Day 128: Validating Misbehavior

I just want to say that I am a card carrying voter, flag waving, daughter of a veteran, apple pie baking American.

I am just sickened by the fact that Americans feel the necessity to validate misbehavior. Now I am not saying that we should take on the ideals of Eastern societies of caning, chopping of limbs, or even severer corporal punishment but rather take a stand and speak up for accountability. Americans are constantly seeking out ways to avoid personal accountability and place blame not on the person who actually did the act, but to find someone else who provoked or provided an outlet for said act to be completed.

Follow my thought here.
You accidentally left your door unlocked one night.
Joe Schmo comes along, enters your home, trips over your end table, breaks his leg all in the act of robbing you.
You call the police.
Joe Schmo gets taken to jail for robbery, but then turns around and takes you to court for getting hurt in your home.
He sues the living daylights out of you, because he would not have gotten hurt if you hadn't have left your front door unlocked.
He wins.
You lose your home and savings because even though he broke in, had some of your belongings in his possession, he got hurt on your property.

Crazy stupid huh? Yeah. Happens time and again, maybe in this scenario but in many others that we justify. This past weekend, I read an article on the death of Whitney Houston. Ok, no matter what I feel sympathy for her family and their loss. Her toxicology report will not be back for a few weeks as to the specificity of what cocktail she died from. My point is, they are looking into suing the doctor that wrote her the prescriptions. Well, we as Americans are used to getting what we want and we will pay for it. So if it wasn't one doctor, we would have fired them and found someone that would give us what we want. Or even better, who is to say, that there were multiple doctors writing multiple prescriptions? Or even pseudonyms coming into play.

Is it tragic that she died? Yes. Was it foul play? No. Did she open her mouth drop pills and then chase them by alcohol? Yes. Was she aware of the ramifications of mixing meds and alcohol? Duh, every prescription issued comes with an awareness pamphlet.

So according to the world, it's not her fault. It is the doctor (s). But then it's just not their responsibility, it's the pharmacists too. They all were in that hotel room, physically held her down opened her mouth, and poured a human Molotov cocktail down her throat. Who is to say she wasn't trying to kill herself, but we will blame someone else rather than say...yes her death is tragic, but self propelled.

Now lets, take Hollywood aside.

Example 1: A friend of mine took her kid to the community center this week. There were a few children playing on the indoor play ground. One child in particular was purposefully trying to hurt the other children. The "mother" wasn't paying a bit of attention. The representative from the community center had even stepped in to correct this behavior and the "mother" did nothing but chatter on her phone and with someone else there. Then the kid comes up to my friends child and tries to hit him. My friend immediately interrupts the behavior by loudly saying "We don't play like that, we don't hit." Then, only then does the "mother" take action. Not by correcting the child, but by yelling at my friend, because she should not have interrupted before her son got hurt. Turns out, the "hitter" was not her child, but one that was in her care at the time. But in her mind, he and his actions weren't her responsibility to monitor, my friend should not have let her child play on the indoor playground.

Example 2: Another friend of mine, a former teacher, is sickened by the fact that her 4 year old is about to enter school at a time when accountability is dismissed when it comes to misbehavior. Teacher's can't do a thing, for fear of losing their jobs, because parents hold the "not my kid" or even better "my kid only did that because the other kid provoked him". So either way it is not the aggressors fault but the bystander.

Example 3: You did not mean to kill so and so. You only did it because you got your heiny wacked as a child. Or, you only did it because you grew up with only one parent. Or, you only did it because...insert pathetic excuse here.

So why is there this aversion of just telling it like it is. You do the act itself, it is your fault, not the person who provided any outlet for the act to occur. We are losing our sense of decency. We are teaching our future generations that it's ok you are not accountable for your own actions because someone else provided you the means to do whatever it was that you did. Umm. No. I am sorry, I just won't stand for it. I will raise my children to know that they are accountable for their own actions, but as for the rest of society with a validation of misbehavior mindset, I feel I will be losing the decency battle.

