Today's thrifty shopping

Linking up with Mimi's Five star frugal link up


I stopped at CVS this morning. I used ECBs from my last purchase, an email coupon from CVS and manufacturer coupons on everything,

I got 3 mascaras and 3 dental floss and spent $4.34 cash and got back $13 in ECBs for my next purchase.

I also stopped at my favorite thrift store.  I spent $5 for this mini doughnut pan and a handful of teaspoons. 

The doughnut pan is small. I will try baking some mini ones but if it is too much trouble, then I am sure the grands would be very happy to use it to make play dough doughnuts. 

I don't mind if the spoons don't match, I have a big assortment of silverware. When all our family is here, we might have 15 or so people here for meals.  We usually use disposable plates but everyone prefers real silverware.

I got these old magazines from the thrift store free pile.

The Burda sewing magazine has a big section of uncut patterns in the center, I am wondering what they are.  The date is 1989 so they may be very out of style, who knows.  

Have you found any good deals? 

The past week in a few pictures

Here is the to do list I started Monday. I've tried other formats and fancier planners but a sheet of notebook paper for the week just works best for me.  

Yes, I finally got all of that ironing done last week, it was 10 shirts for my husband, 5 blouses for me and 2 pair of jeans with hems that curled up. 

I made one trip to CVS on Sunday on the way to church. I got an email from them this morning with a $5/15 coupon so I will be going back. 

My daughter personalized these tiny onesies for a teacher at her school that just had a baby. They had a shower planned but the teacher gave birth 3 weeks early. 

We had some delicious pecan pie- made with my mom's recipe. It was so good, I could eat it every day.   

I made the crusts with a recipe that makes 4 crusts, I rolled out the other 3 crusts into pie pans and put them in the freezer stacked with a sheet of wax paper between them. They all fit into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag. So when I do get ready to bake another pie, the crust part is ready and waiting. 

Is there sickness going around your family? I am fine but all 3 grandsons are on the mend after being sick with different illnesses and several people we know are very sick with the flu.

Have a good rest of the week everyone! 

Got it done! Well, mostly done........

I normally do my big housecleaning on Monday but this week has been off that schedule.

I worked hard on the to do list I posted yesterday and actually completed all of it - except the ironing. 

All the cleaning, cooking and errands are done!

My trusty tiny helper make me a big batch of taco seasoning.  I've been using this recipe from AllRecipes.com for years.  It is so much better than store bought.  The jar will get shook up and mixed well but for now, it looks like sand art.

recipeTaco seasoning recipe

I made this amount times 3 to fill up a quart job. 

One very heaping Tablespoon seasons a pound of ground beef for tacos.

I also stopped at my favorite thrift store before I picked up JJ from preschool. The preschool and thrift store are not far apart. I haven't been thrift shopping since before Christmas.

I spent $10.88 and was very happy to get a lot of boys clothes.  Boys are hard on their clothes and the older boys get, it seems the selection for them at thrift stores is a lot less.

Stack on the left is 5 shirts all boys size 2-3.  

Right side is a nice pair Lee cargo jeans (slim and with the waist band adjusters perfect for my slim grands) and 3 size 5 shirts

2 girls shirt and 1 girl pants

4 newborn onesie outfits

2 boy sleepers

And

3 really nice GAP boy shirts.

 I was cutting off all the price tags and grandson Braeden got excited about the Orange shirt with vehicles on it. 

My daughter is still working on her home organization challenge. This week's assignment is the pantry. Her pantry is only 4 pull out drawers so she did it quickly and is already working on next week's Master Bedroom.

Late to-do list

Ok, I am up and dressed. Husband is off to work and I will pick up one grandson from baby preschool just before noon. 

I wrote out a shortened to do list and and I am going to try to do as much of it  as I can before I leave for errands. 

The toy room will only need a few minutes to straighten .....

But this ironing will take awhile. I don't plan on tackling it this morning, but maybe I can do it while my grandson naps or during evening TV watching.  

Here I go! I hope you are making progress on your to-do list too. 

CVS this week

There are some great deals to be had at CVS this week.  I've read about deals on men's deodorant, toothpaste and shampoos. My stockpiles on those are big enough so didn't buy any more but I did gets these deals. 

2 16 roll packs of Charming

2 bottles mouthwash

2 bottles dish soap

4 boxes cereal 

And not shown - 2 gallons milk

Everything I bought was on sale, I used a coupon on everything and $25 in ECBs from last week. 

I owed $9.03 and I paid that with a prepaid debit card I got from a survey.

I got back $13 ECBs to use later. 

I got a mailer from CVS with a coupon for 25% off any regular price purchase. I hardly ever buy anything there that is not on sale so I don't know how much good it will do me. 

But at the top of the page, all my CVS savings are listed for the last 12 months.

All the savings added up in one place are more than I would of guessed it would be. 

Again, the way to really save at CVS is to shop there consistently and let the savings from one week roll into the next.

The Monday holiday is still affecting what I am getting done this week. I never do much housework on Tuesdays as I usually have my youngest grandson all day. I did get the laundry done and the CVS shopping done today but that's about it.

I plan on making out a minimum to do list and working fast and furious on it tomorrow morning- I'll let you know!