Archive for 2012

My CVS Plan for the 10/7/12 Ad

Sunday, October 7, 2012

This week CVS is running a 3 day ad from 10/7-10/9.  I'm starting out with 10 EC B, and also got two 20% off entire purchase coupons from the paper this week.  You can view the entire ad wiht match-ups here.

 Here's my plan:

 Transaction 1:
Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor or Styler Kit $9.99 Get $5 EB Limit 1 

2 x Palmolive 10 oz $.96  

4 x Progresso soup 18-19 oz $.94 

 3 x Hershey's snack pack 6pk $.99

 1 x Pepsi 2-liter $.99

= $19.63

          - 20% coupon ($3.93)
    - 10 ECB
    =$.70 OOP
    Earn 5 ECB

    - 

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My CVS Scenario for the week- 4 dishwashing detergents, 5 spray cleaners, 2 toothpastes and 2 mouthwashes for under $9

Monday, September 17, 2012


I'm really excited about this weeks deals.  First off, I checked my Extra Care account at CVS.com and came across an awesome surprise- I had 10 Extra Bucks waiting for me, 5 from the CVS Beauty club and 5 Quarterly rewards.  That combined with what I had gave me 20 ECB's.
I was really happy to see a deal for Finish Dishwashing detergent.  I havent paid for detergent in literally years and I am on my very last few gelpacs from my stockpile.  This isn't the greatest deal of the century (as in, its not FREE), but the price is low enough that I'm picking up 4 boxes to hold me over until I find a better deal (9 cleaning products for $7.85 OOP, or $.88 each v. the $4 they would normally cost...on sale).  Here's what I have planned for today:

Transaction #1:
Lysol  / air wick  / finish  get $10 ecb wyb $30 limit 1:

4 x finish jet-dry 8.45 oz, powerball or gelpacs 10.25 ct $4
5 x Lysol spray cleaner @ 2.99

=$30.95

-            $3.00 Coupons

-            $20 ECB

= $7.95 OOP

Earn 10 ECB

 
Transaction #2:

2 x Colgate total 4-4.2 oz, maxfresh or maxclean 6 oz, 2-in-1 4.6 oz, or manual toothbrush 1 ct $2.99 get $2 ecb limit 2

2 x Act dental rinse (any) $3.99 get $1 ecb limit 2

= $13.96

-          $3.50 coupons

-          $10 ECB

= $.46 OOP

Earn 2, 2, 1, and 1 ECB


$8.41 total OOP

 

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Sparkly Wine Glass Tutorial!

Thursday, September 13, 2012



I wanted to make a little gift for the ladies in the office I’ve been temping to thank them for all of their help and support.  Since the office has wine on Friday afternoons, I thought a wine glass for each of them would be perfect!  I’ve been eyeballing EVERYTHING sparkly lately on Pinterest so I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Just a note- this is NOT my original idea.  This is a compilation of several different methods, techniques, and ideas.  I just want to show you how I did mine. J

Here’s what you’ll need:

-          Wine Glasses- I got these at the Dollar Tree

-          Glitter!!  I went to Michaels and compared brands side by side, and Martha Stewart was by far the prettiest.  Choose a “fine” glitter.  This kit was $22 (on sale from $30), so a bit pricey, but you really do get a whole lot of glitter and its soooo pretty!
 

-          Mod Podge- This stuff is glue, sealer, and everything in between all in one.  A jar this size runs about $10, but again, it’s a lot.  I barely used any for this project.

-          Paint Brushes- I picked up a big variety pack for $4.99 at Michaels, in the canvas painting section.

Start by cleaning your glasses well.  I peeled the stickers from the bottom of mine, but it left a sticky residue.  I used goo gone to get it off, then rinsed them, and, just for good measure, wiped them down with a paper towel and rubbing alcohol.  I wanted to be sure my surface was as perfectly squeaky clean so I could get maximum glitter adhesion.

Next, prime your work surface by laying out newspaper, or some other mechanism to catch the extra glitter so you can put it back in the jar.  I would recommend a smooth paper like newspaper of magazine pages, rather than a paper-towel, as the paper towel “caught” too much of the extra glitter and prevented it from going back into the jar.

Paint the bottom / stem of each of the glasses with mod podge.  I used a wide-angled brush so I could paint the stems without getting any on the bowl part of the glass.  If you don’t have a wide angled brush, or a steady hand, painters tape would be a good thing to use where you don’t want any glue / glitter.

Now it’s time to glitter-ize!  Sprinkle the glitter liberally all over the painted part of your glass, knocking off the excess as you go.  You want as thick of a layer as possible.  After you are done, slide the extra glitter off your paper and back into the jar, then move on to the next glass. 




