I headed out shopping this morning. There was a deal with overage at Safeway. Raincheck pickup at Foodlion. Lowest price at Walmart.

Safeway was:

8 Carefree, 4 Skippy Natural Peanut Butter, 2 "O" Organic Teas, 2 Compleat Meals/Hormel = $47.61
$47.61 - 46.97Disc/MFQ = .64 (.12 was tax) The Carefree will go to the food pantry + 2 peanut butter.

Foodlion was a raincheck pickup for my SIL. 4 tides at 4.88 = 19.52 - 4MFQ = 15.52 + 1.18tax = 16.70. She was thrilled with the price.

Walmart was to pickup mom her Caltrate. It was the lowest price I could find for 200 pills at 13.97 after coupon. Anyone with ideas for cheaper let me know. My has severe Osteoporosis controlled with meds to mild.

I've been clipping expired coupons to send to Marines and their families stationed in Japan. Its something I can do for those serving so far from home on this Memorial Day.

My son is at a training camp in California. Its the training all Marines go thru before heading to Afghanistan. He is supposed to be camping in the desert at a machine gun range right now. The Corps has informed him he has a natural apptitude for machine guns why didn't he sign up for machine guns when he joined? Duh! I could only think perhaps he would have known if that was taught in HS. Yeah, right! I can picture that now. Heaven help us all. Otherwise, how would he know he has a "natural apptitude for machine guns". I swear and declare my eyes are rolling.

I know its not summer camp, but I would love pictures as he goes thru the training process. One week down, 3 more before he comes home for a 2 week leave.

I had lunch with my mom and sister today. I had a Chilis $25 gc I got from points earned on my credit card. Normally I would not get a Chilis gc. I like Chilis, but they are 40 mins drive away. However, marketing got me. The hunger for a better deal. LOL. I spent the same points I would for a gc but if I got a Chilis they would throw in an extra $5 gc for movie tickets, a dinner and movies promo. I've had the gc for months, gave my niece the movie gc.

Finally mom was well enough to travel to Annapolis to go to Chilis. Yea! At the last minute my sis said she could go also. Another Yea! We had alot of fun. A girls day out. We had hoped they would have a promo running but it ended last week, boo. The service was incredibly good and the food very good.

When we got back my son was there waiting for us. I'm not sure how my day could get better.

After dropping mom off and visiting with DS, my sis and I headed to Safeway and Giantfood for mom. I have been giving away $10 off $50 purchase coupons to Safeway because I never spend $50 after all coupons and deductions. Today, shopping for mom I could finally use it. She can't shop for herself anymore. Dad doesn't like the grocery store and procrastinates something fierce when asked to go. However, Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowe's don't seem to be a problem, lol.

Perhaps the best way to save is to take pleasure in the company of others, its free.

I didn't do any shopping for myself. Guess I'll do it tomorrow.

I took Mom to the Doctors so I drove her in her car. We stopped a few places for me and a few for her.

CVS
Scanned my ExtraCare Card and got coupons for $1 off CVS brand paper product and $1 off CVS brand skin care item.

Travel pack of Cotton Swabs .99
Travel pack of Skin Wipes .99
Both CVS Brand
Total after CVS coupons FREE, not even tax

Riteaid
Schick Razor 8.99
Crest 3D Toothpaste 2.99
(4) Compleats Meals
Hormel @1.99 ea 7.96

Minus (4)MQ Compleats 4.00
MQ 3D TP 1.00
MQ Schick 3.00
$5/20 5.00

= $7.36 (inc.tax)
Riteaid Rebates are $8 (2TP+6Razor)
Or .64 moneymaker Free Free

CVS has toilet paper 2/$1 this week or 2 for Free.
I am still working on the Soldier Project so I chose not to purchase the toilet paper. For free I would try a roll and donate the other. Some other time I guess.

Walmart has travel packs of Huggie Wipes 16ct for .97 and I have a $1 MQ they can adjust down to .97. I have enough MQs to finish the wipes for the project.

To Date the Project Has:
38 Body Washes
38 Pkg of Razors
38 Dental Floss
38 Toothpaste
38 Toothbrushes

Will Have:
38 Wipes

Still Need:
16 Deodorants
18+/- Cotton Swabs

There are also assorted female products for 2 females.

