I'm baaaaaccccccckkkk!

WOW, what a slacker.  My Apologies!  No, I have not totally stopped couponing and No I have not given up on this blog!  Something happened around these parts, and its a wonderful thing called summer!  Summer in Maine is short, and therefore prized for every waking moment, therefore I have not been wanting to sit in front of this ol' desktop for any amount of time that isn't necessary, meaning that although I have not stoppped couponing I have been doing less of it this summer because those of you who have done it know it takes a great amount of time.  I had some stockpiles and was able to take some time away from my couponing and blogging, I promise I'll try to do better next summer, but that's a promise to try, not a promise to provide.  Thank you to all you followers who keep checking back....sorry I've kept you in the dark so long!

So off to CVS I go yesterday as I had cleaned out my purse and found $9 in extracare bucks I knew I had somewhere that expired today, I wasn't going to let them go to waste.  I purchase this:

Full Retail price at CVS over $74.  My out of pocket: $21.95

I took the $9 I had in ECB and put it towards the first purchase which was everything but the soda.  Taking advantage of the sale prices and using a puffs and bounty coupon from the 7/31 P&G coupon insert (there is a charmin one available too but its for off 2), a skittle/starburst coupons from coupons.com (I should have printed two and spent a $1 less!) and a skittles/starburst that pritned at the CVS coupon printer in the store.  I paid $20.09 out of pocket and earned $10 in ECB for purchasing over $25 of the charmin, bounty and puffs and another $1 ECB for I don't even know what as I used it right up in my next transaction!

The soda 12 pks were on sale for 4/$10, used the $11 I just learned from previous transaction and paid $1.86 out of pocket.

My CVS receipts says I've saved $472.35 so far this year! :)

Happy Saving!

Call those Companies!

Several weeks ago moneysavingmadness.com mentioned contacting companies directly for coupons.  She provided links to several companies to request coupons for and I did this several days, I didn't even contact every company she mentioned because I either didn't use that product or didn't have the time, and I have received TONS of coupons in the mail. 

There are products that she didn't mention that I use so I decided to do some contacting myself.  While I'm cooking breakfast if I see a item in the cupboard I reguarly use but have never seen a coupon for (ie hershey syrup) I called the company.  Turns out hershey syrup didn't have any coupons for me but I tried.

One product I use on an almost daily basis is my Oregon Chai. 

I love the vanilla chai, I've been known to make a special trip to Wal-Mart for it (they're the only ones I know of that carry it), and I never ever see coupons for it.  So I've been saying I gotta call for coupons but I forget.  Then I opened up a new box, and inside it was an exploded package and powder all inside the box, I had never seen this happen, and the light went on, now I have two reasons to call!  So I did.  I spoke to a very nice lady who took some information from me off the box and said they would be sending out a replacement.  I asked her if they had coupons and she said they did and would send those out seperately.  Two days later I received a hand written (my god this still happens?!) note from the lady I spoke with with 8 $1 off 1 coupons!  The next day I received a new box of Chai, a box contains 8 or 10 pkts and only the one in my box was damaged.  Let me tell you if you're into couponing it is worth it to call the companies of the products you buy and ask for coupons!

Happy Company Calling!

Rite Aid's Carts aren't Big Enough!

Well anyone who reads this blog that knows we well knows that I am never ever on time for anything and never for any particular reason.  I am also one of the world's biggest procrastinators.  Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow?  I actually purchased a bumper sticker that said "sorry I'm late but f***in off takes time" but have procrastinated putting in on my car!  So yes I did shop at Rite Aid on Sunday and yes I have procrastinated on blogging about it, my apologies, I have no good excuse!  So I will not make you wait a moment longer:

Introducing the motherload:

Believe it or not I fit all this and a 4 year old in my Rite Aid shopping cart, which are tiny and have no bottom rack!  I think the cashier knew what he was up for when he saw me rounding the corner to the checkout!

I broke this up into four transactions to take advantage of +up rewards and be able to use them on the next immediate purchase.

Huggies were on sale for $10 and if you spent $20 you got $5 in +up rewards.  I purchased two in my first transaction using two $3.50 off coupons and a $3 off your purchase of $15 or more from doing an online survey which printed on a previous receipt, and would up paying $10.85 AND got $5 +up rewards.  If you take the $5 into account its like paying less than $3 per package of diapers that reguarly are $11.99.

I did two huggies again in transaction #2 using two $3 off coupons and the $5 +up rewards from previous transaction paying $10.

I ran into some issues with transaction #3 as two of my +up rewards didn't print!  I did the huggies again using one huggies and one pull ups, thinking they were part of the +up reward deal since they were on sale for $10 as well but the reward didn't print.  There was also an add for $5 +up rewards when you spend $15 on select products which included bandaids, neosporin and aveeno products.  I purchased some of all three but the reward didn't print.  I'm not certain the lotion was part of the reward and think it may have only been aveeno first aid products, but the circular wasn't clear and the cashier didn't know.  Now at CVS if a register reward doesn't print they go right into their system and print you one, this cashier told me they couldn't do this at Rite Aid and I'd have to call 1-800-rite-aid.  He did agree the huggies reward should have printed and agreed to take $5 off my next transaction.  This third transaction wasn't a good one for me and probably why I have delayed in entering this post.  I was so excited to get some great deals on this trip and ended up spending a lot of money still, as I type this I still haven't even computed my total savings but will by the end of this post and maybe, just maybe I'll feel better once I see the true savings......

So transaction #3 consisted of one diapers, the pull ups, neosproin, bandaids, 2 aveeno lotions and dial soap and cost me $30.95 BUT without the coupons I had for the diapers ($2) and pull ups ($1.50) and bandaids and neosporin ($1.50 & $1 Rite Aid Video Values), and use of my extra care bucks it would have cost me $47.54, so I still saved over $16, but should have gotten $10 in +up rewards that I didn't.  I did get a $1 +up reward for the dial soap.

I wasn't all that satisfied with the last transaction either which consisted of all the detergent, finish dishwashing products and 5 12pks of soda.  I paid $20.38 before tax.  I printed some finish coupons online and had (2) $1 off, (3) 75cent off, (1) 50cent off, (1) $1 rite aid video values, (2) $2 off pepsi, (2) $1 off general purchase rite aid video values and $1 +up reward from previous dial purchase, and the cashier agreed to take $5 off this purchase for the +up reward not printing on my previous transaction.
I'm not sure why I was down on this purchase because after adding up those items for what they reguarly retail at Rite Aid it totals $83.86, I saved 75%. I'm not sure why this still doesn't really seem good enough for me, probably because I have been watching extreme couponing episodes and watching people get something for practically nothing, literally cents.  But purchasing something at 75% savings is a good accomplishment considering these are items that I am likely to buy whether they are on sale or I have a coupon, and since both were the case, I stocked up now, and its money spent now, but big savings in the future.  This is the way I have to look at my couponing.

In total I spent $73.20 which I was not very happy about at all, ouch.  BUT I saved $106.16, a savings of almost 60%.  Retail these products would have cost me $179.36.  AND I got a surprise $2 +up reward at the end of this transaction for my next purchase.

AND today I called 1-80-rite-aid to see why my reward didn't print and if I was entitled to them, there was no questions asked other than what did I think I should get, some information from my receipt and a promise of two $5 rewards on their way via mail.  So even though I spent $73 I still have $12 to spend on my next purchase, really $15 because I also did another survey for a $3 coupon.

AND I have previously stated that I'm not going to have to buy dishwasher detergent for a long time, well now its a very very very very long time!  I run my dishwasher once a day and a box of the power lasts FOREVER!

