Big, Deep Breath and ECBs

Midterms are over. Well, I just got them over with. I had until the end of the week to finish up, but I knew I wasn't going to learn anything new between now and then. I cannot completely express just how ready I am for this semester to be over, but in the meantime, post-midterms, I feel like I can take a big, deep breath.

Now, if only I could take that breath without hacking up a lung. I'm finally, finally getting over whatever totally wiped me out last week, but I have this horrible, lingering cough. I've been fever-free for about 72 hours, so if I could just shake this bone-rattling expectorating, I'd be as good as new. Perhaps there's hope for me yet.

To celebrate my being well-ish, I went out coupon shopping today. I took advantage of the 5/$5 cereal deal at Tom Thumb, which by the way, neither requires the coupon or the $10 minimum purchase, apparently. Also, the ad lists only Life, Cheerios, Cap'n Crunch, or Cinnamon Toast Crunch on sale within that special. After some inquiry, I discovered Quaker Oats Squares also worked, which made my cereal free after the discount plus coupons. I also picked up some Soft Soap, free after coupon, and some other things. I thought I was getting some really great deals because I picked up some other on-sale items to purchase with coupons, but I remembered (for the millionth time) when my coupons were being scanned that Tom Thumb only doubles/triples the first coupon of a multiple purchase, so I probably lost about $6-7 in doubled value. Regardless, here's a run down of Tom Thumb for me today:

2 boxes of Pop Tarts Splitz
2 bottles of Soft Soap Hand Wash
5 boxes of Fiber One Granola Bars
2 boxes of Caribou Coffee Bars
2 boxes of Milk and Cereal Bars
2 Snickers Bars
4 pounds of Fresh Strawberries
3 Tangelos
22 boxes of cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cap'n Crunch, Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Life, and Quaker Oats Squares -- and YES, I will be sharing)
2 cans of Dog Food (because it was free after coupon, but added to my "required" $10 purchase before coupon. I will be giving this away, because I think we all know my position on dogs.)

Total Out of Pocket: $32.97
Total Savings: $67.52

So, my savings today at Tom Thumb was only about 67%, which isn't bad, it's just not the best. Had I not gotten the strawberries (though who could pass them up at $1.88 a pound today when there was snow on the ground yesterday?) and had I realized my coupons weren't all going to double, I wouldn't have gotten so many things, or would have split my order differently. Oh well. That's my lesson for today...

Then, I stopped by Kroger and picked up 12 packages of Nissan Low Fat Ramen, 2 bars of Johnson Buddies kid's soap, and 2 containers of Old Spice Deodorant all for .98 cents total after coupons.

After that, I decided it was time to get back on the CVS ECB bandwagon. I stumbled into ECBs accidentally right after we moved here. Gracie was a baby and I had a $5/$15 mailer. At that time, the CVS brand diapers had ECBs attached, so I bought them and used the ECBs to buy more diapers and more diapers and more diapers. Within a week's time, I think I supplied all the diapers we needed to get her to potty training. After that, though, I let it sort of fizzle out.

Today, I went to CVS to start again. I purchased 2 Gillette Fusion Razors, 2 packages of Mach 3 Razors, a Gillette Venus Razor, 4 Oral-B Cross Action toothbrushes, 2 Colgate Toothbrushes, 4 packages Hershey's Kisses, 2 containers of shave gel, 2 boxes Hershey's Sweet & Sour Bars, 2 Payday Bars, 2 boxes of Puffs with Vicks, and some Juicy Drop Candy (to keep the kids from burning the joint down). After coupons, I spent $46.86 today, and have $57.77 ECBs to spend later. Yay! Now again, I know that's not the very best that could have been done today, but I got the ECB stuff I wanted plus a few more things I had coupons for. The bottom line is that I profited while at the same time preventing my kids from systematically disassembling the toothpaste aisle, and that's an accomplishment all on its own.