CVS + Rebate

Good news abounds on the money-saving front. First, my Live Active Cheese rebate arrived by mail the other day, putting $7.98 back in my pocket.

And here is the latest haul from CVS:

1 Suave Conditioner
1 Suave Mousse
1 Tresemme Shampoo
1 Gillette Fusion Razor
1 box Kleenex
1 Colgate Total Mint Gel Toothpaste

—coupons and ECB

=$4.83 out of pocket
$8 in ECB earned

 Tresemme is also on sale this week: buy $10, receive $5 in ECB. The trick is that all of their 32 oz. shampoos are priced at $4.99. This means an additional purchase, pushing the total above the $10 requirement. Most of their other products—hair gel, sprays, etc.—are also priced at $4.99, except a tiny tube of $1.99 spray. This isn’t an everyday item for me, but I can forsee its use in the future and I wasn’t about to spent an additional $5 to get $5 back.

      2 Shampoos @ 4.99 each = 9.98
+    1 Hairspray @ 1.99

= 11.97 OOP — $5 ECB = $6.97 for three hair care items

My Frugal Roadmap

Ten things I do (or don’t do) to save money:

1. No gaming. I do not own a Playstation, Wii, Gamecube or XBox. I do have my original NES from the ’80’s; since it lives in its original packaging and I took care not to abuse it, the system survived my childhood with nary a scratch. If I MUST play video games, it comes out of the box.

2. No soda. Even without this item on my diet, I manage to spend far too much time with my dentist. The smallest amounts of sugar just deteriorate my teeth. I never cared for soda to begin with, and this is a good reason to avoid it altogether. Water is better for you. And it doesn’t cost anything at restaurants.

3. Speaking of restaurants, I rarely eat out anymore: it’s expensive and not ideal for those who need to stay healthy. Although I’m not a stickler for counting calories I must have at least a ballpark estimate, which is impossible when I’m not cooking the food.  

4. Limited gadgetry. My needs aren’t numerous: I have a nice cell phone, bought to replace the free one that fell apart on me, and an old iPod. I’d love to get rid of the latter, but I can’t stomach getting $20 for a device that originally cost $300.    

5. I take advantage of some great deals at CVS, but try not to haunt the store every week. If the item in question isn’t a necessity I won’t buy it, even if it’s free after rebate. 

6. I use coupons, but only if and when it makes sense. If generic cereal is $2, I won’t use coupons on a name-brand item that still costs $3 after the “discount.”    

7. I use the library. This cuts down on clutter and, as a student, this saves me a bundle every semester. In the event that I must purchase a book, half.com is the place to go. Paperback Swap doesn’t always have the best selection.

8. I know how to entertain myself by putting the items I already have to use. 

9. I don’t patronize movie theatres. The seating is uncomfortable, refreshments are stale and overpriced and there is no pause button for bathroom breaks. I have Netflix instead.

10. I question the item’s longevity before I buy. And whether or not it is essential.

The Aftermath of Music Addiction

College marked my initiation into the indie music scene. Looking back, being “indie” seemd like more of a fashion statement. Fellow fans who disdained the “corporate” music world often cited that as the foundation of their support. In fact, they talked about it a lot. My own reasons were a bit less politcal though no less steeped in snobbery: I sought an alternative to contemporary pop, and the indie scene provided a plethora of good music that never made it to the airwaves. Soon I was convinced that it was the only genre worth listening to: everything from howling hardcore to the same electronic loop wavering in and out on a fifty minute CD. Yes, I know: it is embarassing now.

After a few on-campus shows, I was sold. Literally. A flood of packages from obscure record labels started appearing in my campus box (and what college student doesn’t love mail?). I bought the shirts. I bought the hoodies. A rainbow of stickers covered my guitar case. I attended a few ear-splitting shows. And I bought the music, always new copies at full list price. Buying used just didn’t appeal to me. Sometimes I went to Best Buy and assured myself that I was getting a good deal. Best Buy is “cheap,” right? Soon my room was occupied with a glittering stack of music. It multiplied. I bought plastic cases to house the growing number of CD’s. I watched friends do the same–they were students like me. On the economic scale students are least able to afford this junk.  

Although I’m a bit ashamed to admit that not much time has elapsed between the end of college and the present, my musical tastes have evolved a lot since then. Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoy some of it and don’t plan to part with those CD’s just yet. But I must be honest: the tried-and-true’s are few and far between considering the quantity of music I amassed. Did I need it? No. Did I even like it? Most of them only got one listen. 

After a time, I arrived at a painful decision: it was a waste of money. Worse: I’m not using these CD’s. They add no value to my life whatsoever. The money I spent on them is gone. I cannot get it back. A lot of my stuff endured lengthy tenures on half.com before I hauled them out to used record stores. To date, I have sold over 50 discs. I will mostly likely unload another 50 before next spring. I don’t even want to think about the financial loss, though it doesn’t take too much brainpower to guessimate a respective ballpark figure.

Although it was a wasteful expenditure, I’m glad I realized that when I did. I’ve been acquainted with seasoned audiophiles and collectors who continue building massive music libraries. Maybe they are balanced in their listening rotation and use all of their dics in an orderly manner. But I could never keep up with what I had, unless I led the sort of existence that permitted me to wear headphones all day. 

