michellephilippi.com

Ho Ho Ho Merrrrry Christmas!
I hope you are all having a super fabulous and fun Christmas with your loved ones today.
We did the family Christmas last night at my tia’s house, and then today it’s just us and the kids and my mom here.  I was up all night making my rice pudding which we have with sweet rolls this morning – that’s our tradition.  And we’ll open stockings at the table while having breakfast.  Then we’ll tear in to gifts.  And then later today my husband will make his amaaaaazing prime rib.  Oooo it’s sum good!

And since prime rib ain’t cheap, lemme show you how I saved elsewhere 😉  This particular week started off with Albertsons double coupon days.  These Chinet to-go cups were on sale for $2.50, doubled $1 and got these for 50-cents a pack.  We filled these up with hot chocolate and took them in the car with us when we went to check out Christmas lights.  Olives were regularly priced – not on sale – at $2.59, doubled $1 and got these for 59-cents each.  Pepperidge Farms holiday crackers were $2.49, doubled $1 and got these for 49-cents each.  And the marshmallows were on clearance for 75-cents, doubled 40-cents and got these free.

Ohhh this is a good one!  I love it when I stumble upon a hot deal.  So the pretzels were on sale $2 each – doubled $1 and got them free.  But each one had a coupon stuck on the front for $1-off-2 Cake Mate products…which I could double as well.  Candles were only $1.09.  So for 18-cents I got a bag of pretzels and 2 boxes of candles!  Nice!  The cake decors and cupcake papers were more in that 50-cent range for those and the free pretzels.  But still!

And then an equally good deal: 2 packs of peanut butter cookie mix and a bag of Hershey Kisses – 40-cents for all!  Yeee-haw!  The Kisses were free when you bought the cookie mix, but you could use and double coupons on both so the money that came off the free Kisses went towards buying down the price of the cookie mix.  Oh yeah.

Then it was off to Walgreens.  Busy Walgreens week actually.  Naughty gel was $5.99 get $5.99 back – got that because it was free and a perfect addition to a bridal shower gift 😉  More free Snickers nutcrackers.  Revlon nail polish was free after coupons and Register Rewards back.  And the Kit Kats I threw in as filler items, so pretty much just the tax on those.  Skinny Cow candy was 25-cents each.  I used these for fillers as well and got a bunch of them to put in my husband’s Christmas stocking.

82 Willy Wonka candies.  That’s a lot of candy.  They were 8-cents each after in-store special and coupons that kept printing out allowing you to repeat it.  I got these for my son’s class for Christmas as they have a no chocolate/nuts rule so these would be perfect.

Goody hair products were $2, get $2 back.  Salon Pas pain patches were $1, get $1 back.  The Maalox were BOGO and then use coupons on both which made these 49-cents each.  The Peeps were free as they were on sale 2/$1 and I had $1-off-2 coupons.  And then the marshmallows were just a clearance item for 50-cents that I picked up and the almond bark was on clearance for 99-cents and that stuff is expensive so I scooped up several packages.

I liked the free so much that I kept shopping all week long.  I kept the RRs with me and as I was out and about to and from work and at lunchtimes, I’d run in to a Walgreens and roll my RRs and keep getting product for free and coming out with the same amount of RRs left to play with.  Free Salon Pas, free Goody hair products, free Revlon nail polish, 24-cents on the Dentek brushes used as my fillers along with the candy and tomato sauce.  The hair dryer was on sale for $5 this week so I got it and paid with RRs and have that to give to my daughter next Christmas.

No doublers on this trip to the Walmart.  Just had $2-off Schick coupons and these were $1.97.  So 13 packages for free (made 39-cents actually).  The folks down at the VA hospital here said that they have anywhere from 50-80 Vets in the hospital on Christmas each year.  So starting with these, in 2012 as a family we are going to collect products that are good for men, and store them in one big box.  And come November we’ll package them up all Christmas like and take them down to the VA for Christmas.  My father was in the Army, and was a Vietnam Vet who died from Agent Orange, and my father-in-law is a Marine and also a Vietnam Vet.  So this is a cause that is very personal for me and I can’t wait to see fruits of our labor a year from now!