Day 122: If we die Tomorrow...Life as We know it

When it comes to answering the questions that come to mind when you think...If I die tomorrow...what do I want the world that I lived in to know? For me, that particular world is my loved ones but above all my children.

I know that the thought of dying is a cumbersome one, but if you truly don't think about it, what will you make of tomorrow? So relatively speaking of life as we know it now, if I were to go tomorrow what would be the most important of things I want for my children and loved ones to know?

* know that you are loved, appreciated and wanted. 
* it's ok to try new things, just don't get addicted to anything in particular because there is a whole world of wonder out there
* in general people are most people in the world are good, with good intentions, but like apples, there are a few out there that are not genuine and you won't be able to tell them apart from just looking. 
* broken hearts mend
* everyone deserves a second chance as long as they are worthy
* it's ok to laugh when you are sad
* It's not ok to regret anything, just learn from it and move on.
* Speak from your heart
* Stand up for what you believe in
* Not everyone will appreciate your honesty, but if you don't tell it like it is, how will they ever know?
and my list will go on...

 

                                     

And...I am sorry I left you such a big mess to clean up! But we had fun.

If you fail to live to your potential, I will haunt you...Love & Hugs, Always.

Day 121: Non-Toxic House cleaning

We have finally said goodbye to almost all of our commercialized cleansers! Over the last year we have tried to go through our mini stock pile of commercialized cleansers. I wish I could say that this move was to save money or to help the environment, but it was because of my mother's hair! She has short naturally curly hair that every morning she sprays water on it with a squirt bottle. Well, Monk in all of his lock picking ways got into the cleaning supply cupboard and thought that it would be a wonderful idea to imitate Grandma. Not so great to have these around my mini-humans and their idle handles.

I have been on a quest to find the most natural ways of housecleaning that if they ever did ingest something it would be perfectly harmless and that the poison control people wouldn't know us on a first name basis. Turns out that all the natural cleansers on the market are not so non-toxically natural. What's the point then? Toxic is not natural and those natural prices sent me even further on my quest.

So as it would be, I had everything in house to clean our house naturally. All you really need is vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and peroxide. And no, not all together. As it is, vinegar, baking soda and peroxide are all have anti-microbial properties and vinegar and peroxide are antiseptics. The lemon juice is just for fragrance and stain fighting! Duh who knew lemon juice just wasn't for mixed drinks and sun bleached locks!

I finally have it figured out. What combo to use for the walls & baseboards, kitchen counters and sink, toilets & floors, appliances and the other grossness that comes along with house cleaning. Pinterest has helped a lot with trial and error of some stuff, but when you can just turn to ONE bottle to clean most everything in your house HELLO genius! Yeah, I know that's the way my grandma used to clean but hey it saves us plenty and my kids probably won't like the taste of vinegar!

Some of the ways we use it...

1 c. Vinegar to 1 qt water warmed before use in spray bottle
-cleans & sanitizes the sinks, counters, toilets, shower doors, windows & carpet stains
-put it in a bowl in the the microwave for 6-7 minutes then wipe the gook of your microwave
- use it to clean your floors too, just double it in the bucket

1/4 c. baking soda, 1 tsp dawn, & 1/4 c peroxide added to the laundry is a great bleach that makes whites whiter and is safe on colors

sprinkle baking soda on a glass cook top and cover with a hot soapy rag for 15 minutes...goodbye stuck on's

sprinkle container filled with baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice make a great carpet refresher

vinegar on pet stains...goodbye when you blot them up and they won't go back there!

1/2 c baking soda 1/2 c. peroxide in the carpet cleaner instead of fluid, wash then vacuum up

1/2 c. baking soda, 1 tsp of lemon juice works great on tub and other stains as a paste

Now all we have to do is just buy some stock in Heinz for all of the vinegar I use and some in Arm & Hammer for the baking soda!

Day 119: 2 week goals

I am a modern parent. My kids are messy and I admit I try keep it together but somedays I fail miserably. I have a new challenge to attempt to tackle, a two week one, so this should be simple and easy right? Hopefully. For 2 entire weeks we are going to strive to keep the house totally clean. I am hoping that this will spur us in the right direction of trying to figure out how "normal" people can take 10 minutes and have a clean house. I know, this sounds completely and utterly ridiculous, but hey if we can do it for 2 weeks, it will be something.

