You can't beat my Receipts

My husband got put on the night shift. He's been there longer than anyone else in the whole department, but he's the one who got screwed. He has also maxed out on his raises which pisses me off to no end that companies are allowed to do that. He thinks that his bosses are trying to get him to quit because he makes so much and is cutting into their bonuses.

His hours really suck, and this is only the fifth night of it. I know things could be a lot worse, like he could not have a job at all, he could be in Iraq and we wouldn't see each other for a year or so... but it still sucks. Ok, enough complaining.

I've been reading alot of blogs tonight, and I'm amazed at finding many blogs from people who write about their trip to the grocery store or drug store, and how much they've saved.

I love being frugal. I'm the first to admit that I'm a total cheap skate. So since I'm bored and husbandless and can't sleep, I think I will go through my wallet and look at old receipts. Not only will I look at my old receipts, but I also will write about them.(I have hit rock bottom, haven't I?) Let me first preface this by saying that my receipts are nowhere near as impressive as those people who really know how to work the system (like this gal). They can go into CVS and rack up Extra Care Bucks, stack coupons, and overall piss off cashiers so that they walk out with two hundred dollars worth of stuff for a nickel.

First receipt: Bed Bath, and Beyond. I bought a shower gift for a friend with a coupon. The gift was $32, and the coupon was for ten bucks off a thirty dollar purchase. Woot, woot!

Second: Aldi Grocery Store- twenty two bucks. I love Aldi, but I don't think they take coupons. They also don't accept credit cards which keeps cost down. That kind of sucks though because I generally charge everything so I can get money back. Every couple months I get a fifty dollar check back from my credit card company. I have never carried a balance, so they don't get any interest from me, yet I'm making money. They probably hate me.

Third receipt- fifteen dollar prescription from CVS. I had $14.35 left on a gift card from my last trip to CVS. I got that $25 gift card for getting a new prescription filled. Sweet. I had to pay a whopping 65c for my prescription.

Fourth receipt- a little over a hundred dollars at the post office. I bought twelve books of forever stamps since postage is going up again. The cashier probably thought I was getting married or something and needed all those stamps for invitations. Nope. I'm just hoarding the stamps, that's all.

Fifth receipt- Kohls. I bought three items of clothing, all on clearance, for a total of $14.70. I only went in because I had a coupon for ten free bucks, so I had to pay $4.70 for my purchases. I had a gift card from Christmas to cover it, so I actually paid nothing. I have over thirty bucks left on the gift card, too!

Sixth receipt- Babies R Us. I bought a box of huggies because there was a five dollar off coupon in the mail. It still came to $31 but I had a gift card from my shower to cover the cost. Cha-ching! I'm also looking into The Caregivers Marketplace, which gives you 75c back for every box of Huggies you buy (though I think it's only for the Jumbo packs, and I buy bigger boxes than that). Also, I am in the process of getting a frequent flyers card from Babies R Us for buying so many Huggies. I think the deal is buy nine boxes and get the tenth one free.

Seventh receipt- Target. I bought a thirteen dollar rug for a friend's shower gift. I had a gift card to cover that also, so I still didn't have to pay for it out of pocket :)

Eighth receipt- Sears. I bought a chemise on clearance for my friend's birthday. It was only five dollars because all clearance was an additional 50% off. (It's the same friend who's getting married, so I figured it would be nice for her honeymoon!)

And that's it. Too bad I didn't have my latest Kroger receipt still in my purse. I totally scored last time I was there. One of the things I was excited about was that I had a coupon for a razor or replacement blades ($4 off). It turns out, the razor with five blades included was on sale and was cheaper than if I had just bought the four pack of blades. I gave the razor to a friend because I didn't need a second one but kept the four blades. Oh yeah, and it also rang up wrong, I caught the mistake, and so they had to knock another five dollars off (that's their policy for wrong prices). You have to really watch because I find so many mistakes. It helps that I practically have a photographic memory for prices. I can't remember my husband's birthday, but I can remember how much Crest toothpaste costs according to the weekly circular!

Oh, by the way, those receipts were not all from one day! Those were a weeks' worth or so. Notice there wasn't a single thrift store receipt. I haven't been to the thrift stores for at least a week. I'm feeling the itch but am trying to hold out until Wed. This is the last Wed. of the month so two of the three chains are having their big "Half Off" sale. The other chain is having their half off sale tomorrow.

I'm so excited about these upcoming half off sales. The only thing that could make it more exciting is if thrift stores started accepting coupons! Actually, come to think of it, when I was in right before Easter, they had a special Easter egg promotion going on. You got to draw an egg from the basket right before you checked out. Inside the egg was a certain percentage off. I only got 10% but that's better than nothing!

I'm willing to bet that all this talk about thrifting will now probably make me dream about it. How much do you want to bet? Five dollars and that cute owl figurine you thrifted last week?

I'll take that bet and raise you a thrifted set of encyclopedias that's only missing G, M, and W!