Happy Saving!

Score!

Got some great deals at Rite Aid last night.  Although moneysavingmadness.com spoke of a $5 off Tylenol Precise in a recent smartsource coupon book I was not able to locate it in my copy, and this is not the first time this has happened, apparently coupons are regional and sometimes can differ from where this blogger calls home.  However, she was kind enough to provide the link for a printable, of which I was able to print two, I was hoping to score BIG but two is better than nothing.

The Tylenol Precise is on sale this week at Rite Aid for $5 and the coupons were for $5 off 1, making them FREE.  (I never get tired of seeing, typing or saying that word...who would?)  I also clipped 3 carefree pantiliner coupons from a previous smartsource and scored 3 pkgs of those for free.  I was thinking that since this sale started Sunday and these items work out to be free that the shelves would be empty as is the usual case, but it was not, the carefree liners were well stocked and the Precise was very well stocked.  The Rite Aid flyer even mentioned the $5 coupon in their flyer showing this item would be free but I have to assume that since the shelf was full that probably everyone else ran into the same issue as I did and just didn't have that coupon in their smartsource this week.

FREE FREE FREE

But the deals don't end there!  I also purchased Crest White Strips for only $10 as they are reguarly $29.99 were on sale for $19.99 and I had a $10 coupon.  I was actually hesitant to spend so much money on something for myself but decided it was worth it considering I have been wanting to whitten my teeth for years now but last I checked it was still over $150 at the dentist, and the dentist himself told me the whitestrips do work quite well, they just don't reach the back teeth so if you have a wide smile (which I do not) its going to be noticable on the back teeth.  Excited to try these out and see if they really work!

I also purchased a prescription and other items I needed that I didn't have a coupon for, a grill brush, some mints and gum, and in total saved over $40.  I decided to cash out at the pharmacy with my prescription and the pharmacist rung me up, it was an older man I'd never seen there before and he joked and asked if I was testing him with my coupons admitting he is not the greatest cash register operator.  He had my stuff rung up first before he entered my rite aid rewards card and was impressed by how much entering the card saved me, then once he scanned my coupons he kept saying wow that's a $10 coupon, wow that's a $5 coupon!  He looked at my prescription to call me by name and said "wow Lynn, that is great, you just saved over $40, that's awesome, that's incredible, I want you to teach me your ways, I think you should write a manual for this!" I then told him that was not really a big shopping trip for me and he was even more amazed.  I thanked him for his excitement, finally I got a cashier that was just as excited as I was (I think he was even more excited than me!) and it was the pharmacist, go figure, didn't expect that!

That's about all I have to report on deals this week, wasn't impressed with any deals go on at other stores, and yeah there are items I could get for 49 cents or free, but they're items I don't use, and who needs their basement full of stuff they'll never use?  My basement already has enough junk in it!

Happy Saving!

REWARDS

Two posts in ONE day!  Wow I'm going all out today.  Rewards could very well refer to register rewards, which I speak of often but this post is about rewards of another kind.  It is rewarding to be a couponer, the rush of the deal, the savings, and hope for the future of being better with every transaction, but there is even more rewards, passing on the savings. 

I've taken two friends shopping with me and shared coupons and ideas but I've also passed information on in this blog, and with the help of facebook made mention of this blog.  A close friend and my nephew's wife have both taken off on their own coupon madness campaign, and I'm not so sure that either aren't in total competition with me, which I LOVE.  Because both have scored some fantastic deals and been excited to share them with me.  I love facebook messages and texts from either so excited to share their deals, and now I have others who I know share in my madness so I know I can totally tell them about a deal I just got and they won't think I'm totally nuts, they'll ask me how when and where and go get it themselves! :) 

It is most rewarding to see others save with me and know that if my quest to save and create this blog I've inspired others too, and I think they just may well be better than me at it, and that's perfectly okay!  Couponing is time consuming and not only are these two each mothers of two themselves like me, they both work as well!  So they have even less time than me so to see them coupon better than me when they have less time than me is inspiring to me, so the inspiration has come around full circle, pretty neat.  Keep saving girls, and don't forget to share your deals! :)

Stocking up on 12 Packs

Most of you aren't thinking of the same kind of 12 pack I am today, because today's post is referring to toilet paper!  I made a little shopping trip in town the other night and between two stops purchased 6 12 pks of toilet paper, and I think before the week is out I'll be back to get another 2.

I started at Walgreen's to see if they were stocked back up on the previous mentioned Cottonelle deal.  Moneysavingmadness.com has mentioned this sale a while back so I stocked up on all available coupons and was able to print 6 total 50cent off one coupons.  I used four of those on this trip.  In my first transaction I purchased 2 12pks of cottonelle on sale for $5 with an in store coupon (in the Walgreens May coupon book available at the front of the store with the flyers, but the cashiers usually have them at the checkout as well) for $1 off each, and using my maufact coupons I printed off I paid $7.50 for the two and received $3 back in Walgreens rewards for my next purchase.  I repeated this transaction again thinking I'm going to use the $3 I just got towards this purchase, but was advised of something from the cashier that I had heard about before.  Walgreens does their rewards a little different than CVS or Rite Aid.  At CVS and Rite Aid your rewards print on the bottom of your receipt.  At Walgreens they print off a seperate machine, say manufacturers coupon on them and have a remit address (because of this you can also use them at Wal-Mart according to their new coupon policy) this type of rewards is known as a catalina coupon.  Because the reward or in this case "coupon" for the $3 comes from Cottonelle themselves if you use it towards the purchase its going to cancel out the reward being printed because it would be considered a double coupon.  I don't like this, but it is what it is, I saved the $3 for my next purchase and paid $7.50 again getting $3 back again. 

I saved $5 on the deal even after paying tax and $5 for a 12 pack of toilet paper is a good deal to begin with.
Then I got two boxes of fruit loops that I know very well my kids shouldn't be eating but they love, on sale for $1.99 with a $1 off two coupon.  In the same transaction I purchased a 3 pack of vhs mini tapes that fit my camcorder that were on clearance for $1.39.  The cashier asked if the tapes were a filler, but they weren't it just worked out that way because here is another pain with the reward being in the form of a catalina coupon and this issue I've run into before at Walgreens, the time the old man in line behind me was a complete jerk....because the rewards are in the form of a catalina coupon its considered a coupon and you can only have one manufact coupon per item in the transaction.  I don't know for sure but I think I would have been fine without the tapes because I had two boxes of cereal and only one coupon for the two.  I ended up paying only $1.44 for the two boxes and the tapes after coupons and $3 rewards.

Onto CVS since I snagged some toilet paper there last week and thought it was a good deal I did it again and got 2 charmin basis 12 packs and got $1 back in ECB and used $1 off two coupon.  With this I also purchased some diapers I've had a raincheck forever for and got $10 in ECB back on the diaper purchase. Paid $40.14 total but got back $11 in ECB

Next I purchased three pepsi 12 packs which were on sale for 3 for $10 and used a $1 off 2 coupon that came in a special flyer in last Sunday's paper.  AND THEN I FINALLY got the stove top that CVS has been out of FOREVER.  I had 2 rainchecks from two sales, 4 for 77cents and 6 for 88cents.  I had couopns for 8 for 50cents off each but got 10 since it was a good price anyways, paying $4.36 before tax for 10 boxes, thats only 44cents a box!  And it has a date good through next March. 

So this whole load cost me a total of $3.41 with tax of out pocket!  With coupons and my $11 in ECB I think I got myself a pretty good deal.