So here is where it starts. Last week I did a big clean. Baseboards and walls included. I don't know about you but there is nothing worse to me than having to sit there with a pot of peroxide, vinegar, water and a rag and scrub every inch of wall and baseboard, then having to go back over it with a magic eraser to get "the dang/ding it" spots. So after my big accomplishment, i went on a search of the internet to find different methods of trying to keep these trouble spots...well trouble free. So since we are dust and dirt free in the baseboard area, I am trying a test. I found this supposed to be cure all for the baseboard everything sticks to it...rubbing a dryer sheet on every square inch. This is supposed to help things from adhering themselves to them and make it easier for you to just run the vacuumn brush right over them. So lets see!

Anyway, 2 weeks how tired am I going to be? How frustrated or accomplished is it going to be around here at Chez Stoneford? Will/ can we stick to it afterwards? Another story.

Day 114: Super Sales

Ok so for those of us battling the consumerist spending sprees or just don't have the flow to tackle them I offer you a bit of good news. There are a few wonderful deals going on now and into Valentine's Day.

Ann Taylor Loft is selling all of their sweaters for $12.98!
Vera Bradley is having a secret sale and you get up to 60% off of their selected items!
Amazon: Save $15 on $30 flower purchase
Living Social: Save $25 on $50 flower purchase
Mrs. Field's $25 your purchase of $50

Just incase you wanted to drop some hints to the love ones in your life or buy something sweet for a loved one!

Other good news, for my fellow Q Queens! Lowe's Foods started Super Doubles today, and Harris Teeter will start them next Wednesday! WaHoo!

Here is how it went for me last week. I know a few of you are baffled at how we spend just $50 a week at the grocer and pharmacy. Sometimes stuff happens like we get sick and that causes for breaking the budget, but here you go.

CVS: $6.32 for Tylenol Cold Medicine, yeah we go sick and I just don't have any of this hanging around.

Harris Teeter Sunday: $28.16
8 pk Paper Towels, 5lb Sugar, Jiff PB, Swiss Miss Cocoa, Org. Spring Mix Salad, Org. Baby Spinach, and a Sub for us for dinner. This was not a good trip for us, but we were sick and we were out of Cocoa and around here, cocoa is like running out of Diet Coke or Coffee for others! We normally buy it from the wholesale club, but we didn't see the necessity to spread our germs all over this town. So yeah, this one was bad.

Harris Teeter Tuesday: $25.92
5 boxes of O.R. Popcorn, 2 lg cans of Furmano Plum Tomatoes, 1 package of Chili Seasoning, 1 bag of Kettle Chips, 4 Apples, 1 bunch of celery, 1 bunch of carrots, 6 loaves of bread, 1 lg Breakstone's sour cream, 1 Coffeemate Natural Bliss creamer, 1 Gal. of Milk, 1 1/2 gal Half & Half.

So the total for last week groceries: $60.40 ($10.40 over budget). I know many of you are saying where's the meat? Well, 5 weeks ago we racked up at a huge sale, so we are pretty good for a few months! Love the stand up freezer!

Since Lowe's and Harris Teeter are doing back to back Supers, this is going to be hard to stay on budget, but well we have too! We are already out $10.40!

So I went to Lowe's today. Don't forget our grocery spending runs Wed-Tues, not Sun-Fri! So this is a new week for us.

Lowe's Wednesday: $18.90 total value: $63.77
3 XLg Ragu, 4 boxes Muellers Whole Wheat Pasta, 1 4pk of Dannon Yogurt, 4 Degree Deoderants, 2 Med All Free & Clear Detergent, 2 Doz. Eggland's Best Eggs, 2 pks of Johnsonville Sausage, 2 lbs of Bananas

Not too shabby!

