Despite my large shopping trip last week, I was out of three key ingredients: one of which I forgot; the other two because I thought that I could do for two more weeks and turned out I was wrong.
I needed chicken buillion, flour, and sugar.
I also needed to get a dozen eggs to make Jim's breakfast burritos, and I wanted some sausage for our breakfast this weekend when my mom is here.
The catch: I knew we didn't have any extra money.
How can I get all of these things without spending any money out of pocket?
I did have a few things going for me:
- I had about $8 left on our Unemployment Insurance card that I could use.
- I had a $3 Walgreens card from a time when a Register Reward didn't print.
- I had a catalina for Fry's for $1.50
- I had a coupon for a free bag of Sara Lee bagels.
I knew the $8 alone probably wouldn't cover everything I wanted, so I would have to be creative about using what I did have available to get everything.
The first piece of the puzzle fit when I saw the Walgreens ad for this week. There were two items that were free after Register Rewards that I knew we could use AND that I had just clipped coupons for: pads and a toothbrush. Because of my coupons I would actually be making money after the Register Rewards, which I could then use to purchase some wanted items from Walgreens.
My intention was to use the $3 Walgreens card to pay for the purchase of the two free items, but when I got to the register I couldn't find the card. (Stupid me had left it in the car!). So, I had to use the Unemployment card, which actually was better because the total was about a dollar more, $4.02, I think.
My Register Rewards didn't print, so I got another Walgreens gift card for $4.98.
I headed to the food aisle to decide what I wanted to buy.
I was thrilled to find chicken buillion for $1.00. I had to decide between flour or sugar, but went with flour because I needed it more and to bring my total closer to $4.98.
When I went out to the car I found the $3 gift card, so I went back in and got sugar.
So, I had pads, a toothbrush, chicken buillion, flour, and sugar and had only spent $4.02 out of pocket.
Next we headed to Frys. They had restocked the bagels, so I was able to get that. Farmer John sausage links were $1 so I grabbed two. Eggs were 89 cents a dozen.
I used my free coupon for the bagels, the $1.50 catalina, and paid $1.xx total with the Unemployment card.
So, for approximately $6, which I was able to use my Unemployment Insurance card for, I purchased:
- pads
- a toothbrush
- chicken buillion
- flour
- sugar
- bagels
- eggs
- 2 packages of sausage links
I call that a successful trip!
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