After many months of being hunkered down in my toiletry stockpile bunker, the Coupon Commando was out for a little whimsy today. I won't bore you with all the details, but I'll give you the bottom line.

Today's CVS trip, without sales, coupons or ECB's would have cost me $43.25. My total? (Insert loud, nefarious laughter here) $10.36.

I've got 3 boxes of Kleenex, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 2 OralB toothbrushes and a bunch of Aveeno stuff. The Aveeno products alone were over $25. I am SO thankful for the Aveeno deal!! Poor Abby has a terrible time with dry patches on her legs (to the point of crying) and really needs the good stuff. I was about 2 weeks away from breaking down and paying full price for some Aveeno lotion - so it was like a little CVS gift to me that it went on deal. Yay!

The savings didn't stop there, people. I really can't even tell you about the insanity that was happening in my shopping cart today at Publix...oh, well, if you insist. Those crazy Publix employees saw fit to put a ton of Kashi stuff on sale, Buy One Get One free. It just so happened that last week at Kroger I picked up a Kashi brochure off an end-cap (ok, I picked up six...they were just sittin there!) that had a bunch of coupons for $1 off. I'm embarrassed at how much Kashi cereal, snack bars and granola I bought.

Are you interested in saving money on your groceries and toiletries? Feel free to review my posts tagged "Coupon Commando" for more information about couponing & CVSing. If you think that may put you on Club Amaro overload, then check out my NEW favorite couponing site, "Southern Savers". This site has some great "getting started" guides including one on the art of CVSing. In addition, it breaks down the weekly sales for most of the grocery chains (at least out here in the South) and has links to Internet coupons! I'm lovin' me some Southern Savers...

Just a side note in case you are thinking I've got some kind of freakish toothpaste obsession (I would venture to say that almost all my Coupon Commando posts have a few tubes in the picture). Our small group at church is providing care packages for a missions team that is going to Guatemala soon. They were looking for 15 tubes of toothpaste. Although it will probably wipe out my toothpaste stockpile, I have NO QUALMS about turning it over so it can be a blessing to others. Our teeth will manage.

Copy that, 10-4, over and out...

Love,
The Coupon Commando

I totally made up a new word right now...it's the combination of two words: Score & Loot. Score + Loot = Scoot. To make it an action, you add an -ing to the end. Then, to make it so people know your from the south, you replace the -g with an apostrophe. Scootin' - the act of scoring loot. It's going to catch on like wild fire, just watch and see.

Speaking of Scootin' - I scooted at CVS today major big time. My girl Kimberly G. wants to know more about Scootin' at CVS - she wrote and said, "can ya help a sister out?". I don't know if this helps, but I'm gonna break it down right her for you, sister.

I walked into CVS today with just shy of $20 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB's - are basically equivalent to cash). Where did I get these? Well, I got them a week or two ago on another CVS Scoot similar to the one I'm about to break down for ya.

CVS just happened to be having a really great sale today where a full page of things were free after ECB's (in other words, you pay for the thing but you get the money back in ECB's)

So I got my $20 ECB's and I do 3 transactions.

TRANSACTION ONE:

- 2 Lorel HIP Metalic Duo eye shadow thingies (very cool!!)
$6.99/each = $13.98
- 1 bag of Hall's "Natural" Lemon Cough drops
$2.59

Subtotal: $16.57
Used 2 Lorel coupons $1 each
Used 10.98 ECB's

Total Out of Pocket: $4.14
ECB's earned on transaction: $16.57
OVERAGE OF $12.43

--------

TRANSACTION TWO:

1 Gillette Venus $5.99
1 Gillette Venus Embra $11.99
1 Sally Hansen Nail Polish $5.99

Subtotal: $23.97
Used 2 $4.00 off coupons for the Gillette's
Used $13.98 ECB's

Total Out of Pocket: $2.96
ECB's earned on transaction: $10.99
OVERAGE OF: $8.03

---------

TRANSACTION THREE:

1 Sally Hansen Nail Polish $5.99

Subtotal: $5.99

Total Out of Pocket = $0.00
ECB's earned on transaction: $5.99
OVERAGE OF $5.99


FINAL TALLY:
Total Price of Products: $46.53
Total Out of Pocket Expense: $7.10
ECB's Left Over for next Scoot: $27.56

To be honest, my strategy could have been better from the front end...I could have gotten away with less out of pocket expense. But hey...I figure getting $46.53 of product for $7.10 is not too bad. Not to mention I'm walking away from my Scoot with MORE ECB's than I walked in with.