Day 112: Self Expression leads one to the Padded Room

I am all about letting your child lead while you sit back and watch their creativity blossom. I am always the mom that lets their children just get utterly filthy while having fun. It's the best part about being a kid for heaven's sake. I have always and will continue to even after today's sagas promoting exploration, however, people may have to start visiting me in a padded cell at the local psych ward.

We are all about painting here at Chez Stoneford. I love to paint, my children do too. Mr. BBH, not so much, but he gets the job done. So from changing the wall colors in the bathrooms oh every year and repainting this and that, you can possibly see how my children just might like to explore the wonderful world of color. I even change the color of our drapes each season and well, the color of the couch changes every 2 years (well the couch at least!).

So here is how the day went today....

Being a SAHM, you never really have that time for yourself unless you want to get up oh say 2-3 hours before everybody else in the house. You know those wonderful pleasures of taking a shower, brushing your teeth and combing your hair possibly even shaving your legs before the Yeti in the woods asks for his winter coat back. But for this SAHM who has an alternative schedule of children who go to bed late and sleep past 8:00 in the morning, I cherish sleep. I am exhausted from doing our daily grind and well frankly the Gator has taken it upon himself to decide along with Monk that sleeping through the night is optional rather than a necessity. So, I keep a toothbrush in the kitchen, in the 1/2 bath and both bathrooms upstairs. I want to make sure that I create the opportunity to be able to at least take the 2 minutes to brush my teeth where ever I am in the house. Same goes for hair ties. They are all over the place, so if we are in a rush I can grab and go.

Up from playing in the living room today, Monk says..."I have to go potty" and gets up and goes into the bathroom. Well 5 minutes go by and I politely go up to the door and ask him if everything is ok and the little being says, I am fine. Then 5 more minutes go by and still no Monk. So up I went and actually opened the bathroom door to see what was going on...This is what I found.

Another toothbrush bites the dust. Gone. Yep. There was my mini-human ever so proud of himself brushing his teeth with my tooth brush. Why? He says "my teeth were yellow". Ok good reason to go and brush your teeth with your own toothbrush, but it wasn't as convenient I guess.

Then later in the day...

I set up a wonderful invitation for my children at the kitchen table. I had pre-taped paper down and had 3 different kinds of finger paints out. One being the Crayola Magic Wonders and the other 2 being a heavier finger paint. My idea of this was for me to actually get all of the dishes done while my children had something fairly constructive to do a few feet away. Firstly, the Gator got right into it...patting and smooching paint all over his paper, on his onezie, even the edge of the table and the side of the booster seat I had him propped up in. But that's ok, the Gator is 9 months old and he had fun. I know from the glob of goo that I clean out from his nostrils that he had fun with it. Now my wonderful mini-human of a 3 year old was a different story.

It began wonderfully, you know birds chirping in the background and visions of sugar plums dancing around Lalalalala....there they sat at the table giggling and laughing...having fun. So, there I went dish after dish, sippy cup and soap. Next I go and check their masterpieces and yes they are the most beautiful smooshed glops of knights on horseback and a castle up the winding road. Yep. I saw it...I think...not so much, but the important part was Monk thought I did. So back to finishing the dishes I went. Then about 2 minutes later I turn around and all the finger paint is scooped out of the little pot container it was pleasantly placed in as not to mix and spread. Monk's face is green and so are...his arms, legs, neck, face, even his heiny. Then I looked to the table and well, it was coated to and even the sliding glass doors at mini-human height level from stretching his arms as far as he could. Yes. 2 minutes.

Now on to tonight...

Monk: "Mommy I am hungry, can I have a fruit bar?" Normally this would never have been a "No" in our house, but he has taken to not wanting to eat dinner. So I had to tell him "no" and that he had to wait for supper. After a half an hour of listening to how hungry he was he got me. "If I don't eat, then I can grow up to be big and strong...". Well he was right, so off to the kitchen I went to cook supper. I got it all prepared and hour and before our normal supper time to find the bugger passed out on the couch. So I let him sleep for a bit then woke him up because I am trying to break this vicious sleep cycle, plus he is a complete and utter grouchapotomus if I wake him up too early. So there my freshly cooked delicious supper sat...cooling...now cold.