One of my goals is to donate to the animal shelter. I just about never go in that aisle as I no longer have any pets. In fact, now that I think of it this is the longest I've gone without having a pet(21mos). I want to give food items.

Thanks to savingaddiction.com I found out about a mighty dog deal. The coupon is in this weeks SS.

Walmart 58 cents a can (ymmv, savingaddiction .57)
x 5 = 2.90- $3 off 5 cans MQ = -.10(toward tax)
and
.58 - .58 (1 free can MQ)= 0 + tax

did this deal 2x for a total donation of 12 cans.

It had me singing and dancing in the aisle, discreetly of course. LOL

I saw the Dental Surgeon yesterday. It is unusual/rare to have the kind of nerve involvement my infection has caused. Only time will tell if all of the feeling will return and the tingling, cold sensation will go away. I had the tooth pulled today. The sooner it was pulled the better according to the Dr.(and me). I can decide on an implant later as it has to heal for 6mo or more first.

Lucky for me, so far, no pain. Not even much discomfort. I am a wimp as far as pain goes. The Dr. office called to check on me and they thought it was strange also. I comforted her by saying maybe it will hurt later this evening. I hope not for my sake. However, part of my lower face is still numb due to the infection, so maybe that is why there isn't any pain. The only thing that hurts is the injection site (novacaine) and one side of my throat.
I hate pain meds beyond tylenol. I really hate hydrocodone. Nasty stuff. If I don't take it by Thursday night I'm taking it back to the pharmacy.

My cost so far is $142. My insurance will cover $235 and if I get lucky and they cover the consult fee I will get back $75 from the Dental Surgeon. I knew I should have contributed more to my health savings account.

Good news! Safeway is having a sale on Aquafresh toothpaste. Buy 3 or more and its $1.50. I have MQ for .75 that Safeway will double. Do the math and yes, you are right it is free, free, free, well except for Maryland sales tax. I got 20 tubes this morning for .90 And, since I am still feeling okay I am considering going out this evening to pick up more. 10 for the soldier project and the rest for the food pantry. I have enough coupons for 23 tubes. I won't feel guilty clearing any shelves as the sale ends tonight and everyone else had all weeks to get theirs. Another item struck from the list as completed.

Giant Food has Reach toothbrushes on sale for .99 A good toothbrush for a great price. I took my B1G1 and $1 MQ with me. They had 2 toothbrushes. I put them in my cart and started looking around for more on a display or endcap. No luck, but I found the same brand and type in a 2 pack. Hmmm. I took one to a price check machine and the 2 pack was .49

Let me think about this: 1 for .99 or 2 for .49. What should I do? I rushed back and filled my cart with the rest of the 2 packs, all 8 of them. Then it was off to the checkout. I gave the cashier my b1g1 and $1 off MQ and ended up paying .27, the tax. Yeah!

I got a raincheck for 6 more singles at another Giant after the jewelry party.

Okay, I am about to admit to spending a crazy amount of money for a piece of costume jewelry. I love the piece. It is a bracelet. Its sterling silver with pearls and silver leaves. To be honest, I bought it for my niece. I told her that she has custody of it and I get occasional visitation upon request. It will look beautiful on her. Cost: $174 plus tax. I know, "crazy" but I can't bring myself to regret it.

I stopped at Food Lion today. Uncle Ben's rice was supposed to still be on sale so I wanted to get some. They always have unadvertised sale items so I looked around. Further up the aisle were BOGO Light n Fluffy egg noodles. And there were peelies for $1/2, so I got 4.

5 Uncle Ben's Rice $1
4 Light n Fluffy $1.76 BOGO

$9.75+7.04=16.79 - 4.75 (UB sale) - (5)$1MQ rice - 3.52 BOGO - 2 (2)$1/2 = $1.52

Life is an adventure when couponing. The rice was not on sale anymore though the tags were still up and said sale until 12/23/10. So the manager came over and adjusted the price. In doing so somehow an extra UB rice got added on. I knew the math was wrong when I owed $3+. I know what I owe before getting to register most times. I didn't want to hold the line up more than I already had, I paid. The receipts from FL are confusing at best. I finally took it over to the Customer Service desk and said look I know something is wrong and I was overcharged. I explained how I knew, they agreed and then took 5 mins. to decipher the receipt and figure out what happened. Good thing I had the time. The CS folks looked at me several times like "you got a great deal, why do you care about $1.75?" Its the principle of the thing and also its my money and I'm not a good steward of it if I don't take care of it. Plus I can do alot with $1.75 for my goals. I got my refund and moved on.

