The snow is finally settling down and the roads are clearing up here. Thank GOODNESS! How is the snow where you are at? I’m hoping that was the hardest part of the winter and it’s over!
This week, I’m working on a post to help you organize your kitchen pantry…I’m making printable labels. What do you think? Aren’t they PREtty?!
I’m still working on my photography skills too. 🙂 I bought a photography studio and it is SO much BETTER than my old one. I just got it yesterday, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play around with it, but that’s what I’m working on now. Also, I can’t figure out how to get the background blurry in a photo. No matter what I try that others online say to do, I’m unsuccessful! Sigh…not to worry though, I’ll get it…eventually!
I’ve also been hard at work on a new design for the blog. So, far, my header name is changed and a lot of other little details you probably won’t notice. 🙂 BUT, my biggest design feature is coming very, very soon! It’s something I used to have on the blog (a little different) and I’m super excited to be putting it back…but I’m not spilling any secrets. You’ll have to wait to see it along with me. lol.
Alright, down to business…how did I save money this week not shopping in stores. Well, there’s good news and bad news. :/
The things I bought this week:
A couple of things I needed and found at great prices this week were:
Scotch Essentials White Mark Eraser – this has been in my cart for a little while. At one local store, it is $4.99, but you have to buy $25 to get free shipping and I just didn’t have that much to buy, so I didn’t. I put this in my cart on Amazon, but it’s been hanging out around the $10 mark, which is double the retail price. One day, I saw it was $4.97 on Amazon with only 3 left in stock. I purchased it right away and saved myself 2¢ + tax. I haven’t tried it yet, but I am anxious to see how it works!
SanDisk USB Flash Drive – my daughter needed this for school. I scored it at $5.06, which is lower than any price in my local stores.
The First Years Straw Cups – the lowest price I can get these in stores is at Big Lots for $3.50 (all other stores, they run at least $4). Right now, these are only $2.14! Definitely a stock up price, so I ordered 2 packs. They are very helpful on car trips or even in the house. My kids are older, but they still use these cups because they have lids. I LOVE these cups!
Bandaids – I went to get in my bandaid drawer and ACK…I’m almost out! I only have about 5-6 left. It’s time to order. The absolute cheapest in a local store here I could get them for is $1.49 for 30 strips and fabric bandaids seem to be the cheapest, which is perfect, because that’s all we will use. I found McKesson brand bandaids on Amazon, 100 strips for $4. Just about the same price as the store, except no tax. So, in just that purchase alone, I saved $2.40 on bandaids by NOT shopping in a store!
Parsley – I LOVE putting Parsley in my dishes, so I buy it in bulk. The cheapest in my local store is $2.13 for 0.5 oz. This bottle is 2.5 oz and I paid $9. So on this item, I saved $2.28 including tax over purchasing it in the store.
McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning – I love this particular blend of seasoning, but man is it EX-PEN-SIVE! At my local store, a 14.5 oz bottle is $11.15! So, a 29 oz, which is what I bought on Amazon for only $6.79 (!!!!!) would be $22.30 + tax. I literally saved $16.84 on this ONE item by purchasing it on Amazon rather than in a local store! Now, this might not be as huge of a savings for those of you with a Costco membership. I don’t remember how much this bottle is at Costco, but I am thinking it’s not as low as $6.79.
Oggi 4-Piece Acrylic Canister Set – I have an upcoming post of the kitchen pantry labels I was telling you about, so I needed to purchase a set of canisters, so I can photograph them…makes sense, right?! 🙂 I found this really cool canister set on Amazon. They are bigger than what I thought they’d be and so far, am really loving them! A ceramic set of 4 at Fred Meyer is $29.99. I don’t mind the acrylic because I like to be able to see through them, so this saved me $6.38 by purchasing online and not in a store.
Now for my bad news…my prescription. I tried to fill my prescription at Walgreens this time instead of getting it at Fred Meyer like normal, because Walgreens has free shipping on medications.
My prescription is a 3-month set and I set this up 3 weeks ago. I wanted to give them plenty of time. Apparently, they never did anything with it, or it got lost somehow, I’m not sure, but it was never filled. So, about 4 days before my prescription runs out, I called them and got it all taken care of. But, to mail it to me, it takes 5-10 days. I would have run out before then. So, I did have to go to the store to pick it up.
BUT…the silver lining is, that I didn’t go IN the store, because they have a drive-through. So, I went through the drive-through and purchased nothing else. Walgreens is right around the corner from my house, whereas Fred Meyer is several miles away, so it saved me gas and time.
It also saved me money!
Walgreens charged me $81.85 for three months. Fred Meyer was charging me $106.95. That is a difference of $25.10 and next time, I’m sure it can be shipped to me.
That is a huge savings on my prescription! So, I AM GLAD I switched pharmacies. I would say that if you are self-pay for your prescriptions, it pays to shop around, so definitely call around and get quotes. I had no idea it would be that much cheaper or I would have switched a long time ago!
If you’re looking at dinner ideas for your not going to stores challenge, here’s some great ones:
Hamburger Soup
Craveworthy Potato Salad
Asparagus and Bacon
Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings
Pasta Herb Salad
For the sweet tooth:
Lemon White Chocolate Cookies
Watermelon Fudge
Crockpot Applesauce
For those that love to know the songs I’m listening to the most this week, here they are on YouTube:
- Katy Perry – Fireworks
- Third Day – Mountain Of God
- Colton Dixon – Limitless
- Colton Dixon – More Of You
