Sunday Shopping: School Supplies +

My goal is to gather as many free/cheap school supplies as possible to donate. I am hoping to find a "Stuff the bus" type promo in the next month. Otherwise I will just research and figure out what organizations are letting kids "shop" their supplies for school.



CVS

I split up my orders because I wanted to just use one $5 ECB. Unfortunately I had her scan my card last, which caused me to go negative $0.03 when she totaled it out, and since she had already scanned my ECB (and the computer accepted it), I had to grab a CVS tissue. On my 2nd order, there was no issue as I had the the exact ECB needed= no tax!



Order #1

2 notebooks $.99 each

1 scissors $2.99

1 cvs travel tissues $0.33

-$5 ECB

Total $0.32 on a gift card

Earned $1.98 (notebooks) and $2.99 (scissors) in ECBS



Order #2

2 rules $0.99 each

1 scissors $2.99

-$1.98 and $2.99 ecb

Total $0 OOP

Earned $1.98 (rulers) and $2.99 (scissors) in ECBS



Office Max

I found the clearance section by mistake, so I purchased a couple of extras.

3 Highlighters (2 packs) =

3 Protractors

3 Compasses

1 fishy flash card set $1.50

1 09/10 planner $5 (not sure why this was on sale)

Total $7.54 OOP

99 Cent store

I ran back to the 99 cent only store to grab some of the tooth tunes juniors. Quinn loved his new toothbrush and I love that it encourages him to "use" it longer. 1 cars paper plates, 2 apple cinnanom rice cakes (cookies for Quinn!) and 2 circo (target brand) infant sun hats

Walgreens

I found various packaging tape marked down at a few local walgreens, one of them had the Tear By Hand variety for $0.87 each and I found a $0.50 MQ here!

5 Scotch Packagin Tapes $0.87 - $0.50 MQ= $0.37 each

Total OOP $2.12 on a gift card.

Target

I ran back to pick up a RX and check to see if I could find any 4th of July stuff at 90% off. My store was cleaned out of 90% deals. I did snag 2 more of the sesame street placemats at 75% off now (all black dot except batteries are 75% off). Next time I am there, I will return my $0.50 placemats. :-)

2 Sesame street place mats $.25 each

Total OOP $0.54

Shopping during the storms..

I ran out and did some shopping during the evening storms. It was quite hot when I left and beautiful if a bit wet when I returned...

I actually spent a couple hours out but didn't bring much home.

My first stop was CVS to $2 back for the Similac Q I forgot to use on Sunday. The manager returned it no problem. Figuring in the $2 coupon and ECBS I earned on my Febreeze deals, the formula was essentially free! And it is good until next August, plenty of time for me to possibly use it. If not, I will donate it next summer. I did get rain checks at this CVS for the Post trail mix cereal and the febreeze deal.

CVS
I hit another CVS store and found the cereal in stock and razors restocked! I also found the free beauty brand coupons (in the beauty section). You never know when one of these "beauties" will result in a smokin' deal! I can't figure out the tax with CVS, when I checked out I gave my ECB first.. knowing that it would help (somehow) reduced my tax... unfortunately I ended up going negative 5 cents.. so I threw the snickers bar into the order... And of course I had to eat it tonight!

3 Bic Soleil Razors bonus packs $2.99 each - $3 MQ= free
2 Bic Titanium Razors on sale B1G1- B1G1 MQ= free
3 Post Trail Mix Cereals $10 total - $2 MQs= $4 for all 3.
1 snickers bar
- $4.98 ECB
Total on a gift card $0.65

So my subtotal was NEGATIVE $0.31 with $.96 in tax... I honest don't know how my tax was reduced so low, because we do pay tax on pre-coupon prices here... CVS registers are so WONKY!

Bookmans
I spent about 30 minutes at Bookmans, trading in magazines and picking up a few things. I snagged a Caillou book and wiggles video for Quinn and a This Old house magazine for peter... OOP using trade credit.

99 Cent Only

I stopped at the 99 cent only store and found Zooth Tunes Toothbrushes. I bought one to see how Quinn would like it. I figured he would love it because its more like Mommy and Daddy's (sonic cares), there was the off chance that he would be afraid of the sound... but I was right, he liked it. I plan to go back and snag a few more. His baby toothbrushes need to be replaced anyway since he chews and sucks on them more than brushes anyway. I am hoping the music/sounds will encourage longer tooth brushing. Anyway, I also snagged a couple of kiddie ice packs, carrots, a dozen eggs (in the fridge already), 2 ore ida steam and mash potatoes (in the freezer already), candy for a movie on Sunday and a pretty plant.