What deals have you snagged this week?

Happy Saving!

A Few Sunday Deals

I wasn't planning on running out on a shopping trip Sunday since it was my husband and I's 7th wedding anniversary, but we ending up dropping the kids off a little bit before dinner and had the first chance ever to take my husband on a coupon adventure with me!

I was excited to hit Walgreen's and get the cottonelle deal, but CVS is on the way so we stopped there first.  I had seen a decent toilet paper deal there as well with Charmin, and well considering we have two bathrooms and only one roll of paper left Sunday morning I figure it wans't a bad thing to take advantage of two toilet paper deals.

Now remember I had to open a pkg of paper once we got home so this picture only has the 1.  I saved big on the paper towels, only to get home and realize they're not select a size which is totally annoying to me, but I'll survive.  The bounty is reguarly $9.99 was on sale for $7.99 with $2 extra care bucks and I had a $1 off coupon, it was like paying $4.99, good deal.  The charmin was on sale for $4.99 with a $1 ECB and the $1 off two coupon I had I felt it was a pretty good deal!  The toothpaste was the best deal, on sale for $2.77 with $2.77 back in ECB it was already like getting it for free but I made $2 on them with a $1 off one manufact. coupon I had on each!

Total regular retail before tax would have been $31.35, with sales and my manufacturer's coupon and $3 ECB I had from a previous purchase I paid $17.54 with tax and received $9.54 in extra care bucks.

And like I always like to do if I can I went and spend the ECB right away on another purchase:

These were on sale for $4 and if you purchased $10 worth of these and/or a few other participating products (which included magic erasers which I was originally going to get with a great $1.50 off coupon but they were out so I opted for 3 of the swiffer solutions) you got $3 ECB.

These would have retailed for $19.47, with the sale they were $12, but I used the $9.54 ECB I had just earned in my previous transaction and paid only $3.01 with tax AND received $3 ECB for another purchase.

Onto Walgreens for the cottonelle!  I had been looking forward to this deal since seeing it on moneysavingmadness.com last week.  Apparently getting to Walgreens at 3:00pm on the day of the sale is not soon enough!  They were out!  But the clerk assured me their would be more on their truck on Tuesday and that the sale was actually for the whole month of May!  So back to Walgreens I will go later in the week.

Funny story from Walgreens and their long line.  My husband was kind of happy they were out of the toilet paper so we didn't have to wait in the longest line I'd ever seen at Walgreen's before, but I had to break the news that we were waiting in that line, I needed a raincheck! (Only of course to find out that I didn't because the sale was through the month and they were getting more).  So as we're waiting in the line this little old lady comes up behind us and after a moment another clerk came out to take customers at another register.  The old lady says "about time they got someone else out here!  jeez!".  Well apparently she's in a big hurry I'm thinking to myself, the line did have about 5 or so people ahead of us but its Walgreen's, not wal-mart or hannaford, obviously people don't have huge transactions and the clerk was efficient and moving the line along just fine.  The second clerk starts taking the next in line from the one line, she does that once and then there is just the customer at the first register, the guy in front of me, us, and the old lady, who jumps to the other register, the clerk tells her that she was actually taking the next person in line to which the old lady replies "well I was here before them!  I had to run around the store to find another clerk while you were hiding out back in the store room!"  I said its fine go ahead but then the old lady says no, she doesn't want to help me, and I refuse to go to that line and make the old hag get out of here any quicker and by now the guy in front of me is having his stuff rung up so the other clerks closes her lane and the old lady has to wait!  I happened to notice when we came into the store that the other clerk was actually helping a customer at the photo machine, and as soon as she was done that she came to the register, so I have no idea why the old lady was saying she was hiding out back.  Some people.  The more you shop the more you run into them.

On a good note the husband and I had a great drawn out relaxing time enjoying some fine drinks, appetizer, great meals and best dessert at Margarita's.  Spent more than we should have but what we saved at CVS made you feel a little less guilty about it....

I did snag some good deals at Shaw's last week including a box of Ritz for 50cents and another jar of jelly for cheap.  I also purchased 3 more bottles of Purex at 99cents each, but since that seems to be a deal I come upon quite often I haven't blogged about it everytime, I now have about 10 bottles of laundry detergent in my stash, and I will continue to add to it when I can get it cheap, and don't think I'll ever pay more than 99cents for laundry detergent again!  

What deals have you hit this week?

Happy Saving!

Slacking

Wow it has been a while since I've posted!  Sorry folks!  I haven't had that great incredible deal this month, or maybe I'm just getting too used to this, because I have gotten some great deals this month and I'm not even sure I can recall them all for this blog.

I have been watching the new Extreme Couponing series on TLC.  The first show they did a while back is what first got me into this couponing craze, but some recent episodes have been disapointing.  Last week twins shopped for items they didn't need, diapers (neither had children) and several, lets even say LOTS of bottles of acid reducer and other vitamins or such.  Pretty much all stuff they didn't need.  I'm not sure I want to shop like this or have a stockpile like the guy featured after the twins on the same episode.  He was on the original episode I watched, but this episode when they showed his stockpile they showed he had things like always maxipads stock piled, he was a single guy, does anyone else find that disturbing?  I mean come on, a stockpile is nice to have, I have a small one myself, but his stockpile.....a bit much, okay a LOT much!  My stockpile consists mostly of laundry detergent, dryer sheets, trash bags and bathroom items like toothpaste and deodorant.  I don't have anymore than a dozen of each of those items, with laundry detergent being most of what I have at around 9 bottles, but when I didn't pay more than 99 cents for the majority of them, its worth having that stockpile.

The two episodes that ran back to back the week before last showed two mothers with families doing their shopping, one girl was seen in the store putting several packages of meat and several gallons of milk in her cart yet she still only paid like $6 for hundreds of dollars worth of groceries.  I am not sure exactly what her pre coupon total was or exactly what she paid as I don't recall but I have no idea how I'll ever get meat and milk that cheap.  I think different states must have different sales at stores we don't have here and different coupons available.  I have already learned if you enter different zip codes at coupons.com that you get some different coupons.  So will I ever be as good as some of those? No.  Do I want to be that good?  Sometimes.  Other times I think I'll just be happy at what I am saving, continue to try harder and if I end up being like them, okay.  But I don't think you'll see me with a store quality shelving unit in my bedroom (not any time soon that is).

All that being said, I did snag some good deals over the last couple weeks and I did happen upon a customer behind me in line who was excited over my coupon savings, not annoyed at her wait while my coupons were rung through and my raincheck, which the new cashier needed assistance with.

I decided to do my grocery shopping at Shaw's last week, because they do double their coupons 99cents and under and I have been creating my own little "stockpile" of coupons to save for Shaw's, mostly 75cent ones.  I have failed to take pictures last week and this week, which probably makes this blog less interesting, my apologies.

At Shaw's I snagged some cheap smuckers jelly, a staple in this house, after my 75 cent coupons doubled $1.50.  I decided to use a raincheck I got quite some time back for buy one get one on Arnold bread, which usually retails for over $4 a loaf, was on sale for $2.99 and I had a $1 off 2 coupon meaning I paid just $1.99 for two loaves of bread, sweet deal. 

