I went to the closest Winn Dixie for the first time. I did pretty well because they have BOGO deals. NO PICTURE THOUGH :(
5.49 * 2 Goodlife Recipe Cat Food 3.15#
4.19 * 2 Cheez-Its
3.79 * 2 Gallon Milk
4.99 * 2 5# potatoes
5.99 * 2 Crisco Olive Oil
1.29 * 2 Kraft Mac & Cheese
=51.48
-4.19 Cheez-It BOGO
-1.50*2 Goodlife Recipe Cat Food Sale
-4.99 Potatoes BOGO
-5.99 Crisco Olive Oil BOGO
-1.29 Kraft Mac & Cheese BOGO
-2*2 Goodlife Q
-.75*2 Crisco Q
=27.00 (it was even!)
Saved 24.96 which is 48.5%

So I was a real smart cookie and realized that both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama would be about an hour from me, in Kissimmee, FL. Only downfall? It started at 11 pm!!! Omg! So I am extremely tired but we went, and had a great time. My husband and a friend of his that he used to teach and is now in college went too.

This is me and Kristin and my husband who we convinced to wear my hat. It was unusually cold for Florida in October, but not really that cold.

Here we are waiting for it to start at 8:30 pm. Only 2.5 hours to go. Jimmy Smits spoke, and he mentioned a lot about the West Wing and spoke a lot in Spanish.

We got flags and signs right before the speaking began.


There were a lot of people in the crowd!

My heros!!!

Just one transaction:
1*4 Soy Joy
5.99 * 2 Maybelline Mascara
.99 * 2 Advil PM Liquigels
1.50*2 Newspapers
2.99 Hair ties (blessed be the lord, my hair is long!)
= 23.95
-1*2 Soyjoy BOGO
-1*2 Maybelline Q
-1.98*2 Advil Q
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
+.23 tax
= 11.22
-4 ECB
-3 ECB
-2.29 ECB
=1.93 on Gift Card
+5 ECB for Maybelline
+4 ECB for Soyjoy
Total cost: 2.22 which is a savings of: 91%! Yahoo!

I got tagged for the first time so I'm following orders from Lisa B.

Seven random things about me:
1. I can play the clarinet rather well.
2. I currently am rehearsing for Sweet Charity, a musical, here in Cocoa Beach, FL. Come see if you happen to be in the area. It is from Nov 7th through the third weekend in Nov.
3. I have 2 sisters.
4. I would like to have a job working for a travel magazine or travel channel, or Discovery.
5. I desperately want to live at McMurdo station on the South Pole.
6. I would accept a one-way ticket from NASA anywhere and never come back.
7. I always eat the same thing at the restaurants I go to.

I need to tag 7 other people. You are it:
1. The Gretton/Yaeger life About a woman and her family and their journey with an autistic child.
2. Day to Day Living with SunEDay About a woman and her family and their ups and downs
3. Win Your Battle with Finances About a young woman and her struggle with the money!
4. i heart cvs About the deals and how to work them to your advantage
5. The Life I Live Daily life for a woman in the Midwest, at least I think she is in the midwest.
6. Ambellamy Another woman with money in the works!
7. I don't have another one, except for my fave: www.thepioneerwoman.com have a heart attack!

Please post 7 random things about yourselves, tag 7 other people and then go to their blog and let them know. I know not everyone likes being tagged, so if you don't want to play with us, no big dealio!

We had a great time at the housewarming party. Lots of people came including my grandparents, mother and father-in-law, my husband's best friend, my sister, and family friends. Here are the pictures.


This is me and Tommy in the dining room.

This is is Katie, Dave, Mimi, me, and Joey out by the pool. It was a great day! You can see one of our palm trees and a blooming flower that looks like an orchid.

There was great food. These were "Red Eye Specials" that looked like eyeballs. The eye lashes are made out of green onions! It was so cute and they tasted great. They are plum tomatoes with mozarella balls. Thanks BH&G!