At the dinner table Monk sat. Supper right in front of him. 2 bites for 45 minutes went into his mouth. A fight ensued. A one-sided on at that. Screeching at the top of his lungs. Angry at the fact that his baby brother got desert and he didn't. His plate went back into the fridge when he yelled at the top of his lungs that he wouldn't eat. So upstairs I carried him kicking and screaming, even through putting his jammies on and me walking out the door, without even saying a word. He is still up there screaming for me.

Now who was it that said Terrible two's? They were WRONG. 

Day 109: De-cluttering Laundry for 2012

Everywhere I look these days, I find too many things that have a home and it is not in it and then there is stuff that is just lingering around because it doesn't have a home yet. There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to find homes for these "things".

I knew when we brought our mini-humans into the world that along with them would come stuff. I swore to myself that all of their "stuff" would be contained in their own rooms. Did it happen? Nope. As with everything else, I am finding it everywhere. Be it the 3 year old, who wants to play with his toys in the living room or the 9 month old who needs his own containment area for his own safety. So where do I find myself lately?

I wish that I could blame it on the holidays, birthdays and other special occasions but what it honestly boils down to is...I would rather play with my kids than do chores. We only have one chance to have this one day and well laundry can wait. The only problem is...I spend the day picking up from everything that we have been playing with that I just don't have the energy to pick up after the normal stuff.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to keep a handle on the laundry. For the month of January, I look back and think that I was pretty successful. Then on Monday, I walked into the laundry room. Ok I lied. I had to push and pull my way into the laundry room. I have been doing laundry for 4 people and a potty training puppy for 3 whole days now and well, after cleaning up the bedrooms I can probably add another day or two. Embarassed...yes...tired...yes...but I think that the whole neighborhood just decided to drop their laundry off at my house and pray that I would just not notice.

It's not that our children have too many clothes, because that is not the case. Each of them had a load and a half. I could possibly see the fact that we had guests in the house for well over a week, that the number of towels, blankets and sheets grew. I can also see that the children and I were gone for almost a week so we have that laundry too, and I can also see that we have a puppy that we are potty training right now. Do Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer and I have too many clothes...yes.

So what am I doing to simplify this task I desperately abhor?
A new system is going into play around here at Chez Stoneford. Monk is old enough to turn his clothes right side out when he takes them off and well Mr. BBH and I can too. So, I am instilling a your own laundry load system. I found that doing it this way, affords less time to fold and an easier time of actually putting the clothes away. No more sorting into five or six different piles then taking the to their desired locations. wash, dry, fold, go to ONE specific place...Load by Load laundry! Wish me luck!

I also went through all of the kids clothes and dumped. I had one empty laundry basket and into it went the clothes that were too small or I just would never let them wear. Since the kids clothes are easier to monitor...they are constantly changing sizes, I really don't have to worry about out of season clothes for them. Mr. BBH and me....different story. I went through all of my clothes in drawers and dumped. I found Maternity clothes still hiding out in there as well as clothes that I should never wear again. We need to donate these things before they go out of style and no one wants to wear them! When Mr. BBH gets home tonight I am praying that he will do the same! I am also hoping that we can tackle doing this to the Master Closet this weekend.

Today, I also tackled the linen closet. Gone went the ratty pilled towels, the sheets that we never use and those pillowcases that no longer match the sheet sets and the comforters that haven't seen a bed in a year. 

Discosure: I can't part with my down comforters though. Just because it was really pleasant this winter...in to a space bag they will go. 

Now back to that linen closet...it serves a dual purpose, not only does it hold linens, but the top rack is home for those taken away toys for naughty children. Better Homes and Gardens recommended a plastic container library. With this concept along with our taken toys, we will just dump them into the container and bring them out on rainy days. Personally, I prefer for Monk to earn them back, but I am just going to do that for the entertainment center dumping ground. We will see how it goes. Hey if anything, there will be less toys to pick up in the playroom!

