It all started with the cottonballs...

So, about a month ago I was in Walmart, and every trip to Walmart MUST include a trip down the clearance isle, it is a habit of mine. You never know what sort of deal you may find there. So, I am driving on down the isle when I notice cotton balls on the shelf and thought, well, that is an odd item to be on clearance, not like it expires or is not a usable item. Then I notice that they are selling for .82/ for a bag of 225. Wow, that is a deal! A 1.00 off the normal price. So, I grab two. The next day I am at my sisters house and was joking about the cottonballs being on clearance, she said, she would have bought alot since it is an item that would get used. SOOOOO a few days later I am back at Wally World taking a spin down the clearance isle and there is still quite a few bags left, so I grabbed 10.00. I couldn't get myself to take them all so I left a couple bags. Then I got to thinking about wow, between that visit and the previous I had saved 12.00 on an item we frequently run out of. Hmmmm.
THEN, my sister and my mom start telling me about all these great deals they have been getting using coupons and sales at Walgreens and CVS. I was getting a tad jealous of this (guilty admission). So, I started asking some questions and clippin' the Q's. A couple weeks ago the sis and I headed into town for me to get a "tutorial" of sorts on the in's and outs of getting a good deal and stockpiling items that we generally use. First stop, CVS, now I will admit that their card thing was/is really intimidating to me but w/ some coaching (thanks Dawn) I walked out of there spending 2.30 for two tubes of toothpaste and earning 2.00 in CVS Bucks for another trip! Not bad! Next trip was to Walgreens (aka WAGS) we scored some good deals there too, I walked out of there spending 27.88 and saving 44.67! Not to be forgotten was the 13.xx in rebates that I had coming too! Woo Hooooooo!!!!! Needless to say that was quite the rush from saving that much and getting items my family would need to use AND stretching out the income. I could hardly sleep that night.
So, needless to say the clipping of the Q's has become an obsession of mine and finding good deals. Today I was going through my receipts to send in for some free stuff and started totaling up what I have saved since the first cottonball purchase, ok, are you sitting? (Yeah, like who stands to read blogs?) drumroll please..........$180.24! That is in a months time! I did not tally how much spent b/c some of the receipts included Christmas gifts and I didn't want to break it all down. And to copy my sis on her blog http://www.thehappelfamily.blogspot.com/ I will be posting my savings as well. I will however, NOT be putting my pedometer readings on this. Seriously, only 39 steps to cross my house, that is alot of pacing.