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Archive for September, 2007

Monterey trip

September 30th, 2007 at 05:49 am

I'm on my little weekend trip with my daughter and a couple of her best friends. This trip is her 16th birthday gift.

We left Sacramento this morning, stopped by Outlet in Vacaville for few hours. Then, drove through Golden Gate Bridge and took route 1.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon drive, and traffic was not bad at all. It is just beautiful here.

We will go to Monterey aquarium tomorrow. Girls are really excited about it.

I will be working on my homework and project, though.

This trip will cost quite a bit, but I clip coupons and save money in other areas so I can do things really matter to me.

A trip to Walgreens

September 26th, 2007 at 09:49 pm

I made a quick trip to Walgreens near my office during lunch time.

I bought:
Zicam (Cold medicine) $6 - $4 (rebate) - $0.5 (coupon)
Tylenol Cold (Daytime) $5 - $1 cpn.
Tylenol Cold (Nighttime) $5 - $1 cpn.
Tylenol Extra Strength 100 tablets + 25% bonus : ) ($7.5 - $1 cpn) x 2
Pantene hair spray $4.99 - $4.99 rebate = Free
Rimmel make up $8.99 - $8.99 rebate = Free
Aquafresh toothbrush $3.99 - $3.99 rebate = Free
Tax $3.80
Since I bought $25 worth of participating products (Tylenol), I got $10 catalina, and I will get the rebate that is 10% more since I will request it to be reimbursed to my gift card.

So, after coupons & rebates, my final price is $14.50 including sales tax.

The deal is over....

September 26th, 2007 at 06:13 pm

The wonderful "Buy 20 get $20 off" deal at Safeway ended yesterday. I stocked up some Capri Sun, and I was done with the deal. With Kellogg, Quaker, and Safeway deal, I'm stocked up on cereals, oatmeal, granola bars, fruits snacks, Capri Suns, Progresso soup, and cake/muffin mixes. We will be fine in the breakfast and snack dept. for next several months.

Now, I'm keeping my eyes on cold medicines for upcoming winter. Walgreen's was giving out an immunity booster by Thera Flu last week and I wish I made an efforts to get more. I only got one just see what it's like, and it really worked well. I like Thera Flu in general, and I actually "pay" for them.

We got our cost accounting test back, and I got 91% which isn't too bad. Only 4 people got more than 90% for the test, so I'm happy with my score. Now, I'm working on my tax project which isn't going too smoothly. I always used Tax software when I filed my tax, and ours isn't that complicated like the case in project. I need to ask my classmates how they're doing. I have one paper to write by Friday, and need to watch my philosophy class video.

As for work, we are wrapping up for the fiscal year end. Next week is going to be pretty crazy closing all the numbers. We missed the sales target, but we are fine with the profits. So, I'm not too worried. I'm just watching movements of my business assets nervously.....

Not much going on....

September 24th, 2007 at 06:44 pm

Not too much was going on this weekend in terms of deals. I spent my Saturday morning in my classroom, went straight to DD's school where she had a marching band practice. We also went to get our hair cuts that was waaaaay overdue.

I started my project for the tax class, but I was so confused how my teacher gave us the project material. So, I did what I could, and stopped doing it.

Baked a loaf of banana bread and peanut butter cookies. I guess I was bored on Sunday.

By the way, my DD's homecoming week is coming up. She needs to find a dress (and we need to buy it....), then, hair, make up, shoes, etc.... Ahhhh! Homecoming week is crazy busy and expensive, too.

Target rocks!

September 21st, 2007 at 05:25 pm

I stopped by Target to get more free tuna. I don't have enough nerve to get 10 free tuna at visit LOL So, I'm doing like two or three at a time. I needed some contact lens solution anyway, so I was going to combine my free tuna with the solution purchase, so I pay something at the cashier when I check out. I really don't like to stand out by not paying anything at the cashier and walk away from the store.

Anyhow, I went to the eye care isle. OK, Renu was $6.99. Opti Free was also in that price range, but I have $1 off cpn. so I'm thinking, hmmmm, maybe I should go back to my car and get a coupon for it. Then, I found Target brand contact lens solution for $2.74!! It was the clearance price, but this is great price for the solution. I love Target : )

On top of the cheap contact lens solution, I got a couple more free 7 oz. tuna pouch.