After your glasses are dry (I waited about an hour), you want to seal them by repainting with the mod podge again.  For this, I would recommend pouring a small amount of the glue out onto a disposable container, since you don’t want to get all kinds of glitter in your big jar of glue.  Also, keep in mind that a small amount of glitter is going to come off during this process.  I avoided transferring the colors by (a) using a small amount of new mod podge for each color of glitter, and (b) rinsing my brush between colors.

After you are done sealing just let your glasses dry and waa-laa!  Bee-utiful Sparkly wine glasses!  These are hand-washable as well (but not recommended for the dishwasher).

Enjoy!

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I'm sick of spending money- how about a new CVS Scenario...

Friday, September 7, 2012

 
I've finally gotten to a point where (a) my stockpile is low and needs to be replenished, and (b) I miss blogging and getting stuff for little or no money, which motivated me to come up with a CVS Scenario for next week (9/9)!

I'm starting with 10 ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) which I got a couple of weeks ago for buying hair products that I needed.  If you don't have any ECB's you can still follow this scenario with $10 OOP (out of pocket).  I created this using only coupons that are coming up in this Sunday's paper, because (surprise!) I haven't been great about buying the papers each week either. 

If you want a sneak peek of the whole ad you can check it out here, at I Heart CVS.


Transaction #1:

Revitalens multi-purpose solution 10 oz or blink tears .5 oz or gel tears .34 oz  $8.99 get $4 eb limit 1

Hershey's simple pleasures .75 oz $.67 get $.67 ecb limit 1

Right guard total defense 5 body wash 13.5 oz or bar soap 6 pk get $2 ecb wyb 2/$6 limit 1

 

Total: $15.66

-$2 off 2 Right Guard Total Defense 5 deodorant, body wash or bar soap products (exp 10/7/12) 09/09/12 RP

-$2 RevitaLens OcuTec multi-purpose disinfecting solution (exp 10/15/12) 09/09/12 SS

-$10 ECB

= $1.66 OOP

Get Back $4, $.67, and $2 ECB ($6.67 total)

 

Transaction #2:

Hershey's snack size 6 pk get $1 ecb wyb 3/$3 limit 1

Right guard / dry idea deodorant (select) get $1 ecb wyb 2/$6 limit 4

Total: $9.00

-$2 off 2 Right Guard Total Defense 5 deodorant, body wash or bar soap products (exp 10/7/12) 09/09/12 RP

- $4, $.67, and $2 ECB ($6.67 total)

= $0.33 OOP

Get Back $1 and $1 ECB (for next week)

That's a bottle of Contact Solution, lots of candy bars, two body washes, and two deodorants for $1.99 total OOP.  Not bad right? :)

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I'm back!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Hello to all of my wonderful readers!  A good amount of you probably know where I've been, but just in case you don't here's the story...

Since my last post, things went from pretty bad to worse for me.  In addition to the divorce, my 45 year old aunt passed away, and I ended up leaving my job at the crazy place (long story- I'll post about it sometime) and finding a new one...in Afghanistan.  I left Tampa in late February to begin the process of deploying overseas (I'm not in the military, I went there as a civilian doing government contract work).  After several weeks of training, medical exams, and other very fun and exciting things, I traveled to Afghanistan and began my job as an Adminstrator there.  Intially things were fine for me.  I wasn't bothered by much at all, but after a while I started to become homesick.  It sucked sitting over there missing everything and everyone here in the states.  It got to the point that I couldn't even look at Facebook anymore because it just broke my heart to see everyone having fun and living life while I sat in utter boredom and misery there, and it made me miss my friends SO much it hurt.

I had an idea of what to expect- I mean, you hear the word "Afghanistan" and the Ritz Carlton doesn't exactly come to mind.  A big part of being there is learning to live without.  We went 5 days without hot water in very cold weather when I first got there.  I lived in a plywood hut with no running water.  The nearest female bathroom was a far hike from my hut.  Ramen noodles were actually a luxury item, and if you could get your hands on a power strip you were in awesome shape.  None of this really bothered me. I had a few comforts shipped over (my bedding was one), but all in all you just learn how to do without. 

The job was great, people were fine (the ones I worked with anyway), but I just didn't belong there.  I decided to come back to Florida, and I've been here about a week now.

I know it sounds crazy but I'm really glad that I went overseas.  I definitely learned a lot and had a while to reflect on my life and what's really important.  Before I went I was just a mess, hanging in limbo and feeling sorry for myself.  While I was there I realized that I have a ton to be grateful for.  Who cares about a big house and a boat?  Those things won't be holding my hand when I'm 80.  I realized that I needed to evaluate myself and appreciate the relationships that I have with the good people in my life. 

This is me in Kuwait, preparing to fly to Afghanistan.

So, for the third time this year, I'm starting over.  I'm staying with a friend and don't have a job yet, but I've been busting my butt trying to get a job and a place.  It may take a bit of time but I'll be just fine.  :)

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