Walgreens Trip

Today I wanted to try out what a lot of couponers do at the drugstores that give you amounts back when you purchase certain items.  Walgreens offers Register Rewards that print out with your recipe to use on a future purchase.  So I wanted to try and spend only $3 plus tax to purchase a bunch of items.  The original plan was to go in and purchase 2 packs of scuni hair ties which would give you $3.00 RR.  Once I had gotten that $3.00 RR, I was going to use that to pay for my next purchase which would have also given me RR back.  However, that did not work according to my plan.  I did not realize that I would not be able to use the RR when the amount owed was less than the RR.  For example, my second purchase was going to be 2 oral b toothbrushes which were on sale for 2.49 each.  I then was going to use a 2.00/2 coupon.  This would have made the purchase price $2.98 and then I was going to use the $3 RR to pay for the transaction.  However, I was not allowed to do that.  So here is what I did instead:

Transaction 1:
Bought 2 Scunci (2/3.00).
Paid: $3.24 after taxes.  Received $3 RR

Transaction 2:
Bought 2 Oral B toothbrushes (4.98 for 2).  Used 2.00/1 from PG 7/03 (2.98 for 2)
and Huggies wipes (on sale for 2.49). Used 1.00/1 Walgreens coupon from booklet (1.49) and .50/1 from SS 7/17 (.99). 
Total = $3.97.  Used $3.00 RR.  Paid $1.58 after taxes.

Transaction 3:
Bought 2 Oral B toothbrushes (4.98 for 2).  Used 2.00/1 from PG 7/03 (2.98 for 2). 
Paid $3.38 after taxes.  Received $3 RR.

Transaction 4:
Bought Skintimate shave cream (2) and Skintimate shave gel (1) = 5.97 after in ad coupon.  Used 1.50/1 Skintimate shave cream (printed out) and 1.00/1 Skintimate shave cream (printed out) and .75/1 shave gel (printed out). (2.72 for 3).
and 4 M&M candy (1.96 for 4).  Used 2 .75/2 from RP 7/10 (.46 for 4).
and Reynolds foil wrap (.89 after in ad coupon).
and Huggies wipes (on sale for 2.49).  Used 1.00/1 Walgreens coupon from booklet (1.49) and .50/1 from SS 7/17 (.99).
and 2 Twizzlers (on sale for 2/3.00). Used 2 .75/1 from SS 6/26 (1.50 for 2).
Total = $6.57. Use 2 $3 RR.  Paid $1.32 after taxes.  Received $1 RR.

Total OOP = $9.52.  Left over $1 RR 
Final Price: $8.52

I guest that this was not bad for my first time trying this method out.  After I got home I figured out that I could have done a lot better if I had bought the m&ms with the toothbrushes because I then would have been able to use the $3 RR.  The final price for the toothbrushes and 2 packs of m&m would have been .21 plus getting the $3 RR.  I figured out that if I had done 6 transactions with the first one being the same, the next 3 being the 2 toothbrushes and m&ms, the 5th transaction being 2 toothbrushes and huggie wipes, and the last transaction being the same expect without the m&ms and twizzlers.  I would have ended up paying $6.20 plus taxes and getting 4 more toothbrushes and 2 more packs of m&ms.  But I would not have gotten the twizzlers.  Of course there are many different combinations of ways to use this method.  It will all depend on what you and your family needs. 


I know that this is a lot of information for anyone who is not use to couponing.  I actually learned a lot because of this experience.  I am hoping that through practice I can better think on my feet when the transactions don't turn out the way I wanted.  I hope that my readers will learn through my trail and errors as well.  I will be trying this method at CVS later in the week and hopefully I will be more successful.  I will be posting my results of that shop when I have completed it.  
 

Deals of week 7/24-7/30

So here are the stock up deals available for this week.

Target:

 

Yoplait Yogurt 4-6oz  .60ea
use .50/8 Yoplait Yogurt from Target.
and 1.00/10 from SS 7/10
or  1.00/10 from SS 6/12
or .40/6 from smartsource.com
or .50/8 from couponnetwork.com.
Final Price: .45ea when buy 10.