When I was cashing out and the older lady behind me saw all the coupons I had she said "look at that stack of coupons! aren't you good to clip those, I clip them sometimes but then I never use them!" as the cashier was ringing them up she said "wow, I think he's going to have to give you money back, how much do you have there?" I told her I wasn't sure but that the receipt would say and I would be happy to tell her.  When the receipt printed out the cashier handed it to me and told me I saved over $48 the old lady about fell over, "$48!" she said.  I was glad to finally have a fellow shopper in the checkout line be excited over my coupons!  But the icing on the cake at this shopping trip wasn't the coupons, it was the fact that I was in that store over an hour and a half with a 2 (almost 3)year old and a 4 year old who acted like perfect angels the whole time.  They were rewarded with some scrumptious McDonald's shakes for the ride home, which makes sister very happy because she's a cherry nut and brother doesn't like his cherry so she gets to eat his too.  :)

Kmart is running a special on Purex this week, $1.99 with in flyer coupon, limit 4. I went in the other day to get 4 considering I have 5 or 6 coupons for $1 and there was only two on shelf.  I got the last two and asked for a raincheck but was denied being told that they'll have more on the shelf before the sale ends Saturday, well I didn't really want to go back to Kmart between now and Saturday but now we'll just have to see if that is true or not. 

I went into CVS yesterday to try to get some deals but was disappointed to get only half the deals I thought I was getting either due to items not being in stock or the deal just not being what I thought it was.  Stove Top is on sale there again for 88cents this time but I was just in a few days ago and they still hadn't restocked from their 77cent sale which I still have rainchecks for, so I got more rainchecks for it at 88cents.  Did get some egg dye and fake grass for the baskets free after extra care bucks and 4 12pks of pepsi for $10 after $3 ECB.  But the 5 for $5 on the toothpaste and Dove didn't pan out like I had hoped because the toothpaste was out and the Dove was only on the small bar which doesn't come in the unscented which I what I use, so I go back to the extreme couponing mention, and that I just can't bring myself to buy things I'll never use, its pointless.

I headed into Rite Aid today and grabbed four bottles of Airwick air freshner for only 17 cents total.  They were buy one get one and I also had a coupon from last weeks paper for buy one get one, meaning I paid only tax.

I also headed to staples today and got a ream of HP multipurpose paper which will be completely free once I mail in the rebate.  Also used my $10 off HP ink purchase of $60 or more that I got emailed from Staples, and I needed ink anyways.

Next onto wal-mart where I picked up a toy story operation game for only $2.  I'm still unsure if I should have bought two at that price since I had two coupons for $3 off and the game was $5.  It would make a nice gift some day but seeming though I stashed the other one in the basement until the boy is old enough to use it do I really need two operation games kicking around?  What would you have done?

I got two bottles of free ketchup thanks to a heads up on moneysavingmadness where I found a link to print two $2 off Heinz ketchup.  I snagged a four pack of Scott toilet paper for only $1.68 after the $1 off coupon I had, I actually bought two at that price.  I can say that as good of a deal that was, that last week I got quilted northern plush on sale at CVS and having already had to open the new toilet paper, unless the Scott is FREE or pennies, I'll probably never buy it again!  Let's just say its not quilted northern!

I also got some cheese sticks for free after coupon, plus overage to use towards the rest of my purchase after printing off the coupon on coupons.com for Frigo string cheese.  I was hoping to get some other deals at Wal-Mart that just didn't pan out.  It happens.  And haven't checked out any target deals in a while so I'm about due there.

Sunday Savings

Some great deals being told to me with little effort this week by checking out moneysavingmadness.com.  I LOVE that site, I'm addicted, I check it multiple times a day, sick I know, but hey there are worse things I could be addicted to, anywho......
Two deals that struck my fancy this week was the Purex detergent at Walgreens (where I have $2 in register rewards to put towards a purchase) and the Diaper deal at CVS (where I have $10 extracare bucks to put towards a purchase).

So my girl and I jump in the car for a Sunday afternoon shopping trip and first we hit Walgreens:

Total out of pocket for all three detergents:  $1.68
Which is great, but I thought I was going to get a better deal.

The Purex is on sale for $1.99, with in-ad coupon, limit 3.  I had 3 (well I have more but the limit is 3, maybe another trip later in the week?) $1 off 1 coupons and a $2 off your next purchase Walgreens rewards coupon.  So I'm thinking I'm going to score these for about $1.27 total.  I use the in-ad coupon first and then my $1 off coupons and then hand the clerk the $2 walgreens rewards and she tells me she'll try it but its not going to work, and it doesn't.  She explains that you can only have as many coupons as you have items, I had 3 items and 3 coupons (apparently a walgreens in-ad coupon doesn't count but a walgreens reward does?).  She says there are cowtails (you know those long caramel creme filled sticks), right next to the register that are 39cents and if I throw one of those in it will work.  So I'm trying to read the coupon and look at items close to the register at the same time seeing if I see anything cheaper than the cowtail, and this older gentleman behind me says "she said if you just threw in a cowtail it will work", I tell him I understand that, but I'm trying to read the fine print of the coupon and he says "yeah I understand, its hard to read".  If looks could kill he probably would be dead.  I did have my four year old daughter with me so I just told the guy he really didn't need to be a jerk about it and grabbed the stupid cowtail and wound up paying the $1.68.  Some people, I was getting three bottles of detergent valued at $16.97 for $1 and change, seriously buddy, you think I'm so stupid I can't read a coupon? 

As much as I love this coupon thing I have met much resistance from cashiers and fellow customers who are annoyed by my purchases and use of coupons, OH WELL.  For once I'd just love a cashier or the customer behind me to say "wow, that's awesome, how'd you do that, good for you, I want do be able to do that!" which is totally what I would want to say to someone and what I almost expected when I started this coupon insane-ness; so I am somewhat surprised by the lack of patience in this world.  There's also the "have a nice day" peeve of mine, it really kills me when the clerk can't take the time to say have a nice day!  I always say it if they don't say it to me thinking maybe it will a wakeup call to remind them to say it to the next customer. 

When I was waiting in line at Walgreens today there was a girl in front of me who had some hairdye of some sort and some walgreens coupon deal and some other coupon, which she said meant the product should be free, but it wasn't ringing up that way. So the clerk is all "I don't know the price or the sale, I don't work in cosmetics" and calls over someone else, and he tells her that she has to have this stuff rung up at the cosmetics counter to get the sale price...WHAT?  The customers tells them no one was at the cosmetics counter and he says he was trying to get there but she got to the other counter too fast.  If anyone has ever been to Walgreens they have the path to the register (at least at the one I shop at) a clusterf**k of a whole 'nother counter and register I've never seen used, creating a huge waste of space and a huge area to have to walk around to get to the register, its not as if you can run to that register before the cosmetics clerk can get to theirs.  So he tells her she has to go over there, so she has to carry all her stuff to the other register, after she waiting in line at this one!  I'd be ticked too!  The girl didn't say anything, just took her stuff over to that register, and once the customer was gone the cashier rolls her eyes as if she's annoyed that this customer is upset that she has to go to another register to get her deal!  So that gives me an opinion of the cashier I put on the back burner until she didn't tell me to have a nice day.  So as I grab my bag I had to say "geez it really kills people these days to have to tell someone to have a nice day doesn't it?"  Yup that's me.  Sometimes I think I'm a big ol' B, but most of the time they had it coming anyways.

Onto CVS where I was going to snag two boxes of pampers diapers for $18.99 which I had two $3 off 1 coupons for (in today's coupons) and get $10 back in extracare bucks after spending $30, I also had $10 extra care bucks from a previous purchase.  Can't beat paying just over $20 out of pocket for two boxes of diapers plus get $10 back in extracare bucks.  But they were out of the little man's size, so I got a raincheck.

