My CVS visit, yesterday 8/15/10

Key:

BOGOF or B1G1F=Buy One Get One Free

(C)=coupon

ECB=Extra Care Bucks

FAR=Free After Rebate

OOP=Out of Pocket

Head & Shoulders $4.99
Head & Shoulders Free! Used a B1G1F (C)
Pampers $8.88 (Will be FAR)
Crest toothpaste $3.49
M&M Pretzel $0.50 (Because of raincheck)
M&M Pretzel $0.50 (Because of raincheck)
M&M Pretzel Free! (Because of this week's sale of B2G1F)


Used:
$5.00 ECB
$7.99 ECB


Subtotal $5.37
6% tax $0.17
Total $5.54 OOP


Received:
$1 ECB for Green bag used (I have used it 36 times so far, making me a profit of $8!
$2.00 ECB for Head & Shoulders
$2.50 ECB for Crest toothpaste
$1.00 ECB for M&M Pretzel (making all 3 packages free!)
Raincheck for Zegerid OTC 14 ct ($9.99-7ECB-hopefully another $3 coupon will come out soon)


So, essentially I bought two Head & Shoulders for $3, free Pampers, $1 Crest toothpaste, and free M&M pretzels!!!

Tag sales and farmers markets

I love tag sales and farmers markets!  Today I bought:

Eclipse (paperback) for $1
New Moon (paperback) for $1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (hardcover) for $1
Sweet Home Alabama DVD for $1
Pictionary collector's edition for $2
And Ben bought 2 DVDs for $1 each

Bunch of lettuce $1.25
Cucumbers 3/$1
Zucchini $0.50
Tomatoes $1.99/lb

Last weekend I bought two necklaces for $15 at a tag sale (not an excellent deal, but comparable to Laila Rowe sale prices), along with a cup of lemonade for $1 from a kid's lemonade stand.

I should blog about all of my tag sale deals....

Renting Textbooks

I keep reading about how renting textbooks is such a "good deal."  In my honest opinion, I think that renting is almost as big a rip off as is buying textbooks new (or even used, in most cases) from your college bookstore.  Buying used (or sometimes new is even cheaper) on abebooks.com, half.com, amazon.com, betterworldbooks.com, or alibris.com is easier (you aren't limited to the amount of time you keep the books), cheaper, and you can write and highlight in the books as much as you want.  And then you can sell them back at most of the same websites, if you choose to do so.  I love shopping at those websites, and I have found incredible deals on so many textbooks, regular books, and even CDs and DVDs.  Professors do not mind if you buy the required textbooks new or used, and they often don't mind if it is not the edition they told you to get--as long as it is similar enough and you can figure out the correct pages to read (page numbers often change between editions).

Saturday's CVS Trip

Went to a CVS that I have never been before in New Haven. It was very different than the Iowa City stores....different=bad. I had a lot of trouble finding almost everything on my list. Ben came with me since we had been running errands by car, and he was able to help me a bit. I am not planning on going to CVS this week or the next because of the very few items that I would get, it's not worth driving up to the bad part of New Haven to shop for so few things. In Iowa City, I would just plan the CVS trip around my walking trips to downtown.

Here is my paltry shopping trip from Saturday, July 24:

Key:

BOGOF=Buy One Get One Free

(C)=coupon

ECB=Extra Care Bucks

OOP=Out of Pocket

Brita pitcher filters (3 pack) $14.99

Celsius green tea (4 pack) $7.99

Used:

$0.99 ECB

$0.99 ECB

$1.00 ECB

$2.00 ECB

$2.99 ECB

$5.00 ECB (earned by taking an online survey)

Subtotal $10.01

Tax (6%) %0.39

Total $10.40 OOP

Received:

$7.99 ECB for Celsius green tea (made them free!)

$5.00 ECB for Brita filters

So essentially I made $2.59 on this trip.

My CVS Trip Today

This was probably my last trip to CVS in Iowa City for awhile. I will continue doing the deals in New Haven.

Key:

BOGOF=Buy One Get One Free

(C)=coupon

ECB=Extra Care Bucks

OOP=Out of Pocket

CVS pantiliners 50c

CVS panitliners 50c

Head & Shoulders $5.99

Head & Shoulders $5.99-BOGOF (C), but the limit was $4.74, so this wasn't free

Papermate 10 pk pens 99c

Caliber scissors 99c

Biotrue multi-purpose solution 2.99

Trident Layers gum 1.49-CVS (C) for one package free, limit was $1.29 though, so it wasn't free

Used:

$10 ECB

$1 ECB

Subtotal: $2.41

Tax (7%): $0.59

Total: $3.00 OOP

Received:

$0.99 ECB for Caliber scissors

$0.99 ECB for Papermate pens

$1.00 ECB for CVS pantiliners

$2.00 ECB for Head & Shoulders

$2.99 ECB for BioTrue

All in all, a good shopping trip. I just wish the second H&S had actually been free, and the gum as well.

Onward to studying, cleaning, and packing!

Books!

I am moving out of state in just five days!

I have 60 books left that I am selling on Amazon. I do not want to take all of them with me....so, please help me reduce my inventory. Here is my storefront: http://is.gd/dkrEG

Thanks for looking!

Homemade blueberry muffins

I made homemade blueberry muffins tonight, using a recipe from the back of a box of Ener-G Egg Replacer and frozen blueberries. Here's the recipe!

Egg-Free Blueberry Muffins

1 2/3 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten in 2 tbsp water (or use 1 egg)

1 1/4 cups milk (I used plain soy milk)

4 tbsp oil (I used vegetable oil)

8 oz frozen blueberries, thawed following directions on bag

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Combine all ingredients except the blueberries, and mix well.
• Add the blueberries, stirring carefully to not squish the blueberries.
• Put mixture into greased muffin pan.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until just lightly browned on top.

Makes 12 muffins.