So what in the world does someone who doesn't like nail polish do with 2 bottles of it (blue and green, no less!). STOCKING STUFFERS!! Shhh...don't tell Abby. What 5 (almost 6 year old) doesn't want to paint their nails ANY color? I may regret this later - but after all, it was free.

The Gillette Embra razor is N-I-C-E...I'm rockin' one right now in my shower that I got as a sample from Vocalpoint.com (that's where I got the $4 coupons from). It's a fancy-smancy reusable one. Why do I need another one? I DON'T!! I have enough razors to last me to the grave. But, I got to treat my Mom to a brand new razor while she's here (and when she leaves - it comes with extra blades!)

Speaking of Mom, Club Amaro officially welcome's GMama & GPapa. They arrived via motor home all the way from Fort Worth, Texas. They will be here for a few weeks so there should be a few updates coming your way - just stay tuned.

Well I better ~scoot~ on outta here...I hope you are enjoy this Christmas season.

Many Merry Blessings,
scooter

Dear TAOCA Readers...I have a special treat for you today. Here with us in the studio is Mike Amaro. Mike (who has blogging privileges here any time he pleases) picks and chooses his blogging appearances very carefully so as to make the most impact. It's always a pleasure to have him...please help me welcome him to the posting position...........MIKE AMARO!

Yesterday the fam decided that gas prices being what they are ($1.94/gallon at last fill up) that we could afford to take a nice long drive and explore outside the city limits. We drove south and were delighted at the colors we saw on the freeway alone! I know, I know - shut up already about the colors. It's who I am, love me or don't.



We ended up in this town called Sewanee which is home to the University of the South. Now I have never been back east during the fall, or visited some of the historical colleges that exist. I'm sure those places are breath taking many times over. But I was in awe of this campus! Most all the buildings were done in stone. Of course, there were trees galore to provide a stark contrast to the drab colors of the buildings.

To add to the feel of the day, it was VERY chilly and overcast...I would say about 42 degrees or so. The kind of day that makes you want to curl up by the fireplace with a cup of joe.

Of course in our little 2003 Camry there is no fireplace and no cups of joe...but, there is silliness (ALOT of silliness) and a temperature control. That works for me. This is a picture of my 2 people making silly in the car after lunch. Oh this is just the tip of the ice berg...I can't explain it - it's only something that can be experienced.

For more pictures of our Sewanee Adventure, check out the Dropshots

On another, more money saving note...



Are you tired of this? Please feel free to leave anonymous comments telling me to jam it. But I tell you I love shouting about my deals from the mountaintop of my blog. Here is a shot of today's booty-licious CVS deal. It includes:

* 1 bottle of StIves Mineral Therapy Body Wash
* 1 can of Garnier Fructis Hairspray (Anti-humidity, to keep the 'fro tame)
* 1 bottle of Palmolive w/ Oxy
* 2 bottles of Colgate Total Whitening
* 1 tube of Rimmel mascara.

I had coupons for each item. I paid $4.01 out of pocket and got $10 back.

LOVE IT!

Someday I may post a picture of my hall closet which boasts labeled bins containing neat stacks of my stockpiled booty. Yes, I know. Organization. It's a sickness, really.

love & Sewaneeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Happy Birthday!!

Listen...can you hear it??....what's that noise??

It's the gentle sounds of my brand new Trader Joes grocery cart rolling through the freshly waxed aisles as I pick up cheap, kitschy, specialty items from the shelves.

Nashville TJ's is open....


WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

Now we'll see if I can shop TJ's without waking the sleeping tiger that is my coupon conscience.

Sigh.

love & a bag of Pirate's Booty,

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Can we please watch Adaptation....???

It's been awhile since I've gone Coupon Commando on the blog, so I thought I'd post a quickie. I'm not so thrilled with this CVS excursion because it was rushed. I realized this afternoon that one of my $10 ECB's was going to expire today. YIKES!

Below is a picture of my booty from this evenings trip. I got all the stuff you see below for FREE, plus I made 50 cents. Actually, tomorrow I can change the 50 cents to $5.50. Reason being, I misread the candy deal and got the wrong bars - I will exchange them tomorrow for the correct ones (they are the same price) and then get my $5 ECB's back.