Lysol Wipes 35ct $2.29
use .50/2 Lysol Product from homesolutionsnews.com 
and Free Lysol wipes when buy 2 other Lysol Product rebate from Lysol.com
Final Price: Free when buy 2 other Lysol Product.
Lysol Cleaners 22-32oz 1.99
use Free Lysol wipes rebate from Lysol.com
and .50/1 Lysol All Purpose Cleaner from Lysol.com
or .50/1 Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner from Lysol.com
or .50/1 Lysol Bathroom Cleaner from Lysol.com
or .5/1 Lysol Kitchen Cleaner from Lysol.com
Final Price: .99ea when use rebate and buy 2 Lysol products plus wipes.

Aveeno Smart Essentials $6.49
use 1.00/1 Aveeno Product from Target.
and 2.00/1 Aveeno Smart Essential Product from coupons.com

Walgreens:

Mars or Dove candy .49
use .75/2 M&Ms from RP 7/10
Final Price: .12ea when buy 2

Twizzers $1.50
Buy 2 Receive 2.00 Register Rewards Limit 1
use 2  .75/1 Twizzler 10oz+  from RP 6/26
or 1.00/3 Twizzler 10oz+ from RP 6/26
Pay as low as 1.50, Receive 2.00 RR
Final Price: .25ea when buy 2

W Tampons 8pk $1.50
Buy 1 Receive 1.50 Register Rewards Limit 1
Final Price: free

Scunci Elastics 18ct 1.50
Buy 2 Receive 3.00 Register Rewards
Final Price: free

Schick Intuition or Quattro Razor system or cartridges, 3 or 4 pk 8.99
Buy 1 Receive 3.00 Register Rewards Limit 1
use 2.00/1 Schick Intuition Razor or 3ct refill from SS 6/26
Pay 6.99 Receive 3.00 RR
Final Price: 3.99

L'Oreal Shampoo or Conditioner 5.99
Buy 1 Receive 3.00 Register Rewards Limit 1
use 2.00/1 L'Oreal EverSleek, EverPure or EverStrong Shampoo or Conditioner from RP 7/24
or 2.00/1 L'Oreal EverSleek, EverPure or EverStrong treatment from RP 7/24
Pay 3.99 Receive 3.00 RR
Final Price: .99ea

Edge or Skintimate Shave Cream or Gel, 6 or 7 oz $1.99
With in ad coupon, Limit 4
use  $1.00/1 Skintimate Moisturizing Cream Shave from SS 6/26
or $0.55/1 Skintimate Moisturizing Shave Gel, any except 2.75 oz. cans from SS 6/26
or $0.55/1  Edge Shave Gel, 7 oz+ from SS 7/24
Final Price: .99ea

Crest 3D White or Pro-Health Toothpaste, 4 or 4.2 oz or Oral-B Indicator Toothbrush $2.49
Buy 2, Receive $3.00 Register Reward, Limit 1
Use 2 $1.00/1 Crest Pro-Health For Me Toothpaste from PG 6/5
Or 2 $0.75/1 Crest Toothpastes 4 oz. or more or liquid gel from PG 6/5
Or 2 $0.75/1 Crest Toothpastes 4 oz. or more or liquid gel from PG 7/3
Or $2.00/1 Oral-B Pulsar, CrossAction or Advantage Toothbrushes or (2) Indicator or Cavity Defense Manual Toothbrushes from PG 7/3
Pay as low as $2.98, Receive $3.00 Register Reward
Final Price: free when buy 2


Huggies Baby Wipes, 64 – 72 pk $2.49
Use $0.50/1 Huggies Baby Wipes, any 64 ct. or larger from SS 7/17
And Use $1.00/1 Huggies Wipes, 64 or 72 pk from Walgreens July Booklet
Final Price: .99ea


Irish Spring Antiperspirant/Deodorant, 2.7 or 3 oz or Body Wash, 15 or 18 oz $3.00
Buy 2, Receive $4.00 Register Reward, Limit 1
Use 2 $1.00/1 Irish Spring Deodorant from SS 7/24
Or 2 $0.50/1 Irish Spring Body Wash from SS 7/24
Pay As low as $4.00, Receive $4.00 RR
Final Price: free when buy 2

CVS:

Cheez-it Snacks Mix, Corn Nuts, Corn Nuts chips, Keebler Crackers, Nabisco Cookies or Crackers, 4-8 oz $1.25
Buy 4, Receive $1.00 Extra Bucks, Limit 1
Use $1.00/2 Nabisco Cookies or Crackers from SS 6/19
or $1.00/2  Keebler Club Crackers from snackpicks.com
or $1.00/2 – Keebler Toasted Crackers from snackpicks.com
Pay $3.00, Receive $1.00 Extra Bucks
Final Price: .50 ea


Paper Mate Grip Pens, 8 ct. $1.99
Buy 1, Receive $1.99, Limit 1
Pay $1.99, Receive $1.99 Extra Bucks
Final Price: free

Lumene Product Spend $20.00 Receive $5.00 Extra Bucks

                     use 4.00/1 Lumene Product from SS 6/19

                     Buy 5 Lumene Cream 4.19

                     use 5 4.00/1 Lumene Product from SS 6/19

                     Final Price: 4.05 moneymaker

Playtex and Schick Products spend $20.00 receive $10.00 extra bucks
                    Buy 2 Schick Quattro 8.99
                    Buy 2 Edge Skintimate 2.19
                    use B1G1 Free Schick Disposable Razor from SS 6/26
                    and 2  1.00/1 Edge Shave Cream from SS 7/24
                    Pay 11.37 Receive 10.00 EB
                    Final Price: .34ea when buy 4

Buy 3 Mennen or Softsoap product receive $3.00 Extra bucks
                   Buy 3 Softsoap 2.00
                   use 3  .35/1 Softsoap Liquid Soap from SS 7/24
                   Pay 4.95 Receive 3.00 EB
                   Final Price: .65 when buy 3

U by Kotex Liners, Pads, or Tampons $3.49
                   Buy 1 Receive 2.00 Extra bucks Limit 1
                   use 1.00/1 U by Kotex Product from ubykotex.com
                   Pay 2.49 Receive 2.00 EB
                   Final Price: .49

Renu Sensitive 12oz $7.89
Buy 1 Receive $6.00 Extra bucks, Limit 1
use 2.00/1 Renu Fresh or Sensitive Multi-Purpose solution from SS 6/12
Pay 5.89 Receive 6.00 EB
Final Price: .11 moneymaker

Caliber 1 Subject Notebook 4/.99

Crest or Oral-B Pro-Health 4.2 oz, Scope Outlast, 3D White, 4 oz toothpaste, Multi-protection rinse, 8.4 oz, or Satin floss, 27-55 yards $2.99
Buy 1 Receive $2.00 Extra Bucks, Limit 2
or $1.00/2 Crest Toothpaste from PG 7/3
Use $0.75/1 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel from PG 7/3
or $1.00/2 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel from PG 6/5
or $0.75/1 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel from PG 6/5
Pay as low as $2.24, Receive $2.00 Extra Bucks
Final Price: .24 


Aussie or Herbal Essence Shampoo, Conditioner, 10.1-13.5 oz or Styler, 6-14 oz $2.49
Use $3.00/1 Herbal Essences or Aussie Styler wyb Herbal or Aussie Product from PG 7/3
or $1.00/1 Herbal Essences or Aussie Product from RP 6/12Final Price: .99ea

These are not all the products on sale this week.  I only put down the items that have stock up prices.  Check out The Krazy Coupon Lady for more sales items with coupon match ups.  In the future I will try to get this list out by Monday. 

Beef and Broccoli Noodles

Normally on Fridays dinner is very very simple at the Adams' house.  Since Larry doesn't have to work on Saturdays, I don't have to pack him a lunch.  We therefore tend to have leftovers from the week.  However, I have been meaning to try out this recipe that my cousin shared on her blog.  She had found the recipe at Steamy Kitchen.  Of course I put my own spin on the dish because no matter how much I try, I can not seem to follow a recipe exactly.  This is how mine turned out.

Still in the pan.

Larry helping himself to dinner.

My dinner all plated up.

 So here are the directions to my version.

