Archives for 2007

I’m starting to think I may need some serious addiction treatment from these store savings I’ve been getting.  I say that in jest but tonight I bought eye drops.  We’ve probably used eye drops like 3 times in this house since we’ve been married.  What was I doing?  A lot of people are really interested in how it works and are amazed and supportive of my savings but at the same time, a lot of people are very skeptical I think.  I think the big question is are you actually wasting time and money buying things you don’t need? 

I had to think hard about this one.  It’s true. I bought eye drops tonight and I don’t know if I’ll use them.  But I got $4.99 in ECBs because of it.  Is that ok that I bought them and basically was given a rebate for them?  I don’t know.  It almost seems like a vicious circle.  Buy things you don’t need just so you can buy things you don’t need right?

Well, I started to add up what I’ve spent in the past 3 weeks or so I’ve been doing this and comparing it to the price of anything I bought that I would have normally  bought and it seems to me if I’ve spent the same or similar, then I’m doing well.  In the past few weeks, I would have had to buy more body wash, shampoo and conditioner, face wash and batteries.  I’ve gotten all of these things during the last 3 weeks from CVS or Walgreens.  Now before all of this, I would have NEVER used a coupon of any sort.  I would have just gone to Target to get what I needed.  And from my guess, that would have cost me around $25.  From what I can tell, I’ve spent out of pocket around $50.  That’s twice as much.  A pretty big gap.  But from what I can tell, I’ve brought home about $190 worth of stuff.   So my choices are spend $25 and get $25 worth of products or spend $50 and get $190 worth of products.  To me, I’d like to spend $50 and get $190 worth of stuff.  And 95% of all I’ve bought, I will use.  Jury’s still out on the eye drops.  (If you need eye drops, let me know and I’ll mail them to you.)

I really, honestly enjoy saving the money.  I can stop doing it at any time.  My "pantry" is stocked.  I don’t freak out and have to wash my face with shampoo because I forgot AGAIN to go buy more facial soap.  I’m able to donate things I wouldn’t have before.  And I honestly and truly get free stuff.  And the thing is I’ve spent more, but I’m stocked up for much longer than what I would have bought in the last 3 weeks so if I count the amount of money I will have to spend to keep us stocked up, I really think I’m doing well.

And you might not believe this but before when I felt the need to shop, I would load up the kids to Target and not walk out of there with less than $100 bill–ask Heather, she’ll tell you.  But now, I can walk in CVS, spend a few dollars and possibly make money and get the same feeling.  Is it healthy to have a shopping "need"?  I don’t know and probably not.  But this helps and it’s WAY cheaper.

I’ve just gone over and over it and with CVS especially, you either have to buy the ECB earners, roll the money to the next week and keep buying ECB earners or it doesn’t work.  Maybe one week you can get away with earning and get a little bit free the next week but to really rack up, you have to do it continuously.

So for now, I think I’m staying in.  I certainly don’t think I’ve wasted any money.  The very worst you can say is I’ve wasted $25.  And what’s that?  One Isaac Mizrahi shirt that doesn’t even fit right?