consists of 1 item-hamburger buns for the sausage patty sandwiches. Hubby is stopping to pick that up so I don't even have to go into a grocery store this week.
Since the garden is starting to produce goodies, I am incorporating garden veggies into our meal plan this week. The money I am NOT spending at the grocery store this week, I'll take to the farm stand later this week to get a big mess of green beans...some for eating now and a lot more to put up for winter.

Food Waste Report.....We cleared out a lot of leftovers this past week. I dug something out of the back of the fridge that went into the trash. It was so old and bad I can't even tell you what it had been in a previous life.lol I also pitched out some old sour cream that had started to grow fuzz on the lid. ick

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy

DOGSWELL Gift Pack Giveaway at Frugal Fairhope

There's an awesome Dog Food company called DOGSWELL. They make high quality pet foods and treats.

Frugal Fairhope is holding a Giveaway you need to check out HERE.
You can enter to win a Gift Pack of Dogswell products.
Hurry though, this giveaway ends July 31st.

Good Luck!

Sluggy