You may think I'm doing so much drive around and wasting gas. Well, fortunately (or unfortunately), I live in the area saturated with stores. It happened AFTER we bought our house. After we moved

When I came home, I found a mail form Kellogg. Yeah!! I got my $10 back!! It really made my day.




Free Excedrin

September 20th, 2007 at 11:57 pm

I got some free Excedrin from Rite Aid. Keeping them in my office drawer.....

Excedrin 50 ct. (various kinds) 2 for $10
Less $2 cpn x 2 = $4
Less Rite Aid rebate $5
Less Excedrin rebate $2.99

$1.99 profit to cover tax and postage for the rebate

Something I did for the first time

September 20th, 2007 at 05:00 pm

I took a day off from work yesterday. My workload is slow during the middle of the month, and will get really crazy towards month-end. So, I took a break.

Also, I had the first exam for cost accounting last night. So, I wanted to study a little. It was nice to be able to spend a couple of hours reading the book and review some things for the test.

Anyhow, I found a lady who is trading her Quaker rebate form. I sent her a message and traded with coupons she wanted. This is going to be a money maker since I paid $3.5 for the products and will get $5 back. I love the deals like this.

I also bought some hair color. OK, I confess. I always went to salon to get my hair colored. Yes, it's expensive! But I was afraid I screw it up and my hair will look terrible. Well, I don't care anymore. I'm at the age I really don't care what other people think how I look. So, I went ahead and colored hair myself, and it turned out to look pretty darn good! I'm so happy because I spent little $$ buying hair color.

I bought 6 boxes of Garnier hair color at Longs.
$4.99 per box x 6 = $29.94
Less three BOGO cpn -$14.97
Less "Buy $25 and get $10" Longs rebate -$10
Final price $4.97 for 6 boxes of hair color, 82.8 cents per box. I'm set for next six months, I guess.

This and that

September 18th, 2007 at 06:57 pm

It took me FOREVER to come to work this morning because there was 5 car accident on I-80. I'm already exhausted.

I have my first test for Cost Accounting Class and I need to study. So, I decided to take a day off tomorrow. I have about 120 hours of paid time off, and I should use some. My PTO was accumulated to more than 200 hours, then I took three weeks vacation to go to Japan. I'm comfortable having around 100 hours of PTO in my book.

I need to start planning about the trip to Monterey the end of this month. I'm taking my DD and her two friends to Monterey. This is my DD's 16th B.D. gift trip. I googled a map and it's about 200 miles from Sacramento. I'm thinking about route 1 just to enjoy the scenery. It's so beautiful to drive from San Francisco to Monterey. I need to skip my Saturday class, but it's o.k. I will still do my paper and submit, so I can earn some points for it.

BTW, I got some free tuna from Target last night. I will make some tuna sandwich for lunch tomorrow Smile



Fall is a great season for deals

September 17th, 2007 at 11:24 pm

I forgot about it. Fall is a great season. Everyone seems to catching up after deal drought summer.

Free tuna: Starkist tunas are $1.50 at target. With $1 manufacture and 50 cents Target cpn, free tuna.

Safeway deal: Buy 20 get $20 off deal is still going on till next week. So far, I stocked up on muffin mix, Progresso soup, granola bars, etc. I heard individual Snapple may be participating item. If it's true, they are free, too.

Garnier: Longs Drug is running Garnier rebate, buy $25 get $10 gift card. It's time to match up cpns, and their prices. I know there's BOGO cpns for hair color. It may come handy.


Two deals done already!

September 16th, 2007 at 06:31 pm

It's 10:30 in the morning, and I already did two deals.

First Safeway:
16 cans of Progresso soup
4 boxes BC Fruit rolle up snacks
Final price $5.30

Second Safeway:
1 Eating right frozen dinner
2 Warm delight mini bowl
1 Dreyer's 1.75 Qt. ice cream
Final price $1.80

I love when all the deals come out the way it's supposed to be!!

Too many things to do!!

September 16th, 2007 at 02:18 am

And I'm writing this blog LOL

I had some time to relax during summer because I didn't take any classes. Now, I'm taking four classes, and constantly doing something while working full-time. It's crazy.

My daughter also volunteers me to her student body activities as a parent's help. I'm also the treasure for her marching band's parent support group.

So, I don't have much time to do things around house. It is not really good for my mental health to see a pile of laundry or dishes in the sink. OK, I have a husband who hardly helps me in the house. He does "yard work" like he has so much to do.

