So I don’t wanna get all political but Inauguration Eve is cracking me up.  Oh the media.  Call it hype, call it spins, whatever, I still think there’s a reason to be excited so I’ll be watching with anticipation as the first black president is sworn into office to take over a job that I am NOT envious of.  I can’t imagine the pressure.  I hope that you all remember to pray for him on a daily basis, whether you like him or not.

I had surgery today.  This one was just to make the bigger one match the smaller one, but once Chris and I got into the pre-op room with Dr Bajaj, and she started marking me up and we decided to “nip/tuck” the other side a bit too.  So that was fun!  Now they’ll both be pretty.  And a little more perfect than they would have been.  Yay!

Okay enough boob talk. I’m going to post pictures soon, but somehow I can’t find the file where I uploaded the most recent ones.  Blame it on the Lortab or something, but I’m too tired to look for them.

Here.  I’ll leave you with this.  Even if you don’t like him, you’ll like this.

The disclaimer here is that I am no pro.   Mainly, I learned a lot from the Internet.  So I guess in a way I’m paying it forward.  Here’s how to save a LOT of money..

Step one, you have to go into CVS and request an Extra Care Card.  There are three cards that you will get, one big one and two small ones.  Put the little one on your keyring so you always have it.  The card is effective immediately, so go to the Kiosk scanner (usually located in the first aisle by the registers!) and scan your card for a random coupon.  I hope it’s something good–sometimes you will get something random like $2 off pain relief or $3 off $15 purchase.  Other times, you will get Extra Care Bucks.  Take note of the expiration date, usually you can keep those up to a month or so! Now turn around unashamedly and pick up the store’s circular and look around for the ExtraCare monthly circular. Familiarize yourself with the layout of the store.  Ask an employee when their truck comes in–for those in Bethany, the 24 hour CVS at 39th and MacArthur gets a truck on Tuesdays and the CVS on 23rd and Meridian gets their truck on Fridays. 

Let’s go over the Extra Care Bucks.  ECB’s for short.  These print out at the bottom of your reciept.  They are like cash!  You can use them for anything in the store so you don’t want to lose them!  Combining them with coupons is wonderful and you’ll hardly pay for anything.  A couple months of doing this and you’ll understand just how great it is to have a stockroom full of Pantene shampoo and Crest toothpaste.  Never again will I go on a random trip to Target to buy Excedrin, I have five unopened bottles in the cabinet!  In the long run, this could potentially save you thousands!

Here’s how my shopping trip went today, for some knowledge and inspiration!  (First, let’s remember I had a couple ECB’s I had earned last visit, $2 and then $2 I printed out, plus I was armed with this great coupon I found on www.iheartcvs.com which I highly recommend by the way! The coupon was for $3 off any CVS brand item–and yes I printed it 12 times.  Well, I happen to know that all CVS brand items this week were buy one, get one 1/2 off…and then I scanned my ECC at the kiosk (NEVER forget to do this!) and it spit out $1 off purchase of two Gold Emblem nuts, pretzels, or crackers and another coupon for $1 off purchase of 2 Gold Emblem candies.  I got really excited, because Gold Emblem is the CVS store brand!  So that meant I could use those coupons, plus my $3 off coupon, and get one item 50% off! 

Gold Emblem Wheat Crackers 1.99

Gold Emblem honey wheat pretzels 1.49 (.74 after BOGO)

Gold Emblem pretzels 1.00

Gold Emblem pretzels 1.00 (.50)

GRAND TOTAL 4.23 and some tax, let’s say 4.50

So then I give her my $1 off Gold Emblem that I just got.  I now owe her 3.50

Then I give her my $3 off coupon. 

I owe .50  SWEET!

Next transaction…Separate so you can use more coupons.  (this is key!)

Gold Emblem gummy bears .99

Gold Emblem gummy worms .99 (.50 after BOGO)

GRAND TOTAL 1.49 say 1.60 with tax

Then I give her my $1 off coupon the kiosk printed for me. 

.60 was what I owed. 

Are you still with me?  So far I’ve spent $1.10 and I have a sack full of goodies.  Want some more? 