Don't freak out - I'm not keeping the candy...

Free stuff rules.

Love & Hershey's

k

Hey y'all!

Just a little booty review for ya. We hit CVS and Walgreens today and did some good deals. The above picture represents $102.75 in retail items. Total out of pocket for me was $36.82 with ECB's and Register Rewards (this is CASH BACK people) equaling $22.49. Which makes my grand total $14.33! Once again, I had to tell Mike that what I was doing was totally legit...he feels very conflicted about the whole thing.

My pile includes:
2 6oz tubes of Colgate Total,
2 Revlon lipsticks,
1 Covergirl Liquid Foundation (money maker),
1 Covergirl Lipstick,
2 large bottles of Herbal Essence
2 bottles of Sunsilk Hair Spray
5 Softsoaps
2 large Suave Shampoos (actually - I got this at Publix today and it's not included in my grand totals, I got both for .50/each)
1 bottle Infusium
1 Fusion Razor (these bad boys normally cost $10, I got it for .99)
1 bottle of Vaseline for men (so my man will be soft and smellin' good)
1 32oz Rubbermaid bottle (this threw off my savings percentage, but I needed it!)
1 cute child, not included.

Oh yeah, I promised Abby that I would mention that SHE arranged the booty pile for the portrait...I thought she did a fabulous job, don't you?

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend...

love & miss,
k

SECRET MESSAGE: YOU....You're good you!

Get your mind out of the gutter - HELLO - this is a family-friendly site! I have to catalog my CVS plunder from today...you'll be amazed to know that the following items I secured with less than $5.00 out of pocket, plus I got money back (in the form of CVS Extra Care Bucks) to boot!



Breakin' it down:

TRANSACTION ONE:

8 Packages Orbit (42 count) Gum, various flavors
On sale for 2/$3.00

Regular Price: $12.00
EC Bucks Used: $9.99
Out of my Pocket: $2.21
EC Bucks Earned: $5.00
Total cost to me: FREE plus $2.79 overage.


TRANSACTION TWO:

4 Bottles of PERT PLUS on sale BOGO
2 Bottles of SURE deodorant
2 Tubes Colgate Total
1 Tube Crest Pro Health

Total Price: $18.84
Coupons used: $12.75
EC Bucks used: $5.00 (from previous transaction)
Out of my pocket: $2.44
EC Bucks earned: $5.50
Total Cost to me: FREE plus $3.06 overage


YEAH!!! Just so you all know - when you come to visit us, DO NOT BRING TOILETRIES (or gum)!!

love,
k

I was at the ATM today depositing a check - how cool are those new BofA ATM's?? You know, the ones where you just stick the check in the scanner and it prints a copy of it on your receipt? I love that. Anyway - I needed some didge for date night with my hubby. I was dreading having to remove $20 from my checking account when I knew I really only needed $10. My Mom gave us 2 passes to the local cinema and I printed 2 coupons online for free popcorn when you bought a drink. Of course, these days, you probably need $20 to buy a drink at the movies! I was hoping that would not be the case. So I'm thinking I have to pull out $20...what do I do with that extra $10?? It just sits there in my wallet, calling out to be spent on something that it shouldn't! Well, much to my delight, this particular ATM disperses 10 dollar bills! The $10 spot is a great bill...so functional, not too much, not too little. I don't know why other ATM's neglect them...what's up with that.

Speaking of ten dollars...oh come on...please let me share once more the details of my plunder! How can I not share about getting PAID for 3 6oz tubes of Crest Total Advanced toothpaste that normally retails for $3.49 a tube? Don't hate me for that, please. You can't really expect me to resist spilling about how I got $12 worth of Shick Quatro's for Free (actually, I made a cent off of the purchase, but who is counting, really?). I won't bore you with the details (after all, you may already be there)...but this picture represents $59.95 worth of drug store merchandise. I walked out of the store with all of it and I paid $9.01 out of pocket (I had $9.90 worth of rebates from last month loaded on a gift card, so I used that to pay for some of it). I still stand to get $4.00 worth of rebates loaded back onto my Walgreens gift card too - so technically it's more like $5.01. I brought Mike with me to the store today and he was very quiet at the cash register...I think he felt wrong somehow. But hey - it's legit.

