CVS deals and a savings tip

Hi everyone- my husband and I took a last minute trip to Branson MO, partly to celebrate our wedding anniversary and partly because we just needed a vacation.  We had a great time and hope to go back in the fall and we would like to take our grandchildren when they are a few years older.  Branson is very fun, family oriented town.

So,  I will be doing the same frugal things with another vacation as my goal.

This week, when you scan your CVS card at the scanner,  you will get a coupon to get one roll of CVS paper towels free.
CVS also has a super  deal on laundry detergent.  Wisk,  All and Snuggle are Buy 1 Get 2 Free~
limit 6.
I think the Wisk 24 tab bags were $8.99 each. (So you get 3 for about $9.)
I used 4 Wisk $1.50 coupons that were in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago.  I could of used 6 coupons as I bought 6 Wisk but I only had 4 coupons, there are also recent All and Snuggle coupons. 
After coupons, my total was $13.02
I  used ECBs from a previous purchase for this purchase and paid for  the tax with a CVS gift card.

I have 2 CVS gift cards right now.  One was for $50 and I earned it through Mypoints.com

The other one is for $27 and I got it when I returned some defective reading glasses.  I had saved the sales receipt but did not have the tag from the glasses so a cash refund was not allowed, but the allowed gift card was fine with me.  

I've blogged that we buy and budget our gasoline with a Walmart prepaid card.  I bought a new card at the first of March for $200 and the first time my husband tried to use it,  just before our Branson trip, that card wouldn't scan at the pump, even with the attendants help.   Thankfully, I had the sales receipt from the card purchase and I will take the card to Walmart later and get it exchanged for working card.

I've been putting my receipts  my homekeeping notebook and plan to continue.  Having those 2 receipts saved $227!  

Mid-March catch up

I am fine and still here- just have not been visiting or writing blogs much. But I have no plans to stay away from the blog neighborhood - just took a little break

I have done very little shopping but I was in Walmart today and a worker in the children's department told me I should look in the buggy where she has just marked down an assortment of things.

I didn't dig through it all but I did pick out a nice assortment of socks for all my grandchildren, 

The packs with 2 or 3 pairs were 50 cents each. 

The packs with 6-10 pairs were $1.

9 of our family members were here Saturday. This is the lunch I put together. 

Homemade honey oat and white sandwich buns

A meat plate with cheese, sliced ham and chicken salad

Sandwich toppings -sliced onions, tomatoes, lettuce

A veggie plate with dip 

A fresh fruit plate 

And a peach crisp- not in the photo
most all the ingredients for this meal were purchased at Aldi- I am so thankful for this affordable and easy to shop at grocery store

I've baked lots of sandwich buns but have never got the hot dog buns quite right. But I've baked them twice lately and have been a lot happier with them. When I cut out the dough, it seems the unbaked unrisen dough for the hotdog buns needs to start out just a tad bigger than the hot dog. The dough will rise quite a bit and doing it like this gives a bun that is just the right size to hold the hot dog. 

All 5 of my grands at one time - this was at Andie's 2nd birthday party. The other 75 or so party goers were trying to get these 5 to smile for the photo. But instead of smiling, I think the grands were overwhelmed. So, instead of their usual smiling faces, this photo kind of looks like a group baby mugshot.

The seeds growing in eggshells are doing great. If next weeks weather forecast is warm, I am going to move the tomatoes to the outdoor planters then. 

I've been saving most of my eggshells and planted flower seeds in 28 more yesterday.

The tomatoes are the tallest. 

Our country friends with chickens are selling eggs after a dry spell in the winter. 

They have the nicest eggs with bright orange yolks and the shells are light blue and shades of brown.

I am so happy to have good eggs again!

Handwork  - I've been working on a gingham check cover for a tissue box, made with yarn and plastic canvas. Once I got the pattern started, it is almost a no brainer. Sometimes it is nice to just work on something and not have to concentrate much. 

I've been quiet because I have just been sad. A neighbor  passed away unexpectedly from pneumonia.  

Also, a very good friend was killed, so unexpectedly, in a 104 car pileup in Colorado.  She was a very dear, sweet lady.  

This is one of  the songs that was played at her funeral,  and it really sums up her attitude- Love God,  love your family

I am thankful to of known both of them but I do miss them and I know their families are just heartbroken.

 I am also thankful to know so many of you sweet bloggers through the nice  comments you leave  here and through your blogs.  

Hopefully, next week,  things will be more normal here and I will be back to regular blog writing and visiting.