Before leaving to go for Grandma's birthday and Grammy's surgery, I decluttered the play room. The trash bags came out when the kids were napping and into them went those toys that I can stand, the ones that are too young for Monk but too old for the Gator and reorganized and simplified. I toted them up to the attic and they are awaiting the next consignment sale to find their forever homes! I was recently reading Real Simple to try to find ways to simplify our life. I hope that I got something from it, but actually applying it will be another story.

Where I am in the De-cluttering world...
one 1/2 Bath, one coat closet, two kitchen counter dump sites, one pantry, two freezers, one top of the fridge, one playroom, 3 dressers, children's bedroom, one sitting room and one laundry room! Yeah, I wish I could say the garage or storage room, but hey some of us just can't change overnight but we are on the right path...I hope.

For my locals, the end of April is Alley Cats & Angels semi-annual yard sale....

Day 108: Prepping for Spring

With Spring fast approaching here at Chez Stoneford, the wonderful La Nina has graced us with a very very mild winter. We can't help the wonderful warm days that are upon us as we step out the door. I also can't help my anticipation of our summer garden fruitions.

Over the past years our ever so brown almost black thumbs have progressively gotten greener and this year, we plan to expand what we have spent the last five springs preparing for...low maintenance, care free and pretty much self sustaining gardening. A lot of trial and error was most of our leg work!

 For those of you who choose to have your own home garden, you already know that nothing is better than cooking up a meal and using stuff freshly plucked from right out your back door. Hey, you put in a little leg work and your body is going to thank you for it and so is your wallet. Our family had a wonderful time together last year prepping our garden, working in it and reaping its benefits.

Last spring, we even gave Monk his very own section that he was responsible for taking care of. Yes, I know strange idea putting that kind of responsibility on a 2 year old, but, he loved it and it gave him his own sense of ownership of it. Since we follow the Square Foot Garden method, he obeyed every "rule" we set infront of him about the garden and got upset if any of his tot friends violated them. We envolved him in every aspect about it. From seed starting, tilling and picking out new veggies after the tornado that come through our neighborhood destroyed our hard work. I highly recommend getting your kids involved, hey, you might have your non-lettuce eating mini-human eating what he/she otherwise wouldn't touch, just because he/she grew it themself.

So what are we doing this year? I'll write about our adventures.
Well now is the time to start thinking about starting to grow some seeds. Those catalogs are coming out in full force and local gardening supply stores are stocking their shelves. If you choose to Square foot Garden (SFG) then start getting your boxes ready. Turn over your soils and add some hummus and compost. If you are new to trying to grow or are in the habitual mindset of picking up perishables at the grocer, start small. I recommend no more than 2 boxes. But for us we will be doing much more.

We plan on only going to the farmers market for our tried desperately but epically failed oh so loved potatoes and fruit from trees.

 My newly loved Pinterst addiction is really helping with all of the planning and idea starting. This past weekend we started some of our seeds that need some time to grow before we can plant them outside. What I have found in the past, is that we just don't have the capacity or money for those fancy grow light systems. This year we are trying the outside milk jug/2 liter green houses for our seeds. You can leave them outside all the time and they get all the hardening and light they need and are protected from the elements. I'll post some pictures later.

What we started... Bell peppers, Jalapeno peppers, Carrots, Romaine, Mesculin lettuce, & Cauliflower.
We also started some flowers... Snapdragons & sunflowers.

Disclosure: SFG is not your grandma's gardening. You grow everything in 4x4 raised boxes. 16 Square feet will feed enough for and adult and child for the whole growing season. No back breaking work. It pretty much sustains itself except for watering when hot out and if you think you can't do it, just remember my 2 year old did.

What are the monetary benefits of growing your own garden?
Well last year tomatoes in our area got to be as high as $2.99 lb. and that was even at the farmer's market much less the grocer. We eat more perishables in the summer, because they are more readily available and try to blanche and freeze as much as we can to enjoy our fresh veggies throughout the year. So for a family of 4, at the grocer we would save at least on our consumption probably around $40 a month. For us that's almost a whole week's worth of groceries! Hey, saving that money affords us to get away for a mini-vacation!