When we aren't stealing things from the drugstore, we are enjoying time with my Mom and stepdad, Randy who flew out Saturday for a week long visit. Next week, we are hosting my Daddy-o. We love having visitors!!

Update on the house...things are going a little too smoothly, praise God! Home inspection is Wednesday and I think we're on track for closing on the 29th (2 weeks and a day!). We are very excited!

All for now...much love to you all - thanks for hanging in there with us!

love & ten spot,
k

Didn't think I'd keep my promise about more frequent posts, eh? Shame on you!

Some of you have written me asking about my newly found love of bargain hunting. So I thought I would give you a scenario of my most recent "drug-store diva" excursion and give you some websites that have helped me learn how to get the good deals.

Today I visited CVS, Rite Aid and Target (all of which are close by each other, so no wasting of the liquid gold I have in my gas tank). I took a picture of my booty for you to see....all name brand stuff. The whole shebang cost me less than $20.00.

Here's the break down:

Herbal Essence Shampoo & Conditioner
On sale 2 for $5.00
Total price to me: FREE!

Crest Pro Health Toothpaste
Regularly $2.49
Total Price to me: FREE!

Infusium Shampoo
Regularly $4.99
Total Price to me: FREE!

Kashi Go Lean Cereal
On sale: 2 for $5.00
Total price to me: $1.00 for 2 boxes

Pert Plus
Regularly $3.99 per bottle
On sale 2 for $5.00
Total price to me: $1.00 for 2 bottles

Oil of Olay Body Wash (3 Ribbons, 1 Botanicals)
Regularly $29.86
On sale for $23.96
Total price to me: $6.46 for 4 bottles ($1.62 each)

Always Maxi Pads
Total Pad Count: 80
Regularly $24.16
On Sale for $18.11
Total price to me: $6.73

Oral B Cross Action Toothbrush
Regularly $5.99
Total price to me: $.99

Venus Razor
Regularly $7.99 (includes 3 cartridges and tub pod...whatever that is)
Total Price to me: $1.99

Axe Antiperspirant
Regularly $2.99
Total Price to me: $.99

I really should take a picture of the stock pile that I have going...I mean, when you can get toiletries this cheap, you stock up. You might argue that you can get better deals at Costco, Sams, etc., or, that you can buy cheaper brands (ie. Suave) or just buy the drug store no-name brand. Yes, it's true that you can do that. But, if I can get a bottle of brand name shampoo and it's less than a dollar (or FREE), why not? Plus, if you can get something for free that YOU may not use, why not pick it up and bless someone else with it?

Using this latest trip as an example...how did I get $93 worth of stuff for less than $20? You align coupons with sales and drug store reward programs. It's that easy. The drug store reward programs vary, but in a nutshell what happens is you buy something and then you get a piece of paper at the end of your receipt that is the same as money to use on your next purchase at that store.

For example - take the Oil of Olay deal...I did that at CVS. They have a deal this week where if you buy $20 worth of Oil of Olay, you get $10 Extra Care Bucks back. Extra Care Bucks are exactly like money - they print out at the end of your receipt and you use it LIKE CASH. So I bought $23.96 worth of Oil of Olay - but I had $7.50 worth of coupons (4 coupons, 1 for each bottle of wash). So I paid $16.46 out of pocket, but now I have $10.00 in my wallet (net being $6.46). I could have used that $10.00 for a 2nd transaction at CVS, but the only other thing I had to buy was the 2 bottles of PERT, and I only paid $1.00 for that so I just did it all together. I'll save my $10.00 for the next deal at CVS - then, I'll be starting out with $0 out of pocket (assuming if what I get is under $10).

I also have been scoring awesome deals at the grocery stores as well. One of the local stores here (Publix) tends to be more expensive, but they have incredible BOGO deals (buy one, get one free). The way to score there is to have 2 coupons for the product and then buy them as BOGO's. For example - yesterday I purchased 2 bags of Stacy's Pita Chips (yum-o!). Regularly, they are $2.99 per bag. They were on sale, BOGO. I also printed 2 $1 off coupons from the internet. So, I got 2 bags which normally would have cost $5.98 for .99 cents!! You use one coupon for the "buy one" and one coupon for the "get one". Most people don't know that they can do that... Not only that, but most stores have their own coupons. Did you know that you can use an in-store coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon for 1 item? That's called stacking...you line that up with a good sale and now you're cookin' with gas, baby.

