What did you do to save money this week (2/4/07)?

[maggiew]

For anyone who has done the $20 ECB WYB $40 deal at CVS, reports show that people are getting $41 in ECB!! (It seems you get credit for all 3 levels.) Unfortunately I did not do the deal yet, but for those of you who did, I would log into your account and PRINT OFF YOUR ECB from the computer ASAP!

Maggie

 

[ducklite]

For anyone who has done the $20 ECB WYB $40 deal at CVS, reports show that people are getting $41 in ECB!! (It seems you get credit for all 3 levels.) Unfortunately I did not do the deal yet, but for those of you who did, I would log into your account and PRINT OFF YOUR ECB from the computer ASAP!

Maggie

I just printed mine off! Plus there was another for $3 that I didn't realize I was getting. So $44 in ECB's on a $43 out of pocket purchase! Plus I have a coupon for $25 off any new or transferred prescription. I need my doctor to write a new script for a med I take on and off, so I'll use that and get it for free! Plus I"m expecting my $10 Advair co-pay coupon in the next few weeks--before my next refill. So what would have been $60 in co-pay's will be $30 in March.

Oh, and I just remembered that one of the bands at the show last night who I liked well enough gave me a free copy of their CD to review.

And DH had one of his coworkers ask about renting some of our DVC points, after we talked about it we decided that we have them to rent based on our vacation plans for this year, and what we'll make renting the "extras" will more than pay for our meals and activities at Vero Beach on our vacation!

Anne

 

[Traveliz]

Shoot I didn't do the CVS deal yet - wonder if that was a glitch that will be fixed or if that is how the plan is suppose to work.

I could run down and do it now -but it is snowing soooo bad I don't want to leave the house....on the other hand CVS is only three blocks away so it wouldn't be a bad drive.

But GREAT JOB for those of you who did do the Kimberly Clark deal!

Liz

 

[katerkat]

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my MIL, and though we did some shopping, I think I did well for what I did buy.

I got:
Kohl's - $65 winter jacket and snow pants for $19.50, for next year
Kohl's - two summer dresses for my niece for $15 (ok, this was a splurge - I can't resist baby girl clothes!)
Motherhood - $19.99 sale shirt for my SIL
Lunch - half a sandwich instead of a whole - better for my diet and better for my wallet

I passed on:
Kohl's - cami in cream that I've been looking for, $18 (it wasn't quite right)
Christopher Banks - nice $13 skirt that didn't quite fit right (and then $25 in shirts since I had nothing that matched the skirt!)
The Disney Store - every stuffed toy and annoying toddler toy that someone kept handing to me...especially the giant Lightning McQueen that he kept pushing over
Food Court - no snacks or extra drink

 

[minnie1928]

You know, we've had this topic going for about 3 weeks or so and I was thinking that I didn't have anything "new" as far as ideas go. Then I realized that some things I've been doing for so long that I just take them for granted.

Here's a list of some of my savers:
1. Use plastic lid (chinese takeout lid works great) as a splatter shield in microwave instead of covering item with plastic wrap or towel. Once it's gooked up, just throw in the dishwasher.
2. Put a towel at the basement door to keep the heated air upstairs instead of it all going to the unfinished basement.
3. Re-use paper bags when I go to the grocery store, my store pays 3 cents per bag used.
4. Re-use dryer sheets (I don't do this as much since I'm trying to let more wash air dry)
5. Sign up for all my bills to automatically draft from my checking account, saves on the postage.
6. Water saving shower heads. I take a shower with the water on the lower setting. I don't need the super hard blast of water to shower, a nice steady rain type shower is just fine.
7. Set my inkjet printer to draft mode. Most stuff that I print doesn't need to be high quality, so this should help stretch the ink.

If I think of some of my other "oldies" I'll try and post them...

 

[ohiominnie]

For anyone who has done the $20 ECB WYB $40 deal at CVS, reports show that people are getting $41 in ECB!! (It seems you get credit for all 3 levels.) Unfortunately I did not do the deal yet, but for those of you who did, I would log into your account and PRINT OFF YOUR ECB from the computer ASAP!

Maggie

THANK YOU!!! Yup, I got $41!!!

 

[PrincessParty]

I walked out of a very expensive dress store to a nicer department store and bought both DD's (7 and 10) formal dresses for a Father/Daughter dance for $11.97 and $14.97. The 1st store was going to cost me almost $300.00. I really like the 1st store's dresses, but my girls will only have these dresses on for 2 hours and I think they look great.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

For anyone who has done the $20 ECB WYB $40 deal at CVS, reports show that people are getting $41 in ECB!! (It seems you get credit for all 3 levels.) Unfortunately I did not do the deal yet, but for those of you who did, I would log into your account and PRINT OFF YOUR ECB from the computer ASAP!

Maggie

Are these ECBs the same that print off at the register when you make a purchase or are they in addition to those coupons

 

[ohiominnie]

And DH had one of his coworkers ask about renting some of our DVC points, after we talked about it we decided that we have them to rent based on our vacation plans for this year, and what we'll make renting the "extras" will more than pay for our meals and activities at Vero Beach on our vacation!

Anne

I usually go to the rent/trade board, but someone posted on the budget board that they were having trouble getting a VWL ressie for October. We have 600 extra points for this year and so we are now in negotiations to rent those out to another DISer. Works for me, they are extra points (going to CA instead of FL for our fall trip) and works for them b/c they needed the ressie and cash rate was ridiculously high!

Not counting this officially as money earned yet (don't count your chickens, right?) b/c there is always the cancellation period to think about.

Ds thinks we should use the money to buy an XBox b/c he really wants to play Viva Pinata and we'd need a whole new game system just to play the one game. uh.....NO!

 

[Traveliz]

Well I couldn't stand it!

I had to go to CVS --

I got just over 40 in the special deals and then bought Thermacare to round my bill up to 50 -- used the ten off, had about 4.00 in coupons and another 3.00 in CS so my bill was still around 35 but hopefully will get the 40.00 in ECBs - also got my 4.99 and 5.00 ECBs printed off while I was there.

So that was fun!

Liz

 

[ducklite]

I usually go to the rent/trade board, but someone posted on the budget board that they were having trouble getting a VWL ressie for October.

We actually prefer to rent to people we know, and DH works with a large number of people who are always looking to rent points, so it works out well for us.

My contract is pretty ironclad and stricter than most. 1/2 within 72 hours of me making the reservation. The balance no less than 61 days out. If they cancel before 60 days they get it back. If they cancel after 60 days or don't pay the balance I keep it all unless I can re-rent the points. I strongly suggest that they buy trip insurance.

Anne

 

[ohiominnie]

We actually prefer to rent to people we know, and DH works with a large number of people who are always looking to rent points, so it works out well for us.

My contract is pretty ironclad and stricter than most. 1/2 within 72 hours of me making the reservation. The balance no less than 61 days out. If they cancel before 60 days they get it back. If they cancel after 60 days or don't pay the balance I keep it all unless I can re-rent the points. I strongly suggest that they buy trip insurance.

Anne

Oops, I wrote "I usually go to the rent/trade board" but it should have said "I don't usually go to the rent/trade board." I guess turning my thermostat down 3 degrees has frozen my fingers AND my brain!

Actually, this is the first time we've ever rented points. We have taken lots of people with us. And we gave my dd's ballet teacher a gift of a 1BR villa as a thank you gift (she volunteers all of her time for classes and recitals) but this is really our first REAL rental.

 

[bookgirl]

Printed out coupons for Supertarget.

$2 off sutton and dodge steaks

$1 off gold and plump chicken

Free choxie bars


Between two targets last night and this morning

10 free chocolates

9 packages of steaks (3 packs of eye of round) that were from 1.11 to 1.98. (after $2 off) Spent about $15 altogether

10 packages of chicken (20 oz looks to be 4 boneless skinless split breasts)

on sale for $3.50 plus $1 off each so $2.50. 25.00 total

2 packages of post cereal (2packs) on cleareance for 2.70 and I had a $1 off for each so 4 boxes for $3.40

1 gallon of milk Had a $1 coupon off of the post cereals so $1.79.

Froze almost all the meat so that will hold us for a while. The steaks had three small steaks in each (three in household) so there is a meal each or maybe half that since we often double cook for leftovers at lunch. Chicken is great we eat chicken well and when the twins and brother w/gf come over we all like chicken.

Chocolate for ocassional sweet tooths, and the cereal is for stepdad who eats it for breakfast 4 days out of 7.

And milk because we go through a gallon every one and a half to two days.

Ate leftovers most of weekend, plus made up a hamburger/potato casserole for lunches instead of ff.

 

[ticktock]

LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!

I posted on here a while ago that I was going to cancel our quicky trip to the Poly and the Pirate Party to save money. Also because we hade been to Disney twice in December.

This had really been dwelling on me. SO, when my SIL called DH to say she was taking her GDs to Disney for ones Bday, I was wide open to what happened. It was like a junky let loose in a pharmacy.

Now in the 15 years I have known DH I have never met this DSil. She is avoided like the plague by him and all his other many siblings because she is apparently crazy. She has accused people of things which were completely impossible (like the accused wasn't even in the COUNTRY when said things happened) and has just caused a HUGE amount of family drama.

BUT, since I was in Disney withdrawl when she called (to ask if she could take OUR DS with her yeah, right!) I somehow ended up making reservations for all of us to SHARE a Ft. Wilderness cabin for two nights this coming week. For the money I am spending on this we could have just gone to the Poly like I planned originally.

DH was OK with this since 1. his younger brother just died last month and he is feeling he should mend fences and 2. she never accussed HIM of anything . But now he is starting to get nervous. He knows his DS is capable of saying some pretty outragous things and doesn't really want our DSon around that KWIM?

My mom and sis are drama queens in the since that they will scream or cry at the drop of a hat, but they don't lie about people to manipulate situations (apparently DSIL has threatened to turn people into the HRS etc. just to cause trouble?). I'm not used to dealing with people like that and I'm getting really worried. What if I upset her and she calls the HRS on us? Not that they would find anything wrong, but it would be embarrassing and messy, right? I don't know anyone this has happened to.