We've been married for 20 yrs. and I know it's waste of my time to ask him to do something. So, I don't. And, no, I don't want the "D" word. It's not worth it.

Anyhow, now back to study for my first exam next week, cook dinner, clean the sink, finish up laundry, and make a grocery shopping list.

Gee! I haven't been to Safeway this week to do any deals! I should take a day off next week from work.

School keeps me busy

September 13th, 2007 at 07:40 pm

It's only second week into the fall semester, and I'm already tired. So many things to do and too little time....

Nice thing is that the subjects I'm taking is pretty interesting. It really is worth my time.

I will go to the dinner preparation place tonight and prep some meals. I don't think I will sign up for October because I didn't find the menu attractive enough to pay more than $10 per mea. I learned how to prepare meals in advance with pre-made sauce with zip-loc bag from them. I also got a nice hint about the ingredients they use they are suitable for freezing. I consider the fee I paid as a lesson fee.

I still haven't got FAR items from Walgreens this month. Just been too busy!! I should make a quick trip today.



Stocked up on oatmeal

September 12th, 2007 at 09:23 pm

I went to Save Mart last night, and bought 5 boxes of Quaker oatmeals.

$2 per box x 5 = $10
Less 70 cents coupon x 5 = $3.5
Less $3 in ad coupon
Final price $3.50

Stocked up on muffin mix

September 11th, 2007 at 09:40 pm

I received muffin mix coupons from coupon clipping service yesterday Smile Just in time. The sale ends today for BC muffin mix. I used my last box on Sunday, and need more of these.

So, here I go to Safeway near my office. Not so good news was their price was 19 cents more than the store near my house.

Well, I thought about it for a second, and decided to pay 19 cents more per box for 18 boxes, which come out to $3.42 more, since Safeway gave me a nice $10 additional discount last time.

I bought 18 boxes of muffin mix and 2 boxes of Go tarts! Final price $14.42.

I know I can get cake mix for free, but I did the similar deal last year and got a lot of cake mix and muffin mix.

I used all of muffin mix while I still have about 10 boxes of cake mix left.

Lesson: Get more muffin mix even I have to pay for them because I will use them for sure.

A quick trip to Rite Aid

September 10th, 2007 at 09:45 pm

I took a quick trip to Rite Aid during lunch.

Our dogs need new blankets and they have a fleece blanket for $2.49 this week. Also, a couple of FAR (free after rebate items) and free deodorant.

I bought:

4 fleece blanket $2.49 x 4 = $9.96
Colgate toothpaste $2.49 (FAR) - .75 coupon = .75 profit
Deodorant (.99 x 2) - ($1 x 2 coupon) = 0.02 profit
Imodium EZ chew $5.99 (FAR) Free



Sometimes it's good when people are oblivious

September 10th, 2007 at 04:32 pm

I complained about the oblivious cahier the other day. Well, sometimes it works for our benefit.

I went to Safeway yesterday. The coupons I ordered for muffin mix haven't arrived yet, so I was holding to do any deals. But yesterday was the last day for Kraft catalina deal, so I gathered up coupons I have and headed to Safeway. This time, it's the different Safeway from the one I was talking about the other day. People are nicer here.

To make sure the deal works correctly, (as I said before, Safeway deals often are a headache to deal with) I got exactly 20 items and went to check out. At the end, total was $27.38. I though "there's no way these items cost $27.38!" So, I went straight to the customer service counter and told the lady $20 didn't come off. The girl looked at my receipt and the ad I pointed out, but has no idea about the deal.

She asked me what I bought, and she noticed one item I bought was a cake frosting. She told me "it's not in the picture here." I told her "There are more participating items that are not in the picture, and you can go to safeway.com and look at the list." The customer service lady stopped looking at my receipt and simply gave me $20 back, no hassle. Thank you!

After I went back to my car, I was thinking, I know this is a good deal, but I didn't have very many high value coupons, and now the price seems to be too low. $7.38 for 20 items....hmmmm.

I came home and examined my receipt. Well, the way they deduct discount is like step by step. The register scans 5 qualifying items, and takes $5 off, another 5 items, another $5 off, then takes off $10 after the rest of 10 qualifying items are scanned. So, I actually had $10 off already which I didn't realize because I didn't examine the receipt carefully before I went to the customer service. My thinking was "$27.38? No way! Gosh, the safeway computer is making a mistake again!"