But because I had the girl with me and we got a $2 off 2 Bliss chocolate coupon at the card scanner/coupon printer, I let her hold the coupon and the chocolate and am turning her into a coupon shopper already. 

On sale 2 for $6 with a $2 off 2 coupon and got $1 extracare bucks.  Its not a great deal but a deal non the less, and well we eat a lot of chocolate in this house!

AND yesterday I thought to go into CVS and get a raincheck on the stuffing as I found two more 50 cent off 1 coupons on facebook.  I had her write out the raincheck for 4 since 77cents for a box of stuffing is a good deal anyways I don't mind paying that, then in today's coupons there is a $1 off 2, looks like I will be getting 4 more boxes of stove top for 27cents each.  :)

Happy Saving!

Target Run

I came across some good deals with combined Target and manufact. coupons while going through my coupons this week.  So off to Target I go last night with some extra coupons with me and score some unexpected deals as well!

I had a manufact and Target coupon for U by Kotex and thought I might score a good deal there but also had some tampax coupons with me and scored a better deal with those!  Tampax were $6.74 and you get a $5 gift card when you buy 2.  So I got 2, used $3 in coupons and paid $11.33 for 2 and got $5 back, it was like getting two boxes for $6.33!

Excedrin $3.59
target coupon $3
manufact coupon $.75
=FREE (16 cent money maker!)

Reese bogo Target coupon

Flintstones on sale for $6
Target coupon $2
manufact coupon $1
=$3

Kraft Cheese $2.69
Target coupon $1.50 off 2
Online printed coupon $1 off 1
=$.94 each!

Sometimes you think you're going to get a good deal and don't.  I was excited to have the target and manufact coupon for zantac, I usually buy the wal-mart generic, but even after $3 in savings the zantac brand was still $5 more than the target generic, so target generic it was!  Though I felt kind of bad this morning thinking how I put those coupons that I'll never use back in my purse, really I should have left them on the shelf for someone else!

I also got some bread and mac n cheese cups and things like diapers that I did have a $2 coupon for but you still end up paying a good chunk of change for.  Overall I saved $22.72 on an almost $85 purchase which is about 25% savings, and that doesn't include the Tampax deal. Nothing to complain about!

Happy Saving!

The Rite Satisfaction

I didn't realize I was going to score such deals at Rite Aid this week, but I did.  I went there three times in two days.

It started Tuesday morning with my previous post, the Tangled purchase.  When I got home I thought I'd look through the flyer again to see if there was anything I should use my $10 +up rewards on this week. I noticed the Finish dishwasher products on sale for 50% off and those products along with some other products earned you $5 +up rewards for spending $15, and somehow I'm always snagging Finish deals at Rite Aid and did I ever snag a deal tonight:

Total out of pocket $4.30.  AND I got $5 in +up rewards to spend on my next purchase!  Its like I made $.70 on this deal!  These retail for $34.44 before tax! 

The tabs were $6.49 each on sale for $3.24
The powder and jet dry $4.99 on sale $2.49
$1 Rite Aid off any finish product
(3) $.75 off finish tabs
(1) $.50 off the jet dry
Factor in my $10 +up rewards from my previous Tangled purchase and hello savings! 

Took my $5 +up rewards I earned from this purchase and went right back to the shelves, snagging four boxes of pop tarts which were bogo, and had one $1 off 2 coupon, used a "filler" of a $1 bag of caramel filled chocolate eggs (anything caramel filled = my weakness) and ended up paying $.43 out of pocket (after tax) for $11.76 worth of merchandise (before tax)!

Both of my receipts also printed out a survey which I just took both and received two coupons for $3 off purchase of $15 or more.


Feeling pretty damn good about myself I head to CVS, I'd been looking forward to a good deal I saw since Sunday!
First I use my raincheck for the dial nutriskin lotion that had been on sale for $4.99 with $3 ECB (extra care bucks) and I had a $1 off coupon.  Paid $4.24 but got $3 ecb.  Used the $3 ecb in my next purchase staking advantage of Stove Top Stuffing on sale for 77 cents which I had two 50 cent coupons for...yes 27 cent stove top stuffing, this is the deal I had been excited for since Sunday!  I love my stove top!
Took advantage of Kellogg's cereal being on sale for $1.87 and snagged 3 boxes with $1 off 3 coupon.  Used my $3 ecb and paid $2.15 out of pocket. 

It blows my mind to think if I had gone into the store, needing these products, with no sales and no coupons I would have paid $24.74 for these products before tax.  I paid $6.39 out of pocket with tax.

I also noticed tonight while I was typing this blog that my CVS receipt says as of March 15 I have saved $146.53 at CVS this year.  I think I like that!

And because my daughter has seen me come home and line up all my deals and snap pictures she had decided she needs to get in on this, so as I'm unloading stuff from the rest of my trip which included a trip to the grocery store for some needed stuff I buy with out without coupons she decided she had to set up some products and take a picture herself:

I will mention I had a Free coupon for the Motts after finding one rancid in the last pack I bought and calling the company about it.  I had a $1 coupon off the fruit cups after contacting the company via their website and asking for coupons.  I had a $1 off 2 on the yogurt, a $1 off the deli cheese, and a $1 off 2 on the rice and bought it because I can get a $5 rebate for buying that and the Tangled DVD, and well, we like rice!  I was not so lucky with the strawberry and chocolate syrup, I actually called Hershey's to see if they would send me coupons and they told me no, to look in my sunday paper and check their website.  There was nothing on their website for coupons and although from time to time I see Hershey coupons for candy in the sunday paper coupons, never ever have I seen a coupon for the syrup, which is what I said I wanted a coupon for when I called! 

Maybe Target tomorrow?  Who knows!

Happy Saving!

Tangled on DVD

Last year as a treat to my two kids I took them to see Tangled 3D at the movie theater, their first movie at the theater and they both loved it. My girl has been obsessed with anything Tangled ever since and has asked several times for the DVD to watch at home and today her wish was granted when it was finally released on DVD!

Several stores ran good deals on the DVD and/or blu ray combo pack, including Kmart, which offered a free rapunzel doll with blu ray purchase, CVS offered $3 extra care bucks and Rite Aid, which is where I purchased the DVD.  Rite Aid had $10 +plus rewards when you purchased both Tangled on DVD and one nexxus haircare item, which were also on sale at 20% off.

I purchased the DVD at $19.99, the Nexxus shampoo (which I LOVE by the way) on sale for $7.99 (reguarly $9.99), used a $5 off $25 Rite Aid purchase that I had previosly printed off from Rite Aid's website, a $5 off Tangled DVD purchase which I printed from the disney website the other day thanks to moneysavingmadness.com  (The coupon was technically for the blu ray combo but it went through anyways).  I then used two $1 off purchase I printed online with rite aid video values.  So total out of pocket was $17 plus change AND I received $10 in +up rewards to use on my next purchase, so it was like getting the DVD and the shampoo for $7 and change.  I was satisfied with this purchase! 

Next I HAD to go to Wal-Mart and get the boy a DVD too, I ended up getting the Spiderman 3 disc DVD set which included Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and Spiderman 3 all for only $13, no coupons necessary, just what I thought was a damn good deal and overall a good morning shopping trip with two great deals and two very happy children!  Movie night tonight!