URGH!!! Why didn't I just stick to the original plan? Then I wouldn't be in this mess. This is what happens when you cut back in ways that your subconscious is really not willing to concede.

 

[maggiew]

Are these ECBs the same that print off at the register when you make a purchase or are they in addition to those coupons

These are the same ones that print off at the register. You can either print them off from your computer or get the ones that print off at the register. You can't use both, of course. The second time the coupon will beep.

BUT I would print these particular ones off from the computer NOW, because IF they find its a mistake, they will fix the mistake and not have the $41 ECB print anymore. But history shows that if you have ALREADY printed them, they will work fine, no problem.

Maggie

 

[Cindy B]

Ds thinks we should use the money to buy an XBox b/c he really wants to play Viva Pinata and we'd need a whole new game system just to play the one game. uh.....NO!

I thought Viva Pinata was only for PS2, not Xbox. That is what I have seen here in this area.

If its out in Xbox, you can rent games at my library for video game systems for a lower price than Blockbuster.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I walked to school to pick up my kindergartener and another sick kid today so saved a little gas (not much) and got some energy out of some stir crazy sick kids . I'm down to one healthy one, sigh.

I cleaned out the cupboard I keep medicine in and found some infant cold medicine that I forgot I had that said it was good for my 2yo (I checked the expiration, it was still good) so that saved me a trip to the store which is at least $30 saved. Also found a brand new bottle of children's Motrin.

Used vinegar/water to clean out DD's guinea pig's cage.

Bought 2 pair of snow boots for next year for the kids for $16.00 apiece on endless.com, they have $5 off and free shipping right now, but you have to order one pair at a time to get $5 off each pair.

I took Ds to a b-day party over the weekend at a house near us that is exactly like ours and she had her kitchen decorated beautifully which made me want to do more with mine so I started putting items on my watch list on ebay. Then I came to my senses, I'm only going to be in this house another 1-1.5 years and my kitchen meets my needs so I deleted it all before I bid. I did the same thing with my cart on the Disneyshopping website, I would like to redo my bedroom with Mickey, but I think I'll make that my reward for meeting my goals next year.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

These are the same ones that print off at the register. You can either print them off from your computer or get the ones that print off at the register. You can't use both, of course. The second time the coupon will beep.

BUT I would print these particular ones off from the computer NOW, because IF they find its a mistake, they will fix the mistake and not have the $41 ECB print anymore. But history shows that if you have ALREADY printed them, they will work fine, no problem.

Maggie

Thanks for clarifying - I was worried I might have missed something.

 

[vhoffman]

vhoffman--I was in the same boat with you and hair color....crazy expensive for foil highights-- about $100 every 3 months. So I decided to go back to close to my dark brown color--use Feria Havana Brown--it has some highlights in it that are very pretty and natural looking--and help to camoflouge the roots. Its about $7.50 at Wal mart. But I thought the color dulled about 3 - 4 weeks in--and didn't want to color that often. So now I get HappyShine--Clairol makes it. its also about $7.50/box--but you can always find a coupon for buy one get one free. Color. Wait 4 weeks. Use the HappyShine--wait another 3 -4 weeks, and recolor.

Note--if anybody has Allstate Insurance, they just got a program where you can have your monthly premium charged to your credit card. Just call your agent and they can set it up for you...I have a friend and fellow DIS-er that just set it up on her Disney Visa--Hi Shelly!

So what is Happy Shine? I looked at Walmart, couldn't find it. Is it a hair color/highlights, or sometihing to preserve the color between color jobs? Because you said to use Happy shine then wait 3-4 weeks to recolor. If it preserves color I might get it now to extend my last color job at the salon, it does dull over time. But the biggest expense for me is getting my roots touches up--I'm about 50% gray and my hair grows fast. The colorist i go to has the right formula so the touched hp roots blend with the rest of the hair. However, I just can't justify the expense anymore when we have other, more pressing needs. I could comprimise and let the beauty school do the coloring, since its an ongoing, somewhat complicated process. They could do the whole thing for about $50 every six weeks, as opposed to ~$150!

BTW, I went to a beauty school for a haircut--$7 and it turned out quite nice! Also took both kids there--$7 for any haircut. sure beats the $15 per kid I was paying--and they don't look any different to me!

 

[ohiominnie]

BUT, since I was in Disney withdrawl when she called (to ask if she could take OUR DS with her yeah, right!) I somehow ended up making reservations for all of us to SHARE a Ft. Wilderness cabin for two nights this coming week. For the money I am spending on this we could have just gone to the Poly like I planned originally.

If you really feel like you can't get out of the trip, make very clear plans. For example, obviously this isn't someone you'd hang out with all day in any other location, so why don't you just tell her "we'll meet for dinner at 6:00" or something like that. I don't think I'd feel pressured to hang out with her all day at a park. Go your own ways and meet up for a meal once a day.

I know we do this with my MIL. She doesn't even LIKE the parks, so there is no way we'd drag her around and have her being miserable and making us miserable. So we go our way, she goes hers and we meet up for a meal.