It's Bathing Suit Season

It's the beginning of fall, and you know what that means... It's bathing suit season! Well, it is if you're a scavenger of the clearance racks. Last month I decided to hit up the clearance racks at a few department stores to see what I could find. The first stop was Macy's. That day they were also having a 1-day sale. All of their bathing suits were marked 70% off. While browsing I came across this bathing suit. It's Hobie brand. The only problem was I could not find the correct top. I ended up purchasing the bottom portion and planned to find the top portion online. I had NO LUCK at all. Fortunately, the next weekend I went home to Stuart, FL and with the help of a wonderful friend, I was able to snag the correct top. Here's how I did:
Bottom portion: $6.41; originally priced at $34.00
Top portion: $9.99; originally priced at $34.00
Total: $16.40; originally $68.00

If you're a coupon clipper, then you were extremely excited about today's Sunday paper. There were many coupon savings to take advantage of. (On a side note, I signed up to receive the Sunday paper to start saving about $.70/week.)

Travis and I started off the morning clipping away. Then it was up to me to organize and build the shopping list. Sticking to that list is a hard thing to do BTW. Usually we divvy up our groceries when we go to pay. There's no real science to it. One good find was the halloween candy. Mars had their minis on sale at Publix BOGO. On top of that I had 2 coupons. One for $1off 3 bags and another coupon for a free Publix tote bag when I purchases $9.99 worth of Mars candy. Another nice combination was our Ragu pasta purchase. It was BOGO this week. We also had a coupon for a free box of Mueller's pasta with the purchase of 2 Ragu pasta sauces (How convenient!).

So here's how we did:
Total coupons used: 14
Me (left): Saved $30.69 = 33%
Travis (right): Saved $36.39 = 39%

I recently learned a couple of things:
1. The do not place coupons in the sunday paper if it is a holiday weekend (Thank you Brittany)
2. The wednesday paper sometimes has coupons
3. Publix accepts competitor coupons. I did not know this. They take other grocery store and Target coupons! (Thank you Katherine)

Double the Coupons

This weekend I planned to pick up the Orlando Sentinel on Saturday along with the Sunday paper the next day. Before purchasing it, I checked to see if there were any coupons inserted into the paper. I didn't find any so I left it alone.

I tried my luck again on Sunday. After having no coupon inserts last week and the day prior I was a little worried. Thankfully, there were coupons inside so I picked it up! I did, however, run over to Panera (a new Sunday ritual for me) to pick up breakfast. Since I'm a rewards member, my croissant was free. I'm really like their reward system. Since the middle of August I've had 2 free pastries and $1 off coffee.

When it came time to start clipping coupons, browsing the circulars, and making the grocery list, I noticed that they inserted double the coupon booklets into my paper! I love it when that happens. So, as Travis was out competing in his pool competition (they won regionals!) I ran off to Publix. Here were the highlights of my trip:

• Barilla pasta sauce was BOGO and I had a coupon ($.55 off)
• Keebler Right Bites were BOGO and I had a coupon
• Select Pillsbury Rolls were 10 for 10 and I had 2 coupons ($.40 off two and $.30 off two)
• Campbell's Chunky Soup 4 for $6 making it $3.00 total for 2. I had a coupon ($1.00 off 2) which made it $1.00/ea

There were other BOGOs, coupons, and special savings I took advantage of as well. All in all my total came to $99.58. After the coupons and savings, my total was $64.70. That's a savings of $34.88 or 35%.

In addition, Sunday evening we headed to TGIFriday's for trivia. I was able to use a 15% off reusable coupon I had from a mailer along with a free appetizer card we had received.

Pick Your Pause

I work in the social media field. It's a pretty fun job if you ask me. Recently we've been trying out different contests and promotions to hold via Facebook and Twitter. While researching other companies, I came across Mars Chocolate's Twix page. They're currently holding a contest and promoting it through Facebook. It's called Pick Your Pause. Basically, when you purchase a Twix bar, there is a code you can enter online. This will give you the chance to "spin" their wheel. There are different prizes including the chance to win $50,000 and plenty of "sorry, you're a loser" messages. If you're a first-timer you get one free spin without needing a code. So, I played and miraculously I won a free Twix! This was back in the beginning of July. I received a message saying they would mail me a coupon for a free Twix bar:

Woohoo! I get to choose from an original Twix or their peanut butter Twix bar. Here's the back:

Don't you just love seeing those big bold letters, "FREE?" The coupon is very fun looking. On a graphic designer's note, I do wish they made their own distressed marks on the fonts. If you can't read the fine print, it says, "Hey, retailer! This person won a Pick Your Pause Prize and gets to pick a TWIX Caramel Cookie Bar or TWIX Peanut Butter Cookie Bar for FREE." On a side note, there goes my diet for the day. This contest ends on 12/30/11 so you still have some time to play!

