Quilting and craziness

Happy Monday!  I had a great day ... it didn't start out that way ... well, it just started out a little too early.  I went to bed at 12:30 a.m. and woke up at 4:30 a.m. ... I couldn't sleep.  If I was motivated like my friend Jayne, I would have worked out (she gets up really early every a.m. and does her workout to get it out of the way) ... but I sat on the couch and read instead.  So early afternoon I was pretty wiped out.  I didn't get a lot of quilting done, but I did get Jayne's quilt started.  I'll finish it up tomorrow.  The three quilts I quilted this weekend still need to be trimmed ...

I just love seeing quilts all folded up and stacked together ... what a lovely display!

Late Saturday night I got on the blogs and got a rundown of what was on sale this week at the drugstores.  I made my lists and gathered my coupons.  Then I didn't have to spend much time yesterday doublechecking to see if I missed anything, and cutting out a few coupons.  I was armed with my lists and coupons today ... this is what I do:  For each stop I make, I write a list of what I'm buying, how much it costs, how much $$ in coupons I have or rewards from the stores, and then what my final price should be.  I put all the coupons in an envelope marked with the store name on the front of the envelope and then the financial notations made on the outside.  That way I can doublecheck everything when it's being rung up.  Today I shopped at CVS (two separate orders in order to use reward dollars I got on the first order), Walgreen's and Rite Aid.  It only took a little over an hour and here's what I got

Starburst candies (4)
Finish 20 pk dishwasher det
Softsoap (2)
Covergirl eyeshadows (2)
I Tunes gift cards $25 (2)
3 halloween cards
1/2 gallon milk
Hot Tamales 6 oz.
Sour Patch Kids 3.5 oz.
Dots 7.5 oz.
M&M's big bag
Reese's peanut butter cup bag of candy
Sunsweet prunes
Werther's hard candies (4)
Scott mega roll paper towels 8 pk (2)
Scott bath tissue 12 pk (2)
Gold Medal flour 5 lb. bag (3)
Kleenex facial tissue (6 boxes)
Sobe vitamin water drinks (10)

For all this I paid $77.66 ... when you take off the two I Tunes gift cards that totalled $50.00, I got everything for $27.66 ... that's a 71% savings!  Plus, I got back $14.00 in rewards to be used on my next trips.  I am so stoked ... what a rush it was.  I told my daughter, who is horrified at the thought that her mother is a crazy coupon lady, that I cannot buy any more toilet paper unless it's free!!!  I am well stocked on that, kleenex and paper towels.  Now I'm sure some of you are wondering if I really will use all that I have bought.  I can tell you that I will use it all.  I don't usually buy candy, but I'm sending a halloween box to my son in school in Hawaii.  When I was making my lists on Saturday night, I first wrote down everything that was a great deal.  Then when I started paring the lists down a little, I really asked myself "is this something I need or will use?"  Several things did not fit in that category, so I took them off my lists.  That is the trick to making this work ... there are always great deals to be found, but if you're buying stuff you normally wouldn't buy, unless you're getting it for free, it's not a good deal.  I've only been doing this for about a month now, and I have a box put together for the food bank.  I'm so happy to be able to do that.  Even my husband is impressed; we went to Target Friday night and he watched while I used $13 worth of coupons, and then got a gift card back for $5.  That's something if I can impress him!