Abbreviations explained...

Since I used some abbreviations in the last post, here are some keys for those of you who may not be familiar with them...

Here's the family relations key:

MIL = mother-in-law
FIL = father-in-law
SIL = sister-in-law
BIL = brother-in-law

Here's the key for the shopping abbreviations:

WAGS = Walgreens
OOP = out of pocket (total cash paid)
ECB = extra care bucks (earn at CVS with frequent shopper card)
RR = register rewards (print with receipt when you buy specific items - also called catalina)

Hope that's helpful! Check out blogs such as www.moneysavingmom.com and www.frugaliciousmommy.com for other helpful tips and deals! Let me know if you have any other questions!!

And here are the pictures and break-down of what I actually ended up with!

I decided not to do Walmart when I got there and started working through my list, so all I got there was a 3 Musketeers (free with coupon, $.05 OOP for tax) and our monthly WIC purchases (free groceries since we are "poor" according to the government).

I did Walgreens last night, and somehow I miscalculated a few things... I should have been able to do the following: 2 toothbrushes, 2 Chapsticks, 3 Coffee-Mate liquid creamers, four bags of Hershey's candy, and 2 packs of Scunci hair elastics for $4.08 (plus a $5 MIR - making $.92 on the whole trip). Instead, I ran the transactions wrong and ended up with... 4 bags of Hershey's candy, 2 Coffee-Mate creamers, 4 packs of Scunci elastics, 2 Chapsticks, and 2 toothbrushes for $9.71 (plus a $5 MIR, so a total of $4.71 paid).


















CVS went better this morning than WAGS did last night, although I had to make an adjustment in the store since they were out of one of the toothpastes I was planning on getting. I had planned to buy: two tubes of one type of toothpaste and one tube of another type of toothpaste, a coupon booklet, two Pert Plus shampoos, one Softsoap body wash, one Pantene shampoo and one conditioner, and two Scrubbin' Bubbles starter kit (on sale a few weeks ago - had to get a raincheck) all for $4.27 OOP and with $4.99 ECB left (I started with $3.49 ECB from last week). The SB starter kits were still out and the coupon book didn't have the coupon I wanted in it, so I ended up with: one Softsoap body wash, both Pantene products, two Pert Plus shampoos, two tubes of toothpaste, and a chocolate creme egg (I needed filler for one of the transactions, and it was the cheapest thing I could find at the counter) all for $6.91 OOP with $7.99 ECB left. Hopefully, I'll be able to shop next week without having to spend any OOP!!














Hope you're having better luck with your deals this week... I'm still learning. I can't wait til a shopping trip actually calculates exactly as I plan!

(Easter recap is coming... just waiting for the littles to nap!)