Week of 05/17 - Weekly Wrap-up Walgreens

It was one crazy week at Walgreens. Registers spitting out rewards that we didn't expect, surprise deals left and right!!! A girl could get carried away!! Good thing I didn't figure all this out until late in the week! I think ALL the people in North Fulton will have sparkling white teeth with as much free toothpaste as I'm getting lately (it's going to North Fulton Family Charities).

I really am happy that my learning to save is helping me learn to give more at the same time. When things are financially tight, it's easier to cut back everywhere... including giving. Being able to find stuff that the manufacturers/stores are practically giving away and re-routing it to people who really need it, makes me feel like I'm doing something good... tiny, but good.

SO... learn to use your coupons to help others as well.

ok... here were my bevy of cheap finds of the week. Honestly, most of these are going to the food bank. A few things on the list are for me, but all the toothpaste, deodorant and feminine hygiene products are in the box headed for NFFC.

Thank you to Jenny from Southern Savers who helped me map out my plan and to the savvy shoppers at Slickdeals.net who found the freebie surprise deals like the Right Guard!

Here's the haul...

3 Aveeno Lotions
3 Aveeno Travel/Gift Kits
7 Axe Travel Shampoos (filler that we can use AND donate!)
5 Axe Hairstyling Trial Size Sets (this was a great find! we got 2 movie tickets for buying 5 trial size products that were on clearance!)
5 bayer crystals (charity)
4 Carefree Pantyliners (charity)
9 colgate whitening toothpaste (charity)
4 cottonelle fresh wipes (used my raincheck)
2 degree antiperspirants (for me! these smell GOOD!!!)
3 dry idea (charity)
1 edge shave gel
3 Orbit Gum
2 hawaiian tropic tanning oil - POOL SEASON IS HERE!!! woo hoo!!!!
1 Fingernail Polish
2 Sunday papers
8 Right Guard Extreme - some for charity/some for Thing 1
1 skintimate shave gel
6 Splenda 100 packs - for Mom's house and the office
1 Duncan yo yo (Thing 2 "helped" by finding a filler item)

Total OOP = $73.17
Total Saved = $214.86 75% (plus got 2 movie tickets)

I was overcharged on 2 of my Splendas, but I didn't notice until I got home. She didn't apply the store sale coupon that I'd given her. :( So I paid full price for 2 of the 6. My bottom line would have been about $5 less.

In looking at this list, at first I was like... "OH NO! I spent too much on stuff that's not for me!! BUT the yo-yo, sunscreen and cottonelle were a chunk of what I spent this week. The sunscreen was about $8, the wipes were $8, the splendas $12, and the yo-yo was $4 (all after coupon prices). Had I bought those items alone without the sales and coupons, my OOP would have been $74!!! (and would have only had one sunscreen instead of 2!)

All that said, I didn't do a good job of rolling my register rewards... and my OOP would have been a LOT better if I had. I still have $38 in RR remaining for next week.