Then I also got a cake. I made pumpkin muffins which were a little dry, made Gooey Ghosts from merengue. Those were really good. We had Oozing Brie and french bread, and also Bat Wings which were marinated chicken wings. I also made Mummy Dogs, which are hot dogs wrapped in Pillsbury Bread Sticks. It was great. Also, I made Sticks and Stones, which is what I called DHunny's muddy buddies! They were a hit!

Here are 3 of my Gooey Ghosts, made from Baked Meringue. The best meringue I ever made!

The house was fully decorated because I love Halloween. So I made:

This for the entryway, which is a pumpkin a carved alongside three pictures of Lizzie Borden, Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde, and Edgar Allen Poe. There was a Raven in front of Edgar Poe's picture. It's almost like they are family!

Then I also put a Scarecrow on the front porch. It turned out better than I expected :)

I also made spider webs for the front windows out of blanket binding and nubby yarn. They turned out great. Got the spiders on sale and hung one at the front door that moves when you open it.

We put a cat chasing mice on the stairs for the entryway as well.

The staircase got a good amount of spider webs too, which Tommy, my husband, got tarantulas at Wal-Wart for, under my mother's instructions :) I just realized I didn't get a picture of my mom. Darn!

She is who gave me these great pool floaters! Love them!

These are our kitchen chairs, I used 2 yards of tulle over the top of the chairs to the side, then covered with 2 yards of tulle over the top of the chairs to the front & back, and tied with an orange ribbon. They were cute.

These are four of the goody bags I made to look like Witch's Brooms. I put a ziploc bag of Autumn Brach mix that I hounded at CVS :)

Tommy and his friend, Dave, made this pirate pumpkin. That is my grandfather, Joey, in the orange shirt.

CVS Transaction

1.69 Powerade
2.99 Colgate Maxfresh Paste
4.49*2 Listerine Agent Blue
.99 Hallmark Card
5.99 Pet Bed
=20.64
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
-.5 * 2 Listerine Q
-.75 Colgate Q
-1 CVS Colgate CRT Q
+.11 tax
=13.00
-9.96 ECB
-2.93 ECB (adjusted from 3)
=.11 OOP on Gift Card
+2 ECB for Colgate
+1.69 ECB for Powerade
+6 ECB for Listerine

Grand total: Bought 20.64 worth of merchandise for a total cost of 3.31, which is a savings of 84%

CVS Transaction #1 (Card 1):
.88 Paprika
1.99 Brach Candy
3.99 Covergirl Wetslick
7.99 Covergirl Mascara
=14.85
-3/15
-1 Covergirl Q
-1 Covergirl Q
+.07 tax
=9.92
-9.85 ECB adjusted from 9.96
=.07 on Gift Card
Earned 3 ECB, total cost 6.92

CVS Transaction #2 (Card 1):
.88 Garlic Powder
7.39 * 2 Echinacia
=15.66
-2 Vitamin Q
-2 Vitamin Q (thanks FrugalSuz!)
-3/15
-7.39 Echinacia BOGO
=1.27 on gift card
Earned 2 ECB, total cost -0.73 MONEYMAKER!

Transaction #3 (Card 2):
3.99 Brach Candy
2.79 CVS Ziplock Bags
3.99 Flameless Pumpkin Candles
=10.77
-2/10
+.05 tax
-8 ECB
=.82 on Gift Card
Total cost 8.82

CVS Transaction #4 (Card 2):
.88 Garlic Salt
1.99 Brach Candy
1.29 * 6 Brach Candy
1.99 Tablecloth
=12.60
-2/10
-9.96 ECB
=.64 on gift card
Total cost 10.60

Needed all the candy for party favors for a Halloween party on Saturday! So this was nice not to have to spend it out of my wallet.

