Save Me Saturday

I need to start out by saying that I AM OVER BUDGET THIS WEEK. I am walking a fine line. On one hand, yes I am over budget, but the items I purchased went towards my stockpile. I'll explain these items that I could not pass up later. But on the other hand, the purpose of my budget is to save money and have more money to put towards our debt. So, I would welcome any comments or opinions on this matter. What works for you?

Now, on to the savings:
CVS: transaction 1
total before savings: $16.30
savings: $7.67 (coupons $1.50, ECB $2.00, sale $4.17)
total paid: $8.63

CVS: transaction 2
total before savings: $55.20
savings: $31.82 (coupons $9.00, ECB $5.98, sale $16.84)
Total Paid: $23.38

awesome buys on cereal if you had coupons. The sale was buy one get one for $.01. It came to $4.20 for 2 boxes, plus I had (2)$1.50/2 coupon. I bought four boxes for a total of $1.35 per box. Amazing!

Giant: I had 10 transactions so I won't list them all. Needless to say, I had 10 of the same coupon, which Giant would double. The item was on sale, and would have cost me $.29 with the doubled coupon. However, Giant will only double the same coupon once per transaction, hence the 10 transactions. See my post Humble Pie to read how I feel about that.

Total before savings: $144.30
Savings: $57.44 (Coupons $21.86, Bonus Card Savings $35.56)
Total Paid: $86.86

Rite Aid: Transaction 1
Total before Savings: $17.87 (plus tax)
Savings: $9.00 (coupons $5, Rebate $4)
Total Paid: $9.53

I ended up taking back the toothpaste I bought, so I got back $6.98. So, my total ended up being $2.55

Rite Aid: Transaction 2
Total before Savings: $29.92 (plus tax)
Savings: $3.00 coupons
Total Paid: $28.36
Rebate Check: $5.00

This purchase included a new binder and paper covers for my coupons, which totaled $9.98. Not a necessity, and not on sale, but it will make it easier for me to organize my coupons and less likely that I will miss a coupon.

At Rite Aid I got toothpaste buy one get one free. They were $2.99 each, plus I had 2 $1 coupons. I got both tubes for $.99. I also got 10 Soft Soap pumps for $.99, as well as 4 Speed Stick deodorants for $.75 each. They were 4/$9, with a $5 rebate. I also had a $1/2 coupon, so I got 4/$3. I also got 2 Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers for $7.49 each. You can decide if I really needed these items since they are what put me over budget. They added to my stockpile in an inexpensive way.

Total before Savings: $256.61
Savings: $106.83
Total Paid: $149.78