paid in full

I have been feeling very blessed this week as we passed the major milestone of paying off my student loan. Earlier this year we were able to take care of Andy’s car loan, and then mine, and now we are pretty much free and clear! Whoohoo! Technically we still have a bit of an informal loan that is being gradually paid back (thanks for your patience, Mom and Gary!), but as far as our credit scores go, we owe nothing. God has been very good to us

cvs savings

I came home from a short trip to CVS victorious with savings!  They had sent me a coupon for $4 off when you spend $20, so I decided to use it towards a few necessities: hair dye, hand soap, lotion, conditioner, shaving cream, and canker sore medicine.  Luckily I found some manufacturers’ coupons that fit my needs perfectly:

$0.35 off SoftSoap Handsoap (Must register to get coupon.)

$1.00 off any L’Oreal product (Must answer several beauty questions, then register to get coupon.)

$1.50 off Vaseline Sheer Infusion body lotion

The hand soap was on sale for $0.88 (normally $2.49), so it cost me a whopping total of $0.53 – perhaps my best deal thus far!

The L’Oreal hair dye was on sale for $7.99 (normally $9.99), so it only cost me $6.99.

The lotion was associated with a CVS in-store $1 off coupon, too, so it it came to a grand total of $5.49 (normally $7.99).

The Skintimate shave gel was on sale for $2 (normally $2.59) and I broke down and the bought the cheapest conditioner ever – VO5 for $0.77.  I didn’t get any great deal on Canker Covers (my medicine of choice since I’m plagued with the things), but it did qualify for CVS’s Double Bucks promotion, which was nice. 

My total savings ended up at $12.27.  Not bad!

facing the fear of a discount haircut

I am not a particularly brave soul.  But, I did it.  I got my hair cut at a place that doesn’t take appointments, doesn’t shampoo or blowdry or style, doesn’t offer masages, and doesn’t allow an ounce of pretension.  I went to Great Clips, and I used a coupon.

I have always been fairly frugal in most matters, especially in the area of “beauty treatments”, which I am truthfully just too lazy and absent-minded to maintain properly (despite my desire to look somewhat presentable).  Previously I had put off any cuts or colors until I could visit my parents and schedule an appointment with my beloved Kim, whose prices are outstanding considering the extremely high quality of her work.  However, driving 2 1/2 hours for a hair-do is a little inconvenient.  When I finally bit the bullet and went to a hair stylist in the big city, I was sufficiently horrified by the bill to swear off going to a “salon” ever again.

Walking into Great Clips on a weekday afternoon was intimidating, I won’t deny it.  I’m not used to being outnumbered by male customers, for one thing.  When I finally sat down with the stylist, I had to put on my brave face and say “I trust you, stranger whose talents I know nothing about!”  Of course, I brought an inspiration picture along so I didn’t have to rely on my lame verbal descriptions of what I wanted.

When all was said and done, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief – she had definitely not wrecked my hair beyond all repair.  Whoohoo!  And I have even received a few compliments on my new do, though I can’t guarantee they weren’t well-meaning fibs.  I absolutely consider my $8.99 to have been well-spent.

christmas clearance

It’s been an entire month since I actually bought the Christmas clearance items I was so proud of.  I was hoping to get 90% off at Target, but I didn’t time it quite right.  Not that I’m complaining – 75% off is still totally rad!  I picked up bunches and bunches of glass ornaments there, then headed off to Michaels with an awesome coupon for 20% off my entire purchase, including sale items.  Their clearance was about 60% off already, so I had a hard time containing the urge to buybuybuy everything I saw.  I basically kept it down to some spools of ribbon.  Here’s a picture of all my loot:

The funny thing is, most likely none of those ornaments will ever be on our tree, since I’m planning a different, craftier use for them.  Hopefully the project will be completed and ready to blog about when next Christmas rolls around!

Fall Clearance 2009

Even though Halloween is not my favorite time of year, I’d still like to have up a few spooky decorations and some festive autumn garlands in October/November.  Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed in the clearance selection when I finally went post-holiday shopping.  But I did make two purchases of which I am proud:

1) Fall florals at Michael’s for 80% off!

and

2) Light-up plastic jack-o-lantern’s from Target for (squeal!) 90% off!!!!

In related news, I have to say, I don’t have a problem with seeing Christmas merchandise all over the place (in fact, it makes me warm and tingly inside), but I am totally perplexed by the lack of respect for Thanksgiving.  I mean, seriously, are a couple of goofy-looking turkeys and a cornucopia too much to ask for?