$40/month x 6 months= $240 of free money! Plus we are eating better!

Day 107: Inquiring minds for Couponers III

Freebies

If you have been following Inquiring Minds for couponers, here is the long anticipated freebies!

What if I told you that we never pay for the following items because they are always FREE?

Antacids
Bandaids
Cough Drops
First Aid Creams
Tylenol and other pain relievers
Hand Soap
Dish Soap
Deodorant
Lotion
Floss
Mouthwash
Tooth Paste
Razors
Shampoo
Shaving Cream
Soap & Body Wash
Toothbrushes
Air Freshners

These items are always free! It doesn't matter, they are going to be free, the manufacturers want you to take it home! As long as you don't buy them when you run out, you will always have a constant supply. Now I am not saying that in one trip I get enough to last us a year, but for a couple of months. Remember no hoarding allowed!

How?

Firstly, your B1G1 coupons aren't gold, they are flippin' platinum baby!

Once you get rid of the mindset of not shopping at a drug store because ... THEY are too expensive, you will begin to understand that YOU CAN NOT not afford to shop at them. They not only offer you additional incentives they sometimes pay you to take it off their hands! At a drug store, B1G1 coupons with a B1G1 sale mean both are free. You are buying both, one happens to have 1 Q with it and well the other one is a bonus thus equalling zero $$$. Look at it as you would think the grocer would and wouldn't. B1G1, both ring up at 1/2 off at the grocer, but at the pharmacy, one rings up regular price and one rings up $0.  Since you are "buying" both, you are going to have to pay tax, you are buying the one that rings up $0 and getting the say $5 one free. Get it? at the grocer, very different story.

Second, Shop here benefit $$$

At CVS they have Extra Care Bucks. At Walgreens, they have Register Rewards. What are they? Money back in your pocket. The catch...you have to spend it at the store, in a certain time frame. I know that last part doesn't seem to make something free...but it does. How? Well you hear of those coupon crazies getting free toilet paper and the like on TV right? Wondered how? They use benefit shopper money.

TIP: Some grocers allow you to Walgreens Register Rewards toward the purchase of groceries, calling them competitor coupons to be taken off the total amount of your groceries.

So here's how it works...I buy a tube of tooth paste $3, I have a Q for said tube for $1 off thus making it $2. The store is going to print me benefit money at $3 for buying said toothpaste. So I pay for the toothpaste. I pay $2 and get back $3. I made $3 in store money and my toothpaste then was free; plus $1 over. I then take that $3 in benefit money and buy needed laundry soap, that happened to be on sale for $3.99. I pay for my laundry detergent with the $3 benefit money thus making it .99 cents out of pocket for my detergent. I was going to buy the laundry soap and toothpaste anyway, so in all actuality, I would have spent $3 on toothpaste and $3.99 on laundry detergent for a total of $6.99. What came out of my pocket? $2.99. I saved $4 and only had a $1 off Q.

Here is the break down.
Transaction 1:
Toothpaste @ $3 -$1Q=$2 out of pocket, $3 benefit bucks back
Transaction 2:
Laundry Detergent @ $3.99-$3 benefit bucks = .99 out of pocket

Total value purchased: $6.99
Total Out of pocket Spent: $2.99
What was free: Toothpaste
What was close to free: Laundry detergent if I would have used a coupon!

Pharmacies are no longer places to avoid unless you are sick! Those Q crazies just happen to buy toilet paper instead of laundry detergent!

Tip: When shopping at CVS, scan your CVS shopper card twice, it will only allow you to do it 2 times in the given sale week, but hey you might pull a Q for something you are buying that day, or better yet, X $'s off your purchase!

Thirdly, Stacking

Many stores allow you to "stack" coupons. Now this doesn't mean show up with a pile of the same coupon you pulled from multiple outlets to use for one item. What it does mean is...I have a store Q, either picked up out of their circular or printed off their website plus a manufacturer's Q.

Where can you do this?
Pharma's, Grocer's...Target...anywhere that has their own Q's!

Morale of the story is buy your hygiene necessities and paper products at a pharmacy!