Ingredients
3 tbsp	soy sauce
3 tbsp	oyster sauce
1 tbsp	sugar
1 tbsp	cornstarch
1 tsp	sesame oil
1 lb	t-bone steak sliced thin
10 oz	spaghetti
2 tbsp	vegetable oil
3 cloves	garlic
1.25 cups	water
2 heads	broccoli cut up

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon each soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, cornstarch, sesame oil and beef. Marinate for 20 minutes. Drain and discard the excess marinade.

While the beef is marinating, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles until 1 minute shy of done and drain. (We'll finish cooking the noodles at the end)
Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a skillet or wok over high heat and stir-fry the garlic until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the beef and stir-fry until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and when hot, add the broccoli, stir frying so that the oil coats the broccoli. Pour in the 1/4 cup of the water, turn the heat to medium-low and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook the broccoli until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the broccoli to the same plate.
Add the remaining cup of water and the remaining 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, oyster sauce to the same skillet and bring to a boil over high heat.
Add the noodles and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, leaving the noodles lightly moistened,2 to 3 minutes. Return the beef and broccoli to the skillet and toss to mix the ingredients thoroughly.

This recipe is a little more complicated than my other recipes but once you get the hang of it, it only takes 30 minutes to cook.  This came out really good.  I think that you can use a combination of different vegetables here, ie. snow peas or sugar snap peas.  Also the only reason I used t-bone steak is because it was left over from a sale during Memorial Day.  You can use other types of beef or even chicken.  

Couponing Websites

As I said before I would be fidgeting with the design of the blog.  I tend to change things up because I get bored pretty easy.  As nothing really exciting has happened in the Adams' family home since Tuesday, I thought that I would share a couple of the websites that I go to for couponing info.  I have a couple of them that I frequent about once a day sometimes more.  I don't really have a favorite one right now since a lot of them have the same information on them.  But if I had to pick one I would pick The Krazy Coupon Lady and FreebieShark.   All of these websites have posts about what coupons are available and how to use these coupons for maximum savings.  Though I have trouble with some of the deals they post because those sales are not available in my area.  My advice on that would be to find someone from your area with a blog or facebook page.  This way you know that the deals they find are valid in your area.  Another really great site to use is GrocerySmarts.  This website has a list of the coupon matchups each week for different stores in different states.  I use all of these websites together to decide where I will be shopping and what I can stock up on.  I hope that this helps some of you.  If there are any qquestions about the different terms I use feel free to leave a comment and I will answer them.

Babysitting and trip to Target

Well, yesterday was a very non typical day at the Adams' household.  I had a set of 3.5 year olds and a set of 2 year olds at my house.  Let me just say that moms or dads who stay at home with this many kids and at this age are truly talented.  I have a new respect for people who have twins.  Let me explain why I had 4 kids under the age of 4 at my house all day yesterday and all night.  My friend and her husband needed to out of state for a couple of hours. (Where they were going is only a 4 hour drive from here.)  She called me and asked if I would watch her kids and I of course said yes.  Her daughter Zoey is Lorelai's best friend and they are only 3 weeks a part.  She said that they would be back by 7pm that night.  Everything went pretty well on the morning.  The kids played around and watched a movie. 

 Then Zoey wanted to play outside so I took them to the park.  (We have one within walking distance of our house.)  Keep in mind it is the middle of July in Las Vegas, which means 100 degrees temps at 9am.  When we got to the park Zoey played for about 15 minutes then came up to me "Mrs. Adams, I'm hot and all sweaty can we go back inside now.  This is my kind of girl.  I don't particularly care for the outdoors on a 107 degrees day.  My kids would have played til they keeled over from sun poisoning.  So we all walked hand in hand back to my house. 

Zoey and Lorelai red faced from playing outside for 30 minutes.

After this there was more playing, watching tv, and playing. The somewhere between the playing and the watching tv we had dinner.  Papa John's pizza because I was not about to attempt to cook.  

Side note:  I was able to get a mystery shop for this pizza so dinner was free plus they paid me $18.  SCORE!!!!!

Around 7:30pm, I had not heard from the parents so I decided to give them a call and see where they were.  They had not left California yet so the suggestion was made that the kids spend the night.  Well, the rest of the night was pretty uneventful.  All the kids crashed because of the playing and Larry and I crashed because of all the kids.  Last pic of the girls.