GRAND TOTAL: Bought $53.88 for a total COST of $25.61 (not total OOP), for a savings of 52%. The oop savings was 95% though :)

Did great at CVS yesterday!
Transaction #1:
5.99 * 2 Bic Soleil Cartridges
2.29 * 2 vitamin Water (didn't realize the limit was 1, poo)
=16.56
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
-2 Bic Soleil Q
-2 Bic Soleil Q (thanks FrugalSuz!!)
+.34 tax
=7.90
-6 ECB
=1.90 on Gift Card
Earned 2.29 ECB for Vitamin Water & 8 ECB for Bic Soleil, total cost was -$2.39 MONEYMAKER

Transaction #2:
4.98 * 2 Always Infinity
2.99 * 2 Colgate Max Fresh
=15.94
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
-1 Colgate Q
-1 Colgate Q
+.15 tax
=9.09
-.50 ECB
-2 ECB
-6 ECB
=.59 on Gift Card
Earned 4 ECB for Colgate & 9.96 ECB for Always, total cost was -$4.87 MONEYMAKER

They paid me $7.26 to take away $32.50 worth of merchandise...total savings is 100% :)

Ok, here are my deals from yesterday:

Transaction #1:
12.39 Benefiber Pills
8.40 Book of Stamps
=20.79
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
-2 Benefiber Q
-3 Benefiber CRT Q
=10.79
-10 ECB
=.79 on Gift Card
Cost $10.79

Transaction #2:
5.99 Bic Soleil
2.99 *2 Colgate Paste
8.40 Book of Stamps
=20.37
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
-1 Soleil Q (I didn't get any other Soleil Qs!!)
-1*2 Colgate Q
+.33 tax
=12.70
-1.50 ECB
=11.20 on Gift Card (ugh, so high but I did what I could)
Got back 4 ECB for Colgate and 4 ECB for Soleil
Total Cost is $4.70

Transaction #3:
1.99 * 2 Lady Speedstick Deoderant
4.98 * 2 Always Infinity
12.39 Benefiber Pills
=26.33
-3/15 CVS Q
-2/10 CVS Q
-.50 off 2 Lady Speedstick
-1 Lady Speedstick CRT
-2 Benefiber Q
-3 Benefiber CRT
=14.83
-4 ECB
-4 ECB
-5 ECB
=1.83 on Gift Card
Earned $10 ECB on Stomach deal (Benefiber), $2 ECB for Colgate and $9.96 ECB for Always
Cost of -$7.13!

GRAND TOTAL: Got $67.49 worth of merchandise at a cost of $8.36 which is savings of 87.613%.

Thanks to Frugalsuz for telling me about the limit of 2 on Always. Now I have to repeat this with a better outcome on my second card :)

Ok so I had to do more deals before the end of the month:

#1

9.99 Gillette Fusion

5.49 Covergirl Clean Foundation

2.99 Colgate Toothpaste

5.99 Covergirl Powder Foundation

.99 CVS Travel Wipes

=25.45

-1.50 Colgate paste Q

-2 CVS Skincare Q

-2 2/10 CVS Q

-3 3/15 CVS Q

-4 Fusion Q

-5.49 Covergirl BOGO Q

+.69 tax

=8.15

-7 ECB

=1.15 OOP got back 5.79 Covergirl ECB, 5 Fusion ECB, 2 Colgate ECB

MONEYMAKER: Profit of 4.64

#2:

2*2.50 Scotch Brite Sponges

9.99 Fusion

=14.99

-3 3/15 CVS Q

-2 2/10 CVS Q

-4 Fusion Q

+.30 tax

=6.29

-4.99 ECB

=1.30 OOP got back 5 Fusion ECB, 5 Scotch-Brite ECB

MONEYMAKER: Profit of 3.71

#3:

3.25 12 pack Coke

2.79*3 Playskool Wipes

2.99*2 Colgate Toothpaste

=17.60

-1*2 Colgate Paste Q

-1 CVS Colgate Paste Q

-3 3/15 CVS Q

-2 2/10 CVS Q

-2 CVS Playskool Wipes Q from Paper

+.23 tax

=7.83

-5.79 ECB

=2.04 OOP got back 2 Colgate ECB

Total cost: 5.83

#4:

3.25 * 3Coke 12 packs

=9.75

+.05 tax

=9.80

-5 ECB

-4 ECB

=.80 OOP got back 3 Coke ECB

Total cost: 6.80

Grand total: Got $67.79 worth of merchandise for a cost of 4.28 which is a savings of 93.69%!