I left work and headed to Annapolis to shop. They have a nice Shoppers Food store there. This Thurs/Sun they are tripling MQ to .50 and doubling to $1. It was great. Not crowded and I zipped through. I went through Slickdeals.net unexpired newspaper MQ and the printable MQ to put together possibilities. My total was $45.50 and after coupons it was $3.63 (md tax was .30 of the 3.63). I love stores that let you keep overage and put it toward other items! Everything is to be donated to the Food Pantry except the Solo cups/plates and the Gatorade. A flyer went out recently asking for most of this (not specific brands though).

4 Mahatma Yellow Rice Saffron
1 Minute Rice Brown
6 Cans Dole Pineapple
2 Ortega Fajita Seasoning
2 Solo Cups
1 Solo Plates
2 French's Worcest. Sauce
2 French's Brown Spicy Mustard
4 cans Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 Gatorade (for DS)
4 boxes Uncle Ben's Brown Rice
4 can Chef Boyardee Ravioli
4 bottle KC BBQ Sauce

My next stop was Target:

4 Bath Buddies (Food Pantry)
6 Gillette Body Wash 8oz (Soldier Proj)
4 Satin Care Shave Gel (Soldier Proj)
4 Reach Dental Floss (Soldier Proj)
2 Qtips (Soldier Project)
2 Benedryl Itch Relief Sticks

Total= $29.28+1.46tax=29.28-26.54MQ= $2.74oop

The cashier pushed her button and the light started flashing and I just smiled. I knew I was legal. The manager said "no problem, I've seen $300 go down to $20, you should coupon too, ...." LOL

Next it was off to Borders to take advantage of the Educators Appreciation Sale. 30% off educational and personal items, so I picked up a Sarah Brightman CD for my sister and a book for me. I used a gift card courtesy of points from my credit card. $0 oop .56 left on card.

My last stop for me was CVS.

6 Degree Deodorant (soldier proj)
$2.50 each
2 Right Guard Deodorant (soldier proj)
$2.50 each
1 Gillette Custom 3 Sens Razor 4ct
$6.49 (soldier proj)
1 CVS Razor Case (for DS)
$1 (clearance, unplanned purchase)
=$27.49+.12tax=
$27.61-14.50MQ-8ecb-3/15Q= $2.11oop
got back 5ecb+2ecb+2ecb=9ecb
Spent 8ecb to get 9ecb. It would have been just about breakeven if I had not impulse purchased the Razor Case. Oh well, I'm only human. LOL

I also stopped at Riteaid and Safeway for my mom. I got bananas at Safeway for .39lb (for me) and prescriptions for mom.

I'm very pleased with my progess for the Soldier Project. At this rate I should meet the challenge.

For the 38 soldiers I have:

38 body washes
38 dental floss (13 in hand and coupons
for 25 more free)
12 toothbrushes (will everyone even want
another one)
16 toothpaste
10 deodorants
8 shaving cream (coupons for 4 more free)
8 Q-tips travel size (used to clean their
rifles & ears LOL)
1 baby wipes
7 Soap bars
? Razors
1 feminine product

So, here is my tacky question. As you know razors come in pkgs of 1-12+, is it okay to split up pkgs? I have 18 if they can be split up or 2 (G. Fusion)singles(w/extra cartridge)and 4 pkgs of 4 disposables. I know I can reach 38 if pkgs are broken up. I have a couple of months left, maybe there will be enough sales to not worry about it. And, if I split them up how would I give them out/repackage so no one gets cut, plastic baggies? Those little protectors fall off.

Riteaid has a sale this week on J&J products so:

Cotton Swabs 500count
$2.99 - $1 in-ad storeQ - $1 MQ = $1

I have this vision in my mind of sending these to them overseas and being used, this side for my ear, this side for my rifle (LOL). Obviously, I've been under alot of stress lately.

Anyway, please let me know what you think about the razors.