Wags ~ Free Markers & Cheap Shave Cream

Walgreens trip 8/14/2011:

Cost : $76.14
Wags Coupon Savings : $8.00
Wags Advertised Savings : $36.00
MFG Coupon Savings : $29.00.
Paid : $3.14 ~ 96% savings!

Shaving Cream with Wag in store coupon - $1.99 each
Used 2-$1.50/1 printable coupon from Coupons.com
Final cost $.49 each for two
Used 2-$1.00/1 printable coupon from Coupons.com
Final Cost $.99 each for two
(these coupons I printed three weeks ago and hadn't had a chance to use them yet)

Dry Erase Markers on sale for $3.99 ~ with Wags in store coupon - $.99 each
Used 3 -$2.00/2 printable coupon from Coupons.com
Final cost $FREE!

Next to Free Toothpaste

I'm a little picky about my toothpaste so whenever I get Sensodyne coupons I always make sure I check out Target's Travel Size Toothpaste. Not all the Sensodyne coupons will work for these so you have to read the fine print.

Today I cleaned out my Coupon Binder and there were two coupons One for $1/1 Sensodyne Pronamel and one for $.75/1 Any Sensodyne. So I was able to get 16 for $1.88 or $.12 each! Better yet I had a $5 Gift Card from a deal a couple of weeks ago on Hair Dye so I had no out of pocket costs.

**Target note: The cashier told me that they have a "New" policy that you can't get more than 6 of the same item with coupons. So he had to ring mine up in three different transactions. When I asked for a copy of the policy he showed me his copy and the "6 of one item per family" was hand written in. I'm not sure how well that will hold up but next time I go I will keep this in mind. So make sure you check with your Target if you are getting more than 6 of the same item and using coupons for all of them.**

Homemade Laundry Soap

I've been making my own laundry soap for over a year and a half now and I love how much money it has saved our family.

This one batch lasts my family of 5 for 6-8 months.

I make the first recipe and love it! I've used the Fels-Naptha and Zote soap before. I prefer the Fels-Naptha over the Zote. It seems to dissolve better than the Zote Soap does.

Remember there is no smell to this soap so if you are used to a highly perfumed laundry soap this might be a change for you. I use the bounce dryer bars so all my clothes come out smelling like that!

The first time I made this it cost me about $5-$6 for the supplies and another $4-$8 for the bucket and a smaller container to put the soap in for easy pouring. At the time I didn't have a left over bottle of laundry soap. I've also used an empty milk jug before and that works well too. Just make sure you mark the bottle clearly as it does look a little like juice. Don't want the kids getting into it.

All these supplies can be found at your local Walmart. I had a little trouble at the local grocery stores not having all the items.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

~ Melinda ~

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2 per batch.

Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes

Recipe #1
1 Cup White Vinegar
Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.

Recipe #2

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

Expired Coupons ~ On their way to Turkey!

I'm sending out the first envelope of expired coupons to our Adopted base in Incirlik, Turkey!

$840.69 worth of coupons heading there way!

I'll keep a running total on the right side of the blog.

Commissary Deals

Today there were a lot of extra coupons at the Commissary. Peel Pad's everywhere!

Here are a few of the deals I got today:

Country Time powdered Juice - $1.25 each after Peel Coupon
8 oz Mustard - $.49 after Peel coupon/I used one from a box of Pretzels that I had purchased
Hormel Kids Meals - $.50 each after coupon from inserts
Wacky Mac - $.79 each after coupon from inserts
Old El Paso Salsa - $2.08 each after printable coupon (had to buy 3 for coupon)
Old El Paso Seasoning Packets - $.18 each after coupon from inserts
Soy Sauce - $.15 after printable coupon
Chex Mix - $.59 each after printable coupon
Lysol Toilet bowl Cleaner - $.79 each after Peel Coupon
Mr Clean Erasers - $.52 per package of 2 after coupon from inserts

All the insert coupons I used came from either the 5/1 or 5/8 coupon inserts.
The Printable coupons came from Coupons.com

I saved about $40 on my trip today and was able to stock up on a few things for my stockpile.

Commissary Deals

I had a 30 minute break between one grocery store trip and having to pick up my kids from school so I made a quick trip to the Commissary.

The Carefree pantyliner's were FREE!! Note the coupon from this past weekend said "Free up to $1 OR $1 off" So there was no overage on these because they were under a dollar they just took off the actual price.

Toothbrushes I paid around $.50 for each of them. The coupon I had was $2 off two and it was a printable I've had in my binder for awhile that was about to expire.

The Propel I paid around $2.50 for all of them! This coupon was in the Pepsi insert on 5/1. It was for $1 off one propel or one 6pk propel zero. The individual propels I was able to get two for under a dollar and the remaining went toward my other purchases. To make a bigger money maker I could have just purchased 6 single bottles. Used my 6 coupons and I would have had made about $3.60 on those. Since my girls like these I just decided to use as much of the coupon value as I could for the Propels.

The pink pull ups I paid $6.95 each and the over nights I paid full price for.

Saved $20.90 in coupons.
Paid under $30 for all the items in the picture. (the pull ups alone full price would have been $27.00)

When the Budget over rides the Stockpile!

When the Budget over rides the Stockpile!

I started this morning with my printed list of deals from Walgreens that are items we would use. I took that list to my coupon binder and started gathering the coupons that went with those deals and marking on my list how many of each I thought I should buy.

Next I went back to my computer to edit my list. Some of the items on the original list I decided we either didn't need this week or I didn't have the right coupons to make it a great deal. After editing my master list I started making my "Transactions" list. With Register Rewards it's very important to understand how each transaction is going to work to your full advantage. So I'm typing away placing each item in the right transaction to get the biggest bang for my buck.

Then I stepped back and did a few "totals" calculations. I totaled up all my OOP (out of pocket) costs vs my over all coupon and RR savings.

And that's where it hit me. 30 minutes into planning my Walgreens shopping trip. The "budget" was going to over rule the good deals that would add to my beautiful stockpile. Even though all these items were things we would use and they were Amazing prices, bottom line, the budget this pay period won't support me spending $20 so I can save $16 on items we probably wouldn't even use for another three weeks or so.

It's OK to NOT take advantage of every good deal there is each week. Know what your budget is, Know your limits, Know your stockpile and how long it will last your family. This is how you will succeed above and beyond with your couponing ventures.

So in the end ~ I scrapped the entire list. I have item's I'd like to go purchase at Walgreens on Friday but they are not Must Haves so If there isn't enough funds after the regular Grocery Shopping trip than that's ok!

Save where you can and be ok with walking away from a great deal if you need to!

~ Melinda ~