Deals at Target

I happened to check the Target flyer when it came out this last Sunday and saw that Wheat Thins were on sale for $2 (reguarly $2.99), and I also saw a Target web coupon for buy three get fourth free, so I printed that off. I became a fan of wheat thins and triscuits on facebook and was able to print two coupons each for $1 off 1 wheat thins, wheat thins stix and triscuits.  I had previously printed a $1.50 off soft scrub with bleach off a link from moneysavingmadness.com and printed off a $1 off 1 target web coupon for it also.  These coupons resulted in this trip:

Total out of pocket $1.99.  Not too bad!  The soft scrub was completely free and the crackers average out to 50 cents each, not bad for something that is reguarly priced at $2.99 each.  My receipt says I saved over $13.  How I love thee Target!

I shouldn't sound so excited because I decided to take my daughter with me (the girl loves to shop!)  and on the way out of Target she suckered me into buying her something at Starbucks, a $4 strawberries and creme frappe!  So much for saving!  BUT as much as I LOVE the double chocolately chip frappe, I controlled myself, saved the $, and saved myself the calories, and made my girl's night.

Happy Saving!

Oops I did it again!

Okay so I can't help singing that tacky Britany Spears song when I think of how I did it again tonight at wal-mart!

I was going to take advantage of the Gain sheets at $1.87 with my $3 coupon last time I was there but the shelf was empty of the 40 ct sheets.  But tonight, they had them.  And while I was in my old office visiting with my former coworker she handed me four coupon books and said here take these I know you're doing the coupon thing!  And there were two more of the $1 mccormick coupons that I had taken advantage of before with the taco seasoning, so I did that again tonight. 

I walked out of the store with 5 free products AND $4.03 in cash.  The cashier wasn't as much of an unfriendly gal as my last one but she did have to call over a shift leader to unlock her drawer who in turn told her that "we don't do that" when she said "it says I owe her money back", but he looked at my coupons and at my products and opened her drawer.  Not once did he tell me you're right. For once instead of a hassle I'd just like the cashier to say "wow, that's awesome!  I want to do that!  How'd you do that!" and be just as damn excited as I am instead of making me feel like I'm being a big inconvience by making them following THEIR coupon policy.  Oh well I won't let it stop me until they post my picture at the door and stop letting me in! 

So tonight I was shopping with a friend and gave her the two taco mixes.  Paying it forward....for free!

Happy Saving...or earning!

Getting Paid to Shop!

Yes you read that correct, get paid to shop!  I did tonight, not only did I purchase 5 products for free, the cashier handed me back $6.86 in cash, well thank you!

This story starts last week when I had read on moneysavingmadness.com that Wal-Mart has a new coupon policy, and that the policy state thats they will accept coupons for more than the product price and that they will provide cash back or credit towards other items.  She mentioned the previous high price coupons for Purex and the 97cent travel size of the strips, as well as the $3 gain fabric softener coupon (wal-mart sells a 40ct Gain dryer sheets for $1.47 but they were out, or I'd have gotten about another $4 back on this slip!) The site recommended printing and bringing a copy of the policy with you to the store.  Okay, I'm thinking, is that really necessary?  Well turns out it is!

I want to test this theory so I get the purex travel size 2 sheet pack for 97 cents with a $3 off coupon for each and two mccormick spice packets at 54 cents each with a $1 coupon for each.  Overage.  I really like that word!  So I tell the clerk that I want the sheets and spice rung up first, I put a seperator inbetween the orders, give her my coupons, I tell her she can bag it together but I want to pay seperate.  She takes my coupons, sets them aside, rings up the sheets and packets and then continues to start ringing up the rest of my items, hello!  I stop her and tell her once again I want to pay for those seperate and want her to please ring in the coupons I gave her, I had a feeling I was getting myself into a situation.

So she looks at the coupons and says that I can only get 97cents, not the $3 and I told her "well, actually, you guys have a new coupon policy, and I understand its new so maybe you don't know about it but I do have a copy of it", so I show it to her and direct her to the line that states "Coupons may exceed the price of the item. Change may be given or applied toward the cost of the basket purchase."  She doesn't like this and calls over her shift leader.  While we're waiting she asks me why I didn't get the larger size of the sheets, to which I respond because I wanted to get a deal!  Geez lady, seriously what right do you have to question me over my purchases, ring the shit up and don't question my purchases!  So now I'm trying to be real nice but she's pissing me off as she's talking to her shift leader about how she can't do what I want.  The shift leader goes back to the service desk to retrieve her own copy of the coupon policy, because apparently I have enough time on my hands to create my own pretend made up coupon policy to get myself a few couple bucks, okay.  She doesn't acknowledge that I'm right, but tells the cashier to go ahead and let the credit stand and ring up about $10 worth of products and then I could pay.  I told her no, the policy states I can have cash back and I want cash back!  She then tells the cashier that she'll make double notes and the blame for this will fall on her, not the cashier, as the cashier tells me that this is against policy and she can get written up and repremanded for giving me this cash back.  I tell her that doesn't make sense that she could be written up for following their policy!  So I get my $6.86 in cash as the cashier complains that this is crazy, this is nuts, she can't believe she is doing this, blah blah blah.  I told her obviously I weren't the only one doing it since all the Gain dryer sheets were wiped out already or she'd be giving me even more in cash!

So onto the rest of the order, for which I had $14.40 in coupons.  When 14 of those coupons are for $1 its hard to keep up with them on the screen though I had my eyes on it the whole time, I thought one hadn't gone through but I wasn't sure.  I look at my receipt as I'm walking off, I count the coupons, they total $13.40.  I go back to the register where the clerk is running off as I was her last customer, so I went back to the service desk, who put me back in touch with the lovely shift manager, we went back over the drawer and she was trying to match up coupons while I tried to explain to her if she just took my pile out and counted them she would see there was $14.40 and my slip shows $13.40, but she was trying to match up coupons with the numbers on the slip, after looking at 2 she said "I'm not doing this, I'm not going through all of this" and rings in a vendor coupon and gives me my dollar.  I tell her as she's doing the transaction that I am not trying to be difficult, that I know its only a dollar, but that I spend hours a week printing, sorting, and clipping coupons and I work hard for that dollar and they are getting their dollar for the coupon they didn't give me my dollar for and its my dollar and I just want to have it.  She doesn't respond, doesn't even look at me, hands me my dollar and walks off!  I know I'm difficult, but it was my damn dollar! :)

So if you're going to try this either do only this transaction or do it after your other transaction so there is no trying to apply the difference to your other order if there isn't one or its already been paid for!

Happy Saving, or Earning in this case!

The Run Around Town

After watching three kids all day, my own two, my neighbor's two year old, and her 11 year old brother who came by for a few hours after school, then spending more than an hour searching, printing, clipping, and organizing coupons I still had some energy left to go on some runs, and it turns out it was worth the trip.

Stop #1: Rite Aid

Total retail before tax $58.41.  My out of pocket w/ tax $13.05.

First transaction I purchased the Purex crystals reguarly $5.99 on sale for $3.99 for which I had a $2 coupon, a $1 Rite Aid video values coupon, and received a $1 +up reward meaning they were basically free.  Because I use and love, love, love Aveeno products (I really couldn't say how much I love their products, without the intense relief handcream my hands would be raw from dryness after the 1,552 times a day I wash my hands!) I decided to take advantage of the buy $15 worth and get $5 +up rewards and used a $2 coupon from the flyer as well.  What made this purchase especially cheap was the $10 +up rewards I had from a previous purchase (thanks Dad!), paying $6.62 out of pocket. 

I put the $6 +up rewards I had right back into my next purchase, Gain was on sale for $4.88 and I had a $1 coupon, Finish was bogo, had a $1 off one, $.75 off one and a $1 off one Rite Aid video values coupon.  No coupons for the children's medicine but at bogo it was too good not to pass up.  I also got two $1 each off purchase rite aid video vaules coupons for letting some video about the pharmacy and another about the wellness program play while I was doing something else, total paid for this transaction was $6.43 out of pocket.  Saved approximately $45, not too shabby.