Here are some blogs that I subscribe to using Google Reader
...whenever I'm online, I'll quick look at the Titles of the posts to see if they would apply to me. Some of these fabulous lady bloggers actually type up the deals and give you links to Internet printable coupons as well as reference coupons from various newspaper inserts. They also have posts that detail how the various reward programs work and things of that nature. Here they are:

Money Saving Mom
The "Cent"sible Sawyer
More Than Enough
Fiddledeedee!

There are actually more blogs that I am subscribed to, but these are the ones that I started with. These bloggers reference alot of other blogs that you may explore and end up subscribing to (that's how it happened for me).

Anyway - I just wanted take the time to share with y'all one of my newest hobbies. It's a great feeling to be a good steward of the money God has blessed us with. Every penny that I save is a penny that can be used somewhere else.

love and BOGO's,
k

What do Seals & Crofts know anyway...I don't know what Summer Breeze they were sitting in, but it's not the one in our town. I'm here to tell you....SUMMER is here. And I've been told by more than a few people that this ain't nuthin' baby. Today was the first day that I started to wonder if I will survive my first summer in Tennessee. I could be wrong, but I'm sure I saw it reach 98 degrees....maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. I'm praying that God would extend weather favor to me by removing any possibility of the temperature in our zipcode rising above 74 degrees. Ok, ok....it's not that bad....I'm just a heat whimp, what can I say. And, actually today there was a nice summer breeze - and, it did make me feel fine. But, there was not jasmine to speak of.

Ok, enough already with the S&C references...let's get down to some updating.

BIBLE THUMPER
As you probably read in our last update, Abby made a big decision recently. To celebrate her citizenship in the Kingdom, Mike and I got her a "big girl" bible. It's the NIrV Adventure Bible and it's quite nice! It's got great study tools and fun things to do to reinforce what the Word says. Abby is reading pretty good and is able to actually read from her bible. We made a deal with her that if she reads a verse on her own, she can mark it with a highlighter. The great part about this is that she reads it over and over again and essentially memorizes it in the process! Not sure what it is about a highlighter....who knew that highlighting some words would be such a motivation. Anyway, so far she has 3 verses highlighted I think. 2 of them (from Proverbs) teach us about telling the truth and heeding a warning. Mamma like.

More news on the Abby front...we got news in the mail yesterday that the school she tested for at the end of the month has invited her to attend their Kindergarten program. Although we were quite impressed with the public school across the street, we are very excited for Abby to be part of this school. I can't believe my baby is going to go to school. I can't imagine her not being with me for that many hours a day.

COUPON QUEEN
We are so thankful for the cost of living here...and although we are suffering from food and gas price increases just like the rest of the country, we are actually able to (for the first time in many years) live within our means. I'm sure many of you have heard me say that it was only by the grace of God that we lived each month....on paper, things did not work. Once the mortgage was paid, there wasn't much left over to rub together. However, we always got by and had things we needed (and sometimes wanted). I'll never figure out how that worked, but I'm here to say that it didn't have anything to do with me or Mike. To be honest, we never really had a budget (oh, we had a theoretical one that I would always refer to when I needed to sound like I was a good steward with our money) and alot of times we spent money on things that we never really should have. But, that's all water under the bridge.....because.....drumroll please......this frivolous feather merchant is now a coupon commando!

I said we were living within our means now, but I didn't say it was necessarily comfy! Since we have sat down and budgeted our money and done a 30 day diary, we now see that it's important for us to be frugal wherever we can. Especially if we want to buy a house soon. So unless money starts growing on trees, it's up to me (Office Manager of Club Amaro) to start making things happen (or not happen as the case may be). I have started following a number of blogs (incidentally, all published by Moms....funny, huh?) that give incredible information about how to maximize coupons and get stuff for next to nothing. It's actually a whole underground society that scares me and excites me all at the same time. Yes it's true - I'm all about coupons now...and slowly but surely my goal is to pay nothing or close to it for many things that my family needs....and if my family doesn't need it, I can bless somebody else with it. I am starting to get the hang of it a little bit....my most recent victory was buying 2 bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo and making $1.49. Yes - I actually made money and got 2 bottles of shampoo that normally cost $5.49 each. If you want to see what got me started down this road, check out this article.