So today I needed to go to Target to see if the uniform skirts that they had would pass for the ones Lorelai needed for school.  They were on sale for 11 dollars a skirt and the uniform place wants 28 dollars.  Well, they had them and they were pretty close so I bought 3.  While I was there I tend to scour the clearance racks because you never know what you might find.  This time I scored big.  I found baby onesies or bodysuits for $1.12 each.  Of course I bought a couple because my friend will be having a baby girl in November and it was too good to resist. 

I got the onesies for 1.12ea and the dress was 3.00.

I also got a couple of other things from the clearance rack.  One thing was a 5T pj set which came with 2 sets of pjs for $7.50.  That's like getting one for $3.75.  All in all not a bad trip to Target. 

Monday Night Dinner

So Monday was a typical day.  I normally try to plan a menu so when I go shopping I know what I need and then I don't deviate from it too much.  So on the menu for monday was salmon with green beans and rice.  I had bought the salmon a couple of weeks ago on sale.  We don't eat a lot of seafood here in Vegas because its expensive and not fresh.  That is one thing I miss about living on the east coast.  But a couple of weeks ago salmon was on sale at Smith's so I bought about 4 salmon steaks.  Here was how I prepared it.

Before going into the oven picture.

 Directions:
Place salt, pepper, orange and lemon slices on the salmon.  Put butter, salt and pepper on the green beans (I used frozen but I bet fresh would  have tasted even better.)  Then I wrapped the foil up around everything so that it made a pouch. 

All the pouches ready to go into the oven.

Then bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.  Depending on how thick the fish is you may have to bake it a little longer or a little shorter.

Voila, dinner is served.

Noodle soup for dinner

Once in a while the plans that you make are suddenly changed at the last minute.  When that happens you my have to come up with dinner with whatever you have on hand.  This is what happened tonight at the Adams household.  Larry and I was suppose to have a business dinner with one of the guys that we will be hiring once our business starts  up.  However, as sometimes happens in life, the man called at 2pm telling us he was suck an 1 hour away and probably won't be back in time for the meeting.  Well, now I had to come up with a meal on the fly.  I didn't have time to defrost anything so I started scouring the internet.  I stumbled on this recipe from Steamy Kitchen.  (I stole this website from my cousin's blog, My Culinary Escape).  The picture was enough to sell me on making this dish for tonight's meal.  I of course tweaked the recipe because I did not have everything on hand. This is what I ended up with.

This one is Larry's.  I added fish balls in his.

Ingredients:

• chicken stock
• instant dashi
• oriental style noodles
• canned corn
• boiled eggs
• frozen spinach defrosted and drained
• fish cakes

Sorry I don't have measurements.  I tend to not measure when cooking my own recipes.  I will try on future posts to have measurements of the ingredients.

Directions:
I boiled half chicken stock and half water in a small pot.  I added about 2 tbsp. of the dashi.  Once it started to boil I added the noodles into the water.  In a separate pot I boiled the eggs.  Everything else I followed the directions from Steamy Kitchen.  I was pretty pleased with the results and my family ate it all up.

I know that everyone will not have these items in their pantry.  Being Asian, I tend to have various Asian ingredients in my house at all times.  However, everyone always has ingredients that they tend to use very often on hand. One ingredient that everyone has one hand seems to be pasta.  Pasta or even rice can be a base for just about any kind of meal.  Also use the internet.  You can find just about anything by googling it. The main idea is that if you venture out of your comfort zone than you might come up with a meal that can become a family favorite.  Also, having a well stocked pantry will help when be able to come up with last minute meals.  

