Target Coupons! The Power of Coupons Returns

Do you know what I hate buying? Laundry soap and toilet paper. Okay, you have to have them. While it is true, you can make your own laundry soap and umm... dig an outhouse and use pages from the Sears Roebuck to wipe your bum, the truth of the matter is that these are fairly standard household items. I've managed to cut down my use of paper towels by using kitchen rags, eliminated paper napkins by picking up some cool cloth ones at antique and thrift shops, cut down my use of store bought cleaners by embracing the mighty powers of baking soda for scrubbing and vinegar for general disinfecting, but TP and laundry detergent still end up on my grocery list occasionally.

You know why I hate them? They are such big purchases - relatively speaking. My grocery budget for the month is only $125, so when you throw in those guys, that's a pretty big chunk out of my budget. The worst part is, it doesn't even go into anything fun - like food. I love being creative in the grocery store with my budget and seeing just how much great stuff I can squeak out of my plan - it's like a game. And these two are the ghosts to my pacman.

So, naturally, I am running low on both... at the same time.

It hurts just a little bit more because my sister loaded me up with laundry soap awhile back so I have been stocked! But all good things must come to an end, and so, I must shop -

Fortunately a friend gave me a partially used Target gift card. He had a return, didn't have the receipt, and got store credit. Since it isn't a place he shops, he gave what he didn't need to me. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of $17. (I did offer to buy it off him, or even give him some cash and get it at a reduced rate if he wanted to be charitable - nope. He just gave me the whole thing. Didn't I tell you I have the most amazing friends??) Despite, or perhaps because of, my last experience with coupons at the oil change I decided to see just how far I can stretch the gift card. Much to my surprise, Target.com has coupons for both laundry soap and TP. (And only those two items - now what was the likelihood of that?!?*) I am also looking to download a few other coupons so I have some alternatives when I go and can really get the best deal.

Speaking of ordinary expenses that I hate paying for, Passive Family Income has done quite well working the deals at CVS. I haven't been a CVS shopper in the past, but I just applied for their card, so we'll see how that all works out. My coupon prowess took a blow yesterday - time to get it back!



*This is not a sponsored post - when I did Google searches for coupons Target showed up both times. Who would have thought?

Photo by: julep67