Although I haven’t stopped buying music, the accumulation rate has plummeted. And I won’t even consider buying it new. Why pay $14+ when secondhand copies go from $1-4? Also, I think twice before a purchase, reminding myself that this music must have longeivity, and not become tomorrow’s (or even next year’s) trash.     

What is the present-day pay off? Clutter reduction, and a smaller, higher-quality music collection that is enjoyable. And having money in my pocket is a plus, too.

Rebates, Walgreens and CVS

On the rebate front: I should be getting $7.98 back from Kraft LiveActive, making my aforementioned cheese purchase free.   

The following items from Walgreens are also free after rebates:

1 Garnier Fructis Conditioner $3.99
1 Softsoap Spa Radiant Body Wash $3.74 (w/ $.45 coupon)

Walgreen’s TOTAL = $7.73

OOP TOTAL = $0

And although my CVS purchases are NOT free after rebate, I got some pretty good deals:

1 Garnier Fructis Shampoo +
1 Garnier Fructis Conditioner = $10 ($5 in ECB)
1 Stayfree Item = $3.29 ($3.29 ECB)

1 $1.00 Stayfree Coupon
$2 CVS ECB

= $10.77 w/ tax — $8.29 ECB

CVS OOP TOTAL = $2.49 

It just goes to show that while there is nothing inherently wrong with buying the least expensive generic-brand shampoos, being frugal doesn’t necessarily mean limiting oneself to them. In fact, with the right combo of store deals and coupons, the name-brand items end up being better deals.

Just an example: The cheapest priced toothpaste in my area is arguably Aim, at $.99 a box. I have purchased about 7 tubes of Colgate and Aquafresh Advanced in recent weeks and while I can’t give you the actual breakdown in price — they were combined with other deals — the cost was nominal: far less than $.99 per box.

I Lied

Contrary to my previous post, I did end up shopping at CVS this week. It turned out that some Extra Bucks I had on hand were about to expire, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

The deals really weren’t that great, but here’s what I picked up:

Trip #1

1 personal hygiene product: $3.69
1 box CVS brand tissue: $1.15

=$4.84

—$3 ECB
—$1 hygiene product coupon

Out of pocket total = $.84

Trip #2

1 3-pack Colgate 360 Toothbrushes: $6.99 ($2 ECB back)
1 2-pack Aquafresh Advanced: $4.99

=$11.98

—$2 Aquafresh advanced coupon
—$2/10 CVS coupon
—$4 ECB

+tax

—$2 in ECB back

Out of pocket total = $2.34

OVERALL OUT OF POCKET = $3.18

January 2007 vs. January 2008

About a year ago, I stumbled upon a wonderful website called Frugal For Life, which launched my interest and participation in the simplicity movement. Since then, I have implemented a number of healthy changes, especially where my spending habits are concerned.

I was reviewing my credit card expenses this month and thought it would be fun to pull out the statement from one year ago, to see how much I spent on my grocery bill and takeout food, and contrast those figures with expenditures from this month, in January 2008. What makes January 2007 and 2008 ideal contrasts? In January 2007 I had just started cutting back on a few unnecessary expenses. 

Let’s see what I spent:

January 2007:

Takeout food (including coffee and liquor): $74.06
Grocery: $116.46

January 2008:

Takeout food (including coffee and liquor): $38.53
Grocery: $100.61

To summarize: I spent $35.53 (%48) less on takeout meals and $15.85 (%14) less at the grocery store. My grocery expenditure has remained fairly consistent, although I am shopping at less expensive stores.

It doesn’t appear to be a significant difference at first glance, but keep in mind that the statements in question overlap with the last half of December. Despite the holidays, a time when one might be inclined to overspend, I still managed to curb my expenses and spent less money this time around than a year ago in 2007.

And although I don’t have an official record of the number of purchases for which I paid cash in either month, I do have records of several trips to the bank in January 2007. This month, I have visited only once — to open a Roth IRA.

Conclusion? It looks like progress to me! I feel like celebrating with some takeout pizza…

…just kidding.

Weekend Links Theme: Pinched!

A recent Business Week article indicates that economic worries have finally caught up to the affluent. High-end retailers like SAKS, Neiman-Marcus and Nordstrom have reported notable sales slumps in recent months. Not surprsigingly, Wal-Mart continues to thrive. There is a great disparity, however, between the news I read and what I witness in real life. Despite an economic slump, the weekend crowds at local stores and shopping malls continue to intimidate me. Everyone seems to be loading up on a plethora of items. Either they’re expert bargain-hunters, ridiculously wealthy, or maybe these are the folks who keep spending themselves into debt and denial. I don’t know.

And as an aside, I’ve been hearing some distressing news at Money Saving Mom about the future of internet coupons at CVS. I learned awhile back that Wal-Mart does not accept them. If this is true, I hope it takes them awhile to implement. CVS might lose some business if consumers lose out on savings.

But if you’re feeling pinched, there is hope. It is never too late to join the voluntary simplicity movement, either officially or unofficially, and take control of your financial health before (more) debt sneaks up on you.