To Use or Not to Use?

Annie Jones over at REAL LIFE LIVING posted her thoughts a few weeks ago on 'Coupons'.  You can read the post Here.
Basically she feels that Coupons don't work for her.
I thought she had some very good ideas on the subject and she makes some valid points.

I agree that coupons can take control over you.  Who hasn't bought something just because it was free with a coupon even though they don't use that product and had no plan for it to be used once it was procured?
If you can answer that question with a no, then you are a far better man than I, Gunga Din!lol

If you have any kind of obsessive aspect to your personality, you may find yourself being overtaken by a need to use a coupon(or many coupons) just because you will get a deal.
It takes a lot of self-control to keep the coupons as a TOOL aiding your life, rather than as the CONTROL over your life.
Let me say that again.....Coupons should be a TOOL to help you save money and put that saved money to a different use in your life.  If coupons become your life then perhaps you need to step away from the Sunday Inserts! ;-)

I have learned over the past year or so that I need to change the way in which I use coupons so that they work for me and I am not a slave to them.  I have done some good things using coupons and then there are some things I have failed at due to coupons.  Perhaps I'll delve deeper into this subject in a later post.

So when do you know when Coupons have taken over control?

1. When you spend more hours in a day finding/clipping coupons, studying store ads, reading coupon blogs, planning grocery lists, shopping, putting away the haul than you spend interacting with your family, spouse or friends.
**Ok, so I have sullen surly teens so maybe I don't really WANT to interact with them some days.
 
2. You can't bring yourself to buy something just because you don't have a coupon for it even if it's something you really really Need!

3. If someone were to ask you if your house was on fire and what would you grab before you left and you answer your Coupon Binder.

4. You have many, many boxes of  'insert name of product here' in your stockpile though no one in your house eats/uses said product.

5.  You have enough boxes/containers of one product to build a replica of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

6. You open your garage door and suddenly cars full of people start pulling up to your house and ask if you have any grocery carts so they can do their weekly shopping.

So tell me.....do you use coupons or are coupons using you?

Sluggy

March Rite-Aid SCR Spending and Totals

Do you shop at Rite-Aid?
If there is one near you and you don't shop there, you really should!

Why?
Oh, maybe because if you plan things out well, you can get paid to bring products home from that store.

I just went through all my receipts from Rite-Aid.
I spent $4.67 in cash for the March Single Check Rebate Period of February 28th to March 27th.
Actually I "spent" $45.56.

But all except $4.67 of what I spent was put on assorted Gift Cards, so my Out of Pocket was only $4.67.

These Gift Cards were obtained as rewards from assorted prior purchases at Rite-Aid &/or received for transferring a prescription to Rite-Aid.  It was all free money to begin with that I used to get more products for free.
And most of what I bought with these gift cards qualified me for SCRs, or more Single Check Rebates, so I got paid money for buying some of the items...which didn't cost me anything out of pocket to begin with.
You follow me?

So I spent $4.67 during the March SCR Period.
In return, I will receive more Gift Cards amounting to $20.
And I will receive checks amounting to $131.68 in rebates.

$4.67 outgo.
$131.68 income(plus $20 in gift cards).

I made $127.01 in cash for shopping at Rite-Aid last month.

And here is what I was paid $127.01 to bring home last month....

18 John Frieda Shampoo/Stylers
3 Johnson's Baby Shampoo
4 Herbal Essence Shampoo
4 Herbal Essence Styler
2 Cover Girl Eye Shadow
4 Cover Girl Blush
4 Cover Girl Foundation
2 Almay Eye Shadow
2 Maybelline Eye Shadow
2 Sally Hansen Nail Polish
2 Revlon Eye Shadow 1 Nivea Creme Tin
2 NYC Lip Gloss
4 Old Spice Body Spray
4  Old Spice Body Wash
2 Old Spice Deodorant
5 Dayquil/Nyquil
1 Vicks Vaporub
3 Ocean Saline Spray
2 Metamucil
1 Prevacid
2 Veet Cream
2 Band-Aids
3 J&J 1st Aid Tape
7 Benadryl
4 Sudafed
10 Luden's Cough Drops
4 Ricola Cough Drops
1 Cottonelle 12 pk.
4 Kleenex Tissues
3 Puffs Tissue
2 Stayfree Pads
2 Always Liners
1 Oral B Dental Floss
3 Crest Toothpaste
1 Colgate Toothpaste
2 Oral B Tooth Brush
1 Colgate Tooth Brush
2 Listerine PocketPacks
2 Gillette Shaving Gel
2 Visine Drops
1 King size Reeses PB Cups
4 Planters Nut*rition
1 Reese's Egg
4 Trident Gum
9 Bags of Easter Candy
3 Bag of Bliss Candy
1 Bag Stacy's Pita Chips
4 Welch's grape juice
1 Welch's 6pk grape juice
1 Ramen Noodles Pack


For April, I'll take that $20 in Gift Cards I'm getting back and use it to pay for whatever I buy this month.  After the cards are used up I'll use cash out of the $127.01 Rite-aid is sending me from March purchases. I'll use coupons, store coupons, store sales and my wellness program discounts to bring the price of whatever I buy down as low as possible.  I'll also qualify for Single Check Rebates for some of the items, which also refunds some of what I pay(either in cash or on a gift card)at the register, saving me even more $$.
If I plan things correctly and get lucky, I'll be getting rebates back again in April and I won't spend all the $127.01 in free money Rite-Aid gave me in March.
Meaning....I'll get more products for free.
And I'll get more rebates back for April and hopefully some Gift Card(s) too.