Well…okay.  I have some more of those awesome $3 off any CVS brand purchase, like I said, I printed 12.  No I wasn’t kidding!  So I went back into the store and grabbed a few 3 packs of paper towels.  Okay, they’re BOGO 1/2 remember! 

3 pack CVS paper towels 1.99 

3 pack CVS paper towels 1.99 (.99 after BOGO)

GRAND TOTAL $2.98 but about 3.20 with tax. 

Gave her my $3 off coupon.

I owe .20 (it should be mentioned that I always take a handful of change and a couple dollar bills!)  

I DID THE PAPER TOWEL DEAL TWICE!! 

Then I decided CVS brand napkins are probably nice.  Especially since they’re free, right?  We will learn to like them.  So I went back and bought

CVS Dinner napkins 250 ct. 2.99

CVS Dinner napkins 250 ct. 2.50 (1.49 after BOGO)

GRAND TOTAL 4.50 with tax, maybe 4.70

Give her yet another $3 coupon

I owe 1.70. 

Oh?  But what’s this?  Another ECB for $2 in my handy dandy coupon holder…keep the change! lol

I paid nothing for the napkins, if you’re still following!  

Then I realized the CVS deal is only BOGO today…so I’d better make it count.  Trinity’s been potty training, so I’d better get her some flushable wipes.  CVS makes ‘em just as well as Kandoo! 

Flushable Toddler wipes 2.49

Flushable Toddler wipes 2.49 (1.24 BOGO)

GRAND TOTAL 3.73 with tax maybe 4.00

Here’s another $3 coupon…haha

Total I owe 1.00

Gave her a handful of change…awesome.

One more for you and then that’s probably enough blowing your mind for one day.  We needed tissues. 

1 box CVS tissues 1.99

1 box CVS tissues 1.99 (.99 after BOGO)

GRAND TOTAL $3

gave her yet another $3 coupon and owed a nickel or some crazy amount.  Thanks for the free tissues CVS!

GRAND TOTAL I spent at CVS today: $2.35

And that’s how you do it!

You’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly, just keep a look out for $3 off coupons and make sure you use your card every time you’re in the store. Also, if you get the Sunday paper, clip coupons!  Even if you don’t think you’ll use them!  Coupons can be combined with store coupons and sometimes you end up MAKING MONEY!!   Whenever you can get a link to a printable, set your printer to print it a LOT–the max number of times.  Make sure you only try to use one in each transaction, but yes, this is how we plan on affording a cruise next year.  When I can pay $2-$5 for $100 worth of household items, thus eliminating this huge amount from our budget, you’d better believe we are going to spend it on something fun! 

So go have fun!  And tell me if this helps/inspires you!

We didn’t have plans, per se.  More than anything we had a plan not to plan anything.  I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the whole idea, because by nature I am a planner.  Chris said let’s just go out and have some fun.  So we dropped the girls off at my parents’ house around 6:30 and headed to Chili’s to eat.  While we waited for a table, we saw one of our former youth, Becky, and her husband, Jared.  Their name was called for a table, but we were all enjoying visiting so much, they asked us to share their table.  Wonderful food, great conversation, and lots of fun. 

Then we decided to go bowling.  Chris suggested I call some friends who live down the street from the bowling alley and sure enough, they were home and wanted to bowl!  So we bowled with Meagan and Bart, Robin, and Laci.  Chris bought a pitcher of beer for everyone.  Laci had root beer. Good times.  We’ve missed them, they’re like family to us. 

Then we went to BJ’s for appetizers and drinks.  It wasn’t crowded and we found a nice, romantic table to sit at in the bar area.  We ate bruchetta and artichoke spinach dip and toasted the new year with some champagne at midnight.  Then we came home and slept till 11!  It was such a nice evening–with no planning at all!

Today we had a pretty laid back day.  The girls came home after lunch and took naps, Chris slept all day, and I made Hoppin’ John and mini sandwiches for dinner.  

Hopefully this year will bring prosperity, health and happiness to our family and yours.  Goodbye 2008, welcome 2009!