School Clothes shopping continued

Well here is the rest of what the girls and I did yesterday.  As the title of the post suggested, we went school clothes shopping.  I also officially enrolled Lorelai at Mountainview Baptist Academy.  The school is part of our church and is a private school.  Larry and I had decided a long time again that we would not send our children to public school because of a number of reasons.  God has blessed us by bringing us to a church that had a school program.  I feel that because of this it will make the transition for Lorelai a lot easier.  The staff are all members of the church and the students are also children she sees every week.  Her best friend Zoey will also be attending the school with her and so I feel that the transition will most likely be a smooth one.  I have actually been looking forward to sending Lorelai to school for awhile now.  I know that some moms can not bear the day that they have to send their little ones off to school, but I am looking forward to the day when I have only one child at home.  I know this may sound a little harsh but lately having two toddlers/pre-school age children have been wearing on me.  I seem to be less patient and easily frustrated.  I don't like feeling this way and I am praying that when Lorelai goes off to school that I will start to feel like myself again.  However, I am also feeling sad that the fact that I will be missing so much of her day.  I feel that one of the rewards of being parent is watching your little one discover and learn new things.  I have enjoyed watching Lorelai grow into the child that she is now.  Sending her off to school will me that I will be missing the biggest learning experiences of her life.  We will have to see how everything will turn out once Lorelai starts school.

Back to the clothes shopping.  Since she will be attending a private school she will need a uniform so we went down to the uniform store yesterday.  It really made the fact that she will be going of to school a reality.  All the clothes was so cute because of the little sizes that she will be wearing.  Of course even at the littlest sizes the clothes was still to big on her.  I will definitely be posting pictures when the clothes finally come in and she can wear them. 

Shopping trip and school clothes shopping

Today I had a bunch of errands to run.  The first one is to make a trip to Albertson’s.  I normally don’t shop at Albertson’s because I feel that their products tend to me more expensive than the other stores in my area.  The only time that I do go there is if they are having an amazing deal and I happen to have a couple for the sale items.                                

That is one trick to actually saving money with coupons.  One coupon for .40 cents off is not going to do you any good when you can just buy the generic brand for way less.  BUT………if you buy the item when it is on sale and then you stack on a coupon, you will start to see the savings rack up. 

I went to Albertson’s today because a couple of weeks ago I had gone there and received a 5 dollar coupon on a future trip.  They also had sent out a coupon book full of store coupons 2 weeks ago.  On top of they had a sale for mix and match 10 item and save 5 dollars instantly.        

Another trick is to stack store coupons with manufacturer coupon.  This is the only time that you can use two coupons for the same item.  You can tell if it is a store or manufacturer coupon at the top of the coupon right next to the expiration date.   

                         Here's a pic of everything that I bought.  The only thing missing is the watermelons.



So here is a break down of what I bought and how much I paid.

           Hunts spaghetti sauce:

           10 item sale

           1.29 buy 10 items pay .79 ea.

           Hunts Snack Pack Pudding Packs

           10 item sale

           1.29 buy 10 item pay .79 ea.

           Used buy 3 get one free coupon

           Final price: .59 ea.

           Finish Powerball 32 pk

           Sale price 5.99

           Used  1.00/1 sc and 1.00/1 mc

           Final Price: 3.99

           Hunts 24oz ketchup

           Part of 10 item sale

           1.29 buy  10 items pay .79 ea

           Used  1.00/2 mc

           Final price: .29 ea.

           Yoplait Yogurt

           .60 ea.

           Used .40/6 mc

           Final price: .53 ea

           Fudgsicle 8 pk

           .99 ea  with sc
          
           Albertson's Apple Juice
         
          1.79 with store coupon.  (I felt this was not the best deal but I needed juice.)

I just posted the best deals that I had to give you an idea of how much you can save with coupons and sales.  I had to buy some other items that brought my total price a little higher than I would have liked but I ended up spending 22.62 and saved 28.78.  If I hadn’t bought the extra items I would have spent  12.63 and saved 28.23.  This is after the 5 dollar off coupon and I also had a double coupon store coupon which took an extra 1.00 off. Please forgive the format.  I am still learning and working on what I like.

Well, I was going to post about clothes shopping for Lorelai but it took a lot longer to write the above and its getting late.  I write about that tomorrow.

First Ever Post

I just wanted to take a moment to welcome everyone to my blog, Adventures of the Adams Family.  I guess the reason I decided to start this blog was so that I a place to chronicle the many happenings that occur in my household.  For those who don't know anything about me, I am a Taiwanese American married to a very American boy (L is an American mutt from Texas and yes he is still a boy in some ways).  We have two wonderful daughters who are full of energy and spunk.  We currently live in the Las Vegas area (hence the background).  I hope that everyone enjoys reading this blog.  Please leave comments about what you think of the design.  I am still fiddling with the design and background.