Returning to Couponing

Years ago I was pretty into couponing. However I was single and found myself with waaay too much food to handle and constantly giving away gift baskets of my random freebies I picked up. Eventually my efforts died down because seriously, it takes a bit of time. I was getting back into it in Utah a few months before we moved but down here in Florida, the grocery stores are completely different and what not. I do miss my Smith's deals.

No this is not mine! :D Just an example...but when do you have too much?

Anyways, with Baby Ortiz on the way, I definitely wanted to get stocked up on diapers and wipes. That's the motivation that got me going. I'm still trying to find the right "stock up" price because in reading other blogs, the price points vary so much. For example, one person says she aims to pay .08 per diaper while someone else says .11-.14 is excellent. (Those exact numbers come from their estimates for size 1 diapers.) For ME, I've tried to stay around .11-.12/diaper or at least 50% off regular price. Wipes is at least .01/wipe.

I'm hoping to be able to use a variety of brands but so far I've stocked up on Honest Diapers and Pampers. For wipes I have Huggies and Up & Up so far.

Today I picked up this wipe deal at Target and attempted a deal scenario to take advantage of their spend $50 on food/drinks, get a $10 gift card. I typed up a thorough break down of my whole deal, but here are my highlights.  (If you are interested in the rest, let me know.) <---- JK, I included it at the end.

My Target trip

3 Betty Crocker cake mixes at .17/each
1 Pillsbury cake mix at .04
2 Buitoni refrigerated ravioli at $1.61 each (reg $3.99)
4 Simply Balanced fruit strips at $1.4 a box (reg $2.99)
2 Ocean Spray juices at $1.02 each
1 V8 infused water at .01 (after Ibotta deal)
Orbit gum at .38/each

Spaghetti that fits in the pot...brilliant!

Oh and I got this little box of spaghetti for .57. I used to get pasta for free all the time, but seriously how cute is that box?

I admit I'm not good at planning trips yet and end up staying FOREVER in the store. We don't have Super Targets around here either so I'm never sure what the store will actually carry. I picked up a few items that I needed at regular prices so there's that. I calculated the final prices by dividing the $10 offer by the number of items I had and evenly subtracting that amount from each price.

I also stopped at Walgreens where I scored some money-making makeup deals. Granted, it's Wet & Wild, but I'm not picky and think the lip products go great in gifts. In my area, Walgreens offers a 15% military discount on Thursdays on top of all sales.

(P.S. Speaking of Wet & Wild makeup, I have to give a little shout to this lovely makeup channel on YouTube that I watch all the time. She has done some great videos about cheap drugstore makeup including Wet & Wild, ELF, etc.)

As a simple breakdown, I got 2 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, 2 dispensers of Scotch tape, 1 Christmas gift bag, 2 Wet N Wild mascaras, 2 eye pencils, and 4 lip products for $4.82 after submitting a .50 cent Ibotta rebate.

My Walgreen's trip

OK, this is probably too much info for this platform, but I went ahead and included my price breakdowns below. Otherwise, I'm done!

Oh, oh...do YOU have diaper and wipe price points you aim for? I'd love to hear.

(P.P.S. I've never quite gotten into Ibotta. I started using it but then always forget to scan my receipts and the product and it seemed like a big hassle. I'm going to try again.)

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Walgreens

2 Kellogg's cereal: On sale for $2 - 15% military discount - 2 .50/1 Kellogg's coupons = $2.38 or $1.19 each
2 Scotch tape: On sale for $1.29 - BOGO free - 15% discount = $1.10 or .55 each
1 gift bag: Priced at .29 + 25% discount (I don't know why this was more) = .22 and submitted for .50 Ibotta = .28 = rebate MONEY MAKER
2 Wet N Wild matte lip color: On clearance for $1.79 - BOGO 1/2 off - 15% discount - 2 .75/1 WNW lip product = .78 or .39 each
2 Wet N Wild mascara: On clearance for $1.29 - BOGO 1/2 off - 15% discount - 2 .50/1 WNW products = .65 or .33 each
2 Wet N Wild lip gloss: On clearance for $1.09 - BOGO 1/2 off - 15% discount - 2 .75/1 WNW lip product = -.11 = MONEY MAKER (of course this just came off my total)
2 Wet N Wild eye pencils: On clearance for .59 - BOGO 1/2 off - 15% discount - 2 .50/1 WNW products = -.25 = MONEY MAKER
Tax = .55 (rounding numbers made my receipt .06 cents off the total)

Target

To figure out my final product prices, I grouped the Tic Tacs as 1 item and then divided the $10 gift card by the number of items I purchased (21) and evenly subtracted that additional .476 from each item.

My total before ANY coupons came to 55.28. I had one set of items that were buy 3 get 1 free and that free item (2.99) seemed to not count toward the total automatically so I had to add a little more.

