Ya win some and ya lose some....

1/14/10 Shopping Trips. 

CVS: Top middle stuff (coloring book, makeup, Thermacare, shampoo, lightbulb, Powerade)

Giant Eagle: all the rest of it- plus 2 candy bars, 20 oz Diet Pepsi, $2.99 Mario cards, 6 pk pop (not pictured, but included in prices)

I had one of the worst CVS trips ever.  I had Evan with me and we were taking our time shopping (until he said he had to go-- ) the kids stocking the shelves were nice and making small talk with Evan.  They took time out to look around for a special item I had seen once before but it was gone.  Then I went to check out.  I had coupons on each item.  The cashier first off said she couldn't take all the coupons.   I asked "why not?" and she said because "that was a lot of coupons".  "Yeah, so?"  She challenged EVERY coupon individually.  They were all 100% legit.  A line was now forming behind me and the kid is yelling that he's gotta pee.

I asked for a manager- he came over and quickly said "its fine, just take it"  to each coupon barely looking at each one.  It was probably mostly because of the line forming.

I also had told her in the beginning that I had 2 rainchecks to which she yelped back "I need to ring that up FIRST"  "Yeah, that's why I'm telling you now."  I tried to stay nice. 

I guess it all worked out ok though because the rainchecks spit out too much in CVS extra bucks- so I made out on the deal a bit for future purchases.  I spent $8 out of pocket and get $15 back.  Whenever I get back more than I spent, its a good thing.  I got Evan a very pricey coloring book ($4!!) but being so cheap with other items allows us to have "splurge items" every now and then without breaking the budget. 

I also got him another pack of Mario cards for $2.99- I need to look at ebay and see if I can get those cheaper- this $3 a pack stuff is killing me.

We get to GE and hit the restroom-- which at this particular one is waaaay in the back of the store.  Then we had to go to the front and get a special "car cart" so he could drive around and occupy his time while I shopped.   I let him get out and pick out certain items for me and he liked that- but then he wanted to pick out lots and lots of other items too.  I had to say no over and over.

Finally we were done and heading out.  The cashier at GE rejected one of my coupons (which was a legit one but I was too beat down at that point to argue over $1.00)

I needed a stiff drink (Diet Pepsi) and a candy bar, which I scarfed down in 2 seconds in the car.  It helped.

When I got home, Paul was overwhelmed.  He has storage bins that aren't fitting in the area we have them in (its too large for the room its currently in) so I helped clear off and organize stuff and we got things to fit- we have plenty of room for stuff now.  I had some old bags full of junk that he didn't know what to do with so I went through them and sorted etc.  I found my first cheapskate receipt that started it all-- I threw it out.  No need to hang on to it.  I am keeping my 2010 receipts for now though for 2 reasons. 1. in case there is a rebate on something that I happen to buy (which happens from time to time) 2. to track my savings.  I'll only hang on to the receipts for a while though after I key them in and check for rebates, then I'll toss them all. 

I still have to put together the details of all the GE savings this week- they have more than normal Catalinas (receipts that print out at the registers)