Frugal Update #12 - More frugal steps at home and making a profit at CVS!

Well . . . I'm over the initial shock of all the Gather changes and decided I'd publish my first article on the 'NEW Gather."

I had an amazing experience at CVS, as the title might hint. I made 2 stops as I had a couple of errands to run and one CVS was near my first errand - then I figured I wouldn't have to convice the clerk to let me  do three transactions!

First transaction: Maybeline Makeup (buy $20 get $10 EB)

Purchased 3 items
(2 of which were on sale): $26.86
used EB from previous trip-15.00
subtotal after EB's used    $11.86
had b1g1 coupon so saved -8.99
for a negative balance of    $2.87
then used $1 off coupon +  1.00
PROFIT FOR TRANSACTION: $3.87 - they would not/could not give me cash back and wanted to subtract the $3.87 from the $15.00 EB's but I said I didn't think that was fair, so the manager gave me a $3.87 gift card! PLUS I GOT $10 EB'S FOR BUYING THE MAYBELINE!

Second transaction (2nd store):

Crest Healthy Radiance $12.99
minus previous $10 EB -  10.00
for a subtotal of only      $2.99
then $3.00 coupon - I ended up paying 14cents - (tax) plus received $5 EB for buying Crest Healthy Radiance

Third transaction (still at 2nd store):

2 Colgate toothpaste  $7.00
Listerine breath strips   3.99
3 item subtotal of         10.99
FINAL SUBTOTAL W/TAX $11.44
minus $5 EB from Crest -   5.00
Subtotal after using EB     6.44
minus $5.50 bonus EB's  - 5.50
FINAL TRANSACTION TOTAL  .93 I paid with my Gift card.  Plus received $2.00 for Colgate purchase!

I have $2.94 left on the gift card and $2.00 EB to spend next time!!!!

OTHER FRUGAL STEPS:

Yesterday I started a batch of sourdough starter mix, mixed up some Oatmeal Cookie Mix and some All Purpose Convenience Mix (all three of these recipes can be found posted in the group homemademixes.gather.com). I have been collecting 1 gallon ice cream tubs and I used two of them for the sourdough and all purpose mixes. I have a plastic "canister" I've used for years for the Oatmeal cookie mix.  Then we realized we could use the 1 gallon containers to collect rain, rather than a big trash can sized container. We just don't get that much rain at one time and by using the ice cream tubs to collect the rain for watering the plants, we're really recycling twice! Plus we don't have to use our Home Depot cards from Gather to buy a trash can.

I've almost used up all the toxic household cleaning items we have. We've switched to a bleach/water mixture for spraying down the shower and today I bought 2 biodegradable cleaners in pump bottles at the $1 store. After the cleaner is used up I'll make some homemade cleaner but I needed these bottles as they don't have any metal springs. The spray bottle I bought for the bleach/water mixture has started to erode the metal spring so my husband suggested I look for spray bottles with no metal. Since there weren't any empty ones like that I figured I'd do the next best thing.

My collection of freebies/giveaways is growing and I'm going to have to bag them up because I've filled up the shelf in the linen closet with the larger items and had started "storing" the smaller samples on the guest bed. My daughter IM'd me this morning that she and her husband will be down next weekend, so I need to clear off that bed!!

Well, I'm off to the grocery store.