I was checking Walgreen's ad for next week. Boost are free again next week. That's too bad I don't drink the stuff.... Theragram M is still giving out $10 catalina for $12 purchase. I was glad to see mayonnaise are sale for $1 each. I was getting low on them! Time to stock up!

Since I got some nice comments for my "Deals I did on Saturday", here's how I really did it.

First of all, "catalina" is the coupon stores print out when you check out. I'm sure you have received these but never paid any attention. Next time you go to grocery shopping, pay attention to what your cashier gives you. Sometimes they are just advertisement, but these are called "catalina."

Anyway, Walgreens now have catalina machine. They had Kotex deal a couple of weeks ago, "Buy $10, get $10 savings for next shopping." I bought $10 worth of Kotex products and got $10 catalina back, thus, free Kotex. I did this several times and stocked them up. After getting Kotex, they had vitamin deal. I bought $12 worth of vitamins and got $10 back. So far, $2 out of pocket and a bunch of Kotex products and two bottles of vitamins. I still have the catalina of $10 that the store printed from vitamin deal. So, I took that $10, and bought the things I listed in my blog. So, yes, to be really accurate, I paid little more than $15 for 10 packages of Kotex products, two bottles of vitamins (130 counts), 24 bottles of water, 2 packages of Hefty garbage bags, and 2 cans of Cutter spray.

For Safeway, General Mills is giving out Free Milk everywhere in June. (Buy 3 GM products, get a gallon of free milk, buy 6 GM products, get two gallons of free milk.) Safeway had some good in-ad coupons for GM products a couple of weeks ago. I bought two boxes of Nature Valley cereal, two boxes of Cinnamon Toast crunch, two boxes of fruit roll up and paid $8 for them. Then, I got two Free Milk catalina it has $4.50 value. The beauty of this catalina is it gives us an overage. Two gallons of milk is actually less than $6 at Safeway. (It's cheaper when you buy two.) So, I bought two gallons of milk for $6 and gave $9 worth of catalinas that gives me $3 overage. I used this $3 to pay for other things I bought. So, Yes, to be really accurate, I paid $11.84 for 4 boxes of cereals, 2 boxes of fruit roll ups, 2 gallons of milk, 2 bags of red seedless grape, a package of celery, a melon, and a red onion.

I went to Walgreens, bought 24 bottles of water, 2 packages of Hefty garbage bags, 2 cans of Cutter (bug spray.) Paid $3.

Then, I went to Safeway, bought 2 gallons of milk, 2 bags of red seedless grape, a package of celery, a melon, and a red onion. Paid $3.84.

I love having catalinas & coupons.

I drove my daughter and her friend to the band camp in San Jose. It's about 150 miles away from where I live, so I drove more than 300 miles in one day. That's a lot.... It cost about $30 for gas, and I gave her $60 to spend during the camp. She shouldn't need much money since the camp fee included meals. But, just in case.

I saw the camp schedule and it is busy. Their days starts at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast, and ends at 10:00 p.m. I think she will like it because she is the type of person who needs to be entertained 24/7 LOL

I will be getting my tuition back this Friday's paycheck. Yeah! I need to turn around and pay for next semester's tuition by July 2nd, so it really helps to get the money back before the due date.

College tuition is going up and up and up. My daughter will be going to college in three years, so my goal is to get my degree before she graduates from high school. She hasn't made up her mind about the school she wants to go to. Sometimes she mentions about UC Berkley, sometimes school around Boston. (She loves Boston for some reason....) I hope we can support her school choice when the time comes.

It was hilarious!! He has such a good sense of humor, and this is how business people should be.

Our management can learn a thing or two from Mr. Buffet.

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2006ltr.pdf

I should not write too much detail here because this is about my in-laws.

Let's just say, I don't have much sympathy to people who ask for money help because they didn't prepare themselves.

I feel bitter about these people because I had to struggle myself because I lost my father when I was young. I worked hard, saved hard, and never asked other people to help me for money. I always kept my emergency fund, so I don't have to bother other people. If I can't do something due to lack of money, I simply won't do it.

So, it really bothers me when people call us and ask for $$. I'm talking about the person in her 40s, not a teenager. And, she has a husband, not a single mom. My husband felt really sorry for her, so he sent her some money but I just don't understand it. By the way, the last time my husband saw her was 15 years ago.

I'm not talking about her in particular, but people who expect other people to help them in general. I know there are some catastrophic event. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the situations they could prepare for it, but they didn't. I just don't get it.

As you, fellow parents, all know, kids are expensive!! We only have one, so we tend to overspend on her. I guess I'm not complaining. At the end, kids are "priceless." Am I right?

Here's this week's spending for our daughter....

Band camp $480
Sunsplash summer pass $60
Book for summer reading $20
Reeds and sheet music $50

She just told me she was accepted to play for the local youth symphony orchestra. We need to pay for membership that is about $400. Then, she was nominated to go to students' summit next summer. The cost is $2300, excluding airfare, so at the end, it will be about $3,000 plus. Its installment is due soon, too.

I have to say, she is a nice kid, and very talented. So, I'm telling myself this is a good investment.

Man.... we only have one and costing this much! I don't know how people with five kids survive!!

I changed my commuting route yesterday to go to a couple of Walgreens. I expected to see empty shelve for Kotex, but they were there!!

I used my gift card to pay for them, so my out of pocket is none so far. Maybe I should do this a couple more times to stock these up.

Now, I have to think about things to buy with my catalinas. John Frieda shampoo is on sale and they also have rebate. Sales price 4/$20, and the rebate is $10. I have 2/$3 coupons, so using two coupons, my out of pocket will be $1 per shampoo or conditioner.

These shampoos are more than $6 at the regular price. (Hard to believe there are people actually pay this much....) Maybe I can give it a try.

I haven't bought any of FAR items at Walgreens this month, so I can buy these items and get rebates for them, too.

Kotex products are FREE this week at Walgreens.

They have 2/$10 deal and you will receive a $10 catalina that's good for next purchase.

The beauty is, you can roll (use the catalina to next Kotex purchase) your catalina.

After stocking up enough of them use the last catalina to buy rebate items, such as Rimmel foundation. You can get your $$ back that way with 10% extra if you choose to receive it in the form of gift card.

I love Walgreens : )

MSN Money had an article "Brown Bag challenge." Well, I'm a brown bagger myself.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ConsumerActionGuide/TakeTheBrownBagChallenge.aspx

Here's my meal plan for today.

Breakfast: Nature Valley Oats'n Honey Cereal & Milk
General Mills is offering free milk everywhere this month with their product purchase. I bought $8 worth of their products, and got 2 gallons of milk for free. ($9 worth.) My family use milk a lot, so to me, it was free General Mills products with my milk purchase. Well, we buy milk anyway. So, my cereal is free while my milk is, let's say, 25 cents.

Cost of breakfast: 25 cents

Lunch: Left over from last night's dinner

Cost of lunch: zero

Total cost of today's meal at work: 25 cents

Since I made my last entry.

Recently, I reached my major financial goal. My 401K savings exceeded 100K.

This is a big milestone for me.... to bring the number to 6 figures. My first goal was to save the amount equivalent to my annual income. (which wasn't hard because I don't make much LOL) Aaaand, I set another goal to save 100k. It really helped that I saved 20% of my gross income for three years. After those three years, I had to improve my cash flow, so I'm only saving 6% now. (With 6% contribution, I can fetch company's match.) The stock market was down during years I saved 20% of my salary, so I guess it really helped to boost my balance.

My next target is 250K. I know it will take a while, but I will do it!