So, thanks for the oblivious customer service lady. I got $10 extra discount.

Here's the items I bought:
6 boxes of Capri Sun
2 boxes of BC cake mix
2 BC frosting
2 BC muffin mix
2 boxes of popcorn
2 boxes of Kellogg fruit snack
2 Old el paso Salsa
2 Old el paso Enchilada dinner kit

The real price for all these items was supposed to be $17.38, but I got these for $7.38 due to the error. I think Enchilada dinner kit caused this problem. The store had the tag for this product, but I don't think this is the participating item, only taco dinner kits are. I wonder how store people tag their products????

Anyway, since I bought 5 participating items for Kraft catalina deal, I got $3 catalina. So, the real final price is $4.38.

I'm hoping to receive muffin mix coupons today, so I can stock up some muffin mix.


Great coupon day!

September 9th, 2007 at 05:46 pm

Ohhhhh, I'm in heaven. What a great coupon day!

There are 4 inserts in today's paper. One of them is for Betty Crocker products that I can use very well with Safeway's "Buy 20 get $20 off" promotion.

Today is the day to invest in papers. (Not to read, but to get coupons LOL)

Saturday class

September 8th, 2007 at 10:00 pm

My Saturday class started today. No more sleeping in on Saturdays for next four months.

Got my latte and filled up gas, and off to school. It's the Operation Management class, and I like the subject. I will start writing my paper after this blog.

I will be studying this afternoon, and tomorrow, too. Cheap way to spend a weekend.


Oatmeal

September 8th, 2007 at 12:30 am

I've been stocking up cheap cereals these days. Next week is time to stock up some cheap oatmeal.

70 cents Quaker oatmeal coupons will be coming up this Sunday. I'm planning to buy 5 of them at Save Mart.

$2 x 5 = $10
Less .70 coupon x 5 = $3.5
Less $3 in ad coupon

Final price $3.5 for five, make them 70 cents per box. If I remember right, there are 10 pouches in the box, so 7 cents per breakfast.



Stupid Safeway

September 7th, 2007 at 04:02 pm

I stopped by Safeway to get my coffee this morning. Then, I decided to pick up some cheap cereal, too.

In their ad, Post cereals were 4 for $6. Well, I should know better. The deal at Safeway, especially this one particular store, is a hassle. I bought 4 boxes, and rang up as $10. The register was supposed to take $4 off at the end of the transaction!! I know this cashier in the early morning shift who has "I just work here" attitude. So, it's a waste of time to talk to her. I asked her about the deal anyway, but of course her answer was "I don't know anything about it." HELLOOOO!! Check your store flyer!!

So, I have to stop by the customer service this evening on my way home. Crap!

I want to tell Safeway management. You have very nice promotions, but your execution SUCKS!! Many products are not tagged correctly, not registered in the computer, talking to a cashier is a hassle, and sometimes customer service is a joke. I wonder if they are serious about staying in business.

By the way, assuming this deal works as it supposed to, the deal is like this.

4 boxes of Post cereals.

Sale price $2.5 per box x 4 = $10
Promotion discount -$4 (You need to buy 4 in one shopping order.)
Coupons $1/2 x 2 = -$2
Then, they will give you $3 catalina, a coupon you can use for next shopping.

Final price, $1 for 4 boxes of cereal. 25 cents per box.

UPDATE
I stopped by the store after work, and got my $4 back!! Yeah!

Safeway deal

September 7th, 2007 at 12:00 am

Safeway is having buy 20 items and get $20 off promotion. I need to come up with an idea to get things really cheap....or even free.

So far, I'm thinking about getting some mixes and Capri Suns. Cake mixes are really cheap, or free after coupons, but I still have some from last year's sales. Hmmmm..... should I get those since they're free anyway?

I will buy some muffin mix for sure, though. 50 cents per box for muffin mix is a good price.

A couple of shopping trip

September 6th, 2007 at 04:54 pm

Shopped at Save Mart, and bought:

1 Beef jerky $4.5
1 Quaker oatmeal $2
4 Quaker cereal bars $2 x 4 = $8
5 Pillsbury brownie mix $1 x 5 = $5

Less:
$2 Beef jerky coupon
$3 Quaker coupon from the store ad, buy 5 participating products and get $3 off
$2: $1 x 2 Quaker Sweet & Salty products coupon
$1: $1/2 x 1 Quaker cereal bar coupon
$2: $0.4 x 5 Pillsbury brownie mix coupon

Final price paid $9.50

My receipt says "Coupons savings $10, Saving on sale items $19.09, You saved a total of $29.09, that is a savings of 75%."

Went to Rite Aid, and bought:

5 bags of Reese (11.25 oz) $2 x 5 = $10 (Getting ready for Halloween)
1 Revlon make up $12.99

Less:
$5 Rebate for Reese
$10 Rebate for Revlon
$2 coupon for Revlon

Final price after rebate $5.99




Deals, deals, deals

September 5th, 2007 at 11:36 pm

I got my grocery store ads last night, and looks like a gooood week to shop!! Safeway has buy 20 items and get $20 off thing going on. Time to explore Safeway for price check! I'm planning to stock up some muffin mixes and capri suns.

Save Mart also have a couple of things I was waiting for. Pillsbury brownies are $10/10, using 40 cents coupon and they will be 60 cents each. I used my last box last month and kept waiting for $10/10 sale. Also, beef jerky is $4.50. I can get those for $2.50 each after $2 off coupon.

Bel Air sent me an e-mail with free bread coupon with $10 purchase. I will get a free bread next time I buy milk and fruits there.


Busy day

September 5th, 2007 at 03:50 am

Today's my month-end closing day. I'm in charge of numbers for the dept. with about 10M annual sales.

When I took over this dept., I had no idea what's going on and every day was surprises, in a bad way. The business has been stable last few months, and I finally can see what's going on towards our fiscal year-end which is next month.

I left the office about 5:30 p.m., and stopped by the store to do one deal. I didn't have to, but I just wanted to do for fun.

I bought five Samy products (2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, 1 hair spray) for $2.99 each. I needed a filler to make the total more than $15, but they were out of $1 Aquafresh toothpaste. So, I bought a Rubbermaid container for $1.49. (50% off of regular price.)

Samy $2.99 x 5 = $14.95
Rubbermaid $1.49
total $16.44

Less $2 off coupon for Samy x 5 = $10
$5 off on your next trip coupon

$1.44 for 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, 1 hair spray and a Rubbermaid ware.


$2 off Post it

September 3rd, 2007 at 04:51 am

Since I have enough stuff for my stockpile, I haven't paid much attention to non-food item coupons these days. But when I was organizing coupons the other day, I realized I have a couple of $2/1 any post it product coupons. Well, free post it!

Actually, I can get enough post it at work, and that was the reason the coupon didn't excite me much. But DD can use some free post it.

Entertainment coupons

September 2nd, 2007 at 03:59 am

I bought two sets of 3 piece meal from KFC last night using the entertainment book coupon. DH likes wings. Don't ask me why... So, I got him three pieces of wings and I got myself a tigh and legs three piece meal. Less than $8 for two KFC meals that feed three of us (my DD and I share the meal.) There's no way one of us can eat three pieces.

DD wanted a sandwich for lunch today. So, I used another entertainment coupon for the sandwich shop near our house. Two regular size sandwiches, $7.13. I know, I know, I could make one at home. But, their sandwich is pretty good with variety of meats in them. It made a nice weekend lunch.

Actually, I'm trying to use up entertaiment coupons before they expire. They expire on Nov. 1, so we have a couple of months. I normally buy one from DD's school when new books come out to support their fund raising. Then, I bought an extra one in July for $10 this year. It's totally worth it because it has coupons for Longs Drug and Safeway.

Right now, I'm sitting in my backyard waiting for my tri tip to be done that's on the grill. Save Mart had these $2.99 per lb today. It smells yummy...

Library

September 2nd, 2007 at 01:28 am

My daughter asked me to take her to the bookstore. She has a long list of books recommended to read from her English class. I mean, long list with many book titles....

I thought about it for a second, and said "Let's go to the library."

Unfortunately, our library is small, and I didn't expect that they have all three books she wanted to read this weekend.

But, at least we found one, and we also found "The old man and sea" which is one of books in her list. I told her "This one is short. Get it, and read it this weekend, and just be done with it."

I asked to hold other two books they didn't have today, but the library should get them in 10 days or so.

We haven't been to the library for a long time. One reason is we often cannot find the book we want. But we should usee it more often even we have to wait for the book. It sure will save a good chunck of money.