Tuesday, March 10, 2009

4 orders and organization

That's how many separate receipts I had at Wags today. The Huggies deal was just TOO good to pass up, and I had to do separate trips for the Garnier, anyway. I don't have my receipts in front of me, so bear with me, please...

I was planning to do 3 size 4 Huggies Natural Fits, but they only had 2 (there have GOT to be a TON of babies in this town that are M's size - no matter what brand of diapers they are, the size 4s are almost always gone on day one of a sale at Walgreens or Rite Aid here!) So I got 2 4's and a pack of pull-ups. Here's the whole order:

Size 4 $10
Size 4 $10
Pull-ups $10
GF Curl shaping spray $2.99
Colgate Total TP $3.49
Dry Idea Unscented Gel Deodorant $1.69
$38.17

Qs
Huggies Naturals -$3.00
HN -$3.00
Pull-ups -$2.00
GF -$1.00
Colgate -$1.50

$27.67 (I'm thinking that I paid $30.67... I'm wondering if one of my HN Qs didn't go through...)

Received
$2 RR for the Dry Idea
$10 RR for Huggies over $25

Did you notice anything? Yeah, I was chatting away with my favorite cashier and we both forgot the ESR IVC coupons. She called the manager over, though, we returned a couple things and added them onto my next order where they took the coupons off... see below.

Huggies Supreme Newborn diapers $10.00
HS size 1 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
clearance highlighter (ch) $.10
ch $.10
ch $.10
$30.30

Coupons
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
Garnier IVC -$2.00
Colgate IVC -$2.50
RR -$2.00
RR -$2.00
RR -$2.00

$4.80

Received
$10 RR for Huggies over $25

I brought those out to the car. Then I went back in and did:

HS Newborn diapers $10.00
HS size 1 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
Garnier Hydra-Curls shampoo $2.99
$32.99

Coupons
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
GF -$1.00
Garnier IVC -$2.00

$14.99

Received:
$10 RR

I fully intended that to be my last trip to Walgreens. I brought my things out to the car and walked over to redbox for free-movie Monday. I already knew what I wanted, and it was a good thing. It was COLD for us today, and I was standing in line behind a guy who must have read every. single. summary. there was in that box. I picked up my movies, punched in the freebie code for the guy behind me... and went back to Walgreens. I know... I know...

HS size 1 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
Garnier Hydra-Curls shampoo $2.99
$32.99

Coupons
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
GF -$1.00
Garnier IVC -$2.00

$14.99

Received:
$10 RR

So, I now have $40 is Wags-bucks to spend in the next 2 weeks. That won't be a problem. I have a rain check for M's Wags diapers that will eat up $18 of that. I can also pick up the rest of the FARs for this month... and maybe something fun for the kids. I figure it's REALLY rare to find Huggies for $5 a bag (or even $7 for M's current size), so it was worth it to me.

As far as organization - I decided that we needed to do something to keep track of the free things and great deals we've purchased this year. We have them stored and stashed all over the house, and often my husband will ask where something is and we have to try a few spots to find it - or he'll ask if we have something and I just don't know.

So I put together a workbook of spreadsheets for us. I've divided the worksheets into:
Cosmetics
Toothpaste (and brushes)
Bath, shower & smell good
Family planning & feminine
Medications & pain relief
(I plan to add a kids worksheet and household cleaners worksheet, too)

Then I went though our different storage places, emptied them, sorted them, and put them in the database. I've put it on our family file-share so that my husband and I have the information at our fingertips whenever we need it. I still have to go through our medication shelf and the things in our garage pantry and laundry room cabinets. But the majority of our "stash" has now been taken care of. I'm SUPER excited about this. It will be helpful in preventing us from buying things we already have, as well as being able to locate things we need MUCH quicker than in the past. It is my hope to eventually do this with our food pantry as well - to know at all times what we have on stock and how much - so that we know what we can use for recipes and what needs to be restocked on our next big shopping trip. I think that's totally doable, too.

3 comments:

Ali said...

you know I love organizing! Something that might be easier or just a quick fix for your pantry is what I did for my deep freezer. I bought a small dry erase board and attached it to the freezer with velcro. Then just wrote on it what I put in there and the quantity. It was really easy to keep it current since all I had to do was wipe it off!

Jenn said...

You never cease to amaze me!!

MamaOnABudget said...

@Ali - The reason I was thinking of doing it on the computer was that I could print it out before heading out on one of our bigger shopping trips - to see what's there at a glance compared to a sale we might not have known about before leaving home. Granted it will take discipline to keep it up on the computer - but my laptop is out in the main room (living/dining/kitchen)... just need to stay on it.

@Jenn - thanks! I've been at Walgreens so often this week I'm expecting a fraud call from our credit card for all these $1.98 purchases. Honestly, I was expecting it on Monday with the 3 Huggies trips at exactly the same price.