It's fitbit!

I, like so many others, have been trying to focus on losing weight and leading an even more active lifestyle throughout the past few years. I've been actively trying lose the extra poundage through dieting and exercise but progress has been a lot slower than expected. (Likely due to the fact that I am now in my 30's and suspect that my metabolism is non-existent.) Enter the fitbit!

This nifty little gadget had been given to me by Maureen for Christmas. It is a small pedometer like device on steroids which tracks steps taken, floors climbed, calories burned, distance traveled, and activity level. But wait... there's more! The device syncs with the base unit wirelessly every few minutes and loads all data to their website. The site (www.fitbit.com) graphs your progress and tracks your weight loss allowing you to earn virtual badges for exceeding certain goals. To date I have received badges for 5,000 steps taken in one day, 10,000 steps taken in one day, and 10 floors climbed in one day. Some may find earning badges to be sort of silly but I have found it to be a fun way to push myself even further. Of course, having a few extra days off of work for the holidays allowed me to visit the Museum of Science & Industry and take in the lights at Brookfield Zoo which earned me more steps than I would have taken if stuck at my desk all day long!

The device also tracks your sleep patterns.  Not really sure what role sleep plays in the whole weight loss scheme of things but it must be important. So far I have learned that I like to sleep... a lot. According to the device, I don't even wake all that often throughout my slumbers. While I do not really know what it means I can at least say that I excel in the sleeping department!

There are other facets to the website which I am trying to be better at utilizing such as logging all meals but I always find that to be cumbersome and time consuming. Luckily, if you had previously used a fitness tracker such as Lose It you can easily transfer that data over to the fitbit site so there is no need for double-entry.

All-in-all I am COMPLETELY addicted to this thing!  If you are like me and need that little extra incentive to stay on track I highly recommend fitbit.

Welcome Home!

Good evening everyone!

Once again, I know that it has been quite some time since I last submitted a post. Unfortunately work, travel, preparing for the looming holidays, and completing my very first college course has gotten in the way. (I got a "B" in the course by the way.)

Before jumping in to the details on my latest shopping trip I want to extend a very warm welcome to my sister, Amy, and her husband, Paul! They arrived in Chicago earlier this evening all of the way from their home in Florida. Hopefully, the weather remains nice and mild for their visit.

I recently went to Walgreens to cash in on some Rewards Bucks and Jingle Cash and snagged the following:

• (2) packages of Halls cough drops
• Tin of Carmex Healing Cream
• Dentek toothbrushes
• Revlon Top Speed nail polish
• Goody bobby slides
• re-nu contact lens solution
• Salonpas pain patch
• Advil
• Advil PM
• (3) packs of Trident gum
• (2) bottles of Maalox
• (2) bottles of Nature Made vitamins

Total spend out of pocket = $3.88

Rewards Bucks and Jingle Cash received back = $23.00

Essentially, they paid me $19.12 to take those items out of the store!

Must start planning on my next CVS visit as the Extra Care Bucks received on Thanksgiving are due to expire!

Rewards Cash

Hello everyone!

I have received a couple of comments from my followers wondering when I would be publishing another post. Unfortunately, things have been rather crazy lately with preparations for the upcoming holiday, work, school, watching the Bears season go down the tubes, etc. However, I needed to make a special trip out to Walgreens after my Lions Convention Meeting this evening to spend the Rewards Dollars I received over the Thanksgiving holiday. (They were due to expire this Friday.)

Needed to get a little creative with this shopping trip as Walgreens had released a separate sale insert which my trusty couponing website had missed. I would say that the planning for this venture had taken a few hours primarily due to the fact that I never received the Super Saver insert in the 12/4 paper. If anyone had received this packet checkout www.couponmom.com, create a login, and click on "Walgreens" as you can get some pretty sweet deals. If you are not at all interested in couponing I would gladly take your 12/4 Super Saver insert off of your hands. (I was actually tempted to go on eBay to see if I could buy one off of somebody because I am coupon crazy!) BUT I digress...

Tonight's haul included the following:

• Windex
• (4) Dawn dish detergents
• (4) Sharpie markers
• (2) 4-pack Walgreens AA batteries
• (1) 4-pack Walgreens AAA batteries
• (2) Aveeno body washes
• Loreal face cleanser
• Garnier face cleanser
• (2) boxes Alka Seltzer Plus tablets
• (2) packages Pledge wipes
• (4) Degree deodorants
• Veet facial wax strips
• (2) Nivea lip balms
• (2) 3-pack Schick disposable razors
• (6) Nestle Christmas candies
• Aquaphor lip balm
• Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste
• Garnier moisturizer
• Revlon Top Speed nail polish

Now... This trip did not go exactly as I had planned. Of course, I did not realize that some of my items had rung-up incorrectly until I got home. (I will be stopping at Walgreens on my way home tomorrow to resolve this which should net me a credit of about $9.99.) 