Walgreens

I also stopped by a couple walgreens, to see what deals could be found in the clearance section. I plan on going back tomorrow (after our day trip to Benson) and snaggin some free packaging tape!!

Target: Cheapies and Freebies

4 Tide travel size $0.97 - $1 MQs= $0.03 overage each
4 All travel size $1.00- $1 MQs= free

4 banana boat travel sunscreen $0.99 each - $1 MQ= $0.01 overage each

3 Dove Deodorant travel size $0.97 each - $1 MQ= $0.03 overage each

4 J&J travel first aid kit $0.99 each - $1 MQ= $0.01 overage each

5 next care trial banaids (they are CARS!!) $0.99 - $1 MQ= $0.01 overage each

I also found

2 "4th of july" shirts for Quinn a 3t and 4t (75% off )$0.99 each

5 4th of july napkins (75% off) $.49 each

1 pair of shorts for quinn 4t (75% off) $1.74

2 sesame street place mats (dollar spot is 50% off) $0.50 each

Total $8.33 on a gift card.

I only paid $0.58 in tax for the "free" travel stuff. There was some slight overage on some of the items and somehow the cashier scanned one of my coupons twice, so that is an extra $1 towards the freebie tax.

Every single one of my coupons beeped and had to be pushed through, which I expected for most of them since the prices were under the coupon amount. However, even the all coupon beeped which doesn't make sense since the all was $1. Anyway, luckily, the coupon gods were looking favorably down on us and at the last minute in line another cashier came to help. I could tell she was more seasoned and figured she would either understand the coupon rules and know how to push them through or would immediately get a supervisor. No supervisor necessary though, she noted there were no size restrictions on any of the coupons and pushed them all through! Yah!!!

I actually have more free coupons to use, but I didn't want to overwhelm the cashier, so I will pick through them again and grab some more "freebies" when I go back to pick up a RX.

I love having the travel size laundry soap for trips, its easy to keep one or two in the toiletry bag for all trips and to take extra when I plan on doing laundry. Now a days packing lighter is best for us, so we usually try and bring 1/2 the clothes and then just wash them during our trip. And of course with a toddler, clothes washing is almost a necessity, as they get messy without even trying!

Quinn will love the car bandaids and I anticipate him "needing" them more often once we discovers that "boo boos" get bandaids! The sunscreen is again good to through in travel bags, or diaper bags.

Quinn doesn't truly need clothes at the moment, which is why I bought bigger sizes. Its hard to pass up $1 shirts. I do need to go through his 3t and 4t clothes box to see what we already have, so I don't go too crazy as deals come up.

We also took a spin through the toy section, lots of toys marked 30% off. We will be watching them over the next few weeks, I hope to catch them the day they hit 75 % off so I can snag a few for Quinn and a few more gifts. I might also grab some to donate for xmas time.

Trish's Awesome Ice Cream Cake Recipe!

I have to share this great, SUPER EASY recipe for making ice cream cakes. My SIL's mom makes these all the time for special family events, birthdays, etc.

Personally I am a straight cake and frosting girl and would normally pass on ice cream cake. This is nothing like the crap you buy from a store (i.e. Baskin Robbins). It is super yummy!

The best part besides that is super yummy, is that its customizable and easy to make! It takes a bit of time to prepare, because of the baking of the cake and some freezer time, but it is short on prep/hands-on creating time!

There are only 4 main ingredients:

Cake Mix

Ice Cream

Ice Cream Topping

And a Mix in!

You can get all of it super cheap if you watched for the right sales/coupons. I only had the Smuckers on hand, so I had to run out and grab the rest. Luckily it was all on sale, so I still only spent $7 (not counting the eggs and oil for the cake recipe).

And you need a Spring Form... which I plan on watching for a deal on since I had to borrow Trish's to make this.

Directions:

1. Make the cake using the recipe on the box. You want to make 8" round cakes version. Let them cool.

You will only use one of the cakes, so the 2nd cake is a by product (we just frosted it with some free frosting from my stash and indulged our sweet tooths!). You could always make 2 ice cream cakes though or perhaps attempt a double decker, but I can't vouch for such crazy ideas. :-)

2. Place half of the ice cream in a bowl and let it soften.

3. Break up the "Mix In". I placed 1/3 of the oreos in a ziplock bag and smashed them.

4. Stir the ice cream until it is soft enough to "spread".

5. Gently pop one cake out of the pan and place a "Spring Form" around it. I borrowed a 9" one from Trish, so it was a little bit larger than my cake, but it worked.

