I lied. I bought some stockpile items.

I know, I said I wouldn't bring in any stockpile items. I happened to glance at the CVS flyer and saw that Puffs were .88 per box and I had several .25 Qs on them. The regular price for these is something like $2.15, so, I'd be nuts not to take advantage of a deal like this. I used my free CVS GC, so, it didn't take anything out of my grocery money. I had to buy cat food yesterday and I used a couple of those Kraft free wyb Qs. I still have $5.42 to spend in addition to my GC.

I'm quite concerned about the country's economy right now. Millions of people are losing their homes and not enough new jobs are being created to keep up with demand. This depresses wages all across the board because there are so many people trying to get too few jobs. Thankfully, my home is paid for, so, I don't have to worry about being booted out. I am fortunate that I know about couponing and doing the deals. I've also found a wealth of information at Hot Coupon World. If you don't know about HCW, you need to go over there and see what kinds of information are offered. It's really just a group (large group) of people who share information about coupons, deals, and how to save money. It's also a great place to trade your Qs that you are not going to use for Qs that you need. I have nothing but good things to say about the people with whom I have traded.

Well, 9 more days in the month and $5.42 to spend. I will very likely make it with a few cents to spare. I have decided to continue the challenge through September. I will budget $50 oop and all free GC and rebates are in play. I have $49 and change on a Rite Aid GC, $22 on a CVS GC, and $25 on a Walgreens GC. I have $11 in Walgreens GC coming in a few days. I don't have many outstanding rebates right now, so, that's not something I can rely on too heavily in the coming month.

I'm going to try, really try, to do better meal planning and come up with some different ways to use my stockpile items. Everyone out there knows what kinds of Qs have been in play recently, so, you can pretty much figure out what I have in my stockpile. I have enough coffee to last for several months and I'm almost embarrassed to say that I have more than 80 boxes of tea, the size bags that make a quart, 24 or 30 to the box. You know they were all free, or nearly so, don't you? Every so often, Tetley or Luzianne are BOGOF at my double Q store. Other than tax, I pay nothing for them. I have spent a little bit of money buying Qs for these events, but, the overall price, including tax, is less than .10 per box.

Tell me about your stockpiling methods and where you are between obtaining more or using up what you have. I'd like to hear from you and compare notes, so to speak.