FYI:
CW = Target Cartwheel offer
TC = Target coupon

1 Orbit gum value eight pack: $5.49 - .75/1 TC - 25% CW = 3.55 - .476 = $3.07 or .38/pack of gum (Jake's favorite + Christmas stockings)
4 Tic Tacs: $1.14 (4) = $4.56 - 20% CW - BOGO FREE (-2.28) = 1.36 - .476 = .884 or .22/each
1 V8 Infused Water: $1.66 - 40% CW = .99 - .50 Ibotta rebate = .49 - .476 = .014
1 Market Pantry spaghetti: $1.11 - 5% CW = $1.05 - .476 = .57
1 Market Pantry parmesan cheese: $2.97 - $5 CW = $2.82 - .476 = $2.34
2 Chex cereal: $2.50 each - $1/2 coupon = $2 - .476 = $1.52 each ($3.05 all)
1 loaf bread: $1.97 -.50 Ibotta offer - .476 = .99
3 Betty Crocker cake mixes: $1 each - 10% CW - .75/3 coupon = .65 - .476 = .17 each (.52 all)
1 Pillsbury cake mix: $1.09 - 20% CW - .35/1 coupon = .52 - .476 = .044
2 Ocean Spray juices: $2 each - $1/2 TC = $1.5 - .476 = $1.02 each ($2.05 all)
2 Buitoni pasta: $3.99 each - 40% CW - $1/2 TC = $2.09 - .476 = $1.61 each ($3.23 all)
4 Simply balance fruit strips: $2.99 each - B3G1 Free - 5% CW - $1/$5 TC = $1.88 - .476 = 1.4 each ($5.62 all)
Pop Secret: $4.49 - 50% CW = $2.24 - .476 = $1.76 (This was my filler items so I kinda threw it on but wish I had picked something else.)

A little blood clot update

Jake painted my toes for me. :)

I wanted to write up a quick blood clot-related update since I've had so many people ask me about it. I had a draft from when I was still in the hospital written up but I think once they released me, I apparently lost motivation to sit in one place and type. Haha.

Well, I'm happy to report that things have gone and stayed well since that second hospital stay. Putting me on the heparin drip for those few days really seemed to do the trick and get my blood coagulation right where it needed to be.

When I was in the hospital they took care of my Tdap and flu shots AND my glucose testing. If any of you follow me on Instagram, you may know that the glucose test turned into a little bit of an ordeal.

But they released me Friday morning/early afternoon. Jake off course had to work, but we were able to time everything so the nurses, pharmacy, doctors, etc. had everything done and me ready to go for the 45 minute lunch break where Jake could come pick me up. Leaving the hospital and going home is seriously one of the best feelings.

The swelling in my leg was almost completely gone, if only present ever so slightly. As far as medication goes, I was put BACK on my lovenox injections but this time with a higher dosage. So I again got a huge box of needles to take home. And I still have the lower dosage needles which obviously they can't take back. Sooo we'll see what ends up happening there.

I stopped taking percocet after the first couple days in the hospital and while I was allowed to take it, I never felt that much pain again. I think I took Tylenol maybe once in twice in those first few days home. But the "pain" aspect of the clot was over. I was still on crutches for a little over a week after that, but everything smoothed out and I first started walking on my own around home, then brought crutches but left them in the car, etc.

I was able to pick up a temporary handicap parking sticker Monday after leaving the hospital. That has been extremely helpful. Obviously when I was on crutches, but even now that I'm not, walking and activity really does tire my leg really quickly and I've been thankful for that (even though I'm a bit embarrassed at times to be using it.) I also took full advantage of driving carts at stores for a few weeks and Jake told me multiple times that I apparently have no shame. Yes I'm going to park in the handicap spot and yes I'm going to drive my slow cart around the store, thank you very much. :D

After being home a week, I decided to teach my senior Zumba class. I had been on crutches this whole time but didn't really want to show up on them to the gym. So I braved without the weights and adjusted class so I could be sitting down more. Because you can do that with senior Zumba. Class went well but it was definitely a bit hard for me. The next week teaching went WAY better  with my only needing to sit for 2-3 songs. Today will be my third week.

Jake and I went on a morning walk this week. While it wasn't as long as we usually go for, it was longer than I've done since the hospital. I'm hoping to attend some regular Zumba or fitness classes to see how I do and then MAYBE try teaching for a few more weeks until the baby says no again.

That's pretty much the gist at this point. I gave myself 15 minutes to write this update but have several more, mostly unrelated, posts to add. I'm finishing up my 31st week and I'm trying to get some many things in order. Yes, the nesting has begun.

My box of medication to take home.

Yay! Going home

Week 30