6. Spread the ice cream on top of the cake (like frosting)!

7. Top with the crushed oreos (or whatever you are using) and then drizzle half of the ice cream topping over it.

8. Pop the cake into the freezer. There is a bottom to the spring form, but I would suggest placing everything on a plate, otherwise some of the ice cream will melt and drip in your freezer before it freezes. Let it firm up for an hour or two.

9. Take out the rest of the ice cream, let it soften and stir until it is spreadable.

10. Pull out the cake and then spread the rest of the ice cream over the cake.11. Drizzle the rest of the Carmel on top of the ice cream. We made little "rivers" in the ice cream to get the Carmel to sit on top and not run over the side.

Ok. Here is the Yummy Creation!!!

Last step...

Place it back in the freeze. Once it is fully set, (1-2 hours), it is ready to go. Of course it will have to sit out a few minutes when you are ready to serve it, so that you can cut it.

The best part about this special cake, besides how easy it is, is that you can create as many combinations as possible. Any cake flavors, ice cream flavors, ice cream sauce and mix ins. I was cautioned to finely chopping up any chocolate candy bars if you do use that as a mix in, because the candy will "freeze" in the cake and make it difficult to cut & eat. Think about a frozen snickers bar... YUUUUMMMY, but it would be very hard to bite into!

Now I have a special cake receipt for birthdays and other special occasions. In fact I am thinking a Christmas cake is in order.. Peppermint ice cream, white cake, hot fudge... and maybe york peppermint patties for a mix in? Or how about some sort of banana, peanut butter, chocolate combo? The possibilities are endless!

Frugal Ramblings 7/7

1. We spent a nice long weekend, in the cool town of pinetop, AZ. My grandparents own a cabin up there, so it was free! We only had to pay gas to get up there. Quinn had a great time hanging out with his grandma, papa, uncles and aunts. It was a nice, little frugal retreat. I love this picture of Quinn, I showed him how to blow and make the flowers "fly away!" He found lots of different, outdoor fun things to do up there!


2. Peter kindly ran to frys to pick up soda today ($1.99 each less coupons= a great deal) while getting his hair cut after work. I told him 2 diet and 2 caffeine free, well of course the store had been pillaged and no caffeine free anywhere. My very smart husband... snagged 4 diet cokes $1.99 each- $1/2 Qs= $1.49 each! Then he asked for a rain check!! I knew he was a keeper! :-)


3. Joined the VIP club with McCain foods (Sweet Potato fries) for possible coupons. I also sent them a quick email about how much we love their sweet potato fries, but we had found a slight issue with packaging.


4. Worked on my reward programs. I did some Swagbucks searches and redeemed for another $5 Amazon gift card. They are now offering $5 Paypal (cash) for 80 swagbucks, but I think the $5 Amazon at 45 swagbucks is a much better deal. Unless you just can't find something to buy on Amazon. I plan on using my Amazon gift cards for xmas presents. I also did some MyPoints and e-rewards offers.


5. We had a birthday adventure yesterday that involved home made ice cream cake. Super delish and I will share the super easy, yet super special recipe later. I seriously can't believe how good the cake is and how simple it is to make.


6. It is Peter's mom's b-day today! Happy B-day Pat!! They are enjoying a D-backs game today and possibly picking up more $5/30 Frys Qs for me!! :-)


7. Pei Wei is offering 25% off your first online order, and it is per customer. We took advantage of it a few weeks ago, but I ordered again yesterday in Peter's name and email and we received another 25% off our order. The offer is advertised on their website and just note that the discount doesn't show up until you get to the store.


8. I spent some time organizing my coupon inserts. I believe I mentioned a few months ago, I was going to try FrugalSuz's plan on coupon insert organization. It has been working great and would definitely recommend it to anyone. I again have a slightly complicated situation as I do get a few tucson papers that are not the same as phoenix, so I can't actually combine all the inserts together. But it is still a great system!


9. I received another free magazine in the mail today, and I plan on going through our other magazines tonight, so I can take in a pile of them to trade at Bookmans tomorrow.


10. Also for any local Tucson folks with Comcast cable, I was able to "chat" online with a customer service rep via their website and get a free year of HBO channels! People were talking about it on SlickDeals, and I thought I would give it a shot! Peter is super stoked about free HBO for a year, plus I love that means we get all the HBO shows on demand!