Stop #2: CVS
Going for a record, today was the third day in a row that I went into CVS, the clerk probably thinks I'm stalking her.  My load today:

Oh bother...I do like looking over my receipts and I'm usually pretty good about it in the store but realize at this very moment I screwed up at CVS.  I was wondering why my extracare bucks didn't print with my first transaction and now I realize why (the clerk gave them to me anyways but still missed out on a better deal), apparently a 20 pack and a 24 pack of batteries look very similar!  So I spent $6.49 for 4 more batteries, ouch.  Not much I can do about it now considering I had to open a package to take these pictures and I opened the 24 pack, go figure.  If I had done it right I would have spent about $21 for the two packages of batteries and 4 boxes of puffs (I had two $1 off 1 battery coupons and should have had a $1 off four puffs but left it at home), and got $10 extra care bucks back.
Oh I also had between prints at the card scanner and on my receipts a total of 3 $4 off a purchase of $20 or more, all three of which I used tonight in these three different purchases!

Next transaction I purchased the neosporin and banaids, had coupon for $1.50 off the combo and earned $5 extra bucks.  Purchase the mascara and eyeshadow having a $1 coupon for each and earning $4 in extra bucks and used my $10 in extra bucks from previous purchase to pay $5.18 out of pocket.

Last transaction purchased the nexxus for which I had a $3 coupon (actually decided I love this product after getting a free sample which the coupon came with), and the cookies at $1 each with a $1 off two coupon, used my $4 off $20 coupon and the $9 extrabucks from previous purchase, and paid $10 even out of pocket and earned $10 extra bucks for next time I'm at CVS.  My three receipts show a total saved today of $52.45, I ain't complaining.

Stop #3: Target

Well, I'm not going to need trashbags for a long time!  I purchased 200 trash bags tonight and at a rate of useage of less than 1 a day I expect to not have to buy trashbags again until Christmas.  The 100ct were on sale for $11 each and you earned a $5 gift card when you purchase two. I had $.75 off 1 and a $1 off 1 coupons and had them ring these up first, paying $21.10, saving $9.73 and earning $5.  I told the clerk I wanted the bags rung up first so I could use the $5 on the remainder, she acted like she was doing me this really HUGE favor by allowing me to do so, saying that I'm supposed to wait 24 hours to use the card, and I tell her I've done this several times before and not one clerk has said a word, which leaves me to put reading this policy on my to do list, chime in if anyone already knows the official rule on this.

The pepsi 12 pks were 4 for $10 which is a great deal and how I do love to treat myself to a can soda once in a while and its been a long while!  I had a target coupon for $1 off 2 mt.dew 12 pks and purchased the pretzels because I had a $.50 off them when purchasing a pepsi 2-liter which was on sale for $1. 

I scored well on the Windex as it was on sale 2 for $4.98 and I had a target $1 coupon, a $.55 off one and a $1 off two, paying $2.43 for the pair, or $1.22 each.  The peanut butter cups were bogo with the target coupon I printed and well who doesn't love a reese' peanut butter cup? 

My slip says I saved $15.29 and I paid $15.57 out of pocket, okay deal!

Stop #4: Shaws

I hit up Shaw's for some items we had to have before tomorrow as we've been without cheese of any kind in this house for 2 days and I honestly don't know how we're still alive!  I did buy some things that weren't on sale, but I'm getting sick of explaining to my daughter that we're out of the shells and cheese cups because she ate them all so I had to get her more of her favorite.  My favorite thing to do at Shaw's is take advantage of their doubling coupon policy, doubling any coupons up to 99cents, that don't say do not double on them of course.  Apparenlty if the coupon code starts with a 5 it will automatically double if the clerk doesn't catch it, today none of my coupons said do not double so I was happy with that.

I saved over half on Mt. Olive pickles that were on sale and used a 50 cent off coupon.  I did the arnold bread deal again with a $1 off 2 coupon, not as good of a deal as last time but a good savings and I'm going to have to buy bread whether I catch it at a deal or not.  I purchased four bags of sargento shredded cheese which at regular price would have been $13.56 and I paid 6.16 for all four or $1.54 each as they were on sale for $1.99 and I had a $1 off 2 and a $.40 off two which doubled.  Between those savings and some double coupons for some other items my bill was around $42 and I saved $25.39.

Stop #5: Walgreens
They were closed, thank god!  Onto home, where I lugged all of it in by myself while my hard working husband who has to get up early was already in bed.  What a night, walgreens, wal-mart and Kohls (I have a 30% off coupon!) tomorrow!

Quickie at CVS

I was just at CVS yesterday, but I went back today!  I wanted to post today about what I got today but I should probably mention the deal I got yesterday too.  Yesterday I took advantage of my previous raincheck for Purex detergent for $1.99 and used three $1 off one coupons getting three bottles for 99cents each.  I purchased tampax with a $2 coupon and a package of kotex that was on clearance, with my raincheck and coupons and $6.98 in extracare bucks from a previous purchase (which I held onto because I knew I'd be back for the detergent) I ended up paying $3.09 out of pocket, I was impressed all day about it!

Then I read on moneysavingmadness.com that the clairol natural instincts hairdye I like to use was on sale and I had seen the $5 off 2 coupon in this Sunday's coupons.  I was some glad I had the clerk put it back on my last Shaw's trip because tonight I grabbed two boxes of dye that were on clearance for $2.24 each and used the $5 off 2 coupon meaning the hairdye was FREE.  I was used a $2 off visine coupon and like moneysavingmadness.com recommended used it to buy the travel size at the counter for $1.99, meaning it was FREE.  When I entered the store and scanned my card I got a coupon for 50cents off one dove, so I grabbed the 99cent candybar in case there was an overage on the clairol coupon, but the clerk said she could only ring it in for the $4.48 total of the products, which I thin k is unfair because the store is geting their $5 back for the coupon plus processing, but she's just the clerk, and I was still getting it for nothing so I couldn't really complain.  There are no pictures of my deal today, batteries in the camera were dead and when I went to retrieve two more from our usual large stash I found only one single AA battery left, guess I better find me a good battery deal asap!

During my shopping trip yesterday I ran into a friend who is getting better at this than me after reading my blog and she advised me of something she saw on one of the blogs I recommend in the tips for shopping at CVS about their bag tag, that you get a bag tag and every four times you use it you get $1 back, so I asked the clerk that day and he confirmed that information, but I didn't have a bag that day.  Today I did, but the clerk didn't tell me yesterday that you have to pay 99cents for the bag tag!  But its still worth it, can't complain to walk about of CVS with two boxes of hairdye that retail for $8.99 reguarly, visine eye drops, a candy bar and a bag tag (wow I just realized they could have called it something else!) for only $1.90 out of pocket!

And in regards to the coupon overage I mentioned previously; I am not aware of CVS' coupon policy, but the websites I check often have said that walmart has a new coupon policy that does allow overage, specifically stating in the policy it can be cash back or put towards another purchase.  I have some high value coupons that I can get lower items with (a $3 gain fabric softener coupon and they sell the small count for less than $2), and I am really interested in to see if I go in with such coupons and buy only those products if they'll give me cash back.  I have other stuff I need to get at wal-mart too and I could just have that put towards those other items, but for some reason I feel the need to try to actually get cash back, I think that will just make me feel better! :)  I'll let you know how that works out. 