Total amount spent out-of-pocket = $25.04

Total received back in even MORE Rewards Cash = $11.00 PLUS Jingle Cash for $20.00 off of a $30.00 purchase!  WHOO HOO! This would ultimately make my out-of-pocket expense, once the aforementioned discrepancies are resolved, (-$15.95.)!!!

Kids These Days

My only 2 followers are probably thinking to themselves "She's posting another blog already?". Yes, I am because I wanted to share something that caught my eye at the Dollar Store earlier today.

This is what I saw when I was perusing the coloring book section of the store.

Learning is Fun?!  What kind of coloring book is this?!  Must admit that I got quite the laugh out of this obvious product misplacement!  :)

I promise that I am now done for the day!

Black Friday

Happy Black Friday everyone!

Yes, I was one of the lucky ones tasked with getting up before the roosters were even awake to hit the road in search of a good deal.  Must admit that I was not very impressed with the Door Buster sales advertised within the 72 inserts stuffed in with my daily newspaper.  Regardless, I hoped that I would be able to get a few people on my Christmas shopping list knocked out.

Does anyone else find it extremely odd at how extremely low a price can go on Black Friday?  How in the world can a Kodak camera regularly priced for $400.00 be advertised for $19.99 in your local electronic store's flyer over the Thanksgiving weekend?  Kinda makes me wonder what the true value of those "must have" items is.  But I digress....

My most anticipated trip of the day was to Walgreens where I snagged the following:

• SAME Mood, Joint & Liver dietary supplement
• CHIAlife Omega-3
• Scunci 18-pack
• Cortaid itch relief
• GUM 2-pack toothbrushes
• Preparation H Totables
• Sheets energy strips
• ThermaCare heatwrap
• Crest 3D White toothpaste
• DenTek floss picks
• Colgate Total toothpaste
• Advil PM
• Ecotrin aspirin
• Gilette Venus Breeze razor
• Oral-B toothbrush
• Walgreens naproxen sodium
• (2) Secret body splashes
• Cover Girl lipgloss
• Revlon lipstick

Total spend = $71.44

Reward Bucks received for future use = $63.24!  So... all-in-all I only paid $8.20 for all of the aforementioned product.  Not as great as yesterday but pretty amazing just the same!  My experience at Walgreens was a little different than what I had experienced at CVS.  I was incredibly pleased to find that the store had all but one of the products I had set out to get.  (No, I wasn't lined up outside the door this morning waiting to get in either.)  I stopped there after all of my actual Christmas shopping excursion and the shelves were stocked to the gills and clearly labeled for the consumer.  I didn't need to spend a ton of time wandering the store trying to find the items I needed.  I'll be back to spend my Reward Bucks soon!

Black Friday

Happy Black Friday everyone!

I was one of the lucky ones tasked with getting up before the roosters were even awake to hit the road in search of a good deal.  Must admit that I was not very impressed with the Door Buster sales advertised within the 72 inserts stuffed in with my daily newspaper.  Regardless, I hoped that I would be able to get a few people on my Christmas shopping list knocked out.

Does anyone else find it extremely odd at how low a price can go on Black Friday?  Kinda makes you wonder if that Kodak camera regularly priced for $400.00 is only truly worth the $19.99 advertised in your local electronic store's flyer.

Pre-Black Friday Haul

I recently returned home from CVS with a massive stash of goodies that I had gotten absolutely free!  (Yes, I consider myself to be one of those crazy deal seeking people with my coupon binder, mounds of inserts and many hours spent on the computer creating spreadsheets which are used to calculate the best deals.)  What started out as a hobby has vastly grown out of control.  My family is beginning to think that an intervention will soon be required if my coupons, inserts and stockpile begin to get any more out of hand.  I've been blabbering on for far too long about myself!  Back to the deals!

• Revlon nail polish
• Hersey's King Size York Peppermint Patty
• Peanut M & M's
• (2) 3-pack Listerine strips
• Balance bar
• Advil
• Carmex
• 2-pack Softlips
• Cepacol
• CVS 4-pack AA batteries
• Breathe Right strips
• Colgate toothpaste
• Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso
• CVS dental flossers
• Pepto-Bismol
• Philips ear buds
• Finish dishwasher detergent
• Be Koool fever reducer
• Fiber One bars
• Kleenex
• (2) Herbal Essence shampoos
• LA Looks gel
• Phillips universal remote
• GUM toothbrushes

Total spent at the time of purchase = $71.71 

Total ExtraCare dollars received for future purchases = $72.36!!!  (A profit of $0.65 to take those items out of the store.)

My savings would have been even greater if the store had all of the products on my list.  Fighting the urge to scour the area in search of those "missing" items!  All in all it was a very successful trip!

 

Pre-Black Friday Haul

Welcome viewers to my very first blog ever!  Having the unlimited ability to post deals I have come across, personal goals, achievements, struggles and whatever else comes to mind for all to see is pretty intimidating but exciting.  Hopefully, you will gain something from reading my posts whether it be coupon deals, a good laugh