If the Shoe Fits!

Yesterday I had the chance to spend the afternoon with my my best friend, Abbey. We went over to the Altamonte Mall. Overall, there weren't too many sales going on which was both good and bad in a way. We did manage to find one. While we were there, we walked over to Dillards. I was pretty surprised to see a sale in the shoe section. I was even more surprised to see that there weren't hoards of people. In fact, I fully expected to see rows of size 8-10 shoes and not too many 6-6.5 sizes. I usually get the short end of the stick with sales like these. Let's face it with sales like these, there are usually very few pairs available and are usually in "exotic" colors or have one missing. Not only were there many styles on clearance, but the smaller sizes were off to the side.

I managed to find two pairs that had been marked down. After much debate, I decided to get both. I will share one pair now. (The other pair I actually bought to go with my halloween costume this year. I'll blog about that later.) I was able to find a new pair of work shoes:

They are a pair of open toe Antonio Melani shoes originally priced at $79.99, marked down to $59.00. Dillards had them on sale for $27.99. I was pretty happy about the find.

In addition, I did make it over to Publix this evening to do some light shopping (since last week I bought so much). I was able to save 30% with my coupons and bogo's. 

Super 8 Donation

A few months ago, Travis and I went to go see Super 8 on its opening night (which was awesome). Before the movie started an employee at Regal Cinemas explained to us a promotion they were holding for Stars of Hope. If we chose to donate $5 to the Stars of Hope we would receive an awesome Super 8 poster plus a coupon book filled with local business offers:

 By the way this kid was the best public speaker I'd ever heard. He basically memorized the contents of the 48 page coupon book. I think I was more impressed with that than the fact that this little book and poster they were giving away were $5 and it went to charity. Anyhow, inside is an offer I fully intend to use tomorrow:

We have a fuzzball of a dog who sheds more hair than I've ever seen (just ask our vacuum). My ride needs a new wash and vac, so it's off to Bills Car Wash I go! If you weren't able to get this neat little coupon book, live in the Waterford area, and are in need of a car wash (then you're in luck! If you act now) there are actually coupons on the website for you and your wallet to enjoy.

The Power of the BOGO

It's Sunday morning and you know what that means... It's coupon day! As I sit here reminiscing over last week's grocery store purchase, Travis is browsing the circulars. I recently started clipping coupons again. It has become some-what fun!

Last week I took advantage of my almost-expired coupons and headed to Publix. They're right, shopping was a pleasure. I must of annoyed countless people around me as I stopped down each isle searching for the appropriate coupon when I saw an item on sale. Now let me say that I don't just buy something because it's on sale or buy something because I have a coupon for it. I only buy what I'll use. I won't go buy 5 packs of energy drinks just to save 50 cents. It's a waste of money for me.

So how did I do? To tally it up there were 8 BOGO's and on-sale items I took part in last week which saved me $29.94. On top of that I had vendor and store coupons I applied to some of them. I also got to combine vendor and store coupons on a couple items. I love doing that. All in all I purchased $125.17 worth of groceries. I saved $41.94 which brought my total down to $83.23. That means I saved 34% on my bill! Woohoo!

For someone who refuses to make this her full-time job and spends on average 15-20 mins a week doing this, I'd say that's pretty good. I know there are moms and dads out there who laugh at this puny amount, but I don't care. That's $41.94 I can spend on other things like booze and scratch-offs. Just kidding (sorta)!

A newer beginning

So this is my crazy idea to start a blog and actually stick with it this time. I'm thinking this one will work out. Partly because it's not centered around something I am attempting to cut out (carbs). I'm pretty much the most indecisive person in the world, so I'm thinking this will work. I love to shop and I love to save money. I've started a couple blogs before and never seemed to make it past 2 posts.

Anywho- Here goes nothing.