FREE $10 Gift Card from Ebates

Look what I just got in the mail.... yup, my $10 Gift Card for Home Depot from Ebates. Well, ok.. it's going in Paul's wallet, but I earned it!

You can get one too, just go to Ebates and sign up and after your first purchase through Ebates (which gives you a % of your purchase back), you'll get a $10 gift card of your choice (to Home Depot, Target, Barnes & Noble, Overstock.com or Ebates) - which begs the question of why I decided to get a Home Depot card....

Click Here to Sign Up!

The more I look at the deals for this coming week, the more I'm thinking this is going to be a multiple paper week. At this point I'm thinking 4 copies just for the Maalox coupons (at $5/1 to go with the CVS deals, it will be well worthwhile).

This Week's Totals

So evidently I'm not going to be shopping one week out of this month (or going to be doing a lot less for the next 3), since I spent 2 weeks worth of money out of my grocery envelope this past week.  It was evidently my first trip to Publix (early this past week) that did me in; that and the trip to CostCo (which alone was almost a full week's grocery money).

So here are the trips we did this past week:

• CostCo - $32 (ish - I sent hubby and I never actually got the receipt from him)
• Publix - $43.90
• Rite Aid - $1.68 OOP (used $11 in +UPs, got back $2+UPs)
• CVS - $3.60 OOP (used $6.50ECB, got back $10ECB)
• Kroger - $13.11 (also got a Catalina for $1 off next purchase)
• Publix - $12.66

Total for the Week: $106.95

I did manage to stay within my plan to keep my total OOP at the drugstores at under $5 total.  I'm hoping to continue that this week.

It's scary to think that that's half my cash for the month, so I guess I really have to tighten my spending belt for the rest of the month.

2 Good Shopping Trips Today

I wish all my shopping trips went as well as my two today (despite fighting the crowds of bread and milk "OMG it's gonna snow" shoppers).  I think the fact that the stores were so busy helped me stick to my plan that much more.  First I hit Kroger....

• 2 Carnation Instant Breakfast @ 4.99 each = 9.98
• 3 Old El Paso Refried Beans @ 3/$4 = $4
• 2 Old El Paso Taco Seasoning @ $1.09 each = 2.18
• 2 Athenos Hummus @ .98 each = 1.96
• Flatbread = $2.50

- used $2/2 Carnation Instant Breakfast
- used (5) .50/1 Old El Paso product (doubled to $1)
- used $2/2 Athenos

Total after tax: $13.11


From there I headed to Publix (which wasn't nearly as busy for some reason), and bought....

• 2 Old Spice antiperspirants @ 2/$6
• Old Spice body wash @ $3

• 2 Yoplait Smoothies @ $3.19 BOGO
• 2 Swiss Miss hot chocolate @ $1.99 = $3.98
• 2 Publix Yogurt @ $1.89 = $3.78
• 1 Deli Yo-Yo Cookie @ $1.99 (couldn't resist)

- used $1/2 Old Spice antiperspirant
- used B1 Old Spice antiperspirant G1 body wash
- used (2) $2/1 Swiss Miss
- used (2) $1.25/1 Yoplait Smoothie

Total: $12.65 after tax


These were both pretty small trips and hopefully I can keep them small for the most part now that we have a decent stockpile of most (non-perishable) items that we use regularly.  The best thing about both of these trips is the items I got totally FREE at each store.  I almost forgot about the Swiss Miss until I was in line.  I had to go back for those (they weren't even on sale but just the fact that they were free after the coupons made it worth getting out of line).