So don't just sit there.....get over to Rite-Aid and get a piece of the action too.

I heart Rite-Aid!

Sluggy

MARCH Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MARCH 2010.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March.
These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(4 at home) & 3 dogs. No kids under 14.


BOYER'S(small local chain in next town)
OOP $38.01
Qs/Ads $71.09
Value $109.10
Savings 65.10%

CVS
OOP $.57 ($2.64 put on Gift Card)
Qs/Ads $37.39
Value $40.60
Savings 99.20%

ENTENMANN'S OUTLET
OOP $9.00
Ads/Sales $16.74
Value $25.74
Savings  65%

PRICE CHOPPER Northeast
OOP $3.92
Qs/Ads $21.48
Value $25.40
Savings 84.57%

RITE AID
OOP $3.93 ($42.48 put on Rite-Aid Gift Card/Prepaid Visa Card)
Qs/Ads $717.25
Value $759.73
Savings 99.48%

SHIEL'S(local Independent Grocery that doesn't take IP Qs)
OOP $0.00 ($8.00 put on Gift Card)
Qs/Ads $7.15
Value $15.15
Savings   100%

WALGREENS
OOP $8.02
Qs/Ads $49.33
Value $57.35
Savings  86%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store that doesn't take IP Qs in my town)
OOP $158.95
Qs/Ads $497.58
Value $371.49
Savings  81.70%

I don't track CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECV'D. IN MARCH

Lypsyl Rebate....$2.00

Naked Juice....$10.00

Olay Regenerist Rebate....$15.00

Olay Quench Rebate...$11.23
Olay 2 Cleansers Rebate.....$15.00
Pinecone Research....$6.00
Renpure Shampoo....$3.00
Rite-Aid SCR....$80.73
Schick Razor....$7.64

Subtotal........$150.60

FREE ITEMS

Barilla Pasta Q
Heluva Good Item Q x 2
Reese's Pieces Candy Bag Q
Sugardale Bacon Q

Yogi Tea Q x 2

COUPONS

Betty Crocker/Pillsbury Qs
Price Chopper Catalinas  $20

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES

Rite-Aid $5 Wellness Gift Card

Rite-Aid $5 Nivea Gift Card

Rite-Aid $25 Heart Healthy Gift Card

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received..$185.60


My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Schiel's at 100%, Rite-Aid at 99.48%, and CVS at 99.20%.


TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$222.40
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1182.16
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$1404.56
TOTAL Savings of..........84.17%

TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$150.60
TOTAL OOP After  Rebates....................$71.80
TOTAL Savings of..................................94.89%

This closes out the March spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
I think I did quite well this month, especially considering all the Catalina Deals I did!  The spending before rebates was $222.40 but with rebates added to the budget of $277.77($250 + carryover from last month of $27.77), we had $428.37 to use, so we have $205.97 left to carry over into April's $250 food/toiletries budget.  With that amount leftover I almost got through the month without spending any of the $250 March food/toiletries money!
I may NOT roll this $205.97 leftover into next month's food budget(since I have proven to myself I don't need to spend that much on the monthly supplies), but put it aside instead for buying a part of a steer or free-range chickens, or even for a bulk buy of veggies at the farm this summer to put up for next winter.

What's ahead for April 2010.....

The April 2010 Food/Toiletries Budget is set at $250 cash out of pocket.  Any rebates received this month will offset this OOP spending.  I have $255.14 in Rebates outstanding, so anything that comes in this month gets thrown into the food budget kitty.

How did you do in March with your Food Budget?  Leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy

I Wish It Would Make Up It's Mind!

Here's what my back deck looked like on March 30th....

2 Inches of SNOW and 28 degrees!

The next afternoon, March 31st I snapped this photo with my good hand.....

The Forsythia Bush is blooming.....and the temperature was 74 Degrees!!!
Yesterday is hit 80 Degrees here.  Less than 48 hours after the snow fell.

Just.
Plain.
Nuts.

Sluggy

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Thanks for all the well-wishes over the past few days.

This last week has seriously been NO FUN!
My shoulder/arm started getting sore last Friday.  I spent 2 days working on whittling down and reorganizing my food stockpile so I chalked it up to just an overworked, tired arm.
But the arm kept feeling worse days after I stopped working on that chore.
Until it got to the point where I couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in.
After 2 days/nights of not sleeping more than 2 hours total I had DH take me to the ER.

2 hours later I left there feeling the same.  They took a couple of x-rays of the shoulder and nothing showed up fractured or broken so the ER doc(who looked about the age of Doogie Howser) patted me on the head, gave me 1.5 days worth of Percocet and said to see my family doc if I didn't improve in the next 2 days.
2 more days of agony/non-sleep and I was in my family doc's office.

He diagnosed me with Bursitis, put me on an arthritis med and hooked me up with Mr. Vicodin for a few more days.
2 days later and I'm finally feeling human again.  The shoulder is still sore but better and I can at least sleep now.....and type with 2 hands again!

Of course, all this happens at the end of the March when I have some coupons, ECBs and RRs left to use before they expire....so they expired.
Oh well....
At least DH was home this week from work.  I feel bad he spent most of his week taking care of me and carting me around in the car since I couldn't drive but I'm thankful he was here.  The sullen teens would have just ignored me and my needs.  How do I know?  The few times I asked them for a hand, I got the usual eye rolls and sighs.  I had better make darn sure I won't need to live with them when I get old and decrepit!lol


All I can say is I'm glad I got the taxes all done before the shoulder went.
And that Getting Old Sucks when you aren't well....

Sluggy