Happy Saving!

Shaws

Okay so I've been slacking lately on the posts, I apologize.  I have been slacking on trips too, truth is couponing like this takes time and money, both of which have been short for me lately!  But none the less some good deals I found and some good deals I share.

I thought I had blogged about my Shaw's trip last week but that must have been a dream.  A few things I snagged at a great deal were the Thomas plain bagels, bogo.  The arnold bread was also bogo and I had a 55 cent off one coupon which Shaws doubles and I had two of these coupons, I was going to get four loafs of bread but there was only three on the shelf, so I got myself a raincheck and used both coupons.  The bread retails at $4.79, with the $2.20 in coupons I paid $2.19 for two loafs of bread, can't beat that!  I also took advantage of my prior raincheck I had for the pick 4 meat deal which was pick 4 meats for $19.99, I had the rebate written out for 4 of the Perdue perfect portions, which is individually wrapped trimmed skinless boneless chicken breast, 5 to a package.  I didn't see them right off the butcher was filling the cooler so I asked him about them and told him of raincheck, he said the chicken used to be $6.99 a package when the pick 4 deal was going on, but had since gone up to $9.99 a package, I scored 4 packages for $19.99 so I essentially got them half off.

This week at Shaw's I took advantage of brocolli at 99 cents a pound, because well we love brocolli in this house! All but the boy but he doesn't eat much of anything so his opinion really doesn't count.  Funny story here as I was getting my brocolli so was an older lady and she gave me heck for not shaking out the water, complaining how they water the veggies when they don't need to then they get extra money out of you because you're paying for the water when they weight it at the checkout, well, she is right, so we stood there and shook the heck out of our brocolli together.  Then she peered in my cart and said "oh I see you're buying items that are on sale, can I look and make sure I didn't miss anything?" I told her of course!  And we compared items we were buying, the coupons we had, and the savings we were getting, both agreeing we were pretty damn good shoppers!

I scored these bags of chicken at a steal of $2.20 each.  They are reguarly $6.79 each, were bogo this week and because I have been getting coupon books from others and had four of the same coupon book I had four coupons for $1 off one. 

I also scored these cans of pasta sauce, which is the brand I usually buy anyways because its the cheapest and it actually taste good (yeah sometimes, okay most of the time the cheapest of anything is, for lack of a better term, crap.) for only 9 cents each.  Sometime ago I printed off two coupons for 45 cents off 1, which Shaws doubles, and they retail for 99 cents. 

I also took advantage of the bogo free on Lay's chips, which we don't need to be stuffing our faces with chips in this house, but maybe they'll come in handy for a get together if we dont' eat them before then.

I thought I was going to score a great deal on hair dye again because the brand I buy had some on clearance at half price and I had a $2 off coupon meaning I'd snag it for about $2.50 but the cashier alerted me to the fact that my coupon had expired, and I had her take the hair dye off, BUT because it had been rung through their coupon printer printed me off a current coupon for $3 of 2 of that brand dye, so I just might find myself back there and get two for about $3 each.

I also scored two boxes of candy hearts and a huge bag of valentine lollipops for the kids for just 98cents total.  They totally don't mind eating Valentine candy after Valentine's day is over! 

Last week I also saved $16.75 at Wal-Mart for stuff I reguarly buy and needed.  I got free ibroprofen at Target with their $1 off one up and up pain reliever coupon on their website and would have scored free excedrin with a combination of the store coupon and manufact. coupon but they were out, apparently there are many more couponers out there in the world that know how to snag a good deal!  I got some cleaning wipes for less than $1 after again using target coupons with maufact. coupons.  If you have not you must check out Target's online coupons, combining these with a manufact. coupon can score you items for free or next to nothing, and they change pretty much daily, if you see something you could use, print it then!  Even if you don't have a manufact coupon for it you might get one later before the target coupon expires.

I did take two friends couponing with me last weekend, or was that the weekend before? Sometimes time flies by way too fast.  We didn't get as good of savings as I had hoped because it was either a bad week for sales for items either one of us could really use or the good stuff was already gone.

So I just haven't had the time to hit Rite Aid or CVS or Walgreens this week, I have checked moneysavingmadness.com and passionforsavings.com for the deals there this week, and if there had been something I just had to have and was too good to be true I'd have made it there, and well the week ain't over yet!

Groupon

Okay I've been meaning to mention this for a while!  groupon.com is a website that offers a daily deal for businesses in your area, the closest "area" to us is Portland, but I haven't really looked much further into it, maybe you can choose Lewiston/Auburn area, I don't know, I just know I've seen some good deals that if I lived closer to Portland I would snatch right up!  So check 'em out, the deals change daily and you might just get yourself a good deal!  I apologize I can't really offer any more information about what the site might have to offer BUT time is limited, and if you wanna save you're gonna have to do some of the investigating yourself! :)  Happy Saving!

FREE

I blogged a few days ago about free business cards but didn't have time to check it out for myself.  I've been checking out moneysavingmadness.com and passionforsavings.com almost reguarly and have seen some great deals, wish I had time to act on them all!  But today I did see a free vistaprint business cards at vistaprint.com and decided to go for it seeming as though I just stocked up on some Longaberger supplies it was fresh on my mind.  Most of you probably already know that I've been selling Longaberger products for almost a year now, and now I'll have some nice business cards!  I had made some for myself a while back but they were bland and boring, and I had to print them myself which isn't always easy with the piece of junk HP printer I have!  So for only $5.67 in shipping (that's slow 21 day shipping) I just scored 250 free business cards!  Several designs to choose from and many other great products for your business.  Check out vistaprint.com today!  Business cards can be used for more than just a business, get creative! 

Raincheck Please!

So there's a really good deal at this store....but you don't have time to get there right away....and when you do, the product is gone. :(  Fear not my faithful coupon clippers and happy savers!  Never ever underestimate the power of a RAINCHECK.  Always ask for a Raincheck on the item you missed out on, the store will restock, and you will still get that item at that incredible deal.  Be sure to get back to the store before any coupons you have that make for this incredible deal expire! Hooray for rainchecks! :)

No Coupons Needed

The shaw's flyer came out today and there are a few good deals.  Thomas plain bagels (regular size or minis) are buy one get one free.  I can't say I love plain bagels, but with some flavored cream cheese I'm sure the girl will love 'em and the boy likes his food plain so we'll give them a try with him and I figure the minis would make great little pizzas some night so I plan to grab those and throw them in the freezer for later.

Arnold Bread is also buy one get one free, and I buy this brand often, throw a loaf in the freezer if you don't use bread as much as I do.  Trust me folks, despite some hesitation from what seems like quite a few I've heard from regarding this issue, bread if perfectly fine after its been frozen, just don't leave it in your freezer a year and expect it to taste good!

I also saw on the front page a free bag of potatoes and onions when you buy any beef roast, okay so you have to use a coupon from the flyer for that one but the flyers are right inside the door at Shaw's so you can get this coupon right at the store, most cashiers also have a stockpile of them at the register to use these coupons for customers.

So there are some things for FREE this week, no coupons necessary.
Don't forget Shaw's doubles coupons up to 99cents!  If you go to this website http://www.readyseteat.com/brand-coupon.do there is a printable coupon for Hunts pasta sauce 45cents off 1, so if you're going to Shaw's anyways to get the above deals get yourself a can of pasta sauce for next to nothing once Shaw's doubles this coupon!  This blog is called the coupon crusader so did you think I really wasn't gonna throw in mention of a coupon?! :)  Happy Saving!