Even though I was really tired last night after my class, I stopped by Safeway to grab some cheap stuff.

I handed my cashier 12 coupons. She was nice, but did not know much about ringing up coupons, and messed all up. The line behind me was getting longer and it was obvious this guy behind me was really frustrated. I told him "Sorry...." Then, he just said "It's not your fault." What a nice guy!

Anyway, I ended up going to customer service counter, but she corrected everything and I got 22 Trident gums, 3 Oreos and a jar of peanuts for $20.75 and received $20 catalina. So, final price was 75 cents.

I didn't use my previous catalina like I was planning to because I did not add anymore confusion to this transaction, so I have $40 worth of catalina in my wallet. They don't expire till mid-August, so I am fine with it. I will need to buy milk, vegetables, meat, etc. that I will not have any coupons for.

I stopped by Rite Aid this morning on the way to work, and picked up a box of Electrasol and Crest toothpaste. I paid $3.65 after a coupon including tax and will get $4.99 back from their rebate. Not too bad.

Safeway if finally running another promo, buy 25 and get $20 catalina. So, if you buy exactly 25 items, it's 80 cents off from each items. It can be a good deal when combining with sale and coupons.

Bad thing about the Safeway deal is, it can be very confusing and frustrating. The list of participating products is 30 pages long, but they put hardly any tags on shelves that makes it really had for us to identify what are qualified items.

I did my homework and went to Safeway yesterday. I bought six bags of Fresh Express salad kit. They are $4.29 a bag, but buy one get one free this week, and they have $1 off coupons. That makes them 35 cents each. ($4.29 - $2 - $1.6 = 69 cents for 2 bags.) Trident gum was also participating items and they are $1.25 each and there's BOGO coupons for them. So, they can be a money maker. I only bought 10 Trident to make sure I have enough number of participating products yesterday.

Today is the last day of sale cycle, and I am planning to buy
22 Trident $1.25 x 22 = 27.5
3 Oreo $2.5 x 3 = $7.5
1 Planers peanuts $3
Total $38

Less
11 x 1.25 = $13.75
$3 off Planters product with purchase of 3 Nabisco products
$20 catalina from last trip

Final out of pocket $1.25 and get another $20 catalina.

I had some time to go out and score a couple of deals. I have 5 of $5/5 Target coupon and haven't had a chance to use them. So, this is my first deal using the coupon. The cashier was smart enough to know how to operate the cash register when coupons beeped.

Target
Dog treats 1 $2.19 x 2 = $4.38
Dog treats 2 $2.64
Revlon Eye shadow $5.44 x 2 = $10.88
Revlon Eyeliner $6.59
Stay free 18 ct $2.84 x 4 = $11.36
Johnson Baby lotion $2.09
Total $37.94

Coupon used
Dog treats 1 $1/2
Dog treats 2 $1/1
Revlon coupon $2/1 x 3
Target Revlon coupon $3/1 x 3
Stay Free BOGO coupon $2.84 x 2
Johnson Baby lotion $1/1
Target coupon $5/5
Coupon total $28.68
Final price paid $9.26

Walgreens

My DD uses Sunsilk products and she loves them. Walgreen has buy 4 and get $5 back deal this week, and Sunsilk coupons had an expiration date on 7/13. So, I ran to Walgreens and bought those.

Sunsilk hair product $2.99 x 4 = $11.94
Less coupons $1.5 x 4 = $6
Price paid $5.96
Received $5 coupon good for next purchase
Actual out of pocket $.96

Whew! One of my summer classes ended yesterday. The class is called "Perception of Leisure" and I thought it will be just play class, but it was much deeper than that. The class taught student how to design life for a better living, and I wish I had taken this class 20 years ago. This class talks about setting goals and briefly touches about finance as well. I think it's great that the class told student about a ridiculous credit card interest and how quickly it accumulates.

It has been super hot and smoky around here. We had to have A/C on almost 24/7 and I am not looking forward to seeing next utility bill. I'm getting tired of paying so much for gas, too. I wanted to go to Walgreens during lunch, but I changed my mind after paying $50 for gas this morning. I will just stay here and not wasting gas for running unnecessary errands.

Not much progress on my EF. I kind of lost my momentum now. 90K mile maintenance for my car is coming up soon, too. Well, it's cheaper than having a car payment, so I shouldn't complain.

Safeway is having a deal now, but I cannot figure out what to buy from them. This will be my weekend project to figure out the best deal.

I was totally slacking off in June. I guess I kind of run out gas for personal finance related stuff. It's new month, and I started keeping records of my spending again.

My DD came back from NYC/DC trip that took us almost a year to save up. Now, we need to start saving for her Europe trip next summer which is about 5K. This kid is so expensive.... Well, I know, I know. We let her be that way.

As much as I complain, I know I'm paying for them because I want to. She is only child I have and I want her to have experiences that are priceless.

NYC/DC trip was about 3K. In this trip, she met all kinds of people from world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and they had interesting background. One girl's father (the girl is from Nigeria) is a General Assembly member of U.N. And another girl's father (this girl is from Mexico) is a diplomat in Brazil. My DD learned a lot from this trip about international affairs and this trip also helped her to narrow down the direction she will be headed. 3K for us is a lot of money, but if we can squeeze it to educate her, I think it is a good investment.

OK, enough about the kid.

Like I wrote in my previous posting, there's not much deals going on. I got a new store flyer on Tuesday and looked through them. I found nothing. One store had BBQ sauce for 99 cents, and there were 50 cents off coupons for them, but the coupons expired on 6/30. Darn!! 2 days too late. I guess I will sit back and relax until killer deals are coming to my way.