Phew. I am glad October is over. It seemed like a very long month for us. For the first time since I started this website, I haven’t been able to fully keep track of my spending and saving. I have all of the receipts for my grocery trips in the month of October but I don’t have all of our drugstore receipts.. We had quite a few unexpected drugstore purchases that involved no ECBs, no coupons, etc etc. I sent my husband on quite a few CVS runs early in October.. In fact, I remember one day telling him that I really wanted Starburst Jellybeans and that I didn’t care what the price was or if he used coupons. He came back with two glorious bags of Jellybeans which I managed to finish off in a matter of 4 or 5 days. The thing about couponing is that we will all have unexpected medical expenses some of which are necessities and some of which are not (ahem, my jellybeans). And we will all run into instances where we don’t have coupons to use or *gasp* we choose to go out on a limb and not use coupons! And that is okay! I am going to estimate really high on the drugstore purchases so that my numbers are as close to accurate as possible. (Yes, I am one of those people who always err on the side of caution… 😉
Despite October seeming to be an endless month for me, it was a good month for freebies and deals! I particularly enjoyed the FREE Cascadian Farm Cereal, the FREE Pledge Wipes (I have no excuse for having dust in my house now), the FREE Glade Plugins, the FREE Kraft Deluxe Mac & Cheese and all of the items I bought to receive the P&G Cooking Up Early Detection Breast Cancer Kitchenware Rebate Set. What deals did you enjoy in October??
How did all of you do in October? Did you have any brag worthy experiences? Any bad experiences? I would love to hear your thoughts!
October 2010
Publix Exact Amount Spent: $91.27
Publix Exact Amount Saved: $828.00
Percentage Saved: 90.1%
Estimate CVS Spending: $50.00
Estimate CVS Saved: $0.00
Percentage Saved: 0%
Total Spent in October: $141.27
Total Saved in October: $828.00
Percentage Saved in October: 85.4%
Thanks for coming to Addicted to Saving! Here’s a little bit about me so you can know who’s behind all these posts!
My name is Liza and I began my money-saving journey in the Spring of 2009 as a way to stretch a limited household income. I had lost my job and my hubby was self-employed. I launched Addicted to Saving in November of 2009 and it has grown by leaps and bounds. Since then, my hubby and I have struggled with the ups and downs of two failed adoptions and are now LOVING being parents to our little man Asher who we brought home from Ethiopia in August of 2013. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to help you save money. My goal is that you will have FUN and become empowered to save more and more money each week..
pretty sure I bought these in oct? could have been sept? the strawberry shortcake remote control cars. originally 19.99 each. got four for about $2.50 each (don’t ask) and four for about $1.49 each. that was a toysrus deal. (I might have mistakenly rejoined the birthday club for toysrus when we moved, instead of updating our address) they sent us three of the $3/$3 purchase at toysrus, so I was able to use those on some of the remote control cars.
Psst from General Mills randomly sent me 2 full boxes of Betty Crocker mashed potatoes this month. I’ve gotten so many freebies in the mail lately, it has felt like Christmas. I have received a bounce dryer bar (from viewpoints.com), wicked fresh toothpaste, Glory foods sample, Extra desserts gum, etc. All those freebies means that’s less to buy, and it makes a big difference after a while.
Hi Liza ~ I am very new at couponing. My first month of couponing was Sept which I did pretty good….total register receipts 483.33 and after coupons I paid 74.27 (84.63% savings). My second month was great. October….total register receipts 927.39 and after coupons I paid $89.73 (90.33% savings). My daughter taught me how to do the couponing and we very much appreciate all you do!
My very best deal this month was Velveta cheese. I make the dip with the cheese and ro-tel and sausage and/or burger and my friends love it. Everytime there is a get together they request me to bring it so when Publix had it on sale bogo and Target had.75 of each and I had the $5/5 Kraft coupon, I stocked up, ALOT!!! I also used the Velveta, Ro-tel and got $ of the chips coupon too!!! Liza, thank you so much for your hard work, you have saved us sooooo much with your lists and freebies!!!!
My best deal happened on 9/29/2010 when I got 3 Swiffer Duster Starter sets, 3 Swiffer Refil boxes, 1 Glade Plugin base, 8 Glade Plugin Refills, 2 Bounty rolls and 1 bunch of bananas. My Publix Receipt listed my Total savings at $89.86 and I left the store with Publix giving me $1.25 change. I know this isn’t suppose to happen and when I realized I had mis-calculated I was looking around getting ready to throw a couple of candy bars down and the manager said don’t worry about it – he’d give me the change! That works for me!
Liza, you’re the best. I follow several blogs – but you’re the one e-mail I look forward to the most.