Today was such a busy day for us. It's currently 10:30 PM, and I've been pretty much working non-stop since I woke up at 8 AM this morning. We had a lot on our to-do list, but part of it was also due to the fact that I've been slacking on my household duties due to a feverish baby and doggy diarrhea which required going out every hour while it rained non-stop for nearly 2 days. I was so tired last night that I ended up making the menu plan and grocery list this morning, which really started the day off late and put us off schedule before we even left the house. We ended up home 3 hours after when I had planned.
Anyway, here's what we did on our shopping trip around town today:
Petsmart (OOP: $29.00; Savings: $5.00)
My poor little Chip dog needed a hair-cut badly, and I managed to get him one at Petsmart the same morning. However, I will
never go there again, because the service was terrible. When I called an hour before the appointment, I was told that it was going to be $27.99. When I took him in, they raised the price to $34, even though the girl that I spoke with admitted to telling me $27.99 just an hour earlier. I had described to her exactly what I wanted to be done too. They took him to the back without even asking me what I wanted to be done on him, and I actually had to ask them to bring him back so I could tell them what to do. I have
never been to a groomer's where they just took the dog without even asking me about how I wanted him to look or if he had any special allergies or problems. He ended up looking alright, but I will not be going back to them. When he got out he went potty for like...5 minutes, and he drank 2 bowls of water when we got home. I can't believe they didn't even provide him with water. The good news though is I managed to use an expired $5/$25 coupon.
Wal-mart (OOP: nothing! Savings: my
All You magazine!)
I had to return a stationery entertainment center that we bought last week, and bought the new September issue of All You on a gift card. I was looking forward to their
Baby Days event, but apparently only Super Wal-marts are hosting it. Good thing the event is until the 19th, because I actually have a Super Wal-mart that is closer to me, but I rarely go to that one since there's no other stores we need close to it.
Target (OOP: $18.00;
Savings Profit: $7.00!)
Today was the last day of their 4/$9 with $5 GC back on certain Kellogg's products. I ended up doing one huge transaction because I did not do the Kellogg's Back to School rebate yet. I bought 8 Pop Tarts, 2 Keeblers, and 2 Rice Krispies all in one transaction to fulfill the requirements for the $10 rebate and to get a total of $15 in giftcards. Here are the coupons that I used to get my OOP down from $27 to $18:
- 8 Target printable $0.50/1 Pop Tart coupons (Total savings: $4)
- 3 $1/2 Pop Tart coupons (Total savings: $3)
- 1 $1/2 Keebler coupon (Total savings: $1)
- 1 $1/2 Rice Krispies coupon (Total savings: $1)
After the rebate comes back, I will have made $7! And to make things even sweeter, I can take advantage of the Kellogg's
United Through Reading book offer since a lot of my Pop Tart boxes came with the tokens. I need the UPCs and receipt for the rebate, but I only need the tokens for the book offer. We got "Where's the Baby's Belly Button?" book, and I can't wait to receive it in the mail.
I have to admit that the picture on the back of the box of a deployed mom reading a story to her kids via recorded DVD nearly brought tears to my eyes. Now that my daughter's older and starting to comprehend her world and the people in it, I literally live in fear of the day my husband's leaving for his "business trip". That's our new name for it. "Business trip" sounds a lot better, and if you're technical about it...it
is a business trip after all. That lasts months. And is dangerous. But still a business trip!
Pictures at Sears! (OOP: $22.34; Savings: $57.63)
This was our second trip to Sears, because our attempt to take pictures failed miserably since the baby decided to start screeching when we attempted to get her into her first outfit, and wouldn't stop until 3 hours later. Today went a LOT better, and we ended up spending $22.34 for a collage, a 10 x 13, a bordered 8 x 10, and 2 regular 8 x 10s. It's more than I've ever spent at any picture studio, but I think that I got a lot for my money - 5 pictures with 9 poses on them.
Believe it or not, even though the baby is 4 months old, this is only the 10th picture I have of her with daddy. And the first with all three of us. My favorite by far was one of the last ones that we took - my husband is in his dress whites against a flag background, and the little princess is in her little sailor dress that I found at the
Thrift Store last week. He's kneeling on one knee and she's sitting on his knee just gazing up at him. Maybe I'm just emotional tonight, but that picture just brings tears to my eyes because she adores him so much, but the whole picture is just a bittersweet reminder that he'll be in and out of her life until she's pretty much in college.
Children's Place (OOP: $3.20; Savings: ???)
I got a little body suit ($1.99) and a tie-dye shirt ($0.99) for the little princess. No, she doesn't need anymore clothes, but I'm on the hunt to diversify her wardrobe. I am on a
mission to end the endless sea of pink and purple that is her wardrobe. I will
never buy her anything pink or purple again, because everyone else does that enough for me!
Mastercuts (OOP: $14.95)
This was a completely an "impulse buy", but then again, I really needed it. For the past month I have been shedding like a Husky in Africa, so while we were killing time in the mall waiting for our pictures to be downloaded, I stopped in to get just an inch of dead hair trimmed off. Yes, I could have gone to the place in the NEX and gotten it done for like...$7, but barber shops at any NEX just gives me the creeps.
One of the downsides of moving around so much is that you have no one to do your hair! Before I got married, one lady has been my hairdresser since middle school. She (still) works down the street from my parents' house, and while in college I waited until breaks to get my haircut with her. And when I moved to Charleston, I
finally found a
magician hairdresser that was not only cheap but GREAT. He gave me a hairstyle that looks great on me, is easy to maintain, and doesn't look terrible if I can't get my hair cut for a couple of months. For a while I was seriously considering visiting Charleston just to get my hair done by him again.
Sam's Club (OOP: $5.70)
This was our treat for the week - pizza at Sam's Club. Besides, it was a necessity at that point because we were both starving. I had skipped breakfast in order to get the menu plan/grocery list done, and my husband skipped breakfast to do the laundry containing our picture-taking clothes.
Commissary (OOP: $15.32; Savings: $14.74 and then some)
I'm so sick of this trip, so if you would like to read about my
fiasco at the commissary this afternoon, read my post on it and save me from having to deal with it again.
Total OOP: $108.51
Total Savings: around $125
We spent a lot today, but at the same time we also got a lot, so I think it's even. It's important to count your pennies, but at the same time it's important